Sunday, August 4, 2013

Bequia to Grenada

We finally left Bequia after 10 days of parties, barbecues and socializing and had a fantastic sail to Tobago Cays.  The carnival in Bequia compared to Trinidad is small town fair to a state fair.  They had 2 trucks drive through town with lots of young people singing and dancing behind the trucks.  That basically was it and all us cruisers stood out in the rain watching this event. At least it only lasted 10 minutes



Baby and larger turtles at the Turtle Sanctuary in Bequia.  At age 5 they are released into the sea



 18 of us on a very long and treacherous hike up to Peggie's Rock.  Harry sitting on the rock on the top and the view from the rock
Interesting Rastafarian house in Bequia

We did barbecue on the beach several nights.  Such fun



The grill master with ten different kinds of meat

Half way up the mountain


 Our next hike was not as high as Peggie's Rock but just as much fun and wow what view
Game day at a local restaurant.  They let us have the whole place all afternoon if we pay for drinks.  No problem with that

Another night of sundowners on a boat called Sweet Chariot with Jim and Tammy (not Baker)
 Someone compared Tobago Cays to the San Blas islands due to its beauty and anchoring out on a reef.  Your view would be Africa if you could see that far.  We did some fantastic snorkeling with very large green turtles – saw about 8 in all and tons of fish and squid.  It was quite an experience.  Although we have been here twice before, it’s one place you just can’t get enough of.

Magnificent water, reefs and beaches on Tobago Cays.

These are the turles we swam with, they are so graceful and fun to watch




Today we moved 4 miles over to Union island.  Another fantastic place anchoring behind a reef.  We had sundowners at a bar out on a reef built on conch shells.  It was really a cute place and so cleverly done. (see picture)
We then motored another big 7 miles to Carriacou.  It is owned by Grenada but has its own flavor.  People are great and the harbor is huge and comfortable.  We stayed tucked away in there for Chantel, our first name storm since getting down here.  Luckily she went way north and leaving no heavy winds or anything.  Tomorrow we leave for Grenada, which we plan to call home until October, unless a named storm decides to show her bad side.  If that’s the case, Trinidad, here we come.
We have now been in Grenada for a month and love it.  The people are wonderful, tons to do, good grocery shopping and a great place to get boat projects done.  We started off in Hog Island for a week where we did noodling everyday for exercise (see pic) and played games and swam at Roger’s tiki bar on the beach
Then we moved to Prickly Bay where lots of evening events take place and we spend too much money. The Tiki Bar there offers Tuesday night trivia.  Our team came in 3rd place one week with about 15 teams playing.  Harry was at his best.  We play dominos on Sunday, women’s dominos on Wed, noodling every day and dances at night.  
My good friend June Gradman from Chicago came to visit for 4 days with her daughter Annie.  It was a whirlwind tour of Grenada.  The first night out we went on a tour with 28 people to see the Leatherback turtles nesting their eggs and new born baby turtles crawling for dear life down the beach to the water, getting turned upside down and falling into footprint holes on the way.  It was such an awesome experience for all of us.  It only happens at night with red flashlights so pictures were hard to get.  We didn’t get back until 1:30 am but so well worth it. I had wanted to do this for years but never had the chance.June and Annie loved the experience

Mom is 7 feet long and 4 or 5 feet wild.  Just an amazing creature.  She digs the hole for the eggs with her hind legs and then after she lays the eggs, she buries  them and then goes back to the sea.
Our Mom laid 104 eggs that night.  Researchers are always present to count the eggs



Party at Tiki Bar with June and Annie and a life band called Baracuda

Then we took them to Grand Etong National Park and hiking down to the Seven Sister’s Falls.  Wonderful hike and swimming in the falls was fantastic (cold but fun).  When we got back to the entrance there were Mono monkeys.  Our guide enticed them with food so they climbed down from the trees across Annie’s and Devin’s shoulders for the food.  We got a great movie of it.  Devin is a 23 y/o college student who is staying on his Dad’s boat this summer.   We came with us on the tour.


Devin, Harry, me, June


Our guide in yellow is Clifton Castle.  He is on the olympic diving team for Grenada.  Watch for him in the Australian nationals coming up.

Mono Monkey

Saying goodbye to June and Annie

Tonight we are going to an event tonight where they are preparing for their carnival.  It will be a very big whole week event.  We get to see the steel band players tonight, have a oil down dinner and watch the costumes for the carnival being made.  It really should be fun.  Will post that later.


1 comment:

  1. Terrific blog, Melinda & Harry. We were in some of the same places in '98-'99 so this is fun to relive our trip through your adventures. Thanks. Joyce & Carl

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