Turtles everywhere

We had a terrible night rolling like crazy, the waves seem to curve around both sides of the island and with the current our spot was in the middle of turbulent water. We pretty swiftly decided to move after breakfast. Luckily Romeo appeared and helped us onto a mooring ball the far end of the reef, beyond the only other boat, South African, called Wandering Albatross. As a thank you to Romeo we ordered a take away from him for supper.

Leaving our gorgeous view of Baradal island

The best thing about the Cays is the colour of the water and the turtles everywhere. These are Green Backs and not the Hawksbill we saw in Bequia. So reassuring seeing so many. The turtles are incredibly hard to photograph as they come up briefly for air, Rowan got this lovely photo after a lot of effort. We did some lovely snorkelling near the reef, I’m not that confident near the shallow reef which I find a bit scary with the current and the breaking waves. There is a break in the reef which is a dinghy passage for getting out the other side. Looks hairy to me but everyone says it is the best diving., we will check it out tomorrow.

View out to the reef

As the wind starts calming down the boats have flocked in, by late afternoon there were at least 14 boats, no longer just the two of us.

In the afternoon Rowan was scraping the hull of the boat, we have put a copper coat on it instead of toxic anti fouling paint, but apparently we need to scrub the copper a bit for it to oxidise and become effective. Amazing how many barnacles are on the hull already, really tough buggers that have shredded Rowan’s hands. He uses the Snuba to get under the hull, with his weight belt on and it being so shallow, he can stand and walk around the hull. I was just snorkelling around to cool down and this enormous turtle just cruised pass both of us, and as I followed it I realised there was a big ray about. Interestingly there was a biggish fish that followed the ray the entire time. I enjoyed watching them so much knowing I was very close to PolePole if I needed to get back quickly!

We had organised an early take away supper with Romeo, definitely more out of supporting him than the food. When he brought it, it was so much we asked the French couple we had met on El Gaucho to come and join us, which they did. They are both dentists and had their boat built to their spec, 30 years ago, when they were 29! It is a Garcia which is a well known French make specialising in metal hulls and built to last. They work for 10 years and then take 3-5 years off depending on how long their money lasts. They are serious sailors and have crossed the Atlantic many times. Their favourite areas are the islands North of Norway, and then around Scotland, the Orkneys and Hebrides. The name of their boat is Risorious, which is a muscle in your cheek, good dental terminology, but a great name. They had amazing gopro footage of a couple of sharks they had seen on the reef this afternoon. They have told us you have to go late afternoon and have given us the spot, we will look for them tomorrow! They are returning to France and later in the year will sail to Brazil, then down to Argentina and

the Falklands, then they are taking the Beagle canal across to Chile. Fingers crossed this is not giving Rowan any ideas as it gets much trickier weather wise down there!

Boats keep pouring in