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On July 11th we finally left
It was almost unbelievable that we were sitting in an anchorage after all the months stuck in Trinidad; it almost felt like we just came out of prison. We caught up on some sleep then for the rest of the day we did absolutely nothing. We sure enjoyed the spectacular view of Prickly Bay, not much had changed since we were here three years ago. The shoreline is covered with lush greenery almost looking like a botanical garden with the beautiful homes placed in between. In the background you see the many lush mountain peaks. We were actually surprised that not too many boats were anchored here. We were so happy to be at anchor again and so was the cat, she napped next to me in the cockpit all morning long, that is very unusual, then she just talked up a storm letting us know how happy she was. Poor thing had a horrible time she got seasick and couldn’t make it to the bathroom and peed on the towel on the bed. Just good we had a plastic cover over the bed so no damage done.
Since the authorities are closed on weekends we sailed around the corner to St. George the following morning and anchored in the Lagoon. I wished Trinidad was as easy to check in or out as Grenada. Due to the swine flue we could not check in at Prickly Bay and had to do so in St. George. The Officer sent us first to a health inspector where we had to fill out a form stating that we don’t have fever, cough, sneezing, diarrhea and other symptoms, then we received a clear health card and the officer checked us in. Imagine this right after getting checked in I got a free hair cut right there in the parking lot. No, hair cuts usually don’t come with the checking in procedure. Diane on Jabulani had her daughter visiting and she was a hair dresser. Later on that evening we had dinner on Jabulani catching up no the gossip.
What is it with us are we a magnet?!!!! No matter where we anchor we find some idiot anchoring right on top of us. This time we had two, one on starboard side the other on the bow. We could have exchanged cheap yellow mustard. The one on the bow was a catamaran which moves at anchor quite a bit faster then us in any wind puff, at times he passed our bow with barley 10 feet to spare. We couldn't even pull anchor if we needed to as he sat right over it.
While Sid fixed the salt water pump I ventured ashore to do some shopping. The store variety is so much better here than in Trinidad. Even the marine stores have lots more to offer Grenada is in every part much better and nicer than Trinidad except for the locals they are friendly in both places. The Maxi Taxis are still as crazy as ever, driving like they are on a race track and I tell you the roads here are also quite narrow with many, many turns. And of course the music is blaring so that you can't talk to your next seat neighbor. The music is definitely better in Trinidad. Diane and I looked at each other in horror when we listened to one of the songs, in the same tone the singer was saying over and over again "throw up - throw up - throw up………" through out the whole song. I think there were only about 20 other words in it. The song sounded as disgusting as the words were and they call this music here. Far gone are the good Grenada Calypso times at least Trinidad's calypso although also altered over the years is still fairy enjoyable to listen.
In the mean time we re-anchored, just around the corner from the St. George lagoon, which by the way is an extinct volcano crater. Paradise is in front of a beautiful beach with view over to the St. George Carenage a little bay with the most charming colorful houses built up the steep hills. The scenery is quite stunning and makes you tolerate the light roll in the anchorage.
Change of mind about the rolling, after half a day sitting cooped up in the cockpit while one squall after another blew over us we pulled anchor at first sight of blue sky and headed back into the lagoon where it was much calmer.
The squalls still kept coming and it rained on and off until the next morning. Fairly early before the clouds started to build up again Sid drove me in the dinghy to the Carenage from where I walked along the narrow steep alley over to the center of St. George to the lovely market. I guess the best time to go to the market is on weekends as not all too many stands are open during the week and what each sold was pretty much the same, beautiful ripe tomatoes, onions, garlic, one kind of lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes, dasheen, bundles of scallions mixed with parsley, oregano and thyme, coconuts and yes mangoes, three different kinds. The little mangoes although the tastiest are too fibrous and are a nuisance between the teeth, the Julie’s are every bodies favorite as they are rich in flavor but smooth in texture and double the size of the stringy mango. My favorite is I think they call it the Emperor Mango; this is double the size of the Julie a monster the size of a coconut and sooooo flavorful and tender, yum. I scored buying two for just a little over one dollar. It was nice to wander through the market again and smell all the wonderful flavors of the West Indies spices. Later in the afternoon relaxing in the boat we realized that the rain had left, no clouds or just a very view were hanging around and wind was practically non existent so we decided to pull anchor and move around to Prickly Bay. It’s only about an hour drive and a fairly calm trip as we are in the lee of the island until coming around the point heading east to Prickly were a current runs. It wasn’t too bad and in no time we were in our old spot and dropped the anchor. It’s so much nicer to sit in this anchorage than in the Lagoon which is surrounded by a noisy road and mosquitoes rule from sunset to dawn. The night was fairly calm with an occasional squall dumping some rain on us. The next day early I dug my sewing machine out which I thought I wouldn’t see for a while after the big projects in Trinidad, wroooong. Both zippers on the dodger window lost some teeth and so we were not able to close it all the way and with all the rain coming they needed to be replaced ASAP. It’s a 10 minute job as Sid would say ending in a 4 hour frustration. Since the middle part is attached to the whole dodger it’s a bit tough to get that part under the sewing machine in a small cockpit. After a lot of S*&^$t and F*^$#) we got it done just on time before a major downpour, although we did get one which only lasted a few minutes. I also added a flap on the bottom of our cockpit rain curtains and the heavy downpour gave us an instant chance to test it. Yeah our cockpit is now leak proof (as leak proof as a boat can be).
Sewing machine put away (for a long time now) we sat in the cockpit and relaxed. Actually we relaxed pretty much the whole entire time we stayed in Prickly Bay except Sid went to watch the Aussie/Kiwi Rugby game while I cleaned house (to do a good job I need him out of the house LOL) and we drove the dinghy around to all the other anchorages finding that we liked Prickly Bay the best.
July 21st, the longest day of the year which means the days will be getting shorter now. Amazing to think of where most of you are the sun does not set until after 8 here it sets at 6.30 so our days in the tropics are a bit shorter than yours.
One tropical wave after another had passed us and every day we had to do the rain shuffle, one of us running down below closing the hatches while the other ran around in the cockpit closing up the cockpit and moving everything out of way to stay dry. Actually just before one of those shuffles we noticed a trail of ants and with reading glasses on we followed the trail. Fortunately there were only about 20 ants and we found where the rest was hiding or rather living, hopefully no more ants. So if you ever wonder what we do out here, now you know we follow ant trails and do the rain shuffle. In the mean time we had left Prickly Bay and sailed back to the Lagoon. Not even there for one minute we both jumped ship, Sid went to get Diesel and I for provisions.
1 ½ hours later we were on our way out the Lagoon and planned on anchoring the very next bay north of St. George’s but as we saw a huge ship holding natural gas we decided that this anchorage was not such a good idea, don’t like to sit next to a time bomb. 3 miles past the gas bomb we found the most incredible little bay. We were sure that it would be full as there is only enough room for 2 boats 3 max, but nobody was there. We looked at each other wondering what could be wrong with this anchorage. Three days later we figured out the possibilities:
1. There is NO Wifi here so no cruisers will stay not being able to use Skype.
2. Too remote from shopping, restaurants, boat stores and buddy boats.
3. It’s a bit rolly.
Neither one of these points mattered to us not even the rolly part as our flopper stoppers again came in handy.
What a delightful anchorage, a rounded bay surrounded with rocky shore line, in the middle it opens to a steep to beach with a few palm trees and lots of lush trees. Above the rocky shore are steep hills lush overgrown with all kinds of trees. Behind the beach the scene was just incredibly beautiful, lush rolling hills with beautiful colored homes and yet behind them tall rain forest mountains. It looked so very tropical especially with coco palms scattered between the lush foliage. The sunsets were incredible on one side the sun lighting up the beach, rolling hills and mountains with the last rays and to the opposite the sun slowly disappearing on the horizon. While sitting on deck watching the night take over the gentle breeze engulfed Paradise with the scent of wild blooming Jasmine. Life can’t get any better than this. The water was pretty clear as well and the snorkeling was pretty OK. We loved this little Paradise we found to ourselves. We did do the rain shuffle a lot here and we figured out that the mountain makes its own clouds but it never really rained hard and if just for a few minutes. The clouds just seem to fizzle out as they came closer to the water.
After three beautiful days and lots of reading we pulled anchor and headed north towards the Grenadines an island group just 14 miles north of the north end of Grenada. We were about 6 miles from the end of the island when the wind picked up and now blew over 20 knots and of course right on the nose, stopping us with every second wave crashing into our bow we decided it was not time yet to head north and turned around and set anchor again in our little Paradise Dragon Bay.
The following day early before the wind got out of bed we snuck out of the bay and headed north for another try. Just as we arrived at the end of the island the wind started to blow at about 10 to 15 knots, not bad, just what we needed. Between Grenada and Carriacou one of the Grenadine Islands there are a few islands with no anchoring possibilities and 2 miles west from them is an underwater volcano “Kick em Jenny”, still active and you HAVE to pass this one with at least 2 miles on either side. We headed towards the island with the no anchorages when the current changed. Now this is another thing to watch out for, when the tide heads east there is a current up to 1 knot but if the current is going westbound it can be as much as 2.5 knots and sure enough we did get the 2.5 knots which would have brought us right over Kick em Jenny. We changed course of course and went around the volcano to the west. From here on the ride got wilder and wilder as the current was running into the wind making it Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Luckily it was only 14 miles to go and about 9 miles out of Carriacou the lee effect of the island took over and smoothed out the water. I’m sure Tika was tickled pink over that, poor kitty. We did the 31 miles in 6 1/2 hours and set anchor in the midst of at least 50 boats in Tyrell Bay in Carriacou. It took us a while to find a spot to drop the anchor. There were very few big enough wholes between all the boats. We anchored right next to a fender which told us that someone was using this spot. The water was crystal clear with the color of light to dark blue or turquoise depending on the depth, beautiful but a bit crowded. On our way here we noticed an oily substance on the cabin sole next to the engine box, which turned out to be anti-freeze from the engine and the tachometer went out a couple of times, so Sid has some work ahead of him. Just after we had anchored the halyard of the main came loose and the wind blew it dangerously close to Maxine our wind generator. With the boat hook and a couple of tries Sid outsmarted the wind and halyard and fixed the problem, what a guy.
Since we left the Lagoon I had no way of doing email, for some reason we can not send email out via our ham radio so first thing after settling in I opened the computer and tried to catch up with our Blogg when Sid yelled down below: “You have no idea who just pulled up the fender next to us, it’s a BAR!!!” No way! Sure enough as I popped my head out the hatch I see this modified powerboat next to us and written on it was: Lady D Bar open 10 am till late plus phone number and what a better name than “Hallelujah” could they have named the boat! We thought they must take the boat to some beaches during the day. Around 4.30 pm we jumped in the water to cool off and noticed our neighbor pulling along side the bar in their dinghy getting on board and sitting down at the table. After asking if the bar was open we swam over there and joined them for a few drinks. Out of all the places to anchor we found the prime spot right next to the floating bar. We joked about just letting the chain out and raft with them LOL. The drinks lasted until sunset then we swam back to the boat where I prepared a good dinner and before snoozing off Sid said: “I bet you it’s gonna rain tonight?!” “Nope” was my reply, “I bet you it’s not if I loose I cook breakfast, if you loose you will!” Deal! After enjoying my special Sunday coffee Sid prepared I was served a wonderful bacon, eggs and potato breakfast and to my surprise the bet involved the dishes too. I’m a lucky girl. I think I need to bet him more often LOL. After dishes Sid thinks he fixed the engine problems plus a few other things, let’s hope so.
One day after we had arrived Beex from Trinidad sailed in with Paul and Karin and kids onboard. The yearly Carriacou Regatta was underway too ( that’s why all the boats) and so we kept busy between that and Beex and ordering a heat exchanger for our motor which was leaking. It wasn’t too bad yet so we could run the engine and keep the batteries topped and the fridge and freezer going. Part was underway but we were hoping that it would make it here before the weeks end as Carnival started and nothing was open for a whole week. We were holding our breath. Actually we were sure that it was not going to happen. In the mean time we had many rain showers until the day the regatta started then as soon as the regatta had ended we did the rain shuffle again. We took part at a few of the festivities and watched a few races but most of the time we were liming with Paul and Karin. We sailed the boat around and took their mooring in front of their beautiful home. You have to see this place to believe, http://www.lastortugasvilla.com/index.htm
The villa is built half way up the steep hill and is overlooking the northern part of Carriacou with Hillsborough a few islands, one of them which is not even a mile from the mooring called Sandy Isle, what a jewel then the view passes beyond Sandy Isle to Union island and all the rest of the Grenadine Islands. The color of the water varies on depth and shows all the blue and turquoise shades you can just imagine. It was a happy reunion meeting them in their house plus a surprise, Mark and his family whom we met on the Trinidad Hashes was vacationing with Paul and Karin. Can’t get away from the Hashers! Where we were moored was a bit bumpy so the following day we moved over to Sandy Isle which is a sliver of a sandy spit parts over grown with some almond trees and ice plants the sand is white and very fine and the scenery just breath taking. We anchored in 8 feet of the clearest water, so clear even at night you could see the bottom. We had a couple of good limes on the beach with Paul and company plus his parents and other friends who sailed their boats up from Trinidad as well. Sunday we all were invited to some other friend’s house Toni and Laura on the other side of the island and so the boats moved back to Tyrrel Bay and we all organized a taxi van to get us to the party. What awaited us there was the most beautiful view over flat calm turquoise and blue water protected by a big reef which surrounds the north and east side of Carriacou. Carriacou by the way means reef. Beyond the reef about 3 miles away the two islands of Petite Martinique (PM) and Petite San Vincent (PSV), just breathtaking. Not just that along the beach the BBQ was hot and ready for the delicious baby back ribs followed by seared fresh tuna. A local group with native drums showed up and entertained us, we all had a blast. Unfortunately time went by way too fast and the taxi was already back to drive us back to Tyrrel. Early the next morning Paul picked us up, drove to their house, climbed down to the beach and sailed his boat across to the same reef where we picked up Laura from there we sailed across to PM and PSV. The two islands are joined by a big reef with deep enough water for boats to anchor. We anchored off the beach at PSV which is a privately owned island with only one resort which is frequented by the rich and famous. After along day with loads of swimming, liming, drinking champagne we sailed back to the drop Laura off then the boats decided to spend the night there. Laura drove Sid and me back to Tyrell since we had to run the engine to recharge the batteries. We had way too much fun for several days we decided we needed a break; we needed a general health day to recoup!
After the health day we took the dinghy around the south side of Carriacou (3 miles) to the beautiful little island with a sand beach surrounding all but the south side of it. The island is surrounded by reefs and the beach is steep to and the wind was blowing quite a bit and sand blasted our legs. Of course I forgot my camera to capture this idyllic scenery. We explored the island and found a little pond that was filled up with conch shells, some were very new and we picked 4 of them, which later after cleaning them up turned out to be really pretty shells we’ll eventually fix so they can be used as a horn. A little over an hour later Beex showed up with a boatload full of kids and the liming started again.
This was the last vacation day for Mark and family and our last lime with them. The following day Paul sailed them to Grenada and we were left alone to now really recuperate. On Monday we had ordered the new heat exchanger and told the guy to make sure to send it the fast way with UPS. Email came with which we hoped the tracking number but instead the guy wanted to know what the zip code here was. There is none so the part didn’t get shipped until Tuesday leaving us little hope to receiving it before the weekend. On Wednesday we got a tracking number and when I tracked it UPS said that it’ll be delivered here on the 13th that was on the 5th. We were bummed as we knew that now we had to wait until Carnival was over. On the 7th I tracked it again and to our surprise it said that it had arrived in Carriacou on the 6th. WHAT???!!!! Of course by now Friday afternoon at 4 PM it was now too late to go to customs to pick it up and we gave it a shot on Saturday to find out that customs was closed for the weekend, well we did see our package on the floor behind the counter the friendly person working there now also told us that Monday and Tuesday was a holiday for us to come back on Wednesday. So, on the 12th we finally received the package and the following day after hard labor Sid replaced the heat exchange. Getting the part was kind of weird. Customs just handed us the box with two forms we had to fill out and told us to go to the next door building to pay and let us walk out of there with our goods. I tell you we could have just walked back to the boat and they would have never known, but as honest as we are we went to the next door office which was a little bigger then a shoe box and the two of us had just about enough room to watch the girl behind her desk frantically trying to find the code for the heat exchange. 2 hours later she found it under shafts and propeller, weird. And we had to try hard not to laugh out loud whenever she was calling a supervisor that she could not find the part code, you have to know the dialect they have here is even worse than in Trinidad and to us it seemed like they don’t even understand each other, just too funny. After paying a small fee we were underway, which brings me to the Taxi ride home. If you think you can come into town and be back on your boat within an hour which could be possible, put it out of your mind, because the taxi most likely will stop at every store and shop for their own needs. I think it took us 2 hours to get back to Tyrell Bay which should be a 15 minute ride, but I tell you it was entertaining, wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.
The weather had been pretty good with occasional squalls making us do the rain shuffle over and over again and a few low weather systems had built which now were an eventual threat to become the first hurricane of the season. So far we loved the Grenadines with its crystal clear waters in all the blue colors you can imagine.
Unfortunately it’s rather on the pricy side here, a bottle of coke costs 3$, a medium size chicken 15 bucks, ouch. Tomatoes 5 bucks a pound, beer 2 bucks a bottle but get this I bought conch for 2 bucks a piece, so what do you think we were eating. We even put a few in the freezer. One of the locals here told me a yummy recipe for a conch or rather Lambi Bloody Mary. Put two conchs in the pressure cooker fill with one inch of water and cook for 20 minutes. Melt some butter with garlic, slice the lambi/conch into thin slices dip in butter and enjoy, very rich and tasty, but for the BM use the cooled down juice with tomato sauce and make your BM, I tell you better then using Calamata juice. So life was good and we were getting really good at the rain shuffle.
Almost forgot on the 12th we celebrated the 32nd birthday of Paradise she’s an old girl now but looks better the older she gets.
08/18/09. If there is such a thing as a “Perfect Day” I can say we just had one. Waking up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee Sid prepares for me every morning is always a perfect way to start another day in and on Paradise. After enjoying this morning’s coffee with the lovely view over Tyrell Bay with crystal clear water below our keel Sid cranked the motor up, pulled anchor and we motored around the corner to my favorite spot Sandy Isle. Yes, we motored so we could run the water maker. We anchored in 11 feet of even clearer water than in Tyrell a short distance away from the white sandy beach, it felt like being on top of a swimming pool. We enjoyed this idyllic retreat to the fullest and around three in the afternoon we plunged into the refreshing water and snorkeled ashore, there we walked along the white sanded beach to the west end, which really just takes a few minutes as the island is only about a quarter of a mile long and ventured back into the water to discover the reef on this side. Unfortunately the last few hurricanes have devastated the coral reefs in this area and left a lot of broken and crumbled coral heads. Despite the devastation we still saw some interesting fish of all colors. One in particular interested my eye this one seemed to glow in the beautiful cobalt blue color and was about 2 inches and right beside them are little tiny yellow fish cleaning the cobalt fish, a perfect miniature fish display. Snorkeling back towards the boat the scenery changed from rugged broken off coral to sand patches in between then just sandy bottom with some occasional broken off coral pieces and then we saw a school of calamari. Did I just write Calamari, I meant squid the perfect size that would look really yummy in my frying pan no wonder calamari came to mind. Right below the calamari a stingray was resting on the sandy bottom with a weary eye on us. Back at the boat we sat down to a cocktail reliving the beautiful snorkel then watching the sun disappear beyond the horizon. For dinner I prepared us some broiled duck legs a la Provencal with some garlic fettuccini and a spinach salad with pine nuts and a hot bacon dressing. While I did dishes Sid hung the underwater fishing light which surrounded Paradise with a turquoise blue hue, looked like the ambiance lights in a swimming pool. Above us was the clearest sky and occasional shooting star interrupted us watching the many small fish and plankton assembling around the light. What we really hoped for was for the squid to show up the idea of calamari was still making my mouth water, but they didn’t. Sid tried to cast the fishing rod a couple of times only to tangle up the reel and then snagging a little jack. We laid on deck for a while marveling up into the sky which at this time of the year reveals the milky way, Scorpio and the tea kettle until our eyelids fell shut. Now wouldn’t you say this was a perfect day? The following day we snorkeled again in the crystal clear water, this time we headed to the south reef and on the way there I noticed a fairly good sized spotted sea snake turning over coral pieces scurrying up food. We had snorkeled this reef already last time when we saw a good size slipper lobster walking around and were amazed on how many more fish we saw on this day. The visibility was a lot better as well. Coming around the corner of the island bigger fish appeared some that would have looked pretty darn good in my frying pan as well and on our way back to the boat yet another sea snake the opposite color from the previous one slithered across the bottom below us, amazing. Sandy Isle definitely is my favorite anchorage so far in the Caribbean.
In the mean time tropical storm Ana has formed and dissipated to a tropical wave again and tropical storm Bill had turned into a full blown hurricane. Neither one was a threat for us in the contrary they sucked all the moisture out of this area leaving us with clear sky and moderate winds. Perfect condition to head up to the Tobago Cays which are best visited in calm and sunny conditions to really enjoy the spectacular view.
Many boaters are heading south out of the hurricane belt. Luckily this year was another El Niño year that kept the weather at bay. The Pacific side was already on their 7th or 8th storm while the Atlantic had just started. Bill was a monster of a cloud and the good thing is hurricanes never travel south as soon as they hit hurricane force winds they travel northwest to north; he missed the Eastern Caribbean completely but was headed straight for Bermuda.
We only had 7 miles to sail to Union Island in the St. Vincent Grenadines but of course the wind blowing anywhere from 15 to 18 knots was right on the nose so we motored the entire way as we also had the water maker on. The swells became rather big, we think it was caused by Hurricane Bill and so the trip was lumpy bumpy. There are a few reefs you have to keep an eye on so staying on course of course is what you want to do venturing the first time into any area.
As soon as we approached the anchorage at Clifton a speed boat approached and tried to tell us we needed to pick up a mooring and motioned to follow him. We were not going to take a mooring and noticed that none of the other boats were on moorings, so we anchored. He kept coming after us and barely let us anchor when he approached the boat and tried to sell us anything from propane, laundry service, fuel at 15 EC a gallon ($5.55 yikes it was only 3.70 in Petite Martinique). Later on in the afternoon he approached Sid in the cockpit again and wanted to know if he wanted to buy some ganja?! LOL he definitely asked the wrong guy. Checking in was a piece of cake then we walked around the town which definitely has a more European flair and every other store is a souvenir store with outrageously high prices I guess welcome to the Caribbean, even the two beers we had were 6 bucks and the bottle was a mini bottle. I wasn’t able to find any lettuce of any kind in over a week, not even Grenada had any on the shelf, here I found some one head of lettuce just enough to make a salad for two people for 6 bucks ouch. It was time to be living off our canned goods for a while.
Latitude:12-37’81 Longitude: 61-21’40
To approach the Tobago Cays from the south is a bit tricky as there is a reef on either side between the Cays and Mayreau Island and since we didn’t know the area we did it the safe way and sailed around Mayreau and entered the Tobago Cays from the north, which is recommended. In either case it’s a short trip of 8 miles. As we left Clifton and headed into the channel towards Mayreau the water turned beautiful cobalt blue and even though it was anywhere from 30 to 50 feet deep we could see the bottom and everything on it, unbelievable. The backside of Mayreau revealed two beautiful anchorages although they looked a bit on the rolly side and coming around the northern end a beautiful bay opens up which is called Salt Whistle Bay, very inviting. From here it was only 3 more miles to the Cays which again we had to pay attention to hidden reefs on either side. When we arrived we were speechless of the beautiful scenery around us. Every thing had colors the water all the blue shades you can imagine and the islands the freshest greens, it really takes your breath away. If you’ve seen the Bahamas this is just like it except the islands are taller and very lush I don’t think you can walk between the bushes and trees. We chose to take the channel between two of the four islands to get to the anchorage which all is surrounded by a large horse shoe shaped reef. The view from here was just as spectacular. The channel between the first two islands showed all the blue colors depending on the depth and was so clear you could see the bottom then as we came out of the cut and turned right around the corner a huge area opened up with a large anchorage area to choose from. Even thought there were over 50 boats in this place mostly huge catamarans it still left plenty of spaces to anchor. We found a suitable spot and dropped the anchor in 10 feet of water which was so clear you wanted to jump in it immediately. The anchor was barely set when the first reef inhabitant a huge sea turtle popped up next to us to greet us with a loud blow. As fast as she appeared she descended into the water again, wow. It took me about 30 seconds to get my snorkel gear and climbed down the ladder. After my fins were on I fitted my mask and as I looked under the boat I couldn’t believe my eyes, right below me was a nurse shark my size: “fast Sid give me my camera!” The shark hung around for a while and didn’t mind me taking photos of him then I swam about 20 feet away from the boat. Then I had the next encounter a beautiful turtle. I don’t know how long I was snorkeling around but I know I took at least 100 photos of many turtles. Unfortunately Sid came up with a cold and skipped in the fun I had. After drying off I finally sat down and looked around our new surrounding it was absolutely beautiful with light blue water all the way to the reef, behind it crashing waves then nothing but white capped ocean, blue sky with some white puffy clouds, to the other side the beautiful small islands of the cays and behind Union island, to the south we could even see PSV and Carriacou.
That same night Sid hooked up the under water light again and barely in the water lots of little fish showed up and circled the bright light. Not even 10 minutes later a big needle fish came by then a huge shadow showed up and revealed a stingray, how exciting is that. 5 minutes later something else closed in then we saw the white spots as a beautiful spotted eagle ray swim by double wow. We couldn’t keep our eyes off the water. The following day we snorkeled the outer reef but the current was so strong that we gave up after a short time. It was beautiful though and some areas looked like fish tanks. Sid still didn’t feel too good so I ventured by myself to the turtle area where dinghies and boats are forbidden. As soon as I entered this area I saw one turtle after another all grazing on seaweed on the ocean bottom. Now and then they swim up to the surface to catch a breath then submerge to the bottom again. It must have been hours I followed and watched them, it was just amazing. The turtles have the most unique patterns and colors on their shell making it look like it was painted on. They didn’t seem to mind me following them up and down from surface to bottom taking photos in the contrary they were just as interested in watching me as I watched them, one came up to the surface facing me and just inches away looking with its gentle eyes right into mine, unforgettable.
We had another visitor on board a female black bird whose daily routine is to board anchored boats especially to investigate the galleys. She was not shy and sat down right next to me while I fed her some dried cat food pieces. The second day she saw me on deck and flew right next to me but left when she realized I did not have food with me. The third time she visited us she ventured into the galley and got surprised by kitty Tika who at the time slept on the settee. You should have seen Tika’s groggy and puzzled look on her face when she chased the bird into the cockpit. I think she wasn’t sure if it was real or a dream.
On the 21st Bad weather was predicted as another tropical waves was closing in, this one was predicted with gusts up to 45 knots so it was best to leave the reef and find a more protected anchorage as this anchorage was pretty rough at almost all times when wind and current played games with each other. We sailed 3 miles back and settled in Salt Whistle Bay the northern part of Mayreau Island which is a small bay able to hold about 15 boats and is surrounded by a beautiful sandy beach.
You can find it on Google Earth with:
Latitude: 12-38.87N Longitude: 061-23.49W.
The northern part of the beach is like a window where you can look through to the other side where crashing waves foamed over the reef. The beach was overgrown with palm trees, hidden between them was a resort which you could not see from the anchorage and beyond the beach a high hill overgrown with lush vegetation. We eventually ventured ashore to find that the resort was abandoned, not sure if just for the season or for good. The anchorage was a bit rolly so the flopper stopper came in handy again and we sat nice and calm while all the other sailboats rocked from ear to ear. After the sun had set and the darkness crept over us the first squalls showed up and pelted us with heavy rain then the wind really let loose and for a good 20 minutes howled at a steady 30 knots with gusts up to 35 knots, pretty intense. It rained for a long time and it took a couple hours for the wind to calm down again to no gusts. In the mean time we collected a lot of water which filled up our sun shower bag. We sat in this most beautiful anchorage for 3 days watching one boat after another leave and new ones show up again while Sid sill recuperated. Were definitely in the land of French charter boats as wherever you looked naked people walked around on their boats and any boat anchoring tries to get as close to the next boat even if they drop the anchor almost on top of the other boats, amazing. We had fun watching though, the anchoring that is!!!
(Latitude: 12-38.11N Longitude: 061-21.67W)
It rained enough over the few days for us to catch enough water to do some laundry. We filled the ice chest with water added detergent plus laundry closed the lid pulled anchor and headed back towards Tobago Cay while the motion of the ocean moved our cloths just like in a washing machine, well Sid had to help a bit later. This time we anchored by the entrance since the reef side is on the bumpy side this was so much calmer and offered an even more spectacular view over the reefs to Mayreau Island. The colors of the water and the green of the islands make this place a real jewel. We were the only ones anchored and saw that in the reef anchorage only 14 boats were at anchor after all this is the end of this years yachting season. We enjoyed being by ourselves and towards the evening a few dinghies gathered on the beach next to us and the kids started having a race in their kayaks and headed straight for Paradise, Sid grabbed the checkered flag we have and waved it to the winning kayak. They had so much fun they invited us to join them on the beach for some rum punch which we did. One couple was from Switzerland, one family from England, one from Russia and one from Colombia. We had so much fun they all invited us to join them in Chatham Bay the next day.
When we woke up the next day the most beautiful view awaited us, I wished I could describe it, the water was as clear as the air and you could see miles and miles even Carriacou wasn’t just a blur but crystal clear and we could see Paul and Karin’s house, the colors so vivid we could not take our eyes of it. Around noon we lifted anchor and sailed with spinnaker up out of this Paradise and had an incredible spinnaker run to Chatham Bay on the west side of Union island.
(Latitude: 12-36.22N Longitude: 061-26.93W)
This is again an entirely different looking anchorage, surrounded with steep lush hills in-between showing some rugged cliffs while a steep to sandy beach rested at the foot. The bay is very protected from wind and wave unless it should come out of the west which is rare but the wind tends to shriek down the hills and hit the boats and any angle. The water was clear and turtles popped up all around us. I went for a snorkel but did not find any of them.
We met up with the beach party crew and had a great evening with fun and games. At the beach party in Tobago Cays Sid had pulled a muscle or tendon on his left ankle that gave him a lot of grief for two days he couldn’t step on his foot and it was swollen pretty bad so he was out of commission. Not just that poor Tika hadn’t been herself for a while and was getting worse and couldn’t hold her pee anymore. First we assumed that she was not happy therefore showing it to us in leaving us presents either on the bed or on top of the dodger. Over time it became worse and then Sid noticed that where ever she laid down there was a wet spot around her. She was not aware of it so we knew that she had a serious health problem. The following morning we sailed to Clifton checked out with the authority then sailed back to Hillsborough, caught a nice big fish, checked back into Carriacou and headed over to Paul and Karin’s house and let them know that we were leaving for Grenada to get Tika to a vet ASAP and left early at 4 AM.
To be continued………………
