Underwater Park in Grenada

We left Tyrell Bay in Carricou in the company of John and Alex from the boat 'Free Spirit' and Arlene and Denis from 'Tiger Lily' and sailed south towards St. Georges in Grenada. Along the way, we decided to stop by the underwater sculpture park just an hour north of St. Georges. We had heard much about the park and wanted to go there to see it. The wind was light, and the water very very clear. This was our chance! We were met by a couple fellows in a marine patrol boat who directed us to mooring balls, took our park fee and passed along a receipt. The snorkel was very much worth the few dollars we spent. After the snorkel, we moved our boats to St. Georges and all got together on Denis and Arlene's boat to share the Sailfish they were given the night before. They were almost in bed the night before in Carricou when a fellow cruiser came by their boat and asked them to do him a favour and take a piece of this fish off his hands. He had a hacksaw in his dinghy and was sawing off pieces of fish as big as you wanted. We ate all we could and shared leftovers and will eat it again tomorrow!

John and Laurie relaxing on the park bench 15 or so feet down!

This is John from Free Spirit, NOT Laurie as many of you would have guessed. I was wondering why there was coral and growth all over these figures except for this place!

Arlene and the rest of us were exhausted after swimming for over an hour in this beautiful park.

Hopefully, this guy wasn't bullied.

Arrived in Grenada

We have spent the last several days in Chatham Bay (Union Island) with Kristen and Terry from 'Silk Pajamas'. The first couple of days were slow with the remnants of the stomach flu. After a full 5 days for me and 4 for Laurie, we were up and at 'em again! Kristen and I snorkeled all along the coral along the beach and saw many varieties of fish and in great numbers. We were pleased to see a couple of Queen Angel fish as well as a couple of French Angels. The 4 of us did a major uphill hike yesterday and ended up at Seikie and Vanessa's beach bar for their happy hour where you can get great rum punch for 5 EC (approx 2 CAD). We said our goodbyes to these dear friends and promised to come back to see them next season when we spend more time in the southern islands.

This morning we said goodbye to Kristen and Terry and left Chatham Bay and our way over to Clifton on the other side of the island where we checked out of customs and picked up a few groceries. The home made bread there is to die for! We had a short sail over to Grenada's little northern island of Carricou where Laurie is in Hillsbourough clearing in to Customs and Immigration. I'm sitting on the boat pulling a small wifi signal out of who knows where and decided to update you all!

When Laurie gets back, we'll up anchor and head for Sandy Island where we'll enjoy a bit of snorkeling this afternoon. Tomorrow, we'll head in to Paradise Beach to see our old friend Curtis from his beach bar restaurant called 'off da hook'. He'll cook us up a pizza and sell us frosty beers! It's the same place where we took our Christmas pictures a couple of years ago. Simply a beautiful beach with real wiggle your toes in the sand type of setting. Curtis takes forever to make the lunch, but we have the time!

We'll head for the southern part of Grenada in a couple of days where we'll watch the weather and head for Trinidad.

All for now,

Dawn

Getting Internet in Chatham Bay

On Thursday, before leaving Bequia, we took a lovely hike with Brad and Anne of the American boat "Breezing Up". They and their friends had taken the boat, a "J" 46, into the Easter Regatta and had a great time. We walked to a rather expensive resort called "Firefly", where we met two British friends of theirs, lounged around the pool, and had a lovely lunch. We were very happy with our high-end rotis, but can't say they were 4.5 times as good as the ones downtown. ($45EC vs. $10EC)

We left Bequia on Friday, April 13th, after getting a few extra dollars from a bank machine and picking some mangoes from behind a defunct resort. The 4 hour sail south to the Tobago Keys was reasonably nice, with a lumpy sea but not a dangerous wind, and we arrived and anchored in good spirits just beside our favourite lump of coral. After our "anchor beer", I (Laurie) sat down for a read and Dawn sat on the bottom step and got ready to go snorkeling.

Here is Dawn's letter home regarding what happened next:

"Laurie and I have had a horrible bout of the stomach flu that we picked up in Bequia. We just landed in the Tobago Cays and were enjoying an anchor celebratory beer when I stated that I was really really hot and nauseous. To cool off, I sat on the bottom step of the boat, put on my flippers and mask and lastly, my snorkel. I quickly ripped out my snorkel and vomited between my fins several times. Between then and 2 am, I vomited 8 times and had diarrhea 3 times. Laurie followed me about 4 hours after I began. Although not puking sick anymore, I'm very weak and food tastes awful. I've been laying down every day since then and only today did a chore or two. Tomorrow will make it one full week!!! Apparently a lot of people in Bequia were hit hard with this stomach flu. My insides are still gurgling and I have painful gas! The hell here never ends!"

We first learned that all six of the attendees of Firefly had the same problem on a morning ham net. Then the next day we learned that it was a Bequia epidemic. That same day, while talking to a man who sells goods in the Cays, we found that it was a problem throughout all of St. Vincent. The same guy had just recovered, and called it a "Bone-Breaking" illness. Here in Chatham Bay, when we arrived yesterday, Vanessa, who runs a restaurant here, said she knew of a death of a 3-year-old on the main island as a result. In my opinion, many of the old and weak are going to die of this. Her daughter was struck down over the weekend, but is back is school, still weak, but happy for the weight loss!

Besides the poor health and lack of appetite, this is probably the longest period without a drink Dawn and I have ever had during our marriage. We tried to share a beer last night, and determined that we didn't even like the taste of it. To me that's the biggest discovery. I know truly understand people who don't like beer --- They're sick! Wow!

Heading for Tobago Cays

We will be leaving sweet Bequia in the morning and will head directly to the Tobago Cays where we'll spend the next few days. There is NO internet there whatsoever, so we will be light on uploading to the Blog. When we leave the Cays, we'll be in Chatham Bay for a few days where there isn't even phone service, so we'll do what we can along the way, but we'll be out of touch for the most part for a week or so. Hopefully, I'll have some great underwater shots to share with you when we connect again.

Dawn

Easter Regatta, Bequia

We're in our favourite place in Bequia, part of the St. Vincent Grenadines. The water is crystal clear, the Easter Regatta is just about over and the partying will slow down tomorrow. Easter Sunday was a day off racing for most classes, except the "Fishing Boat" class. They're a sailing vessel that carry about 6 or 7 locals. Some are from Bequia, but many have come from Carricou, Union Island, St. Vincent. Their race ended on Lower Bay where all their support people were gathered to welcome them in. We knew it was going to be a big day down on Lower Bay because boat after boat load came by us filled to the hilt with locals already swilling beer, tipping rum bottles and howling, all at 10:00 in the morning! Many of them came in on the local ferries.


The hell here never ends! Look at those empty cans! This is Alex and John, a British couple from the boat "Free Spirit".


Happy beer drinkers!


Happy, Happy beer drinkers


Lower Bay Beach. We're anchored close to this huge party on Easter Sunday. Music is loud and crazy and from many different locations.


A team from the winning boat of the 'fishing boat' class


Lower Bay, Bequia


These gals are enjoying the shade of the race boat.


We'll stay put here in Bequia for another few days and then make our way down to the Tobago Cays, where I'll try to get some underwater shots.

Bequia

Hi everyone!

Since March 24th and the end of the Pelkey/Moser wedding, we have been on the move and have hopped from Antigua to Guadeloupe to Dominica to Martinique to St. Lucia, then back up to Martinique (for a replacement anchor chain) and back down to St. Lucia.

Yesterday we started off at 5:00 am and sailed from St. Lucia all day towards Bequia. John and Alex from the boat Free Spirit was an hour ahead of us but we were in radio contact the entire time. We caught a barracuda and after landing it, tying the tail and hanging it and slitting its gills to bleed it, he gave one last tremendous thrash and it was free (free to feed other fish, that is!). John was also fishing and within 15 minutes announced that he had also caught a barracuda! John and Alex have never bothered to eat barracuda before, so we have agreed to get together tonight and we'll cook it for them. We catch them more often than any other fish, so we have become quite friendly with the white meat and taste of the evil looking things!

We landed in sweet Bequia at around 4:00 in the pouring rain, so there is no cleaning salt off the boat this time! Yeah!!!!

This morning, there is a complimentary brunch for anyone who has published an article over the season. Laurie had an article in both the March and April issues, so we'll be heading in to Mac's pizzeria at 10:00 for that.

The Easter Regatta is this weekend, and although we're not in it, we will enjoy the racing from our boats and enjoy the fun on shore!