We spent just one day and night in Union Island as we had made arrangements to meet up with Maria and Allen from Lady Jane in Clifton. As it happened Patricia and Julian from A Capella of Belfast arrived the same day too. It was great meeting up with other boats from the rally again, finding out where everyone has been and exchanging stories.
We thought we were well out of the main channel in Clifton but apparently a ferry was due in that evening and A Capella and ourselves were advised to move. There are numerous boat boys milling about and one caught our attention. He assured us that he would find us a good spot further in where the anchor would dig deep into the sand. We dropped anchor where he suggested but as we dropped back we were quite close to some other boats. We sat for awhile weighing up the situation and decided that we probably wouldn't swing too close to anyone else. However we both felt it wasn't ideal but it would do, it was getting late in the afternoon and we had been invited for a sundowner.
That night whilst asleep in our bed, the winds blew a real hooley with over 30 knots of wind. It was 4am and we got up and looked around only to discover our anchor was dragging. What to do? We had no choice but to lift the anchor and move to somewhere safer. It was pitch dark, and I was on the helm terrified that the wind would swing us into another boat. While Bill was lifting the anchor I had to motor into the wind to keep some control of the boat. Somehow we managed to avoid any collision but it was scary stuff. After a cup of tea to settle the nerves we went back to bed. We were suddenly woken with a loud bang on the boat and shot out of bed thinking we had dragged anchor again. It was Julian banging on the boat. He had woken up at 7am and saw from his cockpit we had moved position in the night. However he didn't know we had reanchored and shot over to us thinking we were dragging. That boat boy with his good sandy spot has a lot to answer for- he gave more that just us a fright! However the lesson learnt is not to ignore your instincts.

That morning we sailed round to Tobago Cays. This is a collection of tiny islands protected by a huge horseshoe reef. I can't describe how beautiful the colours of the waters are. It was just amazing to be anchored in amongst a reef which sits in the middle of the sea. A Capella of Belfast joined us in Tobago Cays and we all thoroughly enjoyed the snorkelling. The water was so clear, the corals so pretty and there were an amazing assortment of fish to see. It really was a beautiful underwater garden. We took lots of pictures but I don't think they really capture the wonder we were looking at.