The day after our guests left us in Grenada was our 34th wedding anniversary! We caught up with personal business and chased down money from participants in the upcoming Guadeloupe cruise that we volunteered to help organize but other than that, mostly just relaxed and celebrated our marital bliss at Spice Affair that evening. The food was excellent and they surprised us with a free dessert!!
We were supposed to get new batteries installed the following week but after we took up anchor, motored over to Spice Island Marina and started to back into a slip, the shop owner jumped in the skiff (that was to help us with the med moor) and came out to tell us one of the batteries was damaged in transit. That would have been nice to know four weeks ago when they were delivered but oh well, on to Plan B.
We decided to put through a new order and get them installed when we pass through Grenada on our way to Trinidad this April. However, Billy Ruff’n had a more immediate plan. The refrigerator started acting up so it looked like we would be around for at least a few more days to look into that. Fortunately, we knew a good fridge guy (Michael) who was happy to come out to the boat a few days later.
In the meantime, we called ‘Short Boss’ (our friendly local taxi driver) to help us get dinghy fuel and re-provision. Michael came one afternoon, recharged something and discussed the disadvantages of factory gauge settings with Andrew. They messed around with the gauges for a bit, all the while talking about how Michael was sick of the ungrateful kids at the school where he taught and was planning to retire. I guess they fixed something because we haven’t had issues with the fridge since.
We decided to fuel up, pick up fresh meats & cheeses from Le Boucher in Prickly Bay and head off to Carriacou on Feb. 2nd. Of course, just as we were taking up anchor, a catamaran zoomed past us, headed for the fuel dock, which delayed us for a bit, but so it goes. We were motor-sailing along in 10-15 knots when Andrew noticed the fuel pressure gauge looked low. We continued on under main alone, while Andrew checked and topped off the oil. That afternoon, we anchored in Tyrell Bay and made a plan to see the local mechanic in the morning.
The next morning, as we were having our coffee in the cockpit, John and a man that looked like he must be his brother, came by in their boat offering island tours. We said no thanks and explained our predicament with the engine. They said the guy that we were planning to call “was no mechanic” and we would be better off calling Kelvin, the mechanic at Carriacou Marina. Of course, he wouldn’t be available for a couple of days so we decided to take our chances and move on to Petit Martinique (PM). If we had problems, we wouldn’t be far away.
We fired up the engine the next day and all systems seemed fine! Off to a new land for us since we’d never been to PM. Approaching the harbor, we saw dozens of beautifully painted and well cared for fishing boats but no sailboats. Off to the north was Petit St. Vincent, a private island with a few sail boats anchored off the beautiful, clean beach. We picked up a free mooring from a restaurant on the beach where we in exchange made reservations for dinner.
We checked in first thing in the morning and then took off for Mustique, a pleasant ~12 mile, close reach in 15-20 knots and 3-5 foot seas. Arrived around noon and tried to pick up a ball but it was too heavy to bring on board. Fortunately, the Harbor Master arrived in timely fashion to help us out. After a short nap, we rigged the dinghy to go in town for lunch. We walked up a rather steep hill to The View, a restaurant which indeed had a fabulous view of the harbor but wasn’t open for lunch. I thought it was worth the climb but Andrew said he would have preferred to wait for me at Basil’s, where we settled in with some refreshing drinks. We had assorted mini tacos and flatbread, which was the same thing we ordered last time we were here but it was so good, it was worth having again (and again). After lunch, we picked up some fresh King Fish for dinner but never ate it because we had so much leftover from lunch.
We specifically came to Mustique at this time because it was during the Blues Festival, which Mick Jagger, who owns a home here, is known to crash. We didn’t see Mick but the next night, we enjoyed great music & dancing with a fun crowd, as well as another flatbread!
The next morning, I took the dinghy in to pick up some pastries from the bakery for breakfast before we took off for Bequia. We left around 11am and around 2pm, we picked up a mooring off Daffodil’s, since she is known for the best mooring balls and we were expecting some high winds and surge. We defrosted the King Fish and Andrew made an awesome sauce of peppers, onions and I don’t know what else but it was one of the best I’ve had in the Caribbean!
After a few lazy days of provisioning, reading and relaxing, the winds and roll started to come into the bay. The first day we arrived, there were about 4 boats around us. A few days later, we were surrounded by dozens of boats that had moved overnight from Princess Margaret Beach (on the south end of the bay, where boats looked like they were being tossed on the beach) to the north, where we had been for two days. We hunkered down and got creative with leftovers: King Fish wraps and chicken a La Hilary… that means, whatever I decide to do with leftover chicken.
Once things settled a bit in the harbor, we decided to move to Princess Margaret beach to be closer to the bar that would be showing the Super Bowl on a big screen TV. Unfortunately, it was still too rough to land the dinghy on the beach so we decided to watch using our Wi-Fi booster on the boat. We did land the dinghy on the town dock and enjoyed a decent lunch of Fisherman’s Curry at Frangipani on the Bequia boardwalk, which is the quintessential stone walk along the shore of Admiralty Bay.
At the restaurant, a young girl came by our table selling coconut water that she was pushing in a baby carriage. She said she was raising money to go to school, but when I inquired about what she wanted to study, she shrugged. I don’t know if it was a line or not but she spent time chatting with us so I bought a bottle. When we were walking back to our dinghy, we passed the young girl crying on the walk. She said she lost her money and her mother was going to give her a whooping. We asked how much she lost and she went through the number of bottles she started with, the number she sold and the money she had in hand to calculate that she was $5 EC short. She’s either got this scam down to perfection or she was really worried so we made her whole.
On the way back to the boat, we saw a dinghy with the name Bolero on it and then found the boat in the harbor. Bolero has been owned for 22 years (and retrofitted twice) by a fellow named Ed, who will be on the cruise we are organizing in Guadeloupe, so I sent him a text to say hello. He graciously invited us over for cocktails that evening and we got a tour of his gorgeous boat and met his fun crew. Unbeknownst to me, Andrew has known of this boat for 50 years and has always wanted to see it below decks. Voila!
Two boats dragged in the middle of the night after breaking free of their moorings; one got saved from floating out to sea by getting hung up on another boats’ dinghy davits and the other got rescued by the coast guard. We figured it was time to move on to Cumberland Bay, St. Vincent, our last stop in this country.
On Feb. 13th, we weighed anchor and set out on the 25 mile sail with 15-20 knots on the nose and lots of water coming over the rail. Naturally, this would be the one time I neglected to secure the hatch over our bunk. We weren’t far into the trip when I heard an unusual sloshing water sound when I went below. Upon investigation, I found our bed soaked in seawater… ugh!
We arrived in the bay with no further issues and were met by Maurice, a professorial looking and very helpful boat man, who was recommended by a friend. After a few tries, we settled into a med moor right off the shore from a grounded boat. Apparently, this bay got the other nights’ surge as well and the owner of this boat fell asleep drunk and didn’t wake up in time to save his boat. Ominous looking but we felt secure with our anchor and shore ties and very little surge.
Shortly after, we were greeted by everyone with a boat and something to sell but all were polite and friendly so we purchased what we could; including limes & tomato’s as well as purple, pink and green beaded bracelets and turtle necklaces for the grand daughters.
Maurice arranged for the owner of the restaurant where he works as the promotions guy, to take us in his beat up jalopy car (with bald tires and no door handles) to check out of St. Vincent & The Grenadines in the next town over and then to the Dark Falls. Maurice came along to show us the exotic flowers and the rickety wooden bridge that led to these two 100 foot falls plunging into cold pools. I decided to take a shower in one of them and it was unbelievably refreshing!
That evening, we had a Valentine’s celebration, as the only patrons at Maurice’s friends’ restaurant, with a fresh picked flower (complements of Maurice) and a close up view of the grounded boat. The lobster and tuna were simply prepared with potato salad, plantains and rice and very tasty.
And with that we end our most recent visit to St. Vincent & The Grenadines but we will be back to enjoy the fabulous people, beautiful scenery and of course, the sunsets.
