Day 80, Year 1: Tobago Cays, The Grenadines
Date: Thursday, January 5, 2006
Weather: Continued Beautiful Weather
Latitude: N 12 degrees 37.94 minutes
Longitude: W 61 degrees 21.39 minutes
Location: Anchored Behind Horseshoe Reef, Tobago Cays
After spending seven full days in Bequia, we finally moved on today. As we left Admiralty Harbor and headed out to round West Cay, we stayed close to shore so we could get a glimpse of the houses in Moonhole. An American architect named Tom Johnson designed the homes here that grow out of the rocks. The homes are said to have huge arches, fantastic views, and lovely patios. From the water, it looked like the dwellings of Native Americans that carved homes out of the cliffs in the Southwest. In Moonhole, as in all of Bequia, there is seldom glass in the windows as the breeze is constant and the insects are few.
The sun is sinking behind Mayreau as we sit here in the Tobago Cays. I am like a kid in a candy shop. Every island is more beautiful than the last, but this place really is magical. We sit here with only an underwater reef protecting us from the ocean. And the next stop to the east is Africa. It is calm here tonight and the water is that beautiful turquoise-green color. We had a delightful sail today with light winds and when we arrived at 1500, we immediately hit the water. We snorkeled over to the tip of Baradel, the island closest to us. We are anchored in about 12 feet of water and it gets progressively shallower as you approach the island. On the sandy bottom, we saw one little, lone cowfish, and some other fish that we have yet to identify. Not much, but for us, it was beautiful. Tomorrow we will take the dinghy to the outer reef where the underwater show is guaranteed to be a sellout. The water here is crystal clear. Some say you can see 100 feet down clearly. I’ll have to see that to believe it.
We will stay here until Saturday morning and then move on to Union Island. There are lots of boats here, but everyone seems to be mindful of everyone else’s privacy. By the way, Martha’s tiny ship was here when we arrived, but at sunset her ship sailed northward. Since we are headed south, I don’t think we will see them again. We are thinking of our friends Heather and John Turgeon back at Shipyard Quarters Marina in Boston and Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg back in Concord, New Hampshire tonight. We know that they have anchored here while sailing the Caribbean and we are wondering what wondrous things they saw while they were here.
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| 060105 Day 80 Caribbean, Tobago Cays–Bequia to Tobago Cays |
