Tuesday 27th March
Tyrrel Bay
Carriacou
12 27.328 N
61 29.291 W
The morning dawned overcast and windy, there was no way we were going snorkeling so we hauled the outboard into its cradle for transit and hoisted the dinghy up onto the davits and secured it. There was no sign of snorkeling activity coming from either Gypsy Palace or MT Nest – it was a unanimous decision! Mike and Terri radioed to say that they had decided to stay put for a few days and explore the rest of the Tobago Cays – a great idea and one I would have liked to join them in but we were
on a time schedule and we had to get to Tyrrel Bay. They dinked over to say goodbye, we hope to meet up with them again but just incase we don’t we wish them fair winds, following seas and safe travel where ever it takes them. Not long after they had left us we were hauling up the anchor and following Gypsy Palace out of the anchorage’s southern passage heading towards Carriacou. Our trip for the day was to be quite short, only about 15 miles but we had to make 2 stops on the way – first at Union in order to check out of St. Vincent and The Grenadines, then at Hillsborough to check in with the Grenada authorities. Gerry and I decided that the distances didn’t warrant us getting the main sail out; it’s much harder for us than it is for Gypsy Palace as we do not have in mast furling and they do. We pulled out our jib and motor sailed all the way to Union, the winds were actually perfect for sailing and Gypsy Palace sailed all the way. We were doing up to 8 knots most of the way so it was a very quick trip. We pulled into the reef surrounded harbour at Union Island and dropped our anchor, as it didn’t set properly the first time we did it again with a better result. The plan was for the men to go ashore and check us out whilst Lorie and I sat on anchor watch, the holding in this harbour is notoriously bad and we didn’t need either boat to drift down onto the reef whilst we were ashore. The guys took off and Lorie and I sat in the cockpits chatting on the headsets – we could hear each other most of the time, it just cut out when the boats swung apart. It wasn’t long before the guys were back on the boats and we were hauling up the anchor to head a little further south. Again we just flew the jib and motor sailed whilst Gypsy Palace sailed. We arrived in Hillsborough Bay and set the anchor again. Then we followed the same course of action as we did at Union Island – they guys went to check in whilst Lorie and I stayed aboard to anchor watch. It seemed like they were gone for ages, and when they returned Gerry said that they had arrived 5 minutes after the office closed for lunch so they had gone to the bank and watched the cricket until the office reopened. Australia was playing the Windies so we had a vested interest in the game. When Gerry checked us in the official joked with him about charging us a fee as the Aussies were batting very well and looking like winners – there was still a lot of cricket to be played though. We changed the courtesy flag over to the Grenada flag and then hauled our anchor back up and motored around the point of the bay and into the next bay – Tyrrel Bay which was our destination. We dropped our anchor and Gerry quickly got the dinghy down and set it up for a trip into the Haul out yard. I stayed aboard, reading and making sure we didn’t drag anchor as we were pretty close to the boats on either side of us. Gerry took ages to return – had a couple of beers and watched the cricket until rain stopped play. The haul out was to be on Thursday so we had a couple of nights to relax and work out what we wanted to do whilst the boat was being anti fouled. Gerry had also arranged for us to stay at a chalet near the yard, Dale and Lorie had very kindly offered for us to stay on their boat for the duration of the haul out but we didn’t want to put them to any trouble, we know that Lorie would have spent hours making the boat clean and tidy for us to stay with them (!?) and we didn’t want her to go to all that hassle. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading books and studying eyelids. Early in the evening we all dinked into the local pizza place and had a few drinks with our pizzas. As we sat
eating, a herd of cattle wandered along the waterfront, unattended. They were obviously making their way back to where ever home was for them, it was just surprising to see them wandering along the beach unattended but they had obviously made this trip many times and ignored anyone that they went past.
When we had eaten our fill of pizza we boxed up the leftovers and took the dinghies back out to our boats where we hunkered down to a windy night.
Carriacou
12 27.328 N
61 29.291 W
The morning dawned overcast and windy, there was no way we were going snorkeling so we hauled the outboard into its cradle for transit and hoisted the dinghy up onto the davits and secured it. There was no sign of snorkeling activity coming from either Gypsy Palace or MT Nest – it was a unanimous decision! Mike and Terri radioed to say that they had decided to stay put for a few days and explore the rest of the Tobago Cays – a great idea and one I would have liked to join them in but we were
on a time schedule and we had to get to Tyrrel Bay. They dinked over to say goodbye, we hope to meet up with them again but just incase we don’t we wish them fair winds, following seas and safe travel where ever it takes them. Not long after they had left us we were hauling up the anchor and following Gypsy Palace out of the anchorage’s southern passage heading towards Carriacou. Our trip for the day was to be quite short, only about 15 miles but we had to make 2 stops on the way – first at Union in order to check out of St. Vincent and The Grenadines, then at Hillsborough to check in with the Grenada authorities. Gerry and I decided that the distances didn’t warrant us getting the main sail out; it’s much harder for us than it is for Gypsy Palace as we do not have in mast furling and they do. We pulled out our jib and motor sailed all the way to Union, the winds were actually perfect for sailing and Gypsy Palace sailed all the way. We were doing up to 8 knots most of the way so it was a very quick trip. We pulled into the reef surrounded harbour at Union Island and dropped our anchor, as it didn’t set properly the first time we did it again with a better result. The plan was for the men to go ashore and check us out whilst Lorie and I sat on anchor watch, the holding in this harbour is notoriously bad and we didn’t need either boat to drift down onto the reef whilst we were ashore. The guys took off and Lorie and I sat in the cockpits chatting on the headsets – we could hear each other most of the time, it just cut out when the boats swung apart. It wasn’t long before the guys were back on the boats and we were hauling up the anchor to head a little further south. Again we just flew the jib and motor sailed whilst Gypsy Palace sailed. We arrived in Hillsborough Bay and set the anchor again. Then we followed the same course of action as we did at Union Island – they guys went to check in whilst Lorie and I stayed aboard to anchor watch. It seemed like they were gone for ages, and when they returned Gerry said that they had arrived 5 minutes after the office closed for lunch so they had gone to the bank and watched the cricket until the office reopened. Australia was playing the Windies so we had a vested interest in the game. When Gerry checked us in the official joked with him about charging us a fee as the Aussies were batting very well and looking like winners – there was still a lot of cricket to be played though. We changed the courtesy flag over to the Grenada flag and then hauled our anchor back up and motored around the point of the bay and into the next bay – Tyrrel Bay which was our destination. We dropped our anchor and Gerry quickly got the dinghy down and set it up for a trip into the Haul out yard. I stayed aboard, reading and making sure we didn’t drag anchor as we were pretty close to the boats on either side of us. Gerry took ages to return – had a couple of beers and watched the cricket until rain stopped play. The haul out was to be on Thursday so we had a couple of nights to relax and work out what we wanted to do whilst the boat was being anti fouled. Gerry had also arranged for us to stay at a chalet near the yard, Dale and Lorie had very kindly offered for us to stay on their boat for the duration of the haul out but we didn’t want to put them to any trouble, we know that Lorie would have spent hours making the boat clean and tidy for us to stay with them (!?) and we didn’t want her to go to all that hassle. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading books and studying eyelids. Early in the evening we all dinked into the local pizza place and had a few drinks with our pizzas. As we sat
eating, a herd of cattle wandered along the waterfront, unattended. They were obviously making their way back to where ever home was for them, it was just surprising to see them wandering along the beach unattended but they had obviously made this trip many times and ignored anyone that they went past.When we had eaten our fill of pizza we boxed up the leftovers and took the dinghies back out to our boats where we hunkered down to a windy night.
Labels: Carriacou
posted by SV Orpailleur at 9:23 a.m.
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