We returned to the UK for a few weeks to tend to business there, flying up from Grenada to Barbados and then across the Pond with an overnight Virgin flight ....

This aerial shot of Clifton Harbour on Union Island, with the reef between Clifton & Ashton clearly seen.

We decided to seek out another anchorage on the west coast of Grenada which would break up the long sail between Grenada & Carriacou, so we headed to Moliniere Point and Dragon Bay, just north of St Georges. The swell made both anchorages very rolly but we managed to take a mooring buoy for lunchtime and then snorkelled the Underwater Sculpture Park to see the newly added sculptures since our last visit in 2008. Although the visibility was very good (for Grenadan waters) some of the sculptures were difficult to spot. The main one is the ring of lifesize people, which looms up at you out of the gloom - quite spooky ! Bob dived down to some of the figures which gives a good idea of their size ...

At the end of the week with our wonderful Canadian guests, we headed back down to Grenada from PSV, and once again threw out the fishing line. Halfway between Carriacou and Grenada, on the windward side of the islands, the line flew out and there was obviously something very large on the end ... The Captain, ably assisted by guest Chris, landed the largest fish he had ever caught - a Kingfish - a beautiful fish that put up quite a fight, and took over half a bottle of Absolut Vodka to subdue !!

We had seen this magnificent yacht, Mirabella 5, in Admiralty Bay, Bequia a few weeks before we saw her again anchored off Petit Bateau Island at the Tobago Cays. We didn't really appreciate her size until we saw her next to the very large Royal Clipper ship in the Cays, and spotted the tiny speck on her deck which was one of her crew !! We cruised close by for a better look at this wonderful yacht with a 100 metre mast... Is the courtesy flag the right way up ???

We were told about J'Ouvert which starts Carnival off properly at dawn on the Monday morning, and also told to wear old clothing as body painting was the norm - so, we set the alarm clocks, and the four of us went into town at 5.30 am to join the hundreds of dancing, drinking and laughing locals, who had probably been there all night !! We watched the Jab-Jab procession with their cattle horns, chains and suitcases, most of the guys were covered head to toe in used engine oil, and others daubed us liberally with multi coloured paints as they passed by.



Our charter guest, Chris, was covered in purple paint and seemed quite content supping Carib beer at 6 o'clock in the morning - great fun. The customs of J'Ouvert were quite an eye-opener, Captain Bob and Chris witnessed some new dance moves, although they probably couldn't get into some of the positions themselves ... the atmosphere was really electric, and the best part - it was all friendly and fun, there was no trouble or aggression - very unlike the Notting Hill Carnival in London !! Not sure about the beer for breakfast at 6am though ...

After months of entertaining emails between the UK and Canada, we were delighted to welcome two self-confessed 'Crazy Canadians' from Ontario onboard Lady Liv. Actually, Susan & Chris were far from crazy and we had a brilliant week together cruising from Grenada up to the Grenadines and back. Our first stop north was Hillsborough in Carriacou, where we were fortunate enough to catch the Carriacou Carnival (Mas) weekend - on the Sunday night we all went ashore to enjoy the carnival atmosphere in the main street in Hillsborough, had a local dinner, and were deafened by the bank of huge speakers belting out soca and calypso music in the packed high street. We met up with our friend Jeff and his crewmate Kevon, who had moored Beauty at Sandy Island and we party partyed together until the early hours, along with what seemed like the whole of Carriacou that had turned out to dance, and grind !! Chris received a lot of attention from Mr Potman who insisted on putting his very sweaty tin pot hat on Chris, much to everyone's amusement.. M and Susan were grabbed from behind a couple of times and taught some new dance moves - very interesting !