The weather for our first full day back at Fernandez Bay was perfect, warm and sunny with light winds. We were up early to take full advantage of the conditions so after a few morning chores we set off snorkeling. The goal was to snorkel around a couple of small rock islands about a quarter of a mile outside the anchorage while the wind was still calm. However, the snorkeling wasn't very interesting so we returned to a great spot we had found on our last trip. It was so clear and calm that we could see our shadows on the bottom as we explored the reef.

After a quick lunch back on board Dagny I pumped up the kayak and we set off to explore the canals through the mangroves. The tide was up allowing us to venture much deeper in the canals and we actually found another exit out into the bay. However, we decided to return the same way we came in hope of seeing some turtles, but today was not our lucky day. Then, as if we hadn't had enough exercise for the day, we headed in to walk the beach. The east side of the bay is ringed by a 1km. beautiful crescent beach; we strolled along checking out the resort cottages and private homes that line the water front. Needless to say after all that activity we slept like babies that night.

Shortly before dusk on Monday evening a sailboat arrived in the anchorage, as they dropped the hook there seemed to be some sort of issue on the boat. There a a few isolated coral heads around and I thought maybe they had hit one because all of a sudden the guy jumped overboard with a snorkel to check under the boat. After a frantic few minutes he was back on board trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I dinghied over to see if I could help and it turned out that the locking pin had fallen out of the propellor shaft allowing it to spin in the coupling. Without any propulsion they had thrown out the anchor and luckily for them it set quickly. About an hour later the fellow radioed me and explained he had figured out a temporary fix for the locking pin but needed power to run a grinder. I loaned him our Honda generator for the night so he could complete his repairs and charge his batteries if needed.

When I retrieved the generator Tuesday morning we were invited for lunch aboard "Dee" and had a chance to meet a very interesting couple. Joao is from Portugal and worked for the Chinese government for 11years prior to buying this boat to take his family cruising. His wife Kumploy is from Thailand, not sure where they met and they have an 6 year old daughter who was born in the US. We enjoyed a great lunch listening to stories of their travels.

Our agenda for the next few days is to explore more of Cat Island as we slowly move north with a planned crossing to Eleuthera over the weekend.

Today picture is of Bev taking a break on our beach walk.