Banyan's Underway Again

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Letting go of our lines, saying "see you soon" to our friends, and stealthily slipping off the dock of Secret Harbour Marina was a feat in-of-itself. We've spent the last two weeks alongside, prepping Banyan, and ourselves, for Season Three.

Emotionally enough as exciting as the idea of Adventuring can be, the actual motion of casting off, leaving and departing, is always a tad nerve-wracking. But now, now it was Banyan's TIME to GO. The call to Adventuring was Loud and Strong.

"Besides..." I murmured (and contrary to popular belief). "Marina's are ALOT of hours and days of non-stop hard sweaty bust your ass type of work". The satisfaction likes in the knowledge that the more you do now, the less you have to do during the Season. And both of us being a little OCD on the Organized Side, well we wanted things this year to be Just So.

We motored just around the corner, past Saline Point, and towards St-George's. Once anchored, which is easier said than done given the gnarly bottom there, our next task was to activate the WaterMaker.

Being in open water allowed clearer waters to purge the system in the proper timeframe and sequence. Thankfully all went well and we filled up the water tank that had just been emptied.

Now that our freezer was back on and running, we dinghied into town for a quick run to Foodland for provisions. And followed that by a grand evening spent with friends Jeff and Izzy (MV IzzyR), all of us chatting over a feast of a meal, and all of us even more eager beaver to set out on our respective Adventures.

Next morning we weighed anchored bright and early. The first task at hand was to make sure the sails et al, were in perfect running order.

"Hmm... what's going on here?" muttered Dave to himself, as he spent the next hour tangling around some reef lines, as I patiently nosed Banyan into the wind, waiting for the "All clear, let's Go" signal.

Before too long, the signal was given, and we finally pointed Banyan's bow North. We were underway,



and it was fun to feel the wind in our faces and the pull of the boat as she sliced through the water.

We weren't the only ones on the move on this gloriously picture perfect sailing day.



And then, barely 35 nm later, we chose to anchor by Sandy Island (Carriacou). Sandy Island is a narrow sandy atoll in Hillsborough Bay, with a few palm trees and lots of pelicans flying over the cruiser-built Inukshuks.



I jumped in with a yell of Glee, and schools of fish greeted me. I quickly surfaced from underwater and yelled up to Dave,

"And there be no Jellyfish!!".

That evening we watched the spectacular colours of the magical setting of the sun, something you can never really tire of,



and after supper, we noticed the whole waterway of the incoming tide begin to light up with bioluminescent lights.

Imagine for a moment that you are watching clouds of Fireflies against a backdrop of intense blackness.



And know that this is all happening Underwater. Individual points of bright lights would emerge out of nothingness, and seemingly like magnets congregate together where they would bounce and explode into globs of greenish tentacles of light strings that slowly expanded and then faded into nothingness. An underwater display of Fireworks of the Natural Kind.

The whole spectacle only lasted about 15 minutes. And then it all disappeared and darkness and silence enveloped us in its warm embrace. Wow.