Day 3: Bequia to The Tobago Cays

Let's see.  When I woke this morning I'm sorta thinking it's Tuesday.  Humm.  Partied Sunday night, worked our butts off all day yesterday (Monday???), and then had one rum ti and crashed.  Yeah.  It's Tuesday and I'm real happy I can remember that much this morning.  Also, the one measly drink of alcohol has completely worn off, my back is killing me and I need to take a pill.  

Fifteen minutes after the pill went to work, I found my back no longer bothered me - better living through modern chemistry, baby - but my tummy is telling me I need to eat something.   I'm sure there was no meal last night; we were all just too tired to bother.  Having slept where I lay down in the cockpit the night before, I went below, fired up the stove and scrambled some eggs.  Toast completed the breakfast, and that was made the old fashioned way.  I just tossed a couple of slices of bread on the burner for a second or so.  

Doped up sailors make a lot of racket cooking breakfast while on a slowly rolling boat so by the time I finished cooking, everyone else was stirring.  To get out of their way, I went back topside and ate.  The wind was calm and now that most of my morning needs had been met, I slowly became aware it was time to take a bath.  Actually, I dang near tossed my breakfast when the stench of my unwashed-for-days body finally registered on my brain.  I tied a line around my midsection, grabbed a bar of soap and a towel, undressed and jumped in the water. 

The water in the Caribbean is the most beautiful shade of blue/green you can possibly imagine.  If you have never seen it, you must before you leave this planet.  It is a wonder of the world.  Pictures can not convey the sight of the colors as the wind blows the waves and the hues change.

Not only is the water beautiful, it is also warm.  The average temperature is 80 degrees, about the same as most heated pools, and there was only a vague sensation of a change in temperature when I splashed in.  I'd take a deep breath and start rubbing my body with the bar of soap until my feet touched the bottom.  Then I'd shove off the bottom, surface, take another breath and repeat.  Before long everything had been rubbed and I climbed back on the transom.  There was a fresh water shower head located there and I completed my bath by washing off the salt water before toweling dry.  

I wrapped the towel around myself, closed my eyes so the guys still eating breakfast wouldn't have to look at my well rounded, mostly naked body during the middle of their breakfast, went into my cabin and dressed.  A quick look at the onboard clock showed it was 7:20 AM.

What???   When I'm at my house, in my own bed, I never even RISE til around 10 or 11 AM.  What's up with this?  Here's it only 7:30 and I've already taken pain meds, eaten, bathed and dressed.  All this sailing stuff can't be good for me.  Maybe I should get off the boat and go home to get some sleep.  Never mind, the guys just finished their breakfasts and clamored up the companionway.  Their noses must be completely plugged up because even though I can smell them, they're happy as clams to get underway.  Thank God the wind is forecast to freshen and blow out of the NE at 16 Kts.  Joe fires the engine, Sam and I raise the anchor and we motor out of the harbor.  

Today we're actually going to sail away!  The destination is the Tobago Cays and the Marine Sanctuary located there.  We round the most western point of Bequia and turn south.  Joe, the diver onboard, had been there before and knows we need to go past Canouan and pass to the east of  Mayreau before turning to the east and raising the Tobago Cays.  We asked Capt'n Chris just what our southerly heading should be to accomplish this.  We were astonished when he told us, "Hell if I know.  I forget.  If ya wouldn'tda been in such a hurry to leave, we coulda figerder out while we were anchored.  Here's a chart."

Wow.  The only pieces of paper I'd ever seen aboard my 26 footer years ago, other than trash that needed to be carried ashore to be dumped, was one that I used to list stuff that broke while underway and needed to be fixed later.  And, the only pencil on board was used to write down all the busted crap on that piece of paper.

In those days I'd often sail northwest for five or six days, turn around and sail mostly east till I saw some land.  If there was a bronze/gold colored bridge in view, I needed to sail south to get home.  If there were no lights to speak of at night, I still needed to sail south.  If I saw oil wells, I was close to Santa Barbara and home.  If there were lights all along the shore, I needed to sail north to get back.  It was easy to find my berth without any of the chart crap he had tossed at us.

Now, Capt'n Chris expected us to use the paper he handed us to find our way?  Christ.  Might as well ask a dolphin to find a bird's nest.

Luckily, I have been a pilot for the last fifty years and Joe also held his pilots license with an instructors endorsement.  Both of us were good at reading aeronautical charts and quickly determined a nautical chart has much in common with those we could read.  Between the two of us we were able to determine a heading that would put us in the general vicinity of our destination.  Sam, an MD, was smart enough to locate a  guide in the ship's library that included profiles of the various islands as seen from the sea. 

Among the three of us we had determined what direction to head, how to identify islands as we approached them, and were certain we could find our destination.  Who needs Capt'n Chris?  There was some discussion about tossing him overboard but we were not sure he'd sink.  None of us wanted a witness to the crime, so we let him remain on board.  

 

Four hours after turning onto our southerly heading we passed Canouan.  Two hours after that, Mayreau was on our starboard beam and we turned east.  Thank the Lord we had decided to keep Capt'n Chris; he knew where the best anchorage was when we gained the Tobago Cays.  He put us no more than two hundred yards from the windward side of the best place to view the growing sea turtle population and into waters where we needed only a bow anchor to hold us on station.  As you can see, the Marine Sanctuary at Tobago Cays is a very popular and crowded destination.  The diving is fantastic.

Joe and Sam both grabbed snorkels and fins, Capt'n Chris and I grabbed and filled glasses, and we all watched for sea turtles.  An hour and a half later Sam and Joe climbed back aboard without even one glimpse of a turtle.  Not five minutes later Capt'n Chris yelled "There e goes!"  Joe saw him, jumped in without his equipment and the underwater chase was on.  The turtle won.

For those of you who happen to be nautical types, the sail out of Admiralty Bay was made on a broad reach with the main reefed at the first point in 16 Kt winds.  The southerly run was made on a single tack on a beam reach and we were close hauled when we turned east after gaining Mayreau.  The sails were lowered and we motored in the close quarters experienced while in the Cays.