Moving North

We ended up spending two weeks in Grenada and enjoyed just doing very little other than going for a walk and going for swims. We did enjoy a number of dinners out with friends and did some site seeing in town and also doing a drive around the island. Grenada is very friendly.

After a couple of weeks we left and sailed up to the island of Canouan which is St Vincent and the Grenadines. The sail was ok but the winds were again tight on the bow so lots of spray over the boat and a bumpy ride. Canouan is a small island of which half is private owned by Trump and friends. We did rent some golf carts and drove around the other half of the island which has some very pretty lagoons inside the reefs and the views from up high were beautiful. After clearing in with the customs etc. we sailed over to Tobago Cays.

Tobago Cays when we were last there in 2009 was very quiet with just four boats being in there and the winds were very light. This time what a difference there must have been one hundred boat in there, most of them catamarans of around 50 feet with at least eight to twelve people on board! The wind was blowing at 20k, which is what we have had now for the last month, so not much room to anchor and certainly not much fun to do some snorkeling. We did stay the night but left in the morning to go to Mayreau and Saltwhistle Bay which again was full of very big charter cats. On top of all this there were some cruise ships anchored out and sending in all their quests so just awful. Again when we were here last there were two of us in the bay.

After thinking on this the difference today is that the charter boat business has such big boats that hold ten or twelve people that there is no need of them to associate with any of the other boats and people where ever they are. These people who charter are only here for a week and really have no idea what they are doing. Luckily most of the bigger boats have crew so at least some know how to operate a boat.

So after a couple of nights of this we sailed back over to Canouan which has a big bay and very few boats so a nice place to have a swim and a quiet night. Yesterday we sailed up to Bequia which has a big bay with lots of boats anchored all around but not so close you have to worry. We met up with s/v Imagine which had a couple of mechanical problems that they have had fixed. Their company is leaving later today and we will sail with them on Tuesday up to St Lucia. That will give us three days here to explore the little town and surrounding area.

on our way

We had a successful launching on Monday afternoon and motored over to Cruise Inn marine. We ended up at one berth and then had to move to another which was a bit of a pain having had Kilkea tied up and plugged in already. We managed to get the main sail up that evening when the winds calmed and then early the next morning we put up the genoa and the mizzen sails. Lots of small jobs for the rest to the morning. At 1630 we had checked out with customs and immigration and left the dock headed for Grenada along with s/v Imagine. We were only five miles or so from the dock when Imagine called us to say they were having trouble with their cooling system on their engine and would have to go back to Trinidad. As it was just about to get dark we both anchored in a small bay and we agreed to wait there until they returned. They left early Wednesday morning to start the repair procedure. We expected it would take them at least two days to get the work done and if fact to took three. Now normally we have just traveled alone on most of our passages but right now in this area there has been two piracy events in December and coast guard is advising all yachts to travel in groups and travel at night and not to advertise your departure plans. Scotland bay is where we were and we made good time of our days there fixing the generator (impeller), fresh water system torn apart as well as a new toilet base in the aft head. We did manage time for a swim or two and otherwise just relax.

On Friday evening we left with Imagine around 1700. The weather was not great with winds that were in the 25-30k range and we were close hauled which means the winds were just off our bow. This means we were crashing through waves and taking lots of water on the boat. This together with the treat of piracy and having not sailed on Kilkea II for the last nine months and this all at night made for a no fun passage. We arrived at dawn in Grenada and were very happy to drop the anchor and have some sleep. The customs and immigration clearance was done in the afternoon and we ended up stopping by to have some pizza and salads at Secret bay and then some sleep. Now we can start to enjoy our  holidays here in the Caribbean. Today in the national holiday of Grenada and we are off to enjoy the celebrations.