5th March

18 29 N
64 23 W

Weather: sunny, wind 10 knots E, waves 2 feet

We were the lazy boat in the harbor this morning, all of the charter fleet seemed to have left by the time we looked outside, not that it was really late but I think they were mostly at the end point of their charters and needed to get back close to where ever their base was to return the boat ready for the next lot of would be sailors. As Maz needed to do her laundry this morning we went ashore and got organized with the tokens and washing machine then did a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up those items that we just couldn't manage without for the next few days (no chocolate!). Then it was time for Maz to do her shopping in the Pusser's store, she didn't buy some of the stuff that she had tried on last night, having thought about it overnight and deciding that she could but the same stuff back home - no point in taking coals to Newcastle! By the time the shopping was done the laundry had done its cycle and the clean, but not dry, clothes were loaded into the bag to take back out to the boat. Gerry and I put the dinghy back on the davits whilst Maz turned the boat interior into a Chinese laundry to dry the clothes - it was a bit too breezy to hang everything out on the life lines and besides she really didn't need everything covered in sea spray. By 11am Gerry was itching to get going so once again I relinquished my helm position to Maz and Gerry hauled up the anchor and barked instructions to Maz via the headphones. As the harbor was fairly empty it was an easy exit, just had to avoid running over the mooring balls! As we headed out through the channel markers a couple of catamarans were heading inbound so it was time for Maz to practice the "road rules" whilst hoping that the catamaran helms men knew the same rules! If they knew them they did a reasonable job, if they didn't then they made lucky decisions and we passed them safely and made it out into the deep blue yonder. Turning to port we headed towards Beef Island which was to be our next stop, the wind was just about right to put up the stay sail and Jib and turn the engine off. We sailed in the peace and quiet for quite a while, getting along at about 5 knots which occasionally reached 6.5 Knots - good enough to throw the fishing stick out and frighten the fish - well you all know by now that we are the worst fishermen on the water, the fish were perfectly safe! When we reached the outer aspects of Beef Island we furled the sails away and started the engine to make it easy to negotiate the channel and either pick up a mooring ball or set our anchor. I'm not quite sure what Maz made of the planes that were taking off from Beef Island as we made our way through the channel markers and the planes were flying over our heads but it can be a scary experience for the first time. Anyway we headed into the bay and again were surprised by the few boats that moored or anchored there, we were early in the day so maybe it would fill up as the afternoon went by. We elected to drop our anchor rather than pick up a mooring ($30 in our pocket meant we could have a cocktail each ashore). As we sat making sure that we weren't moving anywhere the mooring Nazis came around the anchorage collecting the fee for mooring balls, they approached us and said they were collecting the fees and looked quite put out when Gerry pointed out that we weren't actually on a mooring, we were anchored. Their comeback was that we were quite close to the mooring balls ( it wasn't possible to be any further away as they are tightly packed in but it is a designated anchoring spot), Gerry then said that if someone came in and wanted to take the mooring ball we would move, I think they were quite disgruntled as there is nothing they can do about us being at anchor and no fee is payable. We sat watching a couple more boats come in and take moorings but no one came close to us and there were plenty of empty mooring available for the rest of the night so we didn't end up having to move. Maz jumped in the water a couple of times - younger and more energy than either of us until we pointed out the large fish that were swimming around the boat - not sure what they were but nothing untoward, however it put Maz off going in again. Once the sun had set, we showered and dressed to go ashore for happy hour, leaving our Christmas (transom) lights on and tying up to the temporary plastic, wobbly, dinghy dock and walking the short distance to the closest bar in time to get one lot of 2 for 1 drinks before the end of happy hour. With happy hour over we decided to have a look a bit further along the walkway to see what was open in the way of places to eat. There were 2 more places that were open but neither had customers at the time so we picked one, Jeremy's Kitchen, and made our selves comfortable. The menu was a bit limited but the lady serving us was honest enough to tell Maz that the Mahi wasn't local caught, and there was enough choice for us all to pick something we fancied. The food was a bit slow coming out as we were the first customers of the night (but not the last) but was quite delicious and we all enjoyed our choices. We showed Maz the area that the full moon party is usually held in, the fire spheres were pretty much full of wood and ready to burn but full moon is still a few days away so we aren't going to be around to see it. We also explained that the local artisans have stalls at full moon party and there are (or at least were in the past) all sorts of art and craft things for sale - pity we are going to miss it. So after dinner it was a slow walk back along the beach to the dinghy dock and a quick ride back out to our well lit boat. After a night cap in the cockpit it was time for bed.