Sailing on Fortitude (July 18-23)

What's left of the vegetation on Sandy Island (Jul 20, 2004, 11:05am) Sandy Island is a small strip of sand just north of Carriacou. I was told that Sandy Island used to be covered with palm trees but a recent hurricane wiped out most of its vegetation. All that's left is one sick looking palm tree and some scrub brush.

Pelican in mid flight (Jul 20, 2004, 11:28am) During the sailing part of our trip, we saw often say three different types flying near the boat -- seagulls, frigate birds and pelicans. Pelicans were the hardest to take a picture of because they had no interest in any food scraps that might have escaped from the kitchen. This was the best picture I got of a pelican in flight. This was taken over Sandy Island, where a bunch of pelicans were feeding on the large schools of fish near the beach.

Pelican diving for fish near Sandy Island (Jul 20, 2004, 11:28am) This is not a picture of a dead bird. This is a pelican, caught at the instant it was diving into the shallow water for a fish. That's Sandy Island right behind the pelican, and from our snorkeling trip after lunch I included a picture of the school of fish that the pelican was feeding on.