12:36.22N 61:27.00W

Sunday 3^rd & Monday 4^th April

I suppose it was inevitable that the joys of the day were thrown into sharp relief by the unpleasantness of that night.

The forecast had promised a slight increase in the wind strength, but the reality was 25 knots of wind blasting across the reef which fetched up quite an unpleasant sea. In addition the wind backed slightly to the north and this allowed even more swell to surge through the anchorage. The anchor was well bedded into the sandy sea bed, but we rolled and pitched right through the night making sleep difficult.

In the morning the wind had abated a good deal and was only blowing around 15 knots and the forecast for the day was for this to continue, but to increase again in the evening and remain strong for the next few days. We debated whether to stay of move on and our minds where made up for us when Sarah went for an early morning swim and found that the area was swamped with tiny jelly fish trailing long and unpleasant looking tentacles. We checked with a passing boat boy and he confirmed that they gave a nasty sting.

So reluctantly we raised the anchor and retraced our route through the coral reefs and small islands and then headed south to Union Island. This proved to be a good sail again, and although we only flew the headsail, we flew along at 6 knots all the way to the northern tip of Union Island and Chatham Bay.  Chatham Bay is a large and very well protected bay with loads of room and plenty of good sandy areas to anchor in. We nosed our way in and selected a spot a little way out from the beach and dropped the anchor and were rewarded with another perfect set first time. The bay is almost totally undeveloped and has just a couple of shacks that are bars/restaurants and one newer restaurant. Until very recently there was nothing here at all and it was just a couple of years ago that the government put in a track that has allowed this minimal development. There does appear to be electricity, but that is very new and there is no phone signal which is highly unusual!

But the real beauty of this bay is the wildlife and it was not until we went swimming that we discovered  that this bay is also home to a good many Greenback turtles of all sizes. In addition we both came across a large Spotted Eagle Ray, with its distinctive markings and very long barbed tail and a smaller but no less impressive Southern Stingray as well as any number of fish of all sizes and types. By nightfall there were quite a number of boats moored here with the majority being catamarans that had anchored pretty close to the long, empty, sandy beach in shallow water.

During the night the wind rose again and as is characteristic of this bay, the gusts swirled down from the surrounding vertiginous hills sounding a good deal stronger than there really were (25 knots) but the water remained flat and calm and so it was a considerably better night than the one before.

By the following mid morning almost all the boats had left and we had the bay and its turtles to ourselves until the late afternoon when again quite a few yachts came to join us. One of the quirks of mooring in bays like this is that boats arriving in a new location tend quite naturally to take their cue from the boats already here. Because we were moored a fair way off the beach almost all of the new arrivals simply assumed that it must be too shallow closer in and all anchored further out than us (and to be honest we were in only 4 metres, but the previous night had had about 10 catamarans inside us). We had to get the book of flags out at dusk to look up the nationality of a small yacht with just two women on board moored close to us and were surprised to find that they are from the Faroe Islands.