Holidays and Customs

Well we decided June 1st would be a great day to move from Union Island. It was after the weekend so we wouldn't have to go to the airport to check out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), therefore no overtime. Not so!!! We should have realized something was amiss when Erika's Marine Services and the Customs office at the dock weren't open. Sure enough after we walked to the airport and filled in the clearing out papers, the customs agent informed us that we had to pay $65EC overtime charges. Apparently June 1st is a public holiday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This was not mentioned in the guidebooks. After paying it and clearing out with Immigration (another $20EC) we headed back to the boat and then were on our way.

We headed for Petite Martinique (PM), about 3nm away. PM belongs to Grenada, but it is recognized that it would be inconvenient for cruisers to clear in at Carriacou and then go back to PM so it is possible to stay at PM without being cleared in. This also applies to Petite St. Vincent which belongs to SVG. It is a private island next to PM that has a resort on it. There is also a tiny sand 'island' at the end of the reef on PSV that looks like the typical deserted island.

Mopian

We did not stay at PM. When we were about 1nm away we could hear the thump, thump, thump of bass and as we got closer to the island the bar music became quite loud. We have been spoiled as far as having quiet anchorages. The last time was in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. We decide to head to Carriacou and clear in - another 3 nm. At least we were able to sail with light winds. We should have bit the bullet and stayed at PM with the music.

Petite Martinique

Grenada also had a public holiday - Whit Monday. This meant overtime charges at Immigration ($20EC) and Customs was closed. We had to check in at Hillsborough, the captial, but were planning on moving to Tyrell Bay, a nicer bay to anchor in. Because Customs was closed we chose to spend the night in Hillsborough Harbour - very rolly and the anchor alarm kept sounding because we were swinging with the current. Griff finally got up and spent the night watching the GPS to make sure we were just swinging and not dragging. Nice guy that he is he let me sleep rather than sharing watches. His reasoning is that he wouldn't sleep anyway. I managed to get some sleep. Next morning we went into Customs, bought a few groceries and headed over to Tyrell Bay. We anchored next to Don and Heather on ASSEANCE, another Canadian boat, and settled in.

We spent one day re-familiarizing ourselves with the area as far as where things were and getting the WiFi organized. It will be great to have access to email again. I can't believe how much more out of touch I feel when we can't easily access email.

Now we are organized and ready to start exploring the island.