The next morning we motored the 10 miles to our next stop, the Blue Lagoon. For once it was nice not to have enough wind to sail so that we could plod down the coast, quite close in, and admire the shoreline and scenery behind.

We had to make sure that we arrived at the Blue Lagoon at high tide so that we could get across the reef safely. Luckily we did with just 20cm below the keel, tied up to one of the many mooring buoys rather than in the marina itself as it was much cooler to be in the bay, and then began arranging some car hire so that we could do some exploring.

When Columbus sailed through, it was known at the time as Hairoun, meaning ‘home of the blessed’ (it is also the current name of the local beer!) and was inhabited by a fierce tribe that Columbus called Caribs. The Caribs were followed by an even fiercer tribe who became known as the Black Caribs who were defeated by the British in the late 18th century and shipped en masse to Honduras.

The islands capital is Kingstown, a busy, bustling place with a fantastic market, cobblestone pavements and old stone buildings with arches, some of which date back to the late 1700’s. The port area is important for shipping goods around the islands and welcoming tourist who arrive on cruiseships. We had a quick, cheap and delicious lunch in the market before heading up to the highest point at Fort Charlotte for panoramic views down on Kingstown Harbour and the nearby islands.

CRUISERS NOTES
Blue Lagoon Marina – Desmond is the dockmaster and will come out to help with mooring lines. EC65 per night.
Customs & Immigration are available in the marina 9am – 6pm.
Marina has dive shop, small grocery shop, beach bar, café and restaurant. The pontoons are all floating and could do with some updating. It is very rolly in there at times.


Image of Kingstown Bay