We left Bequia on Friday around 11 after going into town to get some provisions. The tropical wave had moved through and so it was time to move on. We sailed, yes now we are sailing. it is so nice to sail. also nice on the bank account as the fuel is most expensive. It was rough but not too bad. I fished but no catch. Michael on ZTC was behind us and he hooked something that broke his fishing rood. Luckily he had the reel tied to the boat or it would be gone too. must have been something huge to break the fishing rod.
Tobago Keys are beautiful. once again we are anchored in the middle of the caribbean sea behind reefs with islands all around. we came though a cut between two little islands and a beautiful reef was before us. the water colors are fantastic. we made our way though and into the 7 - 10 feet deep water that is crystal clear that light blue/green color. has been a rocky ride as the seas are still up and the breeze blows steady, but i must say our boat rides pretty well.
We both swam to check the anchor. While we were swimming a bird flew into the boat and pecked two holes into the new loaf of bread i had just bought and had himself a little snack. then i found bird poop. ok so enough is enough. dang gum bird hung around so much we had to zipper the screens shut. While swimming kirk made the comment on how bad the bottom of the boat looked. it is covered with algae and barnacles. So i decided that i would make good use of my time in the water and work on cleaning the bottom. it is so hard. the upside is these little fish come to feed on all you are scraping off. they are funny looking fish i think a spotted trunk fish. So all went well with the morning cleaning. i can only last about an hour cause you get so exhausted. Around 4 (when the sun is not so hot) i put my shirt back on to do some more work on the bottom. we had spotted some turtles and were watching them when a shape was swimming towards the boat. we thought it was a another turtle but a big one. well it was a shark. i thought it was a nurse shark from what i could tell. i debated about going in the water but kirk said he thought he was just swimming by so to go ahead. so all went well. i saw a ray swim underneath the boat while i was cleaning and was making good progress as i had a snorkel and could last longer while scraping away. You can't stay in one place long cause the stuff is so yukky so you move up the current so it takes the algae away from you. you still smell awful when you get out. I got out rather fast on my 4 pm scraping session as i looked down and there was the stark. i got a good look at him as he was swimming towards me! I screamed, swallowed a ton of water and swam to the bow and climbed up on the bridle of the boat. amazing the strength you have when you are scared. Kirk said i woke up the whole anchorage when i screamed. i stayed on the bridle till i caught my breath and recovered somewhat from the amount of water that i swallowed then put my mask back on and checked all around me and beelined it to the stern to get on the boat.
that definitely was enough excitement for the day. oh after my up close and personal with the shark i decided it looked more like a caribbean reef shark. it was about 5 feet long.
Kirk did some exploring yesterday while i stayed out of the sun and found a pretty reef, and an island he wants to move over to anchor. it is right next to a beach.
The view from here is you look out to a reef and then beyond it is another reef that is is the dark blue water with big breakers. i think it is called the End of the World reef. Definately one to stay away from.hmmm
This morning we moved to another anchorage kinda behind where we were. it is in front of a little island. After Kirk swam the anchor we both swam to shore and explored a bit. We saw iguana up to three feet long. my they are prehistoric looking. i played in the sand, made some sand castles and some rock piles and by then the sun was getting pretty hot so we swam back to the boat. saw lots of colorful little fish. Once again i started working on the bottom and the funny little fish joined me but also a big blue grey ray. He went under the boat, sat on the bottom and then circled the boat and then off the port side. the little funny looking fish follow it. Like a parade. So once he came back again I decided my scraping had come to and end. it is not in our fish book so when i have internet i will look it up. We anchored in about 11 feet and then drifted back to about 7 feet. the water is fabulous. the sand so far has been great for holding.
