This is one of the most peaceful anchorages we've ever been in. The water is perfectly still, the silence broken only by the sounds of fish jumping out of the water and the gentle lull of a small waterfall on the shore. Baby puffer fish nibble the gunk from the bottom of our boat. An occasional bird squawks as it circles the canopy of the jungle. And a huge salt water crocodile circles our boat, just waiting for us to provide it with a morning snack by dangling our feet into the water.
That's right, we're surrounded by crocodiles. But being in amongst this tranquil jungle environment is pretty amazing. We can't really go swimming unless it's really hot and we watch the water really carefully, but I love popping my head out of the hatch in the morning to see a crocodile swimming past the boat. They're huge! It's almost like being trapped inside a medieval fairy tale, with ferocious man eating beasts circling the castle. They haven't seemed that interested in us but we definitely haven't wanted to test them. We've visited the waterfall every day without incident though, which is probably why we haven't been scared away from this spot. It's amazing having a waterall right by your house.
Our resident crocodile cruising past the waterfall
Garth and I even did our washing on the rocks underneath the falls. We had a neverending supply of water! This concept was a bit strange to us, but it meant we could wash our clothes properly and not just get everything on the boat as clean as possible using two jerry cans of water. We even got to wash blankets and ropes that had been desperately needing a clean for a long time, but have stayed dirty due to our lack of water. We just left the blankets underneath the falls for a while, which had the same effect as throwing them in a washing machine. If everybody got to wash their clothes under a waterfall, I think people would enjoy washing day more!
Doing the washing
Yesterday we went over with Tori and Dave and just sat underneath the water for a while, washing our hair and basking in the running water. I don't have a 'bucket list' per se but I think if I was to sit down and think about all the things I'd like to do in my life time, showering underneath a waterfall would definitely make that list. I love that we're able to just live next to a waterfall if we feel like it.
Rowing up to the waterfall
Finally I get to wash my hair!
Even though the neverending supply of water has been the highlight of this anchorage, when we arrived we had no idea it was there. Our batteries have been playing up (again) and seeing as they're brand new and we've looked after them well the only reason they could be misbehaving is if they just need to be recharged properly at a higher voltage. Which we can't do. But Eva Marie has much more power than us, so when we pulled into this lovely little bay we rafted up next to Tori and Dave for some problem solving. We didn't fix the batteries, but we managed to narrow down the list of what could be wrong. It was really fun being rafted up. When we were tying up alongside Eva Marie, Mr Pipps leapt onto our deck as soon as we he could make the jump and then proceeded to explore this new extension of his boat. He's such a cute cat. Tori and I were looking forward to just stepping across the lifelines for trapeze on our boat and yoga on hers. And as dinner was being prepared, it was nice not having to travel over in the dinghy to enjoy our evening together. Rafting up was fun.
But just as Garth pulled in the cables joining our batteries to their boat, a storm blew through. The rain got hard enough to shower under, so Tori and I raced on deck to enjoy an actual shower with fresh water. Then the rain got harder, the wind picked up and the lightning started. Thunder shook the skies as the storm got closer and closer, and we went from having a nice shower to cowering in the cockpit as the lightning strikes got close enough to do some damage. After securing things a bit better Garth got all protective and sent me downstairs in a very firm voice, just like the last time there was lightning striking all around us. So I cowered inside while he bravely sat upstairs in our cockpit alongside Dave in his cockpit. We waited for it to pass.
As the wind got stronger and stronger the boys heard a grinding noise from the bow. It sounded like we were dragging. The engines were turned on and it quickly became evident that we had to break away. Rafting up wasn't quite so fun now. Our lines were quickly thrown back to us and we were all on our own. We had no charts and didn't even have the depth sounder turned on as we plowed through the rain into the unknown. To make matters worse, our anchor wasn't set up very well because of our ziplining adventures at the previous anchorage. We'd attached the second anchor to some fendors and left it down in case we wanted to partake in future zipline related endeavours the next day. Then it got left there. So when we pulled up our anchor the spare one got hauled up after our main anchor and was left sitting at the top of the locker instead of buried underneath.
A storm rolling in (2 days later)
I was at the wheel while Garth went to the bow to drop the hook and I couldn't see a thing. Everything around us was whited out from the rain but I could just make out a vague outline of rocks on either side of us. I couldn't look ahead because the wind and rain were so strong it was beating straight into my eyes. Nevertheless, we eventually dropped the anchor and made ourselves safe. We found out later that Eva Marie wasn't actually dragging in the first place. The hook keeping their anchor line in place wasn't attached, so the boat had just been letting out more scope as the wind picked up. We would have probably been fine to stay where we were, but it was definitely safer to seperate in such nasty weather.
Other than that eventful first day, life has been good here. We went in to the beach opposite our anchorage, where we spent a nice afternoon away from the boat. The boys explored the coastline, navigating over rocks and mangroves. Tori and I opted to just relax on the rocky beach, looking for shells and enjoying the peace and quiet. I managed to collect some palm leaves to make baskets with. That started off being a lot of fun and ended up as a chore. But now the messy upper shelves on our boat are organised by four woven palm baskets. It's always a relief to make the boat a little less chaotic.
Dave is pretty!
We've been hanging out with Dave and Tori nearly every day, which has been really awesome. But yesterday evening was just magical. We headed over to Eva Marie for dinner and the boys were cooking inside while Tori and I headed onto the deck for some yoga. We weren't even warmed up yet when I noticed a big spurt of water off in the distance. We stared at it for a while and then up it went again. There were whales coming towards us! We're anchored in a snug little bay between the main island of Isla Del Ray and another smaller island. There's a long, thin pass between the islands and there isn't really any way out except to turn around and exit the same way we came in - further along the depth gets down to 1m at low tide. It feels like we're in a little river. So it was a bit bizarre that whales would make their way into the channel, but it's whale season and the Mummas are always looking for nice sheltered places to keep their babies. We're definitely sheltered. So out came the binoculars, and then Tori and I decided to jump in the dinghy to follow them.
We grabbed a paddle and raced over towards them in Eva Marie's dinghy, which is much faster than ours. As we got closer we killed the engine and just hung out for a while, waiting to see what they would do. The whale disappeared for a while and we thought we had scared it with the outboard. But then it resurfaced right by us and it was much, much bigger than I had thought. The first one we'd seen had been a baby! The two of them just hung out for a while and we followed them around in the dinghy. We were both still in yoga clothes, me standing up near the stern holding the camera and Tori right out on the bow with her feet in the water, paddling furiously with one paddle. We must have looked ridiculous. But the whales didn't seem to care. We quietly paddled around near them, watching them play together. They were spurting water all over the place and the baby kept rolling around on his back. As cheesy as this sounds, it was truly magnificent. They're so huge and so graceful, and being so close to them was just amazing. They didn't seem bothered by us at all. They eventually got too far away to play with so we turned the engine back on and headed for home, when they popped up really close to us again. They didn't even care about the outboard. So that was definitely an amazing experience, and I couldn't help think that there musn't be many places in the world where you can see whales and crocodiles right by your boat from the same anchorage. So this really is an amazing spot.
Xxx Monique
Click here for more pictures!
That's right, we're surrounded by crocodiles. But being in amongst this tranquil jungle environment is pretty amazing. We can't really go swimming unless it's really hot and we watch the water really carefully, but I love popping my head out of the hatch in the morning to see a crocodile swimming past the boat. They're huge! It's almost like being trapped inside a medieval fairy tale, with ferocious man eating beasts circling the castle. They haven't seemed that interested in us but we definitely haven't wanted to test them. We've visited the waterfall every day without incident though, which is probably why we haven't been scared away from this spot. It's amazing having a waterall right by your house.
Garth and I even did our washing on the rocks underneath the falls. We had a neverending supply of water! This concept was a bit strange to us, but it meant we could wash our clothes properly and not just get everything on the boat as clean as possible using two jerry cans of water. We even got to wash blankets and ropes that had been desperately needing a clean for a long time, but have stayed dirty due to our lack of water. We just left the blankets underneath the falls for a while, which had the same effect as throwing them in a washing machine. If everybody got to wash their clothes under a waterfall, I think people would enjoy washing day more!
Yesterday we went over with Tori and Dave and just sat underneath the water for a while, washing our hair and basking in the running water. I don't have a 'bucket list' per se but I think if I was to sit down and think about all the things I'd like to do in my life time, showering underneath a waterfall would definitely make that list. I love that we're able to just live next to a waterfall if we feel like it.
Even though the neverending supply of water has been the highlight of this anchorage, when we arrived we had no idea it was there. Our batteries have been playing up (again) and seeing as they're brand new and we've looked after them well the only reason they could be misbehaving is if they just need to be recharged properly at a higher voltage. Which we can't do. But Eva Marie has much more power than us, so when we pulled into this lovely little bay we rafted up next to Tori and Dave for some problem solving. We didn't fix the batteries, but we managed to narrow down the list of what could be wrong. It was really fun being rafted up. When we were tying up alongside Eva Marie, Mr Pipps leapt onto our deck as soon as we he could make the jump and then proceeded to explore this new extension of his boat. He's such a cute cat. Tori and I were looking forward to just stepping across the lifelines for trapeze on our boat and yoga on hers. And as dinner was being prepared, it was nice not having to travel over in the dinghy to enjoy our evening together. Rafting up was fun.
But just as Garth pulled in the cables joining our batteries to their boat, a storm blew through. The rain got hard enough to shower under, so Tori and I raced on deck to enjoy an actual shower with fresh water. Then the rain got harder, the wind picked up and the lightning started. Thunder shook the skies as the storm got closer and closer, and we went from having a nice shower to cowering in the cockpit as the lightning strikes got close enough to do some damage. After securing things a bit better Garth got all protective and sent me downstairs in a very firm voice, just like the last time there was lightning striking all around us. So I cowered inside while he bravely sat upstairs in our cockpit alongside Dave in his cockpit. We waited for it to pass.
As the wind got stronger and stronger the boys heard a grinding noise from the bow. It sounded like we were dragging. The engines were turned on and it quickly became evident that we had to break away. Rafting up wasn't quite so fun now. Our lines were quickly thrown back to us and we were all on our own. We had no charts and didn't even have the depth sounder turned on as we plowed through the rain into the unknown. To make matters worse, our anchor wasn't set up very well because of our ziplining adventures at the previous anchorage. We'd attached the second anchor to some fendors and left it down in case we wanted to partake in future zipline related endeavours the next day. Then it got left there. So when we pulled up our anchor the spare one got hauled up after our main anchor and was left sitting at the top of the locker instead of buried underneath.
I was at the wheel while Garth went to the bow to drop the hook and I couldn't see a thing. Everything around us was whited out from the rain but I could just make out a vague outline of rocks on either side of us. I couldn't look ahead because the wind and rain were so strong it was beating straight into my eyes. Nevertheless, we eventually dropped the anchor and made ourselves safe. We found out later that Eva Marie wasn't actually dragging in the first place. The hook keeping their anchor line in place wasn't attached, so the boat had just been letting out more scope as the wind picked up. We would have probably been fine to stay where we were, but it was definitely safer to seperate in such nasty weather.
Other than that eventful first day, life has been good here. We went in to the beach opposite our anchorage, where we spent a nice afternoon away from the boat. The boys explored the coastline, navigating over rocks and mangroves. Tori and I opted to just relax on the rocky beach, looking for shells and enjoying the peace and quiet. I managed to collect some palm leaves to make baskets with. That started off being a lot of fun and ended up as a chore. But now the messy upper shelves on our boat are organised by four woven palm baskets. It's always a relief to make the boat a little less chaotic.
We've been hanging out with Dave and Tori nearly every day, which has been really awesome. But yesterday evening was just magical. We headed over to Eva Marie for dinner and the boys were cooking inside while Tori and I headed onto the deck for some yoga. We weren't even warmed up yet when I noticed a big spurt of water off in the distance. We stared at it for a while and then up it went again. There were whales coming towards us! We're anchored in a snug little bay between the main island of Isla Del Ray and another smaller island. There's a long, thin pass between the islands and there isn't really any way out except to turn around and exit the same way we came in - further along the depth gets down to 1m at low tide. It feels like we're in a little river. So it was a bit bizarre that whales would make their way into the channel, but it's whale season and the Mummas are always looking for nice sheltered places to keep their babies. We're definitely sheltered. So out came the binoculars, and then Tori and I decided to jump in the dinghy to follow them.
We grabbed a paddle and raced over towards them in Eva Marie's dinghy, which is much faster than ours. As we got closer we killed the engine and just hung out for a while, waiting to see what they would do. The whale disappeared for a while and we thought we had scared it with the outboard. But then it resurfaced right by us and it was much, much bigger than I had thought. The first one we'd seen had been a baby! The two of them just hung out for a while and we followed them around in the dinghy. We were both still in yoga clothes, me standing up near the stern holding the camera and Tori right out on the bow with her feet in the water, paddling furiously with one paddle. We must have looked ridiculous. But the whales didn't seem to care. We quietly paddled around near them, watching them play together. They were spurting water all over the place and the baby kept rolling around on his back. As cheesy as this sounds, it was truly magnificent. They're so huge and so graceful, and being so close to them was just amazing. They didn't seem bothered by us at all. They eventually got too far away to play with so we turned the engine back on and headed for home, when they popped up really close to us again. They didn't even care about the outboard. So that was definitely an amazing experience, and I couldn't help think that there musn't be many places in the world where you can see whales and crocodiles right by your boat from the same anchorage. So this really is an amazing spot.
Xxx Monique
Click here for more pictures!
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