Caribbean and the end is in sight
Safiya
Harvey & Sue Death
Sun 17 Mar 2019 22:03
like 'coming home'. We spent 5 seasons in the Caribbean on our previous
Oyster Sarabi sailing up and down the Windward and Leeward islands and a lot
of time in Grenada. The marina hadn't changed much although the island
generally is a lot busier with both yachties and tourists.
We made the most of having power and water and spent the first few days
catching up with cleaning and washing. For some of the Oysters arriving in
Grenada marked the end of their circumnavigation and we celebrated with the
other early arrivers with a meal at Coconuts, a local beach side restaurant.
We also went to the one day cricket International between the W Indies and
England. Unfortunately the first day was rained off, something you'd expect
to happen in the UK but not in the Caribbean! The second day though was
really exciting with England winning by a close margin.
Grace and her boyfriend Andy arrived safely on the 1st of March and after a
couple of days to acclimatise we left the shelter of the marina to anchor in
the bay outside ready for an early start the next morning. It was Andy's
first time on a boat so we were all a little apprehensive as to how he would
fare especially during our first passage to the Grenadine islands which is a
notoriously rough ride with both wind and current against us.
After a very bumpy and wet five hour sail we arrived at the island of
Carriacou which is officially still part of Grenada. Andy passed his
initiation test with flying colours, not succumbing to sea sickness and
remaining cheerful throughout. Our arrival in Carriacou coincided with the
annual three day carnival. We caught a local bus into town to secure a prime
spot on a street corner to watch the carnival procession. This is a major
event in the diary of this island and the whole community is involved in
making the elaborate costumes and floats. They were clearly enjoying
themselves as they danced though the streets with the music blaring.
It was a short hop from Carriacou to the Grenadine Islands where we quickly
cleared into Union Island and then sailed straight to the Tobago Cays which
are a group of tiny sandy islets where we had an important event to attend
as it was our friend Debbie from Meteorite's birthday. We celebrated with a
sumptuous lobster BBQ on the beach cooked by the local boat boys washed down
with copious amounts of rum punch and local beer.
From the Tobaago Cays we had a short hop back to Union Island where we
enjoyed sundowners on Happy Island, a bar built on the reef from conch
shells. The local kite surfers treated us to an amazing display of kite
surfing acrobatics as the sun went down. Next stop was Canouan Island where
we had Sunday lunch at the newly opened Sandy Lane Yacht club, owned by
Dermot Desmond who also owns Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados and Celtic
football team. We had a very chilled afternoon sipping cocktails and
enjoying the luxurious surroundings.
From there we sailed to Bequia, still part of the Grenadines where we had a
fantastic couple of dives. It was lovely to be back In the warm Caribbean
water with the pretty hard and soft corals and multitude of reef fish.
In Bequia we checked out of the Grenadines and headed straight to St Lucia,
Marigot Bay, a beautiful mangrove lined little bay with a palm tree fringed
sandy spit that found fame in the Doctor Doolittle film. This was our change
over location, where Grace and Andy flew home and Alice and Matt flew out to
join us. Before that though we had 24 hours overlap and it was lovely to
have all of them with us. We were able to use the facilities of the 5 star
Marigot Bay resort hotel and we enjoyed a lazy day using the swimming pools
and sun loungers.
Grace and Andy returned to England yesterday with Andy a seasoned sailor and
a very enthusiastic boat and bathroom cleaner!
Tomorrow with Alice and Matt we're leaving St Lucia heading North towards
Antigua stopping at the islands en route arriving in Antigua in time to
celebrate my birthday. When we reach Dominica we will have completed our
circumnavigation.
