Position: 12:36:26N
61:26:94W
After leaving PSV, we nipped back to
Clifton, anchored and did some shopping ashore,
before heading back out and round to the other side of Union Island,
to Chatham
Bay. Union Island feels very homely to us
now.
Chatham is a large bay, deserted except for
2 or 3 shacks where you can get a beer and, at a push, a lobster barbeque from
one of the locals. It is a very
chilled-out place with little to do.
Chatham Bay viewed from the
sea
The forecast was for lots of wind,
and on the morning after we arrived, there was only us and one other boat in the
anchorage. 24hrs later, I counted
35 yachts tucked in out of the howling wind, not including a large cruise ship
which had anchored in the shelter of the island and was disgorging its
passengers via lifeboat for a day on the beach, presumably because it was too
windy for them to get to Tobago Cays or even Mayreau. We had 35kts blowing through the
anchorage, but we were well-hooked and I snorkeled on the anchor to check. The seabed was covered with the
striations of previous dragged anchors!
A turtle sometimes popped his head up in the
anchorage.
There was little to do whilst the
wind blew, so Sarah and the girls did school, while I scrubbed Nutmeg’s bottom –
weedy after just one week, and the antifouling is getting worryingly thin! We even had weed on the bottom of the
dinghy, so we got the kids scrubbing the bottom of it on the beach. We started to talk about whether or not
I should sail Nutmeg back to the UK, or whether we should ship her,
which was our original set of options when we left. Still not sure what to
do.
