Going to Union Island was not high on our list of "must dos," but it was on the way south so we put it on the itinerary. Some ten years ago, we made a one-hour stop in Union while chartering and we were not impressed. Add that to the fact that the island name is not the least bit enticing and there is nothing of major interest there, and our expectations were low. But when we anchored in Chatham Bay, our opinions began to change. Our view was of an island with a long white sand beach and a dramatically mountainous outline. It was very striking.
We knew other boats in the harbor and joined them for a lobster dinner on shore at Shark Attack. While the atmosphere could be described as minimalist (a picnic table in the sand surrounded by trees) the food was excellent. To most people, lobster is an expensive, lavish meal served in an elegant restaurant. In the islands it is a barbecue.
In addition to the beautiful beach, Chatham Bay is also known for the shrieking winds that funnel through the mountains into the bay. We were there during some particularly high winds (gusts clocking at 40 knots) and the boat sailed and thrashed on its anchor. Under the extreme pressure, we saw rope turn to liquid as our anchor snubber line exploded, leaving a trail of black goo across the deck and down the side of the hull.
As islands go, Union is a fairly large one, but we put on our hiking shoes, walked around most of it and found some of the most breathtaking views we have ever seen. We were pleasantly surprised to see such a lovely island.
We ended our tour of Union Island in Clifton, a yachting center in the Grenadines surrounded by reefs. We visited the charming little town and made a sundowner stop at "Happy Island," an island built entirely out of conch shells. By the time we returned to our boat, there were so many boats squeezed into the anchorage that the boat in front of us had to pull forward so we could leave.
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The passages between the islands in the Grenadines were getting shorter and shorter. On the trip from Tobago Cays to Mayreau (pronounced My-row) we didn't even bother to put the sails up, as it would have taken longer to get them up and back down than it took for the whole trip. So after about 45 minutes, we where nicely anchored in Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau.
A thin strip of white sand beach separated the boats in the bay from the wind and waves on the windward side of the island. You could hear and see the waves breaking on the windward beach, while looking at the tranquil waters in the bay.
As the day went on, more and more boats squeezed into the tiny bay, making for very close quarters. Berkeley East has a mind of her own and sailed from side to side while at anchor, making the anchorage even tighter.
Mayreau is a very small island and we walked from end to end. The views from the church at the top of the island were spectacular; we could see all of the Grenadines from Bequia in the north to Union Island just south of us.
During our walk we came across some fellow Caribbean 1500 cruisers / friends eating lunch in the local Rasta restaurant. The owner had joined us telling stories, including how he was named after Bob Marley.
After just one night we headed further south to Union Island.
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We arrived at the Tobago Cays, after a short motor sail from Canouan, to find most of the moorings taken and the anchorage pretty full. In the end this worked out well for us, as we anchored away from the crowds, between the reef and the islands with a clear view of the white sand beaches. Since we were not up against the reef, our location protected us from the daily assault of charter boats fighting for position while learning how to anchor.
We were looking forward to spending time in the Cays, as last year we had to cut our visit short so we were could get back home before the start of hurricane season.
The snorkeling was as good as we remembered and we spent a couple of hours ever day trying out a different part of the reef. Each of them were impressive. This is one of the best spots to snorkel in the Caribbean.
While in the Cays we celebrated the anniversary of our first meeting, 31 years ago, with a bottle of sparkling wine on the beach and a lobster dinner. We spent the afternoon lying on the beach reminiscing about the night we met aboard the Berkeley in San Diego.
Later, a boat boy came by with what he said was a 7 pound lobster, so we bought it and cooked it up as part of the celebration.
It's hard to believe we have known each other for 31 years!
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The sail from Bequia to Canouan (pronounced Can-oh-wan) was a short three hours with just the Genoa and the wind on the beam, very comfy. Canouan is a small island, so we set out on a hike to see it by land and nearly got arrested for trespassing.
The northern part of the island is owned by a development company and is home to a beautiful Raffles Resort. When we reached the resort, the security guards told us that we could "walk on the hill". Through the Caribbean accent, we heard "walk up the hill," so that's what we did, we walked up the hill and over the hill and around the hill, until one of the security guards came to pick us up in a golf cart and escort us out. But when we explained that we were looking for the sales office, we were promptly escorted back in, where we spent the next two hours looking at site plans and touring villas. The villas were beautiful with good construction and the views were breathtaking. We both agreed we could live there, a possible place to land once we are done cruising.
That evening we went ashore for a romantic Valentine's Day at the Tamarind Hotel. We had pizza and beer while listening to the local steel drum band playing classic love songs like Juan Tanamera and La Bamba. After a rolly night at anchor and a less than memorable scuba dive, we set sail for Tobago Cays.
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We arrived in Admiralty Bay, Bequia early in the morning and spent the day resting up from the passage and searching for someone to repair the alternator bracket that broke as we motored out of Dominica. We were lucky to find Fix Man, a local welder who was able to do the repair. That evening we caught up with Splendido, another Caribbean 1500 boat from 2007 and 2008.
The anchorage was crowded and the forecast was for large swells, so we picked a spot on the outside, clear of the other boats.
Bracket repaired and other boat chores completed, we were relaxing in the cockpit watching a large ketch sail into the harbor as the sun was going down. The 82' racing catch tacked behind us with her full mainsail and mizzen sail up and looked like she planned to anchor off our stern. But she kept coming towards us, with her sails full, traveling about 5 knots. After a lot of screaming (by us) the catch headed up barely missing our stern, but unfortunately it was way to close and hit the stainless steel railing (push pit) surrounding the back of Berkeley East. The push pit was bent in from the aft to the first stanchion and the life lines were torn loose to mid ship.
As frightening as the incident was, we feel lucky that there was no hull damage and that no one was hurt.
Our plan to depart Bequia was now delayed because we had to file accident reports with the Bequia harbor master. This sounds like a simple task, but in the islands, all things move slowly. But the wait allowed us time to catch up with two other Hylas 54 boats that came into the anchorage, L'ame Lebre and Blue Pearl. L'ame Libre has been cruising for 12 years and they are on their way back to the states to take up life on land. In contrast, Blue Pearl recently moved aboard and is just beginning their cruising adventure. It was an interesting evening.
Our delay also allowed us to spend time with Pasha, a Caribbean 1500 boat from the 2007 rally. We joined Pasha, along with another boat, Gypsy Blues, for a ferry ride and taxi tour of St. Vincent. St. Vincent is a beautiful, lush island.
We drove a round the island, visited the Botanical Gardens, which were built in 1765. Our tour guide spent two hours walking us through the gardens and explaining the origin of all of the plants.
We also toured a Fort Charlotte above the capital of Kingstown. Here we discovered the first fort we've even seen with their cannons faced inland, apparently, fighting off the Carib Indians was more important than fighting off the ships at sea.
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Statia, the short name for St. Eustatius, is a small volcano island between Saba and St. Kitts. We sailed over from St. Barth's, keen to do some diving and hiking.
Statia was once the trade capital of the West Indies where 100 plus sailing ships would lie at anchor exchanging goods. While the European powers where fighting each other, and the Americans, the Dutch islands stayed neutral and Statia became the largest trading port in the Caribbean. Only ruins of the trading port remain today, Statia is now the fuel distribution center for the Caribbean. Large tankers offload massive amounts of fuel, which is then loaded onto smaller tankers and taken to the islands.
There are no natural harbors or bays on Statia, it is a small round island exposed to the seas in all directions. They have built a small breakwater for the commercial boats, but it provides little protection for the anchorage.
We checked into the marine park for three nights, but it was so rolly that we left after just one. It was impossible to sleep, even when lying sideways on the bed. Large swells would hit us on the side rolling the boat from side to side, it was rougher than most of our offshore passages. We should have been clued into the anchorage conditions when the marine park officer told us we should come in for a refund if we decided to leave early.
While the island looked inviting and the diving was good, we left rock and roll Statia behind and headed for Guadeloupe.
Back to the Saintes, again
We stopped in Iles Les Saintes, a small group of Islands south of Guadeloupe. Terre D'en Haut is one of our favorite islands. It is small French fishing village and day vacation spot for visitors from Guadeloupe.
We hiked back up to Fort Napoleon and this time it was open, last year we went up twice and it was closed both times. It has a beautiful view over the harbor and has been well restored. While most of the displays were captioned in French, it was nice to wonder through the museum and see the displays about the epic sea battle between the French and English that took place around the Saintes.
Once again we were challenged by our limited French language skills. Our French is limited to good day, good afternoon, good bye, thank you and do you speak English? After that it is all pantomiming. So ordering food can be exciting and reading captions at the museum was impossible.
From Iles Les Saintes, we set off for St. Pierre Martinique. As we were sailing down the coast of Dominica we heard one of the boats that we knew from the 2007 Caribbean 1500 (Tevia) on the VHF radio. After a brief conversation we turned around and headed into Portsmouth, Dominica. We had last seen Tevia in Portsmouth about a year ago, so it was good to catch up and get some pointers on Grenada.
We also needed to check in somewhere, as we had been off the map for a while. When cruising in the Caribbean, we are required to check into and out of every country. Because the government workers in Guadeloupe were on strike, we could not clear customs in Les Saints, so our last clearance papers where from Statia and were more than a week old, which is a long time in these islands. So while in Dominica we checked in and out in the same day, getting updated clearance papers which was important because our next port was Bequia and they are difficult if your papers aren't perfect.
Also, while in Dominica we ran across Amante', the Hylas 70 that was built and commissioned along side Berkeley East. We spent the morning visiting with Neal and Vanessa, Amante's owners, and commiserating about the problems that our boat builder is having delivering his warranty commitments.
With our visiting done, we took off for Bequia. We had decided to skip Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, as we had visited these islands last year and we were a little behind schedule. The sail to Bequia started out difficult. We were covered by squalls all along the coast of Dominica, but then as evening approached everything cleared up. We reached in 15 - 20 knots of wind under a full moon making great time.
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