Tobago Cays 12 38N 61 28W

Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Wed 20 Jan 2010 01:46
 
These islands are a bit more crowded than when we were here before Christmas but they retain their charm. Despite the charter boats, many of which are giant catamarans, the water retains its turquoise colour and the beaches their white sand. We swam with turtles again and also explored the reefs further.
There are shoals of electric blue surgeon fish and gaudy parrot fish alongside all the other reef fish. The water around the reefs is only 5 or 6 feet deep with the reefs themselves only about 2 feet deep, mostly too shallow to swim over, but it does not matter as the majority of the fish hug the edges of the reef where they can quickly retreat into the reef itself.
 
We also visited one of the islands where we had been told there were iguanas, and sure enough there were, once we realised where to look. They were in the boughs of small shrubby trees, presumably eating the few green shoots on the tips of the branches. They do a good line in head nodding and posturing when they feel threatened, before running away into the bush.
 
This evening I rowed over to a small Norwegian Vega, the same class of  boat we had sailed here on years ago. There were 2 young guys on board who were escaping business college for a year and living off their student loans! They had crossed from the Cape Verdes in even less time than we did this time, only 14 days. We took 20 days in our Vega. They prove that it is still possible to cruise cheaply, although everyone seems to have ever larger boats with ever more fancy gear on board. We are frequently one of the smaller boats in the anchorages out here and yet 28 years ago we were not unusually small whereas today the Norwegian Vega sticks out as a little boat.
 
Spot the fish!