So Long Rodney Bay, Hello Bat Cave

This morning we left our slip in Rodney Bay Marina and headed away, perhaps for the last time. We left the first reef in the main from our last sail but soon found it necessary to shake it out as winds were pretty light.

For this trip I put out four separate lines, each with a different lure, including my ‘special’ made up of a fishlike lure and some attractive (to fish) yellow feathers. I was feeling hopeful. Except for a few gusts down through valleys, the winds remained light for the whole trip. At one point they switched from east to west so we tacked without changing heading. We spied Bees Knees anchored in Anse La Raye where we believe they are off for a hike to a waterfall.

As we neared Soufriere we were overtaken by two of the Carnival party cats both of which were fully occupied with locals and blaring out loud music.

Three miles out we were met by a boat helper who promised to help us with a mooring. A mile from the turn into Soufriere I reluctantly pulled in all the lines. The biggest lure showed signs of something having taken a chomp out of it but that doesn’t count. One of these days we’ll have fresh fish but not today.

Our boat helper took us over to south side of Soufriere as the mooring balls by the Bat Cave were all taken. We dined on homemade rotis before aiming to rest.

Just after we finished lunch we noticed the mooring ball closest to the Bat Cave was free so we slipped ours and headed over. As it is such a good snorkeling spot we both jumped in and had a good swim around. We ventured into the crack in the cliff which constitutes the Bat Cave and were amazed at the shear number of bats clinging to the walls inside. Before finishing the snorkel I managed to get stung by a jellyfish. I think the last time I was stung was here too.

We’ve just been in touch with Bees Knees who are approaching the area. They are going to check out the balls between the Pitons. If there is more than one free they’ll let us know and we’ll motor over for the view.