WELCOME 2017!
GOOD BY 2016!
Year which brought our boat and us to these warm and tropic waters:)
Canary islands, Cape Verde, Suriname, Tobago, Grenada and Carriacou, and now the Grenadines and Bequia, where surounded by so many sailing boats we celebrated New Year- alone but content to be on board with our cats and Grain de Sable:)
Strange in the begining but happy at the end- no headache in the morning and fresh start of new day in new year:)
And lots of energy to write few words about our sailing in Grenadines:)
But if to be honest, i need to say that both days-Christmas and New Year eves we were missing our family and friends a lot ...
So maybe next year..
This time four of us ( me, Egoi, Remis and his son Andrew) Christmas Eve we met in incredibly beautiful place- Tobago Cays...Locals in the wild island ashore organized Christmas dinner so most of sailors from boats around gathered there to celebrate ...SO do we:) All togather in a big table with lobster, grilled fish, rice, fried banana, veggies , potatoes and of course Campari which we took from the boat.
Thank you, Remis!!!! It was really worth to come there...Imagine totally wild island beach full of tables covered with food and sailors sitting around and having great time....Something unreal...
Something so magic to remember ...
Just the winds were not as we would like to be.. .Really...so so windy! Since Remis arrival in Grenada we had not any calm day...Winds were blowing constatly 20knots from north east direction and in the gusts frequently reahing 30!...This was something we didn,t expect...But now we know- these winds are called-"Christmas Winds"- a yearly phenomenon bringing sailors high winds and rough seas. They tend to appear during the months of Dicember and January,.. hope this year at least January will be better.
Remis came to enjoy relaxed sailing and what he got was a really hard sailing days with the wind on the nose and wavy sea !
We started in Grenada and little by little moved north towards St, Vincent, from where he and his son Andrew had to fly to Martinique and after to Boston ....
Distance in miles looks really small, but with strong winds on the nose and west ward going current, believe, even a 10 miles passage can last long!..SO we waited few days ( while staying in Port Luis marina in Grenada- swimmig pool and showers- no complain:)) for weather window and after sailed from Grenada to Carriacou. On the way visited underwater sculpture park and spend the night at anchor at Grand Mall bay. Next day with early start and quite calm sea( perfectly planned weather:)) reached Carriacou.
There we had to wait till Remis son Andriew comes and after again sailed few miles hard to the wind till Union island- Clifton. Very windy anchorage and squalls till 35 knots....Little space with too many boats near so the nights were little bit restless worrying not to be hitted by other boat in front draging ...Luckily our anchor (rocna) is really good and oversized for this size of our boat so we feel safe mostly all the time while on anchor. Also here with so many gusty winds we let much more meters of chain than normaly. But in all these crowded anchorages there is also a risk to get in trouble not because of you, but your neighbour ...
Anyway..
The place itself was so unique!..Anchored on a leeward side of the island just with narrow line of reefs separating us from the Ocean..Incredible colour of water and reefs just in front!
Ashore we made check in to new country- st. Vncents and Grenadines...and after 2 nights left towards Mayeru...One of our favourite islands...
Anchored in Saline bay with a long beautiful beach in front where we met sunset sitting on a sand and of course drinking Campari ....:))) Happy hour, like Remis says:)
...Next day-Christmas Eve day and as we planned sailed to Tobago Cays..
Once more crazy wind and current and rolly anchorage in the Cays...But here, no matter how much is blowing this place always it will look stunning.
Tobago Cays is a wild nature park where Caribbean Pirates where filmed and where normaly you can see lots of sea turtles while snorkeling...But we didnt..Too much wind and current between the islands...Only the sea stars they were everywhere down there!.....But we still love this place!..
Next day we decide to move to Canoun..Weather forecast was showing increasing wind and sea so we were in a hurry to reach St, Vincent where we could all relax and spend the last days of Remis and Andrew visit in confortable Blue Lagoon marina. .In Canuan anchored in a beautiful wild and spacious bay....but next day with a sunrise left towards St , Vincent....11 hours to make 30 miles passage!...wind and current not helping at all...so with a furled mainsail....mizzen sail and baby jib and engine in blowing 25-30 knots and once reaching 40 knots from north east little by little made it!
Welcome to windy Christmas!.....At least it was sunny and warm,,,blue colour and great views al the time!..This area of Caribbean sea is special! And the people, they are nice..relaxed , living on small islands where some of them had no electricity till 2003!...We know that more north we will sail more civilized and crowded we will find everything, so once we are here lets enjoy everything...
Now we are in Bequia , still Grenadines, but once the wind will get little bit more from the east and lighter we are going to start sailing north again. First few days stop in St. Lucia and after- Martinique...
Little by little......
Little by little......
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