Grenada and Carriacou

Grenada

St.Lucia had become almost a second home, well Rodney Bay anyway. The marina is nice enough, but the anchorage is huge, the holding and protection good. However, it was time to move on before we grew roots. 

Rodney Bay Anchorage at Night

 















Our next destination was Grenada to the South. In some ways this was the wrong direction for us, but we had a long standing appointment to meet up with old friends and Ian and Steph had arranged to collect a new anchor. We decided to miss out Bequia and sail overnight direct to the anchorage at St.Georges Bay.

In the lee of St.Vincent the wind dropped to almost nothing, so on went the engine until we cleared the foot of the island. We mostly took it in turns to catnap, but we did have an encounter with a merchant ship. According to our plotter, it was going to get a little close. We hailed the ship to make sure they could see us on radar and when asked for their intentions, the office of the watch said he would alter course to go behind us. About half an hour later it passed in front of us!

The anchorage at St.Georges was busy as expected however, we found a decent gap and got into our usual routine, only this time we could not get the anchor to set as the seabed was mostly coral. It took about an hour of mooching around dropping the anchor and lifting it up again before it finally bit. The next task was to go ashore and clear in which was straightforward. 

That evening we met up with friends Scott and Julia, who we first met on the ARC Rally Portugal in 2012, and enjoyed a few drinks at the local Yacht Club. We arrived at the beginning of Grenada Race Week so it was busy with the racers celebrating the days events. Whilst at the Yacht Club, Ian and Steph bumped into a friend from Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club in Eastbourne. He was crewing on a yacht called Cricket, owned by a Scottish man called Sandy. After introductions, Sandy invited Ian and Steph to crew with him for the remainder of the Race Week. 

We spent those few days cleaning the hull of the boat, doing laundry and provisioning and going to Grand Anse beach to see some of the Work Boat Races.

We joined the crew of Cricket at the celebrations at the end of Race Week in Prickly Bay, for the prize giving ceremony. Cricket and her crew came a respectable third place in their category. Ian was especially pleased as he had managed to get his hands on a much coveted Mount Gay red cap. 

Prizegiving

Party time

Grenada has plenty of sightseeing opportunities however, we made a concious decision to leave those until later in the year when Phill would be coming out to visit, so more on Grenada then.

Carriacou

Next up we headed North to the next island of Carriacou. Close to shore we spotted some shipwrecks!

Oops

Oops again!

 We anchored in Tyrell Bay in calm conditions and went for a swim to cool off. Later on we sat in the cockpit to watch a beautiful sunset.

The next day we went ashore and strolled along the beach. A little way along the beach we started to see dead fish floating in the water as well as washed up on the shore, and a little further along a whole pile of dead sharks. In truth it was an upsetting sight and neither of us got a good vibe about the place. With the wind picking up we returned to the boat, which proved to be a wise move. A little later on we witnessed a catamaran sliding past us and out to sea with no one on board. One of the drawbacks of a crowded anchorage is you often cannot let out enough scope of anchor chain, or you risk swinging into the boat next to you. Anyway, some ribs went past chasing the catamaran and managed to get on board and secure it for the grateful owners who arrived a little later. Neither of us slept well that night as the wind continued to howl, and we witnessed more boats dragging their anchors.

The next day Lynne went ashore with Steph and guest of Nautilus, Ursula. They went into the nearby town of Hillsborough where the residents were getting ready for the Carnival celebrations. Everywhere was decked out in the local colours of red, yellow & green. They had a nice lunch in a pleasant restaurant overlooking the bay and had a wander around.

Hillsborough

 

Hat anyone

Having not entirely enjoyed our stay we decided to clear out the next day and head to Rodney Bay in St Lucia, via Bequia for an overnight stop to break the passage up, oh and have a much fabled pizza at the new Plantation House restaurant! We said our goodbyes to Ian and Steph and promised to catch up with them in St.Lucia.