The Tobago Cays are one of our top favorites in the Caribbean. Here are a couple of reasons why:

- They are just out of this world.
- If you stop and think about it, heading East after this little gem of an archipelago, the next stop is... Africa.
- A name for the impossibly beautiful color of the water has not yet been found.
- Elegant frigate birds survey land and water drawing elegant figures in the sky, like calligraphy-by-flying.
- Sea turtles everywhere! Underwater, on the surface, all sizes and age!
- Did I mention the sandy white beaches with slender palm trees ever-dancing to the wind?

We sailed here from Admiralty Bay in Bequia, main and genoa with one reef and our traditional 10 knots plus, music on the speakers and popcorn lunch - it was so pleasant out that making our traditional salad lunch lost priority somehow - . The entrance to the Cays was jam-packed with boats, so we had to weave our way through daring paddle boarders, folks in the water, boats and cats etc. We eventually took a mooring off Baradal Island, also a busy spot, although not quite the obstacle course we had just encountered, and more exposed to the ocean. The day after we arrived we changed our location to the more protected and less bubbly side of the island, thanks to its beach and reef. The weather, except for one rather windy and rainy day, was excellent. One fine morning, a boat upwind of us broke their mooring and drifted into us. Past the first "Oh sh**!" reaction, we put out fenders and tied them alongside. After I'd say half an hour forty-five minutes, the owners came swimming back to the boat, asked why were we tied to their mooring, what were we thinking! It took them a few minutes to figure out what was going on, then they were apologetic and thankful. The Park Rangers eventually - and I mean eventually - showed up, disentangled the remains of the mooring from our anchor line and didn't charge us for the mooring the day after - I suppose they also gave a substantial break to Leif and Christina, the boat owners. So we all lived happily ever after and made new friends!

From The Tobago Cays we went to Clifton Harbor in Union Island - where once again we cleared C&I, strolled around, grabbed a lassi and some wi-fi just before the electricity went down in the whole island, yay. We needed to do some software update on our phones and the very nice owner of Internet Cafe' helped us out, even with the electricity coming back on inconsistently. We stocked up on some fresh fruit (watermelon, yum!) and at dinner I tried conch - or lambi, as it's called - cooked à la creole, with a nice balance of spices. This is my second time eating conch, the first time was a ceviche, and pretty spectacular. Outside the harbor kiteboarding was in full swing - a local outfit offered courses in this discipline for the braves - and from a distance, the kite boards looked like a flight of wings of all colors, like butterflies for the 21st century.

From Union on to Carriacou, making our way to Granada. Anchoring in beautiful Tyrell Bay was a bit of a headache due to the "full parking lot" effect. Cap'n had to try anchoring three times, much to his astonishment 😊, to place the boat in such a position that she wouldn't be too close to other boats and vice versa. It seems to be a recurring element and one of the differences with the Caribbean of yore: these days most bays and harbors are packed-full of moorings and buoys. For those of you who missed my dissertation about the pros and cons of moorings back when we were coming down the East coast of the US, a little refresher. Pros: they prevent anchor mishandling and bottom damaging; they are also a source of revenue, as you rent them for a fee whose reasonability depends on where you are in the world. Cons: there are so many that the boats end up being quite close to each other; they make anchoring problematic (see above); how recently and thoroughly have they been maintained can a bit of a mystery (see our Tobago Cays adventure above); finally, it's not unfrequent to see boats let to rot at a mooring, for whatever reason. It's a little dissonant, especially when you have gorgeous natural places as the surrounding scenery.

On to Grenada! And to the Gallery y'all! We're constantly adding new pics!