12 January 2021 A sojourn in Nonsuch Bay

After two weeks in English Harbour we decided we should lift anchor and explore further, but where to go? We chose Nonsuch Bay on the south and east corner of the island. If we left on Thursday it would be a couple of hours motoring into light winds.

On Thursday morning we were ready to go, hatches dogged down, anything that might shift or fall safely stowed. Everything was ready except the red light indicator for the alternator didn't come on. If the alternator's not working we're not charging the batteries. It's a boat!

Plan B. Power off and the engine hatch open to allow the heat to dissipate. David dons his engineer's cap and starts checking the wiring looking for a loose connection. Nada. He finally finds the culprit – a dubious bulb holder and a faulty connection behind the ignition panel, but it is now late we select the manyana option – one more night in Freeman Bay.

Next morning and this time it's a 'Go'. Going east in a south east wind and the power of the Atlantic waves isn't comfortable. It's a relief when we can turn off the wind into the flat water of the entrance to Nonsuch Bay. Green Island is to starboard as is the first of the finger reefs to dodge. You turn left, right and left again to line up on the deep water passage to Nonsuch Bay.

Nonsuch is big, open to the easterly winds, but with a reef between us and the Atlantic the water is calm. The combination of wind and flat waters attract an eager crowd of kite boarders.

For our first three nights we are anchored behind the reef with views across the ocean. If the earth was flat the next land we would see would be the Cape Verde islands two thousand miles to the east. It also has good internet coverage for Flow and Digicel.

When the forecast predicts stronger winds and rain for the next two days we move to the back of the bay for better protection behind Conk Point. Who wants to live in a wind tunnel? Now we are anchored with the super and mega yachts – about a dozen of them. You begin to wonder which is charter and which is private? Google kindly provides the answers on a wet afternoon. Moonrise, the biggest boat here is 100m long, less than a year old, cost $100m and is privately owned by an anonymous American billionaire. The 70m boat, Mogambo, is owned by the billionaire who co-founded WhatsApp. 

Moonrise emerges from the channel

He has a second boat in the anchorage, 55m long, which is his support ship complete with a helicopter and sliding hangar on the rear. We watched the yellow helicopter fly in, land on the foredeck of Moonrise for a guest to alight and then return to base. 

a boat for your heliocopter

A third privately owned boat, Anawa, angular in design and grey green in colour also has a helicopter on deck. Anawa is owned by a Brazilian multi billionaire who made his money in investment banking. The other boats are just charters. Though you'd need deep pockets; one week charter for up to 12 guests costs U$450,000 plus expenses and gratuities. If those owners or guests were to Google Jackster what would they discover about us? We're English, have a cat called Polly, definitely not in Forbes top 100 and are staying in Nonsuch sheltering from plague and bad weather. I like to think we see the same sunsets, have the same rain on deck, but we are on a permanent holiday.