TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Southern Caribbean Mooring Ball Danger in Tobago Cays

Just returned from a crewed catamaran charter in the Grenadines, originating in Grenada. We secured a mooring ball in Tobago Cays around 4 pm and went to bed around 10 pm. Sometime after that the mooring ball let loose and we drifted until shortly after midnight, when we were awoken by the boat hitting the reef. Luckily we were on a 60 foot Cat that is very heavy so there was minimal damage to the hull. We anchored and the next mooring looked at the ropes that had let loose. They were totally rotted. The Park Rangers told us that we should know that "you moor at your own risk." That said, where does all of the EC currency go that is collected for mooring? Definitely not for maintenance.

Poor performance by a professional crew not to have checked the mooring. Everyone who works in the industry in the Caribbean knows there are plenty of badly maintained moorings out there. Lots of anchor-watch apps available that could have given warning if they used one.

Thank you for that feedback. I will forward it to the Crew. It is good info for us for future charters. We have chartered many times in the BVI but this was our first time in the Grenadines.
Nancy

Even in the BVI you need to dive on your moorings, hooked one in Trellis Bay a few years back and it came apart in my hands when I dove it.