You may be asking yourself, why does Daggers Down keep going to the Grenadine Islands. Well, let me explain.
When traveling up and down the Caribbean Island chain to and from Grenada, the Grenadines are the next hop north from Grenada. So traversing through them is a natural progression moving both north and south. In addition, the islands are gorgeous with wonderful underwater sea life. The Grenadines are one of my favorite areas. Furthermore, there is so much history and things to see and do that we still have not explored it all.
More information on St. Vincent and the Grenadines can be found at these previous posts.
Marvelous Mayreau and the Tobago Cays
Relishing the Grenadines November 2022
Fish and Turtles and Lobsters, Oh My!!!
Thus, on leap day, February 29, after spending a lovely night at the Pitons, of St. Lucia, we hoisted sails and began our trek across the channel towards the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. At times, this channel could be quite challenging with ferocious winds and large waves. However, this crossing was quite benign in comparison. In fact, for bit, I thought we might be still in the middle of the channel at dark as we were only traveling about 2 knots even after raising a full main and jib. Thus, Ben resorted to turning on the iron sail (motor) to get us moving. Finally, about halfway across the channel the wind began to blow and the crossing became quite pleasant until about partway down the lee of St. Vincent where we ran out of wind. We furled the jib and turned on the engine once more until we reached the Bequia Passage.
Once we entered the passage between St. Vincent and Bequia, we had a sporty sail moving at around 9 knots. The current, wind and waves in this passage frequently could be at odds with one another. So it was a little like sailing in a washing machine. Nevertheless, we arrived in Bequia by 1400 and anchored right off Princess Margaret Beach just before a downpour. Daggers Down got a nice rinse off.
Bequia
The next morning Ben went into customs and checked us into St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Now we were free to play in the area at a leisurely pace. We stayed in cute little Bequia for about a week. Port Elizabeth located on Admiralty Bay was adorable with colorful houses situated on the hillsides and street vendors selling their souvenirs, and fruits and vegetables.
We spent a couple of days cleaning the bottom of the boat and reprovisioning at the grocery store and markets. We enjoyed meeting and chatting with Ms. Browne who was very friendly and had just the fruits and vegetables that we needed at her market stand.
Once again, our generator was on the blink. So Ben found a chandlery, Pipers, where he could get some parts. At this point, I felt like we had basically rebuilt the heat exchanger one piece at a time!
Every time we thought the generator was fixed it failed again with the same default. Urg!
Nevertheless, we had a good time in Bequia hanging with cruiser friends from SV Duende, Cindy and Kevin. Kevin was a big help to Ben as they troubleshooted the genny and fixed one thing after another.
A nice weather window presented itself to make our way to another island, Mayreau. We spent the first night in a large bay on the west side, Saline Bay. This night will be memorable, not only because of the beautiful sunset, but it was also where Ben completed one more step in fixing the generator, and it finally ran without shutting down. Knock on Wood!!! Halleluiah!
Now, we held our breathe and waited for the next thing to break…..Boat Life!
Tobago Cays, Mayreau
This was one of my favorite places on earth. I mean what was not to love? The anchorage was surrounded by a reef which afforded beautiful water and lots of breeze. There was a turtle sanctuary and the sea life was abundant. I could truly just sit on the deck, look at the turquoise water and be happy!
We dinghied to the outer reef where we loved to snorkel in the crystal-clear water at slack tide. The coral was interesting and the variety of fish was memorizing!
Lots of interesting coral
Mesmerizing sea life
Snorkeling in the turtle reserve was always delightful as there were turtles at every turn, munching on the grass, swimming and surfacing for a breath of air. It was fascinating to watch them. I just wished more people understood how touching sea turtles endangers them. Look, but don’t touch!
“It might seem that a single touch does not make any difference. But actually, it does. Sea turtles live in the open ocean and grow a biofilm layer on their body. It protects them from any harmful bacteria and keeps them living an adventurous life.
A single touch breaks the film cell and makes the sea turtles exposed to bacterial attacks and diseases. If a turtle falls sick in the ocean, it might die. The marine turtle population is already going down, and we cannot afford to lose even one more of them. Sea turtles are an endangered species.” From the Turtle Hub.
My parents taught me long ago that when observing nature, “observing” was the key word. Handling or feeding wildlife can put the species at risk as well as yourself.
As I was swimming under our boat, I saw a sting ray buried in the sand by our anchor chain. There were three trunk fish hanging out with him. Sting rays swim through the water so gracefully. Of course, I kept my distance as the barb on the tail could be quite painful or worse.
The sunsets in the Tobago Cays also were quite stunning.
While we were anchored in the Cays, we met some cruisers from Canada. They kept seeing us at every anchorage and accused us of stalking them. Roger and Tama from SV Adventure 1 began cruising on their monohull in December out of the BVIs. They joined us along with SV Duende for happy hour and dinner on Daggers Down one night. Cindy made some scrumptious tenderloin and mashed potatoes which was quite a treat! It was a fun, jovial evening.
Alas it was time to move on down the island chain as we were approaching our April haul out date at Grenada Marine.
Chatham Bay, Union Island
Union Island was the last checkout location at the southern end of the Grenadines. I had been wanting to visit Chatham Bay for several years. So this trip, we decided to make it happen. We had heard we could go to Chatham and one of the restaurant owners would take the departure papers to Clifton for you. We decided to give this a try.
We arrived before noon and low and behold who had just arrived 5 minutes before us—SV Adventure I. Yes, it really did look like we were stalking them. HAHA! The large bay was quite lovely and the water was very calm. However, gust of 20+ knot winds frequently blasted over the mountain through the anchorage. It kept the anchorage cool, but it also spun the boats around in every direction. So having good swing room was imperative.
After talking with Roger from SV Adventure I, we decided to meet them and some other cruisers from Holland on SV Double Dutch for drinks at sunset, and dinner. We saw an amazing green flash as the sun entered the ocean while visiting at Sunset Cove.
Then we walked down the beach to Seckie and Venessa’s restaurant where we dined on a delectable seafood dinner and danced to the Caribbean music.
Chatham Bay was quite lovely. We enjoyed hanging out and watching the light dance across the beautiful water.
The sunsets every night were not too shabby either. Yes, Chatham Bay turned out to be a great last stop on our Grenadines tour.
Soon it would be time for us to return to Grenada. This 2023-24 sailing season was coming to a close for us. We had a wonderful time exploring the Caribbean Islands and sharing our adventures with our friends. We are blessed beyond measure to have the chance to chase the stars across the Caribbean waters on Daggers Down!
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Thank you for sharing!! Beautiful pictures. Wish we were there!!
Praying the generator keeps on generating!!
Ron & Deb