Anniversary

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Wed 28 Mar 2012 15:42

Tuesday 27th March

 

Another very quiet day in the anchorage and all around – which makes a change from the nights….   A nearby charter boat seemed to be playing some sort of game which involved regular blowing of a conch shell followed by much cheering up until midnight, yup I am a spoilsport!  Heaven knows what happened to the sailing regatta today, as from our viewpoint across the channel not a single yacht was even pretending to sail today.

There is a small motor boat that goes around several anchorages selling various necessities and taking your garbage away.   As it is our anniversary today (30 years), we splashed out a bought some cakes to celebrate.   The very nice chatty young man (don’t I sound ancient nowadays?) gave us an incredibly depressing card about Lionfish.   This fish originated in the Indio-Pacific region but somehow has arrived here where it has no natural predators.   This is a very recent phenomenon and is terrifying the Caribbean as it will devastate their marine ecosystems and their commercial fishing industry.   They can grow an horrific 7”+ a year, mature in less than a year, reproducing all year-round and are capable to laying 2,000,000 eggs per year.   They can eat prey of up to three-quarters their size.   They also have venomous spines – we have read of one guy who was stung and who was in agony for several days, no painkiller even touched it.   Having seen none last year, we have seen several in St Kitts, Anguilla and St Barts.   The more wealthy islands are organising response programs – presumably they go out and capture and kill them.   The free yachtie newspaper featured recipes for Lionfish which was swiftly followed the next month with all the various warnings.   Sadly they are absolutely beautiful fish but they certainly make you nervous, nothing that pretty can be sat still displaying if it isn’t really venomous!

Rob also chose today to fall in love with another fish.   He was totally fascinated with her, so much so that I was instructed to take photos for posterity.   Worryingly it was her character which so attracted him.   Please go to the website and you will see her in all her charms (may take a few days before we can upload as we can just about get enough signal to send emails but no more at the moment.) Just bear in mind that this fish was the size of a fingernail.

I carried on with some more GRP polishing;  our red Najad stripes are taking a real bashing in the sun, tons of chalky red comes off in the polishing process.   Rob has been hard at work doing blurb for the marketing website of one of his clients, and for once was grateful not to be out in the heat.   Our new unique windscoop is very efficient even in these very light winds, although it had been designed for the howling winds we usually are coping with!

We managed to fit in a couple of good snorkels.  On my afternoon jaunt I spotted a Hawksbill turtle sat in amongst the rocks, the biggest Hermit crab I have ever seen hauling along an enormous conch shell,  a Goldentail Moray Eel and a Stingray.   Rob on the other hand had another encounter with a shark, this time a very much larger specimen cruising over our anchor which inspired his very hasty retreat to the boat.   I am beginning to wonder if I am completely blind as Rob always sees much more interesting (threatening?) stuff.   In the evening we spotted an Osprey roosting in a tree nearby.   And once darkness had fallen we disposed of the blood and last bits of unusable fish into the sea, lit with our spotlight and watched some very large fish or something bigger still, snatch it from the spot-lit area.   So ends today’s nature report!

Tomorrow should see a brief return to windy climes with a NE wind due;  hopefully we will still have protection in this bay.   In which case we might wander over the hill to the very exclusive Peter Island Resort for a probably extortionate coffee and catch up with proper wifi.   If not we will have to move around the island to the south with our rattling mast (the mechanism inside the mast is unstable without the padding of the mainsail rolled up inside or obviously, supported by the sail when in use).