DSC Captains' Log
Grenadines Sailing trip,
2008 by Nolan North
During January we had a group of 21
people, mostly from the Downtown Sailing Center, Baltimore, on 3 cats
from Barefoot Yacht Charters, St. Vincent, for a 9 day cruise in the
Grenadines. This is the 9th annual trip I have put
together for this group, having sailed BVI, Belize and the Grenadines
in the past. Getting all these people into one trip can be a bit like
herding cats, but it is always fun and worth it.
Having such a large group and
considering the relative difficulty getting good flight connections
into St. Vincent (SVD), I started by talking with a travel agent,
recommended by the charter company, which “specializes in groups to
the Caribbean”. Well, the airfare they quoted was substantially
higher than the prices then being quoted on the websites of the
respective airlines! So, we each made our own arrangements (another
example of irrational airfare pricing; the same airlines ended up
flying the same number of people for a lower price.) I told everyone
when they needed to be where and let them figure it out – and it
worked! One almost must use LIAT to get to/from SVD and various
members of our group did it through San Juan, Barbados and Trinidad.
While some were hit quite hard financially for the total weight of
their luggage being over 50 lbs. (one for $140!), they all made it on
time and with their entire luggage (the only bag lost was by AA in
the States, it never arrived.) I was with a group flying from SJU to
SVD. We had seen a post on a website that the flight made a stop on
Antigua but the clerk at the LIAT desk assured us it was a direct
flight. Of course we stopped in Antigua – to refuel! We just looked
at each other and said “it be de ilons, mon”.
The “Galley Captains” of the three
boats decided to use the online provisioning service of C.K. Greaves
(That is the one area I stay out of in the planning! I have realized
that often the Galley Captain position is more important for a happy
cruise than the “Captain position”.) They were very pleased with
that arrangement. Greaves delivered everything to Barefoot and it was
even properly segregated by boat. In turn, Barefoot stored everything
in their office and freezer and delivered it onboard the correct boat
on our day of departure.
We spent the first night as a “sleep
aboard”, before starting the cruise, with our boats on moorings.
While a couple of us were trying to sort out all the lines and
halyards in the dark, Kathy Buckley decided to come help us. She
stepped through an open hatch and hit her shoulder against a
stanchion. Our onboard nurses, Donna and Mary Ann, determined she
needed medical help. So, how do you get medical help in a strange
country (no such thing as 911) while you are out on a mooring at
about midnight? Well, we called a taxi to take Kathy, Bill and the
nurses to the hospital (I’ll let Bill tell the story of the dingy
ride to the dock!) X-rays showed “hair line” fracture. After much
debate Kathy decided to stay with us for the cruise and enjoyed
herself – mostly. Back home, however, she has had surgery to
implant pins in the humorous (not very humorous!) and is now in
rehab.
Getting a late start on our first day
we amended our float plan (that didn’t take long!) and went to
Bequia instead of Mustique. Admiralty Bay is a large, busy harbor but
very pretty. There are nice places to eat within easy walking
distance of the dingy docks, the book store is always interesting,
the produce market takes you quickly into “de ilons” and taking a
taxi tour of the island is always a hit. The next morning we had
planned to snorkel Petit Nevis but the heavy rain all morning caused
us to go directly to Mustique. We got the last two balls in Britannia
Bay, the third boat anchored (which is allowed after they have sold
all the balls.) Most of the crew had drinks and dinner at Basils
while the rest of us had dinner at Firefly. That was my third time at
Firefly and continue to find it a highlight of the trip.
The next day we sailed to Tobago Cays
and anchored near Jamesby Island. Tobago Cays always has many, many
boats but it seems there is still somewhere nice to anchor. Various
of the crew went kayaking, snorkeling, observing the green turtles
and exploring Jamesby. Tobago Cays is fascinating as the wind is
coming “all the way from Africa” while being protected by two
large, consecutive reefs. The boat boys (“vendors”) are always
interesting. For instance, as we approached the pass between Petit
Rameau and Petit Bateau we saw a group of their boats waiting. Then
as each of our boats came through the pass one would pull up next to
us to “help” us to an anchorage and then offer to be of any help
needed (we did not heed their advice on where to anchor but did
engage them in other errands.) There is always at least one boat boy
with nice sarongs, shirts, etc., which allows considerable shopping
without leaving one’s boat. Just be polite to all the boat boys and
they won’t bother you.
From there we planned on Salt Whistle
Bay, Mayreau. However, when approaching – no later than noon – it
appeared to be already packed and we knew more boats would be coming
in as the day progressed. So we went on to Saline Bay, which was a
very pleasant surprise. It has a very nice, long beach with fair
snorkeling at its southern end. It is a closer walk to the “village”
(than from Salt Whistle) and the one disco did not pump its “music”
out over the harbor too late. When attempting to buy a block of ice
it was in a bucket, like the kids would use when playing in the sand.
A note of caution: In ANY harbor, like
Saline, where you see a large commercial dock, anchor well away from
it. Ferry/supply ships use these docks at any time of the day or
night and are not nimble enough to avoid anchored boats in their
channel. Suffice to say we learned that lesson - without incident.
We sailed on to Union Island (the other
two boats “did” Palm Island on the way.) We sailed past Chatham
Bay and Frigate Island and determined they would be great places to
stop in the future, but went on to Clifton. While we had intended to
anchor off Newlands Reef it seemed to already be packed “door
handle to door handle”, so we did a Med-mooring at the Bougainvilla
dock. The crew (and I) really liked being on a dock for a night and
able to walk whenever we wanted to town, etc. Clifton has a colorful
town square with many produce and flower shops. Also internet, ATM,
etc. We had dinner at Bougainvilla which was very good (and enjoyed
watching all the fish in the aquarium and the lobster having their
last swim.) Some of the crew then found a local watering hole and
evidently had quite a night of it – at least that is what I
gathered when they woke up about noon the next day.
We then sailed on to Petite St. Vincent
– a little bit of heaven! While I aspire to be able to someday
actually stay at the resort (about $900/night) we did enjoy the bar
and even I liked the boutique (interesting items at REALLY cheap
prices.) Some walked the beach around the island, others just sunned
on the beach and some of us snorkeled around Mopion Island (recommend
actually snorkeling west of the island near the “rock pile”
marking the channel.) We had intended to dingy over to Petite
Martinique but it was Sunday and all the shops were closed, the next
day we “didn’t feel like it.” We lost the starboard
transmission on our boat while in the process of raising the anchor,
didn’t get it back for the rest of the trip, and so had to be
rather careful to not get into any situation needing much
maneuverability.
After PSV, we started “back up” to
St. Vincent with Canouan the first stop. Given my lack of
maneuverability we tucked into the northern part of the bay just
inside the green mark. That is actually a good spot as it seemed to
be to the north of the wind blasts that came down from the hills. The
next day our other two boats went on to Bequia. I waited another day
in Canouan for some combination of Barefoot and their mutual
arrangement with Moorings to fix my transmission. The only thing that
happened was that then the mechanic couldn’t start the engine and
determined a new starter was needed. The next morning Barefoot flew a
new starter from SVD, but LIAT airline evidently flew it all around
the Caribbean instead of delivering it in Canouan!
After waiting all day we did have a
nice dinner at Tamarind Hotel. The other exciting thing about Canouan
is that I caught my only fish (despite trolling most of the time)
while anchored there. However, it was a “puffer fish” which
looked like a huge porcupine by the time I landed it – could only
cut it loose as I couldn’t get close enough to retrieve the hook.
As we were without a starboard engine or transmission and had waited
a day and a half for some resolution, we decided to forget about it
and sail.
From Canouan we sailed directly back to
Blue Lagoon, and a Barefoot mooring ball. The interesting thing that
then happened was the Barefoot mechanic came onboard to work on the
engine/tranny. He jumped down into the engine well then quickly
popped back up and asked “where be de battery, mon?” Evidently
the Moorings mechanic had taken it – why and where we do not know.
People have asked how I compare the
Grenadines with BVI. While that is very subjective, I would make a
few personal observations.
In my opinion every place in BVI
is tourist-oriented, however rustic it might be. On several islands
in the Grenadines, once you leave the dock or beach, you are “in
the Caribbean” with the locals – nary a tourist in sight.
In general, the sailing is more
boisterous in the Grenadines. There are open-ocean passages with
measurable cross currents between islands. In the BVI, even the trip
to Anegada is mostly protected by a reef.
The snorkeling is probably better
in BVI; I have found no place in the Grenadines with such colorful
coral and fish.
In the BVI the boats are almost
all identical bareboat charters while in the Grenadines there is a
much larger percentage of private, live-aboard cruisers which makes
boat watching more interesting. (“Hey, look how they rigged the
rain catcher to drain right into the water tank!”) OK, OK, but
some of us find things like that interesting.
In the BVIs an every day problem
is how early you must get to any harbor to get a ball or room to
anchor. There is some of that in the more popular harbors in the
Grenadines but it seems there is often a nice harbor a couple miles
away with plenty of room.
The sailors in the Grenadines must
be poorer than in BVI because some number of the women evidently
couldn’t afford tops for their swim suits!