Another windy day so we stayed put, huddled with the other 17 boats. We watched a live zoom call about sailing in French Polynesia, which looked amazing. David Hill had brought it to our attention, it was sponsored by Oyster, a Suffolk boat building company, and they are recruiting for their Pacific crossing rally. I do like the sound of joining a rally if we do that crossing (which is looking more and more likely these days!).
In the afternoon we went for a walk along a walkway which has been created to try and repair some of the damage done from the derelict marina. Very sadly in 1994 an Italian decided to dredge the bay and create a mega marina for 300 boats, with a golf course built on top of the mangrove swamps. It went bankrupt after completing enormous amounts of dredging and blocking up one end of the bay. Sadly the environmental damage was enormous, it was found to be a serious money laundering scandal, all without any planning permission, and enormous corruption was exposed. Now with the help of American aid it has been designated a reserve and is protected, they have maintained a path from the mainland out to Frigate Island, with huge swing bridges where they have broken through the land to try and get the water flowing again. We walked all the way to the interpretation centre which was sadly closed. It seems to be a successful project, large areas of mangroves are reestablishing, the water is clear and there is a lot of birdlife around.
Rusted metal barricades from the marina
All the yachts snuggled behind Frigate Island
The opening of the barricades to let the seawater back into the mangrove swamps
Remains of the marina
Conch shells everywhere, you can understand why Happy Island bar was built on a mound of them
Amazing rock formation on the island
Trying to be an impressive sunset
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