Boxing day on the beach & Pigeon Island
Lady Stardust Faro-Portugal to Barcelona - 2010
Paul Collister
Sun 31 Dec 2006 22:14
|
After a leisurely morning spent on the boat and
around the marina we thought it would be nice to go to Reduit beach again.
The weather was a bit changeable but the showers were light and it was still
warm so we got the dinghy ready and set off. A small squall forced us to
seek shelter at a waterside bar just before we got there but then the sun came
out for the rest of the afternoon. The beach was more crowded than on
our previous visit. People were playing football, fishing, picnicking and
swimming - such different pastimes from traditional English Boxing day
winter walks or cosy afternoons in front of the fire watching holiday
television.
I was fascinated by the cute white sand crabs
- they peeked out of tiny holes in the sand, looked around and dived back into
their holes at any slight movement. We went snorkelling and saw some great
fish, had a swim in the lovely warm water and dried off on the hot soft sand -
this time avoiding the grumpy sunbed attendant. When it began to cloud up
again we headed back, stopping off to visit Nick from yacht Flying Start who,
along with his crew had won Spirit of the Arc and who had had their
own unique adventure on the journey across. It started to rain about 5
30 and we returned to the boat, enjoying the fresh, cool air after feeling
hot and sticky. It seemed an ideal evening to cook off some more of the
local vegetables we'd bought so I prepared mashed yams and fried
plantain to go with the veggie food I'd made the day before. After dinner
the bar across the water began playing the most awful loud, raucous and tuneless
rap/reggae/jazz music - well I thought it was awful but Paul
quite liked some of it. I put my iPod to good use to blot it out, but
it didn't stop until 2am and kept waking me up.
Partly to avoid another night like that and
also because we thought it would be nice, we decided the following
morning to take the boat out to Pigeon Island, a nearby National
Park and to anchor there for the night. We left at 12 30 for the
two mile journey across the bay, putting the genoa up to make use of the
favourable wind. This would be Lady Stardust's first anchorage with
us so I was a bit nervous about the procedures but it worked out
fine. There were only a few other boats near us and we went for a
swim and snorkel to check the anchor was holding ok. We had lunch and
cold beers on board before getting in the dinghy to check out the Jambe de Bois
cafe, named after the Island's infamous 16th century pirate who captured
cargo ships and either killed the survivors or forced them to join his own
crew. The cafe is run by a local woman who rehomes
unwanted animals, has a small art gallery and manages an
impressive bookswap facility. We had a rum punch there before setting off
to visit a fort at the top of the hill, the island's main lookout post for many
years. It was a very steep hill and we literally staggered up it,
puffing and panting and sweating profusely, ruefully acknowledging how
out of condition we are. The view from the top was worth the
effort though, we could see for miles across Rodney Bay and
even glimpsed the island of Martinique 20 miles north.
Back at the boat we spent a pleasant evening
sipping rum punch, listening to music and watching the sun go down.
Paul made pasta and sauce for dinner and we talked about visiting
Martinique as it's so close and wouldn't take too long to get
there.
In the morning I got up early and sat drinking
coffee, looking at the island as the sun came up and watching birds
dive for fish. We went for breakfast at the cafe where I swapped some
books and then came back to get the boat ready for returning. It was
windier than the day before but a good sail back and we stopped to buy
fuel and look round the boatyard before going back to
the berth.
All is still going well and the weather's
glorious.
Kathy
 Reduit beach, Boxing day
|