Chatham Bay, Union Island

Ocean Gem
Geoff & Eileen Mander
Sun 3 Mar 2013 12:00

Position: 12:31.55N 61:23.32W

Date: Sunday 3rd March 2013

 

After a late breakfast, on Sunday morning we slipped from the mooring buoy in Petit Martinique and sailed the short distance (about 5 ½ miles) to Clifton in Union Island in order to complete the check in procedures for the country of St Vincent & The Grenadines. It was a leisurely sail with just a few reefs to dodge around.  Clifton was as busy as the last time we had visited and this time we allowed ourselves to be hassled into using a mooring buoy for the short time it would take us to complete the paperwork.

 

The customs and immigration offices were located in the small airport building just a short walk away from the dinghy dock. Now the cost for this procedure is normally $EC70.  However because it was a Sunday I was charged an additional £EC130 for what were delightfully called overtime fees.  The customs and immigration staff were working on a Sunday because they were located at an international airport through which many passengers were passing.  I doubt that any of these were charged additional fees for having the temerity to travel on a Sunday. One of the customs officers even tried to sell me her ‘personal barbeque on the beach services’.  It didn’t leave me feeling any particular warmth for the place. It was the second time we’d been to Clifton and neither visit was particularly enjoyable.

 

We slipped the buoy and sailed around to a relatively quiet inlet on the west of the island called Chatham Bay.  It’s a large bay, clothed in green and with a long sandy beach and steep hills behind. We had another splendid evening at anchor with an incredible display of stars as the night closed in.

 

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