25 Dec. 2011 Merry Christmas everyone!
Christmas Day is always special aboard Skyelark, we started out with Dan’s smoked salmon with egg on a toasted bagel, accompanied by glasses of champagne.
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Smoked salmon and champagne on Christmas morning

We left Mystique and had a steady wind blowing to take us past Canouan, to the Tobago Cays. We had changed the fishing lure from the massive one Dan had success with on the ARC, to a more appropriately sized spoon I had brought along. It turned out to be just the ticket, as we hooked a small barracuda while passing the bay at Canouan. As we had already made our dinner reservations for the evening, we carefully removed the hook with a pair of pliers and set the fish free, to be caught another day. There are some concerns about eating barracuda, but this far south the smaller ones (under 2’) are considered to be safe.
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a little cuddy

Arrival at the Cays is always enchanting, the waters are the colors you see in travel magazine ads, and it is fun to see the reactions of those who are arriving for the first time.
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Approaching the Cays
The mooring balls were full so we chose a spot to anchor and enjoyed Dan’s homemade mince meat tarts with tea, a Christmas tradition in the UK. It wasn’t long after that we were packed and headed out for a snorkel with the turtles. I spotted 5 of them this time, however it was disconcerting to see that the sea grass on which they feed had receded quite far from the shore. We returned to the boat, had a Christmas drink and took the dingy over for our lobster barbeque on the beach. As always Mr. Fabulous took very good care of his faithful customers. Dan and Em stop here 2-3 times a year with guests and this is my 3rd Christmas in the Cays. The lobsters were perfectly cooked, lots of succulent meat, juicy and seasoned just right. I am not a big fan of lobster back home, all we get are the Maine lobsters either steamed or boiled. They can’t compare to the ones we get here, even Kim is spoiled by them; she used to go to out for lobster once a month, but hasn’t since her trip to the Cays 2 years ago. They were accompanied by fresh sautéed veggies, ginger rice, garlic potatoes, and a fresh fruit plate. We brought along some wine and of course my rum punch. The favorite part for me is bashing them apart with a beer bottle to get every last morsel, and I gleefully gave instructions on the proper bashing technique to the newbies on board. Rodger, one of the other guests is a lobster fanatic, having had them everywhere from South Africa to Europe and the UK and pronounced these the best ever.
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Rodger with his lobster

After dinner we chatted with Mr. Fabulous as we watched the sun set, talk about great atmosphere! Back to Skyelark we went for drinks and a movie; while Em was busy making wedding plans at last summer Dan managed to install a 27” flat screen TV aboard. After the movie the others retired to bed, while I spent an hour or so just staring at the multitude of stars above. Yes life is good.
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Mr. Fabulous

Drink all day at home, your friends worry about you; do it on vacation and they say "what a good time you're having". Save your friends needless worry, travel more!