Carriacou "an island of over one hundred rum shops and only one gasoline station." Frances Kay. 

The fact that most people don't realise that there are in fact three islands in the nation of Grenada is possibly a fitting introduction to Carriacou. Like its minor island sibling Petit Martinique, it is a humble island that can easily be overlooked. It is not touristy, it doesn't have big flash resorts, but it loves boats and yachties. This is Caribbean life the way it was fifty years ago, quiet, laid back and relaxed. In the north of the island, Windward, is the traditional centre of boatbuilding Carriacou sloops, still built the same way it was done over a century ago, and it's where their fishing fleet return under sail. The hiking is said to be good too, but it will have to wait until next time.

We went off to see the sites of Hillsborough and couldn't find them. It is a pleasant town built on a perfect beach. As we walked down the Main Street we caught glimpses of the sea through gaps in the buildings. The people were friendly, stopping to ask if we wanted to visit other places on the island or just interested in what we were doing. Hillsborough only has a couple of streets lined with a mixture of modern concrete blocks and Classic Caribbean wooden structures. There were some very pretty traditional buildings on the Main Street, with wooden shingles and gingerbread. But mostly it was quiet and closed for the afternoon. There wasn't a lot to do here, so after some food we headed back to the boat to chill and watch the comings and goings in the harbour.

Off the west side of Hillsborough Bay, is a tiny postcard perfect reef island of glistening sands surrounded by turquoise waters. This small island was our destination on Saturday; Sandy Island perfect for snorkelling and a walk along its beach of flawless sand. There were a couple of cairns erected on this strip of sand, but search as we did, we could not find Jack Sparrow's hidden stash of rum. Due to degradation and hurricane damage the locals have built up the coral cappings to give some protection and they haven planted replacement trees. We were lucky to have the island to ourselves having swum from Stream, which was anchored just off the beach in the marine park area. The snorkelling was as good as we expected in crystal clear waters. We were really pleased to see, for the first time for ages, pelicans. We love watching them dive for fish, sometimes executing neat dives under the surface to gather their prey, other times they seem to stun the fish by bellyflopping on them. Both techniques seem to be successful. However, this pelican watch was made more interesting by the behaviour of one individual pelican and a laughing gull, who seemed inseparable. The pelican would dive and catch a fish and then as it resurfaced the gull would land on its head or back. The pelican did not seem bothered, we presume that the gull would be getting scraps of fish that the pelican didn't eat or disgorged. This went on for several hours and we are sure the pelican must have got a sore head from the persistent gull. 

Due to the strong winds and slight swell, we decided that it would be better to not stay at Sandy Island over night and in the late afternoon we headed off to Tyrrell Bay just a few miles down the coast.