11 July 1994 Hog Island
I went into Secret Harbour in the morning to book a hire car for tomorrow and send a fax to the bank to sort out Glenys’ missing Gold Card. Glenys and Ceris did school work. After lunch Ceris and Glenys went up to the pig farm. I spend the afternoon putting software on the computer and (touch wood) it seems to be OK apart from about 15 disks that I can’t read. We all went to “Flow” for banana pudding and drinks. Brett and Craig had their first go on a “Nintendo Entertainment System” and played “Super Mario Land” – they loved it, of course!
12 July 1994 Hog Island
I went round to “Flow” first thing and found out that their computer won’t read my dodgy floppy disks either. I can’t reload some software, but at least it appears that my computer is OK. Glenys went riding with “Only Blue” and spent the rest of the day walking “funny”.
We picked up the hire car just before midday and went for a lightning tour of the north part of the island – Gouyave, Sauters, Grenville, and St Georges. I was very surprised how undeveloped the towns are once we were outside St Georges. We arrived at Gouyave at lunch time and there was nowhere to eat so we just drove through.
We went to Sauters and found a baker’s shop where Glenys managed to get a bit of pizza and a few rolls. We looked for Carib’s Leap (where the last Carib Indians threw themselves off a cliff rather than being caught by the colonising French). We think that we found it in a graveyard and, naturally, had lunch amongst the tomb stones! We then had fun trying to find our way back to Grenville and St Georges with the dearth of road signs.
13 July 1994 Hog Island
We went to Annandale Falls and then to Grand Etang National Park. We went for a walk around the lake. Craig had had enough after 15 minutes so Glenys took him back to the car. Ceris, Brett and I carried on for another 15 minutes and then came back. It’s a very interesting walk, but it would take 1½ hours to completely circumnavigate the lake. We went to Grenville for lunch and then travelled back via the SE coast which was interesting.
14 July 1994 Hog Island to Mount Harman Bay
We had to drop the car off at midday, so we went to the shops in the morning. I went to Grand Anse beach and talked to the lady proprietor at Grand Anse Aquatics, but they have just recruited an instructor. She said that the cost of a work permit is $1500EC (£375) for one year and it isn’t possible to get a shorter one. That puts paid to my idea of working for a couple of months.
We took the boat around to Secret Harbour and filled up with water. We then anchored in Mount Hartman Bay which is surprisingly nice. We went to happy hour and I asked Bob about a job, after I pulled his chain about him moving into the Ramada Renaissance Hotel. He acted surprised that I knew, but I told him that the woman from Grenada Aquatics had said that Dive Grenada is just moving further up the beach. He said that he will think about ways to get me work and that I may have a chance at “La Source” – I won’t hold my breath!
15 July 1994 Hog Island to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
Up early and motored along the coast to Ile De Ronde. I was dying to go and do a dive on the Sisters but Glenys vetoed it! We all went to the beach and snorkelled and played about. Ceris found some brown coral on the beach. We’ve now got loads of it on the boat! I collected another load of sand dollars.
After lunch, we motor-sailed to Tyrell Bay. After a bit of minor hassling, I’ve finally got Glenys to start reading the Open Water Manual – I’m dying to train her so that we can do some dives together.
16 July 1994 Tyrell Bay
We motored around to Hillsborough and anchored north of the pier. The sea bed is sand and broken coral and it took us four attempts to get the anchor to hold. Hillsborough is a real one horse town (although the locals call it “The City”.) We had lunch at the Silver Beach Hotel but the diving centre there was closed for the day.
We then went over to Sandy Island for a couple of hours, played on the beach and did some snorkelling – I nearly stood on a scorpion fish which had amazing camouflage. “Filia” arrived and we had a quick chat to Ollie (Margaret had gone snorkelling!) We then motored back to Tyrell Bay.
17 July 1994 Tyrell Bay
I had to strip down and service the aft heads pump in the morning while Glenys did school work and Ceris went for a walk. At lunch time I managed to get hold of Max at Silver Beach Diving and I caught a bus to Hillsborough to see him about a job. Max is just in the middle of final negotiations to buy the dive centre from the present owner. He is the only instructor there at the moment and there is a good chance that he will offer me a temporary job when he has finally completed the deal with the present owner. I said that I would give him a ring in a few days and arrange to call in again on our way back south.
When I got back to Tyrell Bay we all went for a dinghy trip around the mangroves and then went out for dinner at a restaurant. Major success of the day is that Glenys has finished reading Module 1 of the Open Water Course and is ready to do her first confined water session.
18 July 1994 Tyrell Bay to Chatham Bay, Union Island
We sailed across to Chatham Bay which was slow but pleasant. Chatham Bay is very nice but subject to catabatic gusts. After lunch Ceris and the boys went on the beach while Glenys and I did her first confined water session. She did fine and actually enjoyed it. I kept forgetting to explain things to her – I’m glad that I’m doing my first instruction with her and not a stranger! Brett and Craig had fun canoeing on the windsurf board.
19 July 1994 Chatham Bay to Canuoan
What a night. We had 30 knot gusts coming down from the hills making a lot of noise. I had to get up in the middle of the night to check that nothing was in danger of being blown away. We motored over to Canouan which was dead upwind in 20-25 knots of wind – not very pleasant. We anchored in Charlestown Bay which is also subject to “30 knot gusts coming down from the hills” – very unsettling. While we were going astern to dig the anchor in, the dinghy painter wrapped around the propellor. It would have dragged the dinghy under but the engine stalled – oh God!
We had a couple of boat boys asking us if we wanted fish and then if we wanted a diver. I’m afraid my reply was a little terse! I snorkelled down and freed the painter without any problems, and the engine and coupling seem OK. After lunch Glenys, Ceris and Brett went for a quick walk around town. We then went to Little Bay where it was nice and peaceful. The only problem was swell hooking around the corner, so I put out a stern anchor. We were on our own in the anchorage apart from about 20 fisherman camped out on the beach.
20 July 1994 Canouan to Tobago Cays
We had a nice night, but we were woken at six o’clock in the morning by the fishermen going out fishing. We had a very pleasant sail to the Tobago Cays and anchored between Jamesby and Baradal. There were about 30 boats there when we arrived – so much for quiet anchorages in the summer months! Before lunch I went for a zoom around to look for a place to do Glenys’ confined water session. I had the pleasure of seeing a turtle and swimming next to a spotted eagle ray in the shallows off Baradel. I eventually decided that Petit Bateau’s SE beach was ideal.
After lunch we went to Petit Bateau and Glenys did confined water Session 2. She is really starting to enjoy herself and had a great boost when she did mask replacement with no problem. Ceris and the boys played on the beach and Ceris decided that she likes snorkelling. The quiet beach turned into Blackpool while we were diving, when a catamaran dropped off a load of day trippers.