Union Island
Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Mon 18 Jan 2010 00:12
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At last we have left Grenada and Prickly Bay where we
were held up having repairs to our sails and roller furling after the wear and
tear of the Atlantic crossing.
The bay is large and a favourite haunt of cruisers of all
sorts from "birds of passage" like ourselves to liveaboards who use the
anchorage as a floating housing estate. Many people keep their boats in the
boatyard here and fly out for 3 or 4 months sailing in the islands during
the northern winter, mainly from the States but also from the UK . The boatyard
is supposed to be safe from hurricanes but was devastated by Ivan in
2004?
 There are all sorts of facilities to make life easy for
the cruising community, including such luxuries as a good, cheap laundry,
somewhere to fill up your gas, and a good chandlery. There is a cruisers' net on
VHF every day at 7.30 with weather forecasts, free advice, advertising for local
events and even "treasures from the bilge" from which we gained our free
(fake) Christmas tree that hung in the rigging for the duration of the
Christmas period.
We caught up with our American friends from Luterna, last
seen in Lanzarote but who crossed here from the Gambia and whose
boat suffered an attack by several false killer whales during their
crossing causing some distress to those aboard. There was no damage to the boat
however. Spruce, also last seen in Lanzarote, arrived the day before we
were due to leave so we caught up on their news.
London Bridge
 We had a good sail northwards managing to avoid the
horrible beat to windward we had when Hattie, Peter and Ben were on board. We
went past London Bridge, a collection of rocks off the north coast of Grenada
and caught our first sizeable fish that did not get away. Unfortunately it was a
barracuda which the books warn you against as they can contain ciguatera, the
poison that builds up in predators at the top of the food chain that feed
near reefs, especially damaged ones. Ciguatera poisoning can be fatal so
we ended up throwing it back, although if the locals are right the problem
only starts further north, we felt it wasn't worth the risk.
 A must was a stop at Sandy Island which still has a
lot of undamaged reef despite being severely affected by storms and a hurricane
since we were here years ago, and to a lesser extent by the anchors of
boats. There are fish in their hundreds, especially where the reef drops
off into deeper water and some unusual corals, including what we think is Fire
Coral that can give you a very nasty burning skin irritation. Lorraine
experienced this first hand a long time ago when she was rolled in some heavy
surf, it is very painful and lasts for days.
Next stop was Petit Martinique for water and
diesel. We were unable to stop longer as the anchorage had poor
holding...not conducive to a good night's sleep. We therefore went back
over to Petit St Vincent, the private hotel island where room service
comes courtesy of a mini moke to your private chalet. There is a
perfect Caribbean beach and azure seas for a perfect (if slightly
rolly) anchorage.
Then on this morning to Clifton at Union Island to check
in to St Vincent and the Grenadines. After Customs clearance we walked up
the road and bought 8 fish, cleaned and descaled for us all for the
equivalent of about £4 and then enjoyed buying local produce from the small
market in the very colourful main street. Lunch and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz for a
while!
PS Rasta man spotted in St Georges...yes those are
dreadlocks reaching the ground!
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