Petite Martinique & Clifton, Union Island, still in the Windwards

November 22, 2011  Tuesday  Petit Martinique

Sign over Immigration Office

After a short cruise from Carricacou yesterday, Finally Fun is at anchor, nestled among many colorful fishing boats off Petit Martinique, a lovely small island that is part of the country of Grenada.    About 300 people live on this island that has one primary school, one church, two grocery stores, two restaurants.

Coming into Petite Martinique...looks like I think a Greek Isle would look like.

Colorful buildings abound

The wooden shutters speak to the history of this island - from the days of cotton and slavery - to the hopes of tomorrow. 

Finally Fun at anchor off the beach in Petit Martinique

The local village dog led us down the beach, dragging his broken lease.

So colorful everywhere!

Our group of six (Dance Aweigh & Blue Moment still traveling with us) after ‘exploring’ the island - 15 minutes of wandering -- dropped in at 4 PM to the Palm Restaurant, on the beach, among lots of palm trees and shade.  Eager for a cold drink and early dinner, we were told “Dinner at 6:00; No staff here til then.”   Would you believe, the lady in charge decided she’d call her staff in right then and fix our dinner....and she did.  Next time I looked, there were about 8-9 people in the tiny kitchen, getting to work!  We figured that serving 6 people at one time on this island just might be the difference in making it financially or NOT. 

At The Palm Restaurant - Sharon, David, Rich, Margaret, Andy, Diane

I’m so enjoying sitting on the aft deck with my coffee in the early morning and this computer, watching Petite Martinique come alive.  The fishing boats are pulling out, smaller boats are being launched from the beaches and a small ferry just went past, loaded -- OVER loaded is a better word - with school kids, obviously on their way to the main island of Carricacou.  Such contrast from our sanitized, eliminate all risk mentality in the USA.  This boat had kids in their school uniforms packed all over the deck and bow, no life jackets in sight, as the boat zoomed past us.  A bit scary when one thinks...‘what IF?’

Coming into Clifton, just a few miles away, but another country in the Caribbean

Off the three boats (Dance Aweigh, Blue Moment & Finally Fun) went, dragging our dinks behind us for the few miles over to Union Island - another country - for clearance through Customs & Immigration.

We had trouble setting our anchor -several tries later - we finally ‘stuck’ and off we went.  The boat boys like flies, kept saying “Mooring Ball, mon, come with me”.  No.  We’d read too many stories and the guidebooks say the ‘mooring balls are risky and poorly maintained, with often disasterous results’.

Boat boys trying to get us to take their mooring ball for $$$

Colorful fruit stands abound

Clifton is a cute little town and the Customs & Immigration folks some of the nicest we’ve encountered thus far...No ‘minimum wage with a badge’ attitude here.  Friendly, joking and delightful! 

This boat looking thing is an ice cream store & bakery

The food here for lunch was so very good!!!

 

Bumping into Don from the S/V Song from Port Louis Marina, we grabbed lunch at a restaurant he recommended and caught up with the ‘news’.

Where to go, Mon?  Lots of choices!

Both bellies and shopping bags full of produce and fruit, we pulled out for Saline Bay, on the island of Mayreau,  another few mile hop, dragging the dingys again.

Oops, Blue Moment had a sudden mechanical issues (throttle broke) and they re-anchored, looking for a mechanic.  Hopefully, they will catch us in a day or so.

Watching the sun set in Saline Bay, Mayreau off the aft deck of Finally Fun

Sandy Island, Tyrrel Bay & Hillsborough Bay, Carriacou

Tyrril Bay, Carriacou

See where the wooden dock meets the concrete

November 17, 2011  Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
Lazy.  Working on the lines and have not even bothered to get the dingy down.  Why are we so tired?  We haven’t even tackled the stinking lines with the barnacles still on them...I've only cleaned & applied fabric softner to all the others.

After a lazy do nothing day, we went with Margaret and Rich, aboard S/V Dance Aweigh, (from Port Louis Marina days) in their dingy to a local restaurant for dinner.  Wow, getting off the dink was easy, but getting down and off the dingy dock was a task.  The dock was secured to a concrete walkway thru the water, but the dock was only held by one side, the other having broken/rotten through.  So, the dock is swinging left/right/ back and forth and the tide is washing over the concrete part.  Gotta time it just right, JUMP onto the concrete part with some help from the guys and then wade and NOT SLIP down the concrete to the sand and then up to the restaurant.  That is entertainment for all watching from the decks.  We drank nothing - knowing we needed all wits about us to get back into the dink -- in the dark.  Fun time and so good to see ‘old’ friends.

The concrete was underwater with plenty of wave action when we arrived

Clearly no lawyers in this area

November 18, 2011
Early morning KNOCK KNOCK on the hull.  Surprise!  The sailing vessel, Blue Moment, had pulled in during the night with David & Diane aboard - more friends from Port Louis Marina.  A quick discussion and they made plans to join us later in the day at Sandy Island, off Hillsborough Bay in Carriacou.

Boat at anchor in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

Carriacou is noted for these racing sailboats

Can't believe we passed these lobsters up!!

 Pulling up anchor, along with Dance Aweigh, we towed our dingy behind us for the short trip to Sandy Island.  Ah, beautiful place - long strip of bright white sand, lovely beach and some good snorkeling off the reefs at either end.  Still lazy - don’t know why - and enjoying every moment of LAZY.

Chart of Sandy Island & Hillsborough Bay

Enjoying Sandy Island

Margaret & Rich; Andy, Diane & David on Sandy Island

Doesn't get any better than this!!

Beautiful Beach, Beautiful Water on Sandy Island

Andy would rather scrape barnacles off the lines than snorkel

Sunset behind Blue Moment at Sandy Island

There is a rainbow every 5 minutes it seems

Two days of this LAZY wonderful nothing, we tossed off the mooring ball, cruising all of 5 minutes over to Hillsborough Bay, near the dock, to drop the hook so we can check out of the country of Grenada in the early AM, heading for the island country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

Hillsborough Bay

Phew, the Rocnar, old reliable, failed to grab when I dropped her into a small patch of sand.  In nothing flat, we realized we were dragging anchor.  Before I could get the anchor back on deck to start over, the RAINS CAME.  Squally white out, driving rain.  Ugh.   Andy kept Finally Fun on a tight leash, circling about.  Visibility was about nil for awhile and I nervously paced the fly bridge, trying to see where all the boats were at anchor, and hoping no fool was underway in the area.  We finally made for Sandy Island, where we had started from, grabbing a mooring ball quickly in order to sit out the squall in relative calm and at least not be blindly underway.

In short order, the rains quit and we cruised back, dropping the hook in time to celebrate Rich’s 64th birthday aboard Dance Aweigh!

Great art on the building!

Humm, a ready enterprise for my sister, Anne & I???

At Anchor & on to Carriacou, an island off Grenada

November 15, 2011
Ah, so wonderful to be at anchor again.  We cruised out into the anchorage outside of Port Louis, picking up a mooring ball.    My skills are rusty!   I replayed in my mind what I had to do & had to wind the tape over a few times.   Ugh, my favorite lines were yet to be delivered to us from the Marina, so I struggled with the heavy 100’ one till I finally got it attached to one side of the mooring line.  Thank goodness no real current or wind as the bow thruster isn’t working from the helm station where we pilot from.  Andy will have to figure that one out tonight.  The thruster works just fine from the lower helm station.

Dropping the hook off Port Louis Marina, St. Georges

Settling in,  chicken on the grill and watching the sky turn to a vivid yellow and orange - I realized this is a sight I’ve so missed as the Marina is behind a hill from the Caribbean Sea.  As the sky got darker and darker, I could not tell which lights in the sky were anchor lights of the boats around us or low hanging stars!  Beautiful!  We swayed gently all night long - the best sleep I’ve had in a very long time!  It doesn’t get any better than gently rocking side to side, a nice breeze through the cabin and the smell of the sea!   EXCEPT when it REALLY rocks!  We did that few times during the night - wonder what in the world set off the wave action?!  ‘Stuff’ on the boat and on the aft deck would bounce around, waking us up over and over.  No matter.  Glad to be out!

Ah, so beautiful

And we are OFF!  Nope, false alarm.  Ready to release from the mooring ball, I saw that it had somehow - due to all that wave action - gotten caught on our starboard stabilizer.  Ugh.  Try as I might, in snorkel, fins and gloves, banging against the hull in the waves, I could not pull the mooring line free (the one attached to the mooring ball from the concrete anchor block below).  Andy donned his gear, splashed in and the two of us struggled with it.  Finally, Andy got the line free, with no harm done.

UPDATE:  We later learned after we arrived at Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou, from friends on the S/V Dance Aweigh, who are anchored here in Tyrrel Bay where we are,  that those mooring lines are too long & that is why we had the problem.  Seems they were built for 60’ of water and the depth there is less than 20’....Yes, way too long.  Our friends, Rich & Margaret, hooked up to one recently.   Shortly thereafter, another boat hooked up to one next to them.   Suddenly they found themselves nearly slamming together as the tide and current changed.  Only one fender quickly shoved between them saved the boat.  Yes, lines too long and the guy in charge of them knows it (he is the one who said they are too long) but does nothing...  Beware to anyone following behind us in this anchorage!!!!

You just KNOW you're gonna get WET

Scary looking, but not so bad

Four hours later, through bouncing seas and several brief squalls, we dropped the hook in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou, Andy a bit pea green.
Carriacou & Petite Martinique are part of Grenada and all became independent about 40 years ago.  Known as 'the land of reefs' (I would think just about ANY of these island could be called that!), Carriacou is only 13 square miles harboring 7,000 people.








Boom, in nothing flat, before I’d even finished setting the anchor, boat boys - men this time, arrived.  Three in a row - must be the first new boater in a day or so.  Nope, don’t want to go ashore at the moment to eat in your restaurant; nope, don’t need a taxi ride; nope, don’t want that $18 USD bottle of Merlot...ahhh, Andy bought it!  Nope, don’t want a lobster meal at the moment.  

Rainbows every day!  Clearing as we entered the Bay

The pot of gold is close by!

Simon is persistent...... Alright!  Alright!  Alright!   "Yes", we do want the mangrove oysters...”OK, mon.  Will go pick them and be right back”.  Ten minutes later, he was back, shucking them right at our swim platform!  I baked 12 oysters -- tiny things and Andy ate them...just OKAY was the response when queried as to how good they were.  Me, gag.  Like trying to swallow a raw egg...

Shucking the oysters for Andy

Oysters don't get any fresher than this.... Simon went to the mangrove, got them & shucked them for Andy

Small barnacles still attached & still STINKY

My short term goal in life is to clean all the stiff lines and to finish scrapping the barnacles off the ones delivered to us yesterday.

Andy’s goal is to fix the bow thruster and whatever else strikes his fancy in the engine room.


I think we will nap first.......island mentality is contagious.

Really - We are Underway!!

November 13, 2011

Talented boaters from all over the anchorages & marinas

A busy few days as we raced about, trying to finish our To Do list and to squeeze in everything we Did Not Do in Grenada and Get It Done.

We have Stopped/Started departing several times - no one truly believes we will really leave.  Our insurance company would not, at the last minute, allow us to depart our 12.5 N. Lat position (just above Grenada at Carricou) until the actual stated date on the policy - 11/15 even though no hurricanes are predicted nor forming that would impact us.  Bah.

We said our goodbyes to many of the boaters at a weekly Jam Session in Whisper Cove.  So much talent and so much fun as the guys and one gal picked at notes, finding common ground in songs while the rest of us munched fish burgers - tuna - the real thing, of course and sipped beer in beautiful tropical grounds.  

She can truly make music with this

Note the lines from the bow into the water

It is no small feat to untie one's lines here at the dock.   It is tough to get off the Mediterranean mooring (two lines from our bow to moorings below the water). 
 
A staffer must come release the slimy lines at the mooring ball while we are actively at the helm and also releasing the rest of the dock lines.  At this point, we're happy the boat off our port side has departed as we now have room to maneuver while we try to get our act together in departing.  It's been so long not actively working the boat....port side?  Huh?  Spring line?  How did I TIE that damn line?  And on and on it went, while all our friends stood by, hooting and cat calling.

Getting the lines off the bow of Finally Fun

Racing fore and aft, and working with the lines, I could tell I had not yet fully healed from the fall I took down the 9 steps from the flybridge to the aft deck about 10 days ago...lucky lady I was then, for sure.  We’d been cleaning the flybridge, with Andy on a ladder cleaning the radar arch when it began raining and then lightening popped.  Boom!  Scurrying down, telling Andy to get down and get inside the boat, wet and soapy, I slipped at the top step.  I never let go of the rail until I hit the halfway point and another rail joins it, chopping my hand loose.  Ugh, breath knocked out of me, lying flat on the deck, I kept trying to holler for Andy, but could only manage a squeak.  He was still up top, under the bimini,  wondering where I had gone as the rain poured.  Our boat neighbor, Joanne, saw the whole episode.  In seconds, she and Bill, her husband, were off their boat, racing for ours to help.  Andy was still up top, yelling at Bill & Joanne -- “What’s up?  Don’t you know it’s pouring??”  He had no idea what had transpired.  Phew.  After I could get my breath back, they and Andy helped me up, got ice for my arm and my fanny.  In seconds, I was black and blacker up my entire arm.  Bottom line, my right rear rib cage was outlined with bruises, but nothing broken.  My tail bone, well to say it still hurts to sit or get up or get comfortable is an understatement, all this time later.  Bah.  I am so blessed that I was not really hurt!  And, yes, I headed down those stairs forward, not backward as one is supposed to do!

Greg & Jen, our 'next door neighbors' waving goodbye

Before departing, we’d made arrangements for dock hands to take the two bow mooring lines to the dock to be cleaned with a pressure washer, lots of back breaking arm work and several hours of effort.  After six months under water, the lines have long green and black slimy stuff growing off of them, as well as barnacles that I KNOW I don't want to touch nor clean!  I’d rather clean poopy diapers than this stuff!  We know, as we’ve been watching our friends depart and go through this exercise of getting the lines off and trying to get them clean.  The guy we ‘hired‘ will dingy the lines, once clean,  out to us in the anchorage where we’ll spend the night before departing for Carricou.  Dropping the hook and running the equipment will give us an opportunity to check yet again to make certain all is running smoothly after six months stagnant at dock.

Departing our slip with friends waving Good Bye.  Made me want to cry.

Mixed emotions.   A bit teary at leaving.  We had such a wonderful time, met such wonderful people and made some great friends -- all in six months.  Ah, our paths will cross many times again, I'm certain.

Sunset at anchor outside Port Louis Marina..a wonderful ending to a great six months!