Isolated Walks and Amazing Beaches Just Might Be Our Favorite Things.

I think some people imagine cruisers go from one beach bar and umbrella drink to the next. Perhaps this picture of Jost Van Dyke’s infamous scene in the BVI is the image most people have of those who cruise the Caribbean in a boat.

Jost van Dyke; adults on spring break?

On LIB, we seem to have a knack for finding some pretty stellar places that are the antithesis of spring break at the beach. Some of our favorite days are those when we find beautiful trails that wind up through island fauna and we see nary a person.

Cliff side trail on Mustique.

Now don’t misunderstand me, we love hanging out with other cruisers and part of the pleasure of this lifestyle is meeting people from all over the world. And if we have too much time alone, I “need” to seek out others and have some social time with someone other than Frank.  And I am quite sure he feels the same way!

Today, I thought I would share pictures of a couple of isolated places we’ve explored.

Views from a Mustique trail.

On Mustique, we took a taxi to the beginning of our trail, then hiked for about 90 minutes back to our anchorage. The terrain ranged from open cliff side vistas to scrub covered shade and dramatic sea level views.

The power of nature on display in the waves and the clouds

Bar none, the trails on Mustique were the best tended we have seen and we truly appreciated that the owners allowed us to enjoy the island.

For those who don’t know, Mustique is a private island and owners generously share their beautiful island with visitors. Recently some yahoos from a boat supposedly entered Mic Jagger’s home there and started taking pictures. Needless to say, those hoosiers were escorted off the island. I have heard that because of this incident, the island access will be restricted. I can’t express how angry the trespassing by these boaters makes me! This demonstrates a complete lack of courtesy, manners, respect, class, etc, etc, etc!!

Ok, rant over…

We saw a most unusual tree while hiking on Mustique and I have not figured out what it is. It looks like it is growing rhino horns.

Can anyone tell me about this tree?

Periodically, covered benches offered resting stops in Mustique.

Stone “sidewalk”

Instead of pouring concrete, volcanic rock walkways in deep colors were added to the edge of this trail. The effect was a natural looking walkway along the coast line. This was an excellent choice as the rough surface of the somewhat porous rock kept it from becoming slippery. This particular trail led to a beach that was private, so we turned around and headed back to Mustique’s nature preserve area around a salt pond.

PSV, Petit St. Vincent, is another private island, but this one is a “boutique” hotel. Boaters are welcome to visit the restaurant and bar, but are asked to remain in very limited areas. We found PSV to be very pretty, but the anchorage was a bit rolly so we only stayed one night.

From PSV, we did dinghy across to Mopion at the end of our first day and had this little sand spit to ourselves.

This is the whole of Mopion.

Just off of Mopion is a half moon shaped reef which makes sort of a pool around the sandy knob. We had a great time playing in the clear shallow water. And we jogged the circumference of the island just so we could say we “ran a whole island.”

While visiting the Tobago Cays, we kept eyeing another small spit of land that made us think of Gilligan’s Island, but was actually used as the background when Johnny Depp was marooned in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Petit Tobac with 7 boats at anchor

We bided our time and one day dinghied over to Petit Tobac. I guess we sent off bad vibes because within an hour of our arrival, the two boats that were anchored there sailed off and we were left alone on this fabulous little place.

Frank, Captain and I shared a picnic lunch, added to the rock totem, snorkeled in the perfectly clear water and generally had a fabulous day.

Adding to the rock totem

I don’t really know why people build these rock piles, but we see them very often. These are some of the larger ones. Others, along trails, are often just four or five stones and a foot high. Much better than graffiti and fun to see in a variety of places.

Departing Petit Tobac – stunning, right?

We are pretty good about getting off the boat and exploring, especially since Captain appreciates visiting shore. But there are days when we find ourselves with less energy than usual or when we need a break from the sun. If the anchorage is clean and somewhat calm, you might just find us chillin’ under Let It Be.

Floaties for grown ups.

Frank found these great “Siesta Lounger” floating chairs that we inflate, then tie to the boat so we can float in the shade under the hulls of LIB. These chairs are the bomb! They even have drink holders on each arm. A cruiser’s dream – to stay hydrated, of course.

Random thought notice: we have now lived on LIB for six months! I’m not going to say we have been cruising for six months because the first few months were all about preparing to sail. But that’s a pretty significant milestone in my opinion.