Sailing South from St Lucia to Grenada
31 May 2014 | Port Louis Marina Grenada
Bert - Partly Cloudy Strong East Trade Wind
We spent a couple of nice days in St. Lucia Rodney Bay Marina, did some boat maintenance and continue the endless job to keep the teak looking good or at least acceptable. We did our grocery shopping in one of the best grocery stores in the Caribbean. This store is just on the other side of the lagoon in which the marina is located in a very nice new development with nice houses, condos, restaurants, stores and a casino. Although both Dorothy and I do not like shopping too much it is always pleasant to visit the place. On May 14, 2014 we left Rodney Bay for Soufriere on the south side of St. Lucia. South of Soufriere are the world famous Pitons and it is always very impressive to see these peaks. The boat boy who helped us last year when we spent over 2 weeks in Soufriere met us again and helped us to get a nice mooring. This year we spent only the night in Soufriere and left the next morning for St. Vincent. We had a very exciting sail from Soufriere to Wallilabou. We sailed long stretches with a speed of 8.4 kn. while our theoretical maximum boat speed is 7.5kn.
Wallilabou is in the heart of St. Vincent in a picturesque bay surrounded by impressive hills, that I call mountains being a Dutchman by birth. In 2003, Wallilabou became famous as the main location for the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The remainder of the movie set is now almost gone, but the restaurant owner tries very hard to keep the memory alive with some artifacts and a lot of pictures. The bay is very small and to accommodate more boats on the anchor or on a mooring buoy you need a stern line to shore to prevent the boat from swinging. We chose a mooring buoy just in front of the restaurant and a boat boy with a rowboat took our line to the remainder of the pier to tie the boat down. Later in the afternoon two other boats came in and the mooring balls are so close together that you can shake hands with the crew of the boat next to you. One of the amazing things in St. Vincent is that both the fishermen and boat boys are using small rowboats and sometimes you see them over 3 miles offshore. For rowing oars they use bamboo poles that are flattened at the end and with this primitive equipment they make a lot of speed. At the same time the two places where most dinghies are stolen St. Maarten and St. Vincent. Often the dinghy is found floating at sea without the outboard engine. We had dinner in the restaurant and the quality of the food was absolutely great. The rum punch we had before dinner was very strong and we felt this when we returned to Island Girl. As our normal routine we started the generator before we go to bed to recharge the batteries for the night, however, the generator stopped with an overheating warning. It turned out that the internal cooling circulation pump was broken. The next day I replaced this pump with a fuel pump I purchased in Suriname that of course did not fit, but with other hoses I have, tape and clamps I managed to install it and the generator was running again without the cover however, since all the hoses did not fit inside. Due to this generator made a lot more noise but we could keep our batteries charged. When I was done with the repair we walked a mile along the road to a picturesque tropical water fall. Next to the little waterfall is an old wall that has a fig tree growing out of it. The water was nice and cool and we had a good swim but since we did not bring bathing suits or a towel we violated the St. Vincent law forbidding nudity in public places. In Wallilabou you can clear customs only after 5:00PM so you have to pay overtime charges, but there is no immigration office so you have to go more south to the next town called Barrouallie. Walking to the town is a little challenging since the road is pretty steep. So we took the dinghy; our boat boy went with us and he directed us to a few beautiful caves along the way. Just before Barrouallie is a line of rocks officially called the “Bottle and Glass Rocks”. But the locals call it the “Submarine” and indeed from a distance it looks like a submarine. The immigration process is done in the police station and it was very clear that the officer who helped us had not done this job in a long time, but he was quite nice and helpful.
Since our batteries were nearly depleted we motor sailed to Bequia a very nice island just south of St. Vincent. It was a very nice sailing day but as usual the crossing between the islands was rough with short steep waves. The waves are so high and steep that it even makes a large ferry boat roll which we found out a couple of days later when we took the ferry from Bequia to Kingstown. We anchored on the same place we used during our previous visits to Bequia “Tony Gibbons Beach” also known as “Princes Margret Beach” after this English Princess stayed on this beach a long time ago. This is a very nice place since you are a short distance away from the crowded area in front of the town of “Port Elizabeth”. Bequia is a wonderful place to be with steep hills, great beaches and nice shoals ideal for easy snorkeling. On Sunday morning we had our breakfast on the terrace of the “Gingerbread Hotel” restaurant that has a great view over the “Admiralty Bay”. We took a taxi tour over the island that showed us the beauty of the island even more and went to places with beautiful views over the colored waters and the surrounding islands. We visited the “Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary” that turned out to be a big disappointment. Taxis in Bequia are small pickup trucks with benches in the truck bed and a sun cover, so very easy accessible to get in and out to take pictures. While we were on our way back a gentleman jumped in the truck a told us that he was the last but now also retired whaler in Bequia. Until this gentleman retired Bequia was an active whaling station in a low-key and traditional way. By IWC agreement local whalers can take four whales a year between February and April. This whaler told us how they use a small local sailboat to come very close to the whale to catch the whale with a handheld harpoon and then they put an explosive device against the whale that instantly destroys the internal organs of the whale so it dies without suffering.
We took the ferry from Bequia to Kingstown the capital of St. Vincent. The old town built in the 1700s is very small with 3 roads parallel to the coast and at regular intervals side roads. Despite its rough edges we like Kingstown with the old stone buildings, cobblestone sidewalks and very beautiful arches. The unusual feature of the architecture is that many buildings have pillars on the outside of the sidewalks supporting the floors above, creating a covered walkway with arches. The old cathedral is very special but I cannot explain it in words but see our pictures to get an impression how special the building is. We had a great lunch in a local restaurant on the second floor balcony overlooking the hustle and bustle on the street. In the afternoon we took a sightseeing tour that brought us to the south/east side of the island and we had a great view of Mesopotamia Valley that is actually the dome of a very old volcano. Thus the area is very good for agriculture. Vegetables, fruits, etc. are grown on terraces as the slopes are very steep. We saw the construction site of the new airport and together with a building boom of very nice new houses it gives the impression of a growing economy. On our way back the ferry took a very large roll and all the people sitting on the bench where sliding from one side to the other and the car deck with a large amount of big trailer trucks took quite some water.
The next day we had a very exciting sail to Canouan a small island 25 miles south of Bequia. The north part of the island is sold to a resort development company and this area is completely fenced in. However, the nice part of this is that this company built nice concrete roads to access their property that in turn gives access to great places on the island with stunning views of the all the surrounding islands including the Tobago Cays. All this construction and labor to build and maintain the resort make Canouan a very well-to-do island. Next to a large airport a very large marina is under construction with slips for mega yachts but also sailboats like ours. In Charlestown Bay is a nice resort hotel with a beautiful beach and dinghy dock but as it is out of season it was completely empty and cruisers can use the facility and buy internet access. The bad part of Canouan and Charlestown Bay is the wind. With a strong north to east wind the mountains hold up the wind, but then release the wind into the bay with gusts 2 to 3 times the normal wind speed. The result is constant wind gusts from 35 to 50 kn. and of course this happened mostly during the night.
We stayed two days in Canouan and took a short sail to Salt Whistle Bay in Mayreau in less than an hour with 24 kn. east wind and speed up to 7.2 kn. with a reefed main and small part of the genoa. The waves and swell were over 6 ft. Mayreau is a small island rimmed with pristine beaches and spectacular views from the only town that is built on top of the hill. We anchored in Salt Whistle Bay which is a small bay with a sweeping half-moon beach with reefs on the north and south side. This is a very popular bay and when we came in the bay had only 5 boats on anchor, but before the day ended this bay filled up with boats and I counted over 20 boats. The beach is absolutely beautiful especially since the beach serves 2 sea sides and the outside beach gives a beautiful view of the Tobago Cays and Canouan. A catamaran from the Kitesurfing School came in and we enjoyed excellent Kite Surfing especially from the instructor who showed off by surfing along the beach close to all the anchored boats making jumps and flips that gave the impression that he was flying instead of surfing. Since Dorothy had problems with her knees we took a taxi to the village on top of the hill and although this is just a very short distance the road is very steep and I was happy that we did not climb it. We walked back since it was going downhill. The village has a very nice church with on the back side a spectacular view over the Tobago Cays that cannot be compared to anything. The color differences in the water around the 3 small islands with the shoals and breakers over the horseshoe reef on the Atlantic side cannot be described in words; it is so beautiful. We met a Dutch couple who spent also so time in Suriname and a solo sailor who was moored next to us in the Suriname River. While enjoying some good Rum/Fruit punch we had a nice time sharing stories. From a local fisherman we purchased two Red Snappers that we grilled on the BBQ and we had a delicious dinner. However the next day in the Tobaco Cays we had a BBQ (not just a BBQ but a gourmet dinner!) on the beach of Petit Bateau and both the food and the ambiance were the best you can wish for. The wind was very strong and although protected by the reef the anchorage behind Petit Rameau was very rolling and since the water was too rough to snorkel or to use our snuba equipment to dive we sailed back to Mayreau the next day and anchored in Saline Bay. This bay has a very lovely long beach and is very well protected with a great view of Union Island with its dramatic mountainous outline.
The next morning the phone calls kept coming in to congratulate Dorothy on her birthday even on our spectacular short and fast sail with only the jib sail to Union Island. We moored in Clifton Harbour that has an anchorage behind a reef but with the strong wind blowing into the bay you had a feeling that the reef did not very much to protect you. However, when you looked at the sea outside the reef, you saw a very rough body of water with spectacular breakers smashing over the reef. We celebrated Dorothy’s birthday with a nice dinner on shore but since we did not want to go back over this rough water in the dark we did it early in the evening.
The next morning we had a great sail to Carriacou and continued the day after with our final sail to Grenada. We arrived just after lunch in Port Louis Marina and moored Island Girl in the slip she will be in for at least the next 8 weeks. On June 8, 2014 we are flying back to Texas to visit our children and grandchildren and see our doctors. During our stay in the USA we hope to enjoy the World Championship Soccer that is played in Brazil. We will return to Grenada on July 18, 2014 and we hope to continue our cruise on board Island Girl with a trip to Bonaire a Dutch Island in the West Caribbean.