We left Trinidad at 14.00 on 3rd Dec 2023 expecting to take approximately the same length of time to get back to Grenada as it had taken us to sail down. We don’t know whether it was the clean keel and prop, the new sail, the current or, most likely, a combination of them all but, whatever it was, we “flew” – so much so that we had to roll up the foresail and go as slow as we could as we approached Grenada so that we could enter Prickly Bay in daylight. We dropped anchor at 07.15 – 5 hrs faster than our downward journey, and that included slowing down/almost stopping.
On the downside, we noticed that our batteries didn’t seem to be functioning that well and soon realised that we were going to have to replace the house bank. Easier said than done – but, we finally found batteries of an output that we wanted which, with some adaptation to the battery compartment, just fit.
It took ten days to find and fit the batteries – most of that time was waiting for them to be delivered to Grenada – and, during this time, having caught Steve and Gill up as they had left Trinidad over a week before us, we said cheerio to them again as they headed out for Carriacou three days after we arrived….
…. though not before we had all been able to meet up with super friends Hugh and Claudia.
As they were having some work done on “Mairmade” they were still around for a few more days so we had a couple more pleasant get-togethers including a lovely evening on our favourite beach.
Hoping we would be able to leave before Christmas we wanted to provision for things we were less likely to find on the islands immediately north so went to the main shopping mall in Grande Anse. We got the things we needed and, at the same time, came across a couple of things we wouldn’t have wanted for Christmas dinner, but were delighted to see.
We finally got away on 15th December.
I was really eager to get to the islands north of Grenada to renew my acquaintance with them as I had missed out earlier in the year when Mike, with our great friend John [Milici], had sailed down from Guadeloupe. Readers might remember that a health scare had caused me to return to the UK from Guadeloupe and, after the all clear, fly back to Grenada. So, I had not seen Carriacou, the Grenadines or St Lucia since 2013. We were both also keen to meet up with another friend from Scotland, Malcolm, who crossed the Atlantic in Nov/Dec 2023, made landfall in Barbados and had sailed from there to Carriacou to join Steve and Gill and await our arrival.
Sailing with Malcolm at that time was Julie who, unfortunately had a health issue as well. For her it was a recurrence of a lump and, quite rightly, all she could do was fly back to the UK for tests and treatment. Before leaving, however, we introduced her to Mexican train…
… which she loved, as we all did….
… suggested a trip for them to other parts of the island….
…. and, on her last evening, another game of Mexican Train before Mike gave us all a rendition on the sax.
Malcolm didn’t follow Julie immediately, as he wanted to secure the boat in Trinidad first and had a flight booked for mid-January, so the five of us celebrated Christmas Day with drinks on Owl and Pussycat….
…. followed by lunch at the Paradise Beach Bar….
….and then “one [or two] for the road” on Coriander.
On Boxing Day Mike and I went for a walk across the peninsular from Tyrell Bay to Cassada Bay.
This bay looks south across Saline and White Islands to Frigate and Large Islands with Rhonde Island in the far distance.
At the highest point between the two bays was this wonderfully strange little sub post office, serving the scattering of houses we passed on the way.
Wanting to get to Tobago Cays for New Year we did a short hop to Union Island on 27th December. Having cleared in to St. Vincent and the Grenadines in Clifton, we immediately moved round to Chatham Bay where we spent two nights relaxing and enjoying swimming, drinks on the beach….
…and sunsets.
Although this bar had a lovely setting, our experience on the first night rather put us off. We went for Happy Hour, and after one of the owners acknowledged this, he proceeded to list the available drinks. As well as beer and rum and coke he included two cocktails which, while the boys opted for beer, is what Gill and I chose. They were rather nice, so all four of us decided to make these our second round -only to be told, when we came to pay, that cocktails weren’t included in Happy Hour.
It wasn’t the cost. If we had known they weren’t included we might still have chosen them, at least for our second drink. What upset us was the, what felt to us, rather underhand way he went about listing more expensive drinks when he knew we had come initially for Happy Hour. Ah well. There are other bars on the beach which we are now more likely to visit on any return.
So, on to Mayreau, where, after anchoring in Saline Bay, we took a short stroll across the southern end of the island for drinks at the “Ranch Escapade” …
…. before a farewell/safe voyage to Malcolm and a relatively early night.
A sensible morning time start, and just a 3.5nm motor, saw us anchored off Baradel Island in the Cays by 10.45. Such a beautiful spot though I couldn’t believe the number of boats. When Mike and I anchored off this island in 2013 we were one of approximately half a dozen boats and there were no mooring balls. The Charter industry has really taken off in the intervening years, the size of the “average” monohull increased by about a third in volume and huge, sometimes two tiered, catamarans have become the norm for most charterers and many liveaboards. Day trip boats from St. Vincent and Bequia squeeze in wherever there might be considered a space. As usual, we were quite happy to take a spot at the back of the pack where those wanting to drop their hook in the “front row” between the mooring balls were unlikely to bother us. Despite the crowds it was a fabulous place to spend New Year. On the day of our arrival, we went snorkelling off the beach of Baradel, in the buoyed off turtle area.
No Rays [as seen in 2012] but a couple of Pufferfish [my photos were too blurred], lots of Starfish…
…. and a few Turtles.
On New Years Eve we dinghied to Jamesby Island where we had a lovely secluded BBQ lunch…
…. before seeing in the New Year on Coriander and playing charades. Fortunately, for all of us, I don’t have any photographs of that!!
We moved on again on 2nd January, 7.5nm north to Canouan where we anchored in the main bay, Charlestown.
Canouan is a rather strange island. Approximately half [the northern part] of it is “private” with a kind of gated community of rich folk with villas. A small airport for private planes lies at the very southern end – along with a rather exclusive marina.
In between is where the local, and in the main, fairly poor people live. Contrary to what is advertised, the shops don’t have much in them but their owners do have a sense of humour!
Even though there isn’t much choice, we always try to buy something when we visit places like this. On this occasion we bought fruit from a store and bread from a guy at the bar. People are exceptionally friendly and we chatted to some of the people swimming….
…..and watched other things happening at the dock.
We also walked up and over the hill to Cayó Perico where, despite there being beach bars marked on google, the only thing we found were deserted shacks and a tortoise…
… but, after the stiff climb back up we did enjoy a much-needed cold beer and some pleasant banter with the guys at the Hardwood Bar.
On again, this time a lovely 21.5nm sail to Port Elizabeth in Admiralty Bay, Bequia. As with the other Grenadine Islands, as soon as we went ashore I recognised so many things that hadn’t changed in 12 years. The restaurants, the laundry, the propane bottle filling guy, the really well stocked deli. Brilliant.
There was one new place though – which we heard about from fellow cruisers – and that was the “Treehouse Bush Bar”. It was very much “work in progress” when we visited….
…. as it had only recently opened and was only, at that time, serving drinks, but the view was great and well worth the climb.
It is a steep hike up the road and, at the time we visited, the trail off the road through the forest was not well signposted. The owner told us he had plans to improve this so we hope he has. Although the drinks weren’t exactly cheap, considering there is only a narrow half kilometer or more walking trail from the road to the bar, with a rickety log crossing a stream to navigate, it is hardly surprising they weren’t the cheapest drinks on the island. Getting the crates of beer there must be both tiring and time consuming.
We also walked across to “Friendship Bay” on the south coast.
We had also done this walk in 2013 and, then, it was basically a beautiful beach with nothing on it but golden sand and a small fisherman’s hut at the western end. Now there are two resorts with posh bars and, having walked from one end of the beach to the other – thinking we could still get out by the fisherman’s hut – we found yet another private residence. As it happens it was all closed up and, as we could see the road, I have to admit that we sneaked up the perimeter of the land and out.
What made our day was that just to the left of that road we saw a set of steps leading up to what looked like a local bar. It was and we had a lovely time.
For a couple of days after that we were “confined to barracks” as we had some fairly strong wind and waves, but – once again – the sunsets were glorious.
So, once the weather changed in our favour, having checked out we were off again with an early morning [06.15] start on 12th January for the 72 nm sail to Rodney Bay, St Lucia.
We just made it by dusk having passed the “Barrel O’Beef rock at the entrance to the bay at sunset.
We spent just over a week in St Lucia during which time we took the bus to St. Lucia’s capital Castries. This is one of the typical cruise ship towns that I mentioned in an earlier blog. Fairly dismal. A run down town with a “buy your tourist tat here” market area next to the dock, alongside street bars selling overpriced drinks and snacks. You can tell that I really like cruise ship towns!
We did have a wander round to try to find some of the nicer parts – of which there were few….
…. but didn’t stay much more than a couple of hours.
Mike and I took the dinghy to Fort Rodney. If I’m not careful I am going to sound like grumpy old woman in this post but when we last visited there was a nice little dinghy dock and you could go to the café without having to pay to see the whole site. Back in the day, we went three times during one visit to the bay. Now, the dinghy dock is derelict and you aren’t allowed to beach your dinghy – though we didn’t know this until we had. Luckily, the warden who came to tell us this relented and radioed her boss who agreed that, as long as we paid for the site visit, we could – just this once – leave the dinghy tied to a tree. As we were wanting to [re]visit the whole site, we were happy with this.
First we crossed – all of about three hundred yards – to the other side of Pigeon Island on which the fort stands…..
…. before making our way to the small museum where we learned about the various regiments that had held the fort during 14 different changes of hands between the French and the British between 1660 and 1814 when it was finally ceded to the British as part of the Treaty of Paris.
Between January and April 1782, the fleets of Admirals Rodney, Hood and Drake gathered in Rodney Bay for what was to become one of the biggest encounters with the French. The aim was to prevent them sailing north to join forces with the Spanish for an invasion of Jamaica to break the British stronghold in the Caribbean. On 7th April the French fleet was seen leaving Fort Royal, Martinique. The following morning the British chased north after the French fleet and it culminated in the “Battle of the Saintes” with the British victory being considered one of the greatest and most important victories in the fight for Caribbean supremacy and the more global struggle for control over the vast, complex trading empires.
Despite becoming “British” you can see from this map the influence of the French as all the settlement names on the island were, and still are, French.
Pigeon Island was also used as a strategic base during WWII. A US signal station was built over the 1780 mortar battery and it was used by the US Navy until 1947. The transmitter and aerial was on top of the highest part of the fort.
From the top of the fort there are lovely views….
…. and as we were some way from shelter, we were happy to see this pass us by to the south west.
We did get one small shower but it didn’t stop us enjoying lunch at the Jambe de Bois….
…. which, unfortunately, due to the afore mentioned new regulations we only went the once and are unlikely to return to as we don’t need to visit the fort again.
But, we did find another local restaurant which we really liked…
… so all is not lost.
We cleared out on 19th Jan intending to leave at around 10am the following morning.
First we let the rain pass….
…. but then, when we came to lift the anchor, the windlass didn’t work. Fortunately, we had a spare solenoid and, having fitted it, we left at around 12.30 and had a good sail north. Our intention had been to go straight to Fort de France, Martinique but, due to the delay, we dropped the hook for the night in Les Anses d’ Arlet before moving round to Fort de France the following morning to clear in.
Fort de France means shopping – not necessarily in the town itself, though there is a very good Carrefour – but at “La Galeria” a mall a bus ride away where, as well as large supermarkets and the usual array of shops, there is a “Decathlon”. We can always find things to buy in Decathlon!
That done, we said what we thought would be a brief cheerio to “Coriander” and headed out for St. Pierre at the north end of Martinique. As it turned out it was three weeks before we got together again as, having decided to stay in Fort de France one more day [to buy an air fryer] various weather conditions then impacted on their passage north.
Our first day at anchor off the south of St. Pierre was fairly grizzly so we didn’t venture out but, the following day it cleared and we had a great walk, firstly past some of the ruins from the catastrophic Mont Pelée volcanic eruption in1902 which killed 29,000-30,000 people.
At the top of the “Rue de Docteur de Chiens” this collapse left a rather surprising alleyway. Although it looks precarious it has obviously stood the test of time for 122 years.
We were heading for the Depaz distillery and knew we were getting closer when we passed a cane field.
Originally, on the site of the current house was a farm, called “La Montagne”, built in 1651 by the first Governor of the island. At that time, tobacco, indigo and livestock was its mainstay but the land was quickly given over to sugar cane production and with numerous other distilleries also operating, Saint Pierre became the biggest rhum/rum port in the world.
At the time of the eruption, Victor Depaz was studying in Bordeaux and there learnt of the terrible catastrophe and the death of his whole family. Orphaned and bankrupt, he decided to move to Canada. During that journey, the ship he was on developed technical difficulties and was forced to stop in Martinique. It seemed destiny had intervened and Victor decided to return to Saint Pierre.
On 8th May 1917, only 15 years after the eruption, he started up his new distillery fed by the ?521 hectares of sugar cane he now owned and built a family home, a replica of the Périnelle dwelling where he spent his childhood. It rapidly became known as Depaz castle, where he lived from 1922 onwards with his wife and eleven children.
Although it is one of the smallest producers in Martinique, its various rhums have won many prestigious awards and we read that production is still operated today, as it always was, with an old vapour machine. Interested in all machines, Mike wanted to know what this meant – so I looked it up on the Depaz website and it is basically the method used in the distilling process which separates the alcohol from the cane juice. In their words – “Cane wine is put into the top of the distillation column and moves downwards from plate to plate. As it descends it meets the vapour arriving from the base of the column. The boiling of the vapour in the liquid carries the alcohol vapour with it. This is recovered at the top of the column and then cooled. When it comes out of the column the agricultural white rhum obtained is 70? alcohol.” Aren’t you glad Mike was curious!
For anyone visiting Martinique we would really recommend a visit to Depaz. It is a wonderful place to walk around.
The grounds and production area are free. Entry to the house is minimal and includes one or two rhum tastings – depending on which price you choose to pay for the house – Euro 5 or Euro 7 – a no brainer!
It was then back to town for a visit to the “Musée Frank A Perret – Mémorial de la Catastrophe de 1902”.
The following day – Sunday 28th Jan – we wanted to clear out, have lunch and do a bit of provisioning. We achieved all of this plus a bonus bit of entertainment as we stumbled across this boules tournament and sat a while marvelling at their skills.
The following day, a 10hr, 58nm sail – punctuated by squalls – brought us to Portsmouth, Dominica. Although we love this town and island, we could see a decent weather window ahead for visiting Îles des Saintes, so, the following morning, after clearing in and out – which can be done for anything up to 14 days – we went round to Douglas Bay where we had booked a mooring ball for just one night.
On previous visits to Dominica this bay has been out of bounds as it is part of the Cabrits National Park where anchoring is not allowed. At some time in the previous twelve months, which was when Mike and I had last been in Dominica, an agreement had been made for five mooring balls to be established by the “Tan Tan Development Corporation” and we were keen to take advantage of this.
We were one of just two boats and, speaking to “Bongo” – who manages the rental of the balls, it seems that take up has been slow but reasonably steady.
We met up with him at the “Rock Bar”…
… a lovely small local restaurant where we had a nice evening meal – if you happen to read this and go, make sure you take mozzie repellent. He suggested a waterfall walk to us which we decided to do the following morning before leaving.
There is also another bar/restaurant and both are easily accessed by dinghy [though there is no dock], the surroundings are beautiful and quiet, the water is crystal clear and the snorkelling off the nearby points reputedly very good – though we didn’t have time for this. Next time maybe – as we certainly hope to return.
So, onto Îles des Saintes. We passed these lovely islands in 2023 being unable to stop due to the weather conditions which was why, regardless of having to motor-sail there, we took advantage of a very light wind period to visit now. We spent the first night anchored outside the mooring ball area at the Pain de Sucre in 20m depth. When we dinghied in the following morning for clearance, we saw a couple of mooring balls were free in the main mooring area – a very rare thing – a free mooring ball in season in the Saintes is as about as rare as hen’s teeth.
We quickly returned to O&P and managed to get round the point in time to secure one and then had a lovely three days generally wandering around Terre de Haut….
…. taking advantage of more provisioning in “France” and enjoying French restaurant food and drink.
We also visited Fort Napoléon, a 30-minute walk north of the village centre – which, because forts are generally built on top of hills/outcrops, involved quite a bit of “up”, though it was on road so not too tricky. Most people seem to hire golf buggies or electric bikes – but we are mad English folk who seem to walk everywhere, even in the midday sun!
What we didn’t know, though probably should have – this being France where everything is shut in the afternoon – is that the fort closes at 12.30 every day. Fortunately, we got there around 11.00 so had plenty of time to look round the fort….
…. and the small museum.
All explanations are in French but our limited, just about remembered, school girl/boy level was enough for us to get the gist of most of it.
I found this map of sand deposits particularly interesting.
On Guadeloupe and the French Islands immediately to the south [Îles des Saintes, Marie Galante and La Désirade] there are 180 varieties of sands of different colour, density and grain size. Amazing.
Whilst the period of light winds was still with us, the forecast for three days hence was showing quite a different story so, having cleared out, we motor-sailed to the top of Guadeloupe where we anchored for the night in the bay just north of Deshais which we had walked to from Deshais in 2023 on Mikes birthday…..
….before having a very good sail up to Antigua. Our original plan had been to head for Jolly Harbour but, with the forecast showing strong winds from north west, west and south west, we decided to head instead for Falmouth Harbour on Antigua’s south coast. What a good decision that was.
It is very unusual to have westerly winds in the Eastern Caribbean at this time of year, and even more unusual for them to be both strong and lasting. But that is what was forecast and that is what we got. Boats up and down the chain in west facing anchorages had a very bad time and there were lots of reports of dragging anchors and boats hitting each other. Friends in Dominica told us about swells so bad that they were gunwale to gunwale rolling and there, and in other places, dinghy docks were destroyed by swell/waves.
We got some slightly stormy weather with rain which kept us on board for one day…
…. but apart from that we were able to get out and about without problem.
We revisited the brewery tap…
…. tried to walk to “The Pillars of Hercules” on the east side of Freeman Bay – which is also the entrance to English Harbour – but, due to the swell and tide, couldn’t get past the main beach…
… and met up briefly with Hugh and two friends of his and walked to English Harbour itself.
The weather front passed, on 12th February, we had a lovely gentle sail up to Jolly Harbour, had a meal with Hugh and his friends, as they had berthed Mairmaid in the marina due to Hugh’s impending return to the US, and then awaited the arrival of Coriander on 15th.
Its there I will now leave you as you are probably fed up of reading, and because it seems a fitting time as the next stage of this year’s trip was an Antigua to Antigua loop to the north, visiting islands we hadn’t seen since 2012. Until then….
1 comments
And managed it all without a drink ?