In Paradise at Sandy Island

Even being in a Catamaran we were rocking in the swell. As there doesn’t seem to be much open in Hillsborough town we decided to go back to the gorgeous tiny white sandy beach island – aptly called Sandy beach, that we passed yesterday. It is in a marine reserve so we have to tie onto a buoy, our last two experiences of this have been exasperating, trying to pick up the leash with the boat hook. There were 4 other boats on buoys, so we were conscious of an audience which never helps. The problem is we are so high off the water, with the wind and current it is very difficult to keep the boat steady. Rowan had been reading up how to make this a simpler process and had made a lasso out of a bit of chain (we had for locking things up) and a long rope. It worked a treat, I got the buoy lassoed but it still took considerable effort to get our mooring ropes through the leash but after a lot of angst and me screaming as the rope burnt through my grip, we got there. Our dignity just intact!

Not long after our arrival, two of the boats left and so we have a lovely uncrowded spot. We went snorkelling the one end and it was pretty good but nothing like some of the other places we’ve been to. Rowan went out snorkelling the other end of the island in the afternoon, while he was out the Marine Park boat came to get our payment for the buoy, $30 Eastern Caribbean dollars, about $11 US dollars. They said the best coral is where Rowan was, he came back jubilant, it was absolutely stunning. I look forward to exploring it tomorrow. I have rather a bad blocked ear which had prevented me going in the afternoon. I’m using some rather strange medication from Martinique to try and unblock it.

The Paradise bar is on the mainland on the other side.

Turtles breed here.

Windward side full of broken coral from last hurricane.

Locals replanted vegetation after last hurricane stripped it.

Rowan went to the boat nearest us to invite them for a drink, he didn’t get the friendliest reply but they told him they were going to the bar on the mainland for a bite to eat and we should join them later. We landed up having a very entertaining evening at the Paradise bar run by a lovely local lady called Alison. We met our retired American neighbours who were actually very friendly, we quickly discovered that she had obviously done very well in Pharmaceuticals, he described himself as her gigolo, a kept man. They bought their fancy aluminium hull boat (same make as the Germans in T&C’s) in France and took the mast off and spent 6 months cruising the canals of Europe, sounds quite amazing. Then they spent a year sailing in the Med before shipping it over to the Caribbean. This is their second season in the Caribbean, but because of Covid lockdown they have been anchored here since March and love it here. They are hauling their boat out in a couple of days so leave tomorrow. We are very grateful to have caught them just in time to discover Paradise bar! The only other person at the bar who was at the table with us, was a single Austrian guy who is on the other boat at Sandy island. He gave both Rowan and I the creeps! Interestingly he did his masters sailing course and certificate in South Africa.

The paradise bar

Sunset at the bar looking towards sandy island.

We had good fish tacos and chicken wings. The rum punches tasted delicious and not very strong, but after two I was flying and had major hiccups! They grated nutmeg on the top of the drink which was unusual but delicious. What a great day!