Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Fishing Report - Lion Fish Huntress


Laura on sv Blue Blaze LOVES to hunt lion fish.  I mean this girl really gets into it.  Charlotteville Tobago was ripe for the lion fish hunting.  The fishermen don't hunt them and don't eat them.  No one has shown them how to clean them safely and more importantly how to cook them up.  They are all afraid to eat the lion fish for fear of getting sick.  Therefore, the population of lion fish is unchecked.

Laura and I went for a simple snorkel around the rocks/coral in the middle of Pirates Bay.  We spotted several, a few were big ones.  I thought Laura was going to swim back to her boat right then and there to get her Hawaiian sling....mainly because she said "Darn!  I knew I should have brought my sling."  


The next day she was in the water going to town on the lion fish.  She speared (slinged - nope doesn't sound right) a huge one plus several others.  In the process of getting him, she ended up with a puncture from the fins - OUCH!  But she is a tough cookie.  They buzzed back to the boat and put some really hot water on the puncture wound to stop the pain and 45 mins later they were diving on the reef, spearing even more lion fish.  Go team Blue Blaze!

Yay Laura!  Proud of you.

Calabash Scrumping in Tobago


Scrumping - Urban Dictionary says "Stealing fruit, especially apples from someone else's trees."  A term we learned from our British friends.

Calabash, bitter oranges and cocoa pod
So while we were buzzing around Tobago in the rental car with Jason and Laura (sv Blue Blaze), we stopped at what is now a defuncted tourist attraction.  Some waterwheel ruins.  Mainly we wanted to stretch our legs and see if we could spot some birds.

Sure enough, a little hiking and we Jason and Laura spotted Motmot bird.  They are really pretty kewl looking.  They have two funky tail feathers at the end of their tail that makes them quite distinctive.  Look at me being all birdy and such.
Calabash on the tree
We did explore the overgrown ruins of the waterwheel as well.  At one point the grounds were no doubt landscaped and manacured.  Even with the overgrowth, we could see the evidence of ornamental bushes planted along what used to be the walkway and such.  Then Laura and I spotted what we thought was a lime tree.  (We found out later....when we tried the juice from these fruits......that it was a bitter orange tree.  Wowie - sour.  Laura tossed hers.  I dumped massive amounts of sugar in with the juice, added water and Voila,!)  Then we spotted a calabash tree on the grounds of the waterwheel ruins.  FYI - the fruits from a Calabash tree are hard and round and generally used as cups and bowls when hollowed out.  Rastas use them in this fashion.  Locals carve or paint calabash "gourds" with designs and sell to tourists.  With great difficulty, Laura and I twisted two off the tree.
Cockpit Xmas tree?

I also picked up a Lobster claw flower to decorate sv Honey Ryder and a cocoa pod.

It was quite the stop for scrumping.  Although we weren't really scrumping as the place was abandoned.  Ok, we were but no harm as it was abandoned.....how is that?

Note to self -  If you go on an island tour, take your cutlass, as you never know when you will have an opportunity to go scrumping

Tobago Again

Sunset in Tobago

December 13, 2016
Stephanie, Jim, Kathy

Three days after leaving our anchorage on the Essequibo River Guyana, we sailed into Store Bay Tobago.  Sv Kestrel, sv Inishnee (both boats that were in Guyana with us) sv Blue Blaze and sv Tango were there to greet us.  If you remember from Easter 2016, sv Tango are Tobago regulars.  Remember.......the goat races?!
Tom and Anika

 It was so nice to see everyone again as well as being back in lovely Tobago.  Soon we were catching up with locals we met last spring (2016) as well as meeting new people - cruisers and local both.
sv Honey Ryder and sv Tango

We also enjoyed swimming in the crystal clear, turquoise blue Caribbean waters.  Ah.....  We even started up the Store Bay morning noodling class again - biligual nooding (American and Swedish).  Too funny.
Stephanie with her first ever magarita and Laura

We shared a rental car one day with sv Blue Blaze and explored the island.  Note to self - check the gas gauge when running around Tobago in a rental car on a Sunday.  More later on our explorations.
Largest tree in Tobago -Tom, Sabrina, Laura