2 weeks later...
Gaviota
Sun 24 Feb 2008 02:57
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12.36N 61.27W
Oh dear, just discovered we haven't updated this for a whole 2
weeks ! Ah well, if you read this regularly, you're probably not that
surprised as we've been getting slower and slower.
Sat 9 Feb - went on the Grenada Hash House Harriers run (for
those of you who don't know, this is Annabel's favourite 'club', recommended to
her by a CAMRA friend as a great way to meet local people around the
world - an international (dis?!)organisation of people who get together for
a social 'run' about once a week - often known as the 'drinking club with a
running problem' - look for your nearest one on the web). Syd's been on
one run with Annabel and the Glasgow hashers, so although he would have
preferred a bike ride, and had a couple of small foot injuries, he came too and
much enjoyed it as it reminded him of his fell-running days in Yorkshire.
It was a huge group of over 50 people, many of them 'virgins' to the group as it
was advertised on a sailing network and other tourist sites. Otherwise
very standard format - regulars offer lifts to non-residents, meet at a bar, the
run is described as easy and we were told to expect it to split into a running
and walking trail(yes, lots of hashers walk), run uphill through streams, thick
vegetation, mud, in pouring rain, scramble up and slide down banks, back through
stream to bar, where beer and (normal for Caribbean hash) food are sold - in
this case the traditional Grenadian Oil Down which is a huge vegetable+some meat
and fish stew made in an oil-drum like vat. Non-standard was the lack of
'down downs' where people have to down a half pint of beer in 'punishment' for
various misdemeanors on the run(like racing, or wearing new shoes), but the
virgins were gathered together, and ran through a sprayed arch of stale beer to
collect beautifully produced individual Loss of Virginity certificates.
Tradition continued right into the evening with the last dregs of the serious
hashers being led to a chinese fish and chip restaurant for more food and drink
and then a wonderful ice cream on the way home. We were very pleased indeed
to be given a lift right back to the marina - apparantly they've hosted the hash
once or twice. We were also pleased to meet Pete and Lucia, who we thought
we recognised from somewhere - Charlotteville in Tobago, and we'd spotted them
in another bay on Grenada when out for a bike ride a couple of days before, as
they have a distinctive yellow boat.
Sun 10 Feb - Fri 15 Feb - we left Clarkes Court Bay
marina and motored 3nm round to anchor behind Hog Island, stayed a couple of
nights then motored and sailed with half the Genoa another few miles to Prickley
Bay at 12.00N 61.46W, where we got a few things from the chandlery and went into
St Georges(main Grenada town) again, but didn't like the often very dirty water
and crowded anchorage. So to make our passage to Carriacou easier we sailed
round to anchor outside St Georges (there's a lovely natural harbour, one
half for fishing boats and cruise liners and the other very crowded with
yachts - didn't fancy that either). This anchorage at 12.03N
61.45W was surprisingly no more rolly than some of the bays we'd been in,
although the anchor dragged a bit, but it was quiet and clean enough for a swim.
We'd had a bit of a problem with the steering, which Syd investigated and
decided it was partly due to a combination of barnacles on the hull (soon grow
in this warm water) and limescale deposits on the rudder shaft ... all fixed
after lots of cleaning and lubrication of the mechanism, but that meant we
stayed another night and popped in to St Georges for a nice Valentines' dinner
and again for more essential shopping - particularly gin, tonic(different shop)
and tomatoes from the market.
Sat 16 Feb - left Grenada after very nearly 2 weeks there
! Sailed a long hard beat over to Carriacou, with a big tidal set as well;
we thought the boat was slower than it should have been in spite of all that -
probably the barnacled bottom. So the measured course of 30nm
became 41.9nm due to the beating and currents and took 8
hours... (should have been 7 hours or less). Although we
arrived about 6pm, we managed to find a spot in the fairly busy Tyrrell Bay
12.27N 61.29W and settled down for the night. The anchor slipped a bit in
the night so we moved a bit in the morning, but it was slipping ocasionally in
the strong winds and rather rolly conditions all the time we were there.
We saw quite a few boats we recognised, amongst them Pete and Lucia, who
came over for a drink one evening. We're certainly often seeing quite a
few people and boats we recognise, although now we're in the Grenadines, there
are also a lot of charter boats whizzing about, so the full time cruisers are
busy swapping notes on the quieter spots !
One day we took the bikes ashore and rode all the way round
the island - probably only about 12 miles, but hard going on one stretch where
the road marked as a track on the map had almost completely disappeared and we
had to walk and drag the bikes along the hardly visible track (like an overgrown
railway track), through prickley bushes and avoiding prickly pear cactii growing
accross it too ! The thorns nearly won - lots of minor scratches, Syd
2 punctures and Annabel 1. But most of the ride was lovely with not too
steep hills, great views of the sea, hardly any traffic, mostly concrete roads
and some tracks. Best bit for Annabel: the huge sticky buns we bought for
a mid-ride snack - only managed one between us ! Best bit for Syd: a
red-legged tortoise ambling down the road ahead of us !
In Tyrrell Bay we also got a diver to scrub the bottom of the
boat for only US$50; we considered learning to dive and do it ourselves but
still don't feel we'd dive often enough to get our money's worth for all
the expensive training and having to hire kit; maybe next year.
Customs and Immigration clearance is getting a bit easier -
from Tyrrell Bay we were able to take a bus to Hillsborough, the main town,
which didn't look nice for sailing and anchoring, and clear out there. The
little busses are a great view on village life - on the way out the driver
stopped to buy tomatoes for a restuaranter in another bay, then
later picked up a jack hammer from a mate and lent it to another chap on
the bus for a job he wanted to do (at least we think that what's went on -
we struggle to even get the gist of local conversations), then on the way back
the (surprise surprise) lady bus driver picked up a very small boy left waiting
on the school steps and took him home. On a small island like Carriacou they
always seem to know the difference between yachties and other tourists and call
out the right destination when they're touting (tooting) for your business in
the towns and village, and will always back up a few hundred yards to fetch you
if you wave.
Thurs 21 Feb - sailed towards Petite St Martinique(still part
of Grenada, but with no customs clearance) as we'd read the fuel dock was good
value and had emptied another tank filled in Las Palmas, as we're using the
generator 2+ hours a day. It was another beat into 18-24kts of NE wind but
the boat speed was dramatically improved after the bottom scrub. The
anchorage by the fuel dock at PSM looked terribly rolly and windy, so, like a
lot of other yachts, we carried on accross the channel to Petit St Vincent(part
of St Vincent and the Grenadines, also no customs but they don't mind if you
wait until you get to Union Island), arriving at 12.32N 61.23W for lunch, then
motored back across to PSM for fuel, which was the same price as in Gibraltar
and easy enough to do, although the wind and seas kept us bashing against the
dock, which was luckily wooden so our fenders protected us. We got some
rather brackish water too. We were just about to jump into the
fantastically clean turquoise water back over at PSV, when Syd noticed the radar
hanging by a thread (literally - its electrical cable)!!! The bracket had
been tightened twice onto the mast and nuts loctite'd before we set off
across the Atlantic, but I guess it's only now that we're beating and tacking,
that it's getting knocked again. So in the morning up the mast
went Syd and discovered it was the bolts holding the radar to the bracket
that had lost their bolts, so he lashed it firmly in place and we bought new
nuts the next day, but have yet to find a calm enough anchorage to put them on -
the winds are blowing pretty strong even in the bays at the moment
!
Fri 22 Feb - sailed, not quite close hauled, 4.85nm over to
Clifton on Union Island at 12.36N 61.25W. Clifton is a busy little port
with loads of charter boats - some picking up provisions and visiting the bars
and restuarants, some picking up and dropping off clients as there's a busy
little airport just down the street. Saw Pete and Lucia again, did a bit
of shopping, got frightened by the little inter-island cargo boat mooring on the
town dock just behind where we'd anchored but enjoyed watching it unload all
sorts of building materials and small cargo for the shops and restaurants all
night.
Sat 23 Feb - (today, at last !) escaped from the particularly
busy anchorage with lots of charter catamarans motoring quite fast between the
anchored boats to Chatham Bay. The wind was quite strong - up to 30kts in
gusts, but we enjoyed a brief downwind sail, then beating again for the last
mile or so. This is much better - a nice quiet bay with not a house
in sight, lots of birds, including pelicans fishing right up to the boats,
hardly rolling at all, and fabulous clear water - Annabel saw a black and white
speckled eel whilst snorkelling - eek, scary ! Turtles popping up for
air at what we call standard turtle distance from the boat - up, wave and down
again as soon as you spot them, just like seals in the UK !
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