Wednesday afternoon we picked up anchor and moved further along the coast of Man-O-War Cay. We admired the luxury houses on the shoreline and loved the colour of the sea – sadly not sailing though as there was no wind.
We arrived at Corn Bay and dropped our anchor into a sand and grass bottom. We then went snorkelling and swam all the way across to the rocky shoreline. This place was teeming with fish – and some large specimens too. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
We were in the water for quite a white but we did keep a check on Morphie all alone out there in the anchorage.
Back on board, we relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular sunset before having an early night.
Thursday morning we picked up and motored across – still no wind – to the bottom of Great Guana Cay.
We arrived at Crawl Bight and went to anchor in a patch of sand that we had found….. But as the chain started to play out I spotted what looked like metal on the bottom – so we picked the anchor up quickly and moved away. Finally we had our anchor down and admired the views of the huge luxury house opposite.
We then decided to go snorkelling – but first we wanted to check out the sandy patch. The first thing we saw when we got in the water was that we were anchored in front of a power cable – another one not on the charts!!! Phew glad we missed that…… When we got to the sandy bit we were shocked to find that the bottom was strewn with old car chassis……and various other metal bits and bobs. And it looked like the cars had killed the grass around them too which was why we could spot the sand….
Moving on we went to swim across to the rocky ledge – hoping for a repeat of the previous day’s experience. We were then hassled by a seriously unhappy barracuda. He was about four foot long and kept darting at us. When they do that they move so fast you can’t actually see them – quite a scary experience. Usually they come and have a look and then get bored – but this one was persistent. He followed us around continuously and we decided not to push our luck and returned to Morphie – and he followed us closely all the way.
Richard decided to teach him a lesson so we bundled into dink and went fishing….. On our fifth pass around Morphie I told Richard to give it a break – we were just wasting petrol. One more turn he says and as we make it the line runs out…. Gotcha!!! He was a lot madder by now and jumped and jumped like a loony. Richard was laughing – and welcomed him to our world!!!! We got him in dink, managed to get the hook out although he did get a bit bloodied, took his photo, and returned him to the water – that’ll teach him to ruin our snorkelling LOL….
On board having cleaned ourselves up we had a couple of beers and speculated that maybe the house owner doesn’t like people anchoring off and that he had perhaps dumped the cars there to deter boaters…. We’ll never know. After another great sunset we had an early night.
Friday morning we motored again – checking out more luxury houses – into Settlement Harbour, Great Guana Cay, and picked up a mooring ball in this shallow harbour opposite Orchid Bay Marina.
We hadn’t visited there before so we took dink in for a look – and was pleasantly surprised by the bar, restaurant and pool area. We decided to have some lunch while we were there and Richard said that he had the best plaintains he’d ever eaten!!!
After lunch we decided to go bobbing at Grabbers – so packed a bag with our swimmers and wandered through the settlement, enjoying the views of the harbour as we went.
We reacquainted ourselves with Wilson and then Richard went to get changed – to realise that he’d left his trunks behind! Oh dear…. Never mind….. So he left me there admiring the views while he went back to get them.
When he got back we bobbed for a few hours…..
On the way back to Morphie we stopped at Kids Cove – a local bar – which was the first time we had seen it open and busy. And the road was littered with parked golf buggies too – the main mode of transport on this island. We enjoyed chatting with some people and admiring the unusual bar art before heading home.
Was a busy fun day!!! We had seen storm clouds and rain on the horizon but thankfully nothing came our way – although we were treated to a lightning show during the evening.
Saturday morning and we were up early – we need to get a few things from the grocery store. We wandered through the settlement, admiring the lovely old wooden houses nestling around the main road, and then came across the store. Was surprised how large it was – and it was well stocked too – so we managed to get everything we needed before returning to unload.
Sitting in the cockpit – absolutely sweltering in the heat – and a large motorboat came in. The girl on the front didn’t have a boat hook – just a fishing gaff. And, of course, she couldn’t pick up the ball. After a few more attempts they picked it up from the stern and she walked it forward – but managed to drop the rope in the process. And while all this is going on they have got uncomfortably close to our bow. Anyway they started to pick it up again from the stern and Richard went over to help them. He could hand it to the girl on the front and make life easier. They are happy to get assistance but in the meantime they have propped the ball….. So the guy has to jump in and he cuts it all away – taking the mooring ball onboard. They then decide to take another one behind us and Richard passes it up to them and, finally, they are settled and secure.
Richard tells them to contact Dive Guana – the owners of the ball to let them know what has happened – and they said they would. But then they take their seadoo – and the mooring ball – ashore. They were gone for a few hours and came back without the ball or a bottle of bubbly to say thank you. So we assume they dumped the ball ashore!
Later on we went to the marina to go bobbing in their pool and ran into a family that we had met previously in Marsh Harbour.
Had a great time and returned to Morphie for the evening. Richard wanted to go ashore again – and we were very tempted by the special of $10 ribs at the marina – but decided not to as I’d already defrosted steaks for our dinner…..
Sunday morning and it is party day at Nippers…. The boats started arriving, the ferries were constantly dropping people off and the dock was getting full.
We went ashore and managed to get tied up and wandered across the island…. spotting the new sports bar on the main road which had just been built but not opened yet.
The bar at Nippers was jumping; the beach was busy; the pool was rammed; the pig roast looked great; the sky was blue; and the sun was out…..
We enjoyed people watching and were sat in the shade singing along to the music. Interesting that they were playing 60s/70s tunes which, I guess, catered to the older generation…. There were a few golden oldies about – including us LOL! Oh yes and we were constantly being buzzed by a drone armed with a GoPro camera – the noise of its rotors was quite annoying – and I have to admit that we did laugh when it hit a post and ended up in the pool!!! Ooops…..
Later on we went into the pool ourselves – which was hotter than a bath – and were joined by the family from the day before….. By now some local very scantily clad girls had joined in the fun and judging by their antics with a few of the old, fat, unattractive male tourists and the obvious taking of credit card information by their male minder, we thought that they could well be prostitutes….. Oh well……
After the pool we headed to the beach to cool off and went bobbing with the family. As the day went on, a lot of the day trippers returned to their hotels….and the beach returned to its normal state.
Had a great time….. Was a real party atmosphere and everyone seemed to be getting along …. We eventually headed back to Morphie quite well hydrated LOL.
This morning – Monday – we moved along the coast of Great Guana Cay and have anchored off a beautiful beach at Baker’s Bay. This area is being developed – a marina is already in place – and very large homes are being built along the water line….. Very nice!!!
Planning a relaxing day after the excesses of the day before and it is really nice to be back on anchor….
Oh yes…update on Florida…..there isn’t one! Nothing from the boat yard – very frustrating…. We are researching other places to leave Morphie just in case and, if necessary, we’ll have to cross the Gulf Stream onto the east coast of Florida, park Morphie in a marina, hire a car and drive around until we are sorted. Hope it doesn’t come to that……sigh……
Bye for now
Jan