Oriole on charter.
Oriole
Sat 13 Mar 2004 20:08
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Well, the young have arrived and the days have been
starting somewhat later
than usual when we can manage to flush them out of their cabin and serve them with breakfast. It was pretty clear from the way Dani got into the dinghy when she arrived that she was not a newcomer to small boats and is also a PADI Open Water Diver. We dived on Monday on the underwater continuation of the cliffs on the north west side of Bequia and saw all sorts of exciting marine life including our second only sea horse (sorry no photo). So it was not until Tuesday that we tried to weigh anchor to leave for the more Southern Grenadines. However the anchor would not come, and John was delighted to pass the dive gear to Robert while he directed operations from the foredeck. The chain was jammed under a boat trailer which had been carelessly left lying in 10 meters of water. So the dive gear has now had its second 'commercial' outing and saved us having to employ a diver. This is the first time in John's sailing experience that the anchor has needed a diver to free it. In the past we have managed to snorkle or winkle it out one way or another, but this time it was well and truely stuck. In a good stiff breeze we sailed to Canouan where we were delighted to see 28 Moorings Charter boats tied to their moorings at their base, so 28 fewer to bug us when we went on to the Tobago Cays. 
Rob's perfect beach in Canouan.
Conditions in the Cays were
superb with very light winds and we were able to snorkle in calm water on the reef separating the anchorage from Africa, and the charter boats were conspicuous by their absence.  Snorkling
in the Cays.
Lobsters are plentiful and providing one
is
prepared to pay a king's ransome they occasionally appear on Oriole's menu as they did last night after some furious bargaining with some fishermen. The previous day we had bought fresh tuna from another fisherman who also managed to extract a jar of instant coffee as a present. When he appeared again the next day he somewhat shamefacedly admitted that he had confused us with another boat and had GIVEN them a large fish he had just caught as a present in exchange our jar of coffee! We will catch up with him next year. We need to hone our fishing skills so that we can keep ourselves supplied. However lobster fishing is strictly for the locals only. Andrew is now in Antigua looking for another job, but it is unlikely that we will manage to see him as his bank manager is making rude remarks. Anyway it is nice to know he is not so far away and that some of our friends up there will feed him in his destitute state. |