Tobago Cays
Tuesday 8th - Wednesday 9th May 2024
Crystal clear turquoise water and white sand beaches characterize the Tobago Cays. Having secured a mooring on the windward side of the two main islands (Petit Bateau and Petit Rameau) we figured we would stay several nights. The National Park rangers gave us a 4 for the price of 3 deal, and for $270 EC (~ $100 US) we got 4 days of mooring and entrance fees. As mentioned previously, we went swimming with turtles on the first day, and subsequently, I have tried to photograph these lovely animals directly from the boat. This was a bit frustrating as my camera lens (70-200m) is so beaten up that the coupling between the camera and lens doesn’t always function correctly. I’d wait for a turtle to pop up close enough to the boat and try to time my shots, but half the time the lens won’t focus or set the aperture or fire at all! On other occasions it all seems to go fine but the photo is completely black. Some swearing might have been heard around the mooring field, but I did get one or two reasonable shots.
It’s only a short dinghy ride out to Horseshoe reef, that fringes the park, where we found several red mooring balls to tie up the dinghy. The snorkeling was good, with excellent visibility and a lot of fish. The reef was a bit mixed. Some of it is pretty beaten up, but other sections had some nice corals. We did have to be a little careful of currents as these seemed quite strong.
On Tuesday evening, we were picked up by Willie in his boat “Free Willie” and taken ashore to Petit Bateau for a beach barbecue. Many of the small boat operators offer these barbecues, and on the face of it, they all appear to work together. However, they are in fact separate and we saw a variety of food at different tables. Interestingly, Willie told us lobster was not on the menu because May 1st is the start of closed-season, however, we diid see (illegal) lobster on other tables. We chose to share one fish (red snapper) and one chicken dinner, which came with savory rice, roast potatoes with cheese and onion, sautéed plantains and vegetables. It was a lot of food and delicious! The meal finished up with banana bread for dessert. We had our own table, but chatted to a friendly Australian couple on the adjacent table. We also introduced ourselves to a large group on another table because Gloria said they were moored next to us. We had a nice conversation with them, only to find the following morning that they weren’t the people on the boat next to us. They probably thought we were nuts! It was almost boaters midnight by the time Willie dropped us back at Cotinga.
Wednesday became something of a photo-session. We went back out to the reef so I could take photos looking back towards the islands with good light, and we also took the opportunity to snorkel again (see pictures of Gloria below). In the afternoon, I took the dinghy to the beach and hiked up to the top of Petit Bateau, which is not far, and was rewarded with panoramic views of the anchorage.
The only downside of our present location is that it can get bumpy on-board. The reef protects you from the worst of the swells, but from time to time, for reasons that aren’t altogether clear, it can get quite choppy. Still it’s a small price to pay for such a wonderful location.
Mike
12 37.962 N, 61 21.397 W
You always gave great photos Mike, and that’s a lovely photo of Gloria! You previously mentioned swimming with turtles, and I always thought we should avoid them as they can snap off fingers , or maybe that only applies to snapping turtles? SH
ReplyDeleteHi Sheila, as far as I know sea turtles don't bite, and they are actually quite shy. However, you are correct that you shouldn't approach them too closely, but I think that is to avoid stressing the animals. Having said that, there have been times in the last couple of days when turtles have swam right underneath us whilst we were snorkeling.
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