In the Caribbean! St Vincent to Grenada

Some people say that the longer you wait for something the better it is.... I hope that your wait for this blog is worth it..... It was certainly worth it when I landed in the Caribbean..

15 months of planning, of organising boats, visas, passports, insurances, accommodation, I was almost so exhausted that I didn't even want to go!

Barbados.... just the sound of the name made me excited, and when I finally stepped on the plane in Miami, I was so excited I could hardly sit still... Of course it was not without it's dilemmas. Almost all of us boys were put through the explosives testing machine. I guess we must have looked criminal, though I suspect it was the lack of sleep! I have heard someone say that if you look like your passport photo then you probably are not fit to travel!

Arrived in Barbados to a relaxed atmosphere compared with the nervousness of US customs, entering the West Indies was a refreshing change, with lots of locals wearing ICC Cricket World Cup Uniforms. Our connection was meant to be a couple of hours, just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and browse the airport shops before flying to St Vincent. Here in the Caribbean, similarly I guess to Pacific Island nations, you soon realise that deadlines are not that important and our 5:50pm flight turned into a 9:30 flight. Luckily the friendly girls from Liat Air gave us some food vouchers for our trouble which eased the hunger and stopped Karweng from any more racing around the airport terminal in a borrowed wheel chair!

A good nights sleep in a comfy bed in St Vincent and we rendezvoused at the Barefoot Yacht Charters in Blue Lagoon to finalise our boat payment and sign some documentation.

A chart briefing for some insight into the best anchorages and eating places around the Windward Islands, some shopping for provisions at one of Kingstown's supermarkets and a quick lunch at a roadside bar and we were set for our maiden voyage as charter boat customers...

Luckily we had a skipper on the first leg from St Vincent to Bequia who ran us through the operation of the boat and gave us some more pointers on points of sail as we would make our way down towards Grenada over the 7 days.

We learned our first valuable lesson in Bequia, the morning after the skipper left our boat. Someone had left the fridge on overnight, as well as fans and lights operating and we couldn't start the engines to raise anchor and move on. After calling Barefoot to explain our situation, they sent a local mechanic from Admiralty Bay, Bequia who informed us that he'd have to take our batteries and charge them overnight because they were so dead...

A day of exploring Bequia and getting the dinghy underway was not a bad plan B, and a relaxing day was topped off by a game of dominoes with the locals. Of course it took Liam and I a few rounds to get into the local rules but it wasn't long before Liam was slamming down dominoes like the best of them!

From Bequia to Mustique with charged batteries and a better understanding of charging routines, and daily checklists and our first day of sailing by ourselves. They really did give up the yacht far too easily!!
A few boys feeling seasick on our first solo voyage as we navigated our way through the passage to Mustique. Macaroni Beach was the highlight here along with the Wednesday night "jump up" at Basil's Bar.

Having run out of water, we made our way to Canouan to wait for the "Iceman" who would apparently cometh and deliver us our water, diesel and ice. Again, Caribbean time dictates how long you wait, and we had to anchor overnight after waiting until almost sunset for our supplies. Not a lot to do when it's Easter Friday on Canouan!

With a few days of anchoring/mooring experience we cruised into Union Island to clear customs from St Vincent and the Grenadines, before making our way to the Tobago Cays, the jewel of the Grenadines. A spectacular place to wake up, with uninhabited, pristine sandy beaches, coral reefs and the Atlantic Ocean to the East we snorkeled around for a couple of hours before setting sail again for Carriacou. Monkey was exceptional with his navigation into and out of the the narrow passage to the anchorage, it definitely made my job a lot easier guiding the $400,000 catamaran over the bottom and keeping that damage deposit in tact!

One night in Carriacou for some paperwork for entry to the nation of Grenada, I walked around Hillsborough for an hour or so to take in the atmosphere of a "christening party".
We set sail early in the morning for our long journey to the port of St George's in Grenada where we would dock for our stay during the cricket. A pretty easy sailing day although the winds were in the wrong direction for a quick sail south, and we had to take a wide berth around "Kick'em Jenny", the underwater active volcano to the north of Grenada. Andy was at the helm for a few hours and it was a nice rest for me to be able to lie down on the deck and relax. The responsibility for the boat is everyone's obviously but a bit of added pressure for me, if only applied by myself!

So we arrived in St George's, a few of us having a go at contacting the yacht club to announce our arrival on radio, and we were guided through the harbour to the yacht club marina. Let me just say, reverse parking a Datsun 200 B wagon is a lot easier than a 42 ft catamaran with 7 blokes and a dock master yelling instructions at you! Still I managed to get her into the dock stern-to (that's backwards for those lacking nautical terminology) without a scratch, the only issue being when I had to slam it into reverse coming into the lagoon when I got confused over which side of the marker to go to avoid the coral!! Easy boys..... everything's under control!! Phew...

The yacht club is nice, with showers and a restaurant and bar, our boat parked with easy access on and off. It is nice to be able to step on and off at your leisure without having to organise the dinghy to be started..... Have to keep pinching myself... I can't believe we made it here on time and in one piece, all 8 of us for the World Cup Cricket!!