Carriacou, Tobago Cays, Bequia 13:00.17N, 61:14.63W
Carriacou (2nd visit), Tobago Cays and Bequia (13 to 20 February 17) Monday 13 February 2017: Clarke’s Court Grenada to Carriacou, 43 nm, 7.67 hrs, 5.6 knts av speed, 7.4 engine hrs Total miles: 5123.9 Just once I thought I could simply write about a beautiful sail, turquoise waters, hot sunshine, turtles, palm trees, white sand and rum punch, but no, there always has to be an incident! We motor-sailed all the way from Grenada to Carriacou as the wind, a steady 15-20 knots, was nearly on the nose, certainly not sailable if we wanted to arrive in daylight, which of course we did. There are too many reefs, wrecks and other boats to even contemplate arriving into an anchorage at night! The autopilot decided to take a break, for some reason best known to itself, so we took it in turns to helm. After re-booting the navigation system it decided to work again, however, that was the least of our worries! We were going to moor alongside the fuel pontoon to take on fuel and water – we weren’t short of fuel but had been advised to top up whenever possible. We also needed to check out of Grenada, with immigration, and this was possible to do in Carriacou – another reason for our second visit here. A quick, simple, overnight stop to re-stock and check out! Not the case. I was busy putting out fenders and lines for the pontoon, Ken was on the helm weaving us through anchored boats on one side and avoiding a shallow reef on the other where we could see the waves breaking.
Suddenly, without warning, the engine decided to copy the autopilot and stop working. It just cut out – no spluttering, no overheating, no alarms, nothing and it refused to start up again. Holy Sh*t! We were too close to other boats to have time to put sails up; there was not enough time to launch the rib and we still had way on, moving us forwards, closer to other boats and to shallower water; the depth sounder was reading 1.8m below the keel. Double Holy Sh*t. Eventually as the boat stopped moving through the water Ken lost steerage and we were being pushed closer to the reef, a shallow one at that, with Pelicans standing up on it. Pelicans with short legs, not Storks with long legs – not that that would have made any difference, we would surely have gone aground if we were washed onto the reef. The only option was to drop the anchor as fast as possible which we did, now with just 0.9m of water under the keel. Fortunately and I did thank God, it held, just keeping us off the reef, nearby yachts and a floating workshop. Normally we would gently reverse back using the engine to dig the anchor into the seabed and set it properly but obviously we weren’t able to do this this time.
I had alerted a guy on a boat, that we had ‘drifted’ past, of our predicament and he immediately got in his dinghy and circled us until we were sure the anchor had set properly. It was reassuring to know there was someone there to tow us out of danger should that situation have arisen. His name we later discovered was Chris, boat Ground Hog. Ken immediately went ashore to find an engineer who could hopefully fix our engine. We were keen to move the boat to a safer spot away from the reef and to keep to our schedule and depart the next day. Emmanuel said he’d be with us at 14.30 hrs; by 1730 hrs we realised he wasn’t coming. In the meantime we changed the fuel filters, even though they looked fine and checked there wasn’t water or air in the system, which there didn’t appear to be. Ken suspected there was an issue with the relay but we weren’t confident enough to take it fully apart. We resigned ourselves to the fact we would be spending the night in a shallow, confined anchorage, with a noticeable swell, a few meters from a reef. “It could be worse” I said to Ken “It could be raining heavily and blowing a hooley”. No sooner had I finished the sentence a strong wind and rain squall came in putting more strain on the anchor. I spent all night reading, praying and wanting my Mum!! Morning couldn’t have come quick enough and I was so relieved to see we were in the same place, afloat, when daylight finally arrived J. By midday the next day Emmanuel still hadn’t arrived so we went ashore to diplomatically chase him. “I be der a one” he assured us. Shortly after two he arrived and concluded the relay connections were loose. It was so good to hear the engine start; well worth the 216 ECU (£65) that he charged, which seemed extortionate for the little time he was with us. Hey ho, it was still the best valentines present ever – who needs flowers and chocolates when you get your engine fixed!!
We decided to stay put for the night, after all, the anchor had held well so we went ashore to get cash and to buy Chris from Ground Hog a thank you beer or two. A quick shower and change aboard then back ashore for a valentine’s meal at Lambi’s. Wednesday 15 February: Carriacou to Tobago Cays, 19 miles, 4.25 hrs, 4.75 knots ave. speed, 2.1 engine hrs Total miles: 5142.9 After filling up with diesel, water, petrol for the outboard motor and checking out with immigration we said goodbye to Carriacou and headed off to Tobago Cays.
We had a great sail for part of the way then motor-sailed the rest when the wind headed us. We anchored in an amazing spot, paradise in fact. Palm trees, white sand and turquoise water. We could see clearly the sandy bottom below our keel. A ray lazily swam under the boat without a care in the World.
Initially I wasn’t keen on staying long in Tobago Cays as the wind was forecast to increase and I’d read that the anchorage, although protected from big seas by a massive horseshoe shaped reef, didn’t have much protection from high winds. I soon changed my mind when Romeo, who had followed us in in his motor boat and stayed with us until our anchor had set, offered us bbq’d lobster in garlic butter with loaded potatoes, rice, plantain and veg, followed by a desert of mixed fruits and coconut, served on a table on the beach, watching the sun go down, for a relatively inexpensive price. I thought I was in heaven and couldn’t stop smiling, laughing in fact. After swimming to the check the anchor was well dug in, we beached the rib and enjoyed the most amazing meal. The lobster had arrived from the fishermen just 30 minutes before so couldn’t have been any fresher. We had half large one each and didn’t even care about the rain deluge - maybe that was something to do with the bottle of prosecco and bottle of wine! It gave us chance to chat to other cruisers as we all briefly crammed ourselves under a small gazebo until the storm passed and the sky became, once again, littered with brightly shining stars and a nearly full moon. We got soaked later by the waves, pushing the dinghy off the beach as the wind and swell had risen. We didn’t care about that either – if we are going to be beaching the rib we always assume we will get wet. We don’t exactly go out in our swimwear, nor our posh frocks either, but light weight, quick drying shorts and top; stilettoes a definite no no!!
The sunshine was glorious for the two days we stayed in Tobago Cays and we could see the surrounding islands clearly in the distance.
Petit St Vincent & Petit Martinique, Carriacou in the background. Union Island
Windstar, now a familiar site on our travels, was also anchored in the bay.
The islands of Tobago Cays are uninhabited so the providers of the bbq’s, water taxis, t-shirt and jewellery sellers come over daily from the surrounding islands by fast, brightly coloured motor boats with their names emblazoned across the side – Romeo, Mr Best Price, Big Daddy to name but a few.
We took the rib around to the reef and anchored it in the shallow water while we snorkelled with turtles. We walked on the golden sand and through beautiful wooded areas.
Finally I felt relaxed, settling into this cruising way of life. This was what crossing the Atlantic was all about! Friday 17 February: Tobago Cays to Bequia, 30 miles, 6 hrs, 5 knots ave. speed, 2.4 engine hrs Total miles: 5172.9 In my new relaxed frame of mind, although sad to be leaving the beauty of Tobago Cays I was excited to be setting sail for our next destination Bequia. We motor-sailed with just the mainsail up initially as the wind direction was once again on the nose. It didn’t really matter as the sea was flat and the sky blue. As soon as the wind changed to a sailable direction we unfurled the genoa and once the sails were set took the revs off the engine to let the boat settle under sail alone. We didn’t get chance to switch the engine off, it cut out by itself. We couldn’t believe it. What was it with our engine; it’s not even 5 years old and only done 1100 hours. We were gutted. No matter what we did it wouldn’t start. It was a good sail for the remainder of the trip however Ken was unable to enjoy it as spent the whole time with his head in the engine room and I didn’t enjoy it as was stressing out about anchoring in a busy anchorage under sail alone. Ken phoned Emmanuel who made various suggestions re what we should try i.e. measuring voltage, measuring fuel flow, checking terminals and connections etc. etc. We were by this time getting closer and closer to shore and in the lee of the land lost the wind completely. We were lolloping about with the sails not filling, just going from side to side as we rolled with the waves. My stress headache was back with a vengeance and I was desperate not to cry however much I wanted to. Just a few miles out of Admiralty Bay, where we were heading, the engine decided to start. I thanked God once again. Maybe it’s time I started going to church with all this praying and thanking the Lord Almighty. Unfortunately we (Ken) couldn’t pin point exactly which part of the several things he did that made the engine start – possibly the bleeding of the atomisers although Emmanuel didn’t think we could have had air in the system as it had been running perfectly for a good couple of hours. Anyway, we decided to think about that later and got ourselves in and safely anchored. Following a quick swim to check the anchor was firmly dug into the sandy bottom, we made a quick dash ashore to check-in with customs and immigration. They charged 120 ECD plus an extra 35 ECD overtime, as it had past 1600 hrs when they eventually cleared us in (£47 approx.).
Whilst ashore we visited a couple of chandlers to see if we could find a Raymarine specialist who could come and fix our autopilot. No joy, we will need to wait until we get to Martinique or Antigua. It works intermittently so hopefully it will be working when we do our next passage! We also arranged with a sailmaker to have some dinghy chaps made (on Monday) to protect the dinghy from the intense sun damage. Jobs done we went to Frangipani Bar to meet Chris and the owners of Ground Hog for sundowners, that we’d arranged when we saw them back in Tobago Cays. They didn’t show so we would just have to go back the next night!! We had an entertaining time however as a local was climbing trees to cut down the big leaves and coconuts before they fell on customers’ heads! For our inconvenience of having to move (not that it was) he gave us a coconut with the top cut off and suggested we added rum to the juice for a delicious drink, which we did and it was!
During the next few days, we purchased baguettes from ‘man in boat’ who sells bread, croissants and banana bread. We checked the engine relay in the hope of finding a loose connection or something obvious amiss that we could put right, but we didn’t. All looked fine so we will now have to wait until our next passage to see if it cuts out again, heaven forbid. We listened to Leicester Tigers beat Bristol, on the radio and went to Doris’s to do a food shop. I detest food shopping, even more so when the bill is 800 ECD (£250) for basic foodstuffs. Food and drink is ridiculously expensive. We had a delivery from another ‘man in boat’ of a case (24’s) of diet coke, Carib lager, Hairoun lager and 6 bottles of wine, the bill being 571 ECD (£170.00). We need to give up drinking!! We spent the afternoons walking and snorkelling seeing octopus and moray eels amongst the coral and brightly coloured fish. A refreshing beer at Jack’s Bar where we docked the rib, then onto Frangipani Bar where we met Chris, Gene and Dolly from Ground Hog.
Ollivierre making the template for the dinghy chaps
Tomorrow, after collecting the new dinghy chaps, we plan to do an overnight sail towards Martinique. |
