TURTLES, TABAC, AND TROUBLE IN THE CAYS

It's an absolutely gorgeous morning here in the Tobago Cays.

I am standing out back, soaking in the sun and the view, when a boat appears from around an island and it looks like it's making a straight line for our boat. I watch, curious, and sure enough, the driver pulls up beside me and asks if I want to buy any t-shirts or cigarettes. I grin; this fellow is one of the 'boat boys' I have read about on a friend's blog. These guys have bright coloured wooden boats, bigger than a row boat, that they use to sell fish, freshly baked goods, t-shirts apparently, and also will scrub the hull of your boat for a small fee, help if you run aground... and any other number of ways they can make a living.

A couple of boat boys setting out early

This fellow has numerous battered suitcases in the bottom of his boat and numerous huge fenders hanging off the side. Once I tell him that I would like to buy some t-shirts, he ties alongside our boat, tossing me the line. He proceeds to open up his suitcases and show me what he has. I love the shirts with original island artwork on them and quickly choose two tank tops for myself (one has a cartoon drawing of 3 boat boys on the front) and then select a small one of colourful turtles swimming for Malia.  He doesn't have my size in the boat-boy shirt but says he will come later with the right size. I tell him that we will probably have moved by then but he says not a problem, he will find us. I tell him we will most likely be at Mayreau but he cuts me off before I can say where with "no problem, I will find you". I toss him the line and he takes off, cutting a swash of frothy white foam in the crystal azure water as he leaves.

Alessandra makes mango smoothies for breakfast with the mangos I bought yesterday.  It's delicious!

We move the boat around to the other side of the island we are at, between Petit Bateau (Middle Cay) and Petit Rameau (North Cay) so we can go snorkeling in the protected area off of a beach on Petit Rameau. We take the dinghy to the beach and pass 8 or 9 turtles. I get my snorkel gear on and swim out into the reserve. I am out there for half an hour and I don't see a single turtle! I give up and take the gear off and go around the corner to a gorgeous patch of water that is like a swimming pool and just float under the sun for an hour.  Bliss!!!!

Turtles to the right, swimming pool to the left

Beautiful spot to float for an hour or so

Floating!

Panorama of both sides (click on it to enlarge)

We see another 8 or so turtles on the dinghy ride back to the boat! I so would have loved to swim with them! Alessandra keeps telling me that there was one right in front of me at one point, but I never saw it. That is frustrating!

We take the dinghy through the reefs to Petit Tabac. This is the island where the scene from Pirates of the Caribbean was shot where Jack Sparrow asks "Why is all the rum gone?"  It is a small deserted island and I am really excited to go see it. It will be my very first time on a deserted island.

Petit Tabac in the distance - there are reefs galore between here and there

It's really shallow going through the reef and there is coral on both sides with just a narrow path between them. Alessandra stands in the front of the dinghy, spotting and pointing the way for Rick. We go really slowly and its a bit nerve wracking so I try not to look down into the water.  Not very successfully. 

 As we set out - just look at that water!!!!!

Alessandra keeping watch

Getting close!

When we get close, I can see we aren't alone. Drat. I really wanted to be the only ones on a deserted island.

Not alone

There's another couple and their boat driver here, but they leave almost as soon as we arrive so that makes me happy! Normally I love to meet new people but I really want to be alone on a deserted island!!

Even before we get out of the dinghy, I see a faded small conch shell under the palm trees. As soon as I am on the beach, I claim it and put it in the boat. 

Rick and Alessandra both need haircuts and I brought my scissors just in case (I used to be a hair stylist in another life, back before I was married). So I set about cutting both of their hair. We decided to do it on land rather than the boat to avoid a mess of hair to clean up.  

Once that is done, they head into the water and I go explore. Pictures can show more than I could ever describe so here is a whole bunch that I took on the island...

Rick and Alessandra swimming

The area where Kiera Knightly burned the rum

Looking down the beach from the palm trees in above pic

On the windward side of the island

The surf on the windward side

Heading back to the lee side

Very reluctantly I climb back into the dinghy when it is time to leave. I never want to leave this island. If I thought I would survive, I'd have them go get my stuff and bring it back and leave me here forever.

Alessandra makes avecado spaghetti and we eat it as we get underway to Mayreau - a very short hop from where we were anchored.

Saltwhistle Bay on Mayreau is a gorgeous beach and we drop anchor in a soft sand bottom.  There isn't a rock or coral head in sight, just pure white sand as far as one can see. I jump in off the boat and float about for an hour or so, swim to the beach and walk it for a bit, and then swim back.

I see a boat approaching and it's the boat boy from the morning with my tank top. People here are so trustworthy. I paid for this shirt with all of the others this morning and I had no doubt that he would return as he promised.

A couple of boat boys from Mayreau approach and they know Rick. They offer to scrub the bottom of the boat for a small fee. Rick had attempted to do it when we first anchored here and didn't get far. He agrees to their price and they get to work. When they are done, one asks me if I would like to order a loaf of freshly baked coconut sweet bread for the morning. I ask how much and he says $3 EC a loaf. I tell him I will take two and he tells me he will have them here first thing in the morning. I ask him to wait till at least 8am. 

Jomo and Ricardo, two hard-working boat boys

It feels very decadent to be laying on the deck reading while two young boys, barely out of their teens if that, scrape away at the bottom of the boat. It makes me uncomfortable, actually, and I have to tell myself that they want to do it, that this is how they make a living. But it doesn't help much.

Once the boys are done, I get changed and we take the dinghy ashore for a drink at a bar at the end of the beach called 'Last Bar Before the Jungle'.  Which it is and it is very rustic, as are most bars on the beaches of tiny Caribbean islands. 

At the end of the dock that we tied up on, as soon as you step off on to the beach, there is a small stand where a woman has jewelry and shells for sale. She also has conch shells of various sizes and there is one that is huge. I ask how much, fearing that it will be well out of my reach. She quotes $15 EC!! What a bargain. I tell her I will take it along with a shell necklace for my youngest daughter and a black coral bracelet for my other daughter. I wear both for the rest of the trip because I love them so much. Little do I know how handy they will come in for the latter part of my trip on Grand Anse Beach in a week.

Just as we order drinks at the bar, it starts to rain and I realize, with horror, that I have committed a major no-no when living on a boat; I have left my hatches open!!! This means my bunk will be soaking by the time we get back if this drizzle turns to a deluge as it usually does.  With a little trepidation, I tell Rick but to my relief he just laughs and says he hopes I like sleeping in a wet bed.

There is a delicious aroma coming from the back of the bar area, which I assume is a kitchen. I ask what it is and the lady tells me that its chicken. I am dying to order some but Rick and Alessandra don't want to eat here - Rick says something about it being expensive to eat out all of the time - not that we have. I am longing for some protein. But I am not going to eat alone so I ignore my growling tummy.

View from the deck of The Last Bar out to the anchorage

It is dark by the time we head back and the dock is super rickety and I cling onto Rick for dear life as I stumble my way along it and try to avoid the gaping holes in the planks. 

Checking my bunk, it is just damp as it didn't rain heavy.  Thank goodness!

Not long after getting back, there is a shift in wind direction and not long after that I feel a big 'bump'. Alessandra pokes her head out of her bunk and asks what that was. Rick does not seem too concerned but I look over the side. I can't see anything in the dark. Suddenly there's a shudder and a grinding noise. Oh-oh, we've swung around in the wind into the shallows and we are aground in the sand. We are in trouble but at least its not rocks we are grinding on!

We are deep into the sand though and Rick tries to get us off using the dinghy but we aren't budging an inch.

It takes half an hour and help from a boat boy named 'Mr. Fabulous' to get us out of the sand. And it costs Rick $60 EC for the help and he is not happy about that.

We have risotto and christophene for dinner and I am in bed by 9:30.  

I lie in my bunk and go over the day in my head. It was a fabulous day!!!

CLIFTON, UNION ISLAND

It's very cloudy this morning but there is blue sky to the south-west. I hope it is headed here.

The plan today is to go to shore to the town of Clifton for a bit and then to Happy Island again this afternoon.

I make myself some toast and jam for breakfast. I eat it slowly, hoping I can keep it down.

Rick is on the computer again so I sit out in the cockpit and check online to see if there are any restaurants in Clifton that we can have lunch at. I find one called Big Citi. They serve a lunch buffet, apparently, and judging by the comments on Trip Advisor, it is really good and really reasonable. I run it past everyone and they like the idea. Rick is still on the computer so I settle in on one of the cushioned seats, with my feet up, and read.

I am getting antsy as its been a few hours and there is no sign of Rick getting off that thing. He is editing a short video of clips he has taken over the years of Grenada. He is hoping that the Grenadian tourism board will like it and hire him to do more. I get that he wants to do this, but he has a guest - me - and I want to get going. I can't stand sitting around when we have plans. I finally say as much and we are underway in about 45 minutes.

 Heading in to Clifton

Welcome to Union Island!

The town is so tiny! Just one very narrow road with a couple of tiny shops, the restaurant we are going to, and a little market area comprised of small colourful huts in a semi circle on hard-packed dirt and a few trees at the street with a couple of picnic tables under in the shade.  The sun has come out, the sky is blue, and it is so so hot!

Looking down the main street in the direction we came from 

(the restaurant is on the right edge of frame, Rick and Alessandra

on the left)

Looking down the main street in the other direction

We head around the back of a white building and then up some stairs to the restaurant.  The whole place is open on the street side and we take a table right at the rail overlooking the road. The 'buffet' is about 10 dishes under glass near the till. We walk over and tell the girl behind the counter what we want. She seems surprised that we want to try almost all of it. I pass on the pigs tails and try the turkey leg stew, chicken wings, veggie dish with christophene - first time I have had that and I love it; sort of cross between a turnip and broccoli stem in consistency and flavour, rice, chow mien, and half a roasted potato. It was delicious although there were a lot of bone fragments in the stew as they just chop the entire thing with a cleaver into bite-sized chunks. With drinks it came to $76 EC (Eastern Caribbean Dollars) with a $10 tip which works out to $29 Canadian - a great deal. I pay the bill as that is what one is expected to do when you go out for a meal on a crewed charter.

View from our lunch table down to the main street

My meal

After lunch, we walk along the street and stalls. I buy two christophenes to cook up at some point, and a Caribbean flip doll for Malia, my granddaughter.

Locally grown fruit and vegetables

 The lovely lady who sold me christophenes and told 

me how to prepare them

Bright clothing at the stall where I bought the Caribbean doll

Looking out over the anchorage from the shore of Clifton

We hop in the dinghy and head over to Happy Island for a drink. Janti is much more subdued today. We walk through the room in the back (not his house) and see pictures of the progress of the island over the years.

With Janti before we leave

Back at the boat, we change into bathing suits and then dinghy over to Palm Island, it is a very bumpy ride. Palm Island is a gorgeous place but for guests of the resort only. Too bad because I would have loved to go ashore and look around and maybe have a drink at the beach bar.

Palm Island

We go looking for another beach and end up at the reef. We have to drop anchor in waist-high water and then walk to the reef. The bottom is very rocky and hard to walk on. I keep my flip flops on which makes it harder and I am wishing I had worn my water shoes which are back on the boat. Once we get to the beach on the reef, there are loads of anemone shells, my favourite shell. I gather as many as I can, using my tankini top to hold them by holding the hem up to make a pocket. As I am stumbling my way back to the dinghy I have a premonition I will drop them all in the water and as soon as I get there and try to take them out of my swim suit, that is exactly what happens - every last one of them. I spend the next fifteen minutes getting them all off of the sea floor and into the dinghy. When Rick and Alessandra join me (they were exploring a little island at the end of the reef) I have a hard time getting in the dinghy and have to get in from the back using the engine and Rick's hand to get up and in. I hate how hard it is for me.

The reef

I take a quick shower when we get back and the hatch is open above my head. I look up at one point and Lucky, the resident parrot, is peering down at me and makes like he wants to hop down. I kind of freak out. This bird bites. I don't want to be bit. I try to push him away from the hatch so I can close it but he is having none of it. I try to scare him with my towel but he hops onto the towel which really freaks me out. It takes me 5 minutes to get him to move so I can close the hatch and I am not happy.

We don't have dinner that night as I guess no one is hungry enough although I could eat something so I have some ginger snaps and lay out under the stars in the cockpit and read till quite late.  I love this time of day as much as the sunshine and only head to bed when I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

GRENADA TO UNION ISLAND

I woke up far too early this morning - 5:30am.  I guess I am all caught up on the one night of no sleep and now jet lag has kicked in.

No sign of the storm of last night with just light cloud overhead. Today we set off for the Grenadines! We will go as far as Carriacou to overnight there.

We set of at 8am and motor sail up the coast of Grenada. It is so gorgeous. I make french toast and turkey bacon for breakfast for Alessandra and me (Rick only eats cereal) and it is delicious.

On our way up the coast of Grenada

The wind is on the nose so once we pass the protection of Grenada, we are bashing through waves for hours and I start to feel nauseated again.  I eat a couple of gingersnaps but crumbs from one goes down the wrong way and as I start to cough, I realize I am going to, literally, toss my cookies. I know I won't make it below to the head and grab at a pail that is tied to a rope near the stern of the boat. Ugh.

Rick decides that it would be a good idea to just keep going to Union Island and asks me what I want to do. I have no idea as I don't know what I'd be missing bypassing Carriacou so say whatever he wants to do is fine with me. So we continue to bash our way north past Carriacou.  We give a wide berth to the phenomenon known as Kick'em Jenny. Law states there has to be a 2 mile circle of 'no sail zone' around the submarine volcano.  I am fine with that.

Sails are up

Feeling much better now

Rick and Alessandra at the helm

At one point, I head below and when I climb the steps to go back up, I stub my toe really really hard on a step.  It hurts like the dickens and I think I might have broken it.  A couple of hours later, I have a bruise that shocks Rick - I guess he didn't believe me when I howled and said it hurt like the dickens!

My poor toe! 

As we approach Union Island and begin to sail to the northern end, I am stunned by the beauty of the island.  There is nothing but trees, no houses, no other buildings until the north end, and the profile of the mountains against the sky is really cool.  The highest peak is Mount Taboi - 999 feet above sea level.

Part of Union Island's cool profile

We anchor behind the reef just off shore from the town of Clifton and just ahead of the bow is Happy Island, a place I have read of and dreamed of visiting. I am almost beside myself with excitement at finally being right here, so close to it.

Happy Island just ahead

A little closer look at Happy Island

For those who don't know, Happy Island is man made - all built by a Rasta named Janti who piled conch shells on the reef, cementing them together until he had a platform big enough to build a small bar.  Over the years he has added to the base and now he lives on the island in a small beach house to the rear of the bar.  It is a popular spot with cruisers.

The Sun setting over Union Island as we anchor

The sun is setting creating a pink sky over Happy Island in the foreground 

and Palm Island (a private island) in behind it

As soon as we anchor, we hop in the dinghy and head over there.  Janti is behind the bar, looking like he could be Whoopie Goldberg's sister, and he has just finished smoking a fattie so he is in high spirits. He has caribbean music blaring from a stereo and he holds a microphone and is singing along to the lyrics. There aren't many people on the island, just Jaunti and a female bar tender, and half a dozen cruisers all from the same boat. We order drinks (Ting for me) and enjoy the entertainment. Rick and Janti know each other from all of Rick's years on the water and visiting this place, so they chat although I believe having a conversation with Janti is proving a bit of a challenge.

Janti entertaining us

You can hear, under the music and Janti's singing, Rick explaining to me how Janti built the island

We head back to the boat for dinner. I had put a pork tenderloin in the cart the day we provisioned, intending to make pulled pork one night but turns out, you can't slow cook for 5 hours in a boat oven (I did ask Alessandra if it was okay before putting it in the grocery cart, and she said it was) and Rick is horrified when we propose it. Apparently that would drain all of the propane.  So instead, we slice it thin and fry it in a pan with some bbq sauce. Alessandra doesn't want any help so I head up top to read as she washes and slices the potatoes to go with it.  When I go down a bit later to check on the progress, I am dismayed to see that she has added the raw potato slices to the pork mix. I was planning to cook them separately and add a bit of butter when they were done. Now everything is going to taste the same. And no other vegetables are prepared so that is dinner.

When I head to bed, as soon as I start to drift off, it rains. I jump up and close all three hatches in my quarters and crawl back into bed. I wake up later hot and feeling like I can't breathe. The rain has stopped so I open all the hatches.  SO much better.  Then I wake who knows how much later to rain falling on my face and jump up to close them again.  This is repeated many times throughout the night.

GRAND ANSE BEACH - FINALLY!

Got up to sunshine and blue sky above but there are big dark clouds over the island.  I say that it looks like we are in for bad weather but Alessandra says it's normal and will be gone in an hour. I have my doubts but then again, the weather does move fast in the islands.

Three hours later and we are still here as the clouds have now moved overhead and it is raining.  We were going to move the boat over to Hog Island for the barbeque tonight but it's too risky to take the boat through the reef in this wind.  I am disappointed as I was really looking forward to it, having read about Rogers and the bbq on Zero to Cruising, a blog of friends of mine.

10:30am we head over to Port Louis marina for diesel and water.  As we are on our way, the weather breaks and by the time we arrive, it is sunny in almost a cloudless sky and the wind has died down so it is nice and hot again.

St. George's and the Carenage 

Port Louis Marina

We anchor just around the corner from Port Louis.  The boat, Elephant's Child is 2 boats away.  This is a boat I have considered joining to learn how to sail as the owner has an ad on Crew Wanted for a first mate and is willing to teach. I have been in contact with him, off and on for a couple of years, over the internet.  Now here is his boat!  I'd love to be able to meet the owner, John.  He's a Scotsman.

At 3pm we FINALLY head off to the beach!  We take the dinghy to Grand Anse, a beach I have read about and plan to spend considerable time on during the 'on land' part of this trip.  We tie up at small dock near a bar on the far north end of the beach.  

It's a really nice beach but the sand is not as white or as fine as the sand in the BVI.  

There is a hotel at the very end of the beach that is next to a plot of empty land, well - empty of buildings but has lots of trees and several small fishing boats that look like big row boats.   There are several men in among the trees and it almost looks as though they live there, with what looks like a make-shift tent and a fire burning.  Glad I am not booked in at that hotel for the land based 10 days.

In the dinghy heading to the beach

Fish nets spread out to dry in front of the empty lot

Grand Anse Beach; the north end

Rick and Alessandra have a beer at the small bar while I go in search of beach glass, which I find plenty of in one spot about 10 yards before the sand ends and mountain begins.

We are back on the boat by 6 and by 6:30 there is no sign of any dinner prep and I am starving.  Really not how I envisioned this and I am feeling kinda disappointed.

Finally at 8 we have dinner, a pasta dish - spaghetti with tomato sauce and herbs.  It's very tasty but there isn't enough of it and I am still hungry when we clean up.

A huge system comes through at about 9:30pm lasting for a few hours.  It is very windy and lots of rain finally forces me out of the cockpit where I was alone, reading and munching on a couple of ginger snaps. I sit on the banquette below and read for a bit more. Rick and Alessandra went to bed hours ago.

WINNING!!!!

Watch the video below:



Yep... I WON THAT!!! Yes I did!! That is why I am going to Grenada in October. Once I won and we got to talking, Rick, the captain of Sophisticated Lady, extended the prize from 7 days to 10! To say I am excited seriously understates my feelings about this.

First of all, I did not expect to win at all because I abandoned the whole thing half way through. I know my friends on FaceBook and I know human nature. If those videos weren't going up at approximately the same time every day, friends were not going to be sharing them every day. Rick was very hit and miss about getting them up first thing in the morning and eventually at getting them up at all (several days went by with no video - turns out he was at sea with no wifi) and so I decided to stop posting them.

Next thing I hear from Rick is after the contest closed, in a private FB message saying "Why did you stop on day 20? Do you realize you were winning?" My heart sank a little. Then he told me that the person who 'won' did so with questionable tactics so he was having a 'sudden death' posting for three days and that could get me back in front as I was only eleven shares behind first place. So I got back in it and shared the video a couple of times a day for the three days over the weekend, and bugged the life out of my FB friends to share it, which some of them did.

Monday morning I woke up about 8am PST and when I checked my FB page, not even thinking about the contest, another BVI friend had posted on my page that I "better get your (butt) out of bed and start looking for flights to Grenada... what a way to start a Monday morning". My head was still thick with sleep and the exact meaning of the post was not sinking in. Then I went to Rick's page at Ambient Real Life Video and saw a post stating that I was the winner of the contest.

I was elated... a dream come true!! Several in fact... sail some of the Caribbean Islands, see Grenada, go to the Tobago Keys, meet Rick. And instantly worried; could I afford to do this? Yes, the cost of the cabin on the boat was totally free, but I still had to fly there and back and have some spending money, help provision the boat, etc. I have had even less work this year than last, but I have been saving faithfully - setting aside in a special savings account the dollar amount of the number of the week of the year as it rolls around (so $1 first week, $2 the second...all the way up to $52, saving about $1,300 by the end of the year) AND every cent of 'holiday pay' on each paycheque. I realized I had enough saved for the flight with about $200 left over. So that was good as Rick said provisioning the boat would run only about $100 each. But, if you know me at all, then you know that I am not travelling all that way and only staying 10 days. So I knew I'd want to have a land-based week or, better yet, two as well. That could be a problem. I also hate to travel with the bare minimum amount of dollars on me... that is just way too stressful. So I need to do this and I need to do it right.

With no work on the horizon, and almost two months since my last job, I had no idea how I was going to make this happen. Then I got a call from a colleague who, four days into a shoot, had to leave the show and wanted me to take over. That was two weeks work. Then, almost as soon as that show wrapped, I got a call from a show to take over for a colleague who had a family emergency - on a show that had not gone to camera yet. THEN I got a call from a producer whose show I did three years ago, and he was in town to prep a new show and wanted me on it. So that gives me work right up to a month before the trip.

Now all I need is one more show in that month and I am good to go. It's not about the money for the trip now, it's about having enough set aside to keep paying the bills when I get back. A show in that last month would be just the ticket.

I am very optimistic that it will happen. Optimistic enough that I just booked my flight for 20 days in the Caribbean!!

I'M BAAACK!

So I think this is the longest spell I have gone without posting since I started this blog in 2009. I was incredibly sidetracked from my normal day to day life spearheading the Save BC Film campaign. That is pretty much over with now, the election has come and gone, we didn't get who we wanted in office as Premier, and we just lost two HUGE movies - Man of Steel 2 and Fantastic Four Reboot. That is hundreds of millions of dollars lost to our economy. It's just criminal how little our government seems to care about the livelihoods of over 25,000 film workers here in B.C. Not to mention the revenue that is lost to the province in spin off business. Criminal.

Anyway, I got sidetracked, but I am ready to pick back up because...

I AM GOING BACK TO THE CARIBBEAN!!

Yes! I am going to realize my dream, for 10 days, and sail the southern Caribbean islands otherwise known as The Grenadines. I leave October 10th and arrive in Grenada the 11th, will be on the sailboat until the 21st and then I am going to stay on the Grenada for 10 days, flying home on the 31st.

So... I will have lots to write about in the coming days. It won't be every day, as I start a movie on Monday that we will shoot in two six-day weeks. I will then have a week off and then start another movie that we will take four weeks to shoot... that will take me to September 14th... so the time between now and leaving for Grenada is going to FLY BY.

I am so excited!