Prickly Bay was no more than a convenient stop over. On a walk about we did manage to find a bar hidden away that had happy hour all day long but of course the real attraction was the free wifi. After a couple of days we moved up the coast to a small anchorage called Dragons Bay which has a nice beach and quite good little reefs to snorkel. This was my first proper swim in the Caribbean. Grenada has much to recommend it and the intention is to spend more time exploring the island on the way back to Trinidad.
Sailing north to Carriacou the next day was quite a test. Anabatic winds off the mountains produced winds varying from 17 to 38 knots. Fortunately the sail plan of double reefed main and yankee coped with this and the boisterous seas that came with the winds. We made good progress but it was a very wet sail. Several of the yachts we knew in Trinidad were anchored in Tyrrel Bay-Black Cat-Slow Dancing- Kijiro. To get a feel for the place we hired Simon and his taxi and toured the island. There are some stunning sea views and I was impressed by some wooden boat building on the beach with very little more than hand tools.
A couple of buildings caught my eye on the tour-a little house clad with cedar tiles and the post office-for those unfamiliar with London it has one of the largest sorting offices in the world called Mount Pleasant. We joined up with friends for a meal and listened to a steel band-some danced, some played dominoes with the locals and some just watched and took it all in.
Jason Lara John Gail Bruce
Our next port of call was Admiralty Bay Bequia just a half day sail north from Carriacou. It turned out to be a near perfect sail with 15-20 knots on the beam with an almost flat sea and of course hot sunshine. Sailing doesn't get much better than this. Of all the places visited so far this is certainly tops of the list. A beautiful anchorage, friendly people and all the basic facilities needed.
We hired a scooter to tour the island which is small enough to complete in half a day. At the north end of the island we stopped at the turtle sanctuary set up by the remarkable Orton King.
He raises the young Hawksbill turtles native to this island and releases them on beaches when they are old enough at 4 to 5 years to defend themselves and mature into adulthood. The females return to the same beach 25 years later to lay eggs. Why does he have to do this ? Locals still hunt them and eat their eggs despite it being illegal-old traditions die hard.
Shannon owners tend to spot each other in an anchorage. We had a get together with family and crew of a 51 and 43 foot Shannon in Admiralty Bay.
I am always interested in trees and this venerable Almond tree caught my eye. If people want to meet up in Bequia they just say under the Almond tree as it is so well known.
