Monday, 5 Mar: A bit of a slow Monday for us. Last night Glen was up and down a few times, checking the wind hasn’t turned. If it had, we could have swung onto the reef behind us – that’s how tight this anchorage is.
After breakfast, we take a walk on Petit Tabac Island which we are anchored next to, along with 3 other boats. The island is cute and the beach is lovely, but today is cloudy so the colours do not stand out so much. We hope the sun will emerge later so we can go for a snorkel on Horseshoe Reef front, where the Dutch couple told us they saw sharks 2 days before.
But it doesn’t look like the sun is coming out to play today – by 2pm it’s raining; probably the heaviest rain we have yet seen, and stays as a torrential downpour for the next 3 hours. At its heaviest, the side decks are over 5cm deep in rainwater, with the drains slurping down as fast as they can. Given the amount we bail out of the dinghy, at least 50Ltrs, we think we could have filled all our water tanks, 1000Ltr, with this rain, if we had a method to collect it from the decks. As the generator runs, charging batteries and making water from the sea water, we discuss how we can catch rain in the future.
Just as we think the day is doomed, the sun comes out, while it’s still raining and gives an amazing double rainbow. It’s now 5pm, 1 more hour of daylight. We decide to go to the reef while the sun is out. We motor over in the dinghy and jump out with snorkels and flippers. There is no where to anchor the dinghy so we just hold onto the rope as we snorkel. Luckily there is a 1-2 knot current running along the front of the reef, so all we do is lie there and drift along the coral below. Being late in the day, the colours are not great, but there are loads of fish and we spot a turtle and a small baracuda.
Back at Cloudy Bay we are now alone in the anchorage. There are very black clouds coming and thunder in the distance. So we decide not to be brave, and instead head to a more sheltered anchorage. We chose the Windward Bay in front of Mayreau island. There are probably 20 other boats there but still plenty of space for us. We arrive just before dark and anchor next to a Canadian Hallberg-Rassy.
Readers: did you notice we didn’t use the “d” word today?