Stocking Island has a lot of Beaches

So we finally left George Town...only to hop across the harbor and spend some time at Stocking Island.  

Stocking Island was THE social spot for the last few months but most of the cruisers have headed either north or south after the regatta.  Which leaves it open for us to explore.

When we first came into Elizabeth Harbor we noticed a monument atop of a large hill.  Our quest was to get up there and check out the view.

But first lets relax some more...

We anchored at Monument Beach the closest we've even been to the beach, about a 30 foot swim to shallow water!

Hamburger Beach... Guess what we ordered?

And we added our name to the many cruisers before us.

Next we visited Volleyball Beach to see the famous Chat n Chill

Our home isn't so far away.

We saw a sting ray swimming around the shallow beach.  Someone told us it was actually a manta ray and that people feed it hamburgers.  So I decided now was the time to get over our fear of rays and treaded out there saying "come here big fella"

It swam right up to me and then turned but I was able to pet it a few times.  It was a lot slimier than I thought it would be but still really cool.

We are 00 miles to Paradise the signs says.

Chat n Chill is where a lot of the cruisers would play volleyball but there were no games going on today, just an expensive pig roast

Nala is better at relaxing than we are 

It was now time for the mountain climb.  The first day we got lost through several "paths" and had to turn around and get directions at the Hamburger joint.  Once we knew how to get there it wasn't so bad, about ten minutes of steep hiking.

One portion even had a rope to help you climb up.

But boy was the view from the top worth it!

Our boat is the furthest left closest to the beach.

We don't know the point of this thing but there was a bench that couples carved their names into that got engaged up there.

Next we found another trail that was like a safari and came out onto the other side of the island.

We were rewarded with a beautiful beach

In regards to the last blog our house batteries are officially dead but two of them will at least let us use the inverter through them during the day.  It's kinda funny because we only get power if the sun is direct so as we feel a cloud go over the inverter beeps and we have to turn things off.  But then the suns returns a minute later and we have power again.  We do this routine several times a day if trying to charge the laptops.  

Unrelated since we gave up on the coffee maker awhile ago but Christine now makes coffee by tying a rubber band around a coffee filter over a cup and just slowly pours boiling water in there until she has a cup.  It takes awhile but gets the job done!

Luckily there is enough power somehow to turn on led lights and half powered fans at night.

In other news I finally cut off the goldilocks to Christine's dismay.

Before

After

 but we left a blond tipped rat tail for fun :)

See Christine in the glasses?

We did not have any internet at Stocking Island so after a week we came back to George Town!  We will stay here till the end of May and then really be leaving as we head back north...