Lyn's Log, 14th November 2006
Grenada

Union Island, St Vincent.
N12º36', W61º25'
11,076 miles.

We left Tobago early evening on 31st October and arrived off Grenada mid morning the following day. With a ten year old pilot book and an ancient chart (survey dated 1859!), which had a longitude discrepancy of a third of a mile with GPS, being tired after an overnight passage we had to be extra sure of identifying the coast correctly. On the south side of Granada there are many rocky points separating long inlets. A little way off shore, coral reefs, exposed rocks and sandy patches, can only be spotted by eye in daylight. Andrew asked me to follow a depth of 20 metres, but every so often it suddenly rose to less than 10 and we found ourselves heading for breaking water. Once we got they hang of it we found that the main channels into these inlets had been buoyed, but night-time sailing would still not be easy. We made our way into Prickly Bay and registered with Customs and Immigration right by the pontoon.

My first impression of Grenada was that it was comfortable. I did not feel like a stranger. There were no boat boys, no hassling, just friendly people. The minivan buses operated much as they did in Trinidad and we quickly found our way around.

We found several good anchorages in Prickly Bay, nearby Hog Island and Clarke Court Bay. Right at the inner end of this was Clarke Court Bay Marina, like much of Grenada, recovering from the hurricane. This was a pleasant small marina that Bob seemed to manage single handedly. There was power and water on the pontoons, a bar with wi-fi and a pool table, and washrooms. A short row across the water took us to the road where we could catch a bus to St George’s, the capital, about five miles away on the west coast.

One night we went to a hog roast and met some other interesting yachties who gave us some more information about the Great Lakes in Canada. The hog was stuffed and spit roasted over a pit and fortunately the rain held off until it was cooked. It was an enjoyable evening eating, drinking and chatting. We met some of the Canadians again at a beach barbeque on Hog Island, and then again when we went on a day tour of the island.

The tour went to an old fort overlooking St George’s, then through the forest to Annadale waterfalls. Here we stopped for a swim in the pool and shower under the fall itself. We’ve now done this many times, but still really enjoy the fresh-water dip. Next we stopped in Grand Etang national forest, where a Mona monkey came up to us and begged for bananas, and we could see an old crater lake. Then on to lunch in Grenada’s second town of Granville on the east coast. From here we went north to a rum factory. The rum was made from sugar cane and at the end of the tour we were given a taste of the strong clear liquid. It was suggested that we swallow it down and follow with a cup of water. It was like fire water and not to my taste at all! The following visit to the chocolate factory was excellent. The dark chocolate was very smooth and strong, though the one with more coco-butter added was preferable. We bought some coco powder.

On our way to the factories we passed through the little village of Pearls where we saw ‘Janet’ homes. These were small wooden huts built from donations after hurricane Janet had swept through, and were still inhabited. They had been sturdy enough not to be destroyed by hurricane Ivan. We saw some ‘Ivan’ homes later which were somewhat larger wooden homes and hopefully as strong.

As the afternoon wore on, our return took us via La Sagresse, a paradisiacal beach backed with palm trees hiding a hotel and bar looking out over the pale blue shallow waters. One of our group rightly recommended the excellent lime punch. A little later we stopped at a small bar at a road junction, which was our driver’s local ‘liming’ spot. Eventually, after a beer or two, the sun was setting and it was the mosquitoes’ dinnertime, we were taken back to the bays from which we had been collected.

Sunday 12th November we began our departure from Granada. It had poured with rain most of the night and still looked threatening during the morning, so we were late getting started and made our way up the west coast to Halifax Bay. We anchored here but it was close to the municipal rubbish dump and we were swamped with flies. So we moved on to Gouyave just before dark. This was a pretty village on gentle slopes down to the beach. In the morning we continued to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou.

Tyrrel Bay was another beautiful bay but stuffed full of yachts. We had some rum punches and a meal in a bar/restaurant across the road from the beach. The next morning we took the bus to Hillsborough to check out of Grenada. The procedure did not take long and we bought a little food. Back in Tyrrel Bay we found there was not any diesel on the boatyard pontoon so we made our way round to the tiny islands of Petit St Vincent and Petit Martinique to the north east of Carriacou. Our guide stated that Petit St Vincent had a hotel pier where one could get diesel and water, but when we arrived we were told to go to Petit Martinique. The two islands are so close together that there was no problem, though oddly the national boundary between Grenada and St Vincent lies between them.

So, topped up with diesel, we continued on our way to the village of Clifton on Union Island and checked into St Vincent.