So, where did we leave you? Ahhh yes...we had left Charlotteville in the north of the island, and were taking a leisurely route clockwise around the island to arrive in the capital, Scarborough. On this Atlantic, windward side of the island, the anchorages in bays were few, the views unspectacular (for the Caribbean at least) and the beaches dirty, since anything in the ocean will wash up from the wind on these east-facing shores. We therefore spent little time journeying to Scarborough, only stopping overnight in a couple of bays on the way down. On arriving in Scarborough we anchored close to a small mooring field just by the Coast Guard dock, and also close to the harbourfront of the town with all its shops, restaurants and bustling life. After checking in with Customs at the dock, we wandered along the front, bought a local Tobago SIM card to enjoy some faster internet, perused the supermarkets and succumbed to a guilty pleasure - fast food. We should have known better - despite there being a roti stall right next door, which is a Caribbean specialty and not unlike a home made fast food meal on-the-go - we crossed the threshold of an enticing looking KFC. Definitely one of those 'I wish I hadn't' moments after we had finished the pile of fried chicken and fries...
We frequently check the weather, for obvious reasons, and had noticed on the NOAA Hurricane site a tropical depression forming about 300 miles due east of Tobago. One of the reasons for us being so far south (beneath 12 degrees N in fact) is to avoid hurricanes, for both safety and insurance purposes, so we were mildly interested in this one, in case it touched Tobago as it made its way westwards. When we arrived back at the boat, we noticed it had been upgraded to a Tropical Storm, and therefore been given a name - a name many people will in time never forget - this one was Dorian. It was now closer to Tobago but looked like it would skirt north of the island and probably give poor Grenada a good soaking on its way through. When we woke the next morning, the wind had freshened considerably and was out of the south, as the storm passed north of us, the wind moved accordingly. As we were close to a mooring field with tight spacings, we already noticed we were close to several balls and in danger of catching the lines, so we decided to immediately pull anchor and move, not knowing quite what the wind would do in the next hours. So, without coffee, we found ourselves motoring around the southern point of the island to our next intended spot - Store Bay. It was only five miles so we were there within an hour and found a large open bay with plenty of room to anchor and only a few other boats around. This was to be our home for the next three weeks or so. It was a convenient spot for many reasons, not least one could park the dinghy on the beach and walk to the airport terminal. Our friend Pete had arranged a short trip to come and stay with us on the boat, and we could pick him up from his flight, walk to the beach and be on the boat in 15 minutes. Perfect! Except.....Dorian had other plans, again. As Dorian strengthened to major hurricane force and moved through the Caribbean sea, eventually devastating the Abacos where we had spent so much time earlier this year, it became a threat to the South Carolina coastline, so apart from flight disruptions, it wasn't wise for Pete to leave home. The timing couldn't have been worse.
Another reason this was a good spot is that I intended to take my Open Water Scuba certification here in Tobago and the dive team I chose to use were based in the luxury hotel right on Store Bay, about 400 metres from where we had anchored. I signed up online to do the theory course and exams needed for the certification and spent a few hours reading and absorbing the course materials. The exams were no problem, so I arranged with the instructor dates to carry out the practical part of the course - learning all about the equipment, two dives in the lagoon (confined water) where I learn all the basic skills needed to be safe in open water, then two dives in open water at depths up to 20 metres. Luckily Dara was able to join me on the two open water dives, and we also signed up for two more dives with a small group later, one of which was a Lionfish hunt. the Lionfish has invaded the Caribbean from Asia and become a real problem due to the fact it eats everything and has no natural predator in the wild. They look amazing, are everywhere, very easy to catch and taste delicious. On our hunt dive we caught at least 30 of them, and the divemaster Derek filleted and made a delicious ceviche of them before our very eyes on the dive boat.
Store Bay is home to a popular beach and some tourist hotels, so the area is blessed with many and varied restaurants, along with grocery stores, ATMs and all the things one might need. Although there are no fuel docks in Tobago there was a petrol station just a short way from the beach so we were also able to take jerry cans and fill up with diesel, at about $1.50 a gallon! From Store Bay we were also able to go to the huge Buccoo reef nearby to snorkel, and also took india to Buccoo bay where we were the only boat anchored off a serene and deserted beach in just 20 feet of water. The nearby village of Buccoo hosts the famous Sunday School on a Sunday evening - a gathering where the local Steel Pan orchestra performs followed by a DJ and loud music, all washed down with copious mounts of beer and rum.
After three weeks in Store Bay we wanted to complete our circumnavigation of the island, and visit some of the prettier bays on the leeward, Caribbean sea, side. We were prompted to move by a couple of days of intense swells which made even our normally stable catamaran rock from side to side in an alarming fashion. But having ventured up the coast to the picturesque Englishman's Bay, we found it to be no better there, so decided just to move on right back to Charlotteville, where we had started almost a month before. It was nice to be back - the bay there, called Pirates Bay is sheltered from the swells so we had some stillness at last. We went ashore to check in, and visited Prita at our favourite grocery stand. Our plan was to spend maybe three days here, through the weekend and leave for Grenada on Monday. Unfortunately the weather had other plans. On Saturday we noticed a tropical depression again forming to the east of us and moving westwards. Overnight on Saturday it became tropical storm Karen and by 6am Sunday morning was right over Charlotteville. We were anchored in 45 ft of water in close to a cliff, and we woke to torrential horizontal rain and 40+ knot winds. The holding we had, which was adequate for normal conditions was starting to drag and the winds were coming from all directions so we decided to pull anchor and move away from the cliff which at times was only 100 metres away. Motors on, we moved india out into the main bay and had no choice but to just hover around until we could find an alternate anchoring spot and the winds would drop enough for us to get the anchor down. So we spent the next three hours drenched and fighting to hold the boat steady as the wind and rain lashed us. Sometime after 9:00 after one aborted attempt to drop anchor in 60 ft of water at a safe spot, we did manage to secure the anchor in about 55 ft and held fast. The rain subsided a little, but the 40 knot winds continued into the afternoon. The local town of Charlotteville was affected and when we went into town the next day, there was no power, no water and no cell service. Lots of trees down in the hills, blocking roads. Our plan to leave for Grenada was scuppered as Customs was closed and we couldn't check out, but our favourite customs officer Andrew came by in his car and offered to take us out for the day in Scarborough, about an hours drive across the island. Since we had nothing else to do at this stage, we took him up on his offer and had the best day 'liming' (just hanging around bars, drinking and having fun) with Andrew and his sidekick Rhymy. We didn't arrive back until late evening, so the next day we spent pulling ourselves back together again with a new plan to leave for Grenada on Wednesday evening. We spent the remaining currency we had by taking lunch at the Suckhole one more time, and on this last visit found the previously prickly RBF owner to be quite lovely - she even bought us a round of drinks!
But Tobago was to give us one more surprise. During Wednesday afternoon as we were preparing to leave and I was doing my usual bilge and engine checks, I was shocked to find the starboard engine had separated its mountings and had jumped about 6 inches out of position. We think that the aggressive manoeuvring during the storm two days previously had caused the already worn rubber engine mounts to break completely and the torque of revving the engine to move in the high winds had shifted the engine. Luckily nothing else seemed to be broken, including the saildrive, so we quickly rigged up a halyard on the end of the boom and lifted the 400 lb engine back into position. We didn't intend to use the engine until we could repair the mounts, but luckily we have two, so our plan to depart continued. Just before sunset, we quietly moved out of Pirates' Bay once last time and said goodbye to Tobago as we watched the lights of the island disappearing behind us.
We frequently check the weather, for obvious reasons, and had noticed on the NOAA Hurricane site a tropical depression forming about 300 miles due east of Tobago. One of the reasons for us being so far south (beneath 12 degrees N in fact) is to avoid hurricanes, for both safety and insurance purposes, so we were mildly interested in this one, in case it touched Tobago as it made its way westwards. When we arrived back at the boat, we noticed it had been upgraded to a Tropical Storm, and therefore been given a name - a name many people will in time never forget - this one was Dorian. It was now closer to Tobago but looked like it would skirt north of the island and probably give poor Grenada a good soaking on its way through. When we woke the next morning, the wind had freshened considerably and was out of the south, as the storm passed north of us, the wind moved accordingly. As we were close to a mooring field with tight spacings, we already noticed we were close to several balls and in danger of catching the lines, so we decided to immediately pull anchor and move, not knowing quite what the wind would do in the next hours. So, without coffee, we found ourselves motoring around the southern point of the island to our next intended spot - Store Bay. It was only five miles so we were there within an hour and found a large open bay with plenty of room to anchor and only a few other boats around. This was to be our home for the next three weeks or so. It was a convenient spot for many reasons, not least one could park the dinghy on the beach and walk to the airport terminal. Our friend Pete had arranged a short trip to come and stay with us on the boat, and we could pick him up from his flight, walk to the beach and be on the boat in 15 minutes. Perfect! Except.....Dorian had other plans, again. As Dorian strengthened to major hurricane force and moved through the Caribbean sea, eventually devastating the Abacos where we had spent so much time earlier this year, it became a threat to the South Carolina coastline, so apart from flight disruptions, it wasn't wise for Pete to leave home. The timing couldn't have been worse.
Another reason this was a good spot is that I intended to take my Open Water Scuba certification here in Tobago and the dive team I chose to use were based in the luxury hotel right on Store Bay, about 400 metres from where we had anchored. I signed up online to do the theory course and exams needed for the certification and spent a few hours reading and absorbing the course materials. The exams were no problem, so I arranged with the instructor dates to carry out the practical part of the course - learning all about the equipment, two dives in the lagoon (confined water) where I learn all the basic skills needed to be safe in open water, then two dives in open water at depths up to 20 metres. Luckily Dara was able to join me on the two open water dives, and we also signed up for two more dives with a small group later, one of which was a Lionfish hunt. the Lionfish has invaded the Caribbean from Asia and become a real problem due to the fact it eats everything and has no natural predator in the wild. They look amazing, are everywhere, very easy to catch and taste delicious. On our hunt dive we caught at least 30 of them, and the divemaster Derek filleted and made a delicious ceviche of them before our very eyes on the dive boat.
Store Bay is home to a popular beach and some tourist hotels, so the area is blessed with many and varied restaurants, along with grocery stores, ATMs and all the things one might need. Although there are no fuel docks in Tobago there was a petrol station just a short way from the beach so we were also able to take jerry cans and fill up with diesel, at about $1.50 a gallon! From Store Bay we were also able to go to the huge Buccoo reef nearby to snorkel, and also took india to Buccoo bay where we were the only boat anchored off a serene and deserted beach in just 20 feet of water. The nearby village of Buccoo hosts the famous Sunday School on a Sunday evening - a gathering where the local Steel Pan orchestra performs followed by a DJ and loud music, all washed down with copious mounts of beer and rum.
After three weeks in Store Bay we wanted to complete our circumnavigation of the island, and visit some of the prettier bays on the leeward, Caribbean sea, side. We were prompted to move by a couple of days of intense swells which made even our normally stable catamaran rock from side to side in an alarming fashion. But having ventured up the coast to the picturesque Englishman's Bay, we found it to be no better there, so decided just to move on right back to Charlotteville, where we had started almost a month before. It was nice to be back - the bay there, called Pirates Bay is sheltered from the swells so we had some stillness at last. We went ashore to check in, and visited Prita at our favourite grocery stand. Our plan was to spend maybe three days here, through the weekend and leave for Grenada on Monday. Unfortunately the weather had other plans. On Saturday we noticed a tropical depression again forming to the east of us and moving westwards. Overnight on Saturday it became tropical storm Karen and by 6am Sunday morning was right over Charlotteville. We were anchored in 45 ft of water in close to a cliff, and we woke to torrential horizontal rain and 40+ knot winds. The holding we had, which was adequate for normal conditions was starting to drag and the winds were coming from all directions so we decided to pull anchor and move away from the cliff which at times was only 100 metres away. Motors on, we moved india out into the main bay and had no choice but to just hover around until we could find an alternate anchoring spot and the winds would drop enough for us to get the anchor down. So we spent the next three hours drenched and fighting to hold the boat steady as the wind and rain lashed us. Sometime after 9:00 after one aborted attempt to drop anchor in 60 ft of water at a safe spot, we did manage to secure the anchor in about 55 ft and held fast. The rain subsided a little, but the 40 knot winds continued into the afternoon. The local town of Charlotteville was affected and when we went into town the next day, there was no power, no water and no cell service. Lots of trees down in the hills, blocking roads. Our plan to leave for Grenada was scuppered as Customs was closed and we couldn't check out, but our favourite customs officer Andrew came by in his car and offered to take us out for the day in Scarborough, about an hours drive across the island. Since we had nothing else to do at this stage, we took him up on his offer and had the best day 'liming' (just hanging around bars, drinking and having fun) with Andrew and his sidekick Rhymy. We didn't arrive back until late evening, so the next day we spent pulling ourselves back together again with a new plan to leave for Grenada on Wednesday evening. We spent the remaining currency we had by taking lunch at the Suckhole one more time, and on this last visit found the previously prickly RBF owner to be quite lovely - she even bought us a round of drinks!
But Tobago was to give us one more surprise. During Wednesday afternoon as we were preparing to leave and I was doing my usual bilge and engine checks, I was shocked to find the starboard engine had separated its mountings and had jumped about 6 inches out of position. We think that the aggressive manoeuvring during the storm two days previously had caused the already worn rubber engine mounts to break completely and the torque of revving the engine to move in the high winds had shifted the engine. Luckily nothing else seemed to be broken, including the saildrive, so we quickly rigged up a halyard on the end of the boom and lifted the 400 lb engine back into position. We didn't intend to use the engine until we could repair the mounts, but luckily we have two, so our plan to depart continued. Just before sunset, we quietly moved out of Pirates' Bay once last time and said goodbye to Tobago as we watched the lights of the island disappearing behind us.
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| Just another gorgeous sunset... |
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| And another.. |
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| And one more.... |
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| A roti - an indian flatbread stuffed with chicken curry!! |
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| On my final qualifying dive, with Dara the expert! |
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| Relaxing - a la mode |
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| Store Bay, this is the hotel and lagoon where I did my Scuba training |
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| In the village of Buccoo. Crack and a party for $40.... |
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| Our favourite customs guy Andrew had a mini - a REAL British mini, and he had some friends whoi showed up to see us!! |
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| Here the anchorage where we were when TS Karen came upon us - see we are close to the cliff |
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| Our friendly veggie purveyor Prita, looking sleepy... |
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| The beach at Charlotteville |
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| Fishermen at Charlotteville |
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| A view from the hills |
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| Englishmen's hartbour - where we ducked in for a minute, and left because the swells were too much |
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| The cliff we nearly hit during TS Karen |
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| These are the Sisters Rocks where we dived on a Lionfish hunt |
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| The beach at Charlotteville again |
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| Relaxing the day after our all-day lime. |
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| Our last lunch at the Suckhole. It did not suck... |
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| Saying Goodbye to Tobago as the sun set and we sailed through the night to Grenada |
Well, they did it again!!!! Scared the crap out of me with this description of sailing thru Karen (I wasn't even worried about you after Dorian because I thought the danger was all over).
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the diving certification. I love the picture of you guys. I need a print of it. So exciting.
So glad you had Andrew to show you a good time and revisit friends.
Absolutely CANNOT wait to see you guys again. Beautiful and exciting and scary post, but as always, thrilled to read about everything.
The pictures are absolutely beautiful!! Of course reading the scary stuff increased my grey hair but knowing you came through it okay made me feel so much better. I am amazed every time I read your blogs, just knowing all the exciting things you are experiencing. Take care and safe journey!! Xoxo
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