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Larry's LogAfter a bit of rain, during which the boat got rinsed nicely, I started to read Michener's "Caribbean." I had never been able to finish any of his books before, but we had just gotten this one in a book swap and I figured I should try, especially since everyone said I "HAD" to read it since we were here. OK, I'll try... Just as I got past the historical introduction, I saw Legacy motoring back into the anchorage. Michener would have to wait. After they anchored, I went over to pick up Diane and the groceries she had bought. Although she hadn't bought much, it was pretty expensive. They had also had to pay to have someone cart the garbage away since it was too far to carry it all. Joe had been able to get his propane so the mission was a success. They had gotten back at around 4, so Diane said we should invite Kristali over for drinks later, which we did. Steve, Connie and Mike came over at around 5:30 and we had a very nice evening, although I think Mike (their 15 year old) was a little bored. The next day, Diane wanted to do some laundry by hand. Fortunately, the wind was good and the sun bright. What???! What does that have to do with laundry? Well, doing laundry requires fresh water and since there was no place to get fresh water in the Cays, we would have to make it, meaning running the water maker. The water maker requires a large amount of electricity and in order to replenish the power it used, I would have to either run the engine, which I don't like to do just to charge the batteries, or hope that the wind generator and solar panels would generate enough. So since it was a nice breeze and sunny, the batteries were "filled" without running the engine. Actually, there was so much power that we watched a video that night without running down the batteries at all. After Diane did the laundry and I puttered around the boat and worked on the web site, we went snorkeling again. We saw some new species again, notably a small shark, that I believe was a Black Tip Reef Shark. He was only about 4 feet long and swimming away from us, but it was exciting. The next morning is was really beautiful and we decided to go snorkeling again (naturally) on the outside of the reef again. We weren't seeing anything new and were going to go back but decided to try the northern side. We went down about 20 yards and I saw a pair of Queen Angelfish, s really colorful species that we had never seen before. Diane had the camera and dove down a bit to try to get the picture, but they were about 25 feet down. After that, we went back to the inside of the reef. It was pretty tiring since there seemed to be some current, so after about 90 minutes, we went back to the boat. On the way though we stopped at Kristali and found out that another tropical wave was due on Monday. The Caribbean Weather Net wasn't on that morning, due supposedly to a power outage. (Hmm, it was a Sunday…) Anyway, we also went to check out the vendors on one of the beaches selling t-shirts. Although I wanted one from the Cays, they were expensive and not such great quality. I guess I'll pass. So back to the boat and lunch. Diane was tired after lunch and so I went snorkeling again by myself on the inner reef. Normally, we would always go in two's for safety, but the water was shallow (I could stand in most places) and there was a mooring ball to tie the dinghy on. At first, there wasn't anything exciting, although I did see some new species of smaller fish. I had looked at my fish book the night before so I would know what to expect. As I was crossing a sandy patch, I saw a very large stingray. He was feeding on the bottom and wasn't at all scared of me. The water was only 5 feet deep and I got some great pictures of him feeding and just "flying" along. I followed him for a while and then left him in peace, gliding over the bottom. Really cool. For those interested, I compiled a list of all the different species we saw here. Look at this PAGE to see it. The list is in no particular order although I tried to keep all the general types together. I also included some that we saw at other places and made a note next to those, but most were seen in the Tobago Cays. Just hit the "Back" button on your browser to return here. Back at the boat, Diane and I decided to clean the bottom and waterline again as it had gotten a tremendous amount of growth in just a short time. It took us about 2 hours and we still weren't finished. In retrospect, it was too much in one day and we were both tired. The boat did look much better though. That evening, we just relaxed and I worked on the web site again. Hopefully, we'll get to an island that has internet access so I can update the site again. Next morning the weather net said that another tropical wave was coming in on Monday night into Tuesday, although it wasn't going to be too bad. That morning though, was beautiful so Diane and I decided to (naturally) go snorkeling. We called Legacy on the VHF and found out that Joe's knee was bothering him and we offered to take Ruth along and she said "Great", so we stopped and picked her up on the way out. First we tried the outside of the reef and it was fantastic, although a bit rough. Then we went to the inside and tried there; also very nice. I found a large conch and showed the girls. The inside lip was a deep yellow and pink. We didn't keep it since the place is a national park and all the animals and plants are protected. Not that anyone would have known but I wouldn't have felt right. After about 2 hours, we dropped off Ruth and Joe came out briefly to say hi. His knee was wrapped up and very swollen but he said it was getting better. Hopefully he'll be OK; getting medical help out here could be very problematic. That afternoon, I just relaxed with Michener's "Caribbean" and Diane went to the beach on one of the nearby islands to explore. During her exploration, a charter boat came in and anchored in front of us. Not very close, but charterers have a reputation for not anchoring well. When she came back, she went over to them and said that some bad weather was coming. I was pretty impressed when they took her information and acted on it by putting out a second anchor. I was pretty surprised that they even HAD a second anchor. She said they were grateful for the information. About the island, she said there was a little path to the other side but not much was there. Leftovers for dinner and getting the boat prepared for a little wind and rain. Hopefully that's all it would be. Also that evening, we discussed where we would leave the boat for our planned visit back home. It would probably be Trinidad, but when and which marina? We would have to decide soon if we wanted a spot in one of the nicer marinas in Trinidad. |