UNION iSLAND TO CARRIACOU

After a day tucked up behind Frigate Island we sailed down to Tyrrel Bay Carriacou today. Jan was on the helm today.

We had a pretty good snorkel around the lee side of Frigate Island but the water does not have the stunning clarity of the Cays so the underwater pics are not quite as special.



I think the slug like thing with the reticulated markings sitting on the sea fan is a nudibranch.

We visited Sandy Island and came across something which seemed to be a cross between the Loch Ness monster and that Russian spider dog.

We all enjoyed getting our feet wet and Hope went a step further and swam back to the boat, maybe 200 meters.

What do you do when the charter company dinghy is too small, EASY PEASEY just tow someone behind.






We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Grenada. Should be a cracking sail.

Tobago Cays to Petit Martinique to Frigate Island just off Union Island.

We have had a busy few days. It was blowing hard enough at times in the Cays that the big cruise ships that anchor in the lee of the islands ran for shelter while we toughed it out.

It dropped a little which encouraged me to make the short passage over to Petit Martinique. I was impressed that neither Hope or Jan were ill as we were beam on to pretty big swells.

We went ashore in Petit Martinique for lunch only to find a lack of choice. Only one place open and the cook had gone home. I guess business is poor. Lunch was good though, eventually!

We sailed back to Union Island today with Hope doing most of the work including helming us through the gap in the reef and working the big genoa, the only sail we used. The girl has biceps! Rolling that big genoa in is tough.

We cleared out and will sail back to Carriacou tomorrow.

Hopes feet in the Tobago Cays, she left nothing but footprints.

TOBAGO CAYS

Conditions have been a bit wild and wet out in the Cays. We have had quite a number of squalls come through chasing us below and the usual muted surf noise has been replaced by a loud roar with great bursts of spray coming from some of the reef breaks.

The high winds have provided some great conditions for the kite surfers who have been howling through the anchorage,

one of them even has a board with a foil which lifts the board clear of the water.

The turtles are not as plentiful as in previous years probably because the seagrass is so sparse but there were a few and both Jan and Hope found them and were able to see them feeding.

Hope also found a friendly box fish

who was clearly on a retainer from the Tobago Cays Tourist Board and required to pose for the tourist cameras.

We also went to an area with some coral heads and I was surprised at how good the visibility was considering the height of the waves hitting the reef.



The conch conservation program is working and there were lots of fully mature conch around even in shallow water. In areas like south Grenada it is really rare to see a sizeable conch in less than 25 ft.

We climbed Baradal and the iguana were out in considerable numbers which was in marked contrast to my last visit when after an unsuccessful search on Baradal I had been reduced to showing my guest the garbage iguanas that haunt the rubbish pit behind the barbecue area.

We also came across a red toed tortoise tucking into a fallen cactus.

I am finishing with a few pics of the birds in Tyrrel Bay.

DIVE DIVE DIVE

What is the party boat doing there, well watch this space.

HOPE AND HER MUM ON HOLIDAY

I need to make it perfectly clear that this is not Jan my sister who is Hopes mum. This is in fact one of the Mona monkeys from the rain forest around Grand Etang in Grenada. Cutty our tour driver has 'trained' 'conditioned' some of the monkeys to appear when he sounds his horn. They did not appear straight away but when they did turn up they put on quite a show for us including climbing up on to Hope's shoulder in pursuit of strategic placed bananas.

Yes the monkey is sticking his tongue out at you.

Pictures are going to be in short supply as my camera has died [ this is death number 3 ] Hope is also having camera troubles as well. Today she was attempting a selfie with a local inhabitant and finished up clonking it on the head with her camera phone when it squirted out of her grip. The red toed tortoise retreated into it's shell and refused any further interaction. Personally I would blame sun tan lotion.

We are up in Union island now and heading for the Tobago Cays tomorrow.

The sea temp is 82 Fahrenheit or 28 Centigrade.

Air temp is only 25 Centigrade.

It is tough out here.

JAN and HOPE arrive TOUR THE ISLAND and SAIL UP TO CARRIACOU

The plane was on time, my taxi driver was not. However another couple was meeting the same plane so I doubled up with them.

The transfer was smooth and Jan and Hope were soon sitting down to drink in Whisper Cove Marina and slowing down to Island Time while learning the art of liming.

The next day I had arranged an island tour with Cutty and off we went.

Prisons Prime Ministers Nutmegs and Lunch in a beautiful location overlooking the channel to Isle de Ronde.

We learned about drying the nutmeg then saw the set up used to sort it. Ladies sitting on the stools and opening the hatches to sort as they came. It seems all very labor intensive.

After lunch we visited two chocolate factories and Jan who is allergic was relegated to the outside.

Ho guards on the belts and some of the souvenirs on offer were hard to believe.

We had to cut short our visit to the Belmont estate to get to the oldest rum factory in the island and the only one left crushing their own sugar cane in a centuries old waterwheel driven crusher.

No guards, wonky wheels and lots of hand labor.

The dried crushed cane is called bagass and gets used to heat up the cane juice to start the fermenting process.

Post tour but before we got to sample the product.

None of their rum is exported, it is all consumed locally. Well it is 87% alcohol and the airlines for one do not allow it on board as it constitutes a severe fire hazard.

Last we stopped off at the Grand Etang forest preserve and Cutty was able to call up the Mona monkeys. Unfortunately I have lost the pics but once I get some from my guests they will be posted. I can't do it now as I have worn them out today sailing up from Grenada to Tyrrel Bay Carriacou. Both went to be early and are fast asleep.

I NEED TO CATCH UP ON MY BLOG!

Plan A had been to go down to Trinidad and pull my prop shaft as part of the haulout, but that only worked if I had the bits I needed. Despite being able to trace them down to Grenada they have vanished into some limbo.

So there I was hauling in Carriacou instead and hoping I get another year out of my pinkish in places prop. It still goes ting when tapped so I think it will do.

On the pink theme here is a Pinky Schooner the first one I have ever seen. Apparently a design that was developed to fish the waters off Cape Ann harbors from the early eighteenth century. This one was a ferrocement version.

Another different boat was this lift keel steel boat. Not as swoopy as the Pincky and I suppose a better sailor.

I was back down to Grenada and tucked up in my usual spot behind the Buzzard in time for the Christmas party and jam session. I tried to get Dizzy into the spirit of things but he was not amused by the Santa hat.

Boxing day saw me doing a little housework

with a helpful paw coming through the hatch every now and then, at least it was for a time but he got bored and went off to check the fish that hang about off the stern.