Tuesday 27 March: We get a 7.50am “good morning” call and taps on the side of the boat, from park rangers who are collecting the mooring bouy fees. While Oana prepares breakfast, Glen puts up the over-boom sunshade and with the sides down the cockpit is instantly cooler.
We have declared that today we will have a chill-out day moored off of Sugar Beach Resort which lies between the two famous Piton peaks. A chill out day for us just means we relax with no fixed agenda, just pottering on this and that… But you won’t find us lazing around …. oh no, we don’t do Lazy!
Over breakfast we discuss our antics from the night before and comment on the guys in the fishing village who are right next to our mooring. Particularly we would like to ask the ones in smart rubber dinghies where they “obtained” them from, because it’s so obvious they are ex-yacht tenders and the previous owners are likely still sore about losing them.
Mid morning we motor over to Sugar Beach and pick up the only mooring bouy available. There are lots of posh super yachts in this bay and we feel quite little next to them. Before long the fruit man comes passed in his boat. We are about to shoo him off when we see his wonderfully presented array of fruit, especially the mangos and pineapples. And his prices are very reasonable considering he is effectively home delivery!
By now the midday sun is almost directly overhead and very hot. But this also means our solar panels are working to their maximum. Together they are rated 245watts but in the Med we rarely even saw 200watts. Today we see 240watts (9+amps @ 24v). Nice to see the batteries charging at 3-4amps.
Glen cleans the dinghy hull from the swim platform (dinghy above him) then launches it and dives in for a cool off. This turns into a snorkel around the boat, where he declares good coral and fish below, which then turns into a thorough hull clean of barnacles using a 6” wide scrapper. It’s very satisfying watching the barnacles fall in the water and fish below eat them. Haha …. serves them right, they chose the wrong boat to cling onto!
While having lunch Oana would like an even more closeup view of the resort, and we spot a mooring buoy right next to the beach. Man in boat says it also belongs to SMMA, we believe him, and pick the buoy. 15min later tripper catamaran shoos us off, and we pick yet another buoy, the first one off the beach. We can’t get any closer than this! So after our 4th bouy for the day we are in the perfect position.
When the sun cools a bit we go ashore for an exploring mission in the resort. At dinghy dock security tells “we don’t lock here, it is safe!” We start with a walk along the beach where there is a nice boardwalk, very pretty white sand beach with wood sunshades. But when we reach the end next to Sugar Beach Residences area we are turned away, “it is private, there is a sign which says private”.
So then we walk along the lawns, passed swimming pool and through the gardens. It really is a very nice resort, beautifully manicured yet not imposing on the natural surroundings. So we treat ourselves to sundowners at Bayside Bar & Restaurant despite prices which reflect the surroundings. It’s very nicely done, and very nice to see a beach bar restaurant well used, as all tables get full for dinner. And we do know it’s Easter break from schools, the restaurant feels like kids playground. As we enjoy the drinks, we look at the boats rolling in the bay, but CB doesn’t seem to be so effected. It looks like we will get a peaceful night.
As seems to happen most evenings in the Caribbean, we think we will get a wonderful sunset, when it disappears behind clouds on the horizon and all of a sudden the light is gone. At 7pm a steel drums band starts to play, very well. But as we have often seen in these resorts, people don’t really interact with the live music or really show any appreciation. It’s a bit sad for the musicians.
By 8pm we are back on CB where we make a concerted effort to finish the Mustique video and get it uploaded, which we finally achieve by 1am!