Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

2-7 It was a much calmer night. We got up and going pretty early. Our plan for some time has been to get to the Tobago Cays. Sadly, the weather just hasn’t been cooperating. We finally got a couple days that look like manageable wind so we wanted to get an earlier start so we could make the most of our time. A side story is that we had let our laundry get out of control. I got behind while the grandparents were here and I just couldn’t get ahead with all the towels which are constantly salty. We were going to get a taxi to a laundry mat, but one of the people who have a small restaurant at the beach said they could do it and get it done for us. I expected them to pick it up first thing in the morning, but they didn’t come until around 2. I was very skeptical they could get it done for us to leave the next morning but we were pretty desperate to get it done. They took it. About 6, they called and said they’d bring it back after their dinner guests left. It ended up being 11:30. I had fallen asleep and they showed up with half of it done and the other half dripping wet. Cale hung it up to dry. About 24 hours later we still have stuff hanging all over trying to dry. The other funny party is the stuff that came dry smelled like bonfire which makes sense because all the restaurants do bonfires on the beach. Apparently, our laundry was hanging in the background of one of those bonfires.
After taking down all the wet stuff we got underway. It was a pretty mild motor straight into the wind. The waves weren’t nearly as big as we thought they would be. Our approach was to come in North of Mayrou. As you approach it looks like you are going straight to one island but as you get closer you see there is actually a channel between 2 islands. The channel is lined with boats. It’s a pretty tight fit. We went around to the back side and found lots of moored and anchored boats. We started to get a mooring ball, but they were so close together we chose a different one on the east side of Petite Rameau There were 4. The first one we got didn’t look for very, but we ended up finding one that had pretty new lines. We are backed right up to land so we wanted to make sure we were secure. We also ran a back up line to the mooring ball.
It is breathtaking here. The water is crystal clear and all shades of blue. We got a quick lunch and then went to the Baradal beach to snorkel. It’s a protected turtle breeding ground. We saw several turtles, some of them pretty big. We also saw a barracuda, manta ray, and some very big starfish. The current was pretty strong so we went back to the beach.
We decided to take the dinghy out to a mooring ball at the dinghy pass at Horseshoe Reef. It was the clearest snorkeling I have ever done in my life. It was so clear. The waves were a bit rough so we only lasted about 30 minutes. Kelsey did awesome, even though the waves were a little overwhelming for her.
We came back to the boat. I worked on food. The kids played a modified version of a game the kids from Hold Fast 2 play called gris. They ended up running barefoot up a mountain and then swimming out to our boat. I was impressed with Kelsey that she was able to do it too. Dinner took a lot longer then I thought. We ate and the boys came over for games.

2-8 Our 2nd day in Tobago cays was one of my favorite so far. We took the dinghy out to Petite Tobac. There are buoys marking where to pass through because the water is coming in from the Atlantic Ocean and breaking on reefs everywhere. We were able to make it although we had everything tied to the boat just in case it flipped. I was glad for our bigger dinghy on this expedition. The island is famous because it is where they filmed part of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It’s the scene when Jack and Elizabeth are left on an island and he paces off 10 steps and finds his rum. We ran into a charter captain who was an extra in the movie. He showed us the spot where they dug up the area and put the box with rum. You can tell because when they put it all back they didn’t compact it so its depressed in the area. A lot of the beach has receded so it looked quite different. We loved this little island. It was so beautiful. We walked out to the point and ocean waters and currents are coming in from all directions. As we walked back along the water Kira spotted a shark just a few feet from her. We all got to see it in the surge before it darted away. We think it was a small black tip reef shark. The obvious next step was to hurry and get our snorkel gear and head out to hopefully see it. No luck but we did have a good snorkel. It was like a maze of sandy bottom and reef.
On our way back we stopped at Horseshoe reef again. Cade and Kelsey were done and stayed in the dinghy. We were all pretty tired at that point but Cale jumped in and said it was amazing. He was right. We were just east of the buoy we tied to the day before. It was so clear and there were so many fish. The corral was everywhere and so colorful.
We got back to the boat and relaxed. The kids jumped off the boat. They love to have jumping/diving competitions and just for fun. They do it for hours. Cale and I did one quick snorkel behind the boat. It was a little murky but lots of fish. We saw some large trigger fish that look like they are swimming sideways that I’d never seen before.
We opted not to do the Beach BBQ with adult friends and instead had spaghetti with the kids.

2-9 We had to leave Tobago Cays because the wind was really going to start picking up and there is no protection from it. We had a pretty rolly night. The kids woke up and did school. When we went to put the dinghy up last night one of the shackles were missing. We figured it most likely came loose and fell to the bottom. They are usually on pretty tight so it seemed unlikely but the alternative was a one of the boat boys stole it, but that seemed less likely. Cale jumped in and sure enough dove down and there was the shackle and carabiner. We were so glad we found it. They are not cheap parts to replace.
We headed out north of Tobago Cays and were tempted to stop and snorkel horseshoe reef again, but decided against it because a squall was coming. It was only about a 30 minute ride but we finally got to sail. Just our head sail but still better then nothing. It was great.