12:00.048N 061:44.545W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 19 Dec 2012 15:18
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"Hog Island - Wednesday 18th December"
Sunday was a lazy day, we decided to stay quietly
on board and listen to the music gently floating over the bay
from Roger's Bar in the tranquillity of our cockpit. We had enjoyed
the music at the Paring the previous evening, but it had been very loud.
On Monday, we and three others were invited onto
Sweet Sensation and sailed off to Dragon Bay, located just north of St.
George's. Neither Noel or I have been on a catamaran before, so it was a
new experience for us both. I was impressed and amazed at the amount of
space and the stability of her. The saloon was a spacious and comfortable
living room and the cockpit, I would liken to a patio with oodles of space and
seating. The side decks were wide, and the foredeck a level and
stable platform to walk about on, it is easy to see why catamarans are so
popular. With twin engines, she was fast too, it took us 2 hours to
complete the return trip to Hog Island, where as the same trip from St.
George's also with a head wind, had taken us 3 1/2 hrs in Whisper. Once at
Dragon Bay, we picked up a Marine Conservation mooring buoy and had great
fun snorkeling. I was swimming alongside Noel when he pointed out this
large circle in the sand, as I looked about it, I was shocked to notice
several bodies lying in it. Without studying them too closely I shot
up and to Noel's amusement, exclaimed, "there are bodies in it!", only to
be told that we were looking at an underwater sculpture park. On closer
inspection I could see that this was true. As we carried on our way we
found a mermaid, a bench and a curved line of seven or more bodies set out head
to toe in the sand. Our swim was followed by a warm shower as we clambered
back on board (a luxury which I could quite easily get used to). We
had seen a large shoal of small fish when we had been swimming in the
bay and now that we were out of the water, we were pleasantly
entertained watching several pelicans diving for their meal as we ate a
most delicious lunch provided by Chris and Kevin. Before we knew it,
the day had flashed past and we needed to return to Hog Island
before darkness fell. The entrance to the bay is surrounded by reefs to be
navigated and although the entrance is marked, the buoys are not lit. We
arrived back and dropped the anchor just before sunset and then enjoyed a
drink together watching a most gorgeous sunset. It was a really lovely
day, thank you both very much.
Tuesday was shopping day, this involved a trip
round to Secret Harbour in the dinghy where we were collected by a mini
bus. Normally this organised shopping trip just goes to the chandlers,
bank and supermarket, as our group needed to visit several other specialist
outlets they had contacted a favoured taxi driver, called Trevor. He was
great, he knew just where to go for specialist items, even made a phone call to
check that "his guy" could help, as well as offering to lend one of our group
his battery charger, when one of the correct voltage could not be found during
our shopping trip. We only needed a few items from the supermarket so I had a
few minutes to dash along the arcade of shops to see if I could find some
suitable swim wear. Several hangers of beautiful coloured pieces of
cloth were produced for me to try. I slipped into the changing room,
selecting what looked like the largest piece. After I finished laughing at
myself; bikinis tried on over underwear are a sight to behold, it took me longer
to fix this skimpy garment back onto the hanger than it did for me to
decide that I was going to have to look else where. I knew that I
should not have thrown that "Lands End" catalogue away when I was at
home!
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