Heading south to Grenada

On April 23rd we left at 9am for an 11 mile motor sail to Canouan. Immediately upon arrival in Charlestown Bay, we were met by two men in skiffs; the older one selling fresh lobster and the younger one offering to take our trash, pick up groceries or whatever we wanted. These guys had their pitches down! The lobster guy said his lobster was bigger and less expensive than Tobago Cay (where we were headed next for lobster on the beach). We relented and for $150 EC (approx. $50 U.S.) per person, we bought two 5 lb lobster, which the guy proceeded to tie in a potato sack with one of our lines so the lobster would stay alive, draped in the water off our boat until we were ready to cook. I got this funny feeling, someone would come by in scuba gear, cut the line and swim off with our prize, so we decided to stay on the boat.

When we asked the grocery boy how he got groceries on a Sunday, when the stores were closed, he said his mother owned the shop and he could get us anything. These are the lines you need to watch out for! He may have been perfectly legit but we have heard stories of folks giving someone like this money to pick something up and never seeing them again.

Anyway, the lobster dinner was enormous and delicious and enough to make lobster salad for lunch the next day as well so it didn’t matter when we got to Tobago Cay and it was less expensive.

The next morning, after rescuing the ‘grocery boy’ who’s motor conked

out next to our boat, we headed off to Tobago Cay. On the way out of the harbor, we couldn’t help but notice the giant Sandy Cove Yacht Club sign in bright red, which we later found out is a really nice, but expensive, marina.

We arrived in Tobago Cays in the afternoon and headed to the mooring field closest to the turtle sanctuary. As we passed thru the cut, were greeted by Mike & Wanda (on s/v Going to the sun), whom we just met in Mustique. We picked up a mooring, with the help of Mandy Man, that looked out over the ocean, completely calmed by the barrier reef. 

As soon as we settled in, I donned my snorkel gear and jumped in the water to find me some turtles. The first thing I saw were the enormous, dinner plate sized starfish and then as I got closer to the dive buoys, I saw two gigantic turtles, as big as a dinner table, and a half dozen small to medium ones. The big ones don’t surface much but the others will swim up right next to you. 

The next day, Andrew and I took the dinghy to the beach to walk around a bit and snorkel along the shore. Besides the view from the little hill, the best sights were back in the turtle sanctuary.

That evening, we took the dinghy to another beach for our (less expensive) lobster dinner served by Mandy Man. On the way over we caught a beautiful purple and red sunset gleeming thru the cut and arrived to find tables full of people awaiting their grilled selections. Wanda and Mike joined us at the table and we enjoyed getting to know them better.

On 4/26, we left Tobago Cay for Clifton Bay on Union Island. We had to stop here to check out of The Grenadines as we were continuing to work our way south. We dropped off some laundry and picked up some Corvalli fish (for $30 EC), and prepared to make way to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, the next day. There, we needed to check in to Grenada, but the entire island’s power was out (due to a fire in the power station), so we came back the next morning. Here’s Andrew changing our flags as we approach:

True to Caribbean form, no one was in the office the next morning at 9am (when they told us to return) but fortunately, the cafe next door was open and we could get a nice omelette and more coffee for breakfast. Around 10am someone showed up at the Customs office to a dozen sailors lined up to check in. We were 4th in line and it went pretty quickly so we had time to do some errands and move the boat around the corner to Paradise Beach, in time for lunch.

We had a really nice lunch at Off the Hook, a casual place with brightly colored picnic tables and Adirondack chairs on the beach, good food and friendly service. We got to talking with the proprietor, who was a young lady who had just inherited the place and moved back home (from New York) to make a go of it. She had made a good start and was interested in feedback on everything to make it better. 

When we got back from lunch, Evening Star, Solmate and Chilli Pepper showed up in the harbor so we made plans to try out another beach bar with them for dinner. Paradise Beach Bar was a fun place too; decorated with plaques that sailors had painted with their boat names on ‘paint your own plaque’ night. Andrew and I shared a fish dish and enjoyed a beautiful evening with the gang. The next day, we would all be going our separate ways, hopefully to meet again soon.