The Grenadines, to put it as simply as possible, fall into
two areas, the St Vincent Grenadines (St Vincent, Bequia, Mustique, Canouan,
Mayreau, Tobago Cays, Union, Palm and Petit St Vincent Islands) and the Grenadan
Grenadines (Grenada, Petite Martinique and Carriacou). We had cleared Customs
and Immigration in Grenada and as we wanted to explore as much as we could we
decided we would travel the 20Nm to Carriacou, to clear out. Carriacou was
first a French colony of turtle hunters and fishermen, succeeded by mainly
French farmers who cultivated the land using slaves, from whom the majority of
today’s population are decendant. In addition to these small holdings and
pastures, there is commercial fishing and merchant shipping (or rather
smuggling, a reputation that might be a little exaggerated, but it’s a known
fact that it’s easier to find a rum dealer than a fuel dock in Carriacou).
 |
| Painless view of the bay |
On our trip across we were in the company of Nancy Lu, an Australian
flagged monohull crewed by a couple we had met on our shopping jaunt who were
astounded by our catamarans ability to point high into the wind, they were
convinced we were motor sailing, causing Kevin's chest and pride to puff up like a peacock. 10Nm out we gave “Kick-‘em-Jenny”, an active
(1990) underwater volcano a wide berth and 6 hours later we were anchored in
the very large, busy Tyrell Bay. Dive charters, local fishermen, water taxi’s
and cruisers in tender boats make swimming here a game of chicken.
 |
| The Lazy Turtle restaurant, dive shop and noodling spot |
There are a couple of little restaurants on the shore and a
nice walk to the grocery store, a darn sight smaller than the supermarkets on
Grenada, well stocked but with much less selection, especially of fresh
produce. I bought 2 lettuces here as the 3 Romain lettuces I had bought in
Grenada had become iceberg lettuces, frozen in the fridge, the thermostat seems
to have given up the ghost, one more item for the maintenance list.
The marina is neat and has haul out and storage facilities
for yachts and a small yacht club, the 3 items on their menu that day were,
Fish & chips, Chicken & chips, Goat curry – all bases covered. At least
they had good and free wifi. Laundry facilities had laundry at R150 per load
and this was the most expensive place to dispose of rubbish.
 |
Spectating the Mexican Train
Dominoes game |
It’s a very social Island, there are a number of cruisers
who have swapped their yachts for houses on this Island and together with the
ever-changing string of cruisers who pass through they have loads of fun, we
joined in the noodling class on Wednesday morning, water aerobics with pool noodles
in the shallow water in front of the Dive School, with a mix of English,
Australian, local, Italian and South African participants, chatting and not
paying attention, Kevin says it was like watching 3 episodes of Fawlty Towers
at the same time, hilarious.
 |
| Carriacou @ sunset |
After clearing out and purchasing duty free diesel
and petrol, so much cheaper, we decided to leave the next day rather and spent
a couple of hours learning to play Mexican Train Dominoes at the Slipway
restaurant. Again, we have barely touched the surface of what this Island has
to offer, we will definitely be back to explore during hurricane season too…
We didn’t have long to spend at Carriacou as we were meeting
up with fellow cruisers and South African friends Zak and Magda on Vagabund.
They were on a journey down to Grenada from Florida and we were meeting for a
braai at Tobago Keys, so our next port of call was Clifton Bay, Union Island
where we were going to clear Customs and Immigration for the St Vincent
Grenadines, luckily most of these Islands make it relatively quick and painless
to complete the Immigration and Customs formalities.
 |
| Clifton Bay |
 |
| The bay from Happy Island |
Clifton Bay turned out to be a rather tight circuit around a
shallow reef in the middle of the bay and we were fortunate to find a place to
drop our anchor as another yacht was leaving, a little like a shopping centre
parking lot, while skilfully avoiding the various local “guides” in anything
that might float, wanting to help you pick up a mooring ball, for a fee of
course, not including the charge per night for the mooring ball itself!
 |
| So beautiful |
Ashore
it was a short walk to the airport to complete formalities and already we had
picked up 2 fans, a beautiful golden Labrador and Retriever couple who latched
onto us and followed us everywhere. Sadly, this was merely the beginning of my
heartache at the malnourishment and harsh treatment of various animals and
whilst the general sentiment is that the majority of the Caribbean Islands are
poor and this is to be expected, this Island just seemed so much worse.
 |
| Those lettuces.... |
Our
next objective was to find the fresh produce market because the lettuces we
bought at Carriacou were rotten and as I was supplying the salad for the dinner
in Tobago Cays, lettuce was a major player in the equation.
There were no
lettuces to be found on the Island, but good news, fresh produce was due on the ferry
arriving at 4pm, so after a beer and a smoothie to pass the time, we spent some
quality time with the lovely lady who owns one of the market stalls and also
supports the South African cricket team, when the West Indies Team isn’t
playing of course.
 |
| Happy Island |
She obviously liked us because we got 2 lettuces, a choice
of the new cucumbers and to sweeten the deal she threw in a couple of banana’s
and some nutmegs (the perfect topping for Pain Killer cocktails) but those
lettuces could have been gold bars at that price!!
 |
| Waiting patiently for his turn, popular bar |
Lettuce rich, we putted across the bay to the famous Happy
Island, a bar built on the coral by a local using a huge number of left over
conch shells.
Their signature drink was rum punch, it was delicious, the
setting beautiful, it all kinda took the sting out of the price of those cocktails –Union Island does not feature high on the list of return visits…
 |
South African corner of the bay
MaXScene, Vagabund & Irene |
 |
Kevin swimming under the bridle, we
could see all the way to the anchor |
From here the short hop to the picturesque Tobago Cays,
where Irene was also anchored, so a little South African corner was formed. We
were spoiled by Zak and Magda with their hospitality as well as experience as
they introduced us to the inhabitants of the Islands, the beautiful Iguana’s
and hermit crabs and then the snorkelling of the reef with its crystal clear
warm water, turtles and colourful fish (and I got to make that damn salad at
last). We were joined on the 2nd day by Karen and Graham on Red Herring and
then in the blink of an eye we were all on our way in different directions once
more – the cruising life indeed.
 |
| I love these little crabs, they are so animated |
 |
| Zak & Magda showing us the sights |
 |
| These Iguana's are so ugly yet so beautiful |
 |
| How beautiful is that bay behind us |
 |
| Denzel & Carla with Irene in the setting sun |
 |
| Bequia - a nice big anchorage |
 |
Interesting abandoned houses as we entered the bay,
reminded me of the Hobbit |
Kevin and I headed straight for Bequia (pronounced Bek-way),
we planned to complete the clearing out formalities here before sailing to the
BVI. We met up with a wonderful South African couple, Johann and Nelia of Wind
Kat and they gave us a whirlwind tour of this quaint little Island, introducing
us to people and places, best stores for best prices and restaurants for food
and all this while they were getting ready to receive charter guests, amazing
people.
 |
| @ the Yacht Club |
 |
| Main beach road |
Bequia is volcanic in origin and has a population of around
5000, mainly African ex-slaves and a mixture of European, Scots and French.
Sadly whaling was introduced by New Bedford fishermen in the 19th
century and while it is extremely stringently policed by the international
community, there are rare traditional events where a whale is still caught,
there are however active campaigns on the go to stop this altogether.
 |
| Lost and found lol |
 |
| So many beautiful crafty things for sale |
 |
| The famous Wind Kat |
Our stay here was always going to be short but you guessed
it, we will definitely be back, and 2 days later, waving goodbye once more to
Irene and Red Herring who had arrived the day before, we were off, BVI here we
come…
