Here is a picture of Brian and Paula from Magique along with the two of us at the very end of Bequia race week.
Magique had a little head start, but even with a reef in both main and jib, our comfortable 6.5 knots got us to the Tobago Cays right behind them. Although we trailed three lures, no fish were interested.
We made contact with Garry and Linda of “July Indian”, who had arrived the day before, and the six of us plunged in for a snorkel right away. We were investigating a patch of reef that we knew a “day-charterboat” frequented with their guests, with food in their hands. We brought over a banana, and the fish were more than friendly, biting us in their attempt to get their share. Normally shy groupers and squirrelfish, that you never see except by peering into caves and crevices, came right up to wait for the food to be released, and attacked it furiously. Wrasses, grunts, and other small, colourful fish crowded in even closer. When our offerings were gone, they continued to nip at our fingertips, so we decided to check out another patch of coral, with less tame fish!
Sunday, we swam with the turtles, in the cordoned off area by the beach of Baradal Cay in the morning, then took off to dive off the front of the horseshoe reef, guided by Garry of July Indian. Besides the normal reef fish, we were able to see the bigger meat-eaters, or pelagic fish. Large bar jacks, yellow-tail jacks, and cero mackerals; all fish that had been hauled up the back of Cat Tales and onto our plates, swam slowly through the much deeper water along the steep-walled reef. We saw no sharks, but Dawn came face-to-face with a big ‘cuda while swimming later in the day. The abundance of fish, the colours of the different types of coral, and the clear water made for an exciting snorkel. We dinghied back to the boats after an hour or so, but stayed in the water to chase rays, sand-divers, and other species to look up in our books.
Monday, we all paid for it, with burned backs, necks, ears, and foreheads from floating for hours in the beautiful waters of the Tobago Cays. It is strange to suffer our worst sunburns so late in the season. You’d think we would have learned something by now. We played like children, and got burned like them. Still, it was all worth it.
Dawn cut my hair in order to show Paula how to do Brian's. Paula had a ball cutting his! I could easily convince her to do Laurie's next time since she had so much fun!
We left the Tobago Cays on Monday morning, and let the jib haul us through the reefs to Chatham Bay, Union Island. Just outside the Marine Park, we dropped our lures again, and almost immediately, Dawn hoisted a cero mackerel aboard. As we were travelling rather comfortably, I dressed it down into slabs of meat right on the cockpit table on my fish cutting board, just finishing up as Dawn hauled aboard another one, significantly bigger. I saw none of the short sailing trip, leaving it all to Dawn, as I continued as a butcher. All in all, we had 8 servings of fish, and with no buddy-boat with us, we had to get started on it. Dawn immediately cooked up our main meal of the day, and put the rest in the fridge. The fish was as delicious as ever, and we’re sure that Ron Roy is salivating at his desk at work while he reads this!
We hope to post this Wednesday morning, as we dash off to Clifton Harbour to check out of SVG. Although it seems sad to say goodbye to this area, we are hoping for some flat seas while we enjoy Sandy Isle off Carriacou.
