We made the short trip back to Hermitage Bay followed by Rik and Sanne on Incentive, Our route cuts between the mainland and some islands, the nearest of which is a favourite hangout for Pelicans, every time we go by I try to get good pictures, I just love these birds!   

The group of boats from our last visit to the bay were all still here and we were invited along with Rik and Sanne join them on the beach for another Braai at 5pm. We had another great night with everyone.

 

Afterwards we headed back to the boat - I forgot something so we were heading back to the beach, on route we were met by Liz and Devin who were on their way to get me - Sanne had cut her foot on a bit of sharp tree/bush stump sticking up through the sand which she hadn't seen in the dark and had trodden on it. I headed over to Incentive to have a look and Steve went back the boat for some gloves etc. After he returned I had a good look at the wound there was very little blood but it was deep with bits of tissue hanging out, I flushed it with saline, put betadine on it and a sterile dressing and we decided that she needed to go to hospital to have it cleaned, stitched and hopefully be given some antibiotics.

Before it was cleaned up in A&E                                      after it was cleaned                         and after stitching up.

     

The following morning we went to visit and see how she was doing, she had been told to clean and redress the wound daily and asked if I would
come back later, redress it and show Rik what to do in future which I did. Steve dropped Rik at the shore so he could go and get the
prescription for antibiotics Sanne had been given in A & E - despite being a bank holiday the pharmacy in Jolly Harbour is open. When
Rik returned Steve picked him up and took him back to his boat before we headed ashore for the Potjie at 2pm, a potjie
is cooked in a round, cast iron, three-legged pot on hot coals, food is put in in layers, meat first then stock,
potatoes and veg etc the difference between this and a stew is that the potjie shouldn't be stirred, it’s slow cooked
for 3 hours. I had been tasked with making something to nibble on while it was cooking and made dips for everyone to nibble on while it was cooking. Of course being veggie I didn’t try the potjie but everyone else tucked in and enjoyed it, Liz, Devin and their friends are all
heading off for the hurricane season in a couple of days so this was their last meal together.

The next day we put our dive gear on to clean the keel - we can do the rest of the hull holding our breath but find it much easier with dive bottles, the current is surprisingly strong and its hard to stay with the boat without holding on and as we haven’t been doing much sailing the keel is dirty, comes off easy though. Afterwards we said our goodbye to Liz, Devin, John and Joanne.  The following morning Moosetracks, Out of Africa and Never Bored all left for their sail south to Grenada and Trinidad.

We headed back to Jolly Harbour for a short visit and anchored next to Moonlighting who was put back in the water
yesterday, after going ashore to get rid of rubbish and get some fresh fruit and veg etc from the shops, we had a lovely
last evening with Will and Alyssa.

Jolly Harbour anchorage.

We arranged to go back to Hermitage with them in the morning to spend some time on the beach with the girls so made the
trip again past the pelicans.

  

After a few hours ashore with Will Alyssa the girls and Wills parents it was time for them
to head back to Jolly Harbour, Wills parents fly home on Saturday and Moonlighting is setting sail back home via the
Azores the same day, we won’t see them again this side of the Atlantic but have some great memories of our time
together and some lovely pictures done for us by Connie and Grace. After wishing them a safe passage we waved goodbye.
We are now alone in Hermitage bay there were a couple of other boats here but by last night we were here by ourselves.
How lovely to have this pretty large anchorage to ourselves.
We did a few boat chores and I made a couple of new Mosquito nets for the hatches.