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….