I was finally able to get some video uploaded. I’ve been trying for weeks. Hopefully this is a good sign and I’ll be able to get some more of the GoPro video up.
This video is from our time in the Tobago Cays of the turtles and rays. Also lots of starfish.
It’s a slow day in Bequia, so I thought I would post some old pics (there’s nothing better than old news). We went to get our PCR tests this morning ($185 USD per person) so we can travel to St. Lucia later in the week. We went grocery shopping. Then we did boat chores. Then we had left-overs for dinner. Exciting.
The first pic is of a flounder under our boat back in Chatham Bay. Yes, that’s a flounder. Kind of hard to see in the pic, but trust me, I know a flounder when I see one.
The second is a nice close-up of our new anchor dug into the sand in about 15 feet of water. The anchor has definitely been a winner – we drop it and it just holds. Everywhere I’ve dove on it, it looks just like this – nice and dug in. And the more you pull on it, the more it digs in. $1500 for piece of mind (and 33 Kg of welded metal).
One of our favorite pastimes is to look at the different boats that are near us at anchor. At the Tobago Cages we saw a couple of unique vessels.
As you can imagine, fishing is an integral part of life of these Caribbean islands. We often see two boats in the water, with a net between them, as they fish. Snorkelers will jump in the water and act as fish spotters for the next positioning.
We walked from Saline Bay to Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau. Salt Whistle Bay is a favorite anchorage of many cruisers. It is beautiful, but on the smaller side.
Admiralty Bay on Bequia has a floating bar. Some friends invited us to join them for drinks this evening.
We went for a walk on Bequia yesterday, trying to make it to the top of Mt. Pleasant, which is the tallest point on the island.
On the way back down, I walked past this tree that is growing this fruit. It looks much like grapes, except they are not round. They’re kind of lumpy-round. And it is definitely a tree, not a bush or a vine.
So there is the question for the day. The person who can tell me what they are wins a week on the boat.
P.S. One more clue – the pic below is the entire pic (the top pic is a small cropped version of the one below). In this second pic, you can see the leaves.
Yesterday we traveled from Chatham Bay on Union Island, in the southern part of the Grenadines, to Admiralty Bay on Bequia in the northern part of the Grenadines. It took us about 6 hours and was fairly directly into the wind. For the sailor, we were close-hauled at about 60-degrees off true wind direction. This creates a fairly rough ride, even though wind speeds were between 10 and 15 knots (think MPH). Seas were about 3 feet with an occasional 6 footer. Not too bad, but makes for a long day of pounding when you’re going into them.
Anyway, the pounding creates a lot of salt water spray and the entire boat obviously gets covered in salt water spray. The two pics above were taken this morning about 10AM – about 16 hours after we arrived. The salt water evaporates fairly slowly, and, even when it finally evaporates, you’re left with salt on everything. Outside, but also inside you get a mist that covers everything. Also corrodes everything.
After traveling like that, you pray for either a hose or a good rain shower to wash everything down.
Yesterday I was out doing a little cleaning of the hull to get some of the algae off (I have to do this about once a week, otherwise it gets rather thick with algae, barnacles, etc.) and I noticed these black things in the water. They weren’t swimming like fish, they were more “hovering” (kind of like a hummingbird). They were about 3 inches long, with a point on one half, a “pope hat” shape for the other half, and small eyes in the middle. Also, they didn’t have fins – top, bottom, or sides – per se. They more had these wavy appendages on the sides that just repeatedly created “sine curves” (sorry, the best analogy that comes to mind) that kept them hovering. If they had to move abruptly, it was more of “shooting” motion, rather than a “swimming fast” motion.
In the top pic you can see the shape and kind of see the appendages. The second pic has a bunch of them congregating around the keel. I took this second pic because all their eyes – the light colored spot mid-way down their bodies – stood out in the shadow. It was kind of cool and creepy at the same time.
They are called Caribbean Reef Squid.
The last pic is a sunset.
We went snorkeling yesterday here in Chatham Bay. It was pretty good, although I thought it might be better.
The top pic is of a massive school of minnows. Thousands and thousands that you could swim through. The pelicans were perched on the rocks about 4 feet away making sure I knew who’s territory it was.
The second pic is of a Porcupine Fish – I think. I thought it was a Puffer fish, but then looked it up on our chart and it says Porcupine Fish (although I didn’t see any quills, so I’m not sure why they would call it that. Or maybe I’m just wrong.)
All-in-all the snorkeling was good – I guess I’m getting spoiled – but some friends said there were schools of big fish. I guess I’ll just have to go again today. On a related note, there are fishermen in this bay periodically using their “nets from row-boats method”, so maybe there are schools of larger fish and I just don’t know how to find them.
The last pic is from days ago when we were on Mayreau. I played the drums with Righteous Bob on the top of his restaurant. Super nice guy. Told us about living on the island, his travels, his kids, his grandkids, COVID, etc. Super friendly and a great conversationalist.