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Travalog
Fourteen Greetings again to all. VIVA has been on the move for the past three months and we now have more adventures to report. We first want to thank all of those who've been concerned of our whereabouts and well-being. No, the earth is not flat!
After our recovery from all the excitement of the Grenada Sailing Festival, we moved up to the lagoon of St. George Harbor, the capital of Grenada. This is truly a spectacular anchorage, particularly at night with the city all lit up. Our last trip down here was shortly after the U.S. invasion in 1984, when there was still a lingering presence of military and uncertainty about the future. Well, the economy is now thriving and the town a bustle of activity. There is a great open-air market for both provisioning and people watching, some good restaurants and since the town is built on the surrounding hillside, a good place to catch up on some much needed exercise. Speaking of restaurants, one of our favorite meals is Roti, sort of a West Indian burrito, filled with curried chicken, beef, conch, mutton or veggies. Very filling and cheap! Next, on to the laid back little island of Carriacou, 30 miles to the north. The first stop was Tyrell Bay, a large anchorage, rather rolly, and very laid back after Grenada. There is a small boat yard, a local yacht club, and a really neat little floating barge, topped with a palm frond roof, owned by an enterprising ex-Californian named Pete. Pete's place serves a wicked rum punch, complete with a Rasta bartender and Reggae music. Happy Hour always finds the barge surrounded by dinghies from the local cruisers; but since Pete doesn't have a license to sell "spirits", the barge is labeled as an "information center"! This bay, along with the West Coast of most islands, suffered a lot of damage to its piers and shoreline from Hurricane Lenny in 1999. The damage came not from the wind, but rather the large seas built up from the storm. We next took a mini-bus over to Hillsborough, the capital for some sightseeing and provisioning. All of the provisions for these islands arrive by locally made inter-island sailboats. An interesting pastime is to be at the local dock when the inter-island freighter arrives, loaded with cows, goats, chickens, and other supplies for their livelihood. All of the unloading is done the old-fashioned way - by hand. No containers or cranes in these parts! Before leaving Carriacou, we found that our Reckmann jib roller-furling unit would not unroll. We were still able to raise the jib manually, but it was rather disheartening after just getting the boom replaced and mainsail in working order. The unit was 15 years old and has always functioned perfectly, but we would have to wait until Antigua to get it repaired. Fortunately, the wind was mostly on the nose, so we didn't miss too many great sails. After leaving Carriacou, it was then just a series of short island hops up the Windward chain. The beauty of this area is that the distance between islands is so close, that it usually means just a few hours between stops. And finally, we are back in the land of gorgeous, clear, blue/turquoise water. One of the most spectacular anchorages in all the Caribbean is the Tobago Cays. There are a series of small sand-covered coral atolls surrounded by a barrier reef, with some of the most beautifully clear water we've seen. Great for diving and snorkeling. Unfortunately, this area has become very popular with the bareboat charter fleet, and at times gets quite crowded. The French have pretty well taken over the large charter fleets for the past ten years. When Congress removed the tax benefits for deducting charter boat ownership and imposed the luxury tax on yachts, U.S participation and ownership really took a nosedive. Those laws have since been repealed or revised, but too little, too late! As we started to travel up island we have come in frequent contact with these charter boaters, who can really be annoying, and we are constantly amazed at their lack of boathandling and anchoring techniques. The most popular event is sort of an "Anchoring Roulette", which usually happens about Happy Hour or just at dusk. To participate you only need a French flag, 3 or 4 people on the bow with cigarettes in hand and pointing where they think the anchor should go. Next you need a skipper willing to force his way through the anchorage in order to maneuver on top of some other helpless soul, tucked away for the night! The next move is to drop a minimum amount of chain (15-30 ft), do not set it, light new cigarette and open bottle of champagne or wine. You are now prepared for phase II, which is to create havoc as your boat drags down on the fleet behind you. The winner of the event is the one who has to re-anchor the most, with a special prize given for the most number of other boats you have dragged into or up-anchored! By and large, the French are the big winners, since they have the most number of charterboats, people on board (16 at one count), cigarettes lit at one time and unwillingness to move after several of these encounters! We have been truly amazed that the charter companies don't have a better screening for some of these buffoons! Also one of our favorite stops was Admiralty Bay in Bequia. Years ago, Bequia was the whaling center, but is now a popular stopover for both northbound and southbound boats. The bay is quite protected and boasts of many good restaurants and boutiques. There are several good chandlers, all types of yachting repair services and a number of good markets for provisioning. It is easy to prolong your stay in Bequia and numerous cruisers have made this their year-round home.
Next stop was the island of St. Vincent, northernmost of the St. Vincent Grenadines. Although not as prosperous as many neighboring islands, St. Vincent is quite beautiful, with it's high mountains, dormant volcano and dense tropical rainforest. We moored a couple of nights at Young Island Resort and one day took a wild mini-bus ride up the coast for some local sightseeing. The road is quite narrow, either straight up or straight down with blind curves, and is shared by goats, cows and the local school children. Our driver happened to be an aspiring Rasta Indy driver and had the Reggae music cranked up to drown out our cries of fear! Upon our return, we really appreciated our 5-mph motoring trip us the leeward coast in VIVA! Most northbound travels were spent motoring up the leeward side of these large islands and then included a bumpy, thrashing sail for 25-40 miles in the channel between islands.
After leaving St. Vincent, we arrived in St. Lucia, also one of our most favorite islands. The first night's anchorage was at the Pitons, which has to be one of the most spectacular in the world. On our last trip there, the area between the two large peaks was just a coconut grove with a few families and a few domestic animals running free. There is now a spectacular Hilton Hotel occupying the area with moorings out in front. We were sorry to see all of this development, but it has helped the local economy considerably, and they did a beautiful job on the design to make it less conspicuous. Around the corner from the Pitons is the little town of Soufriere, which hasn't changed much in the past 14 years. The entire area is now a marine park, with limited anchoring, so you must rent one of their moorings for the night. Since there are only a few moorings available, it never gets too crowded. While wandering around the town square, we ran into the ex-police chief of Newport Beach and his wife in the local fish market. This consisted of a large block of wood on a street corner, with a local guy chopping up a huge marlin with his machete. After a short conversation we regaled them with some "war stories" of our voyage. They were staying in a five-star, all-inclusive resort and insisted on taking our picture at the "fish market". I guess they found us to also be a couple of crazy, local oddities! A few miles up the coast was the beautifully protected Marigot Bay, famous for the filming of "Dr. Doolittle", and once the main charter base for The Moorings. The shoreside facilities have seen their better days and in the small inner anchorage we were once again engaged with the charterboaters in "Anchoring Roulette". There are still a few good restaurants, and the natural beauty still exists. After a few days reminiscing with John & Diana on Second Kiss on past trips, we were on our way. The leisurely motoring trip up the coast is quite spectacular and our last stop was at Rodney Bay on the north end of the island. Rodney Bay has also seen quite a bit of development since our last trip in 1987, which includes a nice marina, boatyard, hotels, restaurants and shops. The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers now finishes in Rodney Bay, which really boosts the boating population during December. We chose to anchor in the outer harbor, where the water is clearer and used the dinghy for all our running around. We waited for a few days for CHARIS to catch up, and once again the "B Dock Bozos" were united! We hadn't seen the Nixons since departing Trinidad and had a lot of experiences to share. The next installment will include the French Islands ("lair of the enemy"), Dominica and Antigua. All for now. Steve & Pam
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