4 April 2011
Of course we slept soundly not stirring all night. Up at 06.30am we were refreshed, relaxed and ready to leave. There was not a puff of wind in the harbour, it offers such good shelter, but as soon as we headed due north east our thirty knots was back with us blowing straight out of the north east too. We checked at regular intervals for water ingress. The seal was watertight, the locker bone dry. We breathed a sigh of relief. Level with the top of the island the wind increased to forty knots with a confused 'wind against tide' sea, but now at least we could close reach by bearing away to the north. The underwater volcano of Kick 'em Jenny (a corruption of the French Cay qui me gene), lies 7nm off the north east point of Grenada. The water around it is very rough and pilots who fly over here have reported seeing movement under the water and seismic instruments in Trinidad regularly detect it. There are theories that it is growing slowly as it belches, and that eventually another Grenadine may appear. Six hours later we were anchored in Tyrrel Bay, in the south west of Carriacou, on top of sand, with Tzigane, close neighbours once more. Jenny and John had purchased a freshly caught live lobster from a local boat that morning. We had a delicious lobster salad with them that evening.
It takes three to tangle.....
In the middle of the night we were awakened by a commotion. Tzigane's anchor had apparently been fouled by another yacht's anchor chain and they started to drag in the high wind. Lifting their anchor they unwittingly started to tow the other yacht and then became entangled with a third. The biggest nightmare in busy anchorages such as this one, is that the anchor lights on many of the boats are either inadequate or not displayed at all. David and I launched our tender and collecting Jorg from Lady Ev IV who were close by, went over to assist. All three anchors by now had become hopelessly tangled so David and Jorg set out a kedge anchor from Tzigane's bow and waited until daylight when it could all be sorted out. At first light around 6am, one of the skippers dived and managed to free all three boats. Poor Jenny and John were rather shaken and stirred by the whole experience and the boat sustained quite a few scratches to the gel coat, but the most important thing was that nobody was hurt. Later that morning we went ashore and took a local minibus into the main town of Hillsborough. This is always good fun. Loud music blares as we speed along country lanes and the signal for stopping the bus is to give the roof a hard knock with a fist two times. Each island seems to have its own code. In Antigua you shout at the top of your voice "bus stop"! Tiny islets lie off its shores, nothing more than dazzling white sand and a few palm trees which is how it derived its name. Carriacou is an Arawak name for "island of reefs". However the swell caused by cyclone Lenny in 1999 damaged much of it. Hillsborough is the capital of the island, the most southerly of the Grenadines. There is a real peaceful laid back feel to this place and it has a certain rustic quality about it. On the other hand there is a vigorous Scottish heritage in the craft of hand built schooners. Begun by a ship builder from Glasgow, the techniques involved are still the same, but the white cedar used for the vessels has now to be imported from Grenada or elsewhere.
Having completed our checking out procedures we returned back to the boats for another bumpy passage, wind back on the nose, to Union Island 11nm away to the north. The holding in the anchorage off the village of Clifton is claimed to be poor so we were grateful when a local boat boy met us at the entrance in his launch, led us through the reef and helped us onto a mooring buoy. The cost, 80 eastern Caribbean dollars did not seem unreasonable for peace of mind. We enjoyed a quiet dinner on board and turned in early, catching up on our lost sleep from the previous night. As with all the various islands that make up the group of the windward chain, we have to check in and out of each and every dependency no matter how small it is. We checked into Grenada at Grenada and checked out at Carriacou being part of their group. We check in at Union Island for our passage north through the Grenadines and will check out from Bequia. In some cases it involves visiting a couple of offices and more often than not dealt with politely, quickly and efficiently. Not in this case however. David returned from customs and immigration based at the airport, finding the officials surly. It is very rare for David to complain like this. In addition a cruising tax has to be paid. 70 EC Dollars, plus a boarding fee of 35 EC Dollars even although we were not boarded, an on duty fee of 11 EC dollars even although they were still on duty, making a grand total of 116EC Dollars! If this is what we have to pay for the privilege of visiting these beautiful islands then I reckon it is money well spent.....
Union Island is the most southern of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines archipelago. This place brings back a special memory for us. It was our departure point for the island of Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, and our exit from the Caribbean part of our last circumnavigation in 2005. But there is one thing that is constant about this repeat landfall. The last time we had little opportunity to see the island. We came here only to check out of the Grenadines. Once again we are on a tight schedule. Tomorrow is the wedding day of Annette and James of Ocean Jasper on the neighbouring island of Mayreau and again we are only here only to check in with customs and immigration and must push on. But I have made myself a promise that on our return to Grenada for the hurricane season, when we will have "all the time in the world" we are going to stop here in this little gem of a place a little while longer.....
Susan Mackay