26 December 2011 Hog Island to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
I dragged everyone out of bed at seven o’clock and we left the anchorage half an hour later. There wasn’t much wind, so we motor-sailed along the south coast of Grenada and up the leeward side. It was fairly calm, but the motion made Tash feel queasy, so she slept most of the way.
The wind picked up as we past the north end of Grenada, but it was straight on the nose, so I decided to continue to motor in order to get to Ile de Ronde as quickly as possible, because Tash was still suffering.
We anchored in Ile de Ronde, but we were rolling more than at sea because the swell was hooking around the corner. The youngsters all jumped overboard and went snorkelling for half an hour, while Glenys and I sorted out lunch and tidied up – six people make a lot of mess. They came back raving how clear the water was and that they had seen lots of fish. We had a quick lunch and then set sail for Tyrell Bay.
I attempted to sail for a hour, but we were being pushed east by the current and the motion was worse for Tash, so I put the engine back on and motored for the anchorage.
I'd put out my normal three fishing lines and everyone had drawn lots to “own” one of the lines. Brett had the rod, Craig had the hand line and Tash had the birds. The only bite that we had was a few miles out of Carriacou when a big Wahoo took Tash’s lure. She hauled it in and I managed to drag the four foot thrashing fish onto the back deck, but before I could whack it with the billy, it did a huge flail, bit through the steel trace and squirmed over board – I was gutted. Craig managed to get it all on video (see video section) and they all though that my rage was funny.
Tyrell Bay wasn't too crowded and the water was calm, so Tash soon recovered. We went out for a meal. Most of the restaurants were closed, but we managed to get a meal in the Lambi Queen. They'd already shut, but a Scandinavian group also wanted a meal so they reopened. A young girl came and took our order from a limited choice of chicken or fish with rice or chips. I ordered fish with rice and the everyone else ordered chicken and chips. Theirs arrived an hour later and then the chef came over and said that they had no fish and no rice, so I had chicken and chips - typical Caribbean efficiency.
27 December 2011 Tyrell Bay to Tobago Cays
We had another early start, aiming to get to the Tobago Cays and just as we were leaving Tyrell Bay, Tash caught a nice small Jack. We motored around to Hillsborough, where I checked out us out of Grenada. The anchorage was incredibly rolly and it was a real mission getting everyone on shore. The town was closed for a holiday, but Glenys and the others managed to find an open supermarket to get essentials - soft drinks and bread.
We motor-sailed upwind towards Union Island. The wind was gusting 25 knots and had kicked up very nasty steep waves, so it was a real bash. Tash was now under the influence of Sturgeron and slept most of the way, waking every so often to ask us to kill her. However, half way across to Union, she managed to pull in a nice little barracuda and just outside Clifton harbour, Craig hauled in a nice 3lb barracuda. Brett is still waiting.
We anchored off the man-made bar and, while the others went snorkelling, I zipped off to clear into St Vincent and the Grenadines. They charged me $275EC (£70) at the customs and then the immigration wanted $50 EC for overtime – I only had $280EC in my wallet. I was told that the only cash machine on the island was out of money, so I had to go back to the boat for some cash and then walk out to the airport again to pick up our passports. Just to make it all perfect, I got drenched in a rain squall.
We had lunch and set off for the Tobago Cays, actually managing to sail for an hour across to Mayreau. Then it was engine on again to motor upwind into the Cays. It wasn't too crowded and we managed to get a nice spot in three metres of water, close to the roped off area for the turtles.
Everyone was excited when a turtle popped its head up and we all quickly jumped into the water to go snorkelling, except Glenys who stayed on board to run the water maker and tidy up. We saw Green Turtles and Southern Sting Rays and Brett even saw a Spotted Eagle Ray.
We had barracuda for dinner.
28 December 2011 Tobago Cays
It was very windy night last night and the anchorage was bouncy in the morning, but everyone seemed to cope alright and ate a hearty breakfast.
We went snorkelling on the reef for an hour and a half. The water was very clear and everyone saw lots of fish – Craig and Kristen saw a nurse shark which was exciting for them.
The rest of the day was spent chilling out, reading and snorkelling in this idyllic place.
29 December 2011 Tobago Cays to Saline Bay, Mayreau
After breakfast, we sailed downwind to Saline Bay, which is a lovely anchorage with a beach fringed with coconut pam trees – very Caribbean.
I persuaded everyone to go for a walk. We walked to the windward side of the island where there is a lovely beach and great views of the reefs stretching out to the Tobago Cays. It was very pleasant strolling along the beach, but then we had to walk through trees following a faint path around the island. At times the path was overgrown and we had to push our way through thorny bushes. Everyone picked up a few scratches from the nasty spikes.
Eventually, we came out to the beach at Salt Whistle Bay and then had to grind up the steep road to the top of the hill where there is a pretty little church and a great view of the Tobago Cays. From there it was a quick walk down the hill and into a small restaurant overlooking Saline Bay. I thought that it was a pleasant little walk, but the others were exhausted. The cold drinks and lobster sandwiches went down well.
Everyone chilled out in the afternoon.
30 December 2011 Saline Bay to Chatham Bay, Union Island
It was very rolly in the morning, so we left after breakfast. We sailed to Clifton and anchored off the outer reef by the bar. The wind was blowing 25 knots from the east, so we all got soaked going into town. We picked up some more cash out from the hole in the wall and did some shopping – fresh vegetables and essentials from the supermarket – beer & bread of course.
Back on the boat, we dried off and sailed downwind to Chatham Bay. It took us three attempts to anchor. The first place that we tried - under the cliffs at the east of the beach, seemed to be broken coral because the anchor just dragged. We then tried again in the middle of the bay, but the boats were swirling around so much in the huge gusts, that we ended up too close to another yacht. Third time was better.
After lunch, I took Brett on a scuba dive. It was his first dive for 12 years and he did very well. He was extremely confident and had good buoyancy control. We had a good dive and spotted some nice fish and a good sized lobster - unfortunately I'd left my lobster snare behind.
I filled the scuba tanks and read a book while the others played Uno, hiding down below away from the shrieking gusts of wind that plague this anchorage. When Glenys went shopping in Clifton, the only meat that she found was frozen “chicken backs”. Unfortunately, these turned out to be chopped up carcases with no meat and only suitable for making soup stock, so we had chunky vegetable soup for dinner with a mountain of bread. Glenys has become very adept at producing a meal from dubious ingredients so it was tasty and filling.
31 December 2011 Chatham Bay, Union Island
We decided to re-anchor closer to the shore, so that everyone could more easily go snorkelling. It took us three attempts again –the anchor dragged in broken coral and rocks the first time and the second time we trapped the anchor under a huge rock, but the third time we managed to hit a lovely big patch of sand.
Today was a diving day. I took Craig, Kristen and Tash to the beach and gave them a short lesson in scuba diving before their first dive. I then took them out to the headland and did a 30 minute dive with each of them, inter-spaced with filling the tanks. They all really enjoyed the experience. This is the first time that I’ve done three dives in a day for years and I was knackered by the end of it.
We went to a New Year’s Eve party at a small beach bar, where we had goat stew and barbequed chicken with plantains and breadfruit salad – very nice. The rum punches that we were drinking seemed to get stronger as the night went on and we all became very “happy”. The people running the bar kept the party going with conga, limbo dancing and other games. We managed to pour ourselves into the dinghy and miraculously made it back to the boat without drowning anyone before midnight.
We celebrated the New Year on Alba and, in a drunken haze, I decided to set off an emergency parachute flare which was very impressive, if highly illegal.
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