Now we are living the cruising life. The most stressful part is over … well,
except for the stress of early season hurricanes that might catch us off-guard!
… but that’s not going to happen … RIGHT???
We woke this morning and vegged. We needed to go to clear customs but we
weren’t in much of a hurry. Yes, there
is no cruise ship in port today … just as I’d thought. We know the town will be dead with very
little to do so why rush?
About 10:30, we headed ashore in our attempt
to clear customs at the cruise port.
The place was deserted but we found a customs officer. He was able to clear us in. We didn’t have to go to the commercial port
a mile or so further south. Yeah! But as he was clearing us in, he said that
the person who does immigration was not there.
If he could not locate them, we would have to go to the airport to clear
immigration. This would mean a $10 taxi
ride each way (according to our cruising guide so it may have actually been
more). But luckily, the lady was nice
enough to come to the port. The customs
officer also had to track down the port authority agent so they could complete
their paperwork with us too. So many
steps just to be able to come ashore!
It took about an hour to clear and cost 60 EC
(Eastern Caribbean Dollars), which equated to $24 US. Luckily, they accept US funds and we didn’t have to try to find
someplace to do the exchange.
After clearing, we walked the cruise port
area a bit. Some of the stores were
open but the place was dead. We were
lucky if we say maybe 20 people in our entire walk. Quiet is nice … but this was down right boring! We decided to head out of this harbor, south
a little to White House Bay. It was
less than 5 miles so we didn’t even bother raising the sails. We just hugged the coastline and enjoyed the
scenery as we motored to our next destination.
White House Bay was nice. There were two other boats in the
anchorage. One had no one on it. The other one had two guys but by the time
we had anchored, they were ashore in their dinghy. They loaded the dinghy into a pickup truck and were gone. We were the only people left in the
bay. This is where quiet is nice!
We took our dinghy around the corner (just
south of this bay) to Ballast Bay. From
there, there is a man-made entrance to what used to be a salt pond. They are turning this area into expensive
marina/golf resort/upscale residences.
They are still in the process of dredging the salt pond to accommodate
the marina. As long as they keep being
able to fund this extreme project, this area will look completely different if
we ever return. Right now, it is
beautiful green hillsides, very remote and private. When complete, it will probably be off-limits to cruisers like us
and this bay will probably be a ‘no anchor’ area. What a shame!
Between White House Bay and Ballast Bay,
there is a long area jutting out into the water, a nice rocky shoal. We anchored the dinghy there and
snorkeled. Wow! It was really nice. The water was quite clear. Coral is growing on the huge boulders that
have fallen from the cliffs and has brought in a huge assortment of tropical
fishes. We snorkeled for an hour or two
and really enjoyed the exercise and fresh air.
It was an excellent day!
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