March 1994 - Grenada to Bequia - Page 3

21 March 1994 Prickly Bay to St Georges
We motored around to St Georges and then spent the rest of the day getting shopping and sorting the boat out. I had to ring Pantaenius to sort out our yacht insurance which expires today. “Wise Cat” were in the anchorage and came for drinks. I had a very exciting moment this afternoon when I discovered that Mars bars are called “Milky Ways” here. I haven’t had one for months – so I bought 6 or so! Here’s an interesting fact – the milk that we have been buying comes from Lancashire Dairies Ltd, Manchester!

22 March 1994 St Georges to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
Motored up the west side of Grenada. We roared past “Wise Cat” who have to sail everywhere because their engine is dodgy - they were only doing 2-3 knots in the light winds. We caught a nice 2ft tuna just off the north coast of Grenada and then we caught a 3ft Spanish mackerel near Ile De Ronde. We stopped at Ile De Ronde for lunch. Brett spotted some sand dollars on the sea bed and I had to spend half an hour diving down 6 metres to get some for him! We went to the east of Kick Em Jenny and sailed to Tyrell Bay. We met “Wise Cat” about a mile out and had a tacking race into the anchorage – they won unfortunately. We went to “Adagio” for a quick beer and then to “Wise Cat” with a fish stew for dinner.

Glenys is worried about Brett’s personality and attitude. He is becoming increasing stubborn and simply ignores any reprimands that we give him. He finds it difficult to concentrate on school work (or anything that he is doing) and just wants to have fun. He holds Craig’s hand when he goes to sleep, so I think that he is feeling insecure (or frightened of the dark). I think that it’s because he’s playing with children of varying ages Coby (12), Nat (6), Craig (4) and doesn’t know how he should act. He wants to wrestle with little ones and start the outboard like the big ones. An awkward stage! We bought some French wine for £2.50 from a boat boy – I guess we could have got it cheaper.

23 March 1994 Tyrell Bay to Tobago Cays
Glenys went for a half hour walk around town. We were told that this is a really cheap place to buy food, but Glenys returned with nothing except a £3 bottle of wine! Coby came over and asked me if I would come and help him spear a shark under their boat! The boys and I went over and discovered that it was a poor little 2ft nurse shark. Brett and Craig believed me when I said that it wasn’t dangerous, but it was harder to convince Coby! The shark had sea moss growing on its back and was really dopey. I picked it up by its tail several times and it didn’t do much – I thought that it was a very sick nurse shark.

We went for a dinghy ride around the mangrove swamp with “Wise Cat”. Pretty trees but boring. We all had a look around a wrecked / abandoned fishing boat which is slowly rotting away. Phil and I went to look at some wooden schooners being built on the shore. They use the natural curves of mahogany branches to make the stringers, all hand built from a model – no drawings. We sailed most of the way to Union which was straight upwind. I rushed off to clear customs and then we motored to the Tobago Cays and anchored next to “Drot”.

24 March 1994 Tobago Cays to Canuoan
We had a nice upwind sail to Canouan. There was no one in the anchorage when we arrived which was great. By three o’clock there were six boats including “Drot”. I went for a dive by myself and saw a six foot nurse shark which swam away as I approached it. There were several queen trigger fish and I tried to grab hold of a huge lobster, but he got away! It was a nice dive. We all went snorkelling accompanied by Tolst and Vivi from “Drot”. I saw a scrawled file fish and a cow fish.

Tolst and Vivi came for dinner. I’ve come up with a business idea – project “Dive Glencora”. What I do is get my Instructors Rating, install a small compressor, buy two sets of dive gear and do dive instruction from the boat. I reckon that if we can stay in the Tobago Cays for three months then I should be able to turn over quite a bit from the charter boats that turn up and want to do a “Discover Scuba” or a dive.

The problems are getting my Instructors Rating (when and where) and getting the equipment (where, how much, etc). I’ll keep looking as we go up-island. I hope to get leaflets printed that I can give out to people as they arrive in the anchorage and maybe go to Yacht Charterers’ week in Antigua to promote my services to the charter operators.

25 March 1994 Canuoan to Bequia
Close reach in 25 knot winds up to West Cay Point. A bit bouncy but bracing. When we rounded the corner, we had 30 knots on the nose so we motored in. The cover that goes on the end of the mizzen boom blew off and, after two attempts to net it, I had to jump in and get it. Gareth was just anchoring off Princess Margaret’s beach as we approached. “Metami” is here too. We all had a barbeque on the beach.

26 March 1994 Bequia
Glenys went into town in the morning and I did a couple of jobs and a lot of windsurfing in very strong winds (25 knots +). Managed to scare myself a few times and did some good water starts. We went to “Dabulamanzi” for drinks after dinner.

27 March 1994 Bequia
Windsurfing, snorkelling and dinner on “Dabulamanzi”. Watched a video.

28 March 1994 Bequia
All of us have got colds – I feel very fluey. I spent most of the day writing letters. We all went into town for an hour. Fi and Glenys went for an hour’s fitness session in Lower Bay run by Allessandra (Italian). These are run on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at five o’clock. She bumped into Drot in town. We had a disaster today, I left the windsurfer in the water tied up to the back of the boat all day and at bedtime found out that the Hydrovane rudder has put a 2ft hole in the sail (o miser!).

29 March 1994 Bequia
I took the sail in for repair. I still feel a bit rough with a cold. Glenys spent the afternoon working on sewing and upholstery for “Dabulamanzi”. Gareth and Fi came for a Mexican dinner.

30 March 1994 Bequia
Picked the sail up in the morning. It looks like they have done a really nice job. I’ve still got a cold and decided not to try it out. Glenys hitched a lift to Kingstown, St Vincent with Dabulamanzi. She went over with Garnet (a local) and Charlie from “Nagual”. She didn’t have much time to shop because she got there at three o’clock and the shops close at four! She came back on the ferry and arrived back at the boat at half past eight. The boys and I went for a beer on “Metani”.

31 March 1994 Bequia
We filled up with fuel and water. The “Daffodil” catamaran has got to be the best way of fuelling ever! It took us 30 minutes total, with zero stress. I went for a dive with Mark and John from “Sancho Panza” at Devils Table which was OK. “Wise Cat” arrived late afternoon. Mark, John and Rowena came for a beer.