Martha and Dave (he's Australian - nice accent) from the yellow boat dinghied to the beach near us to clean the 4 conch they'd caught for dinner and I got a lesson on how to get the critter out of the shell and cleaned for cooking. They put a hole in it between the second and third whorl on top of the spire, with a sharp pick hammer then push a sharp knife through the hole and put the blade point along the surface of the columella - pressing it forward then across severing the muscle from the columella in a scraping motion. Turn the conch over, reach inside, and pull the critter out by the operculum (claw), then skin, cut & gut it... As they were getting ready to go back to the boat, Denny dinghied over to see what the secret to anchoring here was. They were still dragging and resetting. Martha said to be sure to visit the Berry Club Bar - beer here is only $3 (and they have internet access?).

We discovered that the sand here is a thin layer that coats hard pack layers of limestone (coral). So anchoring here isn't very good. That's probably why they have moorings further back. Dave said that he always dives on his anchor and pounds it in. There are a few good patches of sand here and there but for the most part it's poor holding. They pointed out several areas they thought would be good, and Aurora ended up going a little further down near the point to the north. Most boats try and anchor and catch the grass then end up dragging. I noticed that there are grass patches marked on the charts. Great - while we haven't drug, now I'm going to be on guard all night.

After that, we didn't explore much but went back to the boat to keep on eye on things. I made some hot pork sandwiches and corn for dinner and finished it off with some pudding. Anchor lights on, wind generator off (making to much energy with nothing attached yet to dissipate the excess) and I'd bet another sleepless night for me. David said it was supposed to calm down tonight but that's not what we'd heard. Hope Den & Brigid have settled in for the night...