Archiv
CW 08 2002
17.02.2002 - 23.02.2002
Today is Sunday, February 17 and we're at the beautiful island of Tobago,
in the Man of War Bay. This extremely beautiful bay lies in front of the little
village Charlotteville.
Even if it's Sunday, it should be worth getting up fairly early since you're
supposed to be able to see dolphins in this bay in the morning. That's what
Gerhard and Felix found out during their little visit with their fellow-countrymen
yesterday. As a reminder: they're Alexandra and Karl from Austria, lying here
with their catamaran Gryllos III. So I've been waiting in hiding from 8am
onwards. Since nothing happened during the following two hours it's now time
for a nice breakfast.
As soon as you stop waiting or hoping for something to happen it does. Just
like in real life! Here they are, three dolphins. Unspeakably beautiful to
watch them dive up and down in the calm water. Totally relaxed they really
swim right into the bay.
This bay is really something special. In the forests at the shore a first
grade concert started up this morning, shortly after sunrise. There's got
to be a huge amount of birds living and nesting here. Tobago as well as Trinidad
is famous for bird watching. You can go on tours here that take you to the
birds nesting places, but apparently we've got one of those places right in
front of our front door.
But not only the forest is busy, the air and the water are as well. Plenty
of grey-brown sea pelicans are flying around and don't seem to have anything
to do all day but fly around and catch fish, and after that they sit on the
rocks to recover. The countless boobies basically do the same thing. They
glide over the water and then, snap, they've got a fish in their beak again
and fly away with it. There are so many fish here that you can see the schools
with your naked eye. But that's not all; you can even hear them.
Yes, all that sounds like a fairy tale and that's just what it is, unbelievably
beautiful, but true! So just the right place to spend a relaxing day. We all
go snorkelling in the afternoon and Gerhard and Felix visit our neighbours
again.
We're going to go out for dinner again today, and we're going early, because
the restaurant Sharon & Phebe's always has a buffet on Sundays and what
they offer here doesn't only look good it also tastes good. Chicken, rice,
different salads, beans, tangy sauces and a bear to go with it - that's just
what we need. But this evening we'll have to drink an extra bear because tonight
Thomas and I decided to change our time planning!!!
In other words, we'll stay in the Caribbean for a few more months, fly home
and when we get back there'll be a few things to do about the ship and then
we'll slowly continue towards Venezuela, the ABC-Islands, then St. Blas Islands
und from there we'll cross the Panama Canal to the Pacific and the South-Sea.
And we have to drink a toast to that, or what do you think?
So we sit together on the terrace, with a few other sailors, chat a little
and enjoy life. Back aboard we sit together some more and chat some more until
one after the other disappears into their bunk.
Monday starts a little later and for some with a hangover. And the breakfast
to which we invited Alexandra and Karl starts later and actually turns into
a little brunch. We sit together until early afternoon quickly decide to stay
for another day. Our decision from yesterday already starts to show some consequences
and we take it easy all day.
And since they have such good food at Sharon & Phebe´s we're going
there again tonight. But we won't stay too long, we don't wont to get to bed
too late, because we're taking off early tomorrow morning.
So on Tuesday, before 8am, we've had breakfast, the crew is ready, the anchor
weighed and we're leaving Charlotteville. We're not going very far, only a
good 20nm to Milford Bay where we reached Tobago last week. Sadly the wind
isn't too great; not doing much for us and coming from a bad direction. We
do set the genaker and it goes quite well for a while but then we have to
lower it again because the wind is drastically changing directions and at
times dies away completely. That's why we use the engines for the last leg.
And shortly before we reach our destination: FISH! Well, there you go. Considering
the way the line runs out one could assume it's something big. But, let's
not be too expectant, that hardly ever pays off. As today: the fish was already
pretty close to the stern, but then it gave another strong pull and got away.
Sh..t! Well, then we won't have fish. Half an hour later we drop anchor in
Milford Bay.
We didn't get the fish, but Gerhard and Felix had a really good idea. Tomorrow,
Wednesday, they're both flying back home from Trinidad and our plan is (was)
to take a night-drive to Trinidad so we'd arrive there on Wednesday morning
and everything would work out nicely.
To save us all from this night-drive and to spare Thomas and me from having
to get back to Tobago the two of them would fly from Tobago to Trinidad and
from there back home as planned. Great! Especially since we then have today
and tomorrow to visit the beach at Pigeon Point again.
After a small lunch snack Thomas and Gerhard go to town. Thomas to, once again,
take care of some paperwork and Gerhard to organize their flights to Trinidad.
In the mean time Felix is taking the dinghy to go snorkelling at Buccoo Reef,
because unfortunately he couldn't go there last week.
| Perfect timing: Felix is just returning as Thomas and Gerhard radio
me that they're at the beach now and want to be picked up, so Felix just
goes round. The arrival of the three: a nice picture. They're all dripping
wet, because exactly what happened to me last week happened to them today:
a wave knocked them over. Very funny! After their shore liberty Thomas and I have company. Gerhard bought us a toy parrot with symbolical meaning. Thanks! Every bird needs a name and we quickly agree to call this one "Admiral". And now he hangs in our cockpit. The day and our time together slowly come to an end - with a sundowner followed by dinner. |
 |
It's Wednesday and since we still have a little time here we're going on
a detour, to the Baccardi-beach, to Pigeon Point. Getting there with the dinghy
does take a few minutes and believing you could get there dry is an illusion.
But first we drive past Pigeon Point because there is a totally great place
hidden behind it. A lagoon, surrounded by mangroves and a peninsula called
"No Man's Land" with a beautiful sand beach. The lagoon, Bon Accord
Lagoon, may only be entered with a ship in case of a hurricane, so it's totally
quiet and relaxing here. Sometimes day picnics are ore organized for tourists
here on No Man's Land, so there are a few people here today.
Then I discovered three savages that looked slightly familiar to me. :)
 |
After dragging the dinghy back into the water we finally go to Pigeon Point. It's a lot less quiet here, because this also is a paradise for surfers. So first of all we have to watch out for the surfers and getting closer to the shore we also have to watch for people snorkelling. There's a lot to see at the Buccoo Reef. The reef, which has been a natural preserve area since 1982, is about 10km² big. At some points there's less than 1m of water above it and while snorkelling or going on a glass-bottom boat you can look at this magnificent under water garden and see for real what one otherwise only gets to see in the worlds largest exotarias. But we're staying on top today, we're going to the beach to enjoy the view of the long, white sand beach, the palm trees and the crystal clear water. |
| Unfortunately we can't do that all day, since it's time to say goodbye - Felix and Gerhard are flying back home today. To make sure they survive the challenge of packing their suitcases we have a small snack on the beach before we get back aboard. While those two pack their belongings Thomas takes off to organize a rented car. After bringing the luggage and all people ashore, we all drive to the airport. And it also proves true here: Tobago is really great! As a goodbye at the counter they get a handshake and are asked to visit Tobago again some time. Who knows? Nothing's impossible! We have a small drink together and then it's time to say bye-bye. Get home well, see you soon! Thomas and I drive around the island for a while, stop over at the supermarket and then also make our way back home. |  |
It's Thursday and since we already have a car we're going to go look at the
island a little. We drive to Scarborough, Tobago's capital, and stop at the
highest point of the city, the Fort King George. That's a fortress, built
by the British from 1777-1779, named after King George II.
There are still old canons on the hills around the fort and they also provide
the best view of Scarborough and the surrounding coast.
Many of the garrison buildings are still well preserved and parts of them
are still used today as a military hospital. The civilian hospital is right
next to it, but by what it looks like on the outside I don't even want to
imagine what it looks like on the inside. Anyhow, it's always better if one
doesn't have to use such facilities.
We continue our drive down Winward Road, alongside the coast, heading north.
We see plenty of bays and beaches, but they're a lot rougher than those on
the west coast; after all, this is the Atlantic side. We drive through lots
of little villages, all the way up to Kings Bay where, right on the beach,
we get ourselves something to eat and drink We chat a little with a local
and, can you believe it, he's from Charlotteville and he's also been to Germany,
Munich to be precise. We take off again and drive to Speyside, a place with
a magnificent view of Little Tobago, also called bird-island. Supposedly the
most beautiful dive spots in the Caribbean are here and we will take a closer
look at those, but definitely not today. There aren't too many roads on Tobago
so our journey along the coast ends here, so we head west for a while and
come out right in Charlotteville where we'll surely take our ship back to.
 |
Since there is no other road we take this one until we get to the city of Roxborough where we turn of to the Argyle waterfalls. To get there we have to walk through the rainforest first. Over narrow paths, rocks and stones, past banana bushes, cocoa trees, huge bamboo shrubs and other "green giants" we get right to the waterfall. There are a few other tourists here beside us so we immediately walk on to the top. It's rather steep, but we're well prepared, wearing appropriate shoes. We make it to the second cascade, but then we can't see a path any more. The waterfall comes down in three cascades, so actually there must be one. Being at the second cascade is also fine since there's no one here besides us. We don't go swimming this time - dipping your feet into the clear, cool water is also very nice. |
Refreshed, we leave and make our way back. We're in a rainforest, so, what
else could happen but it starting to rain? We take shelter from the rain under
large trees and leaves for a few minutes, but that really isn't a good idea
because the rain makes the ground slippery and it's steep. So on we go. Arriving
safely at the bottom we walk back to our car and drive on. We continue driving
across the island to the west coast. We arrive there, at Bloody Bay. The legend
says, that there used to be such violent fights and battles here, they turned
the water in the bay bloody red. Sounds unbelievable, and people have always
like to tell stories, in the olden days as well as today.
We drive along the west coast and for quite a while we have a good view of
the beautiful beaches on this side of the island. The bays are a little deeper
and the mountains a little higher here and our journey is drawing out, and
it is slowly getting dark. By the time we return to our starting point it's
almost 8pm. Exhausted as we are we get ourselves some food, take the dinghy
back to the ship and that was it.
Friday, and we have to return the car this afternoon, so we drive around some
more in the morning. We drive to Scarborough again, buy some fruit and vegetables
at the market, run a few errands and then we already have to get back. We'll
take a look at the city later; after all, we have to come back here when we
leave Tobago.
After having given back the rented car we get our shopping aboard and nothing
much more happens today.
| It's Saturday, February 23, today and we're going to leave Milford
Bay today, making our way back to Charlotteville. But there's no need
to hurry, we've got plenty of time now and it isn't far. Shortly after
11am we weight anchor and are on our way. And since we haven't caught
a fish for soooo long we get the fishing rod out. As if they'd been expecting
us, or rather our super-bait, at 12 o'clock a beautiful, large Wahoo (King
Fish) is on deck already. Anglers luck! A good catch! Now we can set sail, because fishing did kind of prevent that. We can only sail high at the wind and we have to turn quite often to go to the direction we want to. Sailing just doesn't mean setting sails and going straight to where you want to go. |
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Although, today we could almost do that, but not under sail since we discovered
something not so nice.The problems we had with the foresail in Trinidad, those
that we thought were sorted out, are back. And before it breaks any further
or falls onto deck or our heads, we rather bring the sail down and use the
engines. Unfortunately that takes longer and is quite unpleasant, due to the
swell we're heading straight into.
We reach the Man of War Bay in Charlotteville around 5pm and are greeted happily.
We'll definitely stay here for a few days and what those and …
… what the next week brought us
… here, in one week:
same time, same place!
So long
Diana + Thomas
A clever saying shan't be missing this week either. Today it's from Carl
Jakob Burckhardt:
How often does a word drive us apart instead of leading us together?
Editors comment:
I find the words from Georg Christoph Lichtenstein quite suitable and supplementary:
It's not the lies, but the very delicately untrue comments that keep the truth
from being found.
