Playing the waiting game in Carriacou.....

Now…where were we. Ah yes, Antigua. With the regatta over, the Southern Caribbean was calling Meggie’s name and we couldn’t wait to get back to the south. First we had a job to do. We helped a wonderful lady named Jean with a refit of the deck on her 39’ Oyster. It was a lot of tedious, hot, sweaty work…but it went well and we made a great friend who we look forward to meeting again someday. So with that done….we were being beckoned to head south as our best friends arrived in less than 2weeks….Wuhoo.
The plan was to leave Antigua and head straight to St. Lucia (200 nautical miles) as we had some items to pick up at the marine store before heading off to Venezuela, however the wind gods had something entirely different in mind. We headed out of the harbour (that we’d been in for far too long!!!), and pointed the bow south. More of a boisterous sail than we had thought, but good nonetheless. As we approached the NW corner of Guadeloupe the wind proved to be way more southerly than forecasted. Hmmm…well this might put a kibosh on our plans. “WE NEED TO GO SOUTH”! So the options were…A: stay out all night beating into the (now southerly) wind and waves or B: tuck into the beautiful harbour of Deshaises, Guadeloupe for the night, get a good night sleep, top up on wine, cheese and baguettes and head out in the morning. Can you guess what we chose??? NO…not the bashing. We pulled into Deshaises and did all the above. Gorged ourselves on fresh baguettes, olives and mmmm 3 different types of cheese and then washed it down with a $3 bottle of wine. Nice! So up the next morning and continue onto St. Lucia, only 150 nautical miles. As we entered the channel between Guadeloupe and Dominica we were again met with southerly winds….UGHHHHH…I mean come on! Hello!!! We’re trying to head south here! Anyway, we were able to hold our course to Portsmouth (JUST!) and were faced with a decision. We could either A: stay out all night beating into the (still southerly) wind and waves or we could B: tuck into the nice calm anchorage of Portsmouth, Dominica and gaze at the beautiful mountainous scenery around us and get a good nights sleep. Hmmm….what do you think we did??? We anchored in the scenic Portsmouth, Dominica and sipped on some French wine (thanks to our stop the previous night) and marvelled at the beauty…oh and we got a good nights sleep!
So…up the next morning and sail the last 100 miles to St. Lucia. Well guess what????? The freakin’ wind was still freakin’ SOUTH. Ok but however we were able to hold our course to Martinique and as the sun sunk below the horizon the wind shifted to the east and we were able to lay St. Lucia with eased sheets. We caught a little bonito (tuna type fish) just in time for dinner, so that helped make up for all the southerly winds. We had one of those magic sort of night sails. Moon shimmering on the water, light winds and seas, no traffic. With a cup of herbal tea ( and a bit of European chocolate…again thank you to the first nights stop) I was happy as a clam in the cockpit during my watch. Meggie pulled into Rodney Bay around 2:30 am (don’t worry, it’s a super easy anchorage to arrive in the dark and we had been there like a hundred times…but this is usually a big no no). Up at 7 and into town to do the running around we needed and then back out to the beautiful anchorage of Pigeon island for the night and then up the next morning at 3am (really early mornings lately) and finally down to Bequia. We entered the channel between St. Lucia and St. Vincent shortly after sunrise and Mike decided to sail down the windward side of St. Vincent, which was a treat as the shoreline is brimming with more palm trees than I have ever seen in my life. I’m not joking…there are so many palm trees you can’t even imagine. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures…sorry!
By early afternoon we could see Bequia and the realization that we were going to see our friends in less than 5 days set in and we were thrilled.We pulled into Admiralty Bay after a quick sail through the 8 mile channel (flying downwind at 7.5 knots consistently and hitting 8 knots once for like a split second but still….) and weaved our way over to “our spot” dropped the hook in gin clear water and jumped in. We saw our friends Liz and Allan right away and caught up over sundowners the next night. We spent the next few days reacquainted ourselves with the tiny island.
We boarded the ferry at 6:30 (AM!!) on Tuesday morning to head over to St. Vincent to meet Jason, Tera and Aja at the airport. Before we knew it we were all sitting by the beach with beautiful surroundings eating roti’s (a local food), drinking cold Hiroun’s (a local beer)…except for Tera as she’s pregnant, and catching up on the past two years. We couldn’t have been happier! Aja quickly disposed of her pants and shirt and was happy running around naked.
The week flew by. Jason and Tera got a taste of island life and got a glimpse of our cruising life. They also got their fair share of sun and heat. We visited numerous beaches, ate great meals, hiked up countless hills (their rental house was on a really steep hill). Mike and Jason sailed and tried for some fish, we snorkelled, shopped at the Rasta market, relaxed etc… They treated us to way too many meals, but we were very appreciative and more than anything we were so happy just being around them and seeing little Aja and the little person she is becoming, and man is she cute! She couldn’t get enough of the water and seemed happy on Meggie.
(Side note here)…Jason did manage to get 2 tuna, but you’ll have to ask him how he caught them.
Sadly Wednesday approached all to quickly and it was time to say our goodbyes. Mike and I helped them with their stuff onto the ferry and were cheated of a real goodbye because the motor roared to life and the horn blew and we had to GET OFF.
So we hugged quickly and ran off the ferry blowing kisses goodbye. We sort of looked at each other and said “so now what do we do?” back to the boat, mix up some sundowners and relax with a book. Life sure is tough!
However the next day we were back at it. Get this, get that, fix this, fix that,
however it wasn’t all work as our friends Doug and Wendy arrived on Mustang Sally. We always love catching up with Doug and Wendy and this time was no different. We will be able to spend some more time with them this time as they are also heading to Venezuela aboard their 44'catamaran (which is available for chartering...see their websit www.sailmustangsally.com).
We had been throwing around the idea of heading to Carriacou, Grenada and leaving for Venezuela from there. I pulled out the charts and after some inspection we decided it was better to leave from Carriacou. So off we went via Saltwhislte Bay in Mayreau and now we’re here.
So that’s it…a brief summary of what’s been happening in our world. We’re in Carriacou (I think this might be my favorite..but I do love Bequia…oh I don’t know…) So we’re in Carricou getting a few odd jobs done before we head away. Unfortunately we just missed a great weather window as we’re waiting for some parts to arrive from Grenada and it doesn’t look like we’ll get outta here until maybe the weekend. Ahhh weather…what can you do. So next stop, Los Testigos, Venezuela. We are very excited to be embarking on new adventures and sadly we’ll say goodbye to the West Indies but we’re both ready to leave. Next time you here from us we’ll be in South America. So until then…..
Adios amigos
Kylie and Mike