Saturday, February 25, 2017

Tobago Cays and Mayreau

February 25 - 27 (Tobago Cays) Feb 27 - March 4 (Mayreau)

We arrived into the Tobago Cays to stay for 3 nights after a short sail from Bequia (9 miles our shortest yet).

The water was stunning and to top it off our good friends on s/v Maple and s/v Auriga were there. We also saw two turtles as we were anchoring.

Maple cruised by in their dinghy to let us know they were heading towards Jamesby Island. We dropped our dinghy and headed over. The small beach was breathtaking, with white sand and a palm tree. Paige even got to try out her hand at cracking a coconut with a rock. She learned how to do this on Youtube. All of the kids played on the beach and in the water.

Tobago Cays aquamarine water
s/v Maple at anchor
the beach at Jamesby Island
Paige, Iris and Archie playing in the water
the beautiful sand
myself, Janet (s/v Maple), Nicky (s/v Maple)
footsteps in the sand on Jamesby Island
life is good with friends from left to right, Archie (s/v Maple), Iris (s/v Maple), and Jordan
Paige putting Youtube coconut cracking to the test
the final result
Darryl from Maple climbing up for a coconut
Later on in the evening everyone came over to our boat for beverages. It gave the kids more time to play and the adults time to catch up even more. The following day Maple and Auriga were departing.

We decided to stay one extra night at anchor near Petit Rameau as we wanted to dinghy over to Baradal island where the turtle reserve is located. It was very windy making it tricky to beach the dingy and when we tried to snorkel the turbulent water made for poor visibility. We hung out on the beach while the girls played with conch shells. We ended up chatting with a German flagged vessel, s/v Jade IV. The father and 4 adult children were sailing toward Grenada to celebrate his 70th birthday. Lovely family (whom we later ran into on Mayreau and again in Martinique). We didn't see any turtles in the reserve. Oh well, maybe next time.

Baradal island turtle reserve
view of Element from Baradal island
all ready to snorkel
conch shell beach art
Paige near the edge of Baradal Islet
Jordan playing in the water
me with Petit Tabac in the background
Shaun with Petit Tabac in the background
conch shell in the sand
For our last evening at anchor we moved to the other side of Petit Rameau. On this side of the island they offer beach BBQ's. The meal choices are lobster or chicken with rice and veggies. Our friends really enjoyed it. We decided to skip it as it was out of our budget. Perhaps on the way back down south.

There was also a cruise ship anchored off which shuttled people to the beach for the day. Their boat was able to beach and allow the people to disembark.

trail from one side of Petit Rameau to the other
iguana in a tree on Petit Rameau
We left the Tobago Cays and sailed the 25 miles to Mayreau. We skipped Salt Whistle Bay as it was very crowded. We settled ourselves down the coast into Saline Bay, where we stayed for 5 days. There is not much in the way of provisions here but the beach is beautiful and the snorkelling is superb.

We also met s/v Resolute (Katerina and Dennis). Dennis explained that when we were in Tenerife, Jordan went trick or treating to their boat. Since then we have seen their vessel in several of the places we have visited. It was finally nice to meet them both. We clicked right away. Over beverages at our boat we mentioned that Dennis' Hideaway (http://www.dennis-hideaway.com) had a great atmosphere and that it would be great to meet there. The following evening, we did just that.

It started with us four and then Dennis popped in. He noticed the atmosphere was a good one with laughter, music and camaraderie so he bought us a round and served up some conch fritters. Later in the evening our new German friends stopped in. Conversation was flowing along with yet another round from Dennis. Shaun and I felt a little guilty as the girls hadn't had dinner yet so we said our farewells and teetered back to the boat. I was sad to leave because ambience was so pleasant.

By the time we got to the boat, I was feeling no pain. Paige was happy to report that they had both eaten and were just fine.

We hung out a couple of more days before making our beat up wind back to Bequia, St. Lucia and finally Martinique to await our Canadian friends whom arrive March 16.

fishing boat in Saline Bay
beach in Saline Bay, Mayreau
beach in Saline Bay, Mayreau
lobsters (25 EC/pound)
view of Element

Follow our video adventures on our YouTube channel: Video adventures of s/v Element

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