Like others amongst you blog-followers, Bids and Nick knew we had arrived in Carriacou before we sent them a text; it’s tough for us to hide these days! We arranged to meet up the following morning (Monday) in Tyrell Bay, after we had a chance to check into Carriacou (which, together with Petit Martinique, is part of Grenada). The passage from Tobago Cays was short, only 15 miles, but necessitated a stop in Clifton Bay in Union Island so we could check out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The checking out process turned out to be quite straightforward; we managed to find a spot to anchor in the small, fairly crowded, harbor, then took up the offer of a water taxi to take us ashore to save us the bother of launching our dinghy. We quite enjoyed the short walk to the airport so we could get a tiny flavor of the island, but found the overtime fees for checking out at the weekend to be a little steep. C’est la vie! From there it was a nice gentle downwind sail, to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou where we arrived shortly before 3pm.

img_1567Tyrell Bay is a wonderful large protected anchorage but, a bit to our surprise, it had lots of boats either anchored or moored so we had to pick our anchoring spot carefully. We rather liked the easy pace of life in Carriacou. Monday was an orientation day, meeting up with Bids and Nick (and their landlady), familiarizing ourselves with the local very reasonably priced buses, doing a bit of provisioning in the main town, Hillsborough, having a delightful lunch (of Callilou soup in my case) overlooking Hillsborough Bay, and Bids having a swim. Hillsborough had a very real feel to it; people were friendly, local produce was on sale from stalls but the British influence was evident in the little supermarkets and a wonderful little deli where you could readily find Heinz Baked Beans, for example, amongst other British fare. We popped our noses into the local fish market and again, all the fish, including a yellowfin tuna, was freshly caught by locals. We decided that the best way for us to learn as much as possible about the island in a short space of time was to take a guided tour so Nick cleverly arranged for us all to meet Mr Thomas at 10am the following morning and for the tour to include their wonderful little eco friendly studio in the northern end of the island, so they could pick up their bags, and to end in Tyrell Bay at the southern end. What an easy transition onboard Timing it was! Included in the tour was the Princess Royal Hospital, where the photo of Hillsborough Harbor at the top of this blog was taken from, a local boatbuilding operation, a beautiful well made by slaves under French rule, etc. Our guide did a grand job.

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Having checked out on Tuesday afternoon, we departed Carriacou early on Wednesday for Canouan where we checked back into St Vincent and the Grenadines. It wasn’t the most comfortable of passages because we had to do a bit of tacking into fairly lumpy seas, 35 n.miles rather than the 20 originally estimated, but at least the wind wasn’t too strong. Canouen island is sadly divided into a gated community in the north and a smaller portion in the south for all the rest. There was lots of construction going on, the airport runway has already been extended but there is a whole lot more earth-moving going on in the same area, maybe associated with a new marina close to the airport. Apparently there is some good hiking on the island but we didn’t have a chance to check it out because we headed off to St Vincent shortly after 8:00 the following morning.

This slightly longer passage, of about 33 n. miles, turned out to be more enjoyable than expected, mainly because the sea was flatter, and the wind a bit freer enabling us to make fewer tacks. It was such a pleasure having Nick and Bids onboard; Nick seemed to enjoy his time at the wheel, giving Howard a break while Bids and I thoroughly enjoyed catching up where we left off last time…img_1594img_1592Blue Lagoon is at the southern end of St Vincent, near Young Island and the smaller but more distinctive Duvernette Island just off it that is a volcanic plug (per Bids who listened well to our geography teacher, Mrs Young, at St Leonard’s many years ago). Blue Lagoon is protected by a reef surrounding it which has two entrances, one of which is well marked but is too shallow for our 7′ draft and another unmarked deeper southwest entrance that requires local knowledge to navigate. We had been offered the use of a mooring by Barefoot Charters, thanks to Bids and Nick chartering from them over the course of the next couple of weeks, and a pilot to guide us in, which we gladly accepted. While the passage in (and out) was a little scary, we made it unscathed and then had a very comfortable couple of nights in the lagoon where the water was beautifully clear for swimming. Our pilot, Steve, turned out to be the mechanic for Barefoot Charters and he kindly agreed to come back the next morning to help us diagnose a couple of issues we have been having. He arrived when Nick was at the top of the mast, trying to figure out why our Wind index suddenly decided to stop sending wind direction and strength data to the chart plotter. img_1599Having cleaned up the terminals and reassembled it, still no data were received so Steve figured out using a spare wind index that the problem was isolated somewhere between the bottom and top of the mast. Hopefully we can have it sorted when we are in Antigua but it may involve a new windex. The generator is another, ongoing, issue, with each repair guy at different ports, about 5 so far, adding their own touch.

img_1600Hope also had the opportunity to become reunited with with Carolyn, and meet her husband Chris, Bids and Nick’s charter boat companions. It was the first time Hope had met Caro, since being bridesmaids at B&N’s wedding 40 years ago. The four of them are island hopping from St. Vincent to Grenada, where they will leave the boat. Four of them on a Lagoon 38 cat, should be fun.

With relatively settled weather, Howard and I decided to head out yesterday morning for an overnight passage to Deshaies, on the northwest of Guadeloupe. We were happy we did so because we got quite a bit of sailing and some motoring. All-in-all, it was a benign 200nm, approx. 30 hours, trip. Tomorrow we plan to head for Antigua, where we hope to take care of a few boat maintenance issues before meeting up with Cheryll and John on the 27th.