Nation of Grenada
12 27'.41N 061 20'.22W
I left the Tobago Cays a couple of days ago and made the surprisingly rough 4 mile trip to Union Island which is the last island in the nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
I arrived and took a mooring in Cliffton Harbor that is notorious for its poor holding. The mooring looked very suspect, maintenance not looking to be a high probability. I didn't want to pay for a mooring for any length of time and besides I just did not have a good vibe about Union Island. It started with the haggling for the mooring fee from the boat boys. After I got situated and lashed to the dingy dock a bunch of locals hanging out at the dock drinking beer started hassling me to pay them a "tax." I asked what for? And they said so they can go and buy more beer. It would be comical if they were not serious and persistent, but they were. I did not pay them said tax. In any event, I'm over this type of behavior and decided at that moment I would spend as little time as possible on Union. I went directly to Customs and checked out of St Vincent and the Grenadines. I'm sure the vast number of people on Union are friendly, but they don't seem to regulate the very few who offend. No one really gets a warm feeling coming ashore at 11 am with a gang of young men smoking weed and drinking beer and then have them demand money. I spent a windy day and night aboard Christa and left for Carriacou, an Island that belongs to Grenada just 6 miles to the south of Union. Attitude wise, its seems, a world away from Union.
For starters no boat boys come racing out to the boat to help or hassle and second the first grocery store I went into had paper coffee filters. I felt very welcome indeed. Further more I've left the charter boat world behind as I think having them check in and out of Customs is a drag on their chartering time, so they simply stay within the St Vincent administered islands.
So in the 24 hours I've spent here on Carriacou I can say with my limited experience it is a place I could spend a great deal of time in. The Carriacou Yacht Clud, where I type to you from has all the amenities for a reasonable price that overlooks Christa and Tyrell Bay. I had a great pizza last night and met a 70 year old German cruiser who may be one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He bought his boat in Yugoslavia during the war and sailed "Magic Carpet Ride" under Serbian artillery fire out of the marina after the survey. He then sailed through a Naval blockade. Very cool stuff. Now the picture above was taken from just above the Yacht Club overlooking Tyrell Bay. You can see the weather is stormy and it is very humid. H-season is nearly upon us and the weather reflects that.
I pulled the above graphic off the Internet. Carricou is highlighted in green and the big island of Grenada is just to the south. I likely will spend at least a couple of weeks here before sailing down the eastern side of Grenada to St. Davids on the south coast. Notice all the finger like bays that are speckled along the south and east side of Grenada. One of those deep bays is St Davids and Grenada Marine where I will haul Christa out for the season.
Please take the time and check out My Google Photo Album. I've uploaded all the pictures from my time in the Tobago Cays and they are beautiful.
Capt Chris
Don't forget you can double click on any images and they should expand out for max viewing
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