May 11
Well, we planned to leave Jolly Harbor today, but alas, it is still overcast and raining off and on. So, we spent all day on the boat reading. About 16:00, we went ashore. We went to happy hour and told Fred we were leaving for a week, and then went to Melini's for a nice Italian dinner with Mike & Lynn.
GPS N 17-03.983 W 061-52.992 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10161.
May 12
It is still overcast this morning, but not raining, so we are leaving. Mike and I went to the marina office and paid them for another two nights on the mooring and told them we really were going to leave today. We stopped at the fuel dock on the way out and got ice for each of us. Back at the boat, we hoisted the dinghy onto the davits. By 09:30 we were underway.
Our goal this morning in Dickenson Bay, a mere nine miles north of Jolly Harbor. We have been to Dickenson Bay once by car with the TX gang, but never by boat. Once out of Jolly Harbor, I unfurled our sails and shut the motor off. The wind initially was from a good direction to sail, but unfortunately it was very gusty. It would drop to under ten knots, then blast to over twenty. We sailed for a few miles, but then our course changed to the northeast a little, and so did the wind, so we furled the sails and motored the second half. We passed the St. John's harbor entrance, where looking inside, we saw no cruise ships. The Caribbean cruise ship season has pretty much come to an end, and the ships have returned to The Med. As we approached Dickenson Bay, we had to pass a docking station for fuel tankers, that is out a half mile from shore. The dock is not connected to the shore. The boats dock, and then offload via pipelines to tanks on the shore. The rules in the States would be to keep about a quarter mile away from a facility like this. I'm not sure what the rules are here, and there are not any little guard boats out to keep you away, but we still gave them a wide berth of about half a mile.
Dickenson Bay is about a mile wide, and the shallow (under 15 feet) water extends out form the shore almost a mile. So there is plenty of room to anchor. We were the only sailboats here, so we had our pick. The cruiser season is winding down too, as evidenced by the lack of boats in all the anchorages. Ashore the whole beach is dominated by two resorts. There is Sandals, and the Rex Halcyon. We know from our land trip up here, that the Sandals is off limits to non-guests. But, according to the cruising guide, the Rex does welcome cruisers to their restaurants. There are also two beach bar/restaurants not associated with either resort between the two, as well as Pepperz & Lime at the southern end where we ate with the TX gang.
A downside of anchoring in a bay where there is a large resort is that you get to be entertained by their water toy users. The Hobie Cats sailing about is not a problem, but the jet skis can be a bit annoying. Most of them stay away, but every now and then some dumbass thinks it would be fun to see how close he can come to the anchored sailboat. We spent the afternoon reading, and hopped in the water for a swim. This is the first time we have swum off the boat. In Jolly Harbor and Falmouth Harbor, there were so many boats, that the water was not nice and clear and inviting.
In the evening, we went over to Seabbatical for snacks and sundowners. Seabbatical has Sirius Radio, so we were listening to Radio Margaritaville for awhile, and then listened to the NASCAR race from Darlington. About 21:00, we headed back to MoonSail. I had found earlier that we could get a good strong internet signal from the Rex resort, so I tried to watch the end of the race on TV, and it worked great.
GPS N 17-09.744 W 061-50.884 Nautical miles traveled today 9. Total miles 10170.
May 13
We had a good night at anchor. This is our first anchoring this year, and I was concerned that I might not sleep well, worrying if we were secure. But, I slept fine, and in the morning we were in the same place, which is always good. We spent the morning reading, and then at noon picked Mike & Lynn up at Seabbatical and went to shore. There is no dock here, so we dragged the dinghy up onshore far enough that it wouldn't float away. We were at the Rex end of the beach, and we walked all the way down to Pepperz & Lime for lunch. Our waiter was Henry, and he took very good care of us. Mike & I had what they call burritos, which are served more like a wrap. Not Tex-Mex, but very tasty. Lynn had a salad, and Barb had the catch-of-the-day, which was a fancily presented mahi-mahi.
After lunch, we walked down the beach to Tony's beach bar, which is one of the places between the two resort. Tony himself was the bartender, and we were the only tourist customers there. There was a group of about ten local guys playing some kind of card game on the pool table, that involved yelling, cursing, and betting. Since there were real customers at the bar (us), when they got particularly loud once, Tony told them to move the game over to the next building which looked like an abandoned bandstand. It was kind of funny, because all these tough looking guys never said a thing when Tony told them to move. Tony himself was a big guy, but there was obviously an understanding there about who's place it was. We had a few beers, and when we left, Tony shook all our hands and thanked us for stopping by.
Late in the afternoon, we got three more boats in the anchorage. Two of them appeared to be charters, and the other a cruiser, but nobody we knew. This anchorage is so large, that we were all spaced out with probably six or seven hundred feet between us. This is important later in the story.
GPS N 17-09.744 W 061-50.884 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10170.
May 14
While there was really nothing wrong overnight, I didn't sleep worth a darn. So I was a bit tired today. I mentioned the three other boats in the anchorage, making a total of five, who were well spaced out so nobody could hear or see anything. Those three boats all left early this morning. Then, true to form, a French catamaran came in mid-day and anchored just off our starboard side. The French are renowned for anchoring too close, and usually not well as far as the amount of chain they put out and the diligence they have in checking their anchors security. I will give these folks credit for at least properly backing down on the anchor to make sure it was set, but they were a bit short on the amount of chain they put out. And then there were the kids. Mike & I just recently had a discussion about kids on boats. We have met many boats who had kids we enjoyed interacting with and were very impressed with the maturity of the kids. But every now and then, you encounter a boat with what we like to refer to as feral kids. This boat had three feral kids on it. And they were turned lose the moment the boat was anchored. There was one cute moment, when the three were set off in a kayak by themselves (they looked to be about 6, 4, and 2). Only the older two had paddles, but the little one was swinging her arms over the side as if to paddle. She was way to small to touch the water, but it was kind of like holding a poodle over a swimming pool and they just start to paddle.
We stayed aboard reading until mid-afternoon when we joined Mike & Lynn ashore. Today we landed the dinghies right at Pepperz & Lime, which is closed today. But, there is a small grocery behind the restaurant where we need to get ice when we return to the boats, so we didn't want to have to carry the ice the length of the beach. Today we walked further south on the beach from Pepperz & Lime. We had not been down this way before. We passed what appeared to be condos that you can rent, then another small resort with a bar/restaurant called Coconut Grove, and then walked to the farthest end of the beach where there is a large house on the end of the point. We turned around and headed back and stopped at Coconut Grove for a beer. After two rounds, the girls went to see the veggie lady in the parking lot near the store. They came back with some fresh veggies and fruits a while later. Mike & I stayed at Coconut Grove and made sure the beer was staying cold. When the girls returned, we had one more round and then left. We stopped at the store for ice and headed back to the boats before it melted too much.
Being Monday night, it is apparently "impress the tourists on their first night at the resort" night. Sandals had a beach BBQ going on, with loud music first from a pan band, which we enjoyed, then from another live band, which was not so nice, then from a DJ. In between was an emcee who was playing games and stuff with the people. Next door at Rex, which is actually closer to us, they had a more subdued party, but it appeared to be Karaoke. We couldn't see the party, as it was not right on the beach, but we could hear it. Also, their over-the-water restaurant was open, and it had two very bright light shining out over the water, which were pretty annoying. Thankfully, both places wound down a little after 22:00, and we got a good night's sleep.
GPS N 17-09.744 W 061-50.884 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10170.
May 15
This morning, after the Coconut Telegraph, we got ready to move to another anchorage. We hoisted the dingy, because even though we are only going three miles, I've never liked towing it. We left Dickenson Bay at 09:30, headed for Deep Bay. Dickenson Bay is just north of the entrance to the main harbor at St. Johns, and Deep Bay is the next bay south of St. Johns. When we came into Dickenson, we had gone astern of the fuel tanker unloading. In the three days we have been in Dickenson Bay, we have seen at least four ships come and go from the unloading dock. Today, I thought since we planned to just motor the three miles to Deep Bay, I would go between the fuel tanker and the main island. I was still more than a quarter mile from the ship. I also thought it might be fun to motor into St. Johns harbor and just tool around it before going to Deep Bay.
We had just passed the fuel tanker and I was thinking about turning towards St. Johns, when the engine started to make a loud popping sound. I quickly pulled it back to an idle, and the sound continued. It was a loud popping in time with the firing of one cylinder. My first thought was that perhaps the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the block had blown out. I unfurled the foresail and shut the motor off. We radioed Seabbatical, who was about a quarter mile behind us, to let them know what was going on. Of course, the plan to tool through St. Johns harbor went out the window. We sailed on to Deep Bay, probably faster than we had been motoring anyway. The wind was aft of the beam from our port side. Getting to Deep Bay under sail was easy. Getting in Deep Bay was going to be straight into the wind. This would be complicated by the fact that there is a hundred foot long wreck in the middle of the bay which we would have to avoid. We turned into the bay, hoping to sail close to the wind all the way in. We quickly saw that wasn't going to work. So, I bore off on our original course until we were past the wreck. I wanted to be downwind of it in case we ended up drifting. (The wreck's bow is just under the surface. We could pass over most of it, but not the bow, nor the mast in the middle.) Once we were south of the wreck, I again turned east into the bay. I could have short tacked my way in, but I thought I would try the motor. It started right up, and although it sounded terrible, my logic was that if it was just a blown gasket, it wouldn't harm the motor to run it. We got the sail furled, and as we approached where we wanted to anchor, the engine started to bog down. I went to the bow and got the anchor ready. Just about where I thought we should drop the anchor, the engine died. I let the anchor go and paid out about a hundred feet of chain. The anchor didn't dig in immediately, and I was starting to figure out other options for if it didn't, when suddenly the chain went taught and we were stopped. We tried to start the motor and back down on the anchor, but it would barely start and then die again. Since we were not able to back down hard on the anchor as we usually do, I relied on the fact that the wind is pretty strong, and the chain is getting pulled tight every so often, so we seem to be secure.
I sat for a while, as the engine cooled off, and analyzed what might be going on. If the problem was a leaking exhaust gasket, that would affect the engine running. Perhaps, by sheer bad luck, there was more than one thing going on. A diesel engine generally doesn't run for one of three reasons - fuel, fuel, or fuel. If it's getting fuel properly, it should run. So, my first order of business was to replace the fuel filter. After doing this, the engine started and seemed to idle ok. It still made the horrible noise, but at least it ran. While it was running, I was looking with a flashlight, and sticking my fingers in near the exhaust manifold, expecting to feel a burst of air each time the loud popping happened. However, I couldn't see or feel anything wrong. We shut it off and I thought some more. It occurred to me that the sound I was interpreting to be an exhaust leak, might in fact be compression popping back through the intake. The intake has a plastic box over the entrance to it, and the more I thought about it the more I thought it could be coming from there. I had Barb start the engine as I reached in and put my hand over the hole going into the plastic intake box. I should feel nothing but suction, and if I allowed my hand to be sucked tight onto the opening, the engine should stall. I held my hand just off the edge of the intake, and while I did feel the suction, I could also feel air popping back out of the opening in conjunction with the noise. This is a big clue! This means the valves are not opening in proper timing with the combustion. I got out the engine manual and looked at the exploded parts diagram. The timing is driven by five gears that have never been messed with. If there were a belt or chain involved, as there is in most cars, that would be suspect. But being entirely gear driven, it is highly unlikely the gears have jumped a tooth or anything like that. The other piece of the puzzle is the rocker arms, which make the valves open and close. These were all removed during the previous engine work we had done. One of the first rules of problem determination, regardless of what you are trying to resolve, is to ask "What did you screw with last?" Since the rocker arm assembly had been out, I figured this was where to look. I removed the valve cover and had Barb bump the started several times to get the engine in the right place in it's rotation so that I could check the rocker arm adjustments. It took a few bumps for me to notice a clicking sound every now and then. Once I isolated that clicking, I found that on the number three cylinder, the adjustment screw for the exhaust valve had backed itself entirely off, allowing the pushrod to just flop around and the valve to not open at all. Problem found! And, an easy fix. I didn't have the proper tool to exactly adjust the rocker arm, but I was able to get it close enough. I put the valve cover back on and Barb fired it up. It was sounding like a well oiled sewing machine again, instead of a machine gun.
In three hours I went from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other. When we first got anchored and I was waiting for the engine to cool, I was running through scenarios in my head. Things like, if we stay here a few days, I'll need to borrow Seabbatical's Honda generator to charge our batteries since I can't run the engine. When we do leave, if the engine won't run, will I have to pull us up to the anchor by hand, or maybe use the dinghy to motor us forward? Sailing down to Jolly Harbor shouldn't be a problem, and I can probably even tack my way into the inner harbor, but then do I use our dinghy to tow us, or call the dockmaster for a tow, or try to pick up a mooring? Once in Jolly Harbor, what if we need parts again? Do I have them work on it over the summer, or wait until I'm back in the fall? All these things were working around in my head. Once I had the problem resolved, it was like a huge weight was lifted. We're back to normal! I was a happy camper.
Deep Bay has a resort, The Grand Royal Antiguan, in the southeast corner, and a bunch of what appear to be private homes on the south side. The north side is an old fort. I got my wi-fi antenna out and found a weak signal that wasn't secured. It is the opposite end of the spectrum from the excellent signal we had in Dickenson Bay, but I was able to get e-mail and make some Facebook updates.
About 15:30, we dinghied to shore with Mike & Lynn to see what was there. The resort has a bar/restaurant overhanging the water on the south end of the beach, but it doesn't appear to be open. We walked to the south end where we found the path up to the resort guarded by a security guard and a sign that it was for guests only. We asked about the restaurant, and he said it was closed, but not closed for the season, just closed for repairs, of a duration he didn't seem to know. So, we walked to the other end of the beach, where there is access to the fort and a path to a place where locals drive to from St. Johns and walk to the beach. There were a few locals on the beach, including two guys with horses. We walked back to our dinghies and went back to the boats. Later, we saw a number of locals jogging the beach and doing a semi-organized exercise routine, led by a Rasta guy. Also, the two guys with the horses had them in the water swimming around for a good half hour.
I later did some research about the Grand Royal Antiguan, and learned that it is not an all-inclusive place. I suspect the restaurant and bar would have welcomed us, but the security guard made no effort to let us know we could enter the grounds. Their loss.
We had a nice dinner aboard and watched the sun set. A couple of little sprinkle showers blew through, but nothing like last week.
GPS N 17-07.551 W 061-53.229 Nautical miles traveled today 3. Total miles 10173.
May 16
Today was another day of rain, read, repeat. I finished the book I was reading and started another. There are two cruise ships in St. Johns today, but he season is winding down. I looked at the schedule, and there is only one a week scheduled after this for the next month. Since there were cruise ships, there were some vendors open on the beach, and several of the party cats stopped in so their passengers could peruse the vendors offerings. One of the party cats, a Wadadli Cat boat, has engines larger than it should. When they take off, the engines want to push the boat faster than hull speed, which mean it squats down in the rear and put out an enormous wake. They don't care if there are other boats around to be affected by this. Another cruise ship attraction is the Black Swan. The Black Swan is the sort of pirate looking boat that took out the Jolly Harbor fuel dock sign a couple months ago. They have a mooring setup in Deep Bay, so they pull in and pick it up. Then they ferry some people to shore to the vendors, and take some out to snorkel the wreck of the Andes. Some people stay onboard and play walk-the-plank. Yesterday when we got here the water was full of small purple jellyfish, so we haven't been in the water, but apparently today they are gone, because none of these people seemed to be getting stung.
We stayed aboard all day, and Barb made jambalaya for dinner. Late in the evening, there was another short round of thunder and lightening in the distance. Nothing very close to us, but close enough to hear the thunder.
GPS N 17-07.551 W 061-53.229 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10173.
May 17
Overnight we had a big rain storm. There was lots of wind, but no lightening, and it rained hard for over half an hour. By morning, it looked like it might be a nice day. We made plans with Mike & Lynn to dinghy around the corner to the next beach and visit the resort over there to see if they offered a day pass to boaters. The Galley Bay Resort is a very nice looking place occupying the whole 3/4 mile long beach of Galley Bay. We had to look a bit for a place to land the dinghy. Much of the beach has large rocks just offshore, and the swell coming in is pretty big. We finally settled on a place that was mostly sand, and surfed ashore on a wave. Timing the swell along with tilting the motor up and shutting it off is always a trick, but we made it fine. We dragged the dinghy well up onto the beach and walked towards the main building in the center of the beach. Mike and I went to the activities desk in the lobby and inquired if they offered a day pass for lunch and drinks to visiting boaters. (The resort is an all-inclusive place, so they generally don't expect walk-in traffic that pays.) The girl at the desk made a call and then said yes, we could have lunch and spend the afternoon for $35 US per person. She explained that there are three restaurants to chose from. We chose the Sea Grape primarily because it was closest. The activities girl walked us over there so that she could inform the staff that we were ok. We were greeted there by Mike, who was going to be our waiter. We surmised after observing for a while that Mike must have been a supervisor, but he took care of us for the most part. Mike was very attentive, asking our names and where we were from, and a bit about our boats. I asked where he was from, as he did not have an Island accent. He said he was Antiguan, but he spent a lot of his life in the States. He never did say exactly where, but his accent sounded perhaps New York to me. Since the deal is a set price, we were encouraged to all have starters, salads, entrees, and deserts. And of course the drinks kept coming as fast as we emptied them. After we finished our meal, we moved to the bar overlooking the beach and had one last round.
We returned to the dinghy to face getting off the beach in the large swell. We knew we would all get wet, and just accepted that. We turned the dinghy around facing the water and dragged it to where the waves stopped. We then watch the pattern of the waves a few minutes to try and time it right so we didn't get a wave breaking over the bow of dinghy. When I thought it was right, I said "Go!", and we all dragged the dinghy into the water. We were past where the waves were breaking and almost to our waists in the water. I hopped in and got the engine lowered and started, while Mike held the dinghy so the girls could get in. He then hopped in and we backed away from the beach. All in all, it worked pretty good. We were wet, as expected, but did not get a significant amount of water in the dinghy.
Shortly after we got back to the boats, two other boats came in and anchored. We enjoyed a nice quiet evening reading, with of course, a few more rain showers.
GPS N 17-07.551 W 061-53.229 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10173.
May 18
This morning, after a dawn rain shower, Mike & Lynn and I hiked up to Fort Barrington. There is not much there except an outstanding view, but it was a nice little hike, although not one best done in wet Crocs. After returning to the boats, we made another huge passage to the next bay south. Five Islands Bay, is about three miles south of Deep Bay. It is a very large bay, but the prime anchorage is just off the beach where The Hermitage resort is located. We came in to just a couple hundred feet offshore and dropped the hook. The guide book says this is fine, although my electronic charts show this as no-man's land. I went with the guide book, and saw no reason not to.
We had heard one of the reasons to anchor off The Hermitage was that they had free wi-fi. We were not disappointed. I was able to connect without even using my amplified antenna. We are not sure what to expect from this stop, as The Hermitage is a very high-end exclusive resort. There are only 25 cottages, which go for about $1300 US/day. So, we don't know how welcoming they are to boaters. However, once I was online and posted on Facebook where we were, an old friend replied to my post saying they were very welcoming of cruisers. So, we'll have to check it out.
This afternoon and evening though, we stayed aboard, reading and enjoying nice smooth jazz music from the resort. We were checking out the resort with the binoculars, and noticed a couple having a nice private beachside dinner under an umbrella with a couple tiki torches for light. That sounded like a nice romantic deal until the rain came again. They stuck it out through the first light sprinkle, but a bit later it poured, and they ran for cover. Not sure where they were in the course of their meal.
Meanwhile, I was paying attention to the way we were lying at anchor. We had changed from pointing mostly at the beach, to being parallel to it. The wind has been very gusty and switches direction often, so we are moving about quite a bit. Hopefully we are secure for the night.
GPS N 17-05.189 W 061-53.638 Nautical miles traveled today 4. Total miles 10176.
May 19
The wind subsided for much of the night, but at dawn resumed it's gusty blowing. After the Coconut Telegraph, we launched the dinghy to go have a look at how our anchor was set. I probably should have done this yesterday, but wasn't concerned about the way the wind and current was dancing us around until after dark when I wouldn't have been able to see the anchor anyway. I got our Bahamian TV out, which is a five gallon bucket with a clear bottom, and dinghied out in front of the boat. Trying to slowly drive the dinghy, while leaning over the side with one hand holding the bottom of the bucket in the water and follow the course of the anchor chain is a good trick, which usually takes a few tries. I was able to follow the chain and eventually, it disappeared. I took the dinghy out of gear and leaned further into the bucket to get a better look. Sure enough, the anchor was totally buried in the sand, as I wanted. Hopefully it stays put even though we are swinging through more than 90° every once and awhile.
Since there is nowhere to provision in this bay, we planned to make a run to Jolly Harbor in the dinghy. It is about a mile from us, as the crow flies, but at least twice that to go around the peninsula that the resort is on. We borrowed a big insulated bag from Mike & Lynn to carry ice back in, and took off. From the boats, we were able to get up on a plane and go fast to the cut between the first of the five islands which gives the bay it's name. Once around that corner though, the seas were probably two feet, and bashing into them was neither comfortable or safe. So I slowed down and we slowly made our way into the protection of the Jolly Harbor anchorage. Surprisingly, we hardly got wet at all on this part of the trip. We had brought garbage in from both boats, so we took it across the street to the dumpster, and then went to the grocery store, where we got the emergency supplies we needed. Beer, rum, fried chicken, and bread. All the necessities. We then took the dinghy over to the fuel dock, where we filled our two seven gallon jugs with water, and got two bags of ice. Mission accomplished. Now to just get back to Five Islands. With the extra weight in the dinghy, it was not going to plane, even if the conditions had been perfect. So, we just moved along at a nice pace as we left Jolly Harbor. Out in the open water between the Jolly anchorage and the cut between the islands, the seas were big but going our way. So it was a rolly ride, but dry. Once we turned the corner and headed east into Five Islands Bay though, it was a different story. The chop was at least a foot, and every time we hit a wave and it splashed up, the wind blew the splash back onto me. I was soaked by the time we got back, but that had been pretty much expected.
We had lunch aboard, and dried out. We had noticed by now, that there was a road that allowed access to the beach from land for non-resort people. We saw several locals swimming at the far end of the beach, away from the resort. Based on that, we decided to go in and land our dinghies down at that end. Mid-afternoon, we did that and went for a walk. We hiked a bit up a road that went out on the peninsula towards the five islands, but decided there was nothing worth walking that far for, so we turned around. The road then took us past the employee entrance to the resort, and we walked out the road a bit to where we could see the mangrove bay that connects to the Jolly Harbor anchorage. We walked back by the employee entrance, where a nicely dressed lady asked us if everything was ok. I think maybe she thought we were guests who were lost. We said yes, we were from the anchored boats and just out for a walk. I then asked her if they had any day-pass plans that might allow us to have lunch. She said yes they did, and invited us to follow her inside, where she gave us a little tour of the restaurant/bar/pool area. She gave us a very nice glossy brochure about the place, and then told us that lunch, including drinks, and access to the pool and all common areas would be $91 USD per person. We were kind of surprised at the amount, but it really looks like a nice place, and would be an end-of-season treat for us. So, we made a reservation to come back tomorrow for lunch. Our bartender friend Fred used to work here, so when we got back to the boat, we texted him to ask if he knew Vera, the lady who spoke to us. He did not.
During the day, another boat that appeared to be a charter came in and anchored behind us. As is typical of charter boats, they put out way to little anchor chain, so I hope they stay put. Seabbatical hopes they stay put even more, since if the cat drags, Seabbatical would be the target, not MoonSail.
Mike & Lynn came over to MoonSail for happy hour and snacks this evening. While they were here another charter boat, this one from Horizon Yacht Charters in Jolly Harbor came in to anchor. For whatever reason, they were having trouble getting their anchor to hold. They tried six or seven times in various places, each time still dragging. Eventually, they gave up and went back around to Jolly Harbor. It was a good example of how you don't have to have a clue what you are doing to charter a boat. (Don't worry Jon, if you are reading this, it wasn't Wicked Good.)
GPS N 17-05.189 W 061-53.638 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10176.
May 20
We spent the morning aboard reading. Our lunch reservation is for 12:30, and of course it started to rain about 12:15. We waited out the shower and dinghied ashore. We were dressed up for our fancy visit, meaning clean shorts and a Hawaiian shirt for me. We were greeted by Jerralyn, one of the food and beverage supervisors, according to her name tag. She took our drink order and explained some things on the menu to us. While she was gone, I texted Fred to see if he knew her. He did and told me to tell her that he said hi. When Jerralyn returned with our drinks, she took our food orders. When she was done, I said "Oh, one more thing. Fred said to say hello." I don't think she was expecting that at all from the visiting yachties. We didn't explain that we have been here for five months. Once the orders were placed, a lady named Roslyn took over serving us. Of course the service was impeccable and the food was also. I had a tuna carpaccio starter, a tomato and onion salad, rigatoni with a creamy blue cheese sauce with peas, and a desert that was a chocolate cake thing, with passion fruit sauce, and mango sorbet. Barb had callaloo soup, a fish sandwich with fries, and chocolate ice cream for desert. It was all very good. After we were done eating, we headed to the bar area. As we first got up from our tables, the couple at the next table asked us about our boats. They were from Connecticut, and have a small power boat up there, but they were very interested in the whole cruising lifestyle. We chatted with them for several minutes and gave them our cards. As we left them, I had to ask how they knew we were the "boat people". I asked if we stuck out that much from the real guests. Turned out they were on the beach when we dinghied in and they recognized us.
The pool is adjacent to the bar, and we had brought our suits, planning to take a dip, but it was overcast and showered off and on all afternoon, so we just enjoyed the view and chatted. While we were there an Italian lady who had been sitting with several other guests nearby, speaking Italian, came over and introduced herself. Of course, we all promptly forgot her name, but she spent about fifteen minutes with us chatting about our experiences in the islands, and she invited us to come back sometime and have a more in-depth tour of the property. If I understood her correctly, she managed the spa on the property. We stayed at the bar until after 16:00. The property is noticeably quiet today. I'm sure a lot of guests come and go on the weekends.
As we left to return to the boats, a local guy was down at the end of the beach giving his horse a bath. The horse was up to his belly in the water, and the guy was splashing water on him and rubbing him down. The horse seemed to be enjoying this until the guy splashed water right in his face. Then he shook his head vigorously. I suspect they play this game all the time.
The Horizon charter boat came back late this afternoon. This time they went to the other side of the anchorage and seemed to set their anchor fine the first time. We continue to dance around at odd angles to our anchor. There is some combination of the wind gusting around the hillside the resort is on and current in the water maybe that makes us act funny. I have always had faith in our anchor, and so far, have no reason to doubt it, but this is testing my confidence.
GPS N 17-05.189 W 061-53.638 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10176.