Finished Sailing around the World .
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 22 Apr 2011 11:56
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FRIDAY 22nd APRIL
2011
TUESDAY 19th , 09.30 Skipper checked
out of the marina office and organised the dock master to untie our
underwater bow lines, Before long, we were on our
way over to the fuel dock and took on board some 400L of
deisel, Interesting thing , all fuel transactions
are in imperial gallons, ( for the american market)
plus most shops, restaurants, and fuel stations
deal in US $ as well as EC$ s
By 11.30 , we were on our way north to Carriacou, a
distance of 31 miles, and we motor sailed with just the mainsail
as the wind was fine on the starboard bow, blowing
about 10 knots,
We eventually arrived at " Tyrells Bay" but it was
too crowded so we went around the corner to Hillsborough Bay, and
picked up a moorings at Sandy Island in the bay.
Skipper lowered the rib in the water and took Aileen ashore to the
beautifull
white sandy beach on this tiny Island for some
swimming.. Ohhh another paradise island.
Mind you, Hurricane " Ivan " destroyed all the palm
trees on the Island in 2004. but, now there are a few small new
ones growing again. That same hurricane destroyed
most things on the Islands around here, including removing the
roofs
off most of the churches and houses.
Aileen did a dinner with mince meat and it was
excellent, more like a " Cottage Pie " type of thing.
Looking back on Granada, we really enjoyed our stay
there, and of course the " Oyster Regatta" was the cream .
All the people we came in contact with were very
pleasent, especially the ex Irish, like " Diana, Fr. Dermot Nolan, Fr
Chris,
Margaret from Donegal , and so on. We could live
there happily .. .......
WEDNESDAY 20th, Another beautifull morning in
paradise ( Sandy Island , Hillsborough bay ) Up early as skipper usually
does
and into the flippen computer for emails , usually
those from Ireland are full of depressing news, Today we learnt of a former
neighbour who did away with himself because of the
pressure the banks were putting on him over his buisness loans.
Its sad that this is happening to the people of
Ireland, The banks who traded recklessly and had to be bailed out by the people
of Ireland
and Europe have now
turned around and are destroying those very same people that bailed them out in
the first place.
Ohhhhhhh, Its enough to make a " Sheppard " kick
his dog......................................................
Still , skipper is sitting on " A Lady " listening
to all the " Tern's" outside screeching as they fly around looking
for their early catch, this together with the waves
lapping against the side of the boat make for a wonderfull tonic and
forget
all the troubles at home,
10.30. we hopped into the rib and scooted over to "
Hillsborough" and did our clearances from Granada. First the police station,
and
then the customs, we also topped up our phone
credit from our Irish man ( Denis O Brien ) "Digicell" company plus topped
up
the gas ( petrol ) for the rib.
By 12.30 , we were on our way around to " Petit St.
Vincent" a small Island off the NE coast of Carraicou and only about 6 miles
away.
when we arrived, Aileen went ashore,while skippe
scrubbed the decks on " A Lady " and had a swim off ther boat.
We were here with our children ( adult children
) in december 2009, thats Sarah and husband Paul, and our son Stefan,
and failed then to get into the restaurant on the
Island. so now we booked it for tonight and really it was a
disaster,
we will not be going back there. even though they
did not charge us for the meal.
But, the location and surroundind scenery was
awsome, like a bit of haeven.
THURSDAY 21st We woke up to another
beautifull day at PSV, we had our light breakfast, Aileen making her now daily
fresh
fruit drink from the fresh fruit we got presents of
in Granada.
The noise of the " Tern's" ( Gulls ) was
again great, It would remind one of our childhood days by the sea shore or
seaside village.
Skipper had his early morning swim over the side of
the boat before we motored over in the rib to the adjoining
little Isalnd " Petit Martinique"
This Island does not get too many tourists, and are
still a traditional fishing Island, even still making their own fishing
boats
from timber , and constructed in the open on the
beaches.
We took a stroll up the hill and the views from the
top were breath taking, looking out over the coral reefs to the NE and " A Lady
"
at anchor over at PSV to the North. All those
beautifull blue and pale blue colours of the sea and breaking surf,,
We returned to the boat around 13.oohrs and raised
the anchor and off we went again, this time to " Tobago Cays", we did a loop
of
Mayrue on the way, but decided not to stop there
and continued to the Cay's and dropped anchor in a crowded lagoon,
The weather was perfect, and immidiatly we went to
the one of the tiny little sandy Islands for a swim and some
snorkling,
Later, skipper returned to the boat and prepared
stuffed pork steaks for dinner while the first mate did some sun
therapy.
We had the dinner in the " Starlight " restaurant
and it was soooooo good, sooooo much better than last night
in the resort's restaurant.
....................
We had an eaqrly night.
FRIDAY 22nd Another beautifull mornng,
so Skipper got into the Blog early, like 05.30 and a few emails, Tobago
cay's definatly
has it, We might spend the day here and go onto
Bequia tomorrow,
Skipper needs to replace the annode on the
propellor shaft, plus a few other housekeeping items. so this would be as good a
place
as any to do these tasks.
Thats all for now.
Signed
:- Stephen
Hyde ( skipper )
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