The Grenadines
Simanderal
Michael Hughes and Ger White
Wed 6 May 2009 01:15
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After a night in Marigot Bay--with a great meal in
the Rainforest Hideaway--we hopped down the coast to the anchorage between the
Pitons for a night--a good launching point for our longish sail the next day to
Bequia. This was on the 27th--a lovely fast reach--albeit in quite a
swell--across to St Vincent, a tricky sail down the lee of St Vincent--with some
resort to the engine when the wind got completely lost behind the mountains--and
then a fast, reefed and close hauled sail across from St V to Bequia. We
had decided to give St Vincent itself a miss this year--though we enjoyed
our visit last year, there have been too many reports of thefts from boats
etc.--and worse still, the response of the authorities seems half-hearted--until
they can see the problem, they ain't gonna get it fixed.
And so to a few days in Bequia--enjoyable as
ever--we had our mooring right up outside the Frangipani again--good place to
replenish stores, swim and generally chill.
We sailed from Bequia to Canouan on 30 April--short
hop--for a night there--didn't see Majella--ate at the hotel--and next day --the
1st May--another short sail--it's all short sails in the Grenadines--to the
Tobago Cays--where we spent a couple of days snorkelling out on the reefs--never
seen so many fish--swimming with turtles etc. Ger even had a run-in with a reef
shark--the first we've seen--boy, did she get back on board fast--but though
they look sinister they're not too dangerous! And George, the boat boy, sold us
red snapper and tuna to eat--the latter he filleted for us at the boat, putting
the remains into the sea--probably what attracted the shark!!
On 3 May we had another short sail--all of 2
miles--round to Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau--one of the nicest of
anchorages--plenty of swimming, a walk over the hill to the village etc. And on
the 4th, another short sail to Chatham Bay on Union Island--another new
anchorage for us. Very sheltered from the sea, but the wind doesn't half squall
down from the hills from time to time! Again lovely swimming--and a nice lobster
lunch on shore grilled by George and served in his uncle's beach
bar.
And so to today--the 5th May--we had an early
(short!) sail to Petite Martinique--nothing to do with the other Martinique----
anchored and went ashore before 10 o'clock for a walk, some provisioning and a
coffee--lovely little island pretty much untouched by tourism. Then we weighed
anchor and motored the half mile across to Petit St Vincent--an even smaller
island--a resort island--anchored and had lunch in the resort restaurant. It's a
lovely anchorage--windy, but that keeps us cool--and the water is well protected
by reefs--and a lovely shade of blue.
Well must finish--I've had my swim and it's time
for a sundowner!
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