Monkey Maneuvers

After a few lazy days swinging at anchor in the river we decided to move on to Monkey Bay Marina, which will be our jungle home for 1 week before hopping over to Nanajuana Marina for the long stay. A short 2-hour cruise further up the river we finally had eyes on our Marina, as well as the 4 sailors on the doc ready to catch lines……

Monkey Maneuvers

Weeelllll did we discover that we had a little challenge on our hands. We had to move between the bow of a boat with an anchor sticking out and the stern of another boat, boy oh boy this was an extremely tight and tricky situation something like threading a needle when the cotton is too thick. Both Eric and I felt doubtful that we would fit. Thankfully the one boat moved slight forward giving us a ball hair more space. 🧐

As many of you know Eric can only see the starboard side of the boat the port side is a total mystery for him, so the sound of my angelic voice over the marriage savers (headsets) is the only thing that stands between us and an anchor ripping into our fiberglass. These kinds of moments are seriously the only time I think Eric wants to hear me talking nonstop 😝 preferably about distance and angle and not what I don’t agree with. 😂

Coming in bow first, at an odd angle while trying to dodge a collection of hazards, not to mention the rather large reed garden that he needed to go into bow first, to be able to turn the boat around, and not having any clue about the depth.  It was really very stressful, as the space is extremely small. What I deliberately failed to mention to him at the time, all in the name of avoiding stress and panic, was just how ridiculously close we were to the anchor of the other boat, I was also fully aware of the fact that he could not get any closer to starboard, I also realized that if he held that angle for long enough we would squeeze past that anchor. My only words were not about distance, but rather just “hold the angle, it’s all good” Had I told him we were 15 centimetres from the anchor things may have been a little different.🫣 Thankfully Eric manoeuvred the boat like a true master, slow is pro in this case and before we knew it, we were secure and out of harm’s way.

 Thankfully everyone that was on the jetty to help, refrained from shouting orders or instructions which can often be the case, but for the most part they stayed silent which is incredibly important for us when we are coming into a space, that we are the only two voice that we hear, as the moment anyone else starts shouting orders or instructions things generally go totally wrong and get extremely stressful.

Monkey Bay Marina

Monkey Bay Marina is a beautiful little gem, small family run and owned marina, gardens and jungle that are beautifully maintained, everything from laundry facilities to showers are spotlessly clean. Something rather unusual is that there is a communal outdoor kitchen, that is well equipped where you can put your dry goods into a container and label it and even a refrigerator where you can do the same. Large oven and gas burners and all the necessary utensils with a fantastic little self-service honesty bar, and a chill lounge where you can just swing in a hammock and enjoy this gorgeous space and view over the marina and river.

Intle Breeze Dinghy to the Rescue

Early bells yesterday morning we were to take the Launcher (little wooden boat) to town with a few other cruisers to do some provisioning, when on the last second Eric and I decided to take our own dinghy and follow them, what do you know, just as well we made this decision as a few meters outside of the marina the launcher decided to cough and splutter and croaked ☠️ something up with the engine I guess, Intle Breeze Dinghy to the rescue and gave them a short tow back to the marina

Eventually we all headed off in our own dinghies to do the provisioning. Surprisingly the grocery store was really good and well stocked, probably one of the better ones we have seen in since Cayman.