June 2007
Carriacou - Grenada
June the first, the official start of the hurricane season, found me spending a few days in Tyrrel Bay on Carriacou, a spacious and calm anchorage which also offers free wifi on the boat – total luxury! There is a good walk up a local hill which passes through a spooky ruined farm complete with its own graveyard. Asking directions from the cooks at the local school on the way up I chatted with them and saw them preparing callaloo (a spinach-like leaf) soup for the children’s lunch and delicious it looked too. Further up this walk I met a fellow Englishman, James Leddy who was staying on the island. He kindly offered to swap some books to beef up my depleted library. The views from the top over the bay and the interior of the island were worth the walk!
After a few days I reluctantly sailed south again, this time to St Georges on Grenada. St Georges has and interesting entrance with a plethora of confusing red buoys to negotiate round a reef in the entrance. Once into the lagoon it’s very calm and you have easy access to the shops around the Carenage to the north.
Whilst here I investigated the marinas in the south coast bays, looking for a suitable place to haul out for the hurricane season. The options were Grenada, Trinidad or Venezuela. In the end I decided on Spice Island Marine in Prickly Bay. It’s less humid than Trinidad and apparently more secure than Venezuela.
Once considered a safe haven Grenada was severely hit by hurricane Ivan a few years ago.
I factored this in to my decision reasoning that with their recent experience of a catastrophic storm they were more likely to be better prepared than a country like Trinidad which hasn’t been hit for many decades. A gamble then, but hauling out anywhere in the Caribbean is a gamble.
In mid-June I took GD for her final sail of this trip around Southwest Point and in to Prickly Bay. I good reach to the point was followed by a few miles of close-hauled tacking up to the entrance and the buoyed channel through then reefs.
At this time of year Grenada is a great crossroads for cruisers. Here I was joined by Paul and Janie on Shian whom I last seen at Cabo Rojo on Puerto Rico. They were heading south to Trinidad for their haul out and we spent a couple of days discussing our experiences of the islands. Harry and Judith on Durrous arrived too so there was lots of socialising and swapping bits of gear – a suitcase for a water-catcher – bargain! Harry and Judith are sadly selling Durrous after their sailing adventure to return to work in Austria.
Gypsy Dancer was hauled out on 14 th June, by coincidence exactly a year to the day I’d first arrived to start the trip in Washburn, Wisconsin. During that year I’d sailed more than 5,600 miles on canals, rivers, lakes, sounds, seas and oceans. I’d sailed my longest single passage, my first solo passage and learned a lot about managing and maintaining a sailing boat.
Looking back the things I remember most are the great and generous people I’ve met, the fascinating places I’ve anchored and the crew who have helped me with this incredible journey. Thank you to Ann, Richard, Sue and especially Jacky who suffered early mornings for 1200 miles along the Thorny Path with skill, good humour and never-flagging enthusiasm.