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Flamboyant tree |
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MOONHOLE :
Original house (under arch) as seen from ARGO
Owner's house;
notice stalagtites on ceiling
Another house
 
At the "bar" atop ridge
Original house under rock arch at top left
Scratching pet tortoise's back (goes into a trance).
Worried: he likes anything red - hibiscus flowers, toenail polish . . .
- - -
Typical mom 'n pop store |
THE GRENADINES - JUNE 23, 2004:
Under the same government as St. Vincent, The Grenadines
include several smaller islands, namely Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau, Union, Tobago Cays, and
Petit St. Vincent (PSV). They lie in relatively close proximity
to each other, making for a nice cruising area and, since it's all the same
country, we don't have to clear in/out of customs/immigration in between
each.
We spend 2 weeks in
BEQUIA, anchored at Princess Margaret Beach in
Admiralty Bay.
It's a very quaint and secure feeling town, with picturesque walkways along
the beach and through town. Deborah celebrated her big 5-0 birthday
here, with a promise of celebrating in a big way in Tobago Cays. At
this point we were without our laptop and used the internet cafe - here a
bargain, buying 5-hour packages for US$15.
Although having been to Bequia a couple
of times before, we
had never explored the island away from the main town of Port Elizabeth.
A highlight was visiting Moonhole, which occupies the hard-to-reach southern
"peninsula" bordered on 3 sides by the Caribbean and Atlantic waters.
Moonhole is a series of 20 houses perched on the sheer cliffs made out of the
existing natural rock, stone and wood. The original house was built by
an American architect but abandoned when a boulder fell down into his
bedroom. Now his son, and his wife, own Moonhole (strict interview
procedures are used for becoming a home owner). Rain water is caught,
sanitation filtered through rocks, only solar power (no wind or diesel
generators as too noisy). Our tour ended with rum punch at the crest
of the ridge with a breathtaking view of water on all 3 sides - truly a
spectacular place to live, if you can do without the creature comforts.
Makes living on a sailboat look quite modern, but of course they have more
room!
We hiked south to Friendship Bay through muddy goat
pastures to find the bar/restaurant closed; took a local bus to the south
side and sampled "local" rum punch (whew!), saw small model boats used for
racing and saw the whaling station at the nearby island (whaling is legal in
Bequia); hiked up to Tantie Pearl's for a great local lunch (a short but
aerobic hike straight-up with a dynamite view of Admiralty Bay). We hiked
north to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, where Brother King takes turtle eggs
and rears both hawksbill and green turtles till they are old enough to have
a better chance of survival, about 2 years. The turtles tend to nip at
each other and a purple solution and isolation "pens" help each heal.
His rather large "pet" turtle (he supposedly takes it out for swims) he has
had for about 8 years and plans on releasing next year (it had some problem
which kept is confined longer than usual).
A gastronomical highlight we always
look forward to in Bequia is eating at Mac's Pizzeria, with excellent
lasagna and pizza (it's famous for lobster and garlic pizza, but lobster is
out-of-season now), up the hill overlooking the spotless beach. The last night's ritual in
Bequia is always at Mac's. The New York Bar is THE hangout (cruisers
and locals) boasting the cheapest AND coldest beer in town. Sunday
afternoons are spent at De Reef, a bar on the beach where the Honky
Tonics play (remember, they played for Dick's birthday party in Rodney Bay,
St. Lucia).
Jo (s/v Remedy) and I, both after having no-hair-care in 10 months, went to Emma's
for a trim - Emma, a former London-based stylist, here styles under a
thatched canopy with a sand floor. Great cut at the right price.
We leave Bequia. We bypass Mustique, although we
would have liked to visit it again. Mustique, a privately owned island
with residents like Mick Jagger, Rachel Welsh and David Bowie,
essentially "closes down" for the month - it obviously doesn't need the
cruisers!
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Friendship Bay
(Group L-R: Jo, Tim, Dick, Steve)
 
"That's the ugliest damn house I've ever seen!" "Blends
so naturally into it's environment . . . NOT!"
Babies at Turtle Sanctuary
The New York Bar: L-R Steve, Tim (Merlin), Dick &
Jo (Remedy)
Haircut by Emma |
West coast: Charlestown anchorage
South coast: Tobago Cays, Mayreau, Union, Carriacou |
From Bequia we check out
CANOUAN
(JULY 10) for the first
time, anchoring in Charlestown Bay, where an attractive new Moorings base is
now located. The north half of the island has fairly recently been
bought by Italian investors (Donald Trump supposedly now is part investor).
It was off-limits to visitors due to renovations, but after hiking the south
and east coasts of the island, we unintentionally sneaked in the "back door"
and got a good look around at the sprawling resort and casino grounds.
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East coast: Private resort additions
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Enjoying "Salt
Whistler's Dreams"
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Next onto Salt Whistle Bay in
MAYREAU (JULY 11), one of our
favorite anchorages from charter/bareboat days, years ago. Last year, our
visit reminded us of a Puerto Rican July 4th. Fortunately this time,
it was much more sedate with only a few boats anchored. Salt Whistle
Bay is a half moon spit of land affording a protected view of Tobago Cays, a
pristine white beach fringed in palm trees, and a restaurant with thatched-covered
stone tables hidden in the trees - you really expect to see the Mad Hatter
darting around! We spend 2 enjoyable days/nights here and move on. |
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An anchorage at
Clifton, Union Island, in between
the many reefs; Tobago Cays in
background
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We make a day stop in Clifton,
UNION ISLAND to pick
up our newly repaired laptop and to top off on fresh provisions as we head
to the "remote" Tobago Cays.
Ahhhhh,
TOBAGO CAYS (JULY 13-25) - at
long last we are back! It is
such an awesomely beautiful place.
We previously visited here in
August 2003, and return here
again a few weeks later (see below). This is one of the finest places in
the Eastern Caribbean - 5 small, uninhabited islands, sparkling clear light turquoise
water, best snorkeling on limitless reefs with lots of fish
and coral right off the
boat. While here, Jo (s/v Remedy) and Deborah had a beach BBQ
birthday party: Larston, the local rastafarian
(he lives on the island under a
tent) arranged a pit grill and
participated in singing when the
rest of us were at a lost for words,
i.e., too much rum. We also
met a bunch of new cruisers at a
bring-your-own-meat-to-grill-plus-side-dish-to-share
beach party, and put together a
13-boat dinghy raft-up 'n float
happy hour across the Cays - boy,
did we get the eye from the charter
boats.
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BIRTHDAY PARTY
 
Not a bad
setting for a party
Tim (s/v
Merlin) & Dick (s/v Remedy) |
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Happy Island |
After 10 glorious days in Tobago Cays, we head
back to
Clifton,
UNION ISLAND (JULY 26)
to clear out of customs/immigration, have lunch and spend the night.
With Dick & Jo, we have a 4-hour lunch on
Happy Island, a teeny-tiny island owned
and built by Janti. Janti has built his island on top of a reef using
conch shells and sand from the immediate area (and concrete) over the past 2
years. He lives here, has a handful of tables (reservations are
necessary for meals so he can do the shopping in advance)
and drinks anytime, several hammocks
strung up, he just put in a
garden and is adding to his "sanitation" system
- 3 pits that I mistook for empty
but fragrant fish/lobster tanks. Our meals were served
family style (local cuisine) and included a huge amount of seasoned and
grilled fish and chicken, local vegies au gratin (VERY good), rice, beans,
salad and scrumptious local mangos, papaya, pineapples. Rum punch was
especially good made from all fresh local fruit . . . not too sweet, not too weak
. . .
The meal and setting were soooo Caribbean! |
Steve (squinting),
Deb, Dick & Jo (s/v Remedy)
at lunch on Happy Island |
Our group assisting
on launching
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JULY 26 - AUGUST 4, 2004: The next day, we head to Tyrrel Bay,
CARRIACOU, a part of Grenada, for
their annual Carriacou Regatta week. We attended last year (August
2003) and met a lot of cruisers, and since we're still in the vicinity
wanted to attend again. It was great meeting up with old friends and
meeting a whole lot of new cruisers. Although there are racing events
for cruisers, it is primarily for the brightly painted local work/fishing
boats and Carriacou sloops. Several land-based activities for cruisers
(kick-off pot luck dinner, treasures-of-the-bilge - a.k.a., "one man's junk
is another man's treasure" - auction benefiting the children of Carriacou,
dominoes tournament, book/DVD swap,
wrap-up BBQ), along with the local
events happening around the island
(greasy pole contest, donkey race
through the streets, wining
(dancing) contest, etc.), helped the
mingling process - with cruisers and
locals!
Of course we have to make several
trips to one of our favorite pizza
places in the E. Caribbean, The
Turtle Dove, run by 2 Italian women
- the pizza is still as great as we
remember. Deborah broke a
tooth while here (not from the
pizza). Since there are no
dentists in Carriacou (only dental
care are extractions - no thank
you!), we take the high-speed ferry
over to Grenada to visit a highly
recommended dentist used by
cruisers. Deborah is seen
promptly (no appointment but first
one there) and leaves very satisfied
with state-of-the-art composite work
just like in the States - but for
only US$60!
A day after the Carriacou Regatta
concluded, we were all abruptly reminded why we are out here doing what we're doing
now: a fellow cruiser suffered a heart attack and died on his boat.
He was in his mid 50's. His wife is considering single-handling now.
Again, do it while you can, because you don't know what lies ahead for you.
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Young artist
painting mural of Tyrrel Bay |
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Not having gotten enough of the
Tobago Cays, we head back, first
having to clear in at UNION
ISLAND. We pop back over
to Janti's
Happy Island for drinks with
Dalton (s/v Quietly) and his
guest Jean.
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At Happy Island: owner Janti, Jean,
Dalton (s/v Quietly)
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AUGUST
5-17, 2004:
We spend another 2 weeks in the
TOBAGO CAYS. We got a
big surprise when friends from
Houston, Debra & Jim and son James,
showed up on a charter boat in the
Cays on vacation. (They knew
we were there, but we didn't know
they were coming.) We spent a
couple of days showing them great
snorkel sites and feeding the fish
at "Barry's Reef", and exploring the
islands with great panoramics.
During this stay, we also weathered
out tropical storms Charley and Earl
(below).
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Click left (anywhere) to see
ENLARGED panoramic view of
Tobago Cays |
We know some of you readers are
cruiser wanna-bees so listen up. Tobago Cays is a charter/bareboat's
dream . . . and a cruiser's nightmare . . . as charter boats do not
typically know how to properly anchor. (Bareboats have no paid crew;
charter boats have a paid captain - who doesn't always know how to do it
either. I use "charter
boat" to mean both.) The two most common, and
sometimes costly, mistakes made are: 1) not putting out enough scope
(anchor line or chain) - an anchor is designed to hold when pulled at a
small angle to the bottom; a
more straight-up angle "releases"
the anchor; and 2) not backing
down on the anchor, after it has had
a chance to settle in, using reverse
throttle, to make sure it is in fact
holding. A snorkel over the
anchor also gives assurance.
Us cruisers have to protect our
homes. Particularly in the
Cays, when a charter boat comes in,
cruisers go topside and with a wary
eye, observe and let them know where
our anchor is and how much scope we
have out. We also pay some of
them visits to ascertain their
anchoring technique, and advise of
incoming weather they usually are
not aware of, as was the case with
tropical storms Charley and Earl. Prior to these tropical storms,
however, a squall passed through at 3:00 in the morning, 35 knot winds,
several charter boats dragged, one dragging into a cruiser and
snagging/fouling his anchor and then the two of them dragging into a
friend's boat damaging her bow pulpit.
Even in Tobago Cays where the
holding is excellent in deep sand,
good anchoring techniques are
essential.
Tropical storm Charley sprang
up fast with little notice (passed
within 60 miles north of us), thus
we had to contend with lots of
charter boats dragging. In
conditions like this someone pretty
much keeps a watch on things. After
watching an Italian charter boat try to re-anchor for literally 6 hours
straight in high winds, some of us
cruisers went over, during a lull in the storm, and gave assistance - they
lacked anchoring knowledge and also had equipment problems which were
remedied after an hour. During this storm, we saw maximum winds of 48
knots (55 mph) of wind.
We had a day's notice on
tropical
storm Earl, thus a lot of charter boats thankfully vacated the area.
Earl changed directions and passed just south of us, putting us on it's
"dirty" side. The north side is "dirty" because the storm is moving in
a counterclockwise direction + moving northerly,
 thereby "doubling" it's
affect (see diagram at left). We saw 35-45 knot (40-52
mph) sustained winds for 8 solid hours, gusting to 55 knots (63 mph) -
hurricanes as defined start at 64 knots / 75 mph. We had 125 feet of
anchor chain out in 11 feet of water! We held. Our very substantial
snubber claw spread apart and slipped the chain but we had a backup
snubber on so it
was OK. Thankfully Earl came through during daylight so we could keep tabs
on the charter boats that were dragging and trying to re-anchor in 45 knot
winds. None of them could do it, and so they left and went somewhere -
can't imagine it would be any better on the outside of the reef, sure seas
would have been wicked.
The day after Earl, we snorkeled the reefs right off the boat. Saw
lots of displaced fish away from their schools and habitats, more cleaning
and feeding than usual, some big damsels kept biting a cruiser friend on the
ear apparently trying to stake out new territory, a lobster just standing
out in the open not knowing where to go, and the highlight was a sea hare -
a foot long slug, at first I thought it was something rotting, then saw it
move. The "rotting flesh" was actually skin flaps on it's top side that it
uses as a sail when making it's way across the sand/current.
In spite of having to endure a
wicked squall and 2 tropical storms,
Deborah says this is one of her
favorite places.
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TOBAGO CAYS
Tabac: rum scene from Pirates of the
Caribbean filmed here
Debra & Jim, & James,
friends from Houston
Local fisherman
cleaning our dinner
Constant winds
help kite-boarders
enjoy sunset jaunt
19-guest crewed
catamaran swung onto reef/sand bar
during squall; after other
measures failed, a ferry finally was
called in to pull them free a day
later
T/S Charley:
white-out (rain) coming our way
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Time to move on.
We go back to UNION ISLAND,
again, to clear out of St.
Vincent and The Grenadines. We
head to PSV (Petit St.
Vincent, belongs to St. Vincent),
another one of those private resort
islands, and anchor for the evening.
We buy our exorbitantly priced
obligatory drink and enjoy the
resort atmosphere. Next day we
go next door (big 1 mile) to
PETITE MARTINIQUE (belongs to
Grenada) to top up on diesel,
gasoline (for outboard), and then
the essentials - rum, beer and wine.
These things are quite cheap here,
as these products are brought in
from Venezuela - whatever their
"import method", nobody cares.
Win-win for everybody. Not a
particularly attractive island, we
move back to PSV for the evening.
We delayed our departure by a day
due to unfavorable winds - winds out
of the southeast. Mid-morning
the next day, with winds out of the
east and ARGO on a southeasterly
course, we head to Tobago . . . |
At PSV;
Petite Martinique in background |
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"SIDE BAR" REGARDING
COMMUNICATION /
SHIPPING SERVICES: A downside to our
type of traveling lifestyle, and one of the largest
frustrations we have experienced, is the problem of communications, and
receiving stuff. Sure, we have email on board, but there are times you
need to talk to someone
- perhaps you want to call a 1-800
number. Well, first of all, in
many
islands 1-800 doesn't work at all, and if it does, they are never toll free -
you are stuck paying the regular
international phone rate which can be very expensive,
especially when going through all
the annoying auto-prompts and then
usually getting cut off.
Another irritating problem is even
using a phone: islands are
different, but frequently there are
different phones for local calls and
for international calls.
Sometimes phone cards are needed,
sometimes coins. Some places
are not set up for credit card
calls. In Tobago recently,
Steve needed to call a service
company in Trinidad (same country,
local call). He needed a phone
card or quarters: No phone
cards were available that day and
nobody had any quarters for making
change, so it was impossible to make
a local call! In Bequia
we found 1 out of the 8 public
phones worked - sometimes. Some
cruisers have sat phones, but these
are expensive, and with limited area
coverage. Cell phones
work, but are specific to
each island's own phone system, so
when on the move like us this is not
practical, plus the expense and
hassle of buying the cell phone
cards adds up.
Another problem to consider with
this way of life, is how to ship and
receive things, such as our
forwarded mail and boat parts.
Customs/duty in many islands can be
very expensive, e.g., duty is 35% of
the value of the item being shipped
into Venezuela - this makes for very
expensive boat parts! In other
islands, it may take weeks to get
your shipment once it is on that
island (5 weeks in St.
Lucia once it enters the
island), or you may never see it in
such countries as Venezuela as it
goes through Caracas first, then
frequently disappears. All
very important considerations.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
we were able to easily and quickly
ship via FedEx our laptop to the
U.S., and we took delivery of it in
Union Island (part of The
Grenadines). As is typical in
some of the Caribbean islands, "rules"
and "procedures" frequently seem to
be made up as they go along. So you never really
know . . .
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Thanks to Dick
& Jo (s/v Remedy) for their
contribution of some of the above
pictures!
On to
page
11 for our adventures in Tobago
and with hurricane Ivan . . . |
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