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Tyrrel Bay on Carriacou to St George's and Prickly Bay
on Grenada
Written at: Prickly Bay, Grenada
June 5, 2006
Hi Folks,
We are back from Canada, on board Veleda here in Prickly Bay. Veleda was fine
while we were away, as Dwight kept an eye on her for us. Thanks Dwight.
The formatting on this log may be badly screwed up. The indenting is not right,
but I do not know how to restore it to my regular indent format. We have wasted
over an hour trying to set it up properly, but cannot get rid of the mysterious
indent commands which haunt this document. Computers and E-mail have been the
most frustrating aspect of our cruising. Today is not a good one. The connection
we got in Canada between our GPS and our laptop does not work. The WiFi
connection is most unreliable, cutting out in mid usage. We want to get a WiFi
booster, but are unsure if the Express card slot (PCMCIA) we have in our new
computer is compatible with the PCMA card used in the booster we are
considering. Aaaarrggghhh!
We will be here for a few more days as we have yet to get and install the new
wind generator. We actually bought it before we left and installed it, only to
find out it didn't work! The chandlery is giving us another new one, but we want
it bench tested before we go through all the trouble of installing it. In
addition, we bought a new wind speed and direction instrument from Canada, and
will install it before we leave Prickly Bay. When we do leave, it will be to
"gunk hole" through several of the lovely well protected fiord-like bays along
the south coast from here. We may return to St. Georges before heading down to
Trinidad in late June. The hurricane season has started, but there have been no
reports of any yet. There are hurricane reports as part of the daily weather
reports, and we should get at least a five day warning of any tropical storms
developing. This would give us plenty of time to sail south below 10 degrees
North Latitude, our basic strategy for the summer and fall.
We both got clean bills of health while back in Canada, and so we are looking
forward to an interesting summer here in the southern Caribbean (Grenada,
Trinidad, Venezuela {the Orinoco River and Margherita Island}, Bonaire, Curacao,
and Aruba).
It was good to see our family and friends while back in Canada, but it is good
to be back home on Veleda.
All the best,
Aubrey
Tyrrel Bay on Carriacou to St George's and Prickly Bay
on Grenada
After only one night in Hillsborough on Carriacou, we weighed anchor on May 25
for the 4.3 mile motor around to Tyrrel Bay, a deep well-sheltered inlet on the
southwest of Carriacou. We anchored in the southeast quadrant (12 27.39N, 061
29.24W) off the lovely sandy town beach. This bay, being on the west side of the
island, is well sheltered from the easterly Trade Winds, but in addition has a
deep mangrove swamp inlet which is also a great Hurricane Hole. We checked it
out in Sprite, and decided this is the best hurricane refuge we have seen so
far. There were about 40 other boats at anchor, including an old catamaran
ferry, a couple of fishing trawlers, and a smaller catamaran converted into a
floating repair shop.
As expected we met a few old acquaintances, including Vagus V, and met another
Canadian vessel that has been in the area for several years, Wind Borne III with
Carolyn and Rick, whom we had met years ago through Toronto Power Squadron (Judy
taught them in the Boating Course). Carolyn was the "anchorage Mom", providing
considerable local knowledge and organizing
activities such as our trip up to the 6th annual "Maroon Festival", a weekend
culture fest celebrating Carriacou and African-Caribbean links from the pre and
post slavery eras. At the festival on the opening evening we enjoyed free
Caribbean foods, cultural displays, traditional dancing (to consecrate and
fertilize the grounds for family reproduction and spice crops), as well as local
musical groups. Judy and I particularly enjoyed the flamboyant display of a
steel drummer and xylophonist, and a juggler who rotated flaming torches, and
batons while dancing to throbbing Caribbean beats and flashing lights. Carolyn
was "in love" with this latter local performer, her heart-throb, whom she went
back stage to get a kiss from at the end of his performance. A good time was had
by all.
Many of the boats, including Wind Borne III, have been in Tyrrel Bay for months
at a time and know the locals quite well. There is a yacht club and marina with
haul out and repair facilities, several small markets along the beach-front main
street, as well as a laundry, a DVD rental shop, a dive shop and a few internet
cafes. There were several "Rum Shops" (drinking establishments) along the beach
stretch, from lean-to shacks to well established small resort restaurants. The
larger town of Hillsborough is only a minibus ride away with even more
facilities. The small island of Carriacou has been described as having "100 "Rum
Shops" and only one gasoline station". It is indeed a quiet, simple, unspoiled,
friendly, enchanting Caribbean island. The people are friendly, and when they
say "Hi" and talk to you, it is not to con you into hiring them or selling you a
service, but just to pleasantly past the time of day. I can see why cruisers
spend time here, just enjoying life on this comfortable tropical island.
We spent four nights here in Tyrrel Bay, but had to press on to the island of
Grenada in preparation to going down to Trinidad for our flight back to Canada
on May 10. The 29 mile sail was enjoyable, but a bit disconcerting as we saw a
couple fo wrecks south of Tyrrel Bay, caught in the hurricane here last year. As
we motored down the west coast of Grenada in the late afternoon, we decided to
tuck into Dragon Bay, a secluded inlet just north of St. Georges, where we
anchored for the night (12 05.13N, 061 45.72W), the only boat in this small bay.
After snorkelling the coral encrusted south arm of the bay, we enjoyed a chicken
barbecue on board and observed yet another "green flash" at sunset.
Next morning (April 30) we motored the three miles down into the crowded Lagoon
at St. George's (12 02.69N, 061 44.89W). The lagoon is fringed by a destroyed
marina and several wrecks washed ashore in the hurricane two years ago (the
first for Grenada). The shore road has Island Water World, a (duty free)
chandlery, ACE Hardware and Napa automotive shop, as well as a large Foodland
grocery store and a Yacht Club. Island Water World has an open WiFi hotspot that
they make available to cruisers, requesting only a donation to a local charity.
There is a cruisers net at 0730 each morning on VHF channel 68 for St. Georges
and the next bay over, Prickly Bay. Channel 68 is also the hailing channel. To
the north of the ship dock area is the Carenage, another bay around which the
town is based, but where anchoring is not permitted. With these many facilities,
boaters stay there for prolonged periods of time.
May first was a holiday, May Day, in which hundreds of union workers paraded
through the town decked out in brightly coloured tee shirts (different colours
for each of the several unions represented), carrying placards, chanting and
dancing to loud Caribbean drumming. The union movement seems quite strong, a
residual legacy from the turmoil of the first ten years of their premature
independence in 1974.
The first post-colonial government of Sir Eric Gairy was overthrown in a left
wing coup in 1979 by Maurice Bishop, an admirer of Fidel Castro. Bishop
attempted to turn Grenada into a socialist state, improving medical care and
education at the cost of suppressing all opposition and other freedoms. He in
turn was overthrown by more extreme factions of his party and the army in 1983.
After a massive crowd freed him, an army group executed him along with half his
cabinet, and the fledgling country descended into anarchy.
Shortly afterward the US marines invaded, so as to, as I remember at the time,
save US medical students "trapped" in the fighting, and restore order. Some
brief accounts I have read here indicate the US help was requested by the
Governor General. Others suggest that the US acted along with the Organization
of East Caribbean States to launch a rescue mission, which was "welcomed with
open arms". This was still the height of the Cold War, and it just so happened
that the medical school is located at the end of the international airport
runway, capable of handling military aircraft. Fears were that Cuba, which had
been constructing the airport and providing medical and educational assistance
to Grenada, might occupy it and make it available to the Soviet Union. Things
have settled down here since and now Grenada is a friendly, democratic,
prosperous, productive, independent country.
Maurice Bishop appears to be highly regarded here and we saw a memorial stone in
Fort George, where he was imprisoned, commemorating his life and death. There is
a neutral if not sympathetic account of his contribution to the country with
commentaries and newspaper clippings in the National Museum. Incidentally, the
museum is quite worthwhile.
There are still traces of the devastation wrought by the hurricanes (Ivan in
2004 and Emily in 2005) over the past two years. As we walked up to the fort we
could look down on many buildings still roofless. Several stately church spires
dominate the hillside overlooking the town. The spires gave mute testimony to
the destruction of the hurricanes as none of the churches had any roofs left.
There were now only empty shells, the Presbyterian Kirk, and the Roman Catholic,
Methodist and Anglican churches, all originally built in the late 1700's and
early 1800's.
Next day we motored the 8 miles around to Prickly Bay on the other side of the
airport. We noted the holding in the Lagoon of St George's was extremely good,
as the anchor reluctantly came up after being imbedded in heavy thick clay.
Prickly Bay is another of those secure anchorages where cruisers stay for weeks
or months in this lovely country. More about it in my next log.
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