|
|
Trip Report #4: The GrenadinesFiled from Trinidad10 40.65 N 61 38.26 WMarch 15, 2005
Photo: The Gingerbread Hotel in Bequia We left St. Lucia on March 2, 2005, after provisioning in Rodney Bay. At 3:45 am, we pulled up the anchor and motored out, heading for Bequia (pronounced beck wee, with the accent on the first syllable), a 70 mile sail. The wind was on our port quarter and sailing was pleasant until we passed the southern tip of St. Lucia and headed into the 30 miles of open ocean between St. Lucia and St. Vincent. Both wind and waves were on the port bow and we were sailing a close reach in pretty high waves. It was a pretty rough sail and we were glad to finally get into the lee of the island of St. Vincent, a very mountainous and lush, green island. We had just settled into a nice reach when fog rolled over the mountains and we were hit with a squall with hard rain and 30 knot winds. Visibility was pretty close to zero and we shortened sail and turned on the radar. By the time we finished doing that, the squall had moved on, the sun came out and we continued reaching along the beautiful coast of St. Vincent. We had decided not to stop there, because we had heard many reports indicating that tourists were not really welcomed in St. Vincent and that security and harassment could be an issue. But, as we passed this beautiful island, we were really tempted to stop. Perhaps we will stop on the way back north. One of the main anchorages here, Wallilabou, will be closed for a month in March/April for the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean II", the same harbor where the first movie was filmed.
Photo: The vegetable market in Bequia The 21 mile ocean passage between St. Vincent and Bequia was a piece of cake, a beam reach in 20 knots of wind over 4 foot waves, and we arrived in Admiralty Bay at about 4:30, in time to anchor and note that friends on Minaret and Shadowfax were also anchored in the bay. Admiralty Bay is a huge bay with room for hundreds of boats and good holding in sand. Hotels, restaurants, customs, yacht services and chandleries, markets and boutiques line the waterfront. The people of Bequia are friendly and helpful, and although there are boat vendors here as in St. Lucia, we did not feel besieged by them, as we did in St. Lucia. Photo: Tom "blends" in the town square on the harbor in Bequia So far, most everything but rum is expensive in the eastern Caribbean. Most of the vegetables that we are used to, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, many salad greens, come to the island by freighter, and the price reflects that. Tomatoes, for example, were about $4.00 a pound. We tried some of the local vegetables. Dasheen, which is a hairy round tuber that looks something like a rutabaga, and is peeled and cooked like a potato, tasted like a sticky, thick version of a potato. In some of the pacific islands, the natives make poi from it. We did not develop a taste for it. The local sweet potato is better tasting and not as sticky. We did, however, like the plantains, which look like bananas but taste entirely different. We sliced them thinly and fried them until browned on both sides. We salted them lightly and then had them as a snack, similar to potato chips, and they were very good. Just about every restaurant and snack bar sells rotis, which are curries of beef or chicken served in a large wrap, like a soft tortilla. These are very tasty and can never be eaten by one person. We always shared one and each of us had plenty to eat for a total of $6.00. A word of caution, however: the quality varies. We had one in Castries on St. Lucia that was loaded with grease and contained skin, bone and gristle - very unappetizing and, in our opinion, mostly inedible. All others, however, have been delicious. Since we've been in the Caribbean Islands, we've seen the "green flash" twice, once in Rodney Bay and again in Bequia. Peg was skeptical about this phenomenon, but has been turned into a believer. In the last seconds before the sun goes below the horizon, it turns from orange to green. We have not observed a flashing green color arrayed with fingers of green light coming out of the sun, but we have observed a green sun for just a flash of a moment. It was more noticeable using binoculars. We were not able to capture it on film.
Photo: Sunset in Bequia, seconds before the "green flash" We had an interesting, some would say embarrassing, experience in Bequia. We had a wonderful dinner with friends, Lynne and Graham on Minaret, leaving their boat well after dark. Tom had worked all that day on getting a new anchor light working that would be photosensitive, turning itself on after dark. One does, however, have to flick the switch on before it will do that. Not only had we not done that, we forgot to take a flashlight with us. When we left Minaret, we headed back across the harbor and could not, for the life of us, find our boat. We correctly identified a beautiful boat called Magic Carpet, whose outline we could clearly see in the moonless, dark night. We knew our location in relation to Magic Carpet, but no amount of criss-crossing the anchorage in that area brought us any closer to Starboard Home. We finally went back to Minaret, and were very thankful to be able to find them, and borrowed a "torch", as they call it. With a little light on the subject, we quickly found our boat. We vowed never to leave the boat at night without making certain the anchor light was on and that we had a flashlight with us. We found out the next day that Magic Carpet had re-anchored and were lying to starboard of us rather than two football fields in front of us. The next day, (after returning the "torch" to Graham), Starboard Home and Minaret sailed off to the Tobago Cays. The Tobago Cays are designated a national park. The islands are uninhabited and they are protected by Horseshoe Reef. Anchoring is permitted in sand only and there was plenty of room for the many boats anchored there. It was a comfortable anchorage with wind coming off the Atlantic and very little swell in the anchorage. It was a little disconcerting, though, looking out over the waves breaking on the reef and realizing that the little ring of coral was all that was protecting us from wind and waves between us and the African coast. Local boat vendors approach with offers to sell fish, bread, ice, and lobsters. We were able to buy fresh baguettes for $2.00 US every morning. And we bought fresh tuna for $4.00 a pound, filleted and ready for cooking. Photo: Anchored behind Horseshoe Reef, Tobago Cays, Grenadines The water in the Tobago Cays is absolutely clear and beautiful. It reminded us of many beautiful places in the Bahamas. We snorkeled on the reef and saw many specimens of coral, although much of it was damaged by recent hurricanes. There is no fishing in the park, of course, and so there were plenty of colorful reef fish to admire and many turtles swimming through the area. We hiked along paths in the hills on land and had good views of other reefs, such as the End of the World Reef and Egg Reef. Just about every island has a gorgeous stretch of beach and we saw many boaters enjoying a barbecue on the beach, sometimes hiring a group of locals to cook for a large party.
Photo: Starboard Home at anchor in Union Island, Grenadines We left the Cays, Minaret going north and we sailing the short distance to Union Island, where we would check out of the Grenadines. Clifton, the main port on Union Island, is protected by a reef. There is room for many boats to anchor there, and you can either anchor in fairly deep (35-40 feet) water or close up to the reef in shallow water. The town was very pleasant to walk through, with bakeries, vegetable stalls, gourmet food shops and souvenir shops on the main street.
Photo: Main Street in Union Island After checking out of the Grenadines, we headed south to anchor in one of the bays on the southern coast of Grenada. Many cruisers told us that Grenada is building back structures, marinas, and services that were damaged during the hurricane, and that they are making great progress. We did not do any sightseeing there, because of time limitations, but expect to stop on our way north again. Grenada is a beautiful island with so many delightful anchorages. We had already checked out of the Grenadines and had not checked into Grenada and so were only able to anchor under the yellow quarantine flag and did not go ashore. We stopped in Woburn Bay, a delightful bay with a well marked entrance, and anchored behind Hog Island. We don't know if there are any hogs there, but we do know that there are plenty of goats. We could see them grazing on the island and could hear them bleating in the evening. It was a great place to stop for a swim and a good night of rest before our overnight sail to Trinidad.
Photo: Woburn Bay from the anchorage behind Hog Island
Photo: Tom grills dinner at Hog Island, Grenada We will leave tomorrow evening for the 90 mile sail to Trinidad. 73s,88s, love & hugs Peg and Tom s/v Starboard Home
|
|
Grand Daughters' web pages: Anna's Home Page, Anastasia's Home Page Isabelle's Home Page
|
