Hanging Out at the Cays

Everyday there would be a new cruise ship anchored in the deep water area. Today it's the 5-masted Royal Clipper from London.

One of the true joys of the cruising lifestyle is the people you meet and the friends you make. After leaving the social whirl of Grenada we enjoyed several days on our own but found ourselves missing our friends. We were so happy to hear Escape Velocity on the VHF radio the day before announcing they were about an hour out from Tobago Cays.

Following my debacle with burning out the ring fitting on my primary alternator lead, I was overwhelmed by the response from fellow cruisers when I asked on the VHF radio if anyone had a somewhat rare #4 gauge terminal fitting. Our friends on EV had a #6 which I could use in a pinch, but several other boats came back and said they would search their boats for the right fitting. A neighbor boat, Darling Blue, had a #4 that was very close in stud size and would work until we got the exact size. That’s the joy of cruising, having so many people around you who are willing to help out no matter what the situation.

Another thing that amazes us is how quickly the weather can change out here. One minute you are basking in the the 82 degree sunshine and the next minute it's "batten down the hatches" as some nasty little squall blows through. Meryl and I call it the "hatch dance," where she runs forward and I run to the aft of the boat to get the hatches closed before the deluge of rain hits.

Who wouldn't want to go boating with these two beautiful women?

The indomitable Jack, captain and master of the dingy Catnip.

Escape Velocity suggested a tour of the surrounding islands so we all piled into Jack’s faithful dingy, Catnip, and headed over to Petite Bateau for a look/see. With the constant easterly trade winds blowing, it was a rough and wet ride most of the way. Going through the narrow channel we were surprised to see several boats anchored. When originally viewing the chart I had been reluctant to motor through there, but it looked wide open from the dingy. We explored onshore and walked across the island to the south side beach where we watched some French kite surfers do their thing. What an amazing sport, I’d love to try it sometime.

Hike up to the top of Petite Bateau overlooking Tobago Cays.

Just chillin' along the beach at Petite Bateau with Marce and Jack.

We took a short hike up to what we thought we thought would be a spectacular overview of the harbor but found the trail petered out at the top with just underbrush and sticker trees. Back down on the beach a local woman had arts and crafts for sale but we took the opportunity to sit at her picnic table and just enjoyed the view.

Living proof that a domineering, micro-managing, Type A captain can live in harmony with a sweet Type B crew.

Later that night we had Jack and Marce over for Bahamian mac and cheese and just sat around and talked about life (and most likely fixing things that break on sailboats).