17/04/09, Carriacou
So we left Tyrrel Bay and sailed around to Hillsborough, a good breeze and 2 hours later we were anchored off Hillsborough.
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
So we prepared Pizzazz & Pod (our dingy) for the trip, first to Hillsborough, the capital of Carriacou, to check out. Then the plan was to sail from Hillsborough to Union Island to check into the Grenadines, and then straight up to Bequia.
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
Then it was time for me to return. My travel to Grenada all went according to plan. I had to stay over in Grenada, due to my flight arriving after the last flight to Carriacou, so I checked into the Lazy Lagoon Cottages as well. The next morning I was on the first flight to Carriacou. My welcome home dinner that night was this crayfish.... I did battle to get it into the pot though....
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
So with Di all settled on Pizzazz, she was given her first job, we were going to St Vincent/Grenadines and we required a flag.......
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay Carriacou
A view of Tyrrel Bay from the aircraft, Pizzazz's home.
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
This is a view of St Georges lagoon in Grenada.
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
So after Glyn had showed Di around Grenada, it was time to leave and move on to Pizzazz. Above is a pic of them leaving and the type of plane used between Grenada and Carriacou.
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
On arrival, you receive a free cocktail and in most cases,it is a rum punch. As seen above, Di enjoying the view from the Lazy Lagoon bar....
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17/04/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
So Di arrived and Glyn was very happy to see her sis in the Caribbean. They checked into their accommodation, the Lazy Lagoon, which is situated in St Georges, over looking the yachts moored in the lagoon. Above is a photo of the very funky Lazy Lagoon rooms.
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14/03/09, Carriacou Island
Well an update on what has been happening. Just after I left, Pizzazz was taken out the water for dimensions to be taken of the shaft and existing prop setup below, to be able to order the new prop, and then Pizzazz was put back in the water within the same day. In that time Glyn cleaned the bottom as best she could. We have also had our friend Dave onboard, doing repairs to the forward port chain plate, which moved due to the company in Cape Town over tightening the stay.....luckily we did not lose the rig. We are also having repairs done to our Dingy and a extra piece added to the one saloon bunk, to make a comfortable space to sleep. So a bit has been happening.
Then on Thursday, Glyn's sister Di arrived in Grenada to spend 2 months with us, so are hoping to go sailing around the Grenadines when I return next week Saturday. Glyn & Di are presently touring around Grenada and will be flying back to Pizzazz on Sunday. We were hoping to get our new prop for the trip up, but due to it all being a bit of a mess, we will only be getting it much later.
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Francois $ Mads
Best wishes, Yvonne & Brian
22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
This is what we have been dreaming of all this time.....
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
After our visit to Hillsborough, we had to have a pit stop at one of the beach bars, looking over the anchorage, with Pizzazz in the distance....
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
So this is from inside Snagg's, looking out to sea...
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
We were strolling along the beach when we came across this place, called Snagg's, the guy (Snagg's) was lying in the hammock chatting to this local American couple, we decided to go in and have a beer. It was very interesting chatting to him and the couple, the couple say he is very well known for his cooking and especially crayfish/lobster, unfortunately he only does it on Sunday's or if in a group, so we will have to get a group together, as it sounds like a treat.
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
This is a pic of the anchorage at Hillsborough, where we would have to check out before moving on to Union Island, which can be seen in the distance....
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
We had to make a trip into the capital, Hillsborough, to book my plane ticket back to Grenada, to catch my plane back to Angola. We caught the bus (looks like a SA taxi), very friendly people, we had a great day in town.
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
Just another sunset....in Tyrrel Bay.
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22/02/09, Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
Anchored in paradise, Tyrrel Bay is a beautiful bay with the colours in the water. Once we were anchored, I dived on the anchor to make sure it was in properly, which it was, then swam around the boat and noticed that our Maxprop was damaged, one of the blades had the tip missing...hence the slow progress when motoring, so will have to change that.
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22/02/09, St George's, Grenada
Early morning start for Carriacou. We had heard that the 30 miles could be difficult depending on wind and current on the day, so just as we had lifted anchor, we noticed a Passenger Liner....lining up for the dock, and we had to cross its path, so we had to hang about and wait for it to come in, so it wasted about an hour of our early start. We had to motor/sail along the coast, as not much wind, until we reached the north end, we tried to keep as east as we could, but the wind direction was as per normal......coming from exactly where we were headed. So we had to still motor/sail as the east to west current was pushing us westward, at one stage we were heading 20-30 degrees east of the island and the GPS said we were headed straight for the island, so we were going sideways to where we wanted to go. So from a 8:00am start, we anchored in Tyrrel Bay at 5:30pm....
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21/02/09, St George's, Grenada
Another shot of sunset.....
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21/02/09, St George's, Grenada
It was just.........
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21/02/09, St Georges, Grenada
So once anchored......our first real Caribbean anchorage, we both dived off for a swim and then it looked like a perfect evening, so decided to light a fire for a braai. It did turn out to be the most perfect evening for a first Caribbean anchorage, full moon....no wind....smooth calm waters...a braai and rum!!!
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21/02/09, St Georges, Grenada
After a great day out sailing, we headed in towards St Georges. This is a view of St Georges on our approach. St Georges does have a lagoon area inside the harbour to anchor, but we decided to anchor off outside for the night.
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21/02/09, Grenada
So with the wind blowing a bit, we exited the channel to Clarkes Court Bay and set course to round the SW point of Grenada and onto St Georges for an overnight stop. We had a great sail, and could not believe we were actually day sailing in the Caribbean and not just outside Richards Bay harbour....it all felt worth it at that moment.
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
So then before we handed the jeep back, we did some more provisioning and prepared the boat for another sail. So we eventually set off through the channel....much to the crew's delight.....
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
So then we ended our day round trip of Grenada, having sundowners on our friends, John & Shirley's boat, in True Blue Bay, this time with a bit more sun around.
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina
This is a view of the West coast coastline.... a lot more protected, nice calm waters.
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marine, Grenada
This is a better view from the restaurant, "Almost Paradise". This is the waters we plan to cross to get to Carriacou.
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marine, Grenada
So during our circumnavigation of the island, we stopped off in Almost Paradise......this is the name of the restaurant. It is right up on the north of the island, and looks over a few small un-inhabitated islands and also onto Carriacou in the distance. This picture does not show it all. What it does show is the unusual restaurant, very small but a great view, they have, like sliced log table tops, and have accommodation here as well. It is run by a German couple( I think), very friendly people. The food was very well presented and had a lot of flavour.....but for me not enough for the price.
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marine, Grenada
Some of the east coast coastline.
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21/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina
This is a pic of a village we drove through on the East coast, I think it was Grenville.
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
This is again a pic from the restaurant, showing some of the beautiful houses surrounding True Blue Bay and Prickly Bay.
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
A pic from the restaurant in True Blue Bay, with our friends, John & Shirley's boat on the left of picture.
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
True Blue Bay we thought was one of the nicer bays to be anchored in, it was small but beautiful. It has a dive shop, restaurant with wooden walkways over the water. Our friends John & Shirley enjoyed anchoring here. It was part of our plan to anchor here but our plans changed, but hope to still go back there.
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
Having a drink at the Prickly Bay Yacht Club outside bar. The Immigration & Customs are situated right there, just behind the bar.
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
This is a pic of Prickly Bay, during our exploring with the vehicle. Prickly Bay is one of the official clearing in ports, the anchorage looked protected but the boats were rolling quite a bit.
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
This is some of Pizzazz's Xmas decorations before removing, we planned on a lot more, but with our trip being a bit....rough.....this was it...
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20/02/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
So I arrived back on a very clean and shining Pizzazz, Glyn had done a fantastic job cleaning her up, so was ready to go sailing again. On my return I hired a vehicle for 3 days so we could do some exploring, we got a very cute 2 door Jeep, and we drove around St Georges, Prickly Bay, True Blue Bay and visited all the yacht shops on the Saturday. Then on Sunday we circumnavigated the Island and had lunch at "Nearly Paradise", then all the way back and paid a visit to our friends, John & Shirley, who were anchored off in True Blue Bay, which is a really nice bay. On the Monday we did all our provisioning for our trip north. Pizzazz in red in the foreground.
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26/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
So time to go and see what paradise is all about again.......yes it is time for me to return home again. I leave camp on Thursday 29th January at 6:00am by bus to Cabinda, then fly to Luanda and onto Joburg at 6:30pm. My flight to London leaves at 9:30pm and arrive in London at about 6:30am Friday morning, then about 10:00 I fly BA to Grenada, arriving there at 5:20pm local time, there is 6 hours difference between SA & Grenada.
Our plan from here is we have a car for 3 days and want to see as much of Grenada as possible in the 3 days. On Tuesday/Wednesday we are planning on leaving the mooring and then take a slow cruise up to Carriacou, stopping off for one or two nights on anchor along the way. Once in Carriacou, we hope to visit our friends up there for a few days before moving on to the Grenadines. Unfortunately I only have 3 weeks this time so will then slowly return on the same course and eventually back on the mooring by about the 14/15th Feb.
I return to Angola on the 17th Feb and back in the office on the 20th Feb.
Glyn will be staying on the boat again and her sister, Diane, will be joining her just over 2 weeks later, and will be staying with us for about 2 months, so we are looking forward to her visit, and she is all booked and eager to get going, so Glyn will have company for a lot of the time I am away.
The photo was taken from the beach on Carriacou Island on our last visit in 2005.
So then, until an update from paradise.......
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14/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
So this is our new home for the following 5-6 months or so, the marina where Pizzazz is moored is on the right. This area is quite remote and very quiet. To go shopping we have to get a taxi from the marina, which costs about EC$40 one way, once we got a "local" taxi and it cost us EC$25........Glyn has recently heard that on Friday's, there is an organised taxi that fetches people for shopping for 2-3 hours and only costs EC$10. We hear we can cross the bay with the dingy, and can catch a local bus or taxi from the local rum shop....will have to go and investigate.....So now looking forward to do some serious relaxing...snorkelling....and....what ever!!!!!!
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14/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
This is a shot to give some idea of some of the local houses around....
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14/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
This Cruise Liner was just leaving, but some beautiful boats around....
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14/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
One of the days before I left, the three of us, our friend Barbara, Glyn & myself, got a taxi and did a bit of sightseeing before doing a shop for Glyn. We went to the St Georges Yacht Club and had a lunch and beer. The colours in the water just don't look the same on a photo.........
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14/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada
This is some of what we have been dreaming about..........
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12/01/09, Grenada
After 22 days we finally see Grenada. Early morning on the 1st Jan we thought with the wind we had, the boat speed on the log and the miles to cover, we would not make it in before dark but by 10:00 I noticed that the log was showing 4-5 knots but the GPS was showing 6-7 knots over the ground, we decided that we may just make it in so increased our sail plan and got moving at 7-8 knots but with 13 miles to go and the land well in sight, we had to abort and stay out at sea for another night, we docked at 10:00am on the 2nd January.
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Glad to read yous are doing well.
We are back in SA for good, well sort of. I (Brian) arrived in JHB in June 2008 and headed to Zimbabwe for a contract. MMMMmm Yvonne arrived back at the end of October. Due to circumstance in Zim I was pulled off site and the contract ended so back to looking for work, at least we are back in SA. We have been up to Imagine and though she is need of TLC, she is doing fine and it is great to be back on her.
Wishing you both the all the best for 2009 and may the elements be good to you and Pizzazz.
Please keep in touch
Best wishes
Brian & Yvonne
12/01/09, Brazil to Grenada
We were surprised at the amount of traffic we came across being 300 to 400 miles off the coast of Brazil, we even saw 2 tugs towing a Oil Rig past, this was 400 miles off the Amazon.
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12/01/09, Brazil to Grenada
So at least we still had Xmas presents to look forward to......
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12/01/09, Brazil to Grenada
Then on Xmas eve we got one of our worst storms ever. This is where I steered the boat for about an hour, thinking it was just another squall, but eventually I got so exhausted, we decided to hove to, and packed everything in the cockpit inside, we both went below and shut & locked the main hatch. We both sat and watched it for a while but we were both so tired, so we had 1 hour on and one hour off duties. This lasted for over 30 hours, before we saw any signs of it lifting......
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12/01/09, Brazil to Grenada
This sunset was very unusual, it looked unbelievable.....but did it mean something........
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12/01/09, Brazil to Grenada
Then we started getting a breeze again, and sailing with he dodger down, hatches open.....felt great.
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