Aha. I think I’ve got it. This place in the north of Barbados has put a spell on us. An actual spell.

How did it do it? I think partly because the water is so clear up here. It’s proper glass. Dreamy. The wind has been light too, so it’s been even clearer. You can see right down to the bottom from the boat, from the shore, from the kayak, the dinghy… from the moon.

It’s also quiet. This anchorage is Place in the Sun land. We are anchored opposite a housing development called Port St Charles. It has a Florida-style edge to it.

You could imagine one of the Place in the Sun presenters here on permanent stand-by. ‘Would do you think of this flat, Jasmine?’ Cue Jasmine out of the closet – full make-up. Microphone-ready.

Instead of watching the tv show (btw: I love this tv show), I reckon you could have a row of chairs in the lobby of Port St. Charles. Just sit down and watch.

In this complex, apartments and duplexes encircle a swimming pool, tennis courts and a marina. We’re not allowed to bring Quest in to tie up on one of its docks though. They say it’s an issue of draft and that the marina is quite shallow.. but I’ve seen some large sailboats in there. I think it’s more likely to be a different issue.

It doesn’t matter. There’s a small fuel and water dock to get essentials. Quest doesn’t need to plug in either to shore power anytime soon. We can stay on the hook.

Barbados overall has a huge cruise ship infrastructure, but very little for visiting boats. They have one working marina close to the cruise ship dock, but it’s in the industrial zone and is used primarily to fix and store local boats. Not exactly Place in the Sun land.

Does Barbados do this on purpose? Does it make it fairly inaccessible for yachties so they crowd round other, more yachtie-friendly bays and islands? Well, if they do, I’m grateful. There are maybe five boats anchored here. People leave and other boats arrive, but it’s so quiet, you don’t really notice.

We have had one departure we’re sad about. S/V Wild Thing III left. Those chutzpah Kiwis are heading through the Panama Canal, this side of summer. It has to make sense for them to keep moving closer to Panama.

They made it to Martinique yesterday, the French king of yachting infrastructure – only to find that everything is closed. Martinique’s annual carnival is taking place this week. Honestly, it sounds like something Quest would do.

Krista wrote to me last night to say they are in a tight anchorage outside of Le Marin and the boys are hating it already. Makes sense – since the three boys from Wild Thing did surf for six whole hours straight the day they were leaving Barbados. This anchorage spell is powerful.

Fair Winds, Wild Thing 💕. So happy to have met you!