2004-03-12 :: Cap'n Yannis and Janti's Island
Ough. The lack of sleep last night is not what I needed for this
morning, as we had to get up early to get to Clifton for a yacht ride
with
Captain Yannis.
Captain Yannis has really done pretty well for
himself since the
last time we saw him.
He's up to three yachts now,
which all seemed to be on their way to sea today. We paid up front
(Cambria was free, due to all the business they've brought) and hopped
on one of the large catamarans. The weather wasn't looking that
great, but there were only about ten other people taking the trip. In
any case, it wasn't costing us much, and we knew it would be a full
day with sailing, snorkeling, food, and booze.

Island snipers

One of the other Yannis boats beat us to the beach
Our first stop was a beach that Amy and I hadn't been to on
Mayreau. This was another one of those islands that the massive cruise
ships dump tourists off at for the day, but fortunately they were
somewhere else today. Amy and Cambria hung out on the cruise ship's
beach chairs, while Tim, Pete, and I did some snorkeling. For me, the
snorkeling went pretty well. I was happy to spot a very colorful eel
hiding in some rocks not too far from the beach, as well as the
usual assortment of trumpet fish and sea urchins. We also spotted a
large needle-nose fish hanging out near the surface, watching us. I
think he was pretending to be a barracuda. Anyways, it felt good to
be out swimming around, without all the scuba gear. Sure, it's nice
to breath underwater, but the weights and everything kind of slow you
down.

Tim and Pete taking care of the first round
Another cool thing about our time at Mayreau was that they anchored
our boat in the harbor, not too far from where Tim, Pete, and I were
snorkeling. When Tim got bored with chasing the fish, he turned to me
and asked if it was time to get some rum punches from the boat yet. I
agreed and we swam over to our floating bar. I doubt that I can
properly explain my fascination with that concept. It's just that
usually when I see a boat in the water more than two feet away from
dry land, I think, "damn, there's no way I can get there from here".
For this, we just had to swim a bit in deep water to get there. And
there was booze waiting for us there when we made it. Pete saw the
beauty of the situation and soon joined us. Yep.. Buzzed from the
first round, I swam with Tim and Pete back to the beach, to hang out
with Amy and Cambria, until it was time to get back on the boat and
head over to the next island- which turned out to be the nice spot
in the Tobago Cays we went last year

Tim leads the beach invasion, drink in hand

Observing that it's a big island, Pete arrives prepared

Making sure the beverages aren't wasted
Like last year, we stumbled along a path through the island to
a beach on the other side, where the snorkeling is better. We
finished up our drinks and planned out what to do next. Tim and
I decided to hike up a hill to get a better view of the water,
while the rest of the gang hit the water.

Looking from above

And to the right
After the climb, Tim and I joined the others in the water. I made
my way over to Amy, who had found this big puffer fish hiding out in
this little rock alcove. Cool.. His eyes were giant, maybe the size of
my palm (no, Pete didn't get a chance to punch him). Tim and Cambria
pointed out a pair of squid that I watched for a long time. Squid are
just amazing. I wonder why you don't see them in aquariums so much.

Glamorous Amy

Yep..
Anyways, when our time was starting to wind down, we woke Pete up
(he had found a nice hammock after the swim), and walked back to the
boat, where lunch was being prepared. From there, we sailed over to
the palm island we visited last year (ie, the one where we were all
drunk and making a scene in front of the snooty people who were
staying at the island's private resort). We swam around in the water,
but there wasn't anything to use the snorkels for.

Pete's on deck
When we got back to Clifton, we hung out at a hotel bar for a
while. Tim spotted one of the guys that had been working for our
bipolar dive master and called him over for a drink. As it turns out,
he had pissed off the dive master that day for something trivial, and
was told to go home. After telling us some more of
the details, he explained that he was sick of Mr. Bipolar, and that he wasn't
going back. The whole thing sucks, because Tim says he's a good kid and the
job paid well. However, you can't blame him for not being able to
stand bipolar dude. It almost makes me want to pay to train the kid as a
dive master, so he can start his own dive shop and put bp out of
business.
Later on, Tim, Pete, Amy, and I caught a boat over to Janti's
island so we could have a few drinks at what is one of the most
inconvenient bars I know of. You'll recall from
last year that
Janti's is a small man-made island that's at the inlet part of the
Clifton harbor. For yachters, it's great because you can just take
your dingy over to it (and not have to deal with those pesky, un-rich
locals). For us, we had to arrange a pickup/drop-off schedule with a
water taxi guy. Hmm.. maybe it's just me, but I find it hard to
truly relax
at a bar where there's a slight chance that at the end of the
night, you'll have to swim back to get home.

Pete, Janti, and Tim

It's starting to get dark..
Janti has upgraded the place since we were here last year. He's
now got some wind generators to provide power, and he's built up the
bar's shelter a little more. Plus, I think he's got a pit for
holding/cooking lobsters. This disturbs me tremendously now, after
Monday's gasping-lobsters episode. In any case, the bar and the drinks
were pretty good. The shelter came in handy, as a 5-minute shower
swept over the island during our visit. When it came time to
leave, people from another boat
offered us a ride. Just as we were starting to pull away from the
island, our water taxi guy showed up with this look on his face like
we'd stabbed him in the back. We made quick with the money we owed him
though (plus a tip), and he was back to his smiley island self.
We finished the night by joining Cambria over at a yachter's
restaurant. I forget the name, but it's the one that's bounded by
the pool full of nurse sharks. It was a little odd to
see a shark fin glide by in the pool every so often. We had some
super-girlie drinks, listened to some live music (T & C knew some
of the band people), and talked for quite a while. I fed a scraggly
cat bits of my fish, trying to recall which blues song had that line
"I'm like a one-eyed cat, peeping in a seafood store"
(it's Shake-Rattle-and-Roll, btw).
When we left, the stars were all bright and poking through the
night, just like I remembered from last year. We caught a van for
the ride home, which took us by dance halls where reggae music
was being extruded through every open door and window. Not for us,
though, as a quiet sleep-filled night was calling us.
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