Left Chatham after a bacon filled breakfast, cooked the whole package with the idea of using more on a sammich for lunch. Everyone knows thats a lie. MMMmmmmm Bacon. Quick trip into Clifton to clear out and some choice necessities and we stopped by Palm Island, another of the private islands in these parts. Palm island is one we have passed several times now, so we tried it out. The surge and the surf, made anchoring a little wierd, but all was good. Anything below high tide is public, the rest is private so we could really only walk the sandy parts. Pretty nice place, but the thought that one beer here was what 15 would have cost at a ‘normal place’ we just walked the beach. Of course we had lunch onboard before hand, so as not to be tempted to stay. Been there done that.. would take a special reason to stop again.

Our plan had us heading to the petites anyway, so it was into the wind, we were low on electricity, and the reef was between us and there, so a slow motor it was. Several hundred RPM slower than we normally run the engines at, only making 6 knots and enjoying the way.

There were 6 boats out a Mapion, an small spit of sand in the reef with nothing more than a palapa. Great photo spot, and famous in these parts, we kept going as we stopped there once already, and took our photos on the deserted island with nothing more than a palm tree. Dropped the hook and loved our view…. for a while. We know better, but haven’t learned, that as dusk approaches the view will change. Last time we were here a Sunsail group of boats camped right in front of us and stole the view, this time it was a couple of crewed charter boats that ended up coasting down on our anchor. No big deal, but its a big spot..

The crewed yachts had fun, they wakeboarded for all of 10mins before the rain came. We buttoned up, 20 mins later the normally windy area, we could see all the way to the bottom of the 30 foot water as clear as day. We could see the poor starfish that was about to get upset on our next anchor swing. Sure enough he was moved without his permission, but landed the right side up, so we hope he quickly choose a new dwelling.

The vacation is getting near the end, the cooking gets crazy. Threw down on a polish dish we normally eat at christmas figuring we’d throw at least 1/2 of it overboard as it very rich in buttery goodness. Damn if we didn’t finish it all. Needed more fresh mushrooms, but did we could with what we had.

Lovely day….

New discovery, it is a boat (break out another thousand), as we are pulling up anchor we discover that our trusty anchor rode is getting old will needs to be replaced sooner than we thought. The thought of buying new chain is not terribly daunting, but the thought of getting it delivered to our boat is scary – several hundred pounds being shipped to the islands. Of course the boys were telling me the many different types of rode to get-stainless which looks pretty but is not as strong, our current rode which is strong and has lasted 12 years, and high tinsel which is a bit stronger, but runs in different sizes which may cause us to get a new gypsy. Always something. Either way, we will need to deal with it as is until we get to Grenada and then price out something new. As it is now, the front 60′ is strong and holds us well at anchor. We headed toward Clifton and were approached by a boat boy (nothing new), but the startling thing was that he lied to us stating that there was no good hold, nothing but rocks at this anchorage. Matt so rarely loses he temper or raises his voice, shouted back, we have anchored here a half dozen times with no problem and if you look around, all other boats are at anchor. I get that he needs to make a living and that he will make nothing if we do not pick up a mooring ball – but we have rarely had a boat boy flat out lie to us. Either way, we dropped anchor, Wayne stayed on the boat to ensure that the boat stayed where it should while Matt and I headed to shore. Matt cleared customs as I played footsies with the sharks, got the wifi code, and chatted with the locals. We then headed in for provisions (2 cases of beer, water, avocado, mushrooms, bread–the staples). Back to the boat and off to explore Palm island. We had never visited here before and it is a nice little island with a private resort so not much to explore here except the pretty sandy beaches and a giant crab. We picked up anchor and headed to Petite St Vincent where we will hang out for a few nights.

Liquor Inventory: 4 Bottles of rum, 2 bottles of vodka, 1 bottle of Malibu Rum, 5 cases of beer and 50 batches of Jell-O shots (of course the above alcohol was used to make these)