Our plan was to head south to Bequia - a trip of about 70nm. Again we were not planning on stopping in St Vincent as it continues to have a reputation of very poor safety, but this time we decided to sail down the windward coast. Probably not our best decision ... an interesting sail, quite taxing conditions in a large and confused sea - although it was nice to see the other side of the island, it meant we arrived a good hour after our fellow sailors on Aztec Dream and it absolute darkness. It was not easy finding a spot to anchor amongst the various unlit buoys and yachts - luckily our friends on Rebell were able to guide us in by radio and torchlight.
An old Bequia whale boat being refurbished.
Having left St Lucia in extreme rain, we arrived in Bequia to find there was a drought.
Admiralty Bay. Lots of trees had dropped their leaves, the hillside in the distance is quite brown.
It was lovely to be back in Bequia - on our last visit we had attended Mike and Taryn's wedding so it brought back some great memories.
Bequia Street Signs, hand painted by experts.
The boat is about 50 years old, and will eventually have a mast and sail as well as oars. Although the killing of a couple of whales per year is still legal in Bequia for heritage reasons there are no plans to hunt with this one.
Although we wanted to visit Tobago Cays, we had heard of a recent armed robbery on a yacht there so had decided to make a quick lunch stop there and head on to Carriacou for the night. When we arrived in Tobago Cays we found quite a number of yachts either on buoys or at anchor and were advised that the it was believed to have been an isolated incident involving a stolen fishing boat and the assailants had been caught.
Tobago Cays - the anchorage is protected by a reef, so the water is calm despite waves crashing in the distance.
The area is a marine reserve, and the snorkelling was wonderful.
Sting ray.
Sea stars
And lots of turtles. They are totally un bothered by snorkellers
We spent a couple of nights in Tobago Cays which caused a problem with our paperwork as we had already checked out of St Vincent and the Grenadines with the intention of going straight to Grenada (the area stretches from St Vincent to Union Island). Customs officials in these waters do not take kindly to visitors ignoring their rules so we thought it best to go to Union Island to sort it out.
First impression of Union Island was not good - anchoring was not an option due to lack of space and we were met by a rather pushy 'boat boy' and guided to a mooring buoy of his choice. He assured us it was strong and well maintained. A quick snorkel showed otherwise - we use stronger line to secure our dinghy. He took us to another buoy - same again. We chose the next mooring which was serviceable but certainly not good but the need to sort out the Customs situation meant we had to take the risk.
The road to the customs and immigration office did not inspire. After much discussion they eventually issued us with new exit paperwork and we set off to discover what the town had to offer.
The high street, Clifton, Union Island.
The main square.
The highlight! Jenny's Fruit Market.
Having exhausted the delights of Clifton, we headed back down the high street to the sea front where we did find a very nice bar before heading back to the boat.
We left Union Island bright and early the next morning and had a very enjoyable sail past Sandy Island to Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou.
A rare occasion when the wind was just right for us to use both headsails - sailing past Sandy Island with Aztec Dream. We stopped at Sandy Island in February and bought a lobster from a boat boy - the snorkelling was excellent, and we plan to return here at some stage after we have cleared customs.
We had heard good reports about the scuba diving in Carriacou, so arranged a dive at the Lumbadive centre in Tyrrel Bay. It was brilliant - Richard, the Dive Instructor, had joked that we would get a refund if we didn't see at least 100 species of fish. His income was secure after the first 10 minutes underwater.
A Balloonfish, resting in a sponge, and Spotted Moray Eel.
We did two dives with Lumbadive, and they were amongst the best we have done so far.
We couldn't spend long in Carriacou as we were planning to meet up with a group of fellow members of the Cruising Association in Grenada, but it's definitely on our list of places we'd like to revisit in November - after the hurricane season.
We made a brief stop in St Georges, Grenada to clear customs then headed to Clarkes Court Bay on the south of the island not only for the Cruising Association Social but also in case we need to make a quick dash to Trinidad for weather reasons. Just in case anyone had the impression it's all plain sailing in the Carribean, the trip along the Grenada coast was horrible.
No chance of sailing as it was into a strong current, a strong headwind and a big sea!
We hope to explore a bit of Grenada by land while we are here, this is a very well sheltered anchorage with good holding so should be a good place to leave the boat far a couple of day trips round the island.
Our next stop should be Trinidad - we need to have the boat lifted in order to sort out a problem with the hydraulic pump for our rudder, but first we need to have some parts sent out from the Ovni Agent in the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment