Commodore
February 19, 2021

Back to the Tobago Cays for some calmer weather

We woke up to discover that our mysterious neighbours who didn’t come for drinks last night, were trying to catch our attention. Turns out that they lost their dinghy off the back of the boat last night (which is why they didn’t make drinks) and they went to search for it in the dark, which is pretty brave. It was them we saw returning to a mooring ball at 9pm. Poor things, it really is bad luck and pretty devastating for ease of living. We have heard of so many people losing their dinghy’s, we are being extra vigilant. We didn’t think they were being very proactive, they hadn’t even told Security at Mustique who have just taken delivery of a new guard boat, and have been practicing in it every day this week, we were pretty sure they would love a real case to work on. Rowan offered them our paddle board and said they could just leave it somewhere for us to pick up sometime, the woman just said it was ok, they will swim! We departed saying we would keep an eye out for it, but it is like looking for a needle in a haystack as all the dinghies are grey and blend into the sea. We headed south and decided to keep to the windward side of the islands as we have not been that side before. The Atlantic waves were enormous, not surprising after a week of pumping winds. It is still blowing in the low 20 knots, so we had a very good sail down, very comfortable and fast.

Strange rocky outcrops on the way down, all volcanic we assume.

We finally got into the Tobago Cays around 3:30pm and were happy to see our friendly boatman, Romeo who helped us getting on to the mooring ball. We have decided to go out to the reef next to Baradal island, and not go in the cut between the other two islands where we moored the previous two times. There was only one other boat out there, so we had the place to ourselves. It is much harder going onto a mooring ball, and very few people do it here, they just put their anchors down, which is much easier and costs nothing (maybe safer too as some mooring balls are a bit dodgy and are prone to break…eek!). We feel it is income for the marine park and prevents the seabed being carved up by heavy anchors. I especially hate the thought of dropping an anchor on a big star fish.