Carriacou
Petronella
Thu 21 Feb 2013 23:49
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Tyrrel Bay is reckoned to be one of the best
anchorages in the Windward Islands and we certainly enjoyed it. We had
an easy day aboard on Saturday (16 Feb) and made it ashore on the Sunday. There
was a rally for the National Party taking place. A large motorcade of lorries,
pickups, vans, cars and a few motorbikes all crammed full of people waving
flags, dancing and having a good time. Lots of loud music booming out from huge
speakers precariously perched on the backs of lorries. Definitely more carnival
than political. Needless to say in the elections a couple of days later the
Nationalist Party had a big majority and then immediately declared a bank
holiday to celebrate!
During the next few days we did some jobs aboard.
We also visited Hillsborough the capital town a few miles away once again making
use of the superb local bus services. Every trip a unique
travel experience and all for 50p!
Wednesday 20 Feb was a very special day as it was
Tina's 60th. Being a considerate husband I arranged something special and we
spent a delightful afternoon bailing out our holding tank from the toilet as the
pump was playing up. The day was rescued as we were kindly invited for drinks
aboard Muirsgian by David and Sylvie Norris and we had a very convivial
evening.
Thursday was to be our last day at Carriacou and as
our next stop was in Union Island which is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines
( another country) we had to go to Hillsborough and visit customs and
immigration to clear out. Formalities duly completed we took a bus to Windward a
village on the NE coast where they still build boats on the beach. We were in
luck as there was a lovely sloop just being finished off and due to be launched
in a month or so. We met the builder
who was quite rightly very proud of his handiwork.
We finished up the day with a rendezvous with our
old friend Dave Barnes and his wife Sue who now keep their boat Barnstormer
in Carriacou. The menu looked so good in the Slipway Restaurant we decided
to stay on and have a slightly delayed birthday dinner for Tina and were not
disappointed.
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