TOBAGO CAYS & MAYREAU

We left Clifton Harbour on Union Island and sailed for about 30 mins to get to Tobago Cays which is a recognised marine park.  We picked up a mooring buoy in the clear water and didn’t take much time getting into the water and snorkelling to the small island nearby.  There was a fair bit of swell, so we sort of got washed onto the beach in a rather undignified way lol. 

After lunch we went to the beach where we could swim to see the turtles.  We anchored the dinghy in shallow water because there is too much swell to pull the dinghy up onto the sand.  We had worked out that my days of being able to get back into the dinghy under my own steam were probably over so Tony had made a makeshift ladder so I can pull myself back into the dinghy looking less like a beached whale in the process.

We saw around 5 turtles, and they take absolutely no notice of you at all, they just go on eating the sea grass or swimming past you with out a trouble in the world.  It had got quite busy with swimmers while we were there and as you may be aware you don’t have much peripheral vision with a mask on.  As an adult you learn to turn your head once in a while but kids, not so much.  There were a number of near head on collisions or T-bones with kids’ hell bent on heading in the direction they were going.  

We ended up going to the beach bar that night for another Lobster BBQ which followed along the same lines as the first one we had, delicious. As we were heading back to the boat in the dark, the mooring field was full, and all the mast lights looked like stars.  It was so pretty. 

The next morning, we woke up to clouds and rain which was not ideal so we waited around till 11 am before deciding to head to Chatham Bay on Union Island. See Union Island blog. 

MAYREAU

After leaving Chatham Bay four days later we motored the short distance to Saline Bay on Mayreau Island.  We found a lovely anchorage, and we set up quite near the beach.  We swam on the anchor to make sure we had got it in a sandy patch before continuing onto the beach to have a walk.  

That evening we took the dingy to the dock and went to Lo Lo’s Bar for sunset drinks and some dinner.  Watching the sun go down while also keeping an eye on our dinghy and boat. We had been told and we had also read that dinghy theft in the Caribbean is more common than in Europe, so we have been locking the dinghy each time we leave it and also shutting hatches and putting laptops etc away when we go to shore.  I don’t think we have ever felt that the locals we’ve seen would cause any problems, but we still need to be careful.  A life without our dinghy, which is like our car would be pretty difficult. 

We woke up the next day after a restless night.  The swell had picked up, and the boat was being picked up as each swell passed through but fortunately the anchor was set well in sand so we weren’t moving anywhere.  The waves were pounding on the beach reaching further and further up the beach it seemed. 

The dinghy dock we had landed on the night before was now looking like a water park ride.  With each wave that headed for the beach the wave would go under the jetty and spray through the planks of wood shooting water into the air.  It didn’t happen every time so some unsuspecting people would be trying to tie up their dinghy and then if they got onto the jetty they were then getting sprayed with water.  It was a great spectator sport. Unfortunately, the bigger swell also meant we were confined to the boat so we didn’t get to walk around the island again.  We set off the next morning towards Cananoun.