DECEMBER 25, 2012 CHRISTMAS in the CARIBBEAN
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Maligayang Pasko Tagalog (Philippines)
Selama Hari Natal - Indonesian
Well here we are - Christmas in the Caribbean, it's 7am and we're pulling into the Tobago Cays - the beautiful sand spits completely uninhabited. In fact out of our porthole we can see Petit Tabac - the island where the deserted island scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl was filmed with Johnny Depp!! After a Merry Christmas we find our way up to the Veranda for breakfast midships outdoors on deck 4. We have fresh tropical fruits with muesli and crispy warm pastries for breakfast then head down to the lounge where we have a 9am departure for snorkelling the Tobago Cays at the 4km Horseshoe Reef and our second stop is snorkelling with the turtles on Christmas Day - how wonderful is that!??
The Tobago Cays are an archipelago of 5 uninhabited Islands - Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradal, Petit Tabac and Jamesby. They are the key element in a 1400 acre sand bottom lagoon Tobago Cays Marine Park run by the St Vincent and Grenadines Government. They are surrounded by 3 larger inhabited islands of Union Island, Mayreau and Canouan. Mayreau and the Tobago Cays were privately owned from the 16th century until April 1999 when, after long negotiations, the Tobago Cays were purchased by the State of St Vincent & the Grenadines but Mayreau remained in private hands.
We have to choose a breakfast table outside in the shade - much too hot in the sun even though the tables are all under canvas sails. Putu and Ati wish us "Selamat Hari Natal" Merry Christmas from our Indonesian and Bali crew, and "Maligayang Pasko" in Tagalog from our Philippino crew. The latte coffee and iced water are needed to hydrate us for the day ahead in the water, on the beach and in the sun.
At 9 am we are called and boarded onto the zodiacs 10 passengers at a time - are we still in Borneo or are we now in the Caribbean? The seas are quite bouncy and there are massive black clouds on the horizon, but we are soon helped on board the large Wind and Sky catamaran with Kendrick and Michelle and Captain ? looking after us. We sail first to Horseshoe Reef - the wind is quite strong but snorkelling to the reef is no problem and as part of the marine park here we really enjoy the wide variety of fish: stop light parrot fish, blue tang, damsels. trunk fish, pipe fish, lots of soft and hard corals, sergeant majors. file fish, star fish, and a fish cleaning station, - we really enjoyed ourselves although the surface was bouncy and a little too much for some passengers not used to snorkelling.
Back on board we cruised just around the corner from Horseshoe Reef to a spit of sand which is the Baradal Turtle Sanctuary where many green and hawksbill turtles can be seen and where there were lots of anchored private and charter sailboats close by - all visiting for Christmas - and this is where the turtles lay their eggs and feed on the sea grass - we must have seen 7 turtles in the 10 minutes before we jumped in the water to snorkel - all swimming just under the surface, or down 10 feet to feed on the grass, and then popping to the surface to breathe. When we jumped in to snorkel we saw more turtles than we have ever seen before - at one point had 4 turtles in a 10 square foot area underneath me, Terry had 2 turtles swimming the opposite direction. It was superb even though the sea was choppy the visibility was endless!
Those who couldn't swim so well had been pushed by the current to the sandy beach where the zodiac picked them up and brought them back to the catamaran - on and off the catamaran into the aquamarine water was easy - down the steps between the two front pontoons or off one of the two steps at the back of the two pontoons. Some folks came along for the ride and really enjoyed themselves to say nothing of the (very potent) rum punch after everyone had finished snorkelling! Actually I really can't say that nobody got wet! The clouds that had been resting on the horizon moved towards us and started to welcome us to Christmas Day with very wet drops! We got soaked after we came in from viewing the turtles and dried off! Not to worry - the Captain played and sang Christmas songs, crew member Michelle and Kendrick poured the rum punch and we had fun! We had taken along our two red Santa hats with animal fur trim and everyone took photos to remember Christmas Day in the Caribbean when they went home.
We sailed past the beach where you could spend the day(watersports, paddleboards, kayaking) - everyone off the Wind Spirit looked as though they were having fun in spite of the rain! We soon managed to transfer from the Wind and Sea catamaran to the zodiacs from the Wind Spirit and get on board. After warm showers and drying off we were soon in the Veranda eating lunch - as always a significant variety including Caribbean crepes, chicken burgers, and salmon wellington and as always a lovely fresh salad with lots of fixings. Putu and Ati, two of our crewmen from Bali and Jakarta, were taking good care of us.
The skies looked as though they were getting brighter so I suggested to Terry that we take the zodiac back over to the beach on one of the uninhabited cays - so we grabbed our gear and off we went with Gibson driving the zodiac and just Terry and I as passengers wearing our mandatory life jackets. It was a wet landing on the beach and the Wind Spirit table set up with cold refreshments. Just at that point the winds started to pick up and within one minute we were in the middle of what appeared to be hurricane winds! The rain poured so hard that we couldn't even see the Wind Spirit which was only a couple hundred yards from the shore!
We chatted with Wilma from Union Island who was set up with her table selling tshirts, sarongs, shell jewellery and two chaps with her selling fresh BBA lobster. Wilma had 8 boys (and gave up trying to get a daughter at that point!) all of whom live elsewhere than Union Island which has approximately 5,000 population. They come by small boat to this deserted beach (about 20 minutes from Union Island) since this is where all the sail boats are anchored - a beautiful location, but today everyone was on their sail boat and hiding from the rain so no sales of clothing or lobster - what a disappointing way to spend Christmas Day for these hard working folks.
The rain and winds (think tropical downpour or hurricane )started to let up after about 30 minutes so we decided to head back to the Wind Spirit and take advantage of the break in the weather!
Back on board we dried ourselves off again and put on dry clothes before spending the afternoon listening to Christmas Carols and relaxing with a good book! The skies started clearing and we pulled away a little early at 4:30pm, when everyone was back on board, listening to Van Gelis 1942 as we headed to Grenada where we would dock around 10pm and get a very good night's sleep!
But first we went to the "REPEATERS" cocktail party in the lounge at 5:30pm until 6:15 and enjoyed champagne and wine plus very nice appetizers - tempura asparagus, spicy meat balls, crackers with salmon mousse, or cucumber and proscutio, tint wraps with cream cheese - very delightful. We met Pat and Stephen from Arizona, and Darlene and Harry from Rochester, New York - and we all chatted non stop until dinner at 7pm. Gonzalo (Destination Manager) and Jason (hotel Manager) welcomed us all and we even had carols sung to us by the ship's Doctor from the Philippines.
At dinner we were seated by Karma the Maitre'D and joined by Harry and Darlene where our conversation and philosophies continued unabated until bed time. A traditional turkey dinner was offered (Terry said it was delicious) but I opted for the ahi tuna and fingerling potatoes - cooked to perfection! The Christmas Pudding for dessert was a little dry and not enough brandy sauce for my liking although it was beautifully presented!
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