Christmas in Tobago

We celebrated Christmas in Tobago; waking up with the sun shining, the seas glistening and the public beach filling up early. Christmas in the tropics is a big family celebration with many people heading to the beach for the holiday. We put our Christmas presents under our miniature palm tree and after the kids were in bed. Ron and I organized the kids traditional Christmas treasure hunt. This year we gave it a nautical theme (which Ron loved and tortured the kids) using words like bimini, transom, gooseneck, davits, bilge, windless etc. to lead them from clue to clue. The treasure for the kids were I Pods which both girls are enjoying especially after Alex lost her discman over the side about the second day of our trip. I am sitting here laughing as the kids and Gramma are using their $1.00 store miniature fans and every once in awhile I hear one of them yelping as the fan strikes a part of their body.

We brought some mini maple syrups with us and delivered them to the nearest boats at anchor to us, two from France, one from England and one from Sweden. They were all surprised but pleased. We spent the rest of the day snorkeling and swimming with a visit to the Catamaran from England for appies and drinks at sunset.

Yesterday we sailed from Store Bay (southwest end of Tobago) to Charlotteville (northwest end). It was a long sail as we were dead into the wind and had to tack many times traveling a total of 60 miles to make 24 miles. The highlight of the sail was a very big turtle sighting and another pod of dolphins larger than the last keeping us company for quite some time. (This photo shows Granny sitting watching the dolphins, just before a big wave came and soaked her) The low point of the sail was discovering the furling foil had disconnected from the upper joint just before getting into Charlotteville. Luckily we were still able to furl the sail. Ron went up the mast this morning in the climbing harness pulling him self up with me on the end of the winch. With loctite and a hex key he was able to reconnect the pieces. This picture was taken by Alex when she had a turn up the mast. Both girls were able to pull themselves to the very top.

Charlotteville is a fishing community with houses lining the beach and scattered up through the hillside. The fishing boats are like a long boat dory with huge fishing poles made from bamboo looking like stabilizers out the sides. They use large outboards and anchor the boats off shore hitching rides to and from their boats from anybody in the vicinity in a dinghy. We woke this morning (5:30 a.m.) to parrots screeching in the trees. The bird life here is amazing, it includes pelicans, frigates, parrots, finches, doves and many more. We are hoping to organize a jungle tour in the next couple of days and off to the Tobago Cays for New Years.