Here we are back in Prickly
Bay, Grenada after spending the past few days in Bequia and Tobago Cays,
stopping off in Clifton, Union Island to check out of St Vincent and the
Grenadine’s and then in Tyrell Bay Carriacou to check back into Grenada.
Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed
just being in a lovely anchorage in Admiralty Bay, Bequia. We went for a walk
along the beautiful white sandy beach where we had a chat with a family from
Sydney Australia.
Tuesday evening we enjoyed a
lovely and amusing time with Bev on Aseka. Bev had invited Barry and Gail from
Giamar (Barry helped me in Simpsons Bay Lagoon, St Maarten when our anchor
dragged), Ivo, Mira and Maya from Fata Morgana and Mina from Cassiopeia. Mina
is a 62 year old grandmother from Canada who has been sailing solo for the past
8 years. She was so interesting to listen to and to hear all her fascinating
stories about her sailing adventures. Mina is also somebody one can admire and
be in awe of, as she has such a positive attitude towards everything in life.
The Tobago Cays is a national
park and they are a group of very small islands surrounded by reefs, which are
uninhabited – the islands are Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradel, Jamesby and
Petit Tabac. The main reef is called the Horseshoe Reef.
Once we were anchored, it was
into the water, first to check the anchor and then we swam towards the area
that was the turtle laying area just off the very small island of Baradel. We
saw twelve turtles in less than 15 minutes of snorkelling. Three turtles were
merrily eating away at the sea grass oblivious to us humans. It is as if they
know they are in a safe area where nobody can harm them. There were HUGE conch
shells and star fish as well.
Mel and I went onto Baradel and
walked up to the top – we came across HUGE and ugly iguanas with bright orange
frills along their backs. It is amazing to see how quickly they can climb up
trees.
After walking around the small
island of Baradel, Mel and I swam back to the boat where we saw about another
four turtles!
Thursday morning we knew it
was our last day together (Passages and Fata Morgana) so we wanted to make the
most of it. Firstly we decided to go snorkelling at Horseshoe Reef. WOW did we
see a lot of fish! The corals were only okay, as you could still see some of
the damage caused from a hurricane a few years ago, but thankfully there are
signs of recovery. We spent well over an hour snorkelling and of course we paid
the price the following day as we were all pretty sunburnt.
We went back to our boats to
relax for a while before we all went out again to the reefs but this time Mel
took his scuba diving gear. Unfortunately Mel has not been able to dive this
year as he has had huge issues with his ears. Something that will need to be
seen to when we are back in Perth.
Mel had promised Maya that he
would let her experience breathing under water. Maya is like a fish…. She is always
swimming and has been trying to stay under water for as long as possible…
diving the anchors, finding shells, starfish etc. Where we were snorkelling, we
were only in about 4 metres of water so there would be no diving issues/dangers.
For the next hour we all had a good time breathing under water.
Thursday afternoon after a
quick lunch we dinghied to two of the other islands that formed part of the
Tobago Cays – Jamesby and Petit Bateau.
Friday morning - the time had
arrived for us to say “farewell” to Ivo, Mira and lovely Maya who we had spent
the past 4 months sailing with. We felt extremely sad to see Fata Morgana going
in the opposite direction to Passages but who knows when and where we will see
them again.
We sailed to Clifton, Union
Island as we had to check out of St Vincent and the Grenadines before heading
to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou.
Our sail down to Tyrell Bay
was lovely! We had now completed our circuit – from Tyrell Bay, Grenada, down
to Trinidad and Tobago, up to Barbados and across to Bequia and now back to
Tyrell Bay. It felt very strange though not having Fata Morgana anchored close by….
I suppose we will get used to that.
We were tempted to stay at
Tyrell Bay and only leave for Prickly Bay, Grenada on Sunday but Mel was keen
for us to sail on the east coast of Grenada. The last time we sailed to
Grenada, we sailed on the west coast and we were caught in the wind shadow of
the island which made for quite a slow and at times frustrating sail as there
was NO wind. Plus there were plenty of fishing nets and traps which we were not
keen to make our way through again.
The weather forecast predicted
winds of 10 – 15 knots and sea swells of 1 – 1 1/2m for Saturday but increasing
to 20 knots and sea swells of 2 -3 metres on Sunday so we decided since we
would be sailing along the east coast we would leave Tyrell Bay on Saturday.
After Mel had checked us into
Grenada, we went for a walk along the main and only road in Tyrell Bay and
stopped off at a restaurant called the “Lazy Turtle” that made the best pizza’s
we had eaten for a very long time.
Saturday morning by 7.00am we
were sailing out of Tyrell Bay and heading south for Prickly Bay, Grenada.
Our sail down to Prickly Bay
was fast as at times we were doing 7 – 8knots, as the wind was aft of beam –
coming from the side of the boat closest to the stern/ back of the boat.
I am sure what was on Mel’s
mind the whole time was “This is our last sail on Passages before she is put
into storage.” AND “When next are we going to be out sailing on Passages?”…….
We had our anchor down in
Prickly Bay, Grenada by 2.00pm and were greeted by our dear friends Linda and
John on Blue Moon. We said “Bye” to them in Antigua in August before we sailed
off to Guadeloupe. Linda and John spent
the hurricane season in Jolly Harbour, Antigua and were caught up in Hurricane
Gonzalo that passed over Antigua. Thankfully they only suffered some minor
damage to Blue Moon.
Saturday evening we had dinner
together to catch up with what each had been up to… it was good hearing about
their adventures and future plans.
Sunday was just a lazy day on
the boat catching up with chores and emails and deciding on what we would do
for Christmas. Over the next few days we will be organising the boat yard and
deciding on what are the best options for Passages while she is in storage. It
is not something we are going to enjoy doing but we knew that this was going to
happen.
So until next time, take care
and wishing you and all the very special and important people in your life – a
very Merry Christmas!
Love
Captain Mel and Admiral
Caryn/xx
