We had two other monohulls in the anchorage with us. We wanted to say hi but first, off to explore the sandspit on the island we anchored behind. It was a pretty spot that gave us a good view of the ocean on the other side – all of us glad we were not out today in big rolling seas and high winds. After wandering around a bit we decided to hike to one of two fresh water lakes on the island. The path was pretty easy to follow from the beach, shortly reaching a long stretch through what looked like long ago cleared fields before a narrower trail continued on. It wasn’t all that long before we could see the water and left the trail to take a look.
The lake was surrounded by trees and bushes making the view a bit less spectacular. The greenish, dense water eliminated any desire to swim – this was no blue hole… We kept going and before long it was a challenge to find the trail. Whether it disappeared or was just difficult to find, I don’t know. But we carried on with the assistance of our phones help. The jungle seemed to have passable areas to follow so we weren’t crawling thought dense foliage. We reached a point where a decision was to be made, keep going or turn around. Carl was the first to pipe up with his vote to continue which I seconded.
Staying just out of the dense jungle close to the lake we went. There was a bit of weaving but mostly we kept a direct path. What was occasional, “I think this is a trail” turned into this is definitely a trail. Finally reached the cleared area we had made it back to our track. From there it was an easy. Roxy made a detour to say hello to our neighbors, while I explored shore a bit more, and Carl headed straight back to the boat.
After some lunch I suited up for a swim around a tiny outcropping of volcanic rock. Carl and Roxy headed in a different direction near the shore. It was a few hundred meter swim to the pass which we had crossed the day before. Turns out it was plenty deep and our slow approach and concern was unneeded but better safe than hung up on a reef. I followed the underwater spit of sand to the outcropping and then had a enjoyable circumnavigation of the island. The coral was quite nice and there were smaller colorful fish swimming around. Reaching the outer side the sea dropped off and I dove down to see a large hog fish. More exploring the coral reef brought me my biggest excitement, two large barracudas were giving me the once over. They were very interested and circled back my way. Not thrilled I kept swimming and just behind them were a few dozen juvenile barracuda. That was pretty cool. I took in the rest of the outcropping before the swim back to Sky Pond. It a surprisingly good snorkel!
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