Position: 12:36:26N 61:26:94W

After leaving PSV, we nipped back to Clifton, anchored and did some shopping ashore, before heading back out and round to the other side of Union Island, to Chatham Bay. Union Island feels very homely to us now.

Chatham is a large bay, deserted except for 2 or 3 shacks where you can get a beer and, at a push, a lobster barbeque from one of the locals.  It is a very chilled-out place with little to do.

Chatham Bay viewed from the sea

The forecast was for lots of wind, and on the morning after we arrived, there was only us and one other boat in the anchorage.  24hrs later, I counted 35 yachts tucked in out of the howling wind, not including a large cruise ship which had anchored in the shelter of the island and was disgorging its passengers via lifeboat for a day on the beach, presumably because it was too windy for them to get to Tobago Cays or even Mayreau.  We had 35kts blowing through the anchorage, but we were well-hooked and I snorkeled on the anchor to check.  The seabed was covered with the striations of previous dragged anchors!  A turtle sometimes popped his head up in the anchorage.

There was little to do whilst the wind blew, so Sarah and the girls did school, while I scrubbed Nutmeg’s bottom – weedy after just one week, and the antifouling is getting worryingly thin!  We even had weed on the bottom of the dinghy, so we got the kids scrubbing the bottom of it on the beach.  We started to talk about whether or not I should sail Nutmeg back to the UK, or whether we should ship her, which was our original set of options when we left.  Still not sure what to do.