Farewell Grenada

We have spent our last few days in Grenada and now are headed north. Yesterday we went for a two hour sail towards Prickly Bay to test the engine. No problems occurred so we feel confident about heading out on longer trips. The afternoon was spent doing laundry, the last chance for awhile to do it ourselves rather than paying to have it done, and last minute shopping. Bought KFC for a simple supper.

We had spent the past couple of days watching locals set up nets for fishing. They have a unique method of doing so. They have two rowboats connected with long wooden poles and nets hanging down along the sides of the boats and poles. They also put out a net held up with floats that they partially hauled in one night and then would continue to haul in the next day. There were also guys snorkelling, supposedly looking for more fish.

We had a spectacular evening for our last evening in Grenada. Just as we were finishing off our daily bath in the ocean the sun was setting. Sure enough we got to see our second green flash. As I said a spectacular ending to our stay. (Griff here) - got to thinking that regardless of whatever decision we make next spring about sailing, it is almost a given (99% sure) that we won't be sailing down island again so everything we see as we make our way up is likely being seen for the last time in these circumstances. Very poignant thought and it will likely have quite an effect on the way we see everything as we go.

Today (Thursday) we started off early, 0600, for Carriacou. Very little wind and the seas were flat. We hoisted the main and foresail with hopes that the wind would pick up eventually, which it finally did. By 1000 we had all three sails up and the engine turned off. We were actually sailing. It is the first time since we got back from Canada that we have been able to sail with no motor. I forgot how exhilarating it is to sail that way. The winds were 10 - 15 knots and the swells were about 1 metre from just off the starboard bow. For me that was excellent. (Griff here - 15-20 would have been better!!) We were getting about 6 knots of speed over ground even against about a 1.5 - 2 knot current and we weren't heeled over too much. Just before the wind picked up we saw a pair of dolphins swim across our stern. Griff said if we had been moving faster they probably would have swam closer to us and maybe played in our wake.

We travelled along the west coast of Grenada and then across to Carriacou. There is an 'active' volcano NW of Grenada that we had to make sure we stay clear of. We went between the 500 metre exclusion area of the volcano and a group of uninhabitable islands that include The Sisters, Ile de Ronde, Caille, London Bridge, Les Tantes and Kick'em Jenny. Once we passed the Sisters and Kick'em Jenny we were clear to Carriacou. At about this point we had a discussion about whether we wanted to anchor in Tyrell Bay or Hillsborough. We have to check out of Hillsborough so if we anchored in Tyrell Bay we would either have to walk to Hillsborough today or sail there tomorrow and anchor again. We decided to anchor in Hillsborough. That is where we are now.

Griff set out his lure for part of the trip. No luck today even though there were brown boobies flying around and diving for fish.

We are going to pick and choose where we want to stop on the way up the island chain because our main focus this trip is all the Virgin Islands. But we will be stopping at our favourite places on the way up so we will keep you informed with hopefully more regular blogs. We have a new wifi antenna that up to this point is working wonders so we should be able to keep in touch in most places.