Grenada - 5 February
Dearloves
Sun 5 Feb 2006 20:41
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Having arrived in Tobago like a lamb, slowly
tacking up the east coast to Scarborough, we left it like a lion, roaring out
between the main island and Little Tobago, with 4 knots of current under our
keel and 25 knots of wind, through the standing waves that marked the entrance
to our anchorage and into a tumultuous sea. When we reached the deep
water it was quite a shock to the system as Keoma rocked and rolled along
at 8 knots, slamming through the waves. From time to time airborne water
seemed to appear from nowhere, immediately above our
heads, drenching the four of us.
 Little Tobago - we passed through the
waves on the far left of the photo
After sailing for an hour we saw dark clouds coming
in from behind and the rain calmed the sea to a more orderly rolling wave
pattern. Even better, the waves were coming from behind and the
combination of these with 20 knots of wind and a beam reach made for a heavenly
sail. We were soon sailing along at 8-9 knots with regular surfing at
10 knots. But there were the occasional rogues - once every 15
minutes or so a large wave would come in from abeam, sending the boat spinning
and rolling sideways. Juliet was on watch when a large dark fin appeared
in the water next to the boat - a shark!
The sail took around 12 hours and we arrived back
at 4.00am. As we approached Grenada the swell started to build in the
shallower water and soon we were again in a big, confused sea. We were
relying on our GPS to find the way into Prickly Bay in the dark, which was a
little bit hair raising especially with the wind gusting up to 35 knots.
However, we made it into the shelter of the anchorage with no problem and, with
the help of torchlight from the bow to avoid hitting other anchored boats, we
found a spot to drop our anchor.
The next day we cleared Customs (which had to be
done at Prickly Bay) and then motored to True Blue Bay and anchored
again.
 Leaving Prickly Bay
True Blue is beautiful and clean, and there is a
very laid back hotel with a restaurant and bar, and even better, a
swimming pool. There are lots of other boats here that we know,
including 3 boats which have children on board and we have fallen into
the routine of doing schoolwork in the morning and then going to the pool in the
afternoon. Later on the adults tend to congregate at the beach bar
(right next to the dinghy dock) for happy hour. It has been a very
sociable time although not so healthy for our livers!
 True Blue Bay, with Tamarisk directly
in front
This might prove to be valuable training for
the impending arrival of David and Bridget (Charlie's parents), who
will fly into Grenada this evening.
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