Marigot Bay

Winya_wynah
Sat 21 Feb 2009 19:27
Squelching out of the 'private dock' on Friday morning we set sail for Marigot Bay.  A spirited sail down wind through a rising swell and we nearly missed the entrance, as it is steep on both sides.  A tall ship type cruise ship virtually blocking the entrance should have given us a clue I guess, they don't like to take guests too far in the tenders.  Since our guide was written and suggests one has to anchor, the bay is now full of moorings, the most expensive ever!  Even more than the BVI.  We were led to a mooring just outside the inner harbour by one of the boat boys, he assured me it was sound and then it would cost 80$ EC for the night (32$US).  After negotiation with the boss we got the price down a little so we settled in. we were a little perturbed when the mooring buoy started to bob past us!  Looking to the pointed end we were still attached to a sturdy rope but sure enough no mooring ball.  We didn't have the dingy out so watched as the boat boys let it bob all the way out of the bay.  In Venezuela by breakfast! 
A venture into the inner harbour suggested it used to be very pretty, yet another film set, Dr Doolittle this time.  Now it is quite built up with a new complex at the SE end.  They have the best dingy dock by far though so we left the dingy there to have a look around and catch up on the weather forecast. 'Getting stronger' with 'small craft advisory' as the Americans call it.
So back to Winny and a steady stream of boat boys selling mainly fruit and inviting us to the Friday Night Fish Fry in the village followed.  Having bought more fruit than we needed, no scurvy here, we even had love apples as a present!  We left the bananas in the cockpit as they usually attract or have fruit flies already and the rest went below in our handy hammock.  Only the cucumbers slide through the large holes in the hammock when we are sailing no problems on a mooring.
There is alot of traffic in and out of Marigot so entertainment was laid on.  A little more excitement after dark when unfortunately the handle of the salad spinner went off the back, our new fishing net for just such occasions was well buried so it could have been in Venezuela by lunchtime.  However No1 spotted it floating towards the boat behind so stripped off, jumped in and swam after it, heroically.  Recovery complete and a cold shower off the back, salad spinner is back together, how grateful are we?
All was well until about 5 this morning when I woke up and finally had to see what the unusual flapping noise was. found out soon enough, went into the salon a couple of squeaks and 2 bats flew out the companion way.  Turned the lights on and there was a mess!  Bats are messy eaters and they had gone for the 2 mangos in the hammock, no-one can eat a mango without mess!  We started off with 5 mangos so it could have been worse, but the other problem is why choose mango when it evidently goes straight through them!!  More mess.  Cleaning up the worst of it, the back of the seats and their escape route, we lobbed the remaining mango overboard.  Only one banana outside had been tried, nowhere near as delicious!  That got lobbed too.  Closing the hatches we tried to calm down and get some more sleep, don't think much sleep happened.  Cleaning up before the boys get here is now an even greater job than anticipated, better get on.