We asked the friendly restaurant waiter exactly what Karibuni, the name of the restaurant we were at, might mean. He thought for a moment and said he thought it might be a Swahili greeting of some sort as the owners had spent some time in Africa.

Before we greet you with our most recent adventures, we should tell you how we got here, trying to figure out the meaning of Karibuni, in the first place.

With Les Mardis de Grande Case over, the anchorage had once again become quiet and tranquil, however, it was time for us to continue with our plans to voyage on the French side of things, and wanted to go explore Orient Bay.

The weather conditions as we left were sunny and hot, and we were greatly looking forward to being greeted by warm, snorkelling type of waters. We were only 7 nautical miles away, so all this could feasibly happen sometime after lunch, non?

The weather forecasts are often written in sand, easily washed away by water and sure enough, when we headed round the point,



the skies started to look a tad more menacing,



and a squall was waiting to greet us with its dark blue skies, ramped up winds, and the waves increasing in swell. We ramped up our speed thinking we could outrun this menace and be anchored in time for a total Banyan wash down.



Chris Doyle's guide books do their best to impress upon you the "dangerous and difficult" entrance to the Bay and we had those words weighing heavy on our minds as we boogled* both the entrance and the squall. The guide continues on to indicate that, if "winds approach 20 knots, the waves are steep in depths of 20 feet or less". Here we were with an incoming squall that could easily force winds of 20 knots on us. Swell.

The only sentence that saved us was "do not enter during the afternoon when the sun is in your eyes". Ok, well, squall equals no sun. Check.

"Huge breaking seas build up on the shoal, so it must be avoided".
"Identify the false entrance"
"You will get no warning before running hard aground".

What kind of sweet greeting was this place offering up??

So here we were, incoming rain, increased winds, and facing some pretty impressive surf-type of conditions that propelled Banyan bow first and bow down into what we hoped would be deep enough waters of the channel as she surfed the waves in. Once safely inside, we promptly turned around to face the wind, as the worst of it passed by.



Phew, that done and dealt with, we now turned right in order to navigate our way to the Park Mooring balls by Isle Pinel. As we tried to pick one up, we won't tell you that for the second time in Banyan's cruising life, her keel oh-so-gently glided on the sandy bottom and we quickly, and thankfully, quite easily, backed out before the sand sucked us in, and ventured just a tad further away to anchor.

Anchor down, we pulled back and hard and found ourselves firmly dug in, nestled in place, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Mother Nature cooperated by bringing out the sun and life was dry once again. Time for a late afternoon lunch.

Once digestion complete, it was time to snorkel and first order of business was to follow the anchor chain and "Oh No !!" We both looked at each other in wide-eyed-wonder as we stared below us on the totally unset anchor, laying on its side, between two large cement blocks, surrounded by some wayward broken links of chain, that probably once held a mooring ball.

A quick and frantic swim back to board Banyan, raise the anchor trying hard not to bring up any of the loose chain that was down there. Sure enough we did. Down goes the anchor, try and shake it loose, and try again, this time with great success. We had to relocate ourselves, except this time, just to make things more challenging and fun, we had a multitude of other boats surrounding us, and keeping an eye on the depth was crucial as I certainly didn't want to run us aground while Dave was pointing at me to go this way and that way while he was looking for a sandy patch, one with no cement blocks or chain please and thank you, and perhaps, just to add to the stress, let's not hit a turtle on the head while dropping the anchor??

Now you know why we enjoy our arrival beers so much!!

Settled once again and anchor rechecked, we were this time finally able to go for a serious snorkel around the reef surrounding Îlet Pinel followed by a delicious supper while watching the sun do its own own salutations as it set on the horizon.



Who do we see appear and anchor near us the next day but our friends, Dave and Deb (SV Alexian) with waves and plans of "Let's get together for Lunch!!"

(Hmm, where have we heard this before?)

The taxi boats have been bringing boat-load upon boat-load of tourists here for the day, and the quiet deserted island that was the night before was soon a mess of lounge chairs and umbrellas and people, and once ashore, we weaved our bodies through them. We walked through the little shops selling touristy type things, bypassed the completely full Yellow Beach Restaurant, opting to try this welcoming table at Karibuni's instead.



We sat in the shade, the palms doing nothing to protect us from the enveloping heat of the afternoon day.



First order of business was a couple of Mojitos for Deb and I, a cold beer for Deb's Dave, and a Pina Colada for my Dave.

I do believe that the discussion around this smile was centred around the last meal we shared back at Friar's Bay, something about Kidneys à la Rosé ??



We shared some Calamari, but this time The Boys opted for some "plain ole hamburgers", while Deb and I were feeling the trio plate of appetizers. Calamari, Ribs and Conch Fritters,



which were delicious, however, were swimming way over their head in oil. Perhaps even drowning. After a few bites, I couldn't continue to rescue them.

This place was feng-shui'd to perfection. Everywhere your eyes could possibly look reminded you of a picture perfect sandy type of paradise, the birds tweeting their greetings around us,



(wonder if their bread was dipped in oil) and other creatures that could easily be mutated to gigantic proportions in order to create a B-Rate Horror movie perched on the undersides of leaves,



as almost perfectly hidden lizards scampered by on the sandy twigs that lay on the ground,



and Hens Ran Amuck looking for who knows whatever it is that Hens Running Amuck look for.



Dare we say we laughed and chatted the afternoon away, and once again, found ourselves facing a $90 lunch bill. Not sure who is to blame, but I think our mutual love of food is leading to some expensive, yet oh-so-much-fun type of habits !!

We refreshingly swam back to our boats and enjoyed a great evening over Sushi-type of appetizers,



along with some St Marcelin cheese (made even better by a fresh loaf of baguette to dip it all with), thanks to Deb, my perfect partner-in-crime, and Karibuni !!

As the darkness enveloped us, we noticed some bluish lights flickering in the depths of water, "What the...?"

Leaning over the side for a closer look, we all exclaimed "wow" in unison and wonderment as Dave and Deb explained this to be some sort of Bioluminescent Mating Ritual of JellyFish.

Not sure of the science of it all, but it was quite the spectacle to see their tentacles touch and emit a glow, perhaps they were sending us their love and greetings as they passed us by, in a language all of their own, for all to understand.


** Boogled: Binocular Ogling **