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Sunday 28^th July

It has to be said that we were initially rather put to shame by Jamie who started his day with a swim in the icy cold bay followed by a run with his son and their very athletic house guests of around 4 miles. He then woke us up by texting us this information along with an invitation to breakfast.

We declined on the basis that we had opted to continue on our way ‘down east’ and wanted to make the 35 mile trip to the picturesque anchorage behind Mistake Island, which would put us within striking distance of Roque Island which is near the top of the list of places to visit up here. Jamie seemed very understanding but nevertheless he rowed out in his dinghy to take a look over Serafina before we left and made the kind offer that we should feel free to call in again on our way back down the east coast of the USA.

The only downsides to this plan were the rain, the absence of wind (and what there was, was coming from the direction we wanted to go) and the FOG. So the trip along this stunning and impressive coastline was rather marred by the fact that we could only view sea, lobster buoys and fog (did I mention the fog?).

So 6 hours later we made our way gingerly down a narrow channel, past the rugged granite cliffs and wooded shores of Steele Harbor Island and the small islands clustered around Mistake Island that combine to create a small, beautiful, flat and protected anchorage. It is very like Nonsuch Bay in Antigua (but on a tiny scale), in that you can see the open Atlantic through the channels between the rocks and islands, but the reefs and ledges kills the big rollers and so all is still and peaceful in this small ‘pond’.

The fog had very helpfully lifted as we approached, so navigation by eye was easy however this then exposed the inevitable carpet of lobster pot buoys.  There was a motor cruiser already at anchor, but apart from the hordes of buoys, and once past the two “ledges” guarding the entrance, there was enough room and good depths, allowing for the 4 metre tides here. But as we settled on a spot to drop the hook, we snagged a buoy and its line under our rudder. This just needed a bit of patience to resolve and eventually our weight won out and we drifted clear. We then dropped anchor, but unfortunately whilst gently reversing up to set the anchor, we caught another pot and line tight around the rudder and with a clattering from our prop, we came to a complete and sudden halt!

As the driver  at the time, Sarah did not hesitate to decide that it was her responsibility and so she put on her wet suit (having removed full ocean waterproofs, couple of layers of clothes, and full set of thermals – oh how she loves the summer weather here) and went under the hull to review the situation. The rope was wrapped tightly around the prop and shaft (the attached cutter does not help much if you reverse onto the line) so the only solution was to cut the line free.

We unearthed and assembled our new purchased (April 2013) hookah surface dive system. This is made by Sea Breathe and we had bought it to replace our mini B scuba kit which we found rather impractical when away from a refilling facility ashore. Basically it is a 12v powered compressor, along with hoses and an inflatable reservoir air  tank coupled to a conventional diving demand valve and mouthpiece. So you can dive under the boat and breath normally, connected to the air supply by an air hose. It was just perfect for this job which is what we had bought it for and so as she was already wet and cold… (water temp 16.5 C) Sarah was keen to continue. So in no time at all, she had cut the rope off and all was well – and she came up eulogising about the Hookah, its ease of use both breathing and manoeuvring.

So as Sarah was warming up in the shower and we were putting the kit away, the motor boat (Dolphin Dream) called us on the VHF to congratulate the ‘young lady’ who had saved the day. We had a very nice chat with Bill who was very helpful and impressed by our travels to date and in addition asked if there was anything we needed.

The bay/anchorage is very pretty and populated by a large colony of seals and as the tide went down in the evening, they all congregated for a snooze on an exposed rocky outcrop nearby.

We ended the day with a full game of Mexican train and in a tense and close finish – Sarah won, narrowly beating James who had lead for most of the evening. I as usual came last with an all-time highest single round score of an impressive 268 (from 24 tiles….) to take my overall score over 600!  We also unearthed the rules supplied with this boxed version of the game and they differ considerably from the version we have at home, which adds to the fun and confusion!