While we were in the museum it poured down with rain again and remained overcast when we left. We decided to continue onto the beach. I certainly felt that having lugged our lunch and snorkel gear up the hill we should at least go the distance to the beach.

At the beach we ate our lunch but decided against getting into the water as it was still overcast and quite windy. So we headed back to the boat, handled a last few emails and calls then moved the boat over to Ilet a Cabrit. The anchorage is wonderful. It is sheltered against the prevailing winds and the water calm. Now that we’re used to anchoring in over 40 feet we felt quite comfortable dropping the hook at the edge of the group of boats already gathered here.

The afternoon was mainly sleeping and reading until 3pm when we took the dinghy to the reef at the west end. Helen snorkeled and I took a tank down and dove. The area was full of fish and we both enjoyed ourselves. This time I took my old camera and it’s underwater housing. I will upload pics when I can.

I’m a bit peed off with the dive shop in Falmouth Harbour. We paid to have our four tanks inspected and filled with air. Two of the three we’ve used had lost a third of their air. It appears that the inspection was poorly performed as these two tanks are leaking air where the first stage screws into the tank.

Looking forward we’re looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow before heading for Point-a-Pitre on Sunday. Wind forecasts are marginal for the sail. But we may just go anyway and take our time. We’ll see as we get closer.

First half of the day was light as we were recovering from the previous nights escapades. I did manage a trip to the bakery for fresh bread for lunch.

This afternoon we took a walk over to Marigot Bay and up onto the point beyond called Morne Morel. We were presented with some beautiful sights including looking down into Plage de Pompiere which we eventually walked down to. It’s a beautiful area and we want to spend a bit more time there.

So this defines the next few days. Tomorrow it’s up early to finally get some decent fresh croissants. If the croissants are as good as the bread they’ll be heavenly. After breakfast we’ll prepare lunch and pack our snorkels and first stop will be back up the hill to Fort Napoleon. After that we’ll head to Plage de Pompierre where we’ll go rock hopping, snorkeling and have our lunch. Back on Dignity we’ll move over to Ilet a Cabrit and stay a couple of nights to unwind ready for our trip to Point-a-Pitre on Sunday.

Getting back to the boat we found a huge trimaran had hooked up to a mooring near to us and the anchorage overall had turned into a but of a scrum. The trimaran crew gestured that they tended to swing a lot and we needed to move. We shortened the chain thinking this would be enough. We ate ashore at 7pm. The dinner was nice but not memorable and not really worth what we paid.

Back on Dignity we found we had come up alongside another boat that was originally 40 feet in front of us and well to the side. It looked like currents and winds were taking individual boats in different directions. We lengthened the chain a bit and put out fenders thinking it would be better to stabilize the situation than to move and reanchor in the dark. We were woken several times by boats around us lifting their anchors and shifting. Eventually we heard a bump as Dignity came alongside the original boat and managed a light contact. We rushed to deck and were greeted by an angry man who’d come out from shore in his dinghy demanding we move. We had already come to the same conclusion.

Helen had a good suggestion which was to head back to Pain de Sucre. We had our original track to follow on the GPS, it was less than a mile away and we were familiar with the lay of the bottom. This would be better than finding a spot outside of the Bourg or trying to anchor in over 50ft where it was clear.

We made 3 or 4 separate attempts to anchor as we were uncomfortable with where we were settling before finally being comfortable enough to fall and stay asleep for the night well after 1am.

Waking this morning I see we’re one of ten boats in this anchorage which is crowded compared to previously. Perhaps it’s a midweek thing as folks on one week charters find their way here during the middle of their trip. Who knows.

We’re both feeling pretty tired so I imagine today we won’t doing too much. We may move the boat nearer to town though so we can get access to the delicious fresh bread and hopefully the internet again.