June 28th -29th
We sailed down to Mayreau bypassing Canouan and stopped at Salt Whistle Bay for the night. It is a small palm lined bay with a lovely stretch of white sand beach. There is a resort on this bay but it is very low profile and doesn’t detract from the beauty of this place. We however were not the only ones enjoying this small bay and the distance between boats was a little tight. We did manage to get a couple of swims in but had been warned not to leave the boat unattended as there had been a recent rash of thefts from yachts. We took turns swimming and exploring around the rocks and reef. I saw a new reef fish that I had not seen before, a Spotted Drum. A charter boat was next to us with a large group aboard and after dinner that evening they had invited some local musicians……..I use the term loosely, back to the boat to entertain them. It was mostly a lot of off key shouting and beating of drums, but with the wine flowing and the smell of Ganja in the air… the revelers seemed to enjoy themselves. As the local musicians beat their drums and shouted “Show Me Your En-Er-Gy, I followed their instructions, and had just enough energy to reach up and close the hatch above the bed and turn on the fan so I could fall asleep. Guess I’m getting old. Michael stayed up a bit longer and said I didn’t miss anything. He said, “they tried to do a Bob Marley cover and butchered it.” We left the anchorage early and hopped over to the other side of Mayreau to the Tobago Cays. The water here and in Mayreau is a beautiful shade of turquoise reminiscent of our time in the Bahamas. The Cays are a marine park surrounded by a shallow horseshoe reef. The entire area is protected and no fishing is allowed. Snorkeling there was really a trip as most of it is in less than 5 ft of water. It is like swimming in an Aquarium. The marine life are not as fearful of people here in the park and even those that would normally be quite elusive were out in the open. We got to see many different reef fish as well as spotted eagle rays, stingrays, turtles, eels, and sea snakes. We did a morning swim and an afternoon swim. After our afternoon swim I had climbed back on the boat and was rinsing off with fresh water, Mike was still in the water at the back of the boat with his Mask on and watched a 7ft Reef Shark cruise by the bow of the boat. I asked him if he needed to get out of the water NOW? He said that the shark had come and gone and held no interest in us. There were many people still enjoying their day of snorkeling, happy in their oblivion. We decided it wasn’t our place to ruin their Disneyland perception of safety and security. Ignorance is bliss…..but I still couldn’t help myself from humming the theme from Jaws! Da-Dum……Da-Dum…….Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum………Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum……!
Living the Dream 