Carriacou and Grenada
Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Wed 9 Apr 2008 16:49
A pleasant sail downwind about 12 miles to Hillsborough, Carriacou, the
Grenadan Grenadines. We arrived at lunchtime and hoisted our Grenadan
Flag and yellow duster but decided as it was a holiday to wait on board
until tomorrow to clear in. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same
idea! Tuesday morning at 0800 we went ashore and joined the queue at
the police station to clear with Immigration. Two hours later we had
cleared with Immigration and Customs. This was the longest it has taken
to clear in or out since Antigua.
Carriacou looks a very attractive island, somewhere we will return next
season. 'Wings' had gone to visit Petite Martinique and arrived just as
we cleared customs.
Later that day, we kayaked another two miles to Sandy Island where we
had the best snorkelling of the trip. We saw some very healthy shoals
of Tuna fish, and of Houndfish, long, narrow, sleek fish with long
pointed beak. We also witnessed lots of Seargent Major shoals and Bar
Jacks, and some large Yellow tail Snappers about 18" long. A very
exciting sortie.
We decided even though we liked Carriacou to leave early next day for
Grenada- our destination, 25 miles south. We left at first light and
with the wind on the quarter we decided to leave 'Kick em Jenny' to
port. This is an underwater volcano that at present is quiet, but has
an exclusion zone of 1.5 miles radius. We could have gone the windward
side of Grenada but decided to go leeward as we wanted to give St
Georges and Grand Anse a reccy.
We rounded the south west tip of Grenada and made our way into True Blue
Bay, where we picked up a mooring buoy belonging to Horizon Charters.
There was a great sense of 'coming home', we have never been here before
and this is the furthest south we have ever been, (11 degrees 59mins
North, 61 degrees, 46mins West), the bar and restaurant looked so
inviting and we felt we were back in the civilised world.
Well we have been here for over a week now. The people here are very
friendly and helpful. Last Friday we went to Guave to experience the
Fish Fry Night. Streets of stalls selling cooked fish in many different
ways, pasties, rolls, burgers, stirfry with noodles, kebabs, pizza etc
Then we were entertained by Drummers and Singers. A really enjoyable
night out.
Yesterday we went on a tour of the island and found we like it even
more. They have a chocolate factory! - Do I need to say more?
We are now in Prickly Bay and we are hauling out tomorrow in Spice
Island for the hurricane season and flying home next week.
We have had a fantastic adventure and are looking forward to coming back
again..........