10/28 Sunday: We woke early the next morning and had breakfast aboard (french toast and eggs). By this time, a problem with the boat had become evident - the head leaked a bit at the base. Not unusable, but not pleasant and something we wanted fixed if possible. We showed Aldo first and when he wasn't able to fix it Sunsail promised to send a tech out to our next stop.

We had our first morning flotilla meeting aboard the Cat, where Kenzo informed the group of his decision to proceed from Admiralty Bay directly to the Tobago Cays. This was fine with us, since that was our top priority destination, but the Brits were none too happy because it bypassed Mustique and they communicated in no uncertain terms that they intended to visit there. Long swells from hurricane Sandy were still running and Kenzo was of the opinion that Mustique would be very rolly (which was probably true).

The boats left together about 10 am on a close reach (wind still SE at this time). Having the smallest boat, we fell a bit behind on the 24 mile passage. We motorsailed the last bit so that the lead boat would not have to wait as we intended to enter the Cays together. As we threaded our way between Petit Rameau and Petit Bateau, our destination came into view.
The Cays had the largest concentration of boat boys that we saw on the trip, and one (I think it was Romeo) was on hand to thread our lines through the mooring buoy just behind Baradel. Sunsail encouraged us to use the mooring buoys here on the premise that the fee ( EC$45 per day plus EC$10 per person per day park fee) supports the park.

Unlike the BVI, where mooring buoys all pretty much have a pendant and float, the buoys in SVG are more diverse and many have a ring and chain which is too heavy and cumbersome for a flimsy boat hook. There is usually someone willing to help and in our situation the lead boat crew was on hand. I've seen other boat crews launch their own dinghy to help with that, but that requires sufficient crew. When I return sans flotilla, I might have to experiment with picking up such moorings by the stern like a singlehander would.

Once we got settled, it was off to snorkel Horseshoe Reef. This was the destination we had read and heard so much about and we couldn't wait to try it. We took the dinghy and tied it to one of the small buoys just inside the reef. The results were somewhat disappointing due to widespread damage to the hard coral. I went out a second time that day with Kenzo where we covered a larger area both inside and outside the reef, and though there were numerous fish and soft coral, the hard coral is not very varied and much of it dead. This was somewhat reminiscent of our experience in Loblolly Bay on Anegada. As a snorkeling experience, Horseshoe Reef was similar to Colquhon or Eustacia in BVI, but fell short of spots like the Dogs, Indians or Treasure Point. Nevertheless, Tobago Keys is a beautiful spot and we spent the rest of the day relaxing, swimming and paddling the Yolo Yak. The plan was to spend the next day and night there. We had dinner aboard and retired to a warm and clear night that would be the weather pattern for the whole trip.

A bit about the dinghy: On all our previous trips the standard outboard was the Tohatsu 2-stroke 10hp. On this visit, Sunsail seems to have switched almost exclusively to Mercury 10-hp four-stroke outboards. Initially I thought this would be a good thing, but I soon looked back with fondness and nostalgia on those Tohatsus, since the new motors soon showed a number of drawbacks: The Mercuries are incredibly quiet at idle. So quiet that when you start them and go forward to untie the dinghy you can't hear them quietly go out until you return to the dinghy stern and find yourself adrift. They have to be choked even after 20 minutes in warm weather. Fuel appears to drain back from the fuel hose whose bulb has to be milked everytime the motor is started or it is liable to fail. Pulling that cord was the best cardio I got on the trip until I figured some of these things out. It wasn't that I got a dog either - I saw others including the crew engaged in the same struggles. The Mercuries have the gearshift integrated into the throttle handle, where finding neutral is fussy and can't be determined on sight. They won't stay up - the locking mechanism is either a bad design or relies on a lot of plastic parts that wear out so that without a carefully executed raising and lowering in just the right sequence to just the right angles the unit is likely to fall back down just as you are attempting to beach the dinghy. Mine also would not stay down in reverse (unless you helped the locking mechanism along by hand), so engaging reverse gear above idle would make the prop startlingly climb out of the water towards your face. Maybe because the power rating is exaggerated, or because they are so much heavier, or because the prop is chewed up because the unit won't stay raised - but the dinghy would take forever to plane with just me aboard. Surprisingly, these 4-strokes also used more fuel than the old motors - without a refill in Canouan we would have run out. Lastly (and perhaps most seriously), the weight of these units make it impossible to move them to the stern rail on passages. This wasn't so much a problem in the weather we had, but certainly could be in rougher conditions. At the end of our cruise Simon told me that they planned to return to using the Tohatsus, which I was glad to hear.

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