Grenada is certainly a lovely island, and after our third snorkel over the sculpture site we headed a mile or two north to Halifax Harbour. This part of the west coast falls under the protection of the Marine Park, although we saw several locals fishing off of Moliniere Point right next to the ‘No Fishing, No Anchoring’ sign – the marine park rangers paid them a visit but only to say hi, as they continued to fish undisturbed.

Well, Halifax is not actually a harbour as such, but a natural bay fully protected from the elements – except it has overhead wires across the entrance and a council dump close to its south shore and it lies just above the park boundary.  We settled in the north of the outer bay right under Black Bay Point, and it was absolutely beautiful with no sign of a dump or flies.

Pannikin found a bit of sand to anchor in,  the rest is mainly coral so we took up the only mooring buoy present.  A quick snorkel on the buoy to make sure it was adequate revealed, amongst amazing corals and fish life, a large concrete block quite capable of holding Joy, although the rope looked a little worn so we decided it would be prudent to attach our own line with a shackle to the block later that day. 

After a swim to check out the lion fish beneath us, I finished sewing up our main sail cover which had detached itself from the corded tape which slides along a groove in the boom.  This had been Mum and I’s project over the last week or so before her return to the UK, and now finally it is ready to go back on and protect the sail from the harmful Caribbean UV rays.  Pannikin came over for a few beers before supper.  Yes, attaching our own rope and shackle to the block had slipped our minds.  A minute or two after waking the next morning, we heard a clonk which did not sound familiar, going up on deck to investigate we discovered we had detached the buoy from the block and were drifting gently out to sea!  Luckily it is so protected here with no wind blowing,  so the engine went on quick sharp, we took our line off the buoy and Jez dived in.  The rope connected to the block had chafed through, this cut away Jez was ready to drag the buoy back to the block and dive to re-attach it.  He then attached our own shackle to the block with our own anchoring rope. Now we were definitely secure!  We must never put off a job, even if it is ‘beer o’clock’!

This bird of prey called continuously with either its young or a mate, I finally managed to snap it as it circled around the cliffs.

Jez and Steve had a scuba dive in Halifax Harbour, down a coral wall to some 60 feet deep.   They saw dozens of Lion Fish, although they are so beautiful they are a threat to all native fish here and are usually removed, but are thriving in this bay unfortunately, right next to the Marine Park.

They also saw a Sting Ray at the bottom of the wall.

I think this is a Jackknife fish which is part of the Drum family, so called because they make a low drumming or croaking noise with special muscles.

I love these, they are ‘Spotfin Butterflyfish’ although you have to look closely to see the ‘spot’!