Sailing in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Previously on svcoolrunnings.blogspot.com: We had checked out of Grenada, getting ready to head to our next island destination, but before checking into St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we spent a night anchored off the small island of Petite St. Vincent, just a few miles from Union Island, where we needed to check in. However, all that is on the island is a private resort, and it seems acceptable that you can stop here without checking in, because if you check in first, you’d have to back-track to Petite St. Vincent, which no-one really wants to do! We were joined here by “Shuti” the following morning. Our reunion was not long, because we headed off to Union to officially check in, and “Shuti” stayed another 2 nights. We knew we would catch up with them in the Tobago Cays, so we waved “so long” and motored the 4 miles over to Union Island.

Union Island is easily recognisable with its distinctive peak called "The Pinnacle" (far right)

Clifton, the capital of Union Island, was pretty, but the harbor was a nightmare to anchor in. Mooring buoys have been placed in all the best anchoring spots, and the price to use them is steep: 60 EC Dollars (Eastern Caribbean Dollars, a fixed rate of 2.67 to the US dollar). After our previous experience with mooring buoys, we wanted to steer clear of any mooring buoys, but there was precious little space left in which to drop an anchor! We have encountered the mooring buoys all over now, and the disappointment with them is that they have been placed purely as a money making racket. The only legitimate use for mooring buoys (in our opinion) are if it is too deep to anchor, or if there is coral that needs to be protected from anchors, in which case we are always happy to pay for a mooring. Here, the water is clear and about 5 – 10 feet deep in sand…perfect anchoring, and there is no need for mooring buoys. Their holding is also questionable, as you don’t know who is maintaining them, and to leave our expensive home tied to a ball without knowing what’s underneath is too much of a risk to say the least!

The Clifton fruit and vegetable market has the typical Caribbean style colored stalls.  

We spent the shortest amount of time possible in Clifton, checked into SVG (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), and then headed over to Palm Island, where we spent a rather rolly night at anchor. The following day, we moved to Frigate Bay, where we spent a few days, waiting for Granny’s plane to arrive. It was a lovely anchorage, protected and calm, and we spent our days watching kite surfers whizz up and down! The kids did lots of school, so they could take some time off while our guests were with us. Soon it was time to head back to Clifton, so we could walk to the airport and collect Rosemary and Kayla from the airport. We stood on the side of the runway and waited for their small propeller plane to land. We were so awed by the small runway and how quickly the plane touched down and turned around, we forgot to video their dramatic arrival!

Arrival, Island Style!  Dave and his mom, Rosemary (Granny) walk back along the airport road to the boat

With our guests now safely on board, we did a short stock up of fresh fruits and veggies from the vendors at the Clifton market the following morning, and then headed north. The distances are so short, that it took us about an hour to head to the island of Mayreau, and into the popular anchorage of Salt Whistle Bay.

Our niece, Ben and Gaby's cousin, Kayla, on the paddle board in Salt Whistle Bay

It is a beautiful bay, but very crowded with charter boats. We were extremely lucky in that, when we arrived, 2 big boats were just leaving, which opened up a coveted spot in the corner of the bay. We got a good hold on the anchor and settled in for a few days. We amused ourselves by watching the anchorage filling up with more and more boats. Just when we thought they couldn’t possibly pack in another boat, another one came and found a spot. Here too, in crystal clear water with good holding, they had laid mooring buoys, which you could have the pleasure of using for 60EC a night!

Packed with boats!

There are a few vendors selling T-shirts and jewelry on the beach, and a few rustic beach bars and restaurants. The prices were outrageous. Where in Grenada we had paid 25EC for a full meal at the Little Dipper in Grenada, here a comparable meal was 60EC and up!

Vendors selling T-shirts and sarongs on the beach

Gaby in her natural habitat:  thrilled to be climbing palm trees again!

After 2 nights in Salt Whistle Bay, we headed around the corner and over to the famous Tobago Cays.  We had found our turquoise water at last!!  The Tobago Cays are a group of small, deserted islands protected from the sea by a big reef called Horseshoe Reef. The water is shallow and crystal clear in the sand behind the reef, providing a good, safe anchorage, and turtles swim around eating the sea grass at the bottom. Here too, there were many boats, but the anchorage area is bigger, so it was easier to find a spot. We spotted “Shuti” and dropped anchor next to them.

Stunning Tobago Cays

We spent a week here, swimming, snorkeling and meeting Shuti for sundowners on the small beaches in the late afternoon/evening. It was a lovely playground for the kids, and for us, it felt like a holiday, not having to move, not having to check the weather and just enjoying “chilling out” for a while! We were lucky enough to snorkel with turtles a couple of times during our stay there!

One of my favorite shots:  Gaby checking out this friendly fellow!

Enjoying Turtle Time!

And, because you can't swim with turtles all day, every day...  Yoav from Shuti, joins Kayla, Gaby, Granny and Ben for a game of Risk!

One of the days we took Cool Runnings over to an island called “Petite Tabac”, on the outside of the big Horseshoe Reef. We enjoyed a day there, exploring the little island and snorkeling on the reef, but after lunch, we pulled up anchor and came back to the main anchorage for the night. We decided that it would not be safe to stay there, as the small island is surrounded by reef, and if anything were to go wrong, we’d be on the reef within seconds.

Petite Tabac

Fun times at Petite Tabac

Shuti left to go back to Union Island to pick up guests of their own, and we spent one more night in the Tobago Cays without them. We moved to a different part of the reef, just for a change of scenery. Dave and I went for a long swim and snorkeled on the outside of the reef, where it drops away dramatically into the depths of the ocean. It was very pretty, but after we spotted a shark checking us out, and with the tide starting to go out as well, I decided it was time to go back into the safety of the inside of the reef!!

Snorkeling on the reef

Early on Sunday morning, Dave called me up onto the helm station and said, “I think there’s a cat (catamaran) on the reef”! We looked over to Petite Tabac, where we had been only two days before, and saw a boat at a very odd angle to the wind. A monohull was also anchored there, and they were facing into the wind, confirming our suspicion that the cat was on the reef. After looking through the binoculars, Dave said, “we should go and see if we can help them. If it was me, I would want someone to come and help us”. We got our spare anchor with 300ft of rode (rope), extra mooring lines, mask and fins, and topped up the dinghy gas/petrol tank. We decided that Ben and Gaby would go with Dave, and I would stay on Cool Runnings to monitor the radio. About 2 ½ hours later, Dave and the kids returned, having successfully helped get the boat off the reef! Dave said the damage was relatively minor, and most of it was on the keels. The boat was a new Lagoon 420, and luckily Lagoons are built to take the weight of the boat on their keels. Luckily Dave not only knew the boat and Lagoons, but he also knew our dinghy would be powerful enough to be able to push and pull if needed, as we have used it before as a “tug boat” on Cool Runnings in strong wind. In addition having been there a few days prior, Dave knew where the holding was good to put our spare anchor, and help winch the boat off the reef. The folks on the Lagoon were of course very grateful for his and the kids help, and called us later on VHF to say they had safely made it to Union island and to again say thanks!

The Lagoon 420 on the reef, just after the grounding

After this exciting morning, we still decided to leave as planned, and headed out in the afternoon towards the island of Canouan, which was just an overnight stop before heading to Mustique the following day. In a very short time, the scenery changed from shallow turquoise water and white sand, to deep bays and mountains. The sail the next day to Mustique was a little rough, as we had to point more to windward than we would like, and we had about 13 miles of “open water”, that is, the passage between the islands, where you don’t have the protection of the island to shield you. But it didn’t last too long, and soon we were in Britannia Bay, tied to a mooring buoy.

Boats on moorings in Britannia Bay, Mustique.  Cool Runnings is 3rd from left at the back

Mustique is a private island and use of mooring buoys is mandatory. However, the buoys looked very strong and well-maintained, so we didn’t mind paying the somewhat high fee for their use. (The cost is 200EC (about $75) for 3 nights). Mustique is very pretty, and largely undeveloped. The water around Mustique is a conservation area, and we also found that on land, they were very environmentally conscious, which was a wonderful surprise. They desalinate water and much of the power comes from solar power, pretty much the same as Cool Runnings!! The tiny little town is pretty, and the island has about 90 homes on it, many of them owned by the rich and famous. In fact, when we went for a walk, we tried to get to the library (we’d read the internet was good!!), but we were prevented from going there, as the road was blocked off “for about 2 weeks” we were told, so we figured someone famous was on the island, and didn’t want to be disturbed!! (A few days later, we actually saw Mick Jagger on neighboring Bequia, and we were told he often came to Bequia, as he had a house “next door” on Mustique).

Beautiful, colorful Mustique:  Bougainvilla in all colors, tortoises roaming around freely, Stanley's vegetable stand where we stocked up on tomatoes and cucumber, and Granny, Kayla, Gaby, Ben and Dave enjoying an ice cream!

We spent 3 days in Mustique, making full use of our payment for the mooring buoys (it’s 200EC, whether you stay for one night, two or three). On one day, there was a little craft market, with artists coming from St. Vincent to display their goods. Like everything else on the island, it was all too expensive for yachties such as us, but it was nice to just walk around and look. In fact, we bought our most expensive sausages in our lives in Mustique…12 Johnsonville Brats and 1 can of creamed sweetcorn cost us 80EC, about $36!!!

When it was time to head on, we sailed over to Bequia, a very pleasant sail, stopping at a small island called Petite Nevis for the day, before heading over to Friendship Bay, on the southeast coast of Bequia for the night. On Friday, 30th March, we took a slow sail along the coast to the other side to Bequia, to the main anchorage of Admiralty Bay, and the town of Port Elizabeth. It was very crowded in Admiralty Bay, and quite rolly, with large swells rolling into the bay. On a catamaran, we were somewhat more stable than monohulls, who were rocking quite badly from side to side! There were major parties happening on shore, and every night we had to go to sleep with the extremely loud reggae music rocking us to sleep! We also walked around the small town (where we saw Mick Jagger!), and on Easter Sunday, we went ashore and Granny treated us to lunch at the Gingerbread Hotel, where we sat under a tree, next to the water and enjoyed our Easter Lunch! (toasted sandwiches for Granny and Gaby, Rotis for Dave, Ben and myself and a burger and fries for Kayla).

Gaby made our Easter decorations.  The bunny even managed to hide a few eggs and the kids found them on Easter morning!  On the dock outside the Gingerbread after our lunch

Before we knew it, it was time for Granny and Kayla to head back home. Early on Monday morning, April 2nd, Dave, Ben and Gaby took them to shore and they waited at the Gingerbread hotel for a taxi to take them to the airport, where they would hop on another small propeller plane that would take them to Barbados, and then American Airlines would take them back to Miami and ultimately Tampa. Two weeks had flown by in a blur, but this time, when we said goodbye, we were able to say “see you soon!” We have about 10 weeks left before we will be back home, and just like Granny and Kayla’s 2 weeks flew by, our 2 years have flown by equally fast!

Sunset in Bequia

Exploring Grenada

Surprisingly enough, we continue to find it difficult to find enough internet access to get our blog posts updated and uploaded!  We are currently in Martinique, where we made a stop to get some spare parts that David Farrington of Lagoon so kindly sourced for us and sent to the local Lagoon dealership for us to pick up.  Thank you again, David, for all your help along the way!  Our rough plan is to leave here tomorrow, sail to Guadelope, with possibly a short stop in Dominica, and from there, make our way to the BVIs, via Antigua, and then on to the Turks and Cacios and ultimately on to the Bahamas to hopefully meet up with our friends on "Moby" before they make their final crossing over the Atlantic back to France.  With that being said, let's step back a few weeks in time, with our arrival in Grenada:

Situated within large Clarke’s Court Bay, Grenada, is a very small marina called Whisper Cove. We typically try not to stay in marinas, especially now that our savings are dwindling, but as we approached Grenada, we hailed a few of the marinas on the radio, and Whisper Cove was the only one that responded. We knew that we had to fill up with diesel and re-provision, and that is always so much easier when attached to a dock, as opposed to having to dinghy heavy jerry cans of fuel to and from the shore to the boat, and likewise with precious bags of food!

A roadside establishment in Grenada with some good messages:  "Thoughts become tings, Choose the good ones"

So we made the decision to stay at Whisper Cove Marina for a few nights, to get ourselves reintegrated into society! Now, one might not think that Grenada is a buzzing metropolis, and it is not, but we had not seen so many boats and people congregated in one place since, well, probably since leaving Key West, Florida! The horizon was just a jungle of masts, and we were glad to be able to tie up at Whisper Cove, and not have to fight for a tiny spot of real estate, where we could safely drop our anchor! Whisper Cove is really just one dock, with space for maybe 10 boats, but it was perfect for what we needed, and it had free WiFi! (with payment of dockage fee, of course!). But it was cute, and beautifully landscaped, and had clean ablution facilities, in fact, their showers were pretty awesome: the water was cold, but you really didn’t need warm water in the hot, humid temperatures. The showers were large, wooden buildings, surrounded by foliage, with the slats missing at eye level, so it felt like you were showering outside! We typically shower on the boat, even when we are in marinas, because on the whole, our own showers are usually nicer than any marina showers, and it is so much more convenient, but these showers were just so great, we all took the opportunity to enjoy them as much as we could!! (can you tell…it’s the small things in life, like a good shower, that we, as cruisers, have come to appreciate?!).

Whisper Cove Marina - the brown, wooden structure at the end of the dock are the showers!

First order of business was, of course, to check in to Grenada. There is a Customs and Immigration office around the corner from Whisper Cove, at “True Blue” and Dave was able to take the dinghy over there to check in. Once again, although he arrived during office hours, Immigration was not there, and the customs officer held on to our passports, telling us to return on Monday at 11:00am to collect them! This was getting old… But having no option, he left them there, and we carried on with getting ourselves organized. Dave spoke to the marina manager, and was able to arrange car hire for 2 days, which would allow us to get to the supermarket and petrol/gas station and also to explore the island of Grenada. We set off on Sunday morning, and headed to St. George, the capital. On the way, we scoped out the gas station, and found a lovely, big IGA Supermarket, where we would later do all our provisioning. We went inside to have a look, and the look on the kids’ faces was precious! Every few seconds, they would stop and gasp, their mouths hanging open, or jump up and down in excitement, upon seeing a familiar food!

First sight of Oreos in 2 years!!

The old buildings in the historic waterfront part of St. George called The Carenage

Fort George, the 18th century fort situated on the hilltop above the town of St. George 

We spent the day exploring, and while we enjoyed driving around the island, we found that it wasn’t all that different from Tobago. It had the same, small, windy roads, leading from village to village, the beautiful, rainforest inland, and rugged coastline. We stopped for lunch at the north end of Grenada, at a small hotel called Petite Anse hotel, near the town of Sauteurs, and then made our way back along the east coast, briefly stopping at one of the famous plantations, Belmont Estate, that has turned into a tourist attraction.

The view from the top of Grenada across to the other islands.  It was so exciting to be able to SEE the next destination with the naked eye!

The old plantation road at Belmont estate.  It was a little rainy at this point

Grenada is known as the “Spice Island” and there are numerous nutmeg processing plants on the island. We tried to stop at a less touristy one in in the village of Gouyave, and encountered the most hideous detour of our lives! We were SO close, but the road was closed and the detour took us on the scariest, narrowest, steepest roads we’ve ever encountered, and when we were spat out at the coast again, I insisted on going left, as I was sure we could get to the nutmeg facility, and Dave wanted to go right, to get away from the town. But being the good person he is, he humored me, and we ended up having to go on the detour AGAIN, so that was that for the Gouyave nutmeg processing plant!!

This abandoned building was on an "off the beaten track" road, with paintings still for sale, but no-one to be found

The reason for the road closure, which we also encountered (to a lesser degree) in other villages, was that there were general elections coming up, and this day had obviously been designated a day for rallies and party gatherings. We came to know the two parties as the “greens” and the “yellows”, as everywhere we went, the supporters donned either green or yellow T-shirts. Our road trip came to a grinding halt when we were caught up in a traffic jam of epic proportions, and it took us hours to make the last few miles home! We came to dislike the “Greens”, as they were the cause of the traffic jam. The “Yellows” seemed more organized, and we saw them gathered at fields on the side of the road, and they drove along in an orderly fashion. The “Greens” seemed to use the road as their rally points, and drove, in truck and car loads at a snail’s pace, cheering and waving, but not giving the opportunity for anyone to overtake (a difficult task on a good day, as the roads are pretty narrow as it is!). Poor Dave had to negotiate this mayhem on the roads, and we returned to the boat eventually, completely exhausted (and with no energy left to do our shopping, which we had planned to do, but did not dare to go out onto the roads again)!!

A cool little place:  the "Epic Bar and Lounge"...we did not go in, but it looked cool!

On Monday morning, we heard on the cruiser’s net (a virtual meeting, of sorts, where a designated channel on the VHF radio is allocated at a certain time each morning, and you can tune in and listen to what’s going in the cruising world in Grenada), that a cruise ship was in port. This was not good news for us, as we had planned to head to one of the waterfalls, and I had read that if a cruise ship is in town, the waterfall becomes overrun with tourists, vendors set up stalls, and it is generally very crowded. Not our scene at all! So we quickly gathered the troops, and our stuff, and made our way to Annandale Waterfall, and arrived in the nick of time! When we got there, we had the place all to ourselves. Not another car, tour bus or person in sight! We enjoyed swimming in the cool pool and standing under the waterfall, letting our shoulders be massaged by the force of the falling water. As we got out, we saw the first people arrive, and by the time we got back to the car, it was mayhem! We barely managed to get out, and made a quick get-away, away from the madding crowd!!

Taking a dip in the cool pool at Annandale Falls

Selfie under the waterfall!

We took one more drive to Etang Lake, a lake in the crater of an extinct volcano, but were once again disappointed when we arrived, to find tons of people there, and you had to pay an entrance fee to go and see the lake. Having come from places where we have just been able to enjoy nature in its most pure form, we were having a hard time with the commercialization of everything, and we decided to turn around. The drive in itself was pretty, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

The road to and from Etang Lake was very green!

After a quick stop to pick up our passports, we had lunch at a place called “The Little Dipper”. We had read about it in the cruising guide, and we were not disappointed. We were the only guests at this tiny place, and the food was delicious. We had “lambi”, which is conch, fresh veggies and rice, all freshly made.

Little Dipper gets a thumbs up from Cool Runnings!

After lunch, we dropped the kids off at the boat, and went to do our chores. We headed to the supermarket and started filling up our shopping cart. We were surprised at how much food we bought, having been convinced that I had bought enough in South Africa to last us all the way home! When we exited the supermarket, it was pouring with rain, and I mean absolutely pouring, and it didn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon! After getting thoroughly soaked after loading our groceries in the car, we headed to the gas station to fill up our 9 jerry cans with diesel. The roads were starting to flood and the water ran in rivers down the sidewalks. We navigated to the gas station and were able to fill our jerry cans with diesel. We started our drive back to the marina, which, on a normal day, would have taken us 10 minutes at the most. We expected a slow drive back, but we were once again crawling along at a snail’s pace, at times not moving at all. Within a stone’s throw of the turnoff to the marina, we started noticing cars doing U-turns. We recognized a guy from the marina who drove past us, so we quickly asked him what was happening. Turns out the road was completely flooded and no-one could get through!! We had to turn around and drive all the way back to St. George, and then back to the marina along another road. What should have taken 10 minutes, ended up taking more than 2 hours! Poor Benjamin and Gaby thought we had abandoned them, as we didn’t have any way of communicating our predicament to them. They, in turn, had troubles of their own. The rain was so strong that it started flooding our dinghy, and they had to bail out water in the pouring rain, in order to stop it from sinking!!

A view of St. George and St. George's Bay from Quarantine Point 

We were glad to give the car back at the end of the 2 days, as our experience on Grenadian roads had not been a pleasant one! Looks like we were more comfortable on the water! We left Whisper Cove, but spent a few more days in Grenada at anchor, one day we went to the underwater sculpture park, which was a little disappointing, but interesting nonetheless. There are numerous sculptures placed underwater, and you can snorkel or dive to see them. We snorkeled, but they were quite deep and quite difficult to find. The visibility was also not very good that day, so that added to the disappointment. However, we came back to anchor outside the harbor in St. George, next to our friends on “Shuti”! We had last seen them in St. Helena, where we had gone our separate ways: they went to Brazil, and then from there on to Tobago and now Grenada, and we had gone to Ascension, Tobago and now Grenada. We celebrated that evening with them, as they had now “crossed their wake”, and were therefore officially circumnavigators!!

One of the underwater sculptures

The following morning we pulled up anchor and sailed to Carriacou, the next island along, that also belongs to Grenada. It was only 30 miles, but one of the toughest day passages we have ever done! We had to beat into the strong wind, tacking multiple times, and it took us 8 hours to get to Tyrell Bay, where we had to find a spot amongst the many, many other boats in the bay. This Caribbean experience was something we were going to have to get used to!! Still disappointed at not having found our turquoise waters, and eager to escape the crowd in Tyrell Bay, we left early the next morning and headed just around the corner to Hamilton, stopping at a small islet along the way, aptly named “Sandy Island”! As it is a marine park area, we had to pick up a mooring buoy, as anchoring was not allowed. We did so, and tried to tighten our lines. We kept reversing, testing the hold on the mooring line, and trying to get our lines to tighten up. It never happened…we kept going further and further away from the island, further and further out to sea! The mooring was completely loose, not attached to anything, or else, its hold was so poor, that it couldn’t hold our weight, and dragged the whole way! We had to abandon that mooring buoy, and went to pick up another one. Understandably, we were a little nervous, so after tying up, Dave dove down to check the mooring. This one, he said, looked good!

Sandy Island:  turquoise water at last!

We spent a few hours swimming and snorkeling and walking along the small beach, but when the wind started picking up, I was nervous of leaving Cool Runnings on the mooring buoy, so we headed back, and went to anchor in Hamilton Bay, where the holding was so poor, that it took us about 3 tries before we felt we had a good hold on the anchor! I didn’t sleep that well that night, with the memory of the broken mooring buoy and the poor holding in the bay, coupled with the wind coming in tremendous gusts down over the mountains and into the bay.

The next morning we went to Customs and Immigration to check out of Grenada. We were on the move north, in search of our turquoise water, and with a rendezvous in Union Island, which belongs to St. Vincent and the Grenadines with Dave’s mom Rosemary and niece Kayla, who were coming to visit and would be spending 2 weeks with us in the Grenadines.

Tantalizing Tobago

While it's been just over a month since we made landfall in Tobago, and we are now enjoying the warm waters and Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, (we are currently moored off the private island of Mystique, home to the rich and famous!), we have had quite a difficult time finding internet access strong enough to be able to get this blog update posted!  In fact, it took me an entire day to upload one photo, and then we lost connection, and I lost the upload!  But I persevered, and little by little, my photos were uploaded, and I hope to now have enough bandwidth to be able to post this update on our time in Tobago! 

Tantalizing Tobago
We had only planned to stay in Tobago a few days, to catch up on sleep and feel dry land under our feet again, but 3 days turned into 4, 4 to 5, and so on, and we ended up staying a week! We had decided to skip its big sister, Trinidad, as it was a little too close to Venezuela for our liking. Venezuela unfortunately has a bad reputation with cruisers with regards to safety and piracy, and we had even read about 2 boats being boarded by pirates on their way from Trinidad to Grenada. Tobago was also described as being much more sedate, largely unspoilt and undeveloped. We found this description to be pretty accurate.

Getting ready to raise the Trinidad and Tobago courtesy flag

There are only 3 real anchorages in Tobago: Scarborough, which is the capital, but is on the windward side (the side facing the Atlantic ocean, and therefore less protected); Store Bay, on the southern point, where the most tourism is located (and thus party boats in the anchorage), but no officials for clearing in; and Charlotteville in the north, a sleepy little fishing village. That sounded more like our cup of tea, and because we were also able to clear in with customs and immigration in Charlotteville, we decided on that as our landfall.

Map of Tobago, courtesy of Google maps, to orientate yourself with regards to places mentioned in this blog.  Charlotteville, where we were anchored is right at the top of the island.

The small village of Charlotteville in Tobago

The anchorage proved to be pretty, but a bit rolly, which, after 19 days at sea, didn’t bother us one bit! We were able to sleep through the night for the first time in 3 weeks! We cleared in on Friday, 23rd February, 2018, and it took us a few days to recover. Luckily, it absolutely poured with rain the next two days, which gave us not only an excuse to stay on board and do exactly that (recover!), but also gave our boat a really nice wash down, washing away all the salt that had covered every conceivable surface over the last 19 days at sea!

Gaby enjoying a swim and a drink off the bow while anchored in Charlotteville

When the sun finally emerged a few days later, we went about the task of exploring the island. Charlotteville is really a small fishing village, with not a lot of infrastructure (but with a GREAT library, which, after joining for 25 Trinidad and Tobago dollars (TT$), about 4 US$, allowed us not only to enjoy the air conditioned building, but also borrow books and magazines, and most importantly, gave us free internet access!!). We asked around about car hire, and eventually the lady at the little “supermarket” told us to go and talk to Popeye. She gave directions, (walk over the bridge, look for the white picket fence on the right…) and he would be able to assist us. We sent Dave out the following day to search for Popeye, whom he found, and through whom he was able to secure a car for the following day!

Enjoying our first cold "Carib" beer on the day we arrived!  (for the record, the kids were not drinking beer!)

The day dawned overcast and rainy, and after a mad dash to the dock in the dinghy between rain storms, we discovered that Dave had left his wallet on the boat! So he and Ben had to go back, while Gaby and I went in search of Popeye. Not too much later, all was sorted out, we got our car, and off we went. Tobago is not a large island, roughly 27 miles long and 5 miles wide, (300 square kilometers or 116 square miles in area), with one main road around the perimeter, and 3 or 4 roads cutting across the interior. The island is covered in rainforest, with much of it coming right down to the water’s edge. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve, is a hilly range of rainforest which covers 60% of the island. Amazingly enough, this 14,000 acre reserve has been protected since 1776, making it the oldest protected rainforest in the western hemisphere!

The thick vegetation cascading down the mountain side to the road

We drove through the windy roads, through the forest, every now and then emerging in a small village, marveling at how houses have been built on the cliff edges and onto the side of hills. We made our way across to Scarborough, the capital of Tobago. Here we visited Fort King George, an 18th century fort perched on the hill overlooking Scarborough, Bacolet Bay and the windward coast. It was a perfect location to keep a lookout for the many invaders who fought over this island in the past.

Driving through one village, this tree caught our eye.  It's trunk was enormous!

Ben, Gaby and Dave walk along the palm-lined path to Fort King Georg

This building was once one of the men's barracks 

The powder magazine, where all the gun powder was stored

Beautiful old, brick walls stand the test of time

The vantage point of the cannons at the top of the hill.  On a clear day, you can see Trinidad.  We were able to make out its silhouette, but only just!

More cannons overlooking the east coast of Tobago

More old fort walls slowly being overgrown 

We also went to Speyside, where you can find the world’s largest brain coral. Unfortunately, it is too deep to snorkel, and you’d have to scuba dive to see it. Throughout the day, the rain came in spurts, and every now and then, the sun came out. Our stomachs started growling, and we started looking for a place to have some lunch. We were starting to lose hope, and planning to dig into our precious supply of granola bars and apples that we had packed in case, when Dave suddenly stopped and reversed. He had spotted a little place, perched on a hill overlooking King’s Bay. The menu was written on the chalk board outside. We didn’t know exactly what it meant, but we went inside anyway, and ordered 4 portions! We were very pleasantly surprised when we were each presented with a plate overflowing with potato, mango and pumpkin, and a type of wrap, but shredded. All mixed together, it was delicious!

King's Bay Cafe:  our lunch stop

We understood "Mango, Pumpkin, Potato and Chicken".  We just didn't know what "Bussup Shot" was!

Gaby with her delicious "Bussop Shot"

Once again enjoying the Carib beer!  You may have noticed both Ben and Dave had haircuts (done by yours truly on one of the rainy days...and long overdue!)

Our day ended back in Charlotteville, where we returned the car and headed back to the boat, after purchasing some locally baked bread for lunch the next day. We (that is, Dave), did have some work to do on the boat as our water maker had started acting up during the passage. We were still able to make water by by-passing all the safety features and running it manually, but Dave took it apart to check the sensors that gauge whether or not the filters need replacing. Once he had removed and cleaned them (not an easy task, I might add), it shut off immediately once he turned it on again, and we deduced that it probably was the sensors, and he had further damaged them when he took them out and attempted to clean them. We made a plan to order new sensors in the States, and arranged for Dave’s mom to bring them to us as she was planning to visit us in the Caribbean.

Dave taking the water maker apart!  We are so lucky he's such a handy guy!

With one last exploration on the dinghy of the surrounding areas and a swim at the little beach in the anchorage, we were ready to depart for Grenada. The distance from Tobago to Grenada is about 80 miles, and in order to arrive in daylight hours, the most sensible thing to do is sail overnight, in order to arrive there in the morning. So, our plan was to leave around 5:30 or 6:00pm. Dave took the dinghy to the town and went to check out with customs and immigration at around 3:00pm because we knew they close at 4:00pm. Customs was there, and checked us out, but the lady from immigration had decided to go home, and Dave was instructed to go to Scarborough to check out with immigration there! We were outraged!! How on earth was Dave supposed to get to Scarborough, at the complete other end of the island, without a car, with no regular taxi or bus service, and at least an hour’s drive away?! We hadn’t come late, it wasn’t our fault that the immigration employee had just decided to abandon her post and go home. And honestly, if you’re going to do that, can’t you just give your stamp to the customs guy and have him stamp anyone who happened to come while you were playing hooky?!

A typical Tobagan road

Poor Dave communicated his (our) predicament to me via the radio. We were sorely tempted to just leave, but since we had been checked in, and had an entry stamp in our passports, we really needed to get an exit stamp, otherwise the next country might give us problems. So Dave said he would see what he could do and get back to me. He went to find Popeye, to see if he could rent a car again, but he unfortunately couldn’t help. He recommended someone he knew who would drive Dave to Scarborough for $TT400, but that was an outrageous price, and we didn’t even have that many TT$’s. Twice the guy from customs seemed to “appear” where Dave was, Dave assumes he was checking to see if we were just making a run for it, or if Dave was trying to arrange a ride to Scarborough. Eventually the customs guy took pity on Dave and said he’d give him a lift to Roxborough, a slightly larger town on the other side of the island, and a little closer to Scarborough.

At the gas station in Roxborough, they found Nixon, who was on his way to Scarborough, and agreed to give Dave a lift. Once they got there, he took him to the immigration office and we got the stamps we needed. Now Dave needed to get back. Nixon wasn’t planning on driving all the way back to Charlotteville (and back), he had reached his destination! However, Dave managed to talk him into doing just that, and they agreed that Dave would pay for the gas/petrol, and along the way, bought him 2 beers! Dave was back at the boat at around 7:00pm, 4 hours after he’d left, with a 3 hour trip to get our stamps from immigration!

While Dave had been gone, we’d gotten the boat ready for the trip over to Grenada, so by 7:30pm, we’d pulled up the anchor and turned our backs on Charlotteville. The moon rose, a big, round, bright full moon, and the wind was light. It was the perfect combination for a mellow night sail to Grenada, and 13 hours later, we sailed into Clarke’s Court Bay. We were 80 miles closer to home!

Gaby celebrates life!