Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

Low Bay, Frigate Bird Sanctuary, Palmetto Point Surfing, Spanish Point

3-21 We left Great Bird Island around 9. We cut out of Boon Channel at Horseshoe Reef. The wind was a steady 18-20 knots with predicted 7 foot seas. As soon as we got into the channel it picked up and was pretty big and rough. Everyone did pretty good even though it made for a bit of a long day. We anchored off the long sandy beach around 2. We had a light lunch. There was no eating under way today though. It was too rough. We all rode to the beach. It is an amazing beach. You can see the other side of the lagoon. The waves were lots of fun. We boogie and body boarded and Cole skim boarded. The water is super murky since its been so rainy. You couldn’t see your hand in front of you. Kelsey and I made a sand castle. We decided to move the boat and anchor closer to where we think we can get a water taxi. A hotel or house in the beach was totally destroyed from Maria in 2017.
It’s very remote here. We looked at the stars on the deck. They were amazing.

3-22
We hoped to get a water taxi to town. It proved very difficult. We tried so many people and no one was picking up their phone. Josh got a hold of DJ Flush. He said he’d pick us up at the beach at 9. We loaded up and waited on the lagoon side. It was very pretty to walk out on the sandy point. We also saw our first pink sand beaches. The beach is endless here. From the beach we saw a water taxi come and pick up people on a different boat. We were so confused but Josh called him and DJ Flush said the boat guy would come back for us. We weren’t really sure what that meant so we tried several other people. We finally got through to Pat. He said he’d be there after the fuel got there. Apparently, the island was out of fuel. Cale, Josh and I got to work on replacing the last piece of pipe. We were able to get it pulled through and were working on clamping it on when Pat came. It was actually the guy who came earlier. He ended up taking people a different boat because we weren’t there. We hurried and got ready and went to see the Frigate Birds. It was a bumpy, rough, and wet ride to see the birds, but also a really fun ride. The birds were absolutely amazing. So many! He explained the all black are the male birds. The ones with white heads were the female. The all white were babies. The male actually choose a spot and blow up the red neck and wait to attract a female. They mate and then the female stays and the male gathers stuff and they both make a nest. Then once the egg comes the male stays with it. They watch over it. Eventually the male leaves. They fly as far away as Galapagos Islands. It was really fascinating to see. He said before Maria there were 20,000 and all the trees were full . You could tell as many as there were it wasn’t nearly what it was before.
Next, we water taxied back to town. We walked to immigration only to realize we didn’t have the needed passports. We will now have to go back tomorrow. The town is very rural. There were lots of donkeys, goats, and horses roaming the streets. The houses are broken down but also colorful. We tried and tried to find a taxi to fit us. Two very nice women walking down the street offered to help but couldn’t find anyone with a taxi big enough. Then, a gut in the Green Door Bar was very helpful. We tried several numbers with no help. I ended up getting a hold of DJ Flush again and he came at 3. We grabbed a burger next door while we waited. There was some locals that were very nice but then a guy pulled up and was smoking and playing awful music. It was awkward because we didn’t have anywhere else to go. Dj Flush made it. He didn’t talk much but drove us to two caves on the north east side of the island. We walked right along the Atlantic coast side. It was really beautiful. The caves took us up to a really cool look out of the ocean on a cliff. It was a total drop off and made me nervous to have the kids up there. We almost went to hike the sink hole but decided against it because we were running out of daylight. We got some produce and a few groceries before Pat took us back in his water taxi. All in all, it wasn’t quite how we expected the day would go but it worked out great.

3-23 Cale and Josh took the dingy to Codrington to check out. They were able to make it across by using Pat’s directions to line up with the antennae. We picked up anchor and moved to Palmetto Point. This can be a great surf spot with the right weather. It’s also a spot that Robert Dinero is trying to develop and make private, which would be very sad. We anchored then Cale dropped the boys off. The rest of us came later and we took the dinghy to shore. There were big waves but we were able to get it out of the water and onto the beach. The sand was so beautiful and soft. We surfed, boogie boarded and played in the waves for a couple hours. The water felt perfect and the waves were coming in all directions on a nice sandy bottom. It was so much fun. Kelsey got rolled around on a boogie board wave that shook her up. Cole and I both got barreled on the same wave but he hurt his wrist pretty bad. Around 2, we got back on the boat and motored over to Spanish Point. It’s tricky navigation because you have to watch from the front and be watching charts looking out for all the reefs everywhere. If you are looking you can see the reefs, but its pretty shallow all over. There were some big nets set up, we think to catch sargassum. We dinghied to shore. The beach was sandy and rocky. We walked across a few hundred feet and you could see the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful coastline. The kids had fun finding, holding, getting grabbed, and racing little hermit crabs. Our plan is to snorkel here tomorrow. You can hear the Atlantic Ocean waves crashing on the reef. It’s a little windy here but pretty calm. Cole left his hat and sunglasses in DJ Flush’s van. Not sure we’ll be able to connect to get them back.

3-24 We woke up at Spanish point. It was a bit windy but not too bad. The water was a bit more clear then yesterday. We went snorkeling. The first spot was good visibility and pretty good fish and coral. A lot of the coral had been damaged by Hurricane Irma. You could tell it was starting to recover. We tried another spot that had better coral but less visibility. It was a beautiful spot. We weren’t in a huge hurry to leave. We had a light lunch and then left for Coco Beach around 1. The water was so turquoise once we got out there we ended up just going out and checking it out. Josh, Cole, Cade and Kelsey jumped out and swam to a reef. They said they saw a bunch of barracudas that were swimming at them. They had a hard swim back to the boat. I was impressed with Kelsey. We anchored off Princess Diana Beach and dinghied to play in the sand and beach. It was great waves, especially for the skim board. The sand is the softest I’ve ever felt. It’s got a pink tint to it. It really is an amazing beach. Just miles and miles with no one on it. We went back and got ready. I had the time wrong so we dinghied to Shack a Kai, where we were getting our ride from, early and had an hour to kill. We were able to retrieve Cole’s hat and sunglasses which was awesome. We walked down the beach. It was so soft on our feet. Cade set up walking races along the way to see who would unknowingly cross the line first. We took a cab to dinner. There is a lot of development happening. We ate at Uncle Roddy’s. It was a beautiful 2 story building. The food was good and it was a lot of fun. The dingy ride back was very dark. We got ready and left at 9pm for our overnight to St. Kitts.