Carriacou 5 February 2024
It was quite a windy night and I got up a few times to check we had not moved and all was well. When the wind is howling and the boat is moving around a bit you never sleep that well. It was a pleasant morning at Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou with a bit of cloud and we needed to check into Grenada. We headed to the dinghy park at the marina and found the customs. We found a young customs chap who obviously liked the power and was a bit full of himself. To make matters worse sailclear.com into which I had submitted all the data was not working so we manually had to fill in a form again. There was quite a queue and it must have taken an hour or so before I was seen. Annoyingly once he completed the forms told me I had then to go to the Ferry Terminal and see the customs there as well. The others had gone off wandering so I took the dinghy over and completed the formalities and paid the fees – a process that had taken at least 2 hours.
We pondered what to do and thought of taking Stormbird round to Sandy Island a few miles away where the snorkelling is apparently very good. We also thought of an Island tour and asked a taxi driver and agreed a reasonable price and off we went. This was interesting as he took us through a number of villages and the capital Hillsborough and over to the Windward side of the Island with its reefs and turquoise water. We went through urban areas and countryside and fields where crops were growing. It is about 13 sq. miles and has a population of 4-6,000. There is a fair amount of agriculture and it is verdant and green. The tour gave us a good sense of the Island showing plantations, schools, medical centres, sportsgrounds and of course their houses and different buildings. This is a nice Island and seems better kept than many we had been to. There is tourism here bit it is not in your face and the people have been warm and friendly. We saw an old windmill on a hill and due to the wind I do not know why they do not use wind power more. Our driver Kenson dropped us off at the Paradise Beach Restaurant on Paradise Beach and we can see how it got its name. It was a curving sandy beach with lovely water and opposite was Sandy Island. We had a fantastic lunch here and we all had Barracuda which was delicious.
We chatted to the manager and so we arranged to go back to Tyrrel Bay by boat but to stop first for a swim and snorkel at Sandy Island. This was a small, curved Island with a lovely sandy beach and only about 25 feet high. We swam and snorkelled and found some interesting fish life and coral which was good but not quite as good as the Horseshoe Reef In Tobago Cays. The boat then took us round to Tyrrel Bay to pick up the dinghy and at top speed. We were bounced around a lot and splashed with spray but it was fun. We retrieved the dinghy and returned to Stormbird. From a poor start with customs it had turned out to be a great day.
We were so full from lunch that we decided to have a salad for supper which Simon kindly prepared. We then played a game of cards called Wizard – which was fun but I never seem to win this game.
We move on tomorrow to Grenada and its capital St Georges. Some of the next crew have arrived - Keith Watson is with his family and they have taken a villa nearby. Carolyn Brown and Joyce moon are sharing an Airbnb. We will meet up before they join the boat on 9 February 2024
The blog will continue as we explore the Caribbean further and beyond.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com I can only upload one picture a day.