September 24, 2013
Mbavatu Harbor is an impressively deep and mountainous bay, but in spite of its size we were soon to discover it’s not an easy place to anchor. (Below, a few photos of the entrance to the harbor; you can click to enlarge and scroll through any of the photo galleries that follow.)
Of three potential spots, we had chosen to start our visit in well-protected bay near the entrance to the harbor (generally referred to as the south or west anchorage).
This turned out to be a beautiful bay, very green and lovely but there was a problem: some jackass had put a mooring ball smack in the middle of the bay, perfectly placed so that it was impossible to anchor in the reasonably shallow areas around it. Since it was too deep to anchor further out in the bay, we sadly had to turn and leave. (Below, a few photos of the pretty anchorage made unusable by the mooring ball.)
Next we headed to the other side of the harbor by the yacht club. Unfortunately, it seemed this club was open only when the cruising rallies made special arrangements to check in here (about every other year or so). Otherwise it’s unmanned; so we had no one to ask if we could use one of their several moorings. We thought about just picking one up, but we didn’t know if they were being maintained and kept in good condition. Could we anchor outside the moorings? No, it was too deep. (Below, a few photos of the yacht club area.)
This was getting downright unnerving. We decided to motor down to the head of the bay in hopes of finding a spot there. –Cyndi
(More to come in Part 2)
