QUIRKY CLIFTON . UNION ISLAND .

After a short sail up from Sandy Island we arrived off Clifton , the cosmopolitan little town on Union Island . As we entered the anchorage and mooring field we received a warm welcome from the awaiting mooring attendant on his boat , ready to give the First Mate a hand with tying up to a mooring buoy . As soon as our bowline had been neatly secured to the buoy he drifted down to the cockpit and offered me a range of supplies from fresh lobster , fresh fish , diesel and last but not least the best marijuana in the Caribbean .

There is something about Clifton that is unique , I am not sure if its the reef plumb in the middle of the anchorage , the tiny village square or the bright colourful buildings that line the main street , but we really liked the place and it was also an official Port of Entry so we could clear into the Grenadines right there . Our first experience of St Vincent hospitality started in the Customs Office when after handing over $120EC Dollars needing 14 change the Customs guy informed us that he did not have any small change on him and suggested we go to an ATM in the village and draw some cash. Four young St Vincent guys who were standing next to us whipped out $6EC and settled our bill then immediately invited us to their home in Chateaubelair , St Vincent explaining that their house is the blue house right on the beach and that we could not miss it .

Since then we have discovered that the locals on the island are really open and super friendly people .

Something else that is unique to Clifton is its very busy little airport which when aircraft come into land it appears that they are lining up for the main street in the village . Being a very short runway they approach the island just clearing the mountains and then put the aircraft down quickly using a very steep descent and braking hard once they touchdown . It is the same when watching the Inter-Island ferry docking , a polished act of dropping both anchors and pivoting the little ship around stern-to the dock . The captain has definitely done this bit of maneuvering many times .

Clifton has also become a popular kite surfing venue and sitting in the anchorage in the cockpit of our boat watching the kite surfers flying back and forth in front of the moored yachts is not a bad way to spend a couple of hours when you are sitting in the front row seats . These guys get so close to the yachts on anchor that the other day one of them wrapped his kite around a mast of a yacht tied to a mooring buoy . He attempted to scale the mast but after getting to the first spreader he seemed to lose his nerve and slowly slid down back to the deck . In the stiff breeze the kite eventually flogged itself to death and flew off leaving the top of the mast bare of any equipment .

We set off from Clifton to visit the very popular Tobago Cays but that is another post on it's own to follow this one shortly . After a wonderful visit to the Cays it was time to set sail for Grenada to get our daughter back to the airport in time to catch her flight back home . We were looking forward to a broad reach all the way back to the South Coast of Grenada and the airport after a chilled and relaxing time spent in the Southern Grenadines . 

CLIFTON . UNION ISLAND .

THE FIRST MATE LOOKING SPIFFY AS SHE HEADS UP TO THE FOREDECK TO SECURE OUR LITTLE SHIP TO A MOORING BUOY .

THE ANCHORAGE OFF CLIFTON .

THE TOBAGO CAYS IN THE DISTANCE AS SEEN FROM UNION ISLAND .

THE TOBAGO CAYS INFORMATION CENTRE IN CLIFTON .

COLOURFUL SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS LINE THE MAIN STREET .

THE DOCK OFF THE BOUGAINVILLEA HOTEL .

THE ANCHORAGE HOTEL .

THE POND IN FRONT OF THE HOTEL HAD A LONELY RAY SWIMMING UP AND DOWN IN IT .
APPARENTLY THEY HAD NURSE SHARKS IN THE POOL BUT HOPEFULLY THEY ESCAPED UNHARMED .

THE BUSY DOCK IN FRONT OF THE ANCHORAGE HOTEL .

WHEN AIRCRAFT COME INTO LAND AT THE LITTLE AIRPORT , FROM A DISTANCE IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE GOING TO TOUCH DOWN IN THE MAIN STREET .

UNION ISLAND IN THE DISTANCE .

CARRIACOU . ( A CARIB WORD MEANING " ISLAND SURROUNDED BY REEFS ".

After sailing close-hauled all the way up Grenada's West Coast keeping as close inshore as possible to avoid the current we cleared the island and set a course for Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou . Once you clear the lee of the island the wind tends to strengthen along with the current setting to the West and the seas can get a little rough , but on most occasions you are in for an exhilarating sail . There are a number of uninhabited islands on route to keep clear of including Kick 'em Jenny , but there is also an active undersea volcano of the same name that erupted in 1988 and 1989 . The Grenada Government has declared a 1,5km exclusion zone around the volcano at all times and when Kick 'em Jenny gets a little grumpy the exclusion zone is extended to 5kms . Yet we saw yachts sailing south right over the volcano either not concerned or worse still unaware that the volcano was even there .

We finally arrived at our approach waypoint off the entrance to Tyrrel Bay which is a huge and protected anchorage very popular with cruisers although we experienced our worst rock & roll session one evening while on anchor and we all slept across our bunks to minimize the effect . The cause was a northerly swell that wrapped around the point and rolled into the bay with all the yachts lying beam to the swell . One of the locals told me the story of the day when out of the blue after Hurricane Lenny a huge swell rolled into the bay and literally wiped out a brand new road that had just been completed along the waterfront . One of his mates owned a car hire business with his cars standing in a yard across the road from the beach . When these waves started breaking over the road he had all and sundry scrambling to drive them to higher ground . In November 2016 a boat sank in the anchorage right bang on the entrance waypoint listed in our second cruising guide . What is concerning is that if a boat is not aware of this wreck and is using this guide as a reference , in the dark you would never see it and would probably slam into it thinking you were perfectly safe . We were anchored quite close to this wreck and on two occasions after dark we had to yell to warn the skippers that they were headed for the wreck as in the dark and using only headlamps they would never be able to spot the sunken boat . Hopefully at some point the wreck will be removed .

Talking about wrecks , late one afternoon while relaxing in the cockpit we noticed a large superyacht flying the Brazilian flag motoring into the bay at a rate of knots and heading straight for a reef commonly referred to as Bareboat Alley . They slammed into the reef and came to an abrupt halt . The captain immediately put the engine full astern and with black smoke pouring out of the exhaust he dragged themselves off the reef and eventually got back into deeper water . After drifting in the bay for sometime while l presume they were looking for damage the captain turned and started heading back into the bay once again at a rate of knots , but this time heading straight for the sunken wreck and by now in the dark . Fortunately a fellow cruiser got onto the radio and started yelling at them to alter course immediately which they did and finally they anchored just short of the wreck . I still can't figure out how come he/she was not aware of this reef as it is clear on the charts and also spoken of in the cruising guides .

As is now our standard practice when arriving at a new island we got together with our cruising buddies and arranged a island tour of Carriacou . Our tour guide Linky explained that this island has over a hundred rum shops but only one gas station to refuel all the vehicles that travel around this enchanting island . The one place l was dead keen to visit was Windward , not only because this village was named after our boat ( joke ) but also because it is where the old traditional boat building industry continue to build the old wooden classics that still sail the islands today . Recently a documentary film was produced telling the story about these boat builders and their trade . We were fortunate enough to get to see two of these classics under construction which after having finished my own boat l found really interesting . Linky told us about the launching methods that are used to get the boat to the water and the party that celebrates the launch with no one apart from the owner knowing the name of the new vessel until the priest blesses the boat and announces the name to the audience at the launch . The entire ceremony is carried out in the old traditional way as the generations of boat builders have done in the past and everyone and anyone is welcome to the launch party .

Changing the subject completely , while my girls were out exploring in Paradise Beach they came across a little restaurant come coffee shop and started chatting to the lady owner . It turns out that she and her brother were at school with my sister and myself in Westville back home in South Africa in our junior school days and l remember them well . When my sister finds out she is going to be blown away that here on a remote Caribbean island in the opposite hemisphere my daughter bumps into an old school friend dating back to the sixties .

It is unbelievable how small this planet really is .  

CHILLIN' IN CARRIACOU .

ONE OF THE MANY BEAUTIFUL CLASSICS WE HAVE SEEN THIS SEASON IN THE CARIBBEAN .

INTERNET CAFE " ISLAND STYLE " .

ONE OF THE TYPICAL BEACH BARS .

IT'S A HARD LIFE .

HILLSBOROUGH BAY WITH UNION ISLAND IN THE DISTANCE .

WHILE DIGGING THE PRIME MINISTER'S GRAVE , THEY DISCOVERED THIS OLD CANNON WHICH NOW STANDS AND GUARDS HIS BURIAL SITE .

CACTUS PLANTS NOW GROW ON THE STEEL DECK OF THIS OLD WRECK .

A TRADITIONAL BOATYARD ON THE WATER'S EDGE WITH A NEW VESSEL IN THE MAKING . 

ONE OF MANY MAGIC SUNSETS .

THE RIGHT WAY TO KICK START THE DAY .

FLAWLESS SANDY ISLAND .

Tonight we are anchored off the most idyllic little island under almost a full moon and life couldn't get much better . The spotless beach facing us shines silver in the moonlight .

I have no doubt that this picture perfect deserted ring of white sand with its surrounding reef and crystal clean waters would tick all the boxes in anyone's perception of what a tropical paradise should be . With palm trees and the typical tropical vegetation found here the only inhabitants are birds , hermit crabs and their cousins and plenty of fish being dived on by Masked Boobies and Brown Pelicans .

Living on-board a yacht brings you really close to nature and sitting chilling in the cockpit watching shoals of fish being hunted by larger pelagics right alongside our boat is something quite special .

We are anchored in five metres of water and the seabed beneath us is clearly visible . The snorkeling is out of the top draw with an abundance of fish and the best part is that the best reef for diving is barely 100 metres away from our boat . This afternoon off the western tip of the island was a perfect little right-hander ideal for a longboard .

The right way to end this evening will be a hour of stargazing while listening to the chases taking place around our boat .

How privileged we are to be able to experience this magic .   

DESERTED SANDY ISLAND .

OUR PRECIOUS DAUGHTER / WATER BABY .

TYPICAL TROPICAL ISLAND VEGETATION .

PERFECT LITTLE WHITE BEACH WITH CARRIACOU ISLAND IN THE BACKGROUND .

WE GOT QUITE EXCITED FINDING THIS SHELL UNTIL WE DISCOVERED THE SAME SPECIES BUT FAR BIGGER LYING ABOUT ALL OVER THE TOBAGO CAYS .

THE SUPERYACHT CHARTER INDUSTRY IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE CARIBBEAN .

THE PERFECT SNORKELING SPOT WAS A SHORT SWIM AWAY FROM OUR BOAT WITH A NICE VARIETY OF REEF FISH .

NOT A BAD VIEW FROM OUR STOEP .
UNFORTUNATELY OUR LITTLE CHEAP CANON DOES NOT DO THIS SCENE JUSTICE .

HOME SWEET HOME .

LAZY TROPICAL AFTERNOONS .

GROOVIN' IN GRENADA .

After our boisterous beat all the way up from Trinidad , lying at anchor in Prickly Bay was a treat . Barely a couple of days after arriving in Grenada we got to find out just how jacked up the place is for yachties with a daily cruisers radio net broadcasting all sorts of handy information relating to weather , social events , arranged shopping transport into St Georges and even daily yoga and tai chi classes arranged by yachties for visiting cruisers to the island . We happened to be in Grenada over the festive season and all sorts of parties and events took place at the various marinas . We even enjoyed a great evening of blues at a jam session held at a nearby marina with all the musos being yachties themselves and some of them played really well .

The one event no yachtie was enjoying was the annual “ Christmas Winds “ season where through various influences the wind tends to blow harder with more north in it creating more swell which in Prickly Bay's case makes the anchorage a little rolly . It was while we were rocking and rolling that l had to strip and remove our fancy new clutch on our watermaker which is quite a job even on a solid workbench in a decent workshop .

On the positive side we were looking forward to our daughter joining us and she would spend almost a month with us sailing up Grenada's west coast to the Grenadines and back later in January to fly home to Capetown from Grenada . She is a water baby of note and will happily spend hours in the water , snorkeling and swimming especially when the water temp sits around 30 degrees . On route to the Grenadines we overnighted in Dragons Bay which is close to the world famous Moliniere Underwater Sculpture Park . Without a guide we snorkeled on our own and managed to find all but one of these famous sculptures . It is quite something to be snorkeling along and all of a sudden these strange figures appear out of the gloom . It is worth a Google to see what we saw in the flesh , so too speak .

While we were there with our daughter we arranged with a group of yachties a comprehensive tour of the island with a local guide who goes by the name of Cutty . It was worth every cent as Grenada is a beautiful island with its lush forested mountains , beautiful waterfalls and its fragrant spice trees that gives the island its commonly referred to name of the ” Isle of Spice “. We visited every place of interest including the famous chocolate factory and a centuries old rum distillery that still utilizes an ancient water wheel to drive the crusher .

Unfortunately Grenada took a hammering in 2004 with Hurricane Ivan ( Ivan the Terrible ) causing widespread damage to the rainforest and to the nutmeg plantations resulting in many Grenadians being put out of work . Fortunately the nutmeg trees are slowly recovering and hopefully the jobs will return .

Few islands are as photogenic as Grenada and with its hiking trails there are plenty of opportunities to capture the natural beauty of places like Concord Falls and the crater lake Grand Etang .

What we have found that works really well when visiting new islands for the first time is getting a small group of fellow cruisers together and organizing an island tour with a local guide . You get to hear all about the history of the island and what makes the place tick . We visited the capital St George by bus on a number of occasions and got to see the town from up on Fort George with elevated views of the Carenage and Port Louie the beautiful new marina in the lagoon with the Grenada Yacht Club right opposite the marina .

Talking about the history of the island , Grenada has had a turbulent past with wars and revolutions and in 1979 there was a left-wing coup by Maurice Bishop a great admirer of Fidel Castro who attempted to turn Grenada into a socialist state. Unfortunately for him he received opposition from within his own ranks and his Second-in-Command including the military arrested him and locked him up in prison in 1983 . After a massive crowd came to his rescue and freed him an army group re-arrested him along with half his cabinet and executed them by firing squad . We visited the very place at Fort George where this event took place .

After the executions had taken place the United States along with other Eastern Caribbean islands launched a “ rescue mission “ and were welcomed by the Grenadians who are warm and hospitable people and today Grenada is an independent , vibrant , productive and democratic country .

To end this post on an inspirational note , we met an elderly couple in Trinidad on a number of occasions while walking through Chaguaramas and once in a restaurant while having lunch . The old guy had suffered a stroke and clearly struggled to do the most basic things like feeding himself and even walking . After arriving in Prickly Bay after our bumpy sail overnight from Trinidad they sailed in later that day and dropped anchor right in front of us . We had seen another yacht abeam of us just before dark the night before and we presume it was them . How he manages to move about and hold onto a pitching boat in those seas is beyond me and two days later we watched his amazing elderly wife remove and refit their genoa on their roller furler all by herself while he watched her from the cockpit . This incredible couple obviously love their boat and the cruising lifestyle and where most people after suffering a stroke would have hung up their seaboots they have continued sailing .

I have real admiration for them as they are truly an inspiration .

Where there is a will , there is a way .

GRENADA , THE SPICE ISLE .

PRICKLY BAY MARINA .

PRICKLY BAY ANCHORAGE .

PRICKLY BAY ANCHORAGE .

CRUISERS JAM SESSION .
THE SAX PLAYER ON THE RIGHT COULD GIVE KENNY G OR DAVE KOZ A GOOD RUN FOR THEIR MONEY .

THE CRUISE LINER DOCK IN ST GEORGES .

ON THE WATERFRONT IN ST GEORGES .

THE SENDALL TUNNEL CONNECTING ST GEORGES TWO SIDES IN TOWN .

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER SEEN A SHIP DOCK PERFECTLY WITHOUT THE AID OF TUGS .

A BEAUTIFUL OLD SAILING SHIP VIEWED FROM FORT GEORGE .

THE FANCY NEW PORT LOUIE MARINA .

THE CARENAGE WINDING AROUND THE OLD HARBOUR .

THE CONCORD FALLS , THIS IS ONE OF FOUR SECTIONS OF THE WATERFALL .

THE OLD CHOCOLATE FACTORY . 

THE RIVER ANTOINE RUM DISTILLERY .
THE ANCIENT WATERWHEEL STILL DRIVES THE CRUSHER TODAY .

THE RIVER ANTOINE RUM DISTILLERY HAS PRODUCED RUM SINCE 1785 .

THE GRAND ETANG CRATER LAKE .
A MAJOR SOURCE OF WATER ON THE ISLAND .

WE ENJOYED A GREAT SAIL UP THE WEST COAST OF THE ISLAND .
AT ABOUT THIS POINT WE WERE PASSING " KICK EM JENNY " AN ACTIVE SUBMARINE VOLCANO .

THE FIRST MATE DOING A QUICK FOREDECK INSPECTION .

THE FAMOUS MOLINERE UNDERWATER SCULPTURE PARK .
GREAT SNORKELING EXPERIENCE . 

CHRIST THE REDEEMER .
THE LAST TIME WE SAW HIM HE WAS ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN IN RIO .

ITS QUITE EERIE SNORKELING ALONG AND SEEING THESE STATUES APPEAR OUT OF THE GLOOM .