A Little Out of Touch.... Sorry

Internet access has been a little difficult these past few days as we have moved further south within the Grenadines to smaller and less well connected islands. We left Bequia on 23rd April after the essential things on the boat had been fixed. Unfortunately, my new keyboard hadn’t arrived yet so the terribly nice and very apologetic young man in the computer centre has said he will post it on to wherever we may be as and when it finally gets to the Caribbean. Hmm!!
Our first stop was the island of Canouan about 15 miles south of Bequia. We anchored for the night but didn’t go ashore. It didn’t look too exciting…..an airstrip and a cement works I believe. It will probably end up with an exclusive and very expensive resort built somewhere just like a lot of the other islands here…… a place to avoid then except as a convenient overnight stop. Sailing at night in these waters is a little hazardous unless one knows the islands well as there are many dangerous reefs around and very few lit navigation marks. Lots of wrecked vessels around too which tend to be left where they ran onto the reefs…. A warning to all!!
Next day brought us to Mayreau, another 15 miles to the south. We anchored in a lovely little bay with really clear waters and ventured ashore this time. We climbed the hill in the raging midday heat to look across the other side and over to the scenic Tobago Cays which are very popular with yachtsmen…. Too crowded for us to join them though. Mayreau is a bit like Sark in character….but with cactus and smelly salt flats. Still, I did actually go swimming on the beach here….a rare thing!
Virtually everywhere we go seems to blare out loud music at night from several of the beach bars and this place was no exception. It’s usually a mixture of traditional calypso, reggae, steel bands and really bad karaoke as well as a lot of horrible modern music, garage or house or indie or something equally awful! I suppose I’m showing my age!! In Mayreau however, a small group of tent dwellers camped on the beach (hippies or devil worshippers I think) brought out the bongos and carried on thumping it out until 3 or 4 in the morning. Different….but nothing it seems can keep me awake anymore!
After two nights we left for the next suitable stop in the chain, Union Island. The main anchorage is tucked behind a line of reefs and we eventually managed to find somewhere safe inbetween the coral to anchor. It was Helen’s (Troutbridge) birthday and we’d been invited to a knees up on a special purpose built beach bar right on the reef. A great evening was had by all and there was dancing in the sand too!! I’ll try to post photos next time round as my time in this internet café is running out fast…
We ( with Troutbridge) sailed around the corner the next day for Chatham Bay… a lovely quiet spot and the first place I’ve been to so far which has been completely dark and music free at night! After two days there, we came back around the corner to another bay, and then back into the main anchorage to clear out of St Vincent and the Grenadines ie do “customs”.
Then tomorrow, we are heading further south to Carriacou and Grenada…..
Hope to get better internet access there and I also hope that my new keyboard might eventually catch up with me there too. This spare one I’m using is three times the size of my dear little laptop!