We arrived at the uninhabited Allan-Pensacola Cay mid-afternoon. Again, we’d heard this was a really popular anchorage, but there was only one other boat when we arrived, and over our two days here, there were only ever three other boats anchored with us at a time.
We launched Squall so we could explore the island. We walked “Matty’s Trail” first – well marked by previous visitors with debris that’s washed up on the island over time – over to the Atlantic side of the island. It was mostly rough marl, but the view was beautiful and there wasn’t another human in sight. I found a good board to use for our addition to the signing tree and brought it back to Squall with us. We made up our sign and went over to the other trail, found the tree, and added our sign among all the others. Walking deserted trails through the otherwise undisturbed island vegetation made me feel like a real cruiser (funny that).
The next morning, we hopped in the water, and the temperature was perfect. We worked on cleaning up our slimy waterline, and while we weren’t able to get the whole thing done, it looks much better now.
Afterwards, we had a picnic lunch on the beach and took a shore walk. On our way in, we watched a stingray glide by. Time and again on this trip, I’m reminded that when you slow down, you get to see so much more. Along the edge of the limestone marl, there was a little reef, and as we paused to watch, several little fish darted out of their hiding spots. We saw conch, sand dollars, sea biscuits, sponges, corals and anemones.
I can’t think of a better way to close out the year than watching the sun set from the bow with sundowners in hand, reflecting on this past year and our journey so far. As we were talking about favorite moments, a sea turtle swam by, looking up at us before continuing on about his business. Add one last one to the books.
