Union to…erm… let’s see how far we get.

We left Union in our (salt) dust. Or rather we left Clifton on Union, skipped the rest of the island, and met up with old South African friends from SV Era – Roux and Christine. They were anchored close to shore in Saline Bay on the next island, Mayreau, and we nestled in right next to them.

Christine had been overcharged shamelessly for a fish and we were invited for a braai on board their catamaran, which they also now offer as a charter boat on Airbnb. This resulted in a game of invitation ping pong – to have breakfast on Ongemak the next morning, ‘liming’ at a resort pool with them and the “SV Windkat” crew drinking expensive cocktails, pannekoek by Christine on a rainy day, another breakfast on Ongemak…I lose track but I’m sure they won. We eventually tore ourselves away from the South African hospitality games to hop North to Salt Whistle Bay, still on Mayreau Island.

Salt Whistle’s beach is sentence written in colourful sarongs and t-shirts for sale, completed by beach shacks offering BBQ fish and lobster, finally punctuated with the “Last Bar before the Jungle”, which is it’s actual and literal name. We explored bar to bar, chatting with the kind locals, playing with semi-stray puppies (that means a skinny puppy with some string around its neck indicating ownership of sorts), and started to make plans with the next set of South African friends who arrived at our ping pong hospitality game with an entire tennis court!

Darryl is an old friend of Ongemak. A gifted sailor and seaman. He recently married Antoinette – a super competent sea chef and all round cool human. They are currently crewing for a 100ft motor yacht and were between charters. We planned to spend some time together and within a day or two they, along with Matt (Zimbabwean, super guy), arrived next to Ongemak on their yacht’s tender, which is longer than Ongemak with about 50 times it’s horsepower.

I packed a tiny lunch of bread and some salad for us all to nibble on. We jumped from Ongemak’s stern to this beast’s bow to be embraced by old friends…and off we went. We were each poured a drink, the speakers blared Coldplay, wind blew through our smiles, and in no time at all we anchored at Tobago Cays. Our hosts led a little hike up and over the hill. Beautiful. Our three hosts pointed out the turtle sanctuary below where we’d go for a snorkel after lunch.

Darryl insisted that we’d have a lobster BBQ on the beach. They’re known for these all over the islands but here, it’s pretty much all they do. They treated us to a feast and once done, we walked over to the shallows and fed the local fish. There’s a puffer, a ray, and some other small fish that swim right up to take care of your leftovers.

It was a bit late to see turtles but we tried anyway and swam right next to a turtle for a minute or so. Like the puffer and ray, they seem to be quite used to people.

We were dropped back on Ongemak and the Darryl crew sped off back to an island north of Mayreau called Canouan where they were docked.

I needed a few more days of work before we could anchor Ongemak at Tobago Cays ourselves (no signal there, and also no will to work with turtles distracting me), so we decided to leave Mayreau behind. We caught our first fish as we turned into Charlestown Bay, Canouan. Muir pulled up a baby Barracuda but we let it go – not a fair fight.

Lucky for us, Charlestown had a wonderful unofficial fish market right at the main jetty leading into town. We’d been craving ceviche so we got a beautiful fish at a good local price. The locals were friendly. The town is really well kept in an old South Italian style (architects don’t shoot, I could be wrong). Simple, but beautiful. The island is topped and tailed with money. To the North, an exclusive private resort, and to the South, the pristine built Sandy Lane Marina where our motor yacht friends were docked.

We had a few beers in town and headed home to be picked up by our friends for dinner on their yacht, in the Marina. By now they’d done our laundry and filled our water tanks, which is GOLD for cruisers. Antoinette prepared roasted pork with grilled and herbed grapes (to die for), served with mashed potatoes and broccoli (another huge treat on the islands). We drank beautiful white wine and enjoyed a tour of the luxury yacht before being dropped back onto our tiny-in-comparison home.

We soon learnt that even we could afford to dock at Sandy Lane Marina (they charge per foot), and so we got out of the heavily rolling bay to attach ourselves to still land and flowing showers. Again, we joined Darryl, Antoinette and crew for an afternoon of playing Padel at the Marina’s court – a ton of fun – and having dinner a la Antoinette again! Pasta with bacon and other things…but especially bacon.

We were leaving for Tobago Cays on the Friday and invited the motor yacht crew for a dose of sailing. Darryl was the only one who couldn’t resist. With Darryl aboard, Muir could also let go knowing there is an experienced sailor on watch. We didn’t even start the engine and sailed straight off the dock. Once anchored, I quickly prepared bread dough and very soon after, Darryl’s crew arrived to fetch him.

We insisted that they stay for a seafood dinner of fish, plus three large lobsters we’d bought off of Wilbert in Canouan. The men prepared the braai, and the gals cooked rice, pan-fried the fish, and baked bread down in the galley. All obviously accompanied by cold beers and delicious white wine. Another feast with great company! By the time they had to leave, Matt swam over to fetch their tender but the wind had picked up quite a bit. Darryl, the humble captain, ensured everyone made it onto their massive tender safely, but as the rain started to come down, he himself slipped at the last moment and tumbled head over heals into the nighttime ocean. No serious injuries at least…sorry Darryl!

Tobago Cays were just gorgeous! There are turtles everywhere. To keep things simple, Muir and I would both get into Charlie (our one-seater inflatable kayak) and row over to the sanctuary (don’t worry, it’s completely open and the turtles come and go as they please). The second day, we walked over to the opposite side of the island and snorkeled around back to Charlie. We needed some more exercise and decided to swim back to Ongemak, pulling Charlie along.

Nearing Ongemak, we spotted a fish carcass being nibbled on by some puffer fish…until a ray came and claimed the entire head to himself, swimming away with it in his mouth. We followed him and he eventually dropped it. Looking around for him, I spotted a other dark object with a tail – like a small dark ray. It became more familiar as I swam over, finally realising that the pan in which I cooked fish two nights before were now at the bottom of the sea. It must have done a “Darryl”. I dove it out giggling to myself…