Could we ever get bored?

Some days I wonder if we’ll ever get bored of this. You tell me.

First order of the day was to move our spare chain from a locker near the front of the boat to one near the rear. Since we loaded on all our supplies and spare diesel Dignity has been looking a little down at the front. Moving the chain required us to lift it out end over end from the locker it was in and pile it on a mat. We then end to ended it from that mat onto another. From there we end to ended it straight into the stern locker. 200ft of 3/8″ (10mm almost) chain gives the arms a good work out.

We then planned to go to the beach for a walk but were interrupted by a local boat traveling from Isla Canas to San Miguel which was having problems with their outboard. In essence it was a local bus as it was full of folks heading off to San Miguel for the day. Language barrier was no problem as soon I was lending them tools to remove their spark plugs, giving them sand paper to clean them and spray to clean out the compression chambers. Soon they were off and then so were we.

First, all three of us went to the beach with the small streamlet. On the way we dropped off our camera, flip flops and sunglasses on the long beach off which we’re anchored so we could swim round later. On the smaller beach John took photos of the patterns in the bicoloured sand and we again built a few dams – couldn’t resist.

Helen and I then swam around the point to the longer beach where our gear was stashed. Along the way I spotted three lobsters including one pretty big one. I vowed to return later with my speargun to see if I could catch lunch.

Helen and I walked the length of the longer beach. We had the entire beach to ourselves which was special. At the far end we found a path to the next beach round. Sadly, this next beach faced into the prevailing winds (from the north) and was hence littered with plastic trash. Very sad.

We returned back along the path and headed out east onto the rocks which were slowly being covered by the rising tide in places. From there we had great views of the long beach / bay in which are anchored. John, who was now out in the dinghy fishing (ie casting the rod but catching nothing) came over and picked us up from there.

Back on the boat John and I quickly got our stuff together to go and search for lobsters. We first tried around where I saw the three earlier. One was found and despatched. The other two, including the large one, were not to be found. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place as the tide must have risen 2-3 feet in the time since I’d seen them. Maybe they’d just buggered off. It could be that just after low tide is a good time to find lobsters so I’m going to be back again around the same time as earlier to see if we can have more for lunch. We also dove outside the rocky outctop north of us. There were ledges galore about 10ft down which could have housed a city of lobsters but they were not there either.

Lunch was toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches and one lobster tail – not the most obvious mix.

After lunch we read a little before we all took the dinghy about a mile south to Isla del Epiritu Santo where we were originally going to anchor and where 5 boats are still anchored. We walked the beach and at the southern end found a path mentioned in the guide book which cross the island. The path was quite short and opened into a small beach which was stunningly beautiful. It was find sand closely surrounded by hills and lush vegetation. At one end it was covered with hermit crabs.

Not being beach bums we took our pictures and headed back to the original beach. One the original beach we were stunned to find a set of tires used for a canal transit all made up for a sailboat just dumped. Could not believe someone on a sailboat could be so environmentally abusive.

Back in the dinghy we took a long route back to Dignity exploring the coast of Isla Del Rey including going a very small distance up a stream through some mangroves.

So – it doesn’t look like we’re getting bored just yet.

Today I’m going after the lobsters that I’m sure will be there just after low tide. Later, we may move the boat. Maybe not. Not sure.