Feb. 18 Off to Santa Cruz
The wind wasn’t going to cooperate with us so we knew we would have to motor to Santa Cruz, the next island on our trip. It is about an 8 hour run so we planned to leave at 2:00 am in order to arrive in the morning and give us some more time to spend on the island. The seas were calm on the way there and we returned to our original watch system, giving everyone plenty of rest on the way. We took a commercial mooring that the yellow shirts helped arrange since Dan would be returning to the UK for his father in laws funeral, and that way he would not have to worry about the anchor dragging while gone. Once everything was settled in I made a lunch of seared yellow fin tuna steaks with cole slaw; I had purchased a couple large pieces from the fish vendor in San Christobal for $2 a pound.
The main street of the town seemed a little more touristy and upscale than San Christobal and the back streets more rundown. The afternoon was spent scoping out the bars and restaurants while at the same time looking for wifi and public toilets since you cannot discharge into the bay. We stopped at The Rock for “crazy hour” with 2 for 1 drinks and beers, and then checked out the menus along the road which all seemed to have the same dinners and at higher prices than our previous stop.
Now we are always on the lookout for a more local dining experience and one of the crew from another boat had mentioned restaurants grilling along the road a few blocks from the main street.

Our kinda place

We headed off there and were pleasantly surprised to find the street filled with tables and chairs and charcoal grills in front of every establishment; it reminded me of the jump up in St. Lucia minus the music or perhaps fish Friday on in Anse la Raye.


Slipper lobsters, that end is the head


An assortment of fish

They all display their offerings, an assortment of whole fish and Slipper Lobsters, alien looking creatures that appear at first glance to be all tail. We all decided o the lobsters and chose our selections, you can have then plainly grilled or with garlic or coconut sauce. The meals come with the usual side dishes and everyone left full and happy.

Team Skyelark at the table


And the damage done

After dinner we split up and some went back to the boat while others, including myself stopped off here and there for a drink or two. The water taxi service runs all night so it was easy to get a ride back for a good nights sleep after such a long day.