Sunday (30 June) we finished our boat jobs and left the marina behind. The weather was still a bit iffy and we had spells of torrential rain with big seas. Bashing into the sea along the south coast of Grenada wasn’t much fun either – and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw a small plane bearing down on us just at the point we were crossing the bottom of the runway!
Luckily as we approached True Blue Bay the sun came out and we were able to see the reefs that surround this area. We settled in, sent a text message to say “Welcome to Grenada” for when Carolyn and Ron landed, and waited to hear from them. Well – remember the time when my phone wouldn’t send texts??? They had the same problem…. So annoying…. Eventually we managed to hook up and we quickly went ashore for the reunion. This was third time lucky for them to join us as the previous two trips had been cancelled due to health issues – so incredibly happy to see them both fit and well and actually here with us, I can’t quite believe it!!! Had a lovely dinner at their resort and left them to their air-conditioned luxury and Jacuzzi bath – me….jealous???….absolutely!
Monday morning – after one of the worst rolly nights we have ever had – we dinked ashore to collect Carolyn and Ron as they are spending 10 days on board with us. The docks are horrible here – and trying to get off them, into dink, and then onto Morphie with everything rolling around wasn’t great. We quickly left the bay behind and punched through the waves, past the airport (without a plane landing this time!) and then started our sail up along the coast of Grenada. Our destination was Dragon’s Bay and we got there safely and tied up to a mooring ball in the marine park. Richard decided it was not too far to actually just snorkel from the boat to our destination – which was a surprise for Carolyn and Ron. This is actually an underwater sculpture park and the expressions on their faces when seeing the spooky rings of children come into view through the murky water for the first time was quite something! We snorkelled around for a while enjoying the friendly fish, the beautiful huge parrots and the sculptures… although not sure about the dead bodies littering the ground in places! Ron has a waterproof camera so this time I’ve got photos! Enjoy….
Getting back to Morphie was tough – we must have swum about a mile today – and we were all pretty exhausted!! We had dinner on board – with Richard being master Mahi Mahi griller tonight – and enjoyed a few drinks before turning in pretty early. Great first day.
Tuesday morning up really early – had a swim off the back and a light breakfast – as we are heading north today to Carriacou. This is a beat into the wind and will take us quite a while under sail. The forecast actually got it right with beautiful flat seas and blue skies – unfortunately we had no wind whatsoever. But a great day for a passage anyway…. We enjoyed the sights of the coast of Grenada as we motored north and marvelled at the visibility we had as we looked back. And then – out of nowhere – a pod of dolphins turned up to entertain us briefly. Amazing… wow what a start to this trip!
Anchored safely in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou, we went ashore and wandered the main road visiting a couple of hostelries along the way. Carolyn and Ron got their first taste of conch (or lambi as they call it here) but unfortunately the fritters weren’t up to much. But who can complain when the scenery is as beautiful as this? Back on board and we didn’t end up cooking dinner – just had some snacks – and again retired pretty early.
Part 2 to follow! Bye for now
Jan