Chief Brody vs. The Mooring Ball

Our day began with a long sail from the Tobago Cays up to Canouan Island and the promise of shelter from the wind. John got some helm time on Flamboyant as Touche kept his fishing lines out.

We always say “your distance at your pace” when it comes to the swimming needs and abilities of our guests, and we most often have groups with a fairly wide array of speeds. Not so with this group. They swim in pretty tight formation, and when we stop for a break, the person in the back of the pack only takes a few strokes until they’ve caught up. It makes guiding really easy this week, especially with 3 and sometimes 4 guides when Zack jumps in. We had a nice long swim at Canouan Island this morning that included a healthy reef and a quick hike between 2 beaches. 

As we made our way to our destination on the island of Bequia, Zack piloted Elivra between a rock islet and the island itself - a passage known as “Threading the needle”. Very exciting for all aboard.

A big sail to Bequia Island where I sailed with only Captain Touché, as Heather was socializing with guests and John was doing stroke video on analysis on yacht Elvira. So I was the deckhand on Flamboyant. Mind you, I’m more Chief Brody than Captain Quint when it comes to boats. As we approached the mooring ball, I grabbed the hook, but had to untie it first. That took awhile. Then I leaned waaay over the bow on my belly to catch the big metal loop on the mooring ball, bridle line close at hand to string through, The little plastic hook I had was too small for the mooring ball loop, so it kept slipping off. Touché was being very patient, and kept the boat right over the ball even in a stiff wind and opposing current. I finally managed to bring the loop up with the hook, but now the hook was jammed into the metal loop. It would not come out. The boat shifted, and now I couldn’t reach the bridle line that was right next to me a second ago. Touché magically appeared, and handed the line to me. I strung it through the mooring loop, but had to let go of the hook to do it. No matter, it was still hopelessly stuck. Eventually I got everything squared away and banged on the end of the pole to unstick the hook. I was out of breath, dirty, and sweaty. I think I’ll stick to guiding. 

We had lunch, a ridiculously delicious butternut squash and tilapia soup. Tied  to a tugboat wreck, we did a short swim where Heather pointed out a rare Nudibranch, a type of mollusk without a shell. Risky. (Not risky, many nudibranchs are poisonous, and advertise with their beautiful colors and patterns! This is why I was so excited to see one today! - HP) We also saw two different types of moray eel and generally healthy, abundant reef life. Beautiful.

We pulled into the harbor at Bequia, followed by an old guy in a dinghy, one of many island people who come out to help moor your boat for a small fee. It’s tough to make a living down here. We’d picked up some lobster tails earlier from a fish monger aptly named Muscles. I was going to show chef Jemima how to prep the lobsters for grilling, but Touché was much more the expert, and he split 5 of them with very hard shells in half in no time. A full moon rose in spectacular fashion over Bequia, as we feasted on grilled lobster and followed it up with pone, a yummy cake with ice cream. Uncle. 

Hopper

Video recap of today with music by my Finn Weafer. XO