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Aislig Bheag - Grenadines Jan 2015



 John returned to the boat in early January with friends, Derek and Kathleen who were joining us for two weeks.  Anna and Jen left us to continue on their travels.

On our last day in St Lucia before heading south, we were joined by my good friend Frances and her husband George who were stopping in St Lucia for the day during their cruise aboard a large cruise ship.

Grenadines  7th – 27th January

John, Eilidh and I together with the new crew, Kathleen and Derek headed south to Granada, sailing overnight in two watches.  We arrived in St George’s, Port Lois around tea time on 8th January.  The following day we enjoyed a full day taxi tour of the island with Andy, our driver showing us all the interesting sights.  We really enjoyed the variety Granada had to offer including a guided tour of their spice gardens.

Next we headed 45 miles north to the island of Carriacou and anchored in Tyrell bay. We  fell in love with this un-spoilt island with a population of about 7000 and very low crime rates.  Again we hired a local taxi driven by Vincent who clearly enjoyed showing off this lovely island.  We stopped for a swim and lunch at Paradise Bay which really lived up to its name.   The day was rounded off by dinner in the Lazy Turtle overlooking the bay.  The following morning John took the dinghy ashore to check out and unfortunately the outboard motor chose this trip to break down leaving john heading rapidly towards a reef with oars that wouldn’t row!  All was well when a fellow sailor offered a tow and a local engineer fixed the outboard allowing John to complete the task in hand. 

Next stop was 10 miles north to Clifton on Union Island.  Dropping anchor in a particularly busy and windy bay wasn’t helped by boat boys assuring us our anchor was too small to hold us in this wind.  (They were very keen for us to accept one of their moorings which we had heard weren’t the most reliable).  Once safely anchored, we took a water taxi to the most amazing beach bar yet, built on a reef in the middle of the bay.  There we were treated to the most amazing entertainment of two kite surfers performing acrobatics round and over the bar and at times over each other.  After 3 potent rum and cokes on an empty stomach I barely made it back to the boat and certainly wouldn’t without the help of my friends ‘lifting’ me onto the boat.  The following morning we headed out to Tobago keys which certainly lived up to all the pictures in the brochures.  Shallow bays of clear turquoise water with turtles swimming below the boat.  Kathleen was grinning from ear to ear having realized a dream of swimming with the turtles.  We also had fun with the hammocks and swing seats suspended out over the sea on whisker poles.  The night was also awesome as we dined on deck under the starts with the absence of light pollution again making the sky a wondrous sight.

 The following day we headed a further 20 miles north to Bequia, an island similar in size and population to Carriacou.  We anchored in Port Elizabeth.  Again we were spell bound by its natural beauty as we enjoyed a short tour in an open backed taxi with us sitting on bench seats as we sped through the lush green hills where history tells us many Scottish settlers made it their home.  We ended the day by dancing the night away to the sounds of a local steel band with Kathleen showing the local Rastafarian with dreadlocks down to his ankles a thing or two! 

We next headed north to St Vincent where we moored in Wallilabou Bay, the setting of ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean’ film.  I was a little disappointed at the level of neglect I saw in what had once been a lively tourist attraction some five years previous when I visited on a cruise.  The customs process was also quite complex as after clearing in we then had to get  a 15 minute taxi ride to the next town to have our passports stamped by a policeman who informed us this was a job that had been landed upon them hence requesting a payment over and above what we had already paid at the clearing in.  Having spoken to other sailors, they too had the same experience.  Eilidh, Derek and Kathleen had a more positive experience in a small beach bar where the aging bar tender expressed his extreme displeasure at how the bay had been allowed to deteriorate and visitors not made welcome. His generosity and spirit was a saving grace for the others but John and I didn’t leave St Vincent, eager to return.  John agreed to taking two friendly young Czech travelers on the next leg of the journey, 75 miles north back to St. Lucia to drop Kathleen and Derek off for their homeward journey. 

Alison 



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