Clifton Harbour, Union Island

Wednesday started early with a tender over to one of the islets at Tobago Cays where we were anchored so we could walk up the small hill to see the view from the top. We took Indefatigable our tender over to the white sand beach and pulled her up before heading off up the path. Grass to my head height (no comments please on the altitude of that thanks) surrounded us as we made our way up the path, with bursts of colour provided by the local wild flowers and many butterflies. We were soon up to the edge of the summit, but the thick and rather spiky vegetation persuaded me not to go much further, Kevin managed to get to the top but said that you couldn’t really see out of the thick growth there. We therefore contented ourselves with the photo’s posted in yesterday’s blog and went back down to the beach to the picnic area there to enjoy the view before heading back to the boat for breakfast.

We both went for a snorkel to say a last goodbye to the turtles for now before we dropped the mooring to head back to Union Island. We had decided it was time to head to Grenada to finalise arrangements for the wedding and do a few boat jobs, so we needed to check out of customs / immigration for St. Vincent & The Grenadines, which I did without too much trouble despite the fact we had apparently only cleared customs and not immigration at Wallalibou on entry, not that anyone explained that at the time.

We completed a few jobs and then decided complete our last task of Union Island which was to visit Janti’s Happy Island recommended to us by Tim we met in the Cape Verdes. Six years ago, Janti an enterprising local decided he had a solution to the growing pile of conch shells left by the local fishermen. He decided to use them to build a bar on the reef at the entrance to Clifton Harbour. It started as little more that a mound on which a very informal rum bar was started and is now a full building with I understand restaurant facilities and a lobster pool! We took our tender over and did the same as everyone else entering that evening, caught the reef which shallows very rapidly just infront. However, we were soon tied up and Janti came over and showed us photos of the progress of the build over the years he had been here. He is a really nice guy and wished us well on our wedding, he too is planning to tie the knot this year, his fiancé works alongside him behind the bar.







We had a couple of beers, as more and more dingies arrived over the evening. As it grew dark the candles came out and everyone moved on to rum punches. Janti was kind enough to provide ours on the house to wish us well for our big day. A really great place with a great atmosphere and one of the busiest bars we have been to in the Caribbean so far.

Tobago Cays

We were up early to get some fresh fruit and vegetables before departing from Sheena’s stall and some fresh bread from the baker’s next to Erica’s. We made the short 6 mile hop to Tobago Cays via Palm Island just after breakfast arriving about 11am. Tobago Cays is a horse shoe reef off the east coast of the island of Mayreau which provides a great anchorage over white sand and seagrass with the reef surrounding you to break up the surf. There are four small islets within the reef all with white sand beaches. It is utterly stunning as you arrive, we took one of the substantial mooring buoys provided by the Marine Park to discourage anchoring. We saw a turtle breaking the surface just in front of us as soon as we stopped and we were both soon in the water with mask fins and snorkel to investigate. There were lots of turtles around and you didn’t have to swim far before you saw one either gazing on the grass at the bottom or coming up for a short breath of air before descending again. They didn’t seem too concerned by the many yachts and day boats in the large anchoring area and we had a great swim round watching them before returning to the boat for lunch.










There are lots of boat boys operating in Tobago Cays and we refused fresh lobster, fish, t-shirts etc, though we did buy ice. We also paid our park fees of 10$EC (£2.50) per person and 45$EC (£11) for the mooring buoy to the very helpful and friendly park rangers that visited. I asked them where we could best get to snorkel / dive the reef and he directed me to some pink buoys set up for dingies on the edge of the area. We went straight over that afternoon and spent an hour or so swimming around. The reef was great though only about 2-3m deep it was teaming with lots of fish of many different varieties. It wasn’t really worth getting the dive gear out for but we really enjoyed our snorkelling, Kevin managed to find an octopus and lobster whilst I excelled at taking pictures of fish swimming away! The deeper areas of the reef were either directly in the swell or on the entrance channel and so it wasn’t really suitable to dive from our tender.






We watched the sunset from our cockpit that evening, it’s unusual to have such an all round view at anchor, broken only by a small islets. We could see the lights on in the yachts all around us and another lovely evening onboard under the stars.











Next time I say have have my tea ready, better have it ready! who am I kidding, I do all the cooking anyway :-)

Clifton Harbour, Union Island

After a bad night’s sleep we decided to head straight to Union Island and treat ourselves to a night in a marina to catch up on our rest and give my a arm a chance to recover before going to Tobago Cays. We had another pleasant sail past Mayreau and into Union Island. We docked at the Anchorage Yacht Club stern to, with our anchor holding us off forward. It is just one simple floating jetty with one hosepipe and two double UK style sockets for power in the little watch house at the end of the pier, so not exactly plush, but we could walk ashore and we did as soon as we were moored up. The dock belongs to a small hotel which has a lobster and conch pool for diners at the edge of the bar and a shark pool between the path and the restaurant presumably for non-payers. It had a number of fair sized nurse sharks in, though it was pretty shallow and presumably quite hot for them as they were trying to hide in the large concrete inlet pipe. We had a cool beer / G&T to celebrate our arrival to a new island then went back to the boat to clean up before a wander round Clifton.

Clifton is fairly small but full of colour and character with brightly coloured vegetable stalls round the central grass square. Everyone is very friendly but not over pushy and we had a pleasant browse round the shops. We visited Erica’s a really good yacht facility with internet stations, book swap, cycle hire, dvd hire, charts, property and souvenir sales infact just about anything you can think of. We decided to hire an old war film for the evening and headed back to the YC for a sundowner cocktail (Pina Colada and Margarita respectively) before retiring to the boat for fresh tuna steaks and the rare treat of shore power and a film.

Charlestown Bay, Canouan

We were up early today ready to be back under sail again, whilst we were having our breakfast in the cockpit of the boat we watch an Osprey dive into the water and take a fish just behind us. There are apparently a number of them on the island. We are also treated to daily fishing displays by cormorants too, the local waters are teaming with fish.

We had a great sail down to Canouan where we had decided to stop off rather than Mayreau as we needed to get some cash and there are no banks on Mayreau. We had a steady 5-6 knots under one reef and a reefed jib to keep us at a nice speed for fishing, the rods going in the water as soon as we had the boat on the right bearing. I thought that was some mistake on the setting up of the rods because literally seconds after Kevin had put the rod over the side the now familiar buzzzzz of the line running out started however the quick dash across the boat from Kevin and the bend in the rod, I soon twigged we had a bite. Kevin worked on reeling it in whereas I did my jobs of fetching the camera, the medical alcohol, gaff hook and bucket and watching the helm. Kevin soon had another tuna in the bucket, slightly bigger than our last, which was dinner today and tomorrow sorted again! We could see Mayreau, Tobago Cays and Union Island in the distance as we rounded the headland into Canouan. At that point we heard the buzzzzz again and Kevin started to pull in our second catch of a large barracuda, however after photos we decided to let him go, being a little bony for our taste, especially with fresh tuna already available.

The usual super yachts were moored just in the lee of the coast and we proceeded in through the gap in the reef to the inner anchorage. We picked a good spot and laid our anchor with plenty of chain because there was a big swell running and breaking on the shore. The dingy dock was right in the middle of where it was breaking and we decided to let Kevin drop me off there to get to the bank and get in some fresh supplies rather than leave ours lurching again the dock in the swell. I jumped off the dingy quickly up the ladder which is at the shore end of the jetty. Kevin kept going and just managed to turn the dingy into the next wave before he was swept on the beach.

I wondered down the road past the posh new Moorings Yachting base and then into the local’s area a football ground with corrugated iron fencing and down the main street with baby goats and chicken wandering around. I found the bank straight away (there is only one main street) and went into the little kiosk, put in my PIN, pressed Enter as directed on screen, it didn’t do anything then eventually asked me if I need more time? After about 4 attempts and worried about having my card swallowed on a Sunday I decided to go to the supermarket (well minimarket in UK terms) and see if I could pay by visa there. No, luck there either, so I decided one last try at the ATM, on this attempt I finally saw the sign that told you to press the Clear button after entering your PIN! Ah well, back to the supermarket though I didn’t go mad as the prices were not exactly cheap (3 tomatoes = £1.25, all wine £11+ per bottle etc).

Canouan definitely had an undeveloped feel to it, Charlestown has a few restaurants but they are more like modified houses and definitely has a locals feel to the place. However, this is only part of the story because the entire northern half of the island has been sold to developers and now houses a Raffles resort and Donald Trump golf course. The entrance is apparently gated and open only to residents, closing off half the island. I gather it has brought some prosperity to Charlestown as the local houses are a good size, but the ongoing income clearly doesn’t extend far beyond the walls.

Back to the dock, I called Kevin on the handheld VHF to pick me up, I could see the swell was even worse now splash up through the dock and the ladders were clearly no longer an option. Kevin told me he’d pick me up at the end and I’d need to be quick. He swooped round and I eased myself to the edge and then dropped in as he came below. However, somehow I managed to leave my right arm behind me, trying to slow my descent, ending up with my weight resting on my underarm before I dropped into the tender. Ouch! I told Kevin to keep going as I grabbed my arm and we got back on Invincible. It turned out to be just badly bruised though swelled up like a golf ball. Kevin got me some ice in a towel to get the swelling down and I spent the afternoon with my feet up reading Patrick O’Brien. Writing this now three days later I am nearly back to normal though have a quite impressive bruise, which I am hoping will be gone before our wedding day in only 6 weeks time!

Our impression of Canouan didn’t really improve overnight as the wind howls down the hillside permanently into the anchorage providing about 25 knots all night when it’s only about 15 knots outside. This is barely mentioned in our pilot book, which we have detected is concerned more with not upsetting the advertisers than informing yachtsmen. Anyway, we still had a lovely evening with our fresh tuna fillets and we were joined by a number of other yachts.

Britannia Bay, Mustique

We had booked a Mule ourselves for an island tour this morning, but it was absolutely pouring down at 9am when Paul the manager came to drop it off for us at Basil’s. He said to us that the forecast was due to be like that for the whole day with a big band of squalls passing through and suggested we perhaps delay for tomorrow and to give him a call. We were also chatting to one of the barman, everyone here is very friendly. He said “Mick” was home at the moment and some England cricketer. I don’t think I would recognise a single one of the English squad, except perhaps “Freddie” Flintoff, so I am afraid I won’t be too good at star spotting. We agreed with him and headed back to the boat to dry off. Obviously the weather cleared up by around 10.30am, so we are heading for a walk along the shoreline instead later.

Britannia Bay, Mustique

Although Friday started with squally wet start the super yachts continued to arrive, including a battle-ship grey, military looking one complete with helicopter which immediately caught Kevin’s eye. We stayed onboard reading and snorkelling until the sky cleared in the afternoon and we decided to head ashore to hunt for some cash. We had been told to go to the Mustique Company office near the airport so we headed up the hill, where Lovell village is on the left where the workers live, although apparently many arrive by ferry or plane. We then walked down the hill but we not sure where to head to the airport, but managed to get a lift with a passing “Mule” golf buggy. The airport is a tiny bamboo clad building with one main hall and a couple of doors off straight on to the runway, nonetheless small planes seem to come in frequently onto the immaculate looking runway. We found the Mustique company but unfortunately being the lower class of visitor being neither a villa owner nor renter (62 villas are available for rent) just a boat owner they were not able to assist us.

We walked back to the boat passing the many curious community assets such as football pitches, playgrounds, a school and library for an island with so few inhabitants. We also saw three wild red tortoises which are apparently native to the island, though to have been introduced by the Amerinidians.



We decided to have some food at Basil’s that evening, it being the only restaurant on the island within our budget. There were a few of the superyacht owners who all apparently knew each other in chatting who seemed quite friendly. They then were whisked off in their crewed tenders and replaced by a few of the crew obviously allowed a few hours shore leave and making the most of the cocktails menu on the boat credit card.

Britannia Bay, Mustique

Happy New Year to all and all the best for 2009!

Despite the late night for us we were up and under sail by 9am, though if I’m honest the reactions were perhaps a little slow. A rush of other boats left around the same time and we were within 400 yds of about 4 boats on leaving all heading south so we had to wake up pretty quick and keep a good look out and hope they were all fully recovered from the night before!

Kevin was desperately keen to get his new fishing gear in the water and this was deployed as soon as we were underway. We passed south of the rock pinnacles on the southern tip of Bequia and the Moonhole, an isolated community founded by the late American architect Tom Johnson. The famous photos are always of the original arch structure which started the development, though apparently this is now abandoned since a boulder fell from the arch though other houses have sprung up on the rocks alongside which have no straight edges, no windows and no electricity. Though they do have splendid isolation, great views and a bar and they are rented for holidays.



We rounded West Cay and were about to pass through the channel with Pigeon Island when the unmistakable buzz of a bite on one of the lines rang out. Kevin leapt with excitement onto the reel whilst I ran around trying to slow the boat and take in some sail, find gaff hooks and buckets etc. It put up a valiant fight but the tuna was on board before I managed to return on deck with the gaff hook, with Kevin beaming from ear to ear at the fair sized tuna. We got him into a bucket where Kevin humanely dispatched him with some medical grade alcohol which stopped the wriggling immediately. Kevin swabbed the decks (I’m in full Patrick O’Brien mode now) whilst I got us back underway to Mustique where the masts anchored in Britannia Bay were already visible. It was a fairly lumpy trip across the short channel and when we approached we realised why the masts were visible from such a distance they belonged to the Maltese Falcon, it has three pivoting unstayed masts and is the biggest of its kind in the world. In fact the bay of this privately owned island home to the rich and famous such as Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch and formerly Princess Margaret was littered with superyachts both motor and sail.



We quickly found a mooring buoy and settled in ready to cook the two large tuna fillets fresh for our lunch with steaks left over for tomorrow. We griddled them in garlic and ginger and they were delicious. Kevin was soon over board snorkelling after lunch had settled as the water is beautifully blue and the reef below visible from the surface, clearer still that Bequia. We went ashore for a wander round the designer boutiques in bright pink and purple tin-roofed buildings and village stores stocked with fine wines which must surely be unique to Mustique. Finally, we headed to the famous Basil’s Bar on stilts out to the reef for a celebratory drink for our fish supper.