A lovely sail
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Wed 23 Mar 2011 04:01
17:04.2N
61:40.2W
Wednesday 23rd March
2011
Distance run: 23
nmiles
We left Falmouth
Harbour around 0930 for the beat round to Green Island on the East coast.
If we sailed the rhumb line it would have been 9 miles. The wind was dead
on the nose once we rounded the headland, and so we had to put in several tacks.
We actually sailed 23 miles, and it was a beautiful beat to windward in lovely
conditions, with the wind 12-15 knots and the sea as well-mannered as I have
known it since we arrived on this side of the Atlantic. Obviously it was
on its best behaviour for James.
We arrived at the
anchorage mid-afternoon and picked our way through the shoals to a lovely spot
in a deserted bay. We were slightly perturbed by the wreck we passed on
the reef on the way in,but at least we knew which way NOT to
go!
A sad
sight.
We dropped the
anchor in Ricketts Bay on Green Island and immediately went for a swim and
snorkel on the reefs on one side. Steve got a bit of a shock when he came face
to face with a huge fish and decided not to stay around long enough to make its
acquaintance! We saw a turtle several times,but never long enough to
photograph. It would surface a couple of times, took a good look
round and then go below again , so we never had enough time to grab the
camera before it disappeared!
Ricketts Bay,
Green Island. Beach to the
left... ..and
beach to the right - and no other boats - lovely!
Just as the sun was
about to go down, another boat arrived and anchored in OUR anchorage-
cheek! Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. In the morning a large
day-tripper catamaran arrived and filled one beach with holidaymakers for a few
hours at lunchtime, but they were not noisy like the Turkish
gulets,and provided us with entertainment,particularly when the catamaran
had to relaunch itself off the beach from which the tide had dropped
since it arrived! A lot of engine roaring and clouds of black smoke later
there was an almost audible communal sigh of relief from the passengers, though
we were fairly certain the skipper had done it once or twice
before.