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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The local supermarket didn’t have much stock

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

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.

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

Palm Island came next.

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

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

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.

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.

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