A little Behind in the Grenadines

(As per usual we have not found internet easily so we are a week or two behind as it were. We hope to attach photos soon too.)

Happy birthday, Dodo. Happy birthday, Pat. Happy Valentine’s Day.

We’re still in the same country but we are now in the Grenadines part of St Vincent and the Grenadines. These small islands depend on the tourist industry and welcome visitors. They are very beautiful. Our first port of call was Port Elizabeth in Admiralty Bay, Bequia (Beck-way). We celebrated 200 days of living aboard Sal Darago. We had arranged to meet up with some friends on “Yara”, whom we’d last seen in Madeira and with whom we had a long running joke about a cup of tea they were making for us. I was suffering with the largest cold sore ever right on my bottom lip, which wasn’t sure whether it was a mouth ulcer or a cold sore and swelled up internally and externally. I had managed to buy a tube of Zovirax which cost about the same as a bottle of brandy! The treatment was working and I didn’t look too awful when we met up with Poll and Kyra from “Yara”. It was great to exchange news with them as they were travelling north and had already spent some time in the Grenadines. We also met up with Guido again and saw that he is still sleeping with all his hatches closed in spite of the heat.

We were sad not to have a chat with Freya and James from “Otahi”, whom we saw behind us as we left Port Elizabeth in strong, gusty winds. We anchored at Petit Nevis which was once a whaling station. We saw the ruins, walked on the palm fringed beach, found a green coconut, walked along an old road with a well-maintained, stone wall and snorkelled off the pier. Later we made our way to Friendship Bay on the south side of Bequia, where there is a secluded resort. We had a couple of juices in their beach bar, looking out to the islands of Petit Nevis and Mustique, watching the waves lapping only a few feet away. Later, they let us fill our containers with water from the hotel kitchen.

The next morning, Jeremy weighed our bow and stern anchor. As we left a strong gust of wind flipped our dinghy and we were still in the shelter of the bay! The squall which followed brought gusts up to 39 knots and heavy rain. Several more squalls followed as we made our way slowly and uncomfortably to windward towards the uninhabited islands of Battowa and Baliceaux. We anchored in Landings Bay, but going ashore was out of the question in the heavy swell. We hauled the dinghy on the roof, had a quick snack, made sandwiches for lunch and set off towards Mustique. We stopped at Mustique only to take photographs. You probably know that the island is privately owned and has homes of many celebrities. It is very exclusive – a week on a premier estate costs US$150,000! Minimum mooring charges are a mere US$50 but we didn’t stop to find out the cost of a glass of beer! We continued south to Canouan and anchored in Endeavor Bay, where the snorkelling was good and the small beach inviting until you realised you’d just missed being flattened by a giant earth mover/bulldozer! The adjoining bay has a cement works and huge heaps of sand so we don’t understand why the bulldozer comes so close to Endeavor Bay beach. We had a walk round the centre part of Canouan. The whole of the north of the island is the Raffles Resort. After gaining permission at the barrier, we were allowed to skirt the edges of the resort on our walk. The main form of transport is by oversized golf buggies. Jeremy thought he’d just walked on to the set of “The Prisoner”. There was certainly a feeling of being in another world, a beautifully manmade world of thatched beehive beach huts, tennis courts and secluded cottages set against a natural azure lagoon looking out to the Atlantic Ocean breaking on the protective reef. Wow!

We were soon in a fabulous azure setting in Sal Darago, sheltered only by Horsehoe Reef and a few uninhabited islands. We were in the Tobago Cays Marine Park. Many yachts were anchored or moored in this amazing place. We walked right round three of the islands and across one. They all had white sand beaches and palm trees. We saw iguanas one metre long with orange spines down their backs, swam with turtles and watched them feeding and saw a ray sweep past beneath us as we snorkelled. Absolutely amazing.

We were fascinated by a small, palm fringed island called Petit Tabac on the Atlantic side of Horseshoe Reef. We couldn’t get there by dinghy as it was too shallow on the reef so we went round the reef with Sal Darago the next day and anchored. The water was crystal clear, the beaches soft and white and we learned how to split a coconut husk. It would have been perfect had I not slipped and fallen into the dinghy hitting the plastic seat full force with the hard part of my chest. I lay still for a few moments wondering if I could breathe. Once I realised I could, we had to get out of the surf and row back to the boat.

We’re still in the Tobago Cays Marine Park anchored off an inhabited island called Mayeau. Our neighbours from La Restinga, El Hierro, were anchored in the bay on their yacht, Argo. We had a drink with them and exchanged news. We were very pleased they had crossed the Atlantic safely. Last year their yacht sank 7 days away from Barbados and they were rescued by an Irish yacht. Tomorrow, we’re going to walk the length of the one road to Saltwhistle Bay and back.