Leavin’ Grenada & the Grenadines

We left Prickly Bay with some rather dark clouds over the centre of the island but great winds for sailing.Coming past St George we knew this was the last time we would see it for some time. Grenada has been a great place to spend hurricane season but we are definitely ready to move north and enjoy some other Caribbean islands.  P1040060P1040057

The sail across to Tyrrel Bay, Carricou was great, not too rough for our guests. P1040061

We caught a barracuda fish and so filleted it and got it ready for fish cakes. Yummy! Hope there’s more fish out there for us.

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We stopped at Clifton, Union Island to check in and then move onto Tobago Cays. Such a nice day. Always fun sitting up front on the chairs admiring the views. P1040073P1040076

Snorkeling around Petit Tabac, Tobago Cays did not disappoint as there great coral and fish life in the really clear waters. We snorkeled to shore and while walking the beach imagined Johnny Depp filming Pirates of the Caribbean. Shame he wasn’t here now! Great little island to just hang out and watch the day disappear. There are a lot more boats in Horseshoe Reef compared to last week so nice to spend the day at Petit Tabac island with no crowds.

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We arrived in Admiralty Bay, Bequia after passing the western point of the island with the ship still sitting on the rocks since January and the unusual cave-like dwellings in the cliffs called the Moonhole. We anchored off St Margaret’s beach with those beautiful green waters beckoning us in. We have never seen the water flowing in to St Margaret’s beach as a wave.  P1040091

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Bequia is always a great place to go kayaking (esp. when its as calm as it is today), wander the streets, meet the locals, buys provisions and go out for a meal.

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We sailed along the coast of St Vincent stopping in Chateaubelair, which lies at the base of Soufriere, St Vincent’s volcano. We went for lunch ashore at The Beach Front Restaurant, which was really reasonably priced and had great views around the bay. The trip ashore in the dingy was a real treat given the tide.   P1040125P1040123

Off to St Lucia.

Fun with The Stacks

After setting sail from St George, Grenada we went up the coast to Moliniere underwater sculpture park in search of sculptures.imageimage

We then continued on to Carricou, Tyrrel Bay for some local food. Those open air restaurants are always a treat.
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White island off Carriacou was cute. We went snorkeling for lobster but were unsuccessful, a lot harder than you think it should be. We all enjoyed wandering on the white sandy beach and relaxing in the sun. P1030931

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Halloween was a treat at Petit St Vincent. Megan and Tyler hunted for treasure hidden in all sorts of spots around the boat.

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At Clifton, Union Island we met Herman who took us around the local markets and showed Tyler how to play a steel pan. He owns a fruit & Vege store which Signa runs so of course we had to buy a few things, as you do, to support the locals. The golden apple cut up with salt & pepper and a little chopped onion was tasty.

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Tobago Cays and Petit Tabac were amazing with nice clear waters and great snorkeling. Brett and Dave got the wind surfer out at Horseshoe reef while we snorkeled and relaxed on Jamesby, one of the nice white sandy beaches. Good form boys……brought back memories for them both. P1030988P1030984

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Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau was nice and calm and so picturesque with the palm trees and white sandy beach.

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Jen and Richard from Our Rose came into the bay not long after we had dropped anchor. We all enjoyed a feast of lobster and steak followed up with Chocolate cake. Yum.P1040007P1040014

We sailed north to Bequia where we enjoyed a couple of meals out (Devils Table was delicious), wandered the main street with the vendor stores, provisioned and went to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, which was really interesting meeting “Brother” King. He raises Hawksbill turtles hatchlings and releases them into the waters in the Grenadines. To date he has released 913 turtles. Always fun in Bequia.

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The crew were awesome all trying different jobs on S/ Wave.

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We also had lots of help in the kitchen over the two weeks to cook some yummy meals!

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The weather on the whole was pretty good so we could get out and do some snorkeling, sunbathing and surfing behind the dingey. Go Tyler. A few burnt bodies but lots of smiling faces.

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We did come across a few nasty squalls which added to the excitement.

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The sailing back to Tyrrel Bay and to Grenada were great. We had great winds and nice clear visibility, even spotted a few turtles. We came down the windward side of Grenada which was nice for a change.

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Great times with good friends. They all left with smiles and eager for a nice long shower at their hotel in Miami. P1040050

Manta ray at Chatham Bay, Union Island

At Chatham Bay, Union Island a Manta Ray came into the bay for the day and we happened to be out on our kayaks . It was so cool to watch it open its big white mouth to filter water and glide effortless around with its wing tips surfacing the water once in a while when he turned. It was about 6-7 feet across. It passed under our kayaks circling around us. Amazing. Our neighbors were actually swimming and said he just glided around them. Obviously wanted company today.P1020583aP1020588a

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the link below of the Manta Ray video care of our friends from Mopion, who swam with it.  Manta Ray from crew of Mopion

We went for a hike up into the hills around Chatham Bay and came across “Bushman” who works hard to maintain one of the properties up on the ridge. The property has some amazing flowers and you can see he takes good care of the property and the road that leads up to the house. In a place where everyone uses cisterns for domestic water supply these people have a lily pond and raise ducks.

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There were incredible views out to Canouan, Mayreau, and  Tobago Cays where we have been over the past week.

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Union Islands Coast line and rolling mountains are amazing. It was so nice to be up on the hill top looking out at the views.

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Below is a picture looking down into the bay and the cows waiting for us on the beach after our walk. They just sat and watched us as we climbed into our kayaks. Its a very relaxed place and nice and quiet as its off season. Last night there were 9 boats at anchor, tonight only 4. Tough on the beach restaurant/ bars this time of year, who of course are all trying to get your business. P1020568aP1020554a

Search no further…..Saltwhistle Bay, Mayreau

There was a break in the weather and I think many boats in the anchorage were leaving Bequia. I counted 6 boats including us all raising our mains at the same time. Let the race begin. We were heading initially to Friendship Bay, Canouan as Brett had heard good things so detoured from the path the rest of the boats were taking south. In coming down the windward side the swells and winds were not good and the anchorage looked very rolly, so we changed our mind and headed to Saltwhistle Bay,  Mayreau.

P1020490a Saltwhistle Bay is a picture postcard Caribbean Island, near Tobago Cays, with a horse shoe white sandy beach, palm trees and crystal clear water.  You are welcomed into the bay by boat boys who come out to meet your boat and then race in to get the next best mooring buoy for you and help you get secured. Jerome sped in and got us a buoy right up at the beach front.P1020502a

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Mayreau has a population of about 200 with a very small town at the top of the hill between Saltwhistle and Saline Bays. We wandered the road between the two bays passing a number of vendor stores, restaurants and bars. You could see that the locals really rely on the yacht traffic. Ferries only come in every 6 days with fresh produce etc and theres no bank on the island. P1020510aP1020513a

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We love the names the locals give to their boats.

We ended up staying a couple of nights as it was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. P1020505aP1020507a

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We enjoyed a dinner out at “The Last Bar Before the Jungle”, one of the beach huts at the far end of the bay run by Richard who cooks all the meals himself. He cooked so much food for us that we had left overs for lunch the next day.

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Time to check ouf of the Grenadines and head south.

Relaxing in Bequia

We have spent 4 great days in Bequia relaxing and enjoying the town and the lovely  beaches. We anchored outside Princess Margaret beach in those crystal clear waters and have gone for a few walks in the hills around town.

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There are a lot of nice beaches one being Princess Margarets beach where we are.  There are a lot of yachts in the anchorage while everyone waits for the winds to settle so they can travel on. Some of the locals get around the bay in all sorts of wooden boats with a sail and are very skilled getting about.

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We went for a walk over the hill to Friendship Bay on the South side of Bequia, where the sands are a nice white and the waves were pounding the shore. On our walk over we couldn’t believe the size of some of the houses. Appears that a lot our rental homes in this bay. We stopped at the Bequia Hotel set amongst the Palm trees right on the beach. Nice location. P1020464aP1020459a

We kayaked down to Lower Bay on Sunday, a really popular beach in the afternoon for locals  and yachties. We lazed on the beach until a squall came through and drenched us and everyone disappeared. Eeeek why did we kayak? The winds and rain seem to arrive in the afternoons at the moment. P1020474a

We both really like Bequia and we’ll be back. Heading to Canouan, only a few hours south.

Ready, set, lets go to Bequia

So we spent a number of days in Marin, Martinique trying to find someone to test and hopefully repair our alternator. To make a long story short we purchased a second hand universal mount alternator to get us through until we can rebuild our high capacity Balmar. Yes Brett once again spent time in the engine compartment installing the new alternator and rewiring to jumper past the internal regulator so it could attach to our boat regulator that governs the batteries. Yeah it worked we were charging again. Good job Brett.P1020427aP1020428a

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good time to get this sorted as the weather reports while in Marin were not looking good for continuing south. Thursday mornings report from Martinique to Bequia showed Wind speeds of 19/20 knots, gusts of 20-25 knots, wave height of 2.1 – 2.3 m, wave period of 7-8 seconds (typically a little choppy) but this was much better in comparison to those in the foreseeable future. We knew it would be a little uncomfortable but decided to clear out of customs and get moving.

The passage between Martinique and Saint Lucia was the worst part with winds and gusts between 20 – 30 knots and high seas. We had put reefs in our main and reefed the genoa as needed and Seismic Wave handled it really well at speeds up to 8.7 knots. Going down the Leeward side of Saint Lucia seas were calm and we flew along at 7-8 knots which was incredible given how close to land we were. We will have to come back to Saint Lucia as it looked impressive, especially the Pitons. P1020436aP1020439a

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of our trip was much better apart from a couple of squalls that crossed our path. Radar gives us time to prepare for the blast that usually comes with the squall. We arrived earlier than expected, 3:30am in Bequia as our speeds were higher than we thought we’d get when doing our planning.

After moving the boat to a more sheltered area and clearing in at Port Elizabeth customs we needed a walk so went up to the fort ruins at the entry to the bay to see the views over the bay and look down at Seismic Wave.P1020444aP1020445a

We enjoyed walking along the waterfront where all the vendors line the road selling fruit, veg, music, hats….. you name it. It was really lively with music playing and people just hanging out. We enjoyed lunch along the waterfront and then it was time for a snooze.

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Tobago Cays

We decided the swells in Port Elizabeth, Bequia from the storm were rough and rolly and forecast to be there for a few more days so Tobago Cays bekoned us. Turquoise crystal clear waters for snorkling around to spot the fish and turtles along the coral reefs was so inviting.

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Brett skippered us down the windward side so we would get more experience with the swells, reefing and sail handling in rolly, windy condition. We saw some amazing boats along the way, which we are sure had quite the crew to handle them.

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On arriving at Tobago Cays you see all the boat vendors who go between the yachts, selling wares from fresh fish & lobster to clothing. Their boats are all very unique and colourfully decorated so you remember who you have dealt with.

Mr Arrival

Mr Arrival

We spent 2 days at the Cays lazing amongst the other catermarans and yachts and all the kite/ wind surfers. Maybe theres a reason there are so many kite surfers. We snorkled,swam with the turtles and Brett rode the anchor chain for exercise. The waters were incredible.

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After 2 restless nights from the winds, which seemed to really pick up at night we decided that we needed to head further north. Bretts birthday was also fast approaching and we needed to get to a bar and restaurant to celebrate his special day.