Mayreau
When I think about the perfect Caribbean day, I imagine blue sky, beautiful turquoise clear water, sun, snorkeling, light breeze, and sailing. And that’s exactly what happened today.
We started our day very unusually—sperm whales were spotted in the distance! That was really something totally unexpected, although they are not uncommon in the 10,000-foot depths between the islands. The single blowholes are angled forward at a 45-degree angle, and it turned out that this was a mother with her baby. I guess this was a very good sign for the day. The deck crew then set the sails and we enjoyed sailing with a fair breeze, with the island of Bequia astern of us, Mustique on the port quarter, and Canouan off the port bow. All of these are part of the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
At 10:00, historian Tom Heffernan gave a talk about the Creole language in the Caribbean and had, as always, a very interested audience with a lot of questions. Sea Cloud with the sails full of wind was slowly approaching our destination, and after few hours we dropped the anchor on the west side of Mayreau. A nice big catamaran was ready to welcome us on board, so after lunch we started our expedition out to the beautiful Tobago Cays. The wonderful color of the water around us, the light breeze, and the idyllic small islands in the distance felt of paradise.
First stop was in the Green Turtle Reserve of Baradel. We put on our snorkeling gear and jumped into the water. Soon we noticed big green turtles feeding on the sea grass below, as we floated on the surface with our masks. It was great fun to try to follow them as they can be sometimes surprisingly fast. Luckily there were a lot of them so if one didn’t want our company we found some other ones that were more “friendly.”
Close by there was a coral reef at Jamesby Island, with a lot of marine life. While snorkeling we saw, among others, surgeonfish, butterfly fish, colorful angelfish, a lot of blue headed wrasses, very territorial and protective damselfish, and even two giant rays lying just below the catamaran on the sandy bottom. It was really interested to watch the underwater life with its little dramas, interactions and “cleaning stations.” There was a great abundance of marine life and some of the best snorkeling of the voyage.
Happy and satisfied we sailed back to Sea Cloud enjoying the reggae music and rum punch, a typical Caribbean drink served on the catamaran by the very friendly crew.
It was a really perfect Caribbean vacation day that could last forever… We will remember this as a day in paradise with sun, wind, and sail!
