Tabago Cays, The Grenadines (St Vincent)
May, 24, 2014
Strange dreams in the Tabago Cays
When doing our research and reading about the Caribbean, Shawn and I were most looking forward to sailing around the Grenadines specifically the Tabago Cays. The Cays consist of several reefs that provide protection from the Atlantic Swell - but leave you exposed to the trade winds. It is sort of like "ha ha Atlantic-you think you can get us, but we are safe behind this reef - and we have a good stiff breeze to keep the wind generator spinning like mad."
Our timing wasn't exactly perfect in getting to the Cays. I think i would suggest that people visit in more "settled conditions." We were certainly safely anchored with great holding, but with 25 knots blowing across the water a bit of chop builds making it difficult to snorkel around the reef and contributing to strange dreams at night. I had a horrid nightmare that i anchored in a "no anchor zone" and was hauled out of the water and towed to the city impound lot on a semi-trailer. Of course by day 4 the weather has started to settle a bit which has made much better conditions for friends just arriving Debbie and Jim from s/v The Black Pearl and Stan and Lann of s/v Barefoot Life barrysonbarefootlife.wordpress.com (coincidentally from Spokane). Fingers crossed they are not subject to bad dreams now that things have settled.
The Tabago Cays have totally lived up to expectations. I have a habit of snorkeling the anchor to make sure it has set correctly when we arrive in a new harbor. While following the chain up to the anchor, I saw my first "big" ray which was about 4 feet across. Swimming with it was a yellow jack-which may have made a great dinner had i a spear gun. After setting in, I went snorkeling with Steve from s/v Pannikin on the lee side of the reef where we saw 20-30 different species of fish. After several recon trips, I was able to convince Shawn to even get in the water (and with further pressure, put on a mask) so that the two of us could snorkel with the local turtles. At one point I cold see 7 different turtles swimming back and forth between the grass and the surface 2-3 meters below.
Shawn and I discussed the difficult life a turtle must have over dinner (rack of lamb, white bean mash, and brazed carrots- we do rough it). They don't exactly have efficient bodies for swimming. Four flippers and a tiny tail don't make up for the big shell they have to carry around. They have to crane their heads way out of the water to breath -especially when the waters are choppy. When they sleep, they dive to the bottom and hold their breath for up to 5 hours. I can only imagine what holding my breath while under water would do to further influence my dreams. Further, when they do dive down to eat, they must open their mouths to bite off the sea grass. How do they open their mouth while holding their breaths? I may have to look on youtube for a nova special on turtles.
Coincidentally, we also learned that throwing popcorn for the birds near the wind turbine is a bad idea. Very fortunately for both us and the birds... we learned this when the first bird got close - but not too close. That would have made for a horrible mess (and likely contributed to further nightmares).
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