A
Change of Direction -
March 5th, 2002
There was a
comfort (at least from my perspective) of being back on the move again
after almost three weeks in Trinidad. Once again we took in the familiar
sights and sounds of being out on the water. But more than one thing had
changed from the last time we were out.
The most obvious
difference, since we were now headed north, was the west wind coming over
the starboard quarter instead of the port. We heeled a good 30 degrees
to port in the 30 knot winds and everything aboard that had shifted itself
to the right now creaked, clanked and moaned as it slid down to find a
home on the now low, left side.
Different too
was the person on board who was now sea sick. For in Trinidad we had met
a guy named Don who was very keen on joining us for the sail up to Grenada.
Don, who had never been sailing, was interested in the new adventure and
thankful for the opportunity. Even as he puked over the side he took the
time between bouts of nausea to thank us for taking us with him. Miranda
instead of being sick herself steered the boat throughout the night and
comforted Don as much as she could (knowing all too well just how awful
he felt).
Miranda and
I really began enjoying the 30 knot wind passages, as long as we weren't
getting too wet. All the way down the islands we had a lot of wind and
big seas so we were getting used to sailing under the double reefed main
and small jib. Even with this sail configuration we were cruising at over
6 knots most of the time. As usual we made good time to Grenada and arrived
around 10 am on February 23rd.
Once Don got
ashore he rapidly recovered from his sea sickness and began planning our
night out on the town of St. Georges. We enjoyed both the town and country
of 'Spice Island' as Grenada is known. With Don, before he flew home to
Trinidad, we enjoyed the long sand beaches and the nightlife of St. Georges.
The following day Miranda and I took a bus up into the rainforest and
hiked to the secluded Seven Sisters Waterfall, so called because it is
made up of seven falls. The half hour long hike into the falls took us
through beautiful scenery. Banana trees, with bunches of fruit hanging
off of them, lined the road. The Nutmeg trees were so prevalent that the
spice's scent pervaded the air and as we walked we couldn't help but step
on the nutmeg fruits that lay scattered everywhere. The orange Imortelle
trees lit up the mountainsides with their bright orange flowers. Once
at the falls we sat on a rock at its base and ate the lunch we had packed.
For dessert we stripped off our clothes and jumped in the pool of crisp
water at the base of the falls.
That evening
we rendezvoused with another couple we had become friendly with in Trinidad,
Skip and Julia aboard their boat Odyssey. Aboard their boat we had a lovely
dinner and learned how to play Mexican Train Dominos. We had a lovely
evening in their cozy cabin.
As we headed
north through the Grenadines we sailed in tandem with Odessey, and enjoyed
their company for a few more evenings. The islands in the Grenadines are
all just a hop away from each other so from Granada we sailed up to Carriacou,
and then in one day jumped from Carriacou to Union Island (where we took
a quick lunchtime snorkel after checking out of Grenada) and then up to
Saltwhistle Bay, Mayreau. Mayreau is a tiny island with one road around
the perimeter and Saltwhistle Bay is extremely picturesque with a sweeping
palm lined white sand beach. We spent a lovely day rowing around the bay,
picking coconuts, and walking along the windward beach.
Only about
a mile away from Mayreau are the Tobago Keys, beautiful sand and palm
tree islands that sit just behind a large semicircular reef. We anchored
quite close to the reef reef and spent a glorious afternoon snorkelling.
Just before dusk we tucked behind one of the sand islands, and dinghyed
over to Odessey for another delicious meal and game of Dominos. The next
day we prepared a lunch of pasta salad, grabbed our masks and snorkels
and headed for one of the sand islands for a picnic. We ate, climbed around
the island, swam, snorkelled, and just relaxed on the beach. It was another
lovely day.
Up from the
Keys we headed for Canouan, spent a bouncy evening there and the next
morning made our way through a headwind to Bequia. Motoring into the large
seas and wind was made even less fun by the rain squalls and fog that
descended over us as we made our way north. It wasn't a long way to Bequia,
but the headwinds slowed our progress to one knot at times, and what should
have taken us about an hour and a half ended up taking three hours. But,
we made it to Bequia before noon, the closing time at customs and immigration,
and had lunch with Skip and Julia under a clearing sky.
Miranda and
I had gotten to know Bequia well on our way down, as it was where Miranda
had gotten sick. We were ready to push on towards Les Saintes so after
lunch Miranda and I said good-bye to Skip and Julia and headed north to
St. Vincent for the night. The weather had quieted and the sky changed
allowing us a nice sail to St. Vincent. Anchored in a little bay called
Petit Byahaut we had a lovely sunset snorkel before dinner and bed.
Ben
Shaw
|
|
