Couple of questions Re Cooper Island

I really enjoy Cooper Island as a first night Anchorage. It's an easy sail across to get our sea legs and it's great place to find your way around the boat in between drinks, beach, snorkeling and the great restaurant and Rum Bar. Last year the anchorage smelled like sewage. Was that from the boats? From the island? Or was it not sewage at all?

Second question is about the backwinding / currents there. Several times we have spent the night listening to the mooring ball bump the hull again and again. Is there a technique to stop that? I thought I remembered a way to lift the ball slightly using a line from the anchor slide.

We will be down next week and I'd like to start with Cooper but I'd like to avoid these pitfalls.

Advice appriciated!

Cooper smells like sewage once in a while. It’s from the weed. As far as the moorings if the wind is light bring the mooring pennant directly to one of the bow cleats and tie it off. Jump in the dinghy and run a dock line from the other bow cleat through the ring on top of the ball and back to that cleat. Match the length of the pennant. The ball is now trapped and can’t touch either hull plus you have a short tie off which can be helpful there with ball spacing. Very crude sketch!

Thanks George. Unfortunately we're on a Monohull this trip. Is there a fix for that?

Last minute upgrade?

I wish! 🤔

Not much you can do to stop that on a monohull. At least you get to sail! I have personally found that the two ends of the mooring field are the worst for backwinding and that the further out you are in the field the better. More consistent wind IMHO.