GRENADINES (BEQUIA, MAYREAU, TOBAGO CAYS, PETITE SAINT VINCENT, UNION ISLAND, CARRIACOU)

Our sail from the Pitons at St-Lucia to Bequia was not so unusual in the fact that between islands, because of the strong easterlies, we often had gusts reaching over 30 knots.  No worries, by now, we were used to it. 


ELIZABETH HARBOUR, BEQUIA:  I truly love this little town.  It has everything one would need.  Restaurants, entertainment, bars, free wifi, fresh market, hiking, ect ect....We stayed here relaxing for about 9 days waiting for our friends Sephora & Brian to arrive from Colorado.

VIEW OF ELIZABETH HARBOR

This is one of the most beautiful fish I've seen while snorkeling, the Flying Gurnard.  The pelvic fins act lie legs as the fish walks along the bottom of the ocean.  They also grunt.  The French term for the word Gurnard means to grunt.  When threatened, they expand their colorful wings.

FLYING GURNARD

We walked from the town of Bequia to the Sea turtle Sanctuary.  It's a few miles but well worth walking because you see many beautiful areas along the way.



SARGASSUM SEAWEED

There is currently an invasion of sargassum seaweed in the Caribbean.  It has affected tourism in certain areas.  A massive tide of sargassum, brown invasive algae is being washed on to the shores of several islands.  Although seaweed is normally seen as a nuisance, it does offer some ecological benefits.  Sargassum is only temporary but it's fairly unpredictable.  It's annoying for us when we try and fish as we catch seaweed rather than fish !



Be aware when pulling mangos off of trees. The sap will burn your skin !  I got burn marks all around my eyes and cheeks.  Good thing I didn't get the sap in my eye !  I now have a permanent mark.  As the days went on, the burn marks looked worse than in the photo.






DELICIOUS WAX APPLES

SALT WHISTLE BAY, MAYREAU:  You cannot, I repeat, cannot miss this bay.  It is truly picture postcard.  When we first got here, it was really busy with charter catamarans, but the next morning when we got up, we were totally alone !



VIEW OF TOBAGO CAYS FROM THE CHURCH



SALINE BAY, AN EASY WALK OVER THE HILL FROM SALT WHISTLE BAY




BOUGHT RED SNAPPER AT SALINE BAY

SUNRISE



SALT WHISTLE BAY


TOBAGO CAYS:  Tobago Cays is a National Park.  We swam several times from the boat to the turtle sanctuary.  We saw several turtles, 8 in one day !  We also tied our dinghy to a dingy buoy near the reefs but unfortunately, the current was so strong, it was difficult to snorkel.  I'm just happy I've been here before while it was calm !  The wind was blowing really hard :(

PETIT VINCENT:  This is a private island.  You cannot just walk around but you can go to the resort bar & restaurant on the beach.  You can go to the beach but only to a very limited area.  It's a nice area though.  We all took turns kayaking around the other side of the beach. 

Sephora and I decided to swim from the beach back to the boat.  Near the boat, the current was extremely strong.  We swam like crazy just to try to make it to the boat.  We did, ouf ! 

Sailing friends of ours told us that this Island was prettier than Palm Island, another private island close to Petit Vincent.








MOPION: We motored about 15 minutes from Petit Vincent to Mopion sand spit.  It's well worth a stop.





MOPION


CHATHAM BAY & CLIFTON, UNION ISLAND:  We cleared in Clifton and provisioned.  There's a nice market in Clifton and Sephora and I had lots of fun filling up our bags.  There's also a gourmet store called Captain's gourmet where we bought freshly made yogurt and fresh baguettes.  Two men were walking down the street with a large cooler.  I asked them if they had fish for sale.  They did, bonus !  more red snapper.

I really enjoyed anchoring at Chatham Bay.  We anchored near the cliff on the north side to be out of the wind.  There is great snorkeling here with a very nice beach.  I would stay here rather than in Clifton.

TYRELL BAY, CARRIACOU:  It's fun to dinghy by the mangroves.  Once in the area though, it is advisable to shut off your motor for conservational purposes. 










TOUGH DAY ON THE JOB

When sailing from Carriacou to Grenada, you sail pass Kick'em Jenny.  Kick'em Jenny is an active submarine volcano or seamount on the Caribbean Sea floor, located 8 km north of the island of Grenada and about 8 km west of Ronde Island in the Grenadines.  Kick-'em Jenny rises 4,265 feet above the sea floor on the steep inner western slope of the Lesser Antilles ridge.  The South American tectonic plate is subducting the Caribbean tectonic plate to the east of this ridge and under the Lesser Antilles Island.  It is advisable to sail around this area.  No kidding !










Information for cruisers:
1. Elizabeth Harbour, Bequia:   Laundry:  I did mine on the first level of Maria's café for 12EC a wash and 12EC a dry if you do it yourself.  You can wait in the laundry area or upstairs at the café.  Their wifi is excellent.  Other cruisers told me Sparkles has better laundry, I don't know why.
2. Elizabeth Harbour, Bequia:  Ferries cause lots of wake, anchor away from them.
3. Bequia:  Cruiser's net:  Mon-Sat, 8am, VHF 68.
4. Bequia:  Good snorkeling off of Princess Margaret beach near the rocks. 
5. LIME SIM cards DO NOT support personal hotspot.

ST-LUCIA

RODNEY BAY:  We stayed at the Rodney Bay Marina waiting for our friends Milt & Sharon to arrive from Colorado.  Since we've been here twice before, we opted to do boat projects rather than visit around.



HAPPY WHEN OUR FRIENDS ARRIVED FROM COLORADO

SUSAN & SHARON AT THE SANDALS RESORT



MILT & SHARON

MARIGOT BAY:  Once Milt & Sharon arrived, we set sail to Marigot Bay.  It's a very small bay, but way cute.  We took a mooring at the marina because the marina lets you use their infinity pool,   showers and exercise room. 





SUNSET AT MARIGOT BAY



INFINITY POOL

We toured around and visited the Diamond falls.  They are small but nice.  Unfortunately we couldn't swim there. 




















We went for a mud bath.  It's quite touristy but fun.  Good thing they had fresh showers !















I liked the Tourelle falls.  The water was cool but refreshing.  The falls were so strong that Sharon had a wardrobe malfunction.

We stopped by the Botanical gardens. 



















OLD COCONUT SHELLS FOR THE GARDEN

ANSE DE PITONS:  We took a mooring between the Pitons at Sugar Beach.  It's truly beautiful to be able to stay between the Pitons.  Tim and Milt hiked the Gros Pitons while Sharon and I snorkeled off of Sugar Beach near the rocks.  It's a really good snorkel.


SAILING TOWARDS THE PITONS

MOORED BETWEEN THE PITONS IN ST-LUCIA

HIKING PATH AT THE GROS PITONS



AT THE TOP OF THE GROS PITONS



SUGAR BEACH BETWEEN THE PITONS



FISHING VILLAGE

Information for cruisers:

1. Rodney Bay Marina has huge new floating docks.  It's a nice marina with a small expensive grocery store on site.  There are great showers and an ok pool.  You cannot do your own laundry here but there is a laundry service.  On site are also some restaurants/bars.  From the marina, you can dinghy to the lagoon and tie up at the dock at the Tapas Restaurant.  From there you can walk 5 minutes to 2 grocery stores.
2. Sunset downers:  Go to the very upscale resort called 'Ladera' for a great view of the sunset and Pitons.  It's got one of the best views from their bar.
3. Fish Fry:  Every Friday night at Anse la Raye, they have a fish fry and music in the streets by the beach.
4. Sugar beach:  There's a resort there and they don't let you use their facilities.  Instead, by the rocks and dinghy dock are free chairs, a bathroom and shower.  This is where you snorkel from.
5. Hiking the Gros Pitons:  We found a guide at the beach.  The guide will pick you up at your boat to the unofficial trail head.  A guide led them from the beach to an unmarked trail, bypassing the official trail head where the land taxis stop.  Here, you pay an additional fee to climb.  By going via the unofficial trail, they only increased their elevation by about 300 feet.  Took the boys 2.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down.  It is steep in sections.