New Location(s).Let the Games Begin

On Monday at 11 am(ish), we left Provo with an outboard on board (it worked at the shop.we'll see if "yoshi" performs on the reefs) heading for French Cay. It's a 15 mile trip so we should make it past the reefs on both ends in daylight. It was a bit windier than predicted (sound familiar?). As we passed by some nice coral heads en route, we decided to drop anchor and explore them. Perhaps a fish dinner.or lobster.or conch? Michael dove in as Lorna and Dave got their gear together. He saw a shark (small nurse), tropicals, trigger fish, a small lobster, conch, a few snappers and a grouper. He came back for the spear. Spear in hand he heads back for the grouper.he stares dinner in the face, pulls back on the spear and SNAP! The seven year old rubber breaks.the fish lives to tell the tale about the spear fisherman that got away! Hot dogs tonight!

Lorna and Dave snorkeled a bit. Lorna retrieved a beautiful shell / sand-dollar / urchin (still to be identified). They saw lots of cool fish, corals, sponges and sea creatures. After about an hour playing around the coral - we headed back on course towards French Cay. It took four tries to find a place where the anchor "held" (and that was questionable). Michael snorkeled out to check all four attempts. He certainly got a workout on this day. We did see green flash number three for Dave and Lorna. We put a lot of chain out and put on the radar anchor alarm and GPS alarms as it was a very roll-ey anchorage. After a rough night trying to sleep in the roll (listening to silly alarms) though we never drug an inch.it was an early start on Tuesday morning.

We woke up to head to Ambergris Cay - about 40 miles east. The weather was predicted to be pleasant for the trip. But alas, another weather weasel falsehood. The wind picked up (right on the nose - so no sailing) and the seas were quite rough. We were only going about 3.5-4 knots most of the way and had to get there with good sun because of all the coral heads. And there are a LOT of them. Michael repaired his spear sling (thanks Gene - he still has the original you made him). We arrived and found a lovely anchorage - it's flat, comfortable and the anchor got set very well. Michael checked the anchor by starting up outboard "Yoshi" (which worked enough to get him to the anchor and a small reef that he checked out.)

Now we await Dave's feast of pasta and shrimp. Followed by a quiet night's sleep (hopefully) and a full day of snorkeling tomorrow. We're hoping to spend at least tonight and tomorrow night here and then move on, weather permitting.

A little note on Ambergris Cay. There are two cays imaginatively named "Big Ambergris" and "Little Ambergris." They are private islands being developed as resorts. Big Ambergris (that we anchored near) has a private airstrip, tiki hut beach bar, club house and several homes built.

"Ambergris" is a wax-like substance that is excreted by the humpback whales that pass through the Turks Island Passage. We hope to spot some of these whales as we head to Grand Turk through deeper water. Ambergris is often found on the windward shore of the cays. But because the islands are private - we aren't allowed on shore so we won't be hunting any whale excrement.

Here's to a great dinner - a quiet night at anchor, great snorkeling tomorrow and good luck for Michael and his freshly re-made spear. Perhaps fish or lobster for dinner tomorrow night!