With apologies for sounding redundant--What a day!  Again!

We got up early and grabbed a taxi van with three other guests and made our way over to the Vigie Airport in Castries to catch a plane for the Grenadines.  The flight was cozy, to say the least.  All told, there were ten of us on the plane and there wasn't a spare seat to be had!  It was quite beautiful flying along the western coastline of St Lucia, above the Pitons!  It was smooth flight, but unfortunately, we had to make a brief stop off at the main airport on St. Vincent to top off the gas tanks.  The flight across the Grenadines to Union Island was just amazing.  It was gorgeous flying across the islands of Mustique and Canouan - it's easy to see why so many celebrities were building HUGE mansions on these islands!

Our flight took us from the north/northeast to the main airport of St Vincent near Calliaqua where we had to gas up

We then flew south over Mustique and then southwest to Canouan…

...before ending up in Ashton on Union Isle

Even with our pit stop on St Vincent, we made it to Union Island in less than an hour, where we cleared Customs and Immigration and were greeted by Dan, our ship captain.  We took a quick cab over to the Anchorage Yacht Club where we climbed into his motor boat to go out to his schooner, the Scaramouche.  The Scaramouche was built on the nearby island of Carriacou, to be a real island trader.  Below deck you could see how the ribs and knees were cut by from local cedar trees and shaped by hand to create the structure of the boat.  According to its crew, the ship has had its ups and downs.  Its authentically traditional appearance led the producers of the film Pirates of the Caribbean to include her as a maritime extra as well as a serious support vessel.  Then, in 2004, Hurricane Ivan sank her to the floor, necessitating a three-month repair process.  For us, this ship just oozed character (and characters!).  Its four-man crew treated us to a fantastic time!

We pulled up anchor and made our way out of the harbor before raising the sails.  We headed northeast to the island of Mayreau.  This is island is sparsely settled and only got electricity in 2003!  That didn't matter to us, though, as we dropped anchor and jumped into the water to start our day of snorkeling.  Victoria, Kathie, and Joan (a very nice woman from England who had a granddaughter about Victoria's age) took the motor launch in to the island where they proceeded to explore the beach and make "icky-castles" (sand castles where you drip wet sand to make the spires).  Meanwhile, Kelley and I were thoroughly enjoying our snorkeling.  It wasn't as spectacular as last year on Prickly Pear Cay near Anguilla, but it was still quite beautiful.  After about forty-five minutes, we re-boarded the Scaramouche and set sail for the Tobago Cays.

The Tobago Cays were just breath-taking.  Spread out like a horseshoe, there are five deserted islands that make up the Cays - some of the best snorkeling you could imagine!  We started off on one side where we went snorkeling with sea turtles (I think they were loggerheads).  Even Victoria was in the water with us with her swim goggles and life jacket on.  She absolutely loved it when the turtles would surface right near us to get some air!  One of the highlights of the trip!  One of the crewmen, Clem then motored us over to one of the other Cays which had some wonderful little reefs around them.  It was difficult making sure that we didn't disturb the reefs while swimming, especially when there was only a foot or two of water above the reef.  Of course, this was where most of the spectacular scenes were!  At one time, I felt like I was swimming through fish instead of water. 

At this point, we went back up on deck for a delicious lunch the crew prepared for us.  As I mentioned, the crew was just fantastic to us.  Dan, the Captain, spent most of the time at the helm, but Joseph played tour guide for us as we plied the seas with stories about the islands (especially how Hurricane Ivan drastically changed the area two years ago.  Clem did an awesome job making sure that none of us were far from a full drink - possibly the most important job after the captain!  They were all genuinely friendly to us all and made us feel like we weren't just tourists, but guests!

Kelley with
crewmen Joseph and Clem

After lunch, we lifted anchor and made our way towards Palm Island.  On our way, passed by Petit Tabac, the island where Elizabeth Swan and Captain Jack Sparrow were marooned in the 2003 movie, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl.  Even though it was only a mile swim from Petit Tabac to the other cays, you could really imagine what it would have been like to be marooned two hundred years ago!  As Petit Tabac fell into the past, we noticed a catamaran about 200 yards away heading towards Palm Island like we were.  A HUGE grin broke across Joseph's face he saw his brother at the helm.  Joseph's grin got bigged as the Scaramouche left the catamaran in its litereal wake!  Needless to say, Joseph razzed him something fierce when we both dropped anchor a Palm Island!

Palm Island was a nice "last stop."  Most of the island was dominated by the Palm Island Resort, one of the best island resorts in the world.  We spent most of the time snorkeling in the reef just off the island since this was our last stop.  Only problem here was that the surf was a bit rougher than on the other islands, so it was difficult to snorkel without worrying about being pushed into the reef (and the sea urchins!). 

Sadly, it was soon time to get back on the ship and head back to Union Island.  On reaching the yacht club, we bade farewell to our crew and drove back to the airport for the 45 minute flight home to Castries.  I got to sit up in the co-pilot's seat and had to restrain every urge to start pressing buttons!  Like our flight down, it was quite smooth, just a bit noisy from the engines.  I was hoping to get some photos of the Pitons Mountains as we approached St. Lucia, but unfortunately I think the cloud cover prevented that.  Our flight made it in with a very smooth landing and we zipped through customs/immigration faster than I ever have! 

Fortunately, we had had the foresight to assume we would be tired (exhausted was more like it) and not be interested in going out for dinner.  So instead, we headed up the hill to the resort's Italian restaurant, Papa Don's before stumbling home and falling into bed.  A wonderful, memorable evening!

Tomorrow: St. Lucia's Rainforest