12 degrees N 61degrees 46 W Antigua to Grenada

Meryon.bridges
Sat 23 Jan 2010 19:50
Got a bit behind with the blogging these last few weeks - we've been enjoying ourselves.
 
After our rough night on the west side of Barbuda we threaded the reefs to get around to a lovely quiet anchorage inside Spanish Point, completely protected and lying in 3 metres of water torquoise water over white coral sand.  Went ashore to explore/ swim/ etc.  Barbuda has a completely different character from Antigua in that it is almost uninhabited and it is completely flat and low lying - in fact it is an old reef raised above the sea and the peace and undisturbed natural tranquility were wonderful.
We had a lovely sail back to Antigua, and a few days later another one when we went down towards Monserrat to have a closer look at the volcano, which was spewing out a a plume of ash which drifted away on the wind to leeward.
 
Jo and Wes left us on 7 Jan when Suzie and Fenella arrived from the UK.  The good officer Holden had reappeared and after a couple of days shacked up in a smart hotel he rejoined us on board to make it 5 for the cruise south to Grenada.  Our route was dictated by available time, so we called at:  English Harbour; Antigua, Portsmouth, Dominica; Fort de France, Martinique; St Lucia; Bequia: Carriacou, and arrived in Grenada on 20 Jan, having allowed a day in each to explore and enjoy the islands.  We were particularly struck by the variety in their individual characters and also by their universally charming, friendly and helpful populations. 
 
Dominica was perhaps the least developed of the islands we visited and we had a very interesting tour through  the mountainous rainforest, albeit seeing only a sample of the island, which lives mainly on subsistence farming.  By contrast Fort de France was "civilisation" and it afforded us a splendid lunch worthy of Paris.  In St Lucia we split our forces.  After a very pleasant evening with Teresa and Jim and a couple of their friends in Rodney Bay in the north of the island, Peter and Fenella took an overland route to Soufriere in the south, while Meryon, Suzy and Peter H moved Ares down there to a mooring opposite the Pitons.  This is a very beautiful and dramatic anchorage, from which an ascent of the Petit Piton was an irresistable attaction, providing a really enjoyable scramble and stunning views over the island from the top. Bequia and Carriacou are very small but lovely islands, providing insights into local life, boat building, turtle preservation, etc.  A restaurant offering a large half lobster for dinner at about £16 a head was a real treat, as was the discovery of Callalou soup.  This is a spinach like vegetable from which they make a number of very tasty dishes.
 
And so to Grenada and the end of the cruise.  The crew took the opportunity to have a couple of nights in a hotel next to the very small marina (a single pontoon which bucked like bronco in the swell) in True Blue Bay.  Air conditioning and unlimited showers were the great attraction. The Peters and Fenella explored the capital town,St George's, where much is still unrepaired after the damage caused by hurrican Ivan in 2003, while Suzy and Meryon toured the northern half of the island in a car, visiting a spice plantation, nutmeg processing plant, a rum distillery still using the equipment installed in 1795, and having a hike through the rainforest.  Granada is a really lovely and quite prosperous island, and it was with considerable misgivings that Fenella and Suzy flew back to UK on 22 Jan.
 
So now we are planning the next leg to Panama with just the three of us, calling at the Dutch Antilles and perhaps some of the 378 San Blas islands on the way.  More anon.