Mad Fish: New Year & Mums visit to greneda

26th December to 10th January 2013

We had to hot foot from Bequia to Greneda, leaving on boxing day for a trip down to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou. This was a good sail of some 30 miles and we left mid morning and arrived in the afternoon just in time for a swim and a beautiful sunset. We then left early in the morning for another 30 mile trip to Greneda where my Mum (Emma's Mum) and Charlie were arriving later that day. We wanted to get there in good time to clear space in Ethan’s cabin for them to stay for the 2 weeks.

We had reserved a berth at the Greneda Yacht Club and we found our friends from Chewsey had made safe passage across the Atlantic too. They were non arc transatlantic sailors and it was good to see that they too had arrived safely.

After a frenzied tidy and some washing of clothes we were just sorted in the nick of time. Mum arrived by taxi and we didn’t give them time to unpack before heading to the yacht club for a refreshing rum punch and a fantastic sunset. We then enjoyed eating the Tuna fish that we had caught on the way to Carriacou and exchanged Christmas Presents brought from the UK.

The next day Mum helped me do some more washing, (i think she loved my wonderwash) and we ventured to the shops to get supplies. In the afternoon we went out into the bay and after 3 failed anchoring attempts admitted defeat and picked up a bouy. We all went for a swim and the boys tried out their new subskate underwater skate boards. It is harder than it looks and much fun was had as they popped back up onto the surface. We had fresh tuna pasta bake for dinner.

The next day we went and snorkelled in Dragon Bay sculpture park which was very weird as we looked at a number of the underwater sculptures. We then headed off to Carriacou for the night. The trip North was pleasant until we left the lee of Greneda and then the wind was on the nose the rest of the way. It was blowing a force 5 and this made for an uncomfortable trip. The boys were keen to jump in the sea on arrival and spent about an hour playing with a plastic bottle. Mum wondered why she had bothered with the subskates!

We had a nice walk ashore and bought some fruit from a very strange lady who seemed to live in a shed and appeared from nowhere. After lunch we went to Sandy Island which is your typical desert island and we enjoyed some great snorkelling. We had to check out at Hillsborough so decided to anchor in the bay there but it was rolly and uncomfortable and we don’t understand why customs is there rather than just round the corner in Tyrell.

We then headed to Union Island to celebrate Mums 60th Birthday. We put up some balloons before going ashore in the evening. We had bought and cooked some lobsters earlier and the chicken was marinated a good job as Mum and I had a rum punch which was rather strong. The boys enjoyed feeding sharks at the Anchorage yacht Club whilst we watched the sunset. The heavens opened as we headed back to the boat to eat and we were soaked through by the time we got to the boat. We had to abandon dinner in the cockpit and had to cook chicken in the oven rather than the BBQ. We washed it down with champagne. Steve and Chris from Chewsey then joined us to try and see in the new year. Russ and I just made it but everyone else didn’t quite make it. We stayed in Union Island the next day too and then headed to Tobago Cays.

Tobago Cays is still beautiful but much busier. It seemed half the ARC family boats were also there so the boys liked meeting up with their friends as much as swimming with the turtles and searching for Iguanas. We spent a couple of days and saw some fantastic fish snorkelling on the reef.

We then stared the trip back to Greneda, stopping off first at Union Island to check out. We went to the happy island bar for sundowners. This island was built on conch shells on the end of the reef. You might as well ask for a coke and rum as that was a more accurate reflection of the measures.

We then headed to Petit St Vincent for a lunch stop the next day. This is a private Island which will set you back a mere £6k for a 2 week stay. This includes meals and soft drinks. This does not include the cost of getting there. If you can find 43 of other people to go with you can have the island to yourself for £102k for 5 days. We stopped again on our way back after dropping Mum back and just had to go to the bar for a drink. They are very welcoming to yachts people and the night we went there were a few. We played snakes and ladders watching the sunset over our boat drinking a very nice cocktail.

We stayed the night in Tyrell an then had a much nicer sail back to Greneda and St Georges. We picked up a bouy but ended up moving when the wind died and we seemed to pirouette and wrap ourselves round it. The heavens opened as we were moving and it was third time lucky on finding a suitable bouy. The next day we treated our self to luxury and went into the camper and Nicholson marina called Port Louis. We had a pig of a berth to get into which was stern too between 2 boats and with 2 sets of slimy lines at the bow. These have anchors attached to keep you in place. Once settled I went off in search of the bakery that I had been told did excellent croissants and Chelsea buns by our friends on Morning Haze. They were right! Even though the children still said the chocolate ones were too chocolaty!!

The boys enjoyed the pool and meeting up with Lysander off Morning Haze and the Bears, Milly , Thea and Harry had caught us up again. Russell spent a day with Charlie helping him fix the broken Spinnaker track. We had a lovely meal out at BB’s restaurant, thanks to Mum and Charlie for a real treat. The next day we took a tour of the island. By filling a bus with 15 of us I managed to get a really good price of $35 for adults and half price for children. We visited a spice place, an amazing waterfall, and chocolate factory and arrived at the rum factory as it closed. We didn’t mind though as we had had such a lovely day and our taxi driver had been brilliant. This was Mums last night, but we were all pretty tired from the muddy hike to the waterfall and had a nice leisurely evening.