25th May to 2nd June, 2021
Once the weather settled down we moved around to Grace Bay for the easier access to more things ashore. Particularly as I had some boat maintenance and work to do and its easiest for Charlotte not to just “be on the beach” with the boys at present. There were many shops in close proximity offering such luxuries as natural soap, which we availed ourselves of.
But generally, while the town was clean and ‘fine’, it felt a little artificial or sterile. There was no sign of a local community- this feels like a tourist town. On the bright side, the kids got to walk a puppy from the Potcake Place (which encourages tourists to take the puppies home with them by allowing tourists to take them on socialising walks!) Their trickery didn’t work on our children (or maybe us adults aren’t ready for a boat pet), but the kids enjoyed some animal-time.
The paths here were far better at the other anchorage, which meant our shopping trolley could get all the way from the supermarket to the beach, at a point between two hotel swim-zones that we could get the dinghy onto for pick-up. A win.
We encountered JoJo the dolphin, who lives inside the reef and is a frequent visitor (right up inside the hotel swim zones). Hector claims that we stroked him, but that must have slipped the rest of our memories. Strange how that happens.
Lots more freediving on the beautiful reef and playing on the beach. But it was time to make some movement towards Jamaica and then Guatemala – in order to get to something approaching safety before hurricanes become too likely.
So, we had to find a COVID test, which was easy here – in a hotel on the beach, very convenient and quick (and expensive).
