Canadian Yachting October 2023 - 10

to focus on great dining more than the
Galley Guy kitchen skills, so we gladly
put in at Mustique and made our way to
Basil's Bar. Basil's has a great stage for
hosting live bands but with no one on
stage that night, the Galley Guys were
welcome to ham it up under the spotlights.
Mercifully, the attraction of snorkeling
in Tobago Cay Marine Park which is a
marine sanctuary and sea turtle breeding
ground, persuaded us to behave so we
could get up early and start sailing south.
THE TOBAGO CAYS MARINE
PARK
Throughout the whole trip, the weather
What luck! There was no audience at Basil's Bar for Greg (left) John (centre) and Andy
Greg helps serve the Beach BBQ dinner
would be a crowded place, but somehow
Linda Armstrong wound up doing most of
the food preparation!
The biggest responsibility was taking
the helm of our beautiful new Bali
4.4 Open Space catamaran and that fell
on the capable shoulders of our captain,
Katherine Stone.
Knowing the Galley Guys only too
well, the Galley Gals had arranged for
all our provisions with the experts at
Barefoot, so we were well equipped for
our tour through the Grenadines and we
really lacked for nothing, although somehow
we lost the can opener.
WONDERFUL WAYPOINTS
We sailed the Grenadines in a clockwise
direction which worked out well.
Had we gone the other direction, we
would have started the trip in Bequia and
that would have been as far as I needed to
go. Memorable beachfront bars, delightful
restaurants and colourful local shopping
could have kept me busy for much
longer than one week!
Instead, we sailed south and east, stopping
at the most popular places and in particular,
headed for Tobago Cay.
The Galley Guys' mantra about good
food, good friends and good times tends
10 CANADIAN YACHTING | OCTOBER 2023
was remarkable; almost always a daytime
temperature of 27 C, lots of steady
wind and any rain showers blew through
quickly. The water was really warm and
welcoming in all the anchorages too. We
all agreed that we wanted to make the
Tobago Cays Marine Park our main focus
and the Barefoot staff had set us up with a
great beach feast and a guided powerboat
tour of the area.
Tobago Cays is a group of small islands
protected by a horseshoe reef. We sailed
into the bay anchoring west of Petit
Rameau in the cut between Petit Rameau
and Petit Bateau near Baradel. On arrival,
we were met by one of the mooring ball
guys. They are local people who help you
get moored and typically, you tip $10.
Then a park warden wearing a uniform
will arrive in another boat near the end
of the day. The warden collects the fee to
stay there which is typically $50-$60 US
and you will get a receipt.
That done, we grabbed our masks, fins
and snorkels, launched the dinghy and
carefully made for shore. This beach is a
sea turtle sanctuary and we really did see
a sea turtle swimming by us at fairly close
distance. The water is crystal clear, warm
and shallow - ideal for exploring and
looking for marine life.
The beach feast came at the ideal
time. We had been told to watch for
" Romeo " . Without any effort on our part,
Romeo drove up, introduced himself and
explained the plan for the beach barbeque
feast and a cruise of the area. He transported
us the short distance to Petit Bateau
where Romeo's wife Juliette (really) was
cooking on the open grill under the shed
roof on the beach.
Everyone was ready to dig in and with
Canadian Yachting October 2023

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