The Grenadines

Peejay
Paul and Pat Marriage
Tue 12 Jan 2010 22:53

So with the euphoria of successfully crossing an ocean slowly ebbing away it was time to get back to the fun side of sailing – ie coastal cruising. The Grenadines were calling – but first we had to get past the pitons in St Lucia. They had avoided us the day we did the land based tour by being shrouded in mist, This time it was different. With a bit of planning we arrived just offshore about an hour before sunset and then had the joy of seeing them bathed in the evening sun and then again as the moon rose over them. They are magnificent.

 

The pitons just before dusk

 

 

We opted for a fast overnight passage down to Bequia by sailing down the windward side of St Vincent. It was bouncy but the plan came together and we arrived in Bequia at dawn the following day.

 

New countries –  different flags – hoisting St Vincent and the Grenadines

 

 

After a quick kip and then battling customs and immigration it was time for a beer at the local whaling bar. Bequia has a history of whaling and this bar has jawbones for the entrance and vertebrae for the bar stools. Check these out.

 

Beats the usual front gate

 

 

 

 

Think we can get some of these in IKEA when we get home ?

 

 

 

There are several islands in the Grenadines and most of them are nothing to do with Grenada. After Bequia we stopped at Chatham Bay on Union Island. It’s deserted but a couple of the locals have set up little shacks on the beach. They pick you up from your yacht, ferry you ashore, cook you a barbeque and then take you back to your yacht. Pat chose Ballhead whose shack and been burnt down recently.

 

Barbeque at Ballhead’s

 

Chatham bay was lovely and being deserted was full of wildlife. The snorkelling was excellent and a spotted moray eel out in the open was a real treat. The fish life was so plentiful that it supported a flock of resident pelicans and we watched them feeding for hours. We stayed there for new year and tried to fix the starter switch for the engine. No joy -  so it was down to hot wiring the solenoid every time we want to fire up the motor.

 

New year’s eve – amateurs at work

 

 

New year’s eve – professionals at work

 

 

Next stop was Petit St Vincent which has a superb beach and not much else except a hotel for very rich people. It’s tiny and you can walk round most of it in about an hour. We left the yacht there and had dinner on Petit Martinique about 15 minutes away by dinghy. Petit Martinique has nothing to do with Martinique or St Vincent – it’s part of Grenada. Confusing isn’t it! Never mind – nobody bothers with passports round here.

 

 

Superb specimen on the beach at Petit St Vincent

 

Then it was back to Union Island to a town called Ashton. This really was like going back in time.

 

Local resident

 

They don’t take prisoners kindly here. Note the dire warning !

 

Prosecution is one thing …..

 

 

The local supermarket didn’t have much stock

 

But it did have a nice picture on the steps.

 

So with the supermarket not coming up trumps it was down to the skipper to go and find some food.

 

Breakfast anyone?

 

Once Paul had found sufficient it was down to Pat to prepare and cook these sea urchins. They’re called sea eggs in Barbados and were a delicacy she remembered from childhood.

 

Stage one – cut them apart and harvest the bit you eat

 

 

 

We all had some fried that morning and we’re still alive to tell the tale.

 

Raw sea eggs before cooking

 

 

Palm Island came next.

 

This is another tiny island with a swanky hotel and not much else.

 

And then it was on to the Tobago Cays – the jewel in the crown of the Grenadines – and nothing to do with Tobago ! The Cays are a national park and marine reserve and home to loads of giant marine turtles which we snorkelled with for ages. This is the turtle beach on Baradel Island

 

Barrie wants David Attenborough’s job

 

 

 

We also went ashore to explore and meet some of the land based residents.

 

This is a tortoise – not a turtle.

 

 

Who says iguanas don’t climb trees?

 

 

We then went to another island in the Cays called Petit Bateau. The path to the top was a scratchy scramble for bare legs but the view from the top was magnificent.

 

View from summit of Petit Bateau

 

 

 

Nothing between the boats and Africa – 3,000 miles away - except the horseshoe reef in the foreground and the World’s End reef in the background.

 

After that it was a mad dash North up to Antigua for flights home to the UK. Over the 4 day trip we called in just long enough to drop an anchor and sleep at St Lucia, Martinique, and Iles des Saintes (part of Guadeloupe) before leaving the boat in Jolly Harbour, Antigua. It was a case of 03.30 starts and dusk finishes.

 

We had a tremendous dolphin encounter heading North past the Pitons off the coast of St Lucia. There must have been at least 100 in the pod. It didn’t matter in which direction you looked , we were surrounded by them for about half an hour.

 

Dolphins under the bow of Peejay

 

 

We’re back to Antigua on February 4th - provided we can escape the snow in the UK.