Great name.

We spent out first night anchored in Stephenson Channel, quite a nice anchorage just north of the sandbar, with up to 2kn current. Good holding in sand, with a few rocks. It was a lovely afternoon, but you can’t have any pictures because I forgot to put the SD card into the camera. Night sailing brain at work.

So, around 2 hours before high tide we were able to venture over the sandbar and pretty much into the centre of the Montes – Willy Nilly Lagoon. We had a venture into the lagoon itself: at the entrance the cruising guide reports an anchorage for shallow draft vessels. This was too shallow for us – pretty much dries out – so we decided to anchor further south in a deeper channel – good holding in sand – but up to 3kn current.

Time to explore.

Several mangroves only a few minutes away by dinghy – unfortunately a no fishing zone, but great wildlife.

 

 

 

We are having a few issues with the dinghy outboard – the cooling water outlet not always flowing… So I am hoping it holds up for the rest of the trip as rowing against 3kn of current would be near impossible. Note: bring spare impeller next time, bit hard to get one of those out at the Montes!

A swim after an explore, and maybe a few more safe arrival drinks…