March 2019 – Carriacou, Union, Tobago Cays and Bequia

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 19^th 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…