After Bequia, we sailed down to the Tobago Cays, a group of 4 little uninhabited islands with a large reef, protecting them from the Atlantic swells. Many boats were anchored right behind the reef – but we decided to stay behind one of the islands, seeking shelter from the boisterous wind.

We snorkeled around one of the small islands, but the current was pretty significant and it was a little murky in most places. When we finally came into some clear water with interesting coral and fish, we were too tired to really enjoy it! So we drifted back to the dinghy and took a ride out to the reef where we had an absolute blast in crystal clear water, swimming around small (house plot sized) coral beds. The diversity of fish was great.

On our way back to Toodle-oo!, we saw turtles, so in we get again and went snorkeling with turtles. They are really nice animals, though I gather they are far more bad tempered than they were letting on to us. They graze on the sparse grass growing in the sandy bottom, then come up for a breather every so often. Very neat. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable so far to reduce the size of my video files to fit in the blog – probably need to make a link to a U-Tube page, but have not worked out how to do that yet!!! (Update: Maybe I have – check out previous post…)

We then sailed around to Chatham Bay on Union Island where we found Ti Sento and Nomad in the anchorage, so enjoyed happy hour in one of the beach bars with them. The following day we did a bit of a walk – that turned into a marathon day… We scrambled along a very overgrown path following our guide, Alex to the top of a hill that was too overgrown to get a decent view, and then walked down into Ashton where we had a tasty local lunch. We declined a bus ride back and walked back over the hill – with unfortunately Tom from Nomad suffering from heat stroke in the process. It was hot!

After Chatham, we moved to Clifton, still on Union, which turned out to be a hustle bustle little town and met up with three other OCC boats, Sundowner of Beauleigh, Altair and Rhythm – so we all enjoyed sundowners at Happy Island Bar – a bar built on a man-made island on the reef – made basically of Conk Shells! Had an excellent evening!

After Union, we sailed down to Cariacou, just 20 miles south and spent a couple of days in Tyrrel Bay. It was nice not to be hustled by anyone, but we found the island to be a little tame. We’re wondering if we’re becoming island snobs!?

We then sailed down to Grenada, our southernmost destination for the year (just reached under 12 degrees north). We had a great sail, and then spent one night in St. David’s Harbour before moving on to the more popular Prickly Bay, where most of the cruisers hang out. Yesterday was Easter Sunday and Laurie out did herself with the best ever Massa and Biscourts(sp) – so we invited Ti Sento and Nomad over for Portuguese bread!

All was great until we got interrupted by a massive cockroach in the cockpit! We live in fear of getting an insect infestation and take serious precautions to try to prevent them – like no carboard comes aboard, feet and shoes washed in sea before entering, etc… Seeing this 3-inch roach was disquieting to say the least! We believe that he flew in – since we have seen no evidence of little roaches, but just in case, we decided to wash the cockpit out and remove and scrub all teak grates… Today we bought some powerful bug spray… can’t be too careful.

We’ll stay in Grenada a week or so and then begin our journey back north.

We’re thinking we might stop on the way up in Dominica where we can do some sorely missed walks due to Kate’s mishap and then Antigua where I hope to dive in English Harbour.

 

PS: Can someone tell me if the previous post’s videos are actually visible now???