Actually Island-Hopping Now

Location: Tobago Cays, SVG (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

This morning, I thought I heard seagulls on the roof. I got up and went to investigate. There were two black birds not on the roof but in the kitchen, next to the coffee maker. Seeing each other that early in the morning scared both me and the birds, and they flew away to a nearby island. After a bit of research, I found that the bird is called "carib grackle." I do believe that more things should be named "grackle," as it is a truly excellent word. The grackles (a mother and her loud teenager) later joined us for breakfast.

Saturday was our last day on St. Vincent. We had lunch with another one of Jem's friends. Harry is another pilot (retired from the air force) and is Kenyan, moved to South Africa, then came to St. Vincent on a holiday and never left. Also present were some chickens, roosters, and geckos.

Here's a picture of some clouds. I can see why a lot of pilots become sailors.

Sunday we left for Union Island, the southernmost of the Grenadines. We had a great sail, even if the wind angle was a bit steep. When going upwind, ideally, the closest angle of attack is 45 degrees for a monohull, and catamarans are known to stall even then. (See diagram below, where Θ is the angle of attack. I made it on Powerpoint.) We were making 6 kts at 30 degrees from the wind. Jem was quite happy.

We caught a tuna along the way! We have since then had tuna sashimi, tuna ceviche in spring rolls, tuna mi-cuit, and tuna flash-fried with toast. I had fun doing various poses with the fish. Pictured here, I am (1) striking the typical "frat boy's Tinder profile picture" pose, (2) daintily kissing the fish, and (3) kissing the fish in the way that someone from a few years ago very unfortunately kissed me.

After filleting the fish (Jem insists that we pronounce "fillet" as "fill-eht" and not "fill-ay" as this is the British, and therefore, correct, way of doing it), I washed the boat's windows. The amount of black sludge that dripped down was satisfyingly disgusting. Luckily it rained heavily right after, and I went out with a mop to clean the deck. Pro tip: the best rain gear is a bucket hat. It offers the best protection for your eyes.

Pictured here is the sun rising over Happy Island in the foreground, a small island entirely made of conch shells, atop of which rest a house/bar, a dock, and three palm trees.

Monday we went into town. (We saw Damian fly over as we went in). The main street of Clifton, Union Island, resembles a Caribbean fairground, with tourist boutiques and restaurants along the way. We had lunch at a lovely little restaurant whose food (and prices) resembled gentrified places in Montreal, but they were one of the only places that we'd found to have cappuccinos, so I was quite content.

 There were also some vaguely disturbing signs.

The roads behind the main street were slightly less well-kept. It had just rained, and they were either muddy or flooded. Here is a small lake next to a sign advertising boat tours.

Here is the path that we took to get back to the dinghy. We got slightly muddy.

A man named Herman had tied up our dinghy, gotten us some fuel, and showed us around. He offered to take us to the place where we could pay for a mooring at the Tobago Cays. He went to a building right next to a sign for the Tobago Cays Marine Park and opened what looked like the front door. Wrong door; disgruntled people. Went to the next door. Wrong door; disgruntled people. Went around the corner. Finally the right door. I was glad it was Herman doing the door-finding and not me.

Herman's friend, known as Skipper, had very generously cleaned our dinghy for us. Unfortunately, due to our muddy everything because of the roads, we immediately re-dirtied it. We also smashed a new avocado on the bumpy ride back. I was vaguely devastated.

After that, we motored upwind to the Tobago Cays, which are right next door, metaphorically speaking. They are a series of reef-surrounded uninhabited islands, and are absolutely beautiful. 

The wind is currently above 20 kts. If it does down a bit, we go snorkeling today. Hopefully, we'll see some nice things that I will tell you about later. Here's the sunset picture. Bye