Cultural Experiences in Grenada

This year, the Carriacou Regatta took place over the last weekend of July into the beginning of August. Since we just missed it last year, we decided to be in Tyrrel Bay for this year’s racing activities. Irie anchored in her usual spot close to the beach and we felt very happy to be back in this quiet, relaxed and friendly area, with decent WiFi. Once again, we were surprised with the discrepancy between the amount of anchored boats and the lack of activity on shore. Even during the regatta. We hadn’t seen our friends from SV Imagine, SV Alianna and SV Opus for at least two days, so it was time to catch up!

Sam and Jon from “Imagine” signed up for the yacht races and Sim and Rosie (“Alianna”) and Mark made up the extra crew. Jim from “Opus” decided to crew with the locals again in the Carriacou Work Boat class. These developments resulted in a lot of activities and sights for all of us. We joined a potluck, went out for street BBQ, saw the start of Imagine’s first race, were present at a sweltering hot auction for the Carriacou Children Education Fund (for which we donated a Wirie) and listened to the final race results. Imagine, with its great skipper and experienced crew did pretty well!

When Mark crewed his first race, Darwin and I walked over to Paradise Beach to see the launching of the work boats. From all over the Caribbean, competitors arrive. These boats don’t have engines, so they start the race by being pushed off the beach by the last person to jump in, with all sails up; an impressive sight.

On Sunday, the “day off” for the yachts, we collected some of our friends and took Irie to Sandy Island for a wonderful pancake breakfast and tasty late lunch. In between, we saw the Carriacou Sloops and Work Boats race past us, sometimes very close by. A great photo opportunity, especially when the colorful spinnakers were flying. Jim’s boat passed us as well. We tried to fling him a pancake, but that didn’t work out so well…

After the Carriacou festivities, it was time for carnival in St. George’s, the capital of Grenada. Mark and I saw a couple of parades last year and weren’t all that interested this time, but… Port Louis Marina offered great rates for a marina stay during this period. The location is pretty and convenient. We figured we could spoil ourselves once in three years and ended up staying at a dock for four nights. It was so easy to take Darwin for walks and rinse him off with fresh water. The showers are very modern and a real treat. Having our friends around in walking distance was a plus as well, with many social evenings as a result. The shopping was within easy dinghy reach, the unlimited supply of fresh water made hand washing our clothes so much more enjoyable and the internet connection was reliable, providing Mark with the needs to work hard for four days.

In spite of all the amenities, we had to deal with VERY hot, wind free weather (no air in the boat at this angle), a high rate of humidity, the loudest (repetitive) soca music anybody ever heard, a bunch of mosquitoes and sleepless nights. The pool looked very attractive, but the lack of shade around it and a beating sun on top of it, made the water as hot as a bath and not very refreshing. To say it with Mark’s words: “I’m done with marinas for another three years now!”

The last carnival parade took place on a superhot Tuesday August 10^th. With some friends I walked over to the main watching area and managed to see most of the groups, while frying in the sun (Thanks for bringing an umbrella, Rosie) and covering our ears from the thumping, vibrating noise. It was very similar to last year with scantly dressed women, seducing moves and just a few impressive costumes. Carnival in Grenada happens in the summer, because the competition of Trinidad in the “normal” carnival period is too overwhelming. It was a good decision to attract the crowds from the surrounding islands, but less sweat would stream and fewer headaches would be had in the more pleasant February climate.

Our (temporarily) last month in Grenada will be spent in the southern bays, trying to make a few more cruisers happy with The Wirie.

Spending Some Time in The Southern Grenadines

In the more remote Grenadines (other than Bequia, Canouan and Union Island), it is a little hard to find decent wireless internet. Even with The Wirie! We would pick up signals from other islands, miles away, but to be able to work without frustrations, we need a good connection, not one that cuts in and out (which is OK to grab emails and check the weather). Mark and I got very fond of the island of Mayreau, but WiFi is non-existent. That resulted in Irie having to return to the “metropolis” of Clifton in Union Island multiple times. There, we focused on the business and customer service for a few days and then left for the weekend to a more quiet area.

During one of our short stays in Clifton, we checked out Happy Island with our friend Dave from Tatia. Janti founded Happy Island a few years ago, by building his own piece of property/paradise on a pile of conch shells, in the middle of the reefs. The place is very popular with tourists and has grown out to be a successful enterprise. It is totally self contained (he collects power and water from Mother Nature) with 360 degree views over the islands, just like on a boat!

The Tobago Cays lure from a distance and from the pages of guides and brochures. Irie stopped there briefly last November, for my birthday. We looked forward to returning for a while. The little islands, or cays, belong to a National Park, which charges EC$ 10 (US$ 4) per person per night and mooring balls are available for an extra cost. The main anchorage is protected by a big horse shoe reef, so the water is relatively calm, but the breeze is steady and perfect to create electricity. All of the five islands have pretty white sand beaches, framed by palm trees. The reef offers good snorkeling and some trails lead to the top of hills with nice views.

Normally, the water is turquoise and very clear, but this time, there was a green hue to it, something we have noticed all through the Caribbean this summer. We think it has to do with the higher temperature of the sea water, which attracts algae. The water of some beaches is now so warm that it makes you want to get out again! Another inconvenience was an annoying swell that made Irie bounce all over the place, twelve hours a day. A result of outgoing tide running into wind chop, we presume. The six hours of daylight with calm seas and wonderful surroundings, we used wisely. Mark and I went snorkeling on the reef and enjoyed the pretty, colorful waterscapes and many fish species. A feeding snake, sliding through the coral heads was the most interesting sight.

We picked Darwin up for a dinghy tour around the islands and checked out every sandy beach, with a little swim to cool off. On a couple of islands, a trail revealed wonderful vistas of the Tobago Cays. In the shallows off Baradel Island, sea turtles feed on grass. It is a delight to snorkel with them and watch their habits. All you have to do is don some snorkel gear and float away from the beach. The uncomfortable pitching of our boat, made us leave the area prematurely after two nights.

Mark and I decided to give Salt Whistle Bay another try. The setting is gorgeous in this bay, but last time, a whole bunch of powerboats disrupted the peace and took up most of the space. This time, all we could see was a huge mega motor yacht, surrounded by sailboats. One of them left the bay, so we grabbed their spot close to the beach. The wind was absent and boats started to do weird stuff. Before long, we found our butt very close to the beach. It was a bit nerve wrecking, but after some calculations and personally checking depths in the water, we figured we’d be all right. For the first time ever, we could just walk off our back step, in the water and all the way to the beach! Quite a funny and practical revelation, but not one we’d like to repeat often!

After combining relaxation, reading, snorkeling, walking, having fun with Darwin and the normal chores with the necessary days of work in between, we felt it was time to leave St. Vincent and The Grenadines for Carricaou, one of our favorite islands and part of Grenada. A few days at quiet Sandy Island (which is being turned into a National Park on August 1^st 2010, prohibiting anchoring and charging for the mandatory use of mooring balls) is now followed by a week’s stay in Tyrrel Bay to attend the Carriacou Regatta, be part of the local culture and festivities and promote The Wirie. Vacation is over!

Destination Grenadines

One of the highlights – if not the biggest one – in The Caribbean is SVG or St. Vincent and The Grenadines. This is how the country is officially called, but most sailors skip the first part of the name (for safety reasons) and only care about The Grenadines, an area south of “the mainland”, scattered with tropical, lush islands adorned with lovely white sand beaches, friendly locals and little land tourism. The Grenadines portray the typical image of what one has in mind when thinking “Caribbean”.

Irie has passed SVG before. Twice. Each time thinking “Man, I wish we could stop and enjoy some time in the islands”, followed by an accusing look at Darwin. Not that it is his fault that the rules to land a pet here are so complicated and full of hassle. But, visiting with a dog is not impossible, so this time around, we made it a priority to play by the rules, plan ahead and explore The Grenadines. Our main reason to stop in Martinique after Dominica was to obtain a health certificate for Darwin. That proved easy enough, but getting in touch with the SVG Agriculture Department about our arrival date and paperwork failed enormously for four weeks. Emails – with the dog’s documents and permit application attached- remained unanswered; the internet connection was never good enough to Skype. Finally we managed to maintain a decent phone connection with the department, only to hear that a health certificate from Martinique was unacceptable!

Irie was required to stop in St. Lucia to obtain an export health certificate. If only we would have known that ahead of time, we could have saved money and hassle, but our email questions remained unanswered… At this point, Mark had had enough of all the rules and difficulties and was ready to skip The Grenadines for once and forever. Since it would be one of our highlights and our only planned “vacation”, I was stubborn and determined. From that moment, Darwin became my responsibility. I checked us and the dog into St. Lucia, which took a whole day, paid all the fees and managed to hitch rides with Darwin in the blazing sun to the Agriculture Department of St. Lucia, where an export health certificate was issued… After a week of all kind of chores and social gatherings (The World Cup had started), I checked us out. The battle was almost over.

Our next step was a stop in Young Island Cut, on the south coast of St. Vincent, the only place a government vet could inspect the animal. We wanted to get there early to be able to continue our journey to The Grenadines the same day, so spent our first SVG night in a small bay called Byahaut not far from Darwin’s check-in point. This bay was wonderfully quiet, in a tropical setting, with jungle behind the black beach and a pretty coral garden under the water surface.

Once in Young Island Cut, we needed to pick up a mooring (and pay after bargaining down, since we only planned to stop for an hour) and call the government vet through a helpful local. After more than an hour of waiting, the apologizing, friendly vet showed up, inspected Darwin and his paperwork and issued us a pet permit for three months. Phew! Now we could continue on to Bequia, the first of The Grenadines, to check ourselves in –and pay- for one month. Finally arrived!

We joined our friends from Alianna, Imagine, Tatia, Maegus and Ubuntu in Admiralty Bay and enjoyed long walks on the nice beach, refreshing dips in the green water, a stroll in town (where, every five minutes somebody hassled us for having the dog onshore, but we could prove his legitimacy), social evenings and an interesting meeting with Sally, the editor of Caribbean Compass (www.caribbeancompass.com), a popular and professional sailing newspaper for which I’ve written. Friendship Bay around the corner didn’t do much for us. The cloudiness of the water provided no visibility for snorkeling, or even checking the anchor, and the crashing waves made landing Darwin challenging.

On the way to Canouan, the next “big land mass”, we briefly stopped at Petit Nevis for an island exploration and a snorkel around the rocks. This is a very picturesque day stop, as long as the incoming swell is bearable. On Canouan, the atmosphere is very laid-back and people are friendly. Mark, Darwin and I managed an early, but already hot, morning walk to Twin Bay on the windward side of the island. Along the way we saw small tortoises and fended off aggressive stray dogs. The small, colorful town was filled with goats and chickens.

From the moment we read about the small island of Mayreau, we wanted to go there immediately. Hence the short stay in Canouan. Our first stop was Saltwhistle Bay, with its palm trees and white sand, one of the prettiest, most tropical and exotic bays we’ve ever seen. To use the cliché: it was a picture perfect postcard image. We hoped to spend a few lazing days here (there is no internet, yeah!), but the presence of six sport fish boats, all with close to fifteen people on it (mostly kids) and tied to shore, occupying a third of the bay, made us leave earlier than planned. Not that we mind sharing a beautiful place, but the noise, chaos and swell created by dinghy driving and wakeboarding kids all day was a bit too annoying. Add to that a bunch of charter boats anchored on top of us and the peace was completely absent. The perfect anchorage doesn’t exist!

So, we ended up in Saline Bay, a big, comfortable harbor on the southwest side of Mayreau, to sit out stormy weather and hang out with all our friends just a bit more. The beach here is also very attractive with palm trees providing shade and yellow sand providing walks for Darwin. The village, so small that it doesn’t have a name, is close by and houses the few inhabitants. The whole island, only one mile or so long, has one road (less than a mile), a handful of cars, wagging strays (Darwin made lots of friends) and friendly people, and perfectly suits our humble needs. Next: Tobago Cays for some relaxation and snorkeling!

A Day of Exploring in Dominica

After spending some time in the picturesque and friendly town Bourg des Saintes in Guadeloupe’s southern islands, the “Grenada Armada” moved on to the underdog of the Caribbean, Dominica. SV Imagine only stopped for the night, but the crew of SV Alianna (minus Ali the cat) joined Mark, Darwin and me on a land tour of the interior.

A previous attempt to see the country by car that resulted in a day of mostly driving, had taught us to focus on the important sights first. From Portsmouth in the north, Mark drove us to the area inland from the capital Roseau, already an hour and a half away. Over crumbled “roads” without any sign posts, but with the help of a friendly local, we managed to enter Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Our first stop was Fresh Water Lake, a very serene (yep) lake surrounded by rainforest and cool air. Darwin loved the temperature and so did we. After a short walk through the greenery and a glance at the pipeline, we continued on.

Titou Gorge was our next challenge. Once again with the directions of helpful people after we parked, we reached a rocky river and walked along and over a wooden pipeline to a small fresh water pool. The water was ice cold, but we were in for a treat if we could endure it long enough. Mark, Darwin and I swam through the gorge and followed the icy river to the end (or the beginning?) where a waterfall prevented us from going further. We were surrounded by enormous walls, carved out by millions of years of water flow. On a rocky outcrop and in a separate small pool we could take a break and enjoy the incredible environment. The sun was just high enough to warm our bodies a bit while we took in the sight and the thundering noise. A “splash” caught our attention. A small lizard fell out of the sky and jumped back up the slippery wall. We wondered how many attempts he tried to reach the top of the gorge. The current pushed us back to the pool, where a divided river up in the rocks was made into a shower with slightly warmer water. Then, it was Rosy and Sim’s turn to explore the gorge. After the initial shock of the icy water, this place is most enjoyable and our favorite attraction in Dominica.

On the way back to the car, we marveled over the engineering of the pipelines (made out of wood!) that transport water to all parts of the region. A lot of the country’s electricity is also created by water. Fresh water is extremely abundant in Dominica with its 365 rivers and almost constant rainfall in the mountains. It is about the wettest place to visit by boat, but the rewards are plentiful: colorful rainbows, free water and fertile grounds. Everywhere you walk, you are likely to find fruit on the trees, from mangoes to oranges and coconuts. And calabash to make bowls.

For lunch, we found an attractive, cute, local restaurant in Wotton Waven, called Petit Paradis. The price of the food and drinks was very reasonable and the service friendly, until the ordered food was prepared and handed to us. At that point, the waitress (instigated by the owner without doubt) told us she was mistaken with the price. She meant to say US dollars instead of EC dollars, which more than doubled the cost. A game they play when they think they can get more money out of the “unaware” tourist. We didn’t “bite” and didn’t want the food anymore, but worked out a compromise. An incident like this is very unfortunate and changes the mood of the moment, that’s for sure. Our appreciation for Dominica dropped and now, we didn’t want that second drink anymore and I was not temped to buy their locally made rum either. The owner could have made more money, if she would have treated us with respect and like locals…

Our next stop was Trafalgar falls, where Sim and Rosy went for a walk, photographed the waterfalls and took a dip in hot water springs. Mark, Darwin and I waited in the parking lot and enjoyed the scenery of the jungle there. We visited the falls last year and wanted to save some money. On the way back to Roseau, we stopped near a side road to “hunt” for fruit. The reward: three oranges, a coconut, almost cocoa beans and breadfruit and two calabashes later on. Some places are better than others, like the shore side of our anchorage in Portsmouth, where mangoes and coconuts”litter” the ground.

The day was running out of hours quickly and after a short stop in Roseau, we drove back to Portsmouth after a 30 minute delay waiting for the Chinese road crew to blast part of a mountain. Mark dropped the car back off and as the sky turned black, I picked him up with the dinghy while our friends watched Darwin. A drink at Big Papa’s (another spot where tourist dollars are wanted) sealed a wonderful day of exploring. Dominica is a very interesting and beautiful country, but everything costs a lot of money and tourists are highly encouraged to hire guides, do tours and buy entry tickets and souvenirs, making it hard for the independent traveler on a budget. Renting a car and splitting the cost with some friends is in this case the best solution. Signs for sights are hard to find, but luckily there’s always a friendly face around to show you the way…