Tobago Keys … Mon 5th – Tues 6th
February 2018
Tobago keys is the quintessential Caribbean location –
small, shrub covered island surrounded by turquoise blue water, sandy beaches
and coral reefs. The picture of the chart below may give you some idea of the
layout of the area. These are treacherous waters for the unwary, with no
shortage of obstacles on which to run aground. We took the “Northern Channel”
as our approach and anchored to the south west of Petit Rameau Island, almost
exactly where the anchor symbol appears on the chart. It had been a short, but
very bouncy ride from our previous nights stop of Canouan. Shortly after
pulling up the anchor a squall came through and we saw 30 knots of wind. We
suspect this contributed to the short swells and despite Cotinga usually being
a very dry boat, we ended up soaked from spray in the cockpit. We spent the
afternoon walking the beaches of Petit Bateau and Baradal. The latter has an
area designated as a turtle sanctuary. We snorkeled of this beach and saw the
best views of three turtles feeding on grass on the sea-floor. The dinghy ride
out to Baradal into 20 kts of wind was very wet, nonetheless, we gathered our
courage and continued to motor out to the inner side of Horseshoe reef, where
we tied off to one of several dive moorings. The water is not deep, but the
snorkeling here was excellent with really good visibility. We found it best to
stay over the sand on the edge of the reef and just make short forays in as the
depth allows. We were appalled to see one lade, who had clearly lost control of
the situation, trampling all over the coral trying to make her way back to
deeper water.
In the evening Gloria cooked us a fabulous vegetarian meal
with pumpkin, chickpeas, onions and potatoes in a Thai red curry sauce with
coconut milk. This fine food was accompanied by a couple of fine beers from St
John thatand we acquired back in Charlotte Amalie, and we ate sitting out in
the cockpit looking up at the stars.
On Tuesday morning, after a somewhat bumpy night, we went
back to the beach and also did some more snorkeling on the reef. The arrival of
the passengers from a large 5-masted schooner turned the beach into a mass of
activity. We preferred it as we saw it the previous day – relatively quiet. We
had intended to stay a second night but have decided to head a couple of miles
over to the west side of Mayreau to find a more sheltered anchorage. Cruising
does take on a different set of challenges when it is constantly blowing 20
knots … more on that later.
... here are a few shots ... more to follow
... here are a few shots ... more to follow
At anchor Tobago Keys
Relaxing - Tobago Keys
Wooden yawl - Tobago Keys
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