Once we pulled into the Oil Nut Bay, we found most of the bay had been cordoned off as a swimming area for a nearby resort, which seemed to deliberately not leave enough space remaining for anchoring. After checking it out, we found it shallow enough for us be able to swing within the available space. We both decided we felt too conspicuous as the only boat trying really hard to squeeze into an area where we were probably not welcome. Since we didn't feel like being hassled, we decided to head west until finding something more suitable.
This is when Maryanne suggested we pick up a mooring at Saba Rock. Picking up a mooring came with the benefit of also being able to top up our water tanks. Online, you can reserve a mooring for $55 per night, or you can pick up one of the first-come-first-served ones for $40 per night. The mooring field was empty when we arrived, so we obviously opted for the latter. Even better, our cheaper ball was THE closest one to Saba Rock, as if they had left one right up front for the first one to show up.
The passage across from Anegada was a bit squally (but rain and sunshine makes for rainbows!), and I (Maryanne) lost my favourite hat while we were in the middle of reefing. Arriving at the tiny "Saba Rock" resort I thought might give me the chance to replace it - but the price tag for the only full brim hat they had was $225! So its that kind of resort, and a replacement hat can wait (thankfully we have plenty of spare ones).
Except for about 10 meters of sandy beach in the back, Saba Rock is covered entirely with a very nice resort (although it is missing a pool). It is a perfect place to sit in a hammock with a rum drink in one hand and a book in the other. The danger, of course, is that if you finish your book, you'll end up with another rum drink in the other hand. Then the cheerful tropical music starts thumping and Happy Hour starts. Oh, dear! That's about when the charter boats started showing up.
We mostly hung out in the shade, and partook in a few bar games whilst waiting or happy hour
At 5pm daily they feed the resident Tarpon fish - each at least 5' long
Luckily, they also have a restaurant, so one's diet ashore does not need to be entirely liquid. Maryanne and I were able to watch the rapid tropical sunset and dusk from a table so close to Begonia that we could have floated our leftover box the three boat lengths home to our ravenous, and yet surprisingly ungrateful imaginary kids. That is, if we had a leftover box. The food was too good for that.
Instead, we untied the dinghy and let the trade winds blow us home without the need for hardly an oar stroke. Begonia was close enough that we still felt like we were part of the fun, only with our own private lounging area just outside the glare of the lights. At that point, we may have started nodding off a bit, which was a lot less embarrassing than being in a hammock and being shaken awake by a bartender telling us it might be time for us to go home.
The following morning I (Maryanne) went snorkelling around the tiny island while Kyle pottered aboard Begonia
One night on a mooring ball is more than enough, and after a few chores (topping up our water tanks) we departed and moved less than a mile to Prickly Pear Island. The idea was that we could anchor somewhere a little quieter than Saba Rock, hike the trails of the National Park, and then relax briefly at the Sand Box beach bar before returning home for the night.
It didn't work out that way at all. When we took the dinghy to shore, The Sand Box was still completely deserted and shuttered. We poked around the property for a bit until we found the gate leading to the island's one trail, which goes across the spine of the island to the beach on the northeast side. A sign on the gate asked us to keep it closed after going through, which we dutifully did.
After a brief walk on the island's southern beach, we encountered a big fence which blocked our access to the trail. Moving along it, we found several more gates with the same sign as the first. These gates, however, were all permanently screwed shut. Our "hike" ended up being a ten-minute poke through some bushes before retracing our steps back to the dinghy.
Despite being a weekend, the Sand Box never did open for the evening. Based on the look of the place, it seemed to have been left somewhat hastily and recently, as if the person who had been assigned to work today had a last-minute family emergency or something, or perhaps there was no more fuel for the generator and thus no way to turn on the lights. It did give the place a bit of a weird vibe with hundreds of beach lounges and umbrellas all lined up and completely vacant.
Vixen Point was (at least for the day we were visiting) eeriely abandoned ashore.
Our anchorage also turned out not to be as thinly populated as expected. As sunset became imminent, the place quickly filled up with boats too big for Saba Rock's moorings. This was the twenty-four hour generator and floodlight crowd, some with tenders bigger than Begonia, which could zip guests back and forth to Saba Rock in only a minute or two.
A quick snorkel in the shallows
I went for a cooling swim toward the beach and suddenly found myself with a large expanse of water between me and Begonia. On the way back to the boat, a high-pitched whining heard through the water alerted me to two electric hydrofoil boards that were zipping around the anchorage at high speed. having one of those plow into me would not feel good. Despite swimming home in the splashiest, most obvious way I could, neither of the hoverboarders seemed to make any attempt to steer clear. It was a relief to make one last underwater push at depth and then to finally surface between Begonia's hulls.
Saba Rock Moorings location >> On google maps
Vixen Point, Prickly Pear Island Anchorage location >> On google maps
1 comment:
Thank you 🙏 for sharing this beautiful journey!
Post a Comment