We departed Prickly Bay just over a week ago having had a fantastic night with our Viking pals at the West Indian Beer Company. They brew a wide variety of IPA, lager, cider and bitter and you can select a tasting menu of, thankfully, small glasses. We found ourselves there on Latin American night and were treated to some excellent displays of dancing from some of the locals before we all invaded the dance floor throwing somewhat less graceful shapes.
Next day we sailed north to an anchorage part way up the Grenadan coast, searching for shelter from the Atlantic swell, before heading to Carriacou where we dropped anchor at beautiful Sandy Island.
Carriacou is a stunning untouristy Grenadan island of only 8000 inhabitants but it was badly hit by Hurricane Beryl last July. Almost all the buildings lost their roofs and many collapsed completely. The Grenadan government have given great support for rebuilding and the islanders are desperate to restore their tourist industry. We took a taxi to tour the island and, whilst many buildings still have only tarpaulins for roofs, many have now been rebuilt. The boat building industry on the west coast of the island took a severe hit and we were also very saddened to see many wrecked boats and yachts in the main harbour of Tyrrell Bay.
Sandy Island remained our ‘home’ for several days and the ingenious locals offered free water taxis to take us to their restaurants. Eating lobster has become the theme of the last week. We went ashore to beautiful Paradise Beach for a lobster feast followed by more dancing on the sand to live music.
The absolute highlight of our Carriacou stay has been the visit to Tim’s beach BBQ at Anse la Roche on the north of the island. We were all picked up by water taxi and had a hair raisingly speedy, bumpy and wet trip to ‘Tim’s”.
We clambered off the boat and wandered along the unspoilt sand of this tiny bay. Tim’s had been completely destroyed by the hurricane but with lots of help, including that from visiting yachts, he has erected a new building.
We were treated to an amazing feast of barbecued lobster, chicken and tuna with coconut conch curry, delicious sides and yummy banana fritters. Then more dancing, rum punch and an even more bumpier ride home in the dark.
We have now made the short passage north to Union Island which is part of the Grenadines. Sadly this tiny island of only 3000 inhabitants was almost completely destroyed by Beryl. Rebuilding has barely begun and 40% of the locals have left. We are anchored in Chatham Bay which is a beautiful and sheltered spot. Locals are desperate to earn money from tourism and all the visiting yachts are very keen to oblige by bringing money into the island. Ashore are a few make-shift tents with islanders cooking barbecues for the new arrivals.
Yesterday we were treated to a high speed water taxi ride around the island to the main town at Clifton Bay. Here the devastation is even more apparent with docks, shops and hotels reduced to rubble. The area is famous for its kite surfing schools and, whilst there are still kite surfers on the water, their bases have been destroyed. In fact the photos below cannot capture the devastation.
Time for the final lobster pictures! When we arrived at Chatham bay a small fishing boat pulled alongside offering their catch for sale. The beautiful looking fish was way too big for just two of us…so we plumped for the enormous lobster that they had just speared. Thankfully it was already dead so, not having a pot big enough to boil it in, we cut it in half and grilled it on our new boat BBQ. Delicious!
What an adventure so far and despite the hurricane devastation, the pictures of the islands are stunning. The locals seem resilient and carry on with a smile. Imagine the day when you have to shop for fish and lobster in a supermarket!!
The weather here is typical British spring, it can’t make its mind up but great to see lambs and daffodils a plenty. Have fun. Kris x
Hi Kris, glad to hear the daffodils are out, they bring such joy in spring and it makes me realise how much I miss my garden. Still there are compensations out here! Love Cate xxx