We moved on Christmas day up to a roadstead anchorage off of Gregory Town, excited to go see Junkanoo. At dark we got in the dink, loaded with our flashlights, and headed to town. Met up with two other dinks from cruising boats - all of us headed off to Junkanoo. Got to town, and it seemed kind of empty - stopped at a local restaurant that was open, and found out they postponed Junkanoo until the next night - as rain was forecast - although not a strong chance. We were all bummed. We stayed around, had a drink at the restaurant and visited - so not a failed evening.
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| Blue restaurant is where we stopped for drinks |
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| Gregory town had some nice light decorations |
We had a hard decision, to wait another day for Junkanoo - or to take the favorable winds and head south. If we did not take the winds, then it looked like at least a week until we would have good winds again.
We opted to sail, and headed south. Had a brisk day of sailing, and made it further than planned, all the way to Half Moon Bay, on Little San Salvador Island. This bay is private, and is used by cruise ships as a day stop. The shore is quite developed, all catered to cruise ship passengers, with kayaks, paddleboards, hundreds of lounge chairs, little buildings for shade and massages, a on land "pirate ship" for the kids to play in, and more. This bay is scenic, with blue water, and over a mile of white sand beach. Unfortunately, cruisers not welcome ashore.
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| Developed shore with "pirate ship" |
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| Cruise ship at Half Moon Bay |
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| They can't make the sunsets private - open for all to enjoy |
We only stayed the night, and moved over to Orange Creek, on Cat Island. Only boat here. Then the rain started. We stayed on board for two days - while it mostly rained, or cloudy. Water tanks full, laundry done, boat washed.
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Calm water, but clouds and rain coming
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Finally the rain and clouds were predicted to leave, and we planned a nice snorkel on the reef for the next day. Woke up around 2:00 with a wind change - not forecast. Winds strong out of SE, making our anchorage a lee shore. We checked our holding, and bounced the rest of night with a 2' chop coming into anchorage. In the morning we decided to go ashore and walk the beach, waiting for non-forecast SE winds to switch back to East. Had a nice walk, but checked water visibility, and the SE winds were stirring up the sand and visibility on the reef to snorkel was low. So instead stopped at town, got 3 apples, 1 pepper and a Snickers bar - $9. Back to boat, and decided to head out, as now weather said SE winds were going to stay for a couple of days.
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| Nice beach at Orange Creek. Walked all the way to the point in the distance and back |
Motored just 7 miles south, and found some protection just north of Alligator Point. Again, only boat here, have not seen other cruiser boats for 4 days now. Took a nice dinghy trip up the mangrove river. Some spots were shallow, so had to row/pole our way for about 1/4 mile, but other than that could motor. Saw small sharks, fish, turtles and rays.
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| Nice big ray |
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| Lots of turtles |
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| Beautiful water |
Dean made caramel corn that evening - what a treat.
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| Deans caramel corn is famous - and oh soo good. |
The next day was all about the boat. Dean defrosted the freezer, and waxed part of the topsides. Kris changed the engine oil on both engines, and as usual, cleaned the engines as well.
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| Food removed from fridge and freezer. Yes that is 32.5 lbs of Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Yes we have a cheese addiction. |
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| Fridge and freezer cleaned and defrosted, ready to load again. |
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| Clean and ready to go for another 100 hours. |
Hopefully will get some snorkeling in today before heading further south.
Hey - bummer about missing Junkanoo. I've never seen one in action but I have seen some of the costumes that folks were making. Cool artistry. You're not having the best of weather, are you? Hate we missed out on the pizza and caramel corn!!! See ya soon.
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