Catey and Julian Bass have come to stay with us.  Catey did articles with Jonathan back in 1975 in Exeter but then decided to become a doctor.    We haven’t stopped laughing, Catey is a hoot so much craziness……   Last time they came to this area they had chartered an Oyster 65 fully crewed as a special treat for Catey’s birthday.  On their second day on the yacht in a bay on Union Island it split in half!!  The skipper having the good sense to realise what was happening ran it on to a sandy bank so it would not sink and they were able to retrieve all their personal things later.  Thank goodness it didn’t happen out at sea as with the Oyster off Portugal a couple of years ago.  We are hoping this holiday will not be jinksed by them as they had an avalanche through their bedroom window when staying in Switzerland a few years ago.  They are very impressed with our yacht and say it feels more spacious than the Oyster they were on, I guess it is because of all the light and maple we have used.

We checked into Union Island to renew our wifi sim card and to go to the Loft for lunch and to the market for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Believe it or not the wind has dropped so we have had very gentle sailing and of course it is the best time to visit the Tobago Cays as there is not a lot between them and Africa.  Before we have had to stay in the bite next to Petit Bateaux island but this time we went into the lagoon.  We can’t stop seeing turtles everywhere swimming past the yacht but hugely difficult to capture on camera.

On our way to the Cays we stopped in Crriacou at Sandy Cay which we had not done before but had seen on a walk when we walked from Tirrell bay to Hillsborough with Philip and Jane. It really is a typical tropical island see the first photo.

On to Petit St. Vincent and evening ashore at the very good beach bar/restaurant very much worth visiting again and again.

Yesterday we snorkelled around an island in the Cays and saw so many types of coral fish and very close up, as it swam towards us, a huge turtle we also saw quite a few sting rays.

Now we have to decide if we should stay here for another day or carry on to Mustique where Catey and Julien want to take us out to dinner.  It is so lovely here without the howling wind a bit like being anchored in your own swimming pool.  Also anchored not far away is the huge gin palace pictured below; it’s crew went ashore and set up a picnic table and sun-loungers on the island we swam around with awnings and umbrellas, also pictured below.  We have local boats similar to the one below called ‘Mr. Everywhere’ calling on the yachts selling bread, T shirts, fresh lobster, fish etc.  We always use ‘Romeo’ who gives us quite a good price for our lobster.