Day 352: 1st June 2018 - Mongonisi anchoring work out!

Kids got school done quickly on the promise of an hour or so at the beach to meet their friends from yesterday before we headed off. In reality the new friends were not around so we paddled over to another English boat we had spotted kids on to see if they wanted to play, which they did.

As we paddled along we started to spot jellyfish which was a huge disappointment as none of us like swimming with them. In fact one of our new friends got stung getting out of his dinghy at the beach but was extremely brave and stayed to play. We spent a fair while skimming stones and paddling on the paddleboard before finally heading back to Laurin.

We then packed up the paddleboard and  motored to Mongonisi while the kids enjoyed some electronics time. Mongonisi looked beautiful but we really struggled to get the anchor to hold. It took 4 attempts in the end which meant 3 lots of hauling up 30m of chain with our manual windlass. I wanted to get an electric one before we set off  but Patrick disagreed. In the end I decided not to argue as it is he that uses it! However after hauling the anchor up twice I took pity on him and did it myself the third time!

Only when we switched the engine off did the kids appear, saying it was great and could they go to the beach. Luckily they then saw the look of exhaustion on our faces, and listened to how many times it took us to get the anchor to hold. Suddenly their was a change of plan.... "how about we have a drink and a snack first, let us get you a cold beer"... Fantastic!

The kids then went to the beach in the dinghy and then after a well earned rest Patrick and I swam over and we went for another beer (adults) and ice cream (kids). Patrick rowed back to dig out the Cobb BBQ and then came back for me, AJ came with us so he could take the dinghy back and then the kids played and played until we called them for dinner.

We had been talked into buying pork shoulder wrapped round bacon and feta by the butcher in Lakka and the only way we had to cook it was on a bbq as our oven didn't work. I had half an idea that it would feed us for two nights but it was too good not to eat straight away!

After dinner Esmé wanted to go to the beach again but AJ wanted to stay on board so Esmé and I headed out in the dinghy. I had spotted that the bar had wifi and had ideas that I could chill out with a drink and surf the net while Esmé played on the beach. Unfortunately there were no kids for her to play with so we wandered along to the bar together and Esmé enjoyed youtube while I chatted to the couple on the boat next to us in the anchorage. On the way back E was quite taken by this lovely poster!

It was a pleasant evening and once back on board we could still pick up the wifi so the kids were over the moon when we let them have a late night enjoying all the stuff they can't do when we have limited internet.