Avoiding Squalls

We decided to go and snorkel at Mayreau Gardens, which meant crossing a large bit of sea by dinghy. The wind was blowing a bit and the sea was choppy. Suddenly with the wind behind us we did a nose dive and took on an enormous amount of water! Luckily we had been given a bailer and I had my ancient scoop made from an old milk bottle. Sam and I were furiously bailing as more water kept splashing in. We had thought we would beat the dark clouds of the squall, but realised we wouldn’t. So we headed to the deserted beach which has one restaurant on it, the Ranch. We had anchored here last year and had eaten at the restaurant. Munro the owner opened it a month before Covid, so they were having a terrible time business wise last year. We were glad to support them and have a cup of coffee sheltered from the rain. We had met Munro last year with Jake(English) and Leonie (Ugandan and knew Phoeb’s Oakham Ugandan friend), they run game lodges in Africa and were having a 3 month break from Africa, volunteering at some mad English woman’s dog sanctuary.

Janey on the swing, keeping an eye out for the snorkellers

Squalls heading over

Sargasso weed on the lovely beach

The rain cleared but not to brilliant sunshine so Janey and I opted to stay behind while the others went snorkelling. I think it was quite difficult so they didn’t spend long snorkelling. When they came back to pick us up there was another squall on the horizon so we went for a walk along the beach but soon had to run back to the restaurant for cover. It cleared up afterwards and our trip back to the boat was less exciting than anticipated.

Romeo was thrilled with us booking our second lobster dinner in a week! Duco and Menno the Dutch guys anchored near us and joined us for a very jolly dinner on the beach. We went earlier so we could see the Eagle rays and big puffer fish eating the scraps from the chefs. We saw them last year and it was good to see them again.

Eagle ray and puffer fish feeding on the scraps

We climbed to the top of the little hill on the island for a bird’s eye view of the Cays before dinner. Can’t get over how many boats are in. Lots of people having dinner with the boat men, trade has really picked up for them. Juliet told us their helper is deaf which explained his lack of understanding, he is called Deafie! He was very pleased to see us again. Everyone had lobster and I had fish which was delicious. After eating we headed home as the poor locals still have to boat home to Mayreau or Union Island, as it is a marine reserve nobody can stay the night.

Steep hot walk up the hill

View across to PolePole

At the top, from left, Sam, Johnny, Menno, Amelia, Duco, Janey and Rowan

Advanced Valentine’s kiss

Watching the sun set on the beach

Lobster feast with kitchens in the background

We managed to keep relatively dry getting back to the boat, we were amazed to find it was only 8:30 pm so we decided to play cards and learnt a new game called Yaniv. Duco and Menno had stayed at the beach, with two very excited older American ladies that they had met in the bar in Bequia the previous night. It wasn’t long before they had joined us at the boat. Apparently the generator is unplugged at 8:30 so the beach was plunged into darkness and everyone headed home. The boys lasted a couple of rounds but I think Duco was suffering a surfeit of rum punches! They left and we had a round of Farkle, a dice game that we introduced the Chadds to.