The wind was howling, and the boat was rocking, glad we are on a buoy, we didn’t get up very early, but Geoff and Jeff nipped to the supermarket, to get some food, as we are now leaving civilization for a couple of nights.
We all had breakfast minus grapefruits, as Geoff has just found out how much they cost £1 each, he had an argument with the lady in the shop, and told her to put them back. We have been paying that price for ages, it’s just he did not realize. Jeff and I had our daily intake of porridge, everyone else had toast.
We cleared up, as we were waiting for a super yacht to get of the fuel dock, we need some water before we can go. All ready to go, and someone nipped in front of us, so we radioed up, and arranged for the guy to move his dinghy. This is going to be fun, it is really windy! Lined ourselves up, and were pushed inside of the jetty, so we went round again, this time Geoff stayed well out, and let the wind push us in, excellent job, we were within one foot of the other one, and hanging off at the back, we were already to jump, the attendant took the first rope and Brian and I did the stern and middle, secured and pleased we had done no damage. Well done Geoff. The other guy was leaving, and the attendant gave him some advice, which the guy totally ignored, he got himself in terrible trouble, and we think he has some damage, he also left his crew on shore, so Jeff offered to take them over in dinghy, rather than him coming back for selfish reason, we did not want him hitting us. We put a spring on the middle, and Geoff gently went astern, and we were away with no damage, also the guy had held our rope so we had all our crew on board well done Geoff.
We left Soper’s Hole, and headed for Leimester Bay total run time of 2miles, so we just engine over, as the batteries needed a boost anyway.
We came into one of my favourite bays; it is so quiet, other than fish jumping, and people snorkeling. We went on a buoy, and had a cuppa, when I spotted dolphins, an adult and a young baby, they looked so lovely, they were swimming around the bay, and the baby was very tiny.
We all went for a snorkel, Jeff took Robina and Brian, and taught Robina how to snorkel, and as soon as she got in she saw a turtle, so she was very pleased. We went further out, and saw how the coral had regrown over the year, and swam through lots of shoals of tiny fish, we saw a couple of big turtles, both with big yellow fish on their backs, which I assume they were cleaning their shells, lots of varieties of other fish, and it was so clear.
Back to the boat, which was a bit of a struggle for Geoff as Brian had borrowed his flippers (fins) we had swam more than we had intended, still we got back, and I guess another ½ mile swim.
We had lunch, without the others as they were still in the water, by this time it was past 3pm, so we were hungry. Eventually they came back, and decided to walk on shore. We are on Rockefeller Island, which he donated to National Trust, and they had a sugar plantation years ago and some of the buildings are still standing. We will come back and explore one day soon.
Geoff and I went for another snorkel, this time taking the dinghy, we saw some lovely fish, it is amazing how they blend in with the scenery, at first you think there is nothing there, and then all of a sudden you see loads, brilliant. Back to the dinghy, which I managed to get in, but by this time Geoff was too tired, so after a couple of attempts, he decided to be pulled back, he was hanging on, then he went to the back and I towed him, because all the weight was on one side we kept going around in circles, and nearly hitting the other boats, still it kept them amused, and eventually I got him back to our boat exhausted.
We both took showers, and sat and had cocktails with ice, watching the sun go down, very nice. Jeff came back, and went off for another snorkel, where he said he saw a large barracuda, dog fish, and other species. Then we spotted Brian and Robina coming back, so Geoff went to pick them up, they had enjoyed their walk, Brian went for one last dip of the day, whilst I cooked dinner.
After dinner, we played crib, and Brian and Robina beat us 2-0 this is not good, we had another game, and we beat them 2-0, so we can go to bed all equal, we should have played the 5th game just to see who the winners were, but Brian wanted it left like that.