We stayed two nights in Union Island after returning from Tobago Cays. One noon hour we enjoyed lunch at the Barracuda Restaurant with Alain and Sylviane. The owners are an Italian couple, well actually she is the owner and he instructs in free diving, in his youth he was able to dive to 40 meters, that is without breathing equipment. I have a hard time putting my face in the water!

Anyhow after Union Island we sailed to Petite Martinique (PM) for fuel and then on to Petit St. Vincent (PSV) where we caught up with Diana and Gilbert. We dinghied back to (PM) for a walk, a few groceries but more importantly cheap beer and wine as we were informed by a cruiser in Union Island. He was not wrong! We snorkeled, had happy hour aboard Starliner, walked the beaches of PSV with permission as it is a private island and generally laid low for a few days. The weather was quite warm and the anchorage was relatively relaxing save one night when we had winds to 35 kts causing everyone to be awake and checking their anchors.

We stayed anchored off PSV until August 26 when we sailed back to Union Island, cleared out in the morning and then sailed to Tyrrel Bay, clearing in, in the afternoon of the 26th and staying the 27th as well.

I must explain. When you leave one country, you must clear out and when you arrive to another country, you must clear in. Union Island, Tobago Cays and PSV belong to the Grenadines so when you visit them (and than means if you want to visit land you are obliged to clear in). However if you stay on your boat and do not visit the islands (by setting foot on land) then you technically do not have to clear in, just fly your quarantine flag (yellow flag). Tyrrel Bay (on the island of Carriacou) belongs to Grenada. As we will be sailing back to Grenada tomorrow, we cleared in at Tyrrel Bay.

CS'ta Time anchored at Union Island.

The Barracuda Restaurant.

The bar.

Arriving at Petite Martinique.

Boat building is a big industry on PM.

 

The main street on PM, pretty low key here.

 

Clifton, Union Island.

Now that's a mango.

The best way to eat a mango - the messy way!!

 

We plan on leaving Tyrrel Bay with Alain and Sylviane tomorrow morning and arriving in St. George tomorrow afternoon.

Our life in a nutshell over the past few days.

August 18, 2014

Cleared out of Tyrrel Bay. It took longer than expected. Surprised?
Motor sailed to Union Island. It took longer than expected. Surprised?
Cleared in at Clifton, Union Island. It took longer than expected. Surprised?
Happy hour on Happy Island.
Stayed the night in Clifton.

Sailing to Union Island.

 

Downtown.

 

Happy Island.

Jorge with one of the owners of Happy Island.

 

Even the little ones got into the swing of things!

Our entertainment.

 

August 19, 2014

Left Clifton at 1030. Arrived Tobago Cays 1200.
Took the dinghy to shore and climbed Baradal Island. Fantastic pictures.
Before supper we walked Petite Bateau with Alain and Sylviane.

Tobago Cays anchorage.

Baradal Beach, Tobago Cays.

Baradal Island.

View from the top of Baradal Island.

Ditto.

Kim in the water at Baradal Island.

 

August 20, 2014

Snorkeled with Alain around Horseshoe Reef.
Alain and Sylviane joined us for dinner on CS'ta Time (too much wine.)

 

Kim (with the noodle) and Alain snorkeling.

A visitor.

 

Kim, Alain and Sylviane aboard CS'ta Time for dinner.

  

Kim, Jorge and Sylviane.

Jamesby Island, Tobago Cays.

Petite Bateau, Tobago Cays.

 

August 21, 2014

Left Tobago Cays for Clifton at 1000.
Arrived Clifton 1110.
Shopped a bit, had lunch, went back to town for internet to blog.

August 14, 2014

Time to move on! We started preparing to move to Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou, still part of Grenada but one of the islands we missed on the way down.

During our preparations, we weighed anchor to go into GYC and top up with water. No wonder we held so well in the anchorage . . . look what we were hooked on to! A whopping hunk of dead coral! Leave it to us, if there is anything on the sea bed to get our anchor wrapped around, we'll find it.

 

Diana and Gilbert got to St. George anchorage this morning and also prepared to go to Tyrrel Bay with us. We had happy hour aboard their boat before retiring for the evening.

 

August 15, 2014

 

We weighed anchor at 0800. It was like having a shake down sail in the spring after a long winter as we had not sailed since arriving in Grenada on May 10. We did have an issue with the halyard for the main sail being wrapped around one of the spreaders but after an hour Jorge was able to free it and we started on our way.

 

By 1000 I was ready to call it quits. The wind was coming from ENE just where we were headed, gusts to 22 kts and rain! We pulled into Halifax Harbour, Grenada, with Diana and Gilbert right behind us. After reevaluating the situation and checking the weather again, it was decided to continue on to Tyrrel Bay. The rain stopped, the wind shifted a bit and diminished slightly and the rest of the day was quite uneventful. We arrived in Tyrrel Bay shortly before 1800, set anchor and had an early evening.

 

August 16, 2014

 

We had a lazy morning before meeting up with Diana and Gilbert and going ashore after lunch and wandering around. After supper, we visited with Diana and Gilbert aboard Serenada for euchre.

 

August 17, 2014

 

After lunch Jorge and I headed to shore to stretch our legs.



Tyrrel Bay anchorage from shore.

Jorge at Slipway Restaurant (Sunday afternoon everything closed early.)

 

We met up with Diana and Gilbert mid afternoon to explore the mangroves just to the side of Tyrrel Bay.

 

 

Checking out the mangroves with Diana and Gilbert.

More mangroves.

A great hurricane hole . . .

well maybe not for this boat!

Jellyfish with sea urchin.

Lazy Turtle Bar.

Dive shop owned by Canadians from Quebec.

Kim, Gilbert and Diana at Lazy Turtle Bar.

 

Tomorrow Jorge and I are planning on clearing out of Carriacou (Grenada) and going to Union Island to clear in and then to Tobago Cays. Diana and Gilbert are thinking of going around the other side of Carriacou. I'm sure we will meet up with them again!

August 13, 2014 (There are 5 previous posts with lots of pictures to catch up on.)

Shhhhh, listen . . . no music. Grenada has finally stopped partying! I won't say we felt refreshed though after being woken up at 0430 and helping with the missing dinghy.

We went into St. George this morning, got some money from the bank and went wine shopping. We have finally depleted our stock from Florida, mind you we have been buying the odd bottle here and there. Downtown was quiet even compared to a normal business day prior to Carnival. I guess most people will sleep for a week!

We enjoyed empanadas for lunch at the bakery and then proceeded to GYC for good internet.

I think we are going to weigh anchor and head to Carriacou and the Tobago Cays this week. Weather is looking good. Diana and Gilbert are planning on doing the same thing, not sure if we will be travelling together or meeting up with each other once there. Alain and Sylviane left this morning for the Tobago Cays and I believe a few other cruisers are also making the move.

I am presuming it will be a quiet and early evening once we get back to the boat.

Oh, temp has been a constant 27C during the day, 26C during the night, with a gentle breeze and the usual off and on rain showers.

WE SURVIVED CARNIVAL IN GRENADA 2014

Part 4 - Tuesday's parade.

Many of the same participants from yesterday were in today's parade so less pictures today.

The parade ended around 1800 so we were back to the boat by 1830. The partying continued during the evening but because we were so tired sleep came quite easily.

Sleep was interrupted at 0430, not because of the music (it had stopped by this time) but a cruiser came on the VHF radio stating that his dinghy was missing. The owners were not sure if it was stolen or not secured properly to their boat. Jorge lowered our dinghy from the davits into the water and went to assist. He and the dinghy owner toured the local waters but to no avail. We know exactly how they felt, remembering how our dinghy went AWOL in the Bahamas, we had a happy ending however.