Our Grand Finale

    Upon our return to Grenada, while preparing Sunshine II for storage during the upcoming hurricane season,  we were informed of a special outing to the North East coast of Grenada.  The purpose of this outing was to get a chance to view one of natures rare events, a sea turtle laying eggs.  Well, making that decision was a no brainier and we jumped at the opportunity to witness this once in a life time event.  On the appointed evening we were picked up at our boat yard by our good friend and taxi driver Patrick "Shade man" James at 1930 hours with plans of returning the next morning around daybreak.  Our journey took us over and thru Grenada's rain forest arriving around 2200 hours at a small beach town where we enjoyed an evening meal of fried chicken.  Around 2300 the word came in from one of the scouts that some turtles had been sighted coming ashore so we got back into the van and journeyed the last mile or two to a beach where the scouts guided us to the site of one of natures great moments.

     This photo was taken without the aid of a tripod and with only the light of a red filtered flashlight.  Look closely and you can make out the top rear of her shell and the right rear flipper.  At this point in time she has just finished laying her clutch of eggs and is beginning to cover them with sand and camouflage the location.  This incredible creature is about six feet long and probably weighs between 1200 and 1500 pounds.
     There were a couple of veterinary students from St. Georges University along with a representative of an environmental group which was logging the event.  They told us that this turtle laid over 100 "yolked" eggs.  Statistics indicate that less than five of these eggs will produce a hatching which will survive until adult hood.

Chatam Bay

April 9

Moondance and Sunshine II at anchor in Chatam Bay.

Chathum Bay is somewhat isolated, although there is a resort and several island bar-b-que stands (Not Texas Style) on the beach, all supplies must be brought in from the South side of the island. This trek is a couple of miles long on a dirt road/trail  over a 500 foot high hill requiring a four wheel drive vehicle to complete. The other option is to take a boat around the island.

Mayreau Island

April 8

Mayreau Island is a small picturesque island with exquisite views.

This small Catholic Church sits atop of a hill overlooking Tobago Cays.

The view from the church's back yard.

The Easter Regata

April 6

Easter weekend found us at the Bequia regatta, although we did not participate in the race events we did have a good viewing position to see the start / finish line and some of the participating vessels.

Skye' was crewed by some of our friends and commanded a respectful finish.

A Little Walk About in Bequia

Well, you may have noticed that I haven't been writing any blogs lately and maybe wondering why.  The answer is simply that we came home in early May and discovered that we had left a large amount of chores undone in our rush to leave last November.  Believe me there is still quite a few left to finish but the heat is getting pretty brutal and I'm trying to cool off in the house.  Soooo back to the Blog and dreaming of our return to the Caribbean.  Tim

March 29

While in Bequia a bunch of walked up to Fort Hamilton.

The view from the battery was quite spectacular and it is easy to see why the English would place it here to protect the harbour.

On the way back to our dinks we stopped at the "Beer Tree" to enjoy a few cold ones.

This became one of our favorite hang outs in Bequia.

Bequia Turtle Sanctuary March 26

On the island of Bequia there is a private turtle sanctuary who's mission is to improve  the survival rate of the sea turtles.

This turtle is an albino and has been in the sanctuary all of it's life about 15 years.  The staff told us that this turtle would not have survived in the wild as it's natural camouflage is missing.

These little guys are just a few months old.  They were picked up on the beach after they hatched.

They are then kept in tanks for approximatly five years to help insure there survival.

Bequia Whaling Station March 23



Bequia has a limited whaling season and allows the harvest of two sperm whales per year using traditional methods.  That is a small sail boat and a hand thrown harpoon.  Once the whale is killed it is towed to this little island where it is butchered and the meat is shared with the local population.

No whales were harvested last year or this year.  We did see, from quite a distance, one of the small sail boats chase a whale but they were not successful.

It appears that most of the animal is used in one form or another.  We saw vendor's selling whale teeth that had been decorated with scrimshaw.

Here is a picture of a bar,  surprisingly named "The Whale Bone" go figure, with a whale's rib as a main feature of the bar.

Babs and Her kayak March 20

 When Kim and Joe were leaving to return to England Babs bought a kayak from them to explore the shallow beach areas around the different islands.



Cruising

Some say that cruising is really defined as working on your boat in exotic locations.

Yes Craig, I have projects to keep me busy.

On our sail from Union Island to Canouan we had some of the sacrificial UV cover start to come off of our jib sail.  Here I am replacing / patching the cover.

As you can see the sail takes up a lot of room.  After about 4 1/2 hours Babs and I completed the repair and reinstalled the jib on our furling roller.

Canouan 3/16/2012

Our anchorage in Rameau Bay.

  The water is absolutely crystal clear and the snorkeling is excellent.

The airport here has been extended by almost 100% to approximately 5000 feet recently to accommodate private jets, saw a G IV.  There is a large exclusive development that has bought up the North end of the island and developing some very chic digs.

Stopped by this place to get a cold beer and noticed the two sailing models.
These little buggers are some serious competition racers.

Union Island 3/14/2012

School of sharks in a small pool at the entrance to a restaurant.  There were quite a few smaller fish swimming with the sharks who showed absolutely no fear of being in the vicinity of the sharks.

Coconut sprouting in flower bed at Happy Island. 

Happy Island has been built on a reef at Clifton out of conch shells.

Janti built Happy Island pretty much single handed using conch shells as a base for the island.  His island is completely off of the grid,  electricty is provided thru wind and solar, water is collected rain water.

He told me that this is the tenth year of construction as the island is a continuing project.

Barcardy Rum copied his island idea for a commercial they ran a while back.So much for the orginality of there advertising people.  

Kite surfing near Happy Island.

Some of these guys were getting some serious air and speed.

Petite Martinique 3/11/2012

Petite Martinique is the last outpost of Grenada and the smallest of the populated islands.

Playground equipment at a day care facility.

 Due to the tropical environment most of the home owners employ landscape contractors to keep there yard trim and neat, as can be seen in this photo.

Here is one of the landscape crews braving the heavy traffic to get to their next job.

A Short Walk on the Beach 3/08/2012

Just a little walk on the beach and a few of the sights.

Another beach bar this one a little bit more sophisticated than the one at Hog Island.

A little land crab, note that he is almost transparent,  they are hard to catch out in the open.

Sean this one is for you!!! 3/08/2012

The driver got quite a laugh out of your slogan " Got Poo Call LeDoo"

Carriacou Boat Building

Carriacou's boat building was introduced to the island by some early Scottish immigrants.  The tools and process has changed only slightly.  They use no written instructions or drawn plans.  The demintions  are pretty much by eye.

They do not use the technique of stream bending to craft the boat's ribs, instead they harvest large branches from a white cedar tree then mill planks which are the shape of the desired rib.

Some of the tools of the trade.  The chain saw is a more recent change or modernisation from the original craftsmen.

Tour of Carriacou Febuary 27,2012

Carriacou is the second largest island in the island nation of Grenada.  Only three of the islands are populated by any sizable group of people.

The group of Cruisers which went on the tour with us.

Old tree with orchids growing from it's limbs as parasites.

An old windmill used to crush sugar cane,  been out of use for just a few years, you think?

The town of Hillsborough, the largest on this island, from a vantage of the hospital on the hill named Belair.

The hospital was built there due to an epidemic outbreak of malaria ,Belair is french for good air.  The elevation at this point is 759 ft. although it is not the highest point on Carriacou the wind is always blowing due to the trade winds coming off of the Atlantic and that keeps the mosquitoes away.

Sandy Island

In our last blog, I mentioned that we wanted to go to Sandy Island here at Carriacou, well we took the dingy over yesterday.



Sandy Island is a small uninhabited strip of beach.  It was almost lost a few years ago due to neglect and abuse.  Then a hurricane blew thru and deposited a bunch of dead coral in the shallow areas, and took away all of the dead vegetation and instilled some of the locals to start planting trees and other ground cover.  This along with a willingness to protect this area for the future now provides us with this beautiful little island beach.

All of these efforts are now bearing fruit with a bit of tourism $$$,  from the water taxis, dive operators,and equipment rentals to the mooring fees.

We enjoyed our little afternoon excursion very much.

We are FINALLY leaving Grenada!!!!

We have FINALLY left Clark's Court Grenada.  It's been an enjoyable three months but even paradise gets to be old.  Next stop Molinere Pointe and the famous underwater sculpture garden, one of the top ten snorkeling destinations in the world according to Yahoo.  Very neat, sorry we could not take any underwater photos so next best please check out this YouTube link.  GRENADA,Diving in Grenada: Sculpture Park (AJ)  or http://youtu.be/WhVzwh9OFkY







  This is Molinere Pointe from a vantage above the water line,  looks pretty much like the rest of Grenada doesn't it but the real beauty rest below the surface like most things in life.


Day two of our SOLO journey aboard Sunshine II is taking us to Isle de Ronde.  We have been here before and found it to be a beautiful secluded ancorage with crystal clear blue water.  Today we found all of the above along with quite rolly conditions while at anchor due to to the Northwesterly swells.  It was not our most restful night but even in paradise one must take a little salt.

    

Anchorage at Isle de Ronde with s/v Aquae Sulis and s/v Moondance our sailing companions.

Day three finds us leading the pack into Tyrrel Bay, on the island of Carriacou, Grenada.  I think the skippers of Aquae Sulis, Nick who has sailed across the Atlantic aboard her and Moondance, Robert who has four years experience here in the Caribbean, felt a little sorry for me as I was always in last place.

     Today Babs and I went exploring and found a lovely little beach known as Paradise Beach with Sandy Isle across a little bay.  We want to take our boat out to the little island.  It looks absolutley inviting.

By the way Happy Mardi Gras Ya'll......_/)