Mopion. Used to be called Morpion. Do you know what happened to the missing R?

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We'd been wanting to come to this little deserted Cay or Sandbar or Spit of Sand for all our time in the Caribbean, all of three years now, and have always, somehow, had to give it a pass. Mostly due to schedules, weather or conditions. It's been either too bumpy, too rolly or too windy. Risqué in other words.

Today the schedules, weather and conditions were in alignment and we left the most idyllic spot EVER at Sandy Island and sailed about 6 nmiles NorthEast. North to the tip of Carriacou and then out towards the Big Blue, looking for the Sandbar. Rah-Rah !!



The narrow ledge of sand, The Island if you will, is so small you can barely see it until you're face to face with it. If you squint real hard you can barely see a speck of white to the left of PSV (Petit St Vincent - the smaller hump of island in the middle of the photo) and between the rigging.

In fact legend says that they, the proverbial someone put a palapa on it, so it would and could be seen by sailors before they, {{ gasp }} sailed over it.



The surf was quick to push us ashore and we beached Quahog and lifted her safely up on the sand,



and we smiled as we realized that after THREE years of waiting and wondering, we were finally on Mopion. On what I would think is THE best representation of the most photographed picture perfect photo op and piece of sand would be. Open to the elements, not a shade of a palm tree to hide under.

Ken, of SV Silverheels III was quick to define "Mopion" for us when we told him where we were going. According to their blog/research it means, Crab Louse. You do know where those nasty creatures are found, don't you??

Actually originating from the French word Morpion, the word seem to have lost the "R" in time somewhere.

So we went looking for the R. When we landed ashore this is what we found.

The smell of dead fish,



some feathers flitted there by angels,



footsteps in the sand quick to be washed away,



objects hanging under the thatched umbrella, and pictograph etchings into the frame,



not to mention The Views.



Today we are proud to declare ourselves circumnavigators of Mopion. It really took all of three and a half minutes.



What an impressive feat, n'est ce pas?



We took an amazing amount of photos for such a small place.



Marooned, by choice, on Mopion.

We listened. Overwhelmed by the sound of the surf crashing its waters ashore. We looked around us. Overwhelmed by the clarity of thr crystal clear colours of the waters surrounding us.



We felt. Overwhelmed by the heat of the sun as it touched our skin and our faces and our toes and burned the memories into the souls of our bodies as we splashed through the surfy waters.



We tasted. The cold beer we brought as we licked the salt of our lips. We touched. Tried to leave an imprint in the sand but the waters erased our presence,



leaving only shadows in our memories.

And we imagined that the lost R might just stand for some serious R&R.