Position: 12:42:41N 61:19:71W

This is sailing at it’s best.  We were underway (finally!!) at 1100, and ran down out of Admiralty Bay, past Moonhole, a weird place where some hippies built some houses in the caves right at the end of Bequia, and out into the Caribbean Sea.  It is a 20 mile sail down to the first of the islands of the Grenadines – Canouan, and we had a fantastic 3-sail reach.  The wind always seems to be just below the limit for full sail, meaning you get exhilarating sailing in this beautiful sea.  We got there around 1500

Canouan is pretty-much entirely a Raffles resort, with a golf course and various posh stuff.  However, you’d hardly notice when you sail past for all you really see is lush greenery and white sandy beaches. 

We decided to stop here, just because it looked nice, and as we entered the shallower water, the sea became this magical fluorescent turquoise colour.  Anything less than 10 metres and you can see the bottom.

Turquoise seas off Canouan

We anchored in Charlestown Bay, off the Tamarind Beach Hotel, in 5 metres of water, on pure sand.  Our friends from Brimble had also decided to stop here, so the girls (S, E & J) decided to swim ashore from the boat (very impressive for E to attempt this – normally a real girl) and I acted as mothership in the dinghy. 

At one point, Jemima lost one of her pink flippers, so I took a couple of transits to pinpoint its rough position, went and got my snorkel and flippers, anchored the dinghy and did a search pattern until I found it.  I was quite pleased with myself until later that evening, a few cocktails worse for wear, I threw her flippers into the dinghy from the jetty, and one bounced out, never to be seen again… durr.

John and Selma and their kids Ella and Jack were also on the beach and we soon decided it was time for a cocktail.  Luckily there was a beach bar just 30 metres away – how convenient…  I would never have imagined I would get into the habit of drinking cocktails in the afternoon but it is difficult not to in a place like this!

The Brimble crew came back to our boat to show us how to make “Ti Punch”, a mix of white rum and sugar syrup with plenty of lime.  That finished us off nicely!  We slept badly as the wind screamed through the anchorage and we sheared around with the anchor snubbing line snubbing away.

Cocktails on the beach, Canouan