8 April 2011
We went ashore and once again climbed the steep hill up and over to the other side to Salt Whistle Bay. It was here, more than thirty years ago that Undine and her Canadian husband came to build their paradise resort. The bridal couple were staying in one of the houses here, set amongst the mangroves and palms and we joined them, and also Jutta and Jochem for lunch. On our return to the pier we were dismayed to find our tender in a terrible mess. It had become trapped under the rusty steel supports, all the handles scratched, the cover covered in rust. The new outboard cover had been torn, the casing cracked and our bailer was missing. A lesson learned. Next time we will beach the boat! None of us slept that well last night. Yes, you've guessed it. It was so windy, gusts of over 35 knots swept over us and set the mast shaking. The following morning under a leaden sky we headed out of the bay and turned once more to the north. As luck would have it we could just make enough angle on the wind to unfurl the main and motor sail for the 7nm passage to Canouan. I recorded in the ship's log 'is there any such thing as a calm anchorage in the Caribbean'! We plopped our anchor down in a nice patch of sand sandwiched between two superyachts, one a Privilege 75, the other Galileo,a gorgeous ketch. Naturally they are crawling with crew all dressed in their 'uniforms' of white tee shirts printed with the yachts name and beige shorts. We are wearing our white shorts and our t's are emblazioned with Voyageur's logo! We feel so tiny beside them but nonetheless our heads are as big, if not bigger. We have sailed our girl around the globe, just the two of us. Canouan is the Carib word for turtles but the water is so choppy that we do not see any. David and I did not even bother to go ashore. We are having Jenny and John over for dinner tonight. According to Jenny and John we did not miss much. The hotel was rather rundown, an all too familiar story. Moorings have a yacht charter base here and there did seem to be a steady stream of comings and goings. Tomorrow we move on to Bequia and are so looking forward to a four day stop over there. And there is going to be a special celebration. Tzigane will have crossed her outward track, for them the completion of their around the world.....
Susan Mackay