Tamales and Laundry

We left our anchorage this morning at Gallego Caye and went to Red Frog Marina located on Isla Bastiementos. To get there we had two choices, Go north an hour and round the tip of the large island of Cayo Nancy and then head back south into Hospital Bight, or we could take the short cut through a narrow and winding cut through the south end of Cayo Nancy, known simply as Short Cut (sometimes referred to as The Gap). It was a no brainer, we went through Short Cut cutting our traveling time by about 75%. Short Cut is pretty neat but the first time through it three years ago was pretty hard on the nerves. It can be pretty narrow at places and while the average depth is 20' there are a few spots that shallow up to 8'. I would love to put up photos of our trip through the gap but more attention was paid to where we were going than leaving the helm to find the camera.

We anchored in one of our favorite anchorages off of Isla Bastiementos, three years ago is was a very simple un-named anchorage among the mangroves but near a walking path that would take us on foot across the island to Red Frog Beach. Today there is a really nice marina there, Red Frog Marina, and we went in to check it out. The docks are really nice and very wide, the office manager Kirkley was very receptive and we discussed our September reservation and all seems well. We also met Rob, the young dock master who also seemed pretty easy going. While we were in talking with Kirkley she mentioned laundry services, that got David's attention quickly. So he went back to the boat and gathered up four loads worth of laundry and handed it over to Kirkley, we'll return on Monday to pick it up.

We have always heard Bob and Sandy on Saphire talking on the radio and have share many conversations with them over the airwaves the past two or three years but it wasn't until today that we met them. They left the San Blas Islands a week before us and are also anchored here off of Red Frog Marina. It was nice to finally meet them in person and while we were talking a young man and his wife paddled up in their dugout with fresh chicken tamales. They were still hot and smelled too good to pass up so we bought a couple. We should have ate them immediately but since we finished lunch only minutes before we decided to save them for dinner.

We have a few days until our laundry is done so we're not sure if we'll hang out here or just go on and do some exploring for the weekend. We'll figure it out in the morning.