“21:37.611N 81:56.297W”

 

It was lunchtime and after not seeing any other boats for a couple of days a chunky old fishing boat appeared and we were hailed by the crew “lobster?”......”yes” we shouted and alongside they came as we rapidly strung out a line of fenders to protect Moonstone from the fishing boat’s rough sides.

 

They wanted to barter and we settled on six lobsters for a shackle and a couple of pieces of rope and bottle of rum......then they insisted on drinking the rum with us on their boat whilst one of them cooked us a lunch dish of another three lobsters each in a sausage sauce with cumin and garlic – delicious!  They gave us half a dozen eggs from their store and wanted us to take some chicken legs but when we said no they decided they were going to stay tied to Moonstone for the night and cook us a chicken, beans and rice dinner........wow!

 

Unfortunately our lack of Spanish and theirs of English made conversation a little difficult but with the help of Kindle dictionary we found out a little more about their lives and the challenges of their work.

 

This morning they guided us out through a cut in the cay that saved two hours on our passage.......the chart plotter said it was impossible and for a few minutes we thought we would run aground but their shortcut took us through the mangrove covered reef with only feet to spare on either side.

 

Tonight we are anchored off Cayo Rossario, we have a freezer full of lobster and life couldn’t be much better.