Into the Grenadines

We stayed in Carriacou just long enough to get a good jump on the schoolwork and to have a look around.  The wind has been a constant 15 to 20 gusting 25 with a bit of a swell wrapping around into the bay to keep the seas choppy.  Its not been the calmest anchorage but we decided to stay where we were rather than go in amongst all the other boats closer in where it would have been a bit calmer.

Carriacou is part of Grenada and is a smaller island to Grenada with a great feel to it.  Tyrrel bay looks very similar to many islands around this part of the Caribbean.  The bay is pretty open but being on the leeward side of the island is protected from the prevailing weather.  The bay has a long stretch of sand beach and palm trees most of the way around except at the two extremes where tall green hills rise steeply from the water.  There are a couple of reefs in the bay which need to be avoided when arriving on the water and in one corner there is a low lying mangrove swamp.  Behind the beach the land rises to high hills inland which is dotted with small houses.

Shoreline of Tyrrel Bay

A road fringes the beach all around the bay and is studded with hand painted signs advertising this or that business or community announcements.  Small houses and some local businesses are located along the road in a mixture of wooden cottages and concrete houses and most are painted in bright pastel colours but all suffering various degrees of fading.  At one end of the bay there is the government jetty which the ferries dock at and at the other end there is  a small boat yard.  One or two other small rickety wooden or concrete piers jut out every now and then from the beach.  There are supposed to be over 100 rum shops on the island but we did not see them.

Caribbean Signs

Ashore we met some expats running cafe / restaurant establishments.  These guys had only recently relocated to Carriacou and had quit the UK and decided to set up businesses on the island.  It was great talking with them and learning about their sea change.  Certainly relocation to Carriacou would be a big move but it is an idyllic place if you can relax, get into the rhythm and accept the isolation.

Luckily they gave us the name of a good refrigeration mechanic because the fridge had started warming again.  If it was a free standing unit I am sure we would have ripped it out and pitched it overboard by now.  This time there was a small gas leak from the dryer unit which had only recently been replaced.  Got that fixed and regassed the system and fingers crossed again.

Sandy Island off Carriacou

On one day we took a local bus over to the main town of Hillsborough.  We always like taking the kids on the local transport so they can get a better feel for the place and the minibuses are always so much fun with friendly pasengers and talkative drivers.  We jumped on one at the government jetty and straightwaway proceeded in the opposite direction we wanted to go.  The island is pretty small so you just go with it.  Turns out they had to drop off an elderly passenger and her shopping at her house and then pick up some kids from the local school before heading to Hillsborough.  As in Grenada the people seem to really take care of the youngsters and the elderly - there is a real community spirit which is not evident in a lot of other places around the world.

Sam and Calley choosing grapefruit in Hillsborough

Hillsborough is another leeward side town on a bigger bay.  It is bigger than Tyrrel Bay but more exposed.  We had a stroll around and bought some provisions before heading back to the boat.

School has been going well this week, probably due to us being old hands at it now.

On Friday (29th Nov) we left Tyrrel Bay and headed to an island called Petite Martinique.  This is a small island just behind Carriacou of about 1000 people and is also part of Grenada.  There are a few small islands around here all within spitting distance of each other, some owned by Grenada and some by St Vincent, the main ones being Petite Martinique and Petit St Vincent.  We ended up anchoring off Petit St Vincent as it was calmer and allowed us to let the kids try out a new kneeboard which they had got from their Uncle Lars and Aunty Lush.  Later we took a dinghy ride over to Petite Martinique to have a look around and to get some dinner at a restaurant on the beach.  The town is similar to that described above only smaller.

Sam trying out the new kneeboard at Petit St Vincent

So here we sit trying to get a jump on the schoolwork and planning on moving up toward St Vincent in the coming week ready to pick up Mark and Rosie.

Just heard the great news that our friend Walt in Glasgow is making an excellent recovery after some major surgery.  Walt, hope you are back to fighting fitness  soon.