12.37’329N 061.20’405N Egg Reef – Tobago Cays September 18, 2015
The time is flying by! We did finish up the canvas work finally on September 1st. On Sept 3rd we anchored at St. George’s anchorage off…St. George. While almost right in town it is quite grassy and difficult to get a good set. Three tries and we made it; after finding a little piece of sandy area. We saw another boat give up after four tries and left while others just through their anchors overboard and do not even try. I guess those are the ones that drag. Anyhow, we left there in the morning and headed north to Tyrell Bay on the island of Carriacou. (Still part of Grenada) On the way we passed right by “Kick ‘em Jenny”; the underwater volcano. Of course, we stayed outside the 1.5 KM “forbidden zone” which is there for our safety but the rumbling of a few weeks ago were gone. Just looked like water to me! We also passed right by the older “Kick ‘em Jenny” rock (660 feet high) of the same name. It was a small volcano that has been dormant for a long time. Tyrell Bay was a nice fairly protected anchorage and although there were a few other boats, quite quiet. Off season and most places are closed. Once we arrived we found out that there was to be a “HASH” on the Saturday so I joined in. What is a HASH? I had no idea either. It is where a trail is set for runners or walkers and everyone starts together. Not a race, just good exercise and just a little challenging. (Hills) At intersections in the trails they mark incorrect trails to let you go a ways and then see an “X” to say, nope, wrong way and you have to retrace your tracks and take the other trail. I figured out pretty quickly that I didn’t want to be in the lead! After the finish (and I did finish, quite well actually and only consumed 4 bottles of water on the trip) there is beer. Their motto is “drinkers with a running problem”. You can Google “Grenada Hash” to see what it is all about. There is some history there.
On Tuesday September 8 we checked out of the country with Customs and headed up to Union Island to check into St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The office was closed at the waterfront so we had to take a short walk to the airport to complete formalities. Once done we picked up a few supplies and headed back to the boat. We had been here 5 years ago when we charted that one January. The next morning we headed up to the Tobago Cays and hung out for 4 days. Did lots of snorkeling as the reef here is quite good with good visibility. When we arrived there was only one other boat but that changed later in the day. Most nights we would have about 8 boats in the anchorage; a far cry from the 75 or so in January. On the 14th we headed north to Bequia and anchored for the night. Again, extremely quiet compared to January. We picked up a few groceries and headed back down to the Cays the next day. On the way in we anchored out of the main area at “Worlds End Reef”. No other boats here but it was pretty rolly so we just stayed about an hour to admire the area but the anchorage is so tight, (coral and shallows on three sides) we decided to head back over to the Cays with the “crowd”. The next day we departed for ???? We checked out “Salt Whistle Bay” and “Saline Bay” on Mayreau Island but decided to head back over to Union for the day since the winds were perfect for that. Max speed today; 9.8 knots.
So yesterday we were trying to decide where to go next. We do need to go back to Grenada in a bit but we decided that since the wind was lighter, let’s go and try the outer reefs again at the Cays. So here we are anchored off Egg Reef which is just a stone’s throw from Worlds End Reef. We checked out Worlds End on our way in here and decided that we just were not comfortable with being that close to bad things. Here at Egg, we could do a night departure if needed. The only thing between us and Africa is the reef. We are completely be ourselves but can look over at the Cays and see about 8 boats there about a mile or two reefs away. We are anchored about a ¼ mile east of Petit Tabac Island where some scenes of the original Pirates of the Caribbean were shot. (The one where the Rum was hidden)
Snorkeling yesterday from the boat I found some remnants of some sort of wreck. One steel panel was about 12 x 12 feet with a major hatch in it along with other smaller pieces. I plan to look so more today although the current is pretty strong.
I have a bunch of photos but will not be able to upload them until I get back to WIFI. We plan on hanging out here for a couple of days as the winds are fairly light.