15th to 22nd May 2021
Arrived and anchored after a relatively pleasant sail up the coast inside the coral reef. We knew from the charts that there was enough room, apart from in one section where we had to dodge a couple of coral heads that might (or might not) have been shallow enough to cause us any problems. My guess, later, is that they were probably nearer 2m deep than 1m, but we went around them anyway!
Within half an hour of anchoring, once we were sure the anchor was set by the current, we set off towards Donna Cay in the paddleboard and kayak. Lots of mud here, the kids loved getting their feet, and the rest of them, covered in it. And mangroves to explore around – the birds were quick to settle after the children ran past, too.
The paddleboard had a lot of use while we were there– including as a backstop about 15m behind the boat, in case any of the children couldn’t fight the current (which was pretty strong at times). Sometimes, we asked them not to swim, which is pretty rare for us.
Generally, it was peaceful and quiet. Except for when the jet skis were around, and a couple of times the powerboats went past. Unbelievably, they allow jet skis to zoom through between the cays – in theory this is a marine park. But they were not there that often. There were also plenty of paddleboard and kayak tours. But again, not that often. Presumably it would not ordinarily be quite so quiet here, but COVID.
At times we swung close enough to shore for the kids to free-dive to the bottom and collect the mud on the stern of the boat. Ostensibly to check for wildlife in the mud. But I think they just enjoyed making a mess. They also enjoyed spotting the many turtles diving around us, finding crabs on all of the shores, watching the birds, and pestering us to be allowed to fish (they were not, it’s a marine park)
Little Water Cay was an enjoyable morning walk. Technically we were supposed to pay to tour this island(which would have been pretty costly for 5), but there was nobody there to collect money (and we were not aware that we were supposed to pay, so didn’t push money under the door as we would have done). Beautiful island, nice short walk to the beach on the North side along a boardwalk. Many, many iguanas which were incredibly used to human presence. Spent quite a bit of time exploring the mangroves in the dinghy – the electric engine is great for creeping around where it’s deep enough, as it is near-silent we can get pretty close to wildlife without anything noticing. But here, we often had the oars out because the channels were too shallow.
Many, many photos. Maybe one day we’ll organize them into the different cays or something easier to look at, or cut down the number…
