Exercises in Anchoring
… Wed 28th Feb –
Thurs 1st March
We left Petite Anse d’Arlet on Wednesday morning and motored
around the headland to Grande Anse d’Arlet which has a large but crowded
anchorage. We chose our spot to drop the hook carefully, trying to place it on
sand rather than grass as we’ve seen the damage that anchors and chains can do
to the grass beds. Despite our best efforts we ended up closer than we would
have like to another boat and decided to pull and try again. However, as we
brought in the anchor we could see it was close and possibly hooked on a large
concrete block of a historic mooring. We maneuvered the boat to try and pull
from the free side and managed to get the anchor free, but it came up hooked to
a chain that we believe was connected to this old mooring. We were ready to
jump in the dinghy and free the anchor when a paddle boarder came by and helped
us. We were a little freaked out by all of this and decided to move to a
different area to the north of the bay and second time worked out better and we
anchored securely in about 25 feet of water.
After a quick break we headed to shore and had an excellent
lunch of grilled red snapper (Mike) and marlin (Gloria). In the afternoon we
hiked back to Petite Anse d’Arlet just so we could go the bank and get some
cash! It was a hot hike followed by a swim off the boat. The evening provided
an outstanding sunset with the beautiful yacht “Marie des Isles” providing a
great accompaniment for photos. The following day we got chatting to the two
children on this boat. Apparently they bought the boat about 6 months ago and
plan to sail round the world. But they are using their time in the Caribbean to
get familiar with the boat. At present they have an alternator issue and are
waiting for spares that could take 5 weeks to arrive!
Thursday was Mike’s birthday. We had a good hike in the
morning round to the headland to the north and the ruins of a French gun battery
designed to protect the anchorage during the Anglo-French wars. One of the
interesting things we saw were lots of crab traps. These are on land placed
over the holes in the mud where the crabs emerge. If the crabs step onto a wire
the trap is sprung and they can’t escape the wooden box. There were dozens of
these throughout the mangroves. Once again this was a hot walk and in the
afternoon we snorkeled the north side of the bay that is designated marine
park. I thought it was really beautiful with lots of fan-corals and loads of
smaller fish. Gloria seemed less thrilled as her mask wouldn’t stop leaking and
she couldn’t see too much! After luxury showers on board (actually just the
same old garden sprayer!) we went back to shore and had dinner out at a lovely
restaurant just off the beach. We haven’t been ashore at night very much so
this felt like a real treat. We ate so much food that when we got back to the
boat neither of us felt like going straight to bed – so it was about 10.30 pm
before we finally hit the sack. Talk about pushing the boat out … an hour and
half past boaters midnight … almost unprecedented!
Marie Des Isles at Sunset Grande Anse D'Arlet
Marie Des Isles at Sunset Grande Anse D'Arlet
Marie Des Isles at Moonrise Grande Anse D'Arlet ... read the small print ... yes, this is fake, it's double exposure with the moon shot in the east and the boat post sunset in the west
Restaurant Ti Sable - Grande Anse d'Arlet
The dock and harbor - Grande Anse d'Arlet
Marie Des Isles at Sunset Grande Anse D'Arlet
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