"What's with the cow on the beach?" we hear you cry! Well, so many times we have sailed past but this week we actually stopped off at the gunkhole of 'Anse La Roche' on Carriacou and what a find it was too! We've read about this beautiful anchorage in the sailing guides but it's just one of those places that you pass on the way to somewhere - yep, it happens at sea too! Nothing could really have prepared us or this truly idyllic spot. Even this cow uses it as the perfect getaway!


Oceans Dream, all alone.

The water was so clear you could see the ripples in the sand many metres below us, the snorkelling was just fantastic, the white sand beach was deserted - as was the anchorage, we had the whole of the bay to ourselves. Just wonderful AND it gets even better ...


Cow fish, quite common in these parts.

We took a walk ashore and there's a small hut on the beach with a number of posters about turtles and the fact Anse La Roche is a favourite for nesting hawksbill, loggerheads AND leatherbacks! Interesting, but no sign of them at the moment. As the day moved on, a guy paddled into the bay at quite a speed on a kayak. Quickly he jumped ashore, made his way to the north side of the beach and disappeared into the vegetation, reappearing just moments later. He was walking around, clearly checking out the state of the sand and almost smoothing out any areas that looked a bit messy. A-ha ... this guy was keeping an eye on baby turtles we summised. Having had the privilege of watching leatherbacks lay their eggs into the sand in Trinidad about this time last year, it now felt quite special to be somewhere where we might see baby turtles scurrying down the beach into the big wide ocean. We realised this was likely to happen in the dark of night so the likelihood of seeing any was a non-starter. Instead, we were on the beach at 06:00 the following morning to see where their nesting site had been and to trace their tracks down to the sea.


Turtle exit hole


Turtle tracks


Turtle tracks heading down the beach


and finally, heading out to sea...

Had it have been daylight when they hatched, we guess we may have seen something like this ...


Unfortunately, we don't know the type of turtle we would have seen had we have had night-vision as it's not typically hatching season for any one of the three at the moment!

We've since learnt there a Turtle Marine Conservation Group on Carriacou called KIDO. The guy who we'd seen had kayaked from their property just along the coast. People volunteer for KIDO to look after the turtles, tag them, ensure the entire nest is empty and none of the babies have been left behind in their plight.

This week we will begin to head north to Bequia for the final time as Adrian's son will be joining us on board for a week or so. Our passage west will begin next month. First stop? The ABCs (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao - otherwise known as the Dutch Antilles).