Days 344 and 345: 24th and 25th May 2018 - End Bay (Neilson Watersports)

Thursday 24th May

I was awoken at about 6am after finally hitting the sack at about 1:30am. I had stayed up to check our anchor was holding in our tiny anchorage. I like being " on watch" in the late evening as I often take the opportunity to catch up with friends if I have good mobile coverage. This time it was with James, the friend who introduced me to sailing and I guess is somewhat jealous that we get the chance to take off for two years. It was good to talk! The wind was due to move round to the east at about 1am  and then settle which would have been a perfect direction for us and I could then get some sleep. In the end though we got thunderstorms and winds from the west... exactly what we didn't want. It wasn't rough, and we were still well sheltered but there wasn't any room for us to drag so Patrick got up and kept an eye on things from then while I got my head down.

Once woken at 6 we decided to move round to a place called End Bay, it looked far better shelter from the northerly winds forecast. First though we had to retrieve the spiders web of lines we had taken ashore and Patrick was left untangling the snakes pit in the cockpit as I motored us round the islands. It didn't take us long, and we finally inched our way into End Bay to find a Neilson Watersports Center in a beautiful anchorage with shallow turquoise water.

We did a little school then went exploring to the beach. AJ and Esmé swam in the sea while I got chatting to one of the beach staff who told us that it was possible to hire dinghies but not until the first guests arrived on Sunday. Both kids were really keen to have another go on a catamaran which surprised me in Esme's case as she squealed last time we tried!

Once the tourist boats had gone we decided to put long lines ashore so we didn't swing overnight as the wind was due to change direction overnight. Esmé enjoyed helping Dad!

We messaged our friends on BOAG to let them know where we were and they came to visit in the afternoon..... we were only about 1km from their anchorage so they came by RIB, delivering bread. We enjoyed a nice catch up and agreed that they would come over in the evening for sundowners!



In the evening they arrived complete with inflatable swan much to our amusement and the kids had fun swimming with it until it escaped!


Jasper leaped into action and led a single handed rescue mission before the swan was finally deflated.

Sadly this was to be our last evening together as they had done a little planning and realised they needed to move faster. We, on the other hand, plan to move slowly until August when we will have to make good progress to get to Spain for winter so decided to stay in this anchorage until we could have a go on one of the catamarans!

So, sad goodbyes once again but perhaps we may catch up with those guys again before this adventure ends!

Friday 25th May 2018

Greek yoghurt with Greek honey for breakfast (yum,) then a trying morning of school before a dinghy trip to the beach to work up an appetite for lunch. Patrick meanwhile set about trying to scrub as much of the hull as possible.... any excuse for a swim. After lunch I pumped up my paddleboard. AJ was looking like he needed a rest, we sometimes forget he's only been out of hospital a few days, so Esmé and I took the paddleboard out, first to the beach where I sat and watched while she had her first go solo on it, and then I paddled and she swam over to the Yacht pontoon where I asked if we could fill up with water once their flotilla had left on Sunday.... they asked us what boat we were on and when I pointed Laurin out they said yes, they liked ketches! We lazed about a little, swam a little and then I made us an early tea as Patrick is a bit under the weather.


The kids and I then took the dinghy and paddleboard to the beach, and walked round to the "secret beach" taking care not to photo bomb the Neilson official shots being taken in the evening sun. The kids swam back to the other beach while I walked round and then took the paddle board to meet them. I was really impressed at AJ's perseverance... Esmé was telling him he could touch the bottom but he insisted on swimming the whole way!

Esmé practiced paddle boarding some more, eventually she realised she was standing the wrong way round!

AJ and I spotted the Neilson guys looking at something they had pulled out of the water so went over to take a look. It was a somewhat dead starfish but the kids were really interested... perhaps we can use the experience for school work soon.

AJ announced that he wanted to swim back to Laurin and off he went, leaving Esmé and to take the paddle board and dinghy. She opted for the dinghy and after a few false starts managed to row all the way back.

I then took a late evening swim to cool down before reading a bedtime story  to the kids.