Bequia, via Carriacou and Canouan

At last, we have escaped from Grenada! ‘Hoorah’ shouts the mate and I agree totally. It has been tough couple of months in GYC – we had a stern to berth (tricky to get on and off with SG’s stern), were at the end of the main walkway so had people traipsing past all the time, had a fat catamaran to windward of us blocking all the breeze (and crashing into us every time they came back in!), it was HOT, there were lots of flies and Dengue-ridden mosquitoes (one of our fellow cruisers caught Dengue fever and was wiped out for a good couple of weeks), and the showers were dreadful! However, we did meet some great people and enjoyed plenty of fresh fish – thanks Troy for saving Skip from many a pure veggie meal!

Time to retire the Grenada courtesy flag before it disintegrates any further!

On Monday, 28^th October 2024, we slipped our lines from Grenada Yacht Club and headed out to anchor off St George’s overnight before heading up to a first overnight stop at Carriacou. I couldn’t wait to leave, especially as our parting ‘gift’ from Grenada was to be charged a daily rate in GYC as apparently, even though we were there for thirty days after our initial booking, we couldn’t pay the (much lower) 30 day rate because we hadn’t pre-booked it. Furious, you bet I was, as the mate and I kissed goodbye to $1,000 US.

Sailing north again - hoorah

Anyway, onto happier things… we had a lovely sail on a close reach on Tuesday 29^th and reached Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou by mid-afternoon. Tyrrel Bay was still feeling the horrible effects of hurricane Beryl and it felt quite eerie to us even though we were sat out at anchor. After a rolly night we were happy to be underway and again had a lovely sail on a close reach to Canouan where we anchored in Charlestown Bay for the night. In contrast to Carriacou, Canouan had a lovely calm feel to it. The guides though did warn of it being rolly and how right they were; it turned out to be possibly the most rolly anchorage we’ve been to. Admittedly it wasn’t helped by the swell direction which had much more north in it than is the norm. Up early-ish (for us) and off we went on another lovely close reach to Bequia. The mate was delighted when a Brown Booby landed on our pulpit and had a decent ride a lot of the way to Bequia. It did look a little tired, so we were pleased to help it out. I refrained from telling the mate that it was a Caribbean bird and probably just lazy, ha ha.

Hitchhiker on the bow!

Arriving in Bequia, mid-afternoon on Thursday 31^st October, we anchored neatly in 6m off Princess Margaret Beach with 36m chain out and two snubbers. I always like to put plenty of chain out as some of the squalls can be pretty vicious if they head your way. I must say that the mate, who operates the wheel and engine during the anchoring process, no longer has a look of terror about her, but more of a quiet confidence. Well done to the mate!

On Friday morning 1^st November, it was time to inflate Pierre (our dinghy) and head into Customs and Immigration. The process here in Bequia is easy and we were even more delighted to see that as  British citizens we are welcome to stay for six months, not three months as others are. This is tremendous news as it opens up more possibilities for next hurricane season, meaning we may be able to skip Grenada altogether. But that’s for the future and we are talking and thinking about our options and plans so we’ll see…

After Customs it was back to Pierre and he still had air in him, much to our delight. For anyone following the saga of Pierre we are sad to say that he has nearly reached the end of his useful life. He is battling on but is really struggling with the Caribbean sun and is now part original Pierre and part G-Flex epoxy! He’ll be OK in Bequia for a week or so, but then the end is nigh as we are importing a Hypalon dinghy (much more durable fabric and glue for tropical climes!) into St Lucia from the UK. We have organised a customs agent in St Lucia, shipping has been taken care of by our very efficient UK supplier (a shout out to Jimmy Green in Devon) and we think [think] it should all go smoothly. Watch this space – it is the Caribbean…

For now, we are having a proper rest in Bequia. Agreed, we didn’t do much in Grenada, but it was soooo hot and we both find Grenada a loud, tiring place to be. By contrast we really do like Bequia; it is calm, clean and has an air of decency about it.

Looking west across the Admiralty Bay anchorage, Bequia

After Bequia, the plan is to head up to St Lucia and Rodney Bay Marina, where our friend Phil will be visiting us and of course the new Pierre (P2) will be arriving…