Eco-friendly

 On the chart it looked so good.  Vatia Beach Eco Resort,  Restaurant and Bar.  We pulled into the cove in front.  Nice beach.  Couldn't see a building - must be back in the trees, eco and  all.  So we anchored about one pm.  Going all the way to Vuda Point today would have put us there at dusk - not a good time to come into a strange marina.  So this stop  made sense.  Anchored in 20 feet, good set.

Puttered around the boat for a couple hours, then Tim came by on his dinghy.  I put on my best clean shorts and shirt and got the money belt.  Gotta look nice for the ecos, wot?  Tim motored toward the nice, sandy beach.  At some point I looked down and screamed 'rocks!'.  About that time Tim's motor hit bottom.  Tim lifted the motor and we kept going in about a foot of water.  Then it got a little deeper, then a bit shallower and finally the boat hit.  We were still thirty yards from the beach.  So I hopped over and went ankle deep in mud.  Gooey, clingy mud, trying its best to suck my flip flops off my feet.  Tim hopped over too and we dragged the boat to shore.  Oh, did I mention that Tim hadn't bothered to bring his oars?

We finally dragged the boat up on the beach.  Nice sand.  Turns to mud at the water's edge.  Must be magic.  Oh - eco, that's right.  Walk up the beach and spy a building.  And a horse.  And a dozen herd of cattle.  And broken windows on the building.  And an obviously abandoned eco resort.  There will be no cold beer on shore tonight.

Tim did have some oars that were for emergencies and stored in pieces in the dinghy locker.  They were home made from PVC pipe and some paddle flukes.  Well, this served as an emergency, IMHO.  He put them together and I oared gently out over the sticky, gooey mud flat.  As we made out way out to water deep enough for the motor, we asked ourselves who in their right mind would build a resort here?  There is no place to swim, there's no reef close by to snorkel.  I guess there's plenty of steaks if you want to slaughter a cow or two.  Oh, and you can ride one horse.

Out to Tim's boat for beers and a delicious dinner cooked by Van.  Fish with the heads on, my favorite.


Vudu Point is thirty miles away.  Tomorrow.


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