9th to 12th August 2018
We anchored towards the West end of the beach – just to the East of the laid moorings which are used by charter boats at lunch/dinnertime. This spot, and most of the beach, is sheltered from all of the swell when the trades are blowing, but completely open to the E-SW. Wind-wise, again when “standard” trades are blowing, it’s gusty – with c. 15kt forecast for the day, we had dead calm in the morning with winds increasing to 25kt gusts by evening. Nothing worrying, but be aware when deciding how much chain to put out.
We didn’t want to drag the dinghy up on to the beach as it was so busy (even though there were no yellow buoys so we think it would have been OK), so I dropped the kids and Charlotte off and then anchored 25m or so offshore at the rocky-end – I swam ashore. The 12kg fortress anchor, I think, was sufficient to hold the dinghy (it holds the whole yacht in 30 knot winds comfortably!). We need a small dinghy anchor- Arthur has mentioned this as a possible birthday present! Later, Arthur and I swam back to the dinghy to collect Charlotte and the other kids near the steps.
As far as we could see, this area was entirely dedicated to tourists. The beach was great, even if busy – plenty of shops and restaurants within a short walk, too. But, not somewhere we would stay for long as apart from “being a tourist” there didn’t seem much to do! As a weather window opened more quickly than we expected, we actually missed out on the only thing we wanted to see – the loggerhead turtle sanctuary.
In terms of boat-jobs, we realised from our boat speed that we should have cleaned our hull much, much, much …. earlier. And from a slight vibration when the engines were running Dave thought the propellers might need a clean. Charlotte donned wetsuit and snorkel and, armed with a wire brush and a Go Pro, popped underneath to visit our resident anemone colony and do her best to remove the detritus from the propellers. The vibration has noticeably dropped since. We don’t have the heart to even attempt to clean the hull, plus Arthur would not be happy if we damage the anemones, so we’ll leave that until we are hauled out at Arrecife in a few weeks’ time.
Decisions are being made about where we will sail next year, in the context of where we want to be in September 2019 (and beyond). More on that soon, probably.
