27th-29th July 2022
Saw a turtle in deep water offshore. The cut here is much easier to navigate than the cut on the Eastern side of the reef, there’s a huge gap and Navionics charts appear to be accurate from what we could see. We had heard that the Manta reef resort doesn’t welcome cruisers on their (pristine) beach, so carried on around the corner to anchor in around 7’ of water off the second small island. We didn’t make it to shore there, as for some reason the kids didn’t feel like beaching.
Snorkeling on the nearby reefs was excellent, as was the shelter from the 20kt Easterly gusts.
Dave got some work done and spent some time with Hector while the others snorkeled. Nice to have some one-on-one time, and Hector is particularly enjoying the non-disneyfied version of Little Mermaid (where she turns to foam at the end).
Charlotte and the big boys went snorkeling and then explored the lagoon between the islands, where some fishermen were cleaning their catch. Arthur put on his mask and snorkel to collect fish-bits from the bottom and hand-feed the large tarpon nearby. Charlotte bought some grouper, then the kids were given a couple of small lobster tails. Nice to have a surprise seafood feast for dinner.
The kids also brought up a few dead conch shells to see what was inside – crabs, mantis shrimp and a large variety of small fish.
