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Dec. 25 Tobago Cays
The day started out grey and gloomy then got worse from there, it rained all day long. We had our usual Skyelark Christmas breakfast of smoked fish, local tuna this year, on a bagel with egg and passion fruit Bellini’s, made by Deb. I don’t ever recall so much rain in one day, even the new awning didn’t help keep us dry. Finally we decided to watch a movie in the cabin with all the fans going. After the Captain Ron video failed to play we settled on The Dictator, with Sasha Cohen. After the movie Debby and Mike went for a snorkel despite the rain, which had lightened up some; I kept busy making a starfruit daiquiri, and marinating some eggplant for tomorrow. Someone must be watching over us, because just as it was getting near dinner time the skys cleared, Dan and I went to find Jean Claude to let him know we would be eating ashore. Our dinner was set for 6:00 pm, a little later than usual, but considering the circumstances a good choice.

Part of the crew awaiting their lobsters, rum punch in hand

Having the lobster on board wouldn’t be nearly as fun, since the whole scene there makes it so special, and the thought of shell fragments all over the cockpit wasn’t a pleasant one. We arrived by dingy and everyone took the obligatory photos of the Rastas standing around the grills with our lobsters slowly cooking.

Jean Claudes boat, as the sun goes down

This is my fourth Christmas here, and Skyelark stops at least three times a season, so we are loyal customers of Mr. Fabulous and he really takes care of us. Only eight of us were enjoying the tasty crustaceans, Em doesn’t care for much seafood, so her steak was also placed on the grill. Jean Claude gave us five lobsters, the usual portion being half of these beasts, which meant unless someone was exceptionally hungry we would have two halves leftover for a nice salad tomorrow. Last year he had promised me a huge one and he is a man of his word, this thing looked like something out of a 50’s B grade sci-fi flim.

A Sammy sized lobster

They were perfectly done, as always, and everyone was more than satisfied. I showed the newbies the proper shell cracking technique using a Welch’s cranberry juice bottle, and soon the bits of shell were flying everywhere. Unlike our northern lobsters, there is meat hiding in places you wouldn’t think to look, unless you’ve had them before; no better feeling than being gorged on lobster on a beautiful beach in the Caribbean. The rum punch went down a little too smoothly, and after three glasses each the Christmas carols were being sung with much gusto.

Deb, Debby & Alex "raise the roof" on the beach
Back at the boat we finished off the night with some Captain Bligh and after everyone else had gone to bed I laid out the cushions for a quite snooze under the stars.