Arrived at Leverick Bay and were met at the dock by Leroy and Tito – who did a sterling job helping us get into our reserved slip.   Fantastic service – a bit like valet parking but with ropes!

Did a few boat jobs and some domestic stuff like the laundry and then decided to go off to Hog Heaven to have lunch and some aerial shots of the bay.  But, alas, no taxis available so we returned to the boat for a lazy few hours and Richard got the new seat cushions installed on the stern.    Eric, a fellow Island Packeteer, also came along to introduce himself.

After all that work we felt we deserved a Happy Hour visit to the Jumbies Beach Bar. We had a chilled couple of hours – met some fellow cruisers – and returned to the boat for dinner.  We then came over all weary and planned to return to watch the Jumbies show….but fell asleep and didn’t get back to the bar until 9.30 pm!    The band, Hard Core, were playing live and the audience were really enjoying themselves – unfortunately the residents of some of the villas up the hill didn’t agree and rang down to complain.  This stopped the night short at about 10.30 pm so we retired to bed.

We had already decided to have Saturday as a day of rest….so motored a whole mile across the North Sound and picked up a free mooring ball off Prickly Pear island and took dink ashore to Sand Box bar and restaurant.  This has hundreds of beach chairs but no guests….unless a small cruise ship is around….so we enjoyed a quiet lunch, taking in the scenery, and chatted with Sheryl who was pleased to see us again.   After lunch a quick bob and then escaped from the sun – it was really fierce – and returned to the boat.  Back on board we motored around the corner to Saba Rock and anchored for the night.

Went ashore to Saba Rock and went to see the Toucans and the beautiful views / gardens of this little island oasis.  We also went into the shop and had a look at their collection of antique outboard motors and I decided Richard should try on some hats!   I thought he looked quite dashing in his panama myself….   Luckily the timing of our visit ashore also coincided with the tarpon feeding frenzy and Happy Hour.   We bumped into Lyle &Julia (from Canada), Eric & Pat (from the USA) and another couple who had recently sailed down from Virginia on the Caribbean 1500 rally.  A great few hours getting to know each other and then back on board for a quiet evening.   It looks like our cruising plans may overlap in future too…..

This morning we were planning to head to Cane Garden Bay to catch the Elmtones for their Sunday show…..but the weather forecast was dire. Although warm and sunny most of the day the north swells were forecast to be huge with severe weather and surf warnings along all north coasts of the island chain.  Cane Garden is notorious for surf in these conditions and not a viable anchorage…..so we decided to stay put and have another relaxing day.  

So we did a few more boat jobs – including running the watermaker for a while to top up our tanks.  We have a water quality tester as part of the kit – and the maximum recommended salt levels for human consumption is 750 ppm.  We are currently turning out water at 88 ppm – out of interest, I tested water from a bottle that we had purchased and it was 257 ppm…. Amazing – really happy with this new piece of equipment.

Lunchtime we headed off to the brand spanking new YCCS Superyacht Marina which is a bit rich for us – in that they charge $30k entrance fee and $30k annual membership and you have to be recommended by two existing members to get in!  When the docks are available they charge a reasonable $3 a foot – and they cater for yachts up to 350 feet long alongside…bigger vessels have to go stern to.  Currently the superyacht Athena is in the bay and she is stunning.   There are quite a few large motoryachts about too – but the 90ft ish sleek racing yacht caught our eye.   How we managed to blag our way into the facility is beyond us but the manager and the staff made us very welcome.

We had a fantastic afternoon – lunch at the bar, swimming in the infinity pool, quaffing champagne cocktails and enjoying the luxurious surroundings.   What a lovely way to spend a day……

Headed back to Saba Rock for Happy Hour and spent a few hours with Lyle and Julia again who happened to be in the bar!   

Back on board now for dinner and a quiet night.  We are heading out early hoping to get to Jost Van Dyke for Christmas Eve….  The weather forecast still talks about swells but we’ll make a decision once we’ve left the North Sound and seen for ourselves.

Bye for now.  I probably won’t post again now until Boxing Day – so to all our friends and families we’d like to wish you a very soggy Christmas.

Jan