Position: 17:01.024N 61:46.440W

Date: Monday 20^th May 2013

On Sunday we felt like a change of scenery and so took a short trip eastwards.  It required us to sail directly into the trade winds and so we again had a wet and bumpy journey.  But it wasn’t far, and by tacking we passed Eric Clapton’s house a couple of times, so Eileen was happy.   In order to get into the bay where Green Island lies we had to cross a shallow bank about half a mile wide that was only about 6 metres deep.  The water was very clear and turquoise, but with the atlantic swells coming straight in and building over the shoal it was rather disconcerting to sail over it and see the bottom very clearly as the concave side of the waves had a distinct lensing effect.

Once we were over the bank and into deeper water we could afford to look around and appreciate just how beautiful the area was.  There were a few unobtrusive developments around the bay but otherwise it was a very natural looking coastline with blue/turqouise water, small ochre cliffs, coral shoals and very green land.

Green Island itself is uninhabited and it had a couple of small bays on its leeward side. We went into one of them, and found a delightful anchorage with a small cove, shallow protected water and a white sandy beach at its head.  Ashore numerous agave plants thrust their brilliant yellow spikes skywards.

We had a wonderful time there swimming, scrambling over the small rocks around the bay and just chilling out.  Below is a picture of some chitons that were living on the rocks ashore.

Unfortunately a change in the weather was forecast with stronger winds, building seas and rain, so we only stayed one night. I didn’t relish the prospect of having to re-cross the shallow bank with bigger seas running.  On Monday morning we upped anchor and made our way back to Falmouth Harbour, this time sailing downwind so the journey took half the time.  As we approached Falmouth harbour the rain caught up with us and so yet again we found ourselves working our way into an anchorage in poor visibility and soaked to the skin.