Another very leisurely sail brought us to Orange Settlement where we anchored and debated whether it was worthwhile going ashore. According to the charts there was a creek that went in quite far, but from what we saw, it was very shallow and we assumed it would look pretty much similar to the ones we’ve seen so far on Cat Island. The creeks were definitely one of our favorite, unexpected features of this island.
The following morning we woke up fairly early, had our coffee on deck, checking the weather and the local winds and as soon as the sun showed it’s face over the island, we decided to hoist the sails and take the perfect wind angle for as long as it would last and try and make Little San Salvadore before it dies down. The wind was fairly light but we sailed comfortably at around five knots which we were totally satisfied with. We caught a fish on the way, so it was exciting and time just passed by without us even noticing. A few miles before we would turn to head into Half Moon Bay, we got a strike on the hand line that was out since we left Cat Island. At first we were not sure whether it was some seaweed or sorgasso that was caught on the line, but when I touched it again, I could feel that we had something hooked for sure. As we got the fish closer to the boat, we saw that it was a fairly large fish, but wasn’t sure what it could be. Then we saw it – a medium sized lemon shark! By this time it was dragging behind the boat for some time, struggling but still alive. Now how do you get the lure out of a half-dead shark’s mouth? By the time Andre got it aboard it was dead, so he took out the fillets and let the rest go. That evening we cooked the steaks and it was delicious, probably one of the best fish we’ve caught so far.
Little San Salvadore was bought by Carnival Cruise Lines, so although you’re still allowed to anchor in Half Moon Bay, you are not allowed to go onto the beach or use any of the amenities while there are cruise ships in the bay.
To the north of the island lies “the Bridge”, a very popular area for fishing. It is an under water connection between Little San Salvadore and Eleuthera Island, consisting of rock and corals with very deep water on either side.
Close to the north shore it is really shallow and at low tide some of the rocks and corals stick out above the water, so it was the perfect snorkeling spot. The water is crystal clear and there are a lot of fish to be seen. The beach to the north is absolutely stunning, so we didn’t feel at all deprived from not being able to go ashore in Half Moon Bay.
Every morning between 7am and 8 am a new huge cruise ship would arrive and anchor about a half mile into the ocean and then the passengers are carried back and forth to the island by ferry boats the whole day long until the boat leaves again around 4pm. There’s all kinds of water activities like kayaking and sailing, but what seems the most popular is horseback riding into the surf. Apparently there are routes on land that the horses also go, but all we could see was the horses on the beach and then they would go into the water for a few minutes. This went on all day long, so I suspect that they have more than one “set” of horses.
After a few days, we took the dinghy to the south end of the island, snorkeled a while and although the water was just as clear, it was definitely not near as pretty as on the north side. By this time the cruise ship was leaving and we went ashore and followed a short path to the harbor where we met the land crew that remained in their golf carts. They looked very surprised to see us and at first were not sure whether we were passengers that were left behind by the cruise ship. We quickly told them that we were on the sailboat and wanted to take a few pictures of the island while the cruise ship had left. They referred us to the head of security and he was very stern at first and wanted to know how we got on the island. He also told us that we had to call him on the radio on channel 74 to ask permission to be there, but that the first day that he would allow us onto the beach would be Saturday and today was only Wednesday. We would then only be allowed on the beach and not near the amenities or the horse farm or any other part of the island that they bought. We had free reign of the north and the south side of the island at any time though. We took photos from the dinghy on our way to the boat, and that will definitely suffice.
We had very calm weather but it looked as if the winds were going to pick up quite a bit the following day, so we decided to prepare to leave the following morning. We would’ve loved to go snorkel on the north side a few more times, but the anchorage will not be comfortable at all during high winds. There’s always a next time, we hope.