St Lucia (Marigot Bay), 12th December 2013 to Grenada, 9th January 2014
Marigot Bay, St Lucia
On the 12th December we headed
out of Rodney Bay for Marigot Bay. We
arrived to a full bay, late in the day due to the need to finalise some
maintenance issues and were fortunate to be able to pick up a mooring in the
bay.
As soon as we arrived we went to the ARC+
BBQ, and had an enjoyable evening socializing with our new yachtie friends.
We stayed in Marigot Bay for 3 nights, highlights
were the Rainforest walk, and getting
the Seabobs out for a play!!
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| Emily at Marigot Bay, Saint Lucia |
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| Emily and Vicki at the top of Marigot Bay, Saint Lucia |
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| Josie Maria from the top ! on a mooring in Marigot Bay, Saint Lucia |
St
Vincent and the Grenadines
We left Marigot Bay at 0930 on the 15th
December for Willilabou Bay, St Vincent.
It had notoriety for the location wher scenes from Pirates of the
Caribbean were shot. We arrived as at
dusk having spent an hour and a half trying to refuel in Soufriere, St Lucia
(the cruising guides we were using said they had a fuel dock – but that wasn’t
quite so – it had a big concrete dock, with a sea-surge onto it (which resulted
in Josie Maria scratching her gel-coat on the starboard-side) and after we
arrived there they had to truck the fuel to the yacht. We hadn’t factored this time in a trip plan –
and were concerned that we would arrive in an anchorage after the sunset – yet
again!!
When we arrived in Willilabou Bay, Col from
La Rochelle and some locals assisted us to a safe place to anchor. The anchorage was full and due to the
shortage of space we had a stern rope to a tree on the beach. Once we were happy that Josie Maria was
secure we went ashore for a quick dinner at the Bar/Restaurant that was built for the Pirates of the
Caribbean movie. Col had decided to stay
onboard La Rochelle, because he didn’t like the anchorage and in hindsight we
should probably have left someone onboard too!!
When we got back to Josie Maria our rudder was hitting the bottom (the
list of maintenance is growing as this will also need to fixed at some stage). The reason for the rudder hitting the bottom
was twofold. One the depth drops off
quickly at the beach and the depth sounder measures the depth just in front of
the keel and we had not rigged our snubber, which causing the pressure on the
windlass as the tide changes to pull our more chain!! When we got back to Josie Maria we made a
makeshift snubber (not being able to locate one that we knew we had) to take
the pressure off the windlass and we kept an anchor watch all night – we
actually stopped using a stern rope to beach after this and got much better at
rigging the snubber effectively!!
In the morning we joined some crew from La
Rochelle and Karma Wins, two Aussie boats that did the ARC+ for a quick explore
of the island by foot – walking to a waterfall.
We met a few locals carrying machetes!!
St
Vincent – Young Island Cut
We left Willilabou early afternoon and
sailed to Young Island, picking up a mooring.
We went Christmas shopping in Kingstown and managed to purchase some
decorations for the Christmas tree, which Emily decorated!! There was a really nice French restaurant
just by the anchorage and we had a delicious dinner!
Tobago
Keys
On the 17th December we
motor-sailed to Tobago Keys – 17th-20th December –
spending 3 nights there. It was quite tricky
to navigate in through the reef system and not sheltered from the strong NE
winds – which we experienced when we were there.
We had a wonderful time swimming with the turtles
and the boys enjoyed the Seabobs.
We had a couple of memorable moments that
weren’t so good too……
We tried to clean saltwater filters and had
major issues trying to open and then close the seacocks. Fortunately David was able to close them –
after 30minutes and eventually climbing into the bilge and using his entire
body strength!!
We also had a scary moment when the mooring
broke (glad Vicki took two as a precaution).
Matt was the only person onboard.
A fellow sailor swam to Josie Maria and secured her (Matt was on board
by himself and was very concerned when the rope went bang and the boat started
sailing off!) as the rest of us were on the sand bank with the tender and
Seabobs when the incident occurred.
For us it was a case of don’t panic!, don’t
panic! As we were told our yacht was sailing off into the reef behind us –
fortunately that second mooring held us until we were ready to anchor (it took
some time for us to calm down, retrieve all crew and get the Seabobs onboard). We were quite stressed by this incident!!
John and Vicki made several attempts to do
a text-book anchoring, which just didn’t work with the strong current and
wind. The sun had set and the conditions
getting worse so in the end we just dumped out the chain and let the boat move
the chain backward as the wind pushed her, as the sun was setting in Tobago
keys. We let out far too much anchor
(70m!!) – just to make sure we held (taking no precautions). In hindsight it was probably too much as we
had a lot of scope and had a bumpy night and Josie Maria sails around on her
anchor quite a bit.
Union
Island
On the 20th December we called
in at Union Island to check-out of St Vincent and the Grenadines before our
final leg of the year to Grenada. We anchored
Josie Maria just inside the first reef in Clifton Harbour and then all went
ashore. Vicki sat in the back of pick-up truck to check everyone out of customs,
while the rest of the family found a table at the local bar/restaurant for
lunch. We had lunch by the Harbour, and
then spoiled ourselves with a delicious dinner on the boat (delicious spare
ribs)! John and Vicki got everything
ready the night before so that Josie Maria could leave when the sun rose (Josie
Maria finally left for St George, Grenada around 0830).
Grenada – 21st December to 9th January
On the 21st December Josie Maria
motored, motor sailed and sailed from Union island to Grenada. John and Vicki set off from the anchorage
with no help, from any crew…a first!!
At 1530 Josie Maria arrived at Port Louis
Marina (PLM). John motored into the
marina berth and we all stayed at the Radisson Grenada Grand Beach Resort. We stayed here with family for Christmas and
New Year. This resort was under
renovations at the time we stayed, but we all enjoyed our time here with
family.
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| Liz, Vicki and Katy - the 3 sisters, on the tour of Grenada |
We had a few issues with power, ongoing at
all US Marina as Josie Maria was built to Euro specifications.
We celebrated Christmas Day onboard Josie
Maria, and had a buffet lunch at the
Victory Bar and Grill within the Marina.
As usual we had a quiet Christmas afternoon at the Resort followed by a
buffet dinner – a really enjoyable day had by all!!
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| Vicki and John - 1st January 2014 NY Party in Grenada |
After Christmas we all did an Grenada Island
tour with Pirate in a big black van. We
went to Concord Waterfalls, Gauyave to look at a Nutmeg factory, drove past Black Bay(a
volcanic sand beach), drove through Victoria and to Sauteurs at the northernmost
part of the island. From here we went to
Belmont Estate (chocolate factory and restaurant) and then the River Antoine
Rum Distillery and Restaurant (distillery boasted the oldest functioning water
wheel in the western hemishphere). On
the way back we stopped at the Grand Etang Lake and finished our trip at the
Coconut beach Restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner!
Neither restaurant we stopped off on our
trip had enough food for us!!
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| 2014 NY Party in Grenada. Amit, David, Matthew, Liz, Katy, Vicki, Emily, John |
Highlights of our time in Grenada were
playing with the Seabobs from the boat
on the beach with the locals joining in the
fun!! A conservation Kayak trip in True
Blue Bay, time at the PLM day spa (!!) and celebrating the New Year’s arrival
in Grenada at the Bar in the Grenada Grand Beach Resort!!
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| Kayaking at Prickly Pear Bay, Grenada. Matthew, Amit, Emily and Vicki |
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| Emily, John and Matthew Kayaking in Prickly Bay, Grenada |
It’s sad to say good-bye to Liz and Katy
who leave on the 4th January.
In early January Vicki, Daniel, Rhiannon,
Matt and Emily do a PADI dive course, and several dives as part of it!!
On the 6th January it’s fun to catch
up with Col, Kathryn and Marty who are anchored in Prickly Bay.
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