The southern gateway to St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Union Island was another short hop for us located less than five miles from Petite St. Vincent. It is the largest island in the southern part of St. Vincent's Grenadines and is within view of the islands of Carriacou and the mainland of Grenada, which lie directly south. The mountains of Union lend a dramatic outline to the island that helps it stands out from afar. We cleared in at Clifton Bay which is the main harbor and where we dropped our anchor for a few days of sightseeing and snorkeling. The sail into the bay, which is protected by a barrier reef, was awe inspiring as the dazzling kaleidoscope of colors and patterns literally took my breath away. Clifton and Ashton are the two principal towns on the island that is home to approximately 3,000 residents.



Union is the commercial center of the southern Grenadines with an excellent harbor and even an airport. Union seems more geared to catering to tourists and charter boats than most of the other islands we have visited and, as such, we found ourselves suffering a bit of sticker shock at the prices for groceries. Just as an example, eggs were $1.50 each! However, we found if we got off the beaten path prices got more reasonable, $1.00 an egg. The market was a wonderful place though, the many colorful stalls are arranged around a very pretty green square. In addition, everyone we met there is cheerful and was genuinely happy to talk to us. The town of Clifton is very, very clean and really quite picturesque; it is a place we look forward to returning too.



Our arrival in Union marked the beginning of our ongoing malaise of internet withdrawal. Free wifi is not as easy to get these days with everyone adding passwords to their wifi. The Drunken Sailor Restaurant and Bar became our favorite place to catch up on email and people watch. The staff was delightful and the banana daiquiris were yummy!



The very clear and brilliant blue, green and turquoise waters of Clifton Bay attracted numerous kite boarders. It was very entertaining to sit in the cockpit at the end of the day and watch them race back and forth across the bay, sometimes between the anchored sailboats, then jumping high into the air as they made their turns to return back down the bay.





As we lifted anchor to sail to Chatham Bay our windless appeared to have faith healed itself, as we had no problems at all - wahoo! We will still be hand steering as the autopilot was unable to revive itself :(