108. Christmas Day Diving

On Christmas Day morning I sailed round to West Bay with Ben and Tracy, and met up with Dana. We picked up Dan and Kayla and went for a dive on the Kittiwake. I went to shore to get Davide, who brought some amazing homemade pasta, we all had lunch and then went for a second dive off Cemetery Beach.

Christmas lunch on Vida Libre

There were loads of tropical fish, beautiful purple fan coral, I saw a porcupine fish, a huge turtle swam right up to me; it was like swimming in an aquarium. It was lots of fun diving with a group of friends, although I nearly choked laughing.

Moored in Whitehall Bay

I sailed back around to the Yacht Club on Tuesday. The seas were a bit rough and weather squally. Back to work was hard work, hopefully next pay day will be a good one. Today I sold a pair of fins to Mr. Finn.

Jolly Roger

107. Jah Bless

D7

One of the questions on my immigration form was, do you live in a house, apartment or hotel. Unfortunately it was a tick the box question; otherwise I would have just put ‘no’. Do I own or rent, was another tricky one. I spoke to Sheldon and Karl at the Yacht Club and to get the necessary signatures on the various forms, I signed a lease and motored round into slip D7. I haven’t been in a marina since Aruba, six months ago. It’s always nice to be surrounded by friends, and amenities, but it’s also a $400 monthly bill I can’t really afford.

Making the most of being on a dock, I scrubbed the decks, and washed down the cockpit. I should be able to finish the varnishing and fit my new engine parts soon. It’s a luxury being so near land, connected to water. I filled up with fuel and water and Ben dropped off two tanks and his gear ready for Christmas Day.

For Christmas Day the plan is to sail around to West Bay, meet up with Dana and go diving. Should be fun. Merry Christmas !

106. Cruise Ships

It was fun being in Whitehall Bay; nice to be on a mooring buoy, near town, watching the cruise ships coming in, and going out again. And especially cool being able to snorkel off the back of the boat. My new fins and mask are awesome. Sometimes there are five cruise ships anchored off George Town. At the moment there’s no dock (one is planned to be built soon – it’s a big issue here), so they drop anchor (under pilot guidance) and passengers are ferried to shore. They don’t stay overnight.

There’s even more debate about cruise ships now, after a video of a cruise ship anchor destroying coral went viral and the UK newspaper The Daily Mail picked up the story.

Sonic Boom in Whitehall Bay

There’s been lots of rain recently, and there looks like a big storm’s coming, so on my day off I sailed back around the island and into Governor’s Creek. I was going pretty fast until I approached the main channel into North Sound and hit strong winds and waves head on. It took an hour to motor the last couple of miles, then once I was through the channel, I put up my sails again and headed west to Governor’s Creek and beautifully calm waters.