An assisted arrival
We decided to take a short cut to get to the anchorage, to cut off a few zigzags. That all went well but as we were nearing our destination, the motor stopped. We had just furled our sails and entered the channel between the islands, with coral reefs on both sides. So, out with the sails again, and dad steering away from the shallows and trying to contact Samba. That is the boat of our friend Malcolm. Meanwhile mom was ready to drop the anchor when dad said so.
Eventually Malcolm came with his dinghy to help us get to our anchor spot. After that dad tackled the engine problem and soon figured it out. Once that was sorted, we took our dinghy over to the spot where Samba was anchored.
We went to Samba to talk about their plans and then came back later to have dinner together. Guess what we ate? Correct! Ginormous Dog snapper fillet number 1. It fed 8 people and a baby (that acted like Capo around fish).
The next day (Monday), Malcom came over to use the internet and then it turned out that Annika had arrived in the anchorage. She invited me to come over to play so I hitched a ride with Malcom. Annika and I played until 5:00, then my dad came to pick me up. Me and Annika had several playdates every afternoon.
On Wednesday we moved closer to Rise, Annika’s boat. We didn’t play that day, but we did on the other days.
Sadly she would be leaving on Saturday to Bocas, so I’ll see her again in October.
Beach BBQ
On Friday we invited Annika and her parents to a beach BBQ, Annika came around 2:00 to play and then we went of to the beach to prep for the BBQ. And yes, in case you were wondering, we ate Ginormous Dog snapper fillet number 2.
It was really nice. Annika had a cool idea to take her Kayak and put it in the water so the kids (me, Annika and her older sister Izy) could use it as a table.
Annika’s grandma found a lot of shoes on the beach.
Banedup
On Saturday we walked around the island. It looked quite different from when we were there 3 years ago. At that time all the plants were burned in a big fire and there was tons of trash lying around. Now most areas were clean as they have tourist accomodation one side and a beachbar/ restaurant on the other side, with a conch path connecting the two sides. A bit further out on the beach we still found some washed up plastics. I found a Barbie chair still in good shape.
On Sunday we left for Nargana, a small village island close to the mainland.
Fun Fact
1. East Holandés is also called the swimming pool anchorage, because it has wonderful sandy bottoms, is protected by a big outer reef and because the water is clear (further from the mainland and its rivers) looks like a swimming pool.
2. On Banedup there is a restaurant called Ibin’s restaurant.
3. On one island it’s very touristy.
