The Sail to Grenada
Stargazer of Southampton
Susie and Adam (both think they are skipper)
Wed 27 Apr 2011 15:47
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Didnt' have much time to update yesterday so
writing a bit more today. We left pigeon island in Guadeloupe at 7:30 on
Sunday and were sailing within a couple of miles of leaving. We were glad
to have some breeze as there has been none at all for the past week, we were
having to beat upwind though (like usual!) and when we left the lee of
Guadeloupe it was quite bouncy - we were hoping we weren't going to have that
for the next 250 miles to Grenada.
Going past Dominica the wind died right down - even
thirty miles off the coast the mountains of the island shadow the wind (we had
hoped we were far enough off to not be affected) A couple of hours
motoring saw us clear Dominica and we were off again sailing - at least the wind
had turned a little so we had it on the beam which makes for a much better
ride. We passed Martinique and St Lucia 50 miles off and you could see the
lights on the horizon - lots of shipping around Martinique for Adam's night time
watch, however - we have now fitted a booster to our AIS so we can see ships
from about 24 miles away on our chart which is good. Surprisingly only saw
one other yacht.
The first night is the most difficult as you
haven't really got into the sleep pattern and we probably only managed a couple
of hours sleep each. The next day saw us sail past St Vincent and the
Grenadines (Mustique, Bequia, Union etc) - if we weren't 30 odd miles west it
would have been tempting to stop as we haven't had a chance to do them this year
- however, we contintued on to Grenada which was just showing lights in the
distance by 1 in the morning on the second night. We reefed the sails down
overnight to make it easier on watch and the wind was varying between about 15
and 25 knots but we made good time - I woke up from my second sleep at 5am on
Tuesday (much better sleeping on the second nights sail) and was surprised to
find out we had made it to Grenada and were just 2 miles off the coast and 10
miles from George Town. Adam dived off to bed and the wind died - I didn't
want to wake him up with the engine so made a valiant effort for the next 2
hours to sail (or actually float) in the right direction holding onto the main
sheet to stop it banging about when it lost the wind. Gave up in the end
and motored the last 5 miles into the anchorage at Georgetown - we were anchored
and back to bed for a bit more sleep by 8am.
It's strange how your sense of distance changes
though after the past year - before we went away I would have thought that was a
very long way to come, now it's just a couple of days sail. Glad we got in
yesterday though as the winds are much stronger today.
Most of yesterday seemed to be taken up with
clearing customs, getting a few bits of shopping in and getting fuel etc for the
dinghy. Grenada don't win the prize for the most forms to be filled in and
the longest time spent hanging around but they are a close second. The
best form we had to do was an 'environmental health form where we had to state
how many people had died during the passage to Grenada and if this number of
dead was more than expected (I think it's really for cruise ships where they
expect to lose a few every trip!) By 4pm passports had been stamped and
ships papers checked and we were 'legal' here.
Grenada looks nice - we're back to getting rained
on pretty regularly but the hillsides are lush and green, similar to St
Lucia. George Town looks to be the prettiest of all the main towns in the
islands (with the exception of Gustavia on St Barts - but that is a much smaller
island so is more of a village) - the buildings are dotted on the hillsides
around the port and there is a lot of greenery between with the mountains behind
shrouded in cloud. (Trig - we agree with you - it looks very much like
Funchal in Madeira here!). Under the boat we have a shoal of St Major fish
- which all dart out in a frenzy if you scrape dinner plates
overboard.
Home made pizza for tea and an early
night!
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