Before we could leave Grenada weekends and late nights were in order to rebuild the RIB, affectionally known as "M". Nils painstakingly grafted to make her stronger than before. Her launch date was continually delayed but what an exciting day it was when we put her back in the water and opened up the throttle to blast around the bay. The sky was overcast and it threatened rain but we didn't care, celebrating with sundowners in the cockpit, exhilarated.

The weather had been unsettled with us bouncing around tied to the dock. Unfortunately this is typical of Le Phare Bleu. It was with a sense of relief to depart and drop our anchor in a bay nearby, Whisper Cove. The freedom from being tied to a pontoon with the added bonus of swimming from the boat, made us realise that we are not marina animals. Several days spent chilling and stocking up on last minute fresh produce, we set sail for Carriacou. We had a fast, lively sail up the east coast of Grenada and arrived in Tyrrel Bay on the south-west Coast of Carriacou in the early afternoon.

Carriacou is part of Grenada, shares the same government and has ferries running between the islands on a daily basis. Carriacou derives from the Carib language meaning "an island surrounded by reefs". The Caribs arrived in this area from Venezuela in 400-500AD and died out in the 1400s, mainly due to punishment and disease brought by the European settlers. Slavery was introduced to the island to work the cotton and to a smaller extent, sugar plantations. Today, tourism is a huge economic factor but the friendly inhabitants continue to farm, fish and build their wooden boats.

Debbie had visited the capital of the island twenty-two years ago and little had changed but this was Stephen's first visit.

The first day we explored our immediate surroundings, Tyrrel Bay and it's shoreside. We recognised a few boats in the busy anchorage and looked forward to catching up with them later in the day. Shoreside was quite sleepy and we couldn't get lunch anywhere. Later we discovered that this was due to a huge local funeral. Chez Amelie always has a good choice of excellent food on board so Galley Wench set to and rustled up a smoked trout salad. That evening we decided to have supper ashore at the "Lazy Turtle" recently taken over by Sue and Shayne from Jersey. Unbeknown to us, it was also Cruisers' Happy Hour and familiar faces started to appear. Much to their amusement they watched Stephen scour the shore for his missing padlock and boat keys, which were floating towards the shore. Safely caught we returned to Amelie for a good night's sleep.

Travelling on the island is not a problem, as there are buses and taxis, willing to pick up a fare. They hail you as you're securing your dinghy and will wait until you are ready to get on board. Stephen had heard the previous evening that a local supermarket kept Cuban cigars in their 'fridge. The bus driver happily drove us to it and the other passengers were content to wait while Stephen bought some bizarre smokes........pipe cigars! They had sold out of the Cubans (probably to the Americans) but offered Stephen these pipe tobacco cigars instead. He was desperate and he bought up their supply and unbelievably, he likes them. The aroma is much nicer than his normal ones and brings back sentimental memories of Debbie's Grandfather. He does look dapper as the cigar is in a plastic holder and he looks like something out of the 1920s.

Hillsborough, the capital, is slightly tatty but with it's own charm. Old and new buildings nestle together with gaps showing the aquamarine waters of the bay. The "supermarkets" sell the normal fare with the addition of hardware, car oil, curtains, cookers, tool sets, fishing paraphernalia, etc. Every time we enter one of these stores, it makes us smile at the products on sale. We discovered a wonderful "deli" called Patty's Deli which stocks a lot of our home comforts. Naturally we spent a few EC dollars there and our ship's supply of HP sauce is now looking better.

We also visited the tiny museum which improved our understanding of the history of this magnificent island. An active archaeological team are making huge discoveries of Carib settlements on the west coast, mainly Grand Bay and Sabazan. This has allowed them to piece together the lives, culture, beliefs, diet and health practices of the Caribs. The pottery on display not only has practical uses but the Caribs moulded icons of their Gods as handles for daily acknowledgement and protection. Coastal areas are eroding due to the sea, past hurricanes and the elements therefore the history of this island is disappearing.

Snorkelling has not been great as the visibility is poor although lots of swimming has helped to cool us down.

We spent an evening entertaining on Amelie with our guests from Star Charger III. Extremely funny evening and far too much  juice of the grape, which made it a struggle to get up the following morning for our island tour in a non-air conditioned bus.

Vincent Alexis was our guide, born and bred on the island with a cavern of knowledge. Carriacou is  a lush, mountainous, colourful island with fabulous views of the other Grenadines. Some of the oldest houses resemble Gingerbread houses, wooden built with tin roofs and wooden filigree adornments. Generally they are built on stilts to prevent the termites demolishing them with ornate steps leading up to a small veranda by an elegant front door.

He drove us through the countryside with views from the Princess Royal hospital at 759 feet above sea level. We parked outside the "A&E" department with patients sitting under trees whilst we took photographs of the views. A couple of old canons remain from an era when defence from the land was imperative to prevent sea invasion. We're not sure they were ever fired.

One of the highlights of the tour was visiting an area known as Windward. This is at the north-eastern end of Carriacou and is the traditional centre for wooden boat building. We were fortunate to see the construction of a wooden boat, almost the same length as Amelie, on the foreshore. We were told that the father and two sons who are building it are fishermen and spend three days a week on their build. The craftsmanship was amazing and the launch party sounds far livelier than most launches. 

7,000 people live on the island and Vincent told us that there wasn't much of an unemployment problem. We passed a dairy farmer moving his cattle along the road, sitting on a donkey, much too small for his stature. As we levelled with him, Vincent greeted him by saying "Man, nice looking cow".

We were dropped off at Paradise Beach mainly as Debbie had forgotten to buy some Calabash bowls from Grenada for Amelie and she knew there was a artisan shop housed in a "old ship's container" on the beach. We ate with the local taxi and bus drivers, being entertained by their banter which is difficult to understand when they use Patois.

We welcomed Sephina into the bay with a drive by in "M" and enjoyed catching up over lunch and supper.

It was time to leave the beautiful island of Carriacou, checking out of Grenada and motoring 10nm to Union Island to check into the islands that are dependencies of St. Vincent. Lashed by a rainy squall which washed the boat and the crew, we arrived under threatening skies with one of the most beautiful panoramic scenes surrounding our anchorage. 

Union Island was settled by the English and then Scottish colonists in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is a small island with two villages, Ashton and Clifton, with an airstrip between the sea and the hills. Union Island is seen as the crossroads of the Grenadines and is affectionately called "Little Tahiti" because of it's high almost vertical peaks. Clifton was our port of entry with a bustling, charming Main Street. Vendors hailing us as we walked along the road, prepared to sell you their wares. Clive needed a St. Vincent flag which by the law of the sea, every boat should fly the flag of the country they have entered. A gentleman agreed to obtain this for him for a price. Clive had to negotiate a cost for his stroll to purchase this item.

We anchored behind Newland's Reef with a unique island in front of us on the edge of the reef. A local environmentalist used a huge pile of Conch shells from the main shore to build his own island, aptly named "Happy Island". We tied our dinghy to his establishment and watched the sunset whilst drinking sundowners and being entertained by Janti's theories of happiness over his microphone. The place oozed  "feel good factor”, the music is eclectic with a mixture of reggae and European/American oldies. The volume of the music diminishes every time he uses the blender to make his famous Piña Coladas! We returned to Sephina for supper and for Debbie to get her "cat fix". We had not seen Peri and Thornton for weeks. Peri greeted us with his normal demeanour, lying back expecting us to adore him, which we do. Thornton was hiding in his tunnel, still getting his sea legs, feeling glum. Lots of cuddles and strokes encouraged him to snuggle up and start eating again.

The following day we needed to link in with WIFI on land. We managed to contact lots of our friends and family, with the treat of maybe seeing Lorraine and Jim from Stiarna. David from Serendipity was hoping to seek us out and party until his family joined him in mid December. Unfortunately he has been experiencing the joys of the French hospital care in Martinique. 

We had pre booked a BBQ Lobster evening on Happy Island which was sensational. As dusk fell, the kite surfers entertained us with their acrobatic prowess. Unfortunately for the establishment, Debbie decided to try her hand at being a Caribbean barmaid (see photo above) being egged on by her friend, Ju. The photographs tell the story and help the old girl's memory. Dancing, drinking, eating and getting to know new people.......a perfect evening. The next day was a gentle one!

Sephina and Amelie planned to sail to Petit St. Vincent (PSV) and anchored in the sheltered channel between PSV and Petit Martinique. PSV is a private island with a beach bar, restaurant and extremely expensive boutique open to "yachties" and to keep us away from the paying hotel guests on the island. Open air cinema at the hotel bar in the evening was fun but the mediocre food and indifferent service from the bar staff discouraged us to return. The swimming and snorkelling was magnificent with a landing on a tiny island called Mopion, a sandy island with a purpose built palm shelter, engraved with names and dates. Lo and behold we discovered Serendipity's scribe.

Ju and Clive had experienced a lukewarm visit to Petit Martinique but Stephen had read that there was a restaurant that was worth visiting. We weren't disappointed. We arrived in a garden, walked up the path and booked a table in advance so we could walk the foreshore. A couple of games of Dominoes with an incomplete set, huge measures of rum and we were ready to eat. The menu was interesting, the waitress was delightful and the supper was freshly cooked. This was the highlight of our visit, as the welcome to these two islands was decidedly cool, lack of greetings on the dockside and we always moored in the wrong place, whatever the right place was!

We left separately and joined up in Chatham Bay, Union Island. This bay is on the lee shore and the rocks off Rapid point were fantastic for diving. We dived along the magnificent coral wall to a depth of just over 19 metres. The quantity and beauty of the various species of fish was staggering. The bird life kept us entertained with Pelicans, Boobies and Terns fishing alongside one another, with the huge Frigate birds waiting for dropped fish or leftovers. Another highlight was inquisitive turtles swimming around Amelie and coming up close to the kayak. We spent our days snorkelling, swimming and Kayaking in between eating at the "Sun, Beach and Eat" bar run by Vanessa and Seckie. We had a disappointing full moon party there but Seckie can cook incredibly well and his "Painkillers" were awesome.

The islands and bays are within a few miles of each other, so we pootled off to Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau. This island has a population of only 250 and can only be reached by boat or ferry. It is a tiny island which you can walk within one hour. One road links Salt Whistle bay (NW) with Saline Bay(SW). Salt Whistle Bay is a tight anchorage with iffy mooring buoys, lots of inexperienced charter boats , nicknamed "credit card captains" and speedy locals in their high powered fishing boats. We found a nice spot to drop our anchor with great views of the half-moon beach with it's swaying palm trees. Vendors line the shore with gaily coloured sarongs, t-shirts, dresses, shells and trinkets to sell to anyone who wants to buy, often you can strike a bargain. We took a walk up Station Hill and across the island to the village of Old Wall. The friendly welcome we received was in contrast to the islands across the water from this tiny island. The evening was finished off with a romantic sunset walk along the beach finally resting in "Last bar before the Jungle". We drank wine and rum punches out of coconut fashioned goblets and ate the best Red Snapper ever.

Mayreau encourages you to chill so any routine work on Amelie is completed first thing in the morning and the rest of the day is spent "limin".

A robust yet beautiful walk along the windward shore East from Saline Bay brought more delights......inland salt pond, views of our next anchorage - Tobago Cays (pronounced Keys) - diving Pelicans, inquisitive, busy plovers, man with machete and Stephen saw what he believed to be a Blue Marlin in the surf. After lunch a slow walk back up and over Station Hill towards our dinghy, stopping off in Robert the Righteous's bar for refreshment. Everything was 13EC, the bar was like the tardis, hand built by Robert, a local Rastafarian, who was stoned out of his mind. He proudly showed us his establishment, including his office and music/sound room. Next door was his bedroom with a sun lounger as a bed, with his clothes beautifully folded to make a pillow. His short term memory was poor for a 58 year old man but he seemed content with his life. Ralph brought us live lobsters in the late afternoon for supper but Stephen wasn't going to be ripped off again. The "Joseph Joseph" weighing scales that he cursed about were brought up on to the cockpit table and each one was weighed. There was a discrepancy between the suggested and actual weight but after collaboration with the fishermen we paid for what we got. Ju, Clive and us enjoyed a lobster supper with South African bubbly (one of the last from almost a year ago) whilst listening to Reggae and Socca Christmas carols.

Snorkelling off the Grand Col Point was an adventure and Debbie's daily exercise was ticked off by swimming back to the boat with Stephen as her look out in "M".

Most of us cruising around these parts have a copy of Chris Doyle's sailor's guide. He is suggested to be the guru of all you need to know regarding anchoring, restaurants, marine services, individuals etc. We have constantly found this guide out of date, pretty useless when it comes to recommendations for eateries, banks that don't exist (this has happened more than once) and the proof reader needs to be retired! We are constantly reminding ourselves to rely on our own discoveries as it is far more exciting.

We had a novel evening (recommended by Doyle's guide) in Dennis's Hideaway. First impressions are good, open air bar, small pool, various decks where you can see the sunset and beautifully laid tables with linen. Excellent local cooking was stated in the guide, the food was poor, something out of the 1970s with the waiter standing close by waiting to clear the table (or watching that we didn't make a runner). Pre dinner drinks at the bar proved to be a people watcher moment. A pretty young French girl in a bridesmaid dress was sweeping the floors, acting like a guest, washing up and aimlessly strolling around the bar and kitchen. She looked like Alice in Wonderland, no wedding in sight and her connection with the staff was distant. Dennis was not happy and sulkily sitting at the bar drinking his profits. The bar tender/waiter clambered onto a chair to use the VHF radio but couldn't copy what the other caller was saying. This was close to our table and in between whisking our plates away. Any chance of a romantic, intimate dinner was nil as we were joined by "Alice in Wonderland" who with the waiter, kept us company throughout our meal. This establishment certainly had a "Fawlty Towers" atmosphere to it.  A local dog walked to the restaurant with us and laid at our feet until we left. As we were leaving (with "our" dog) she exuberantly greeted a French Lady and we became history. Drawn into conversation with this delightful lady we learned that this dog tags on to tourists on the island and follows them around until it's time to leave. She implied that there was veterinary facilities for caring for these abandoned dogs. She hadn't seen this dog for months but the dog knew her instantly. Nice end to a hilarious evening.

The following morning we set off for Tobago Cays. Tobago Cays are a cluster of five uninhabited cays, sheltered from the ocean by a "Horseshoe reef". This area is a protected and policed marine park. Textbook anchoring in the most ideal spot with large Turtles swimming around. Inspection of the anchor, which we religiously do, showed that it was buried but each time a surge swung the chain, it produced more food for the Spotted Burrfish, who had taken advantage of the instant food supply. Swimming with the turtles in a cordoned off area was fantastic and then settling down to a Mexican themed evening with card games.

During our stay, Clive celebrated his birthday and we started the day with gusto. Stephen prepared us one of his fabulous cooked breakfasts, followed by Clive receiving a loud Caribbean shirt from us. He promised to wear it just once and we were delighted to see him suitably attired that evening. During the day we had a picnic on Petit Tabac, an isolated beach which was used for the desert island scene in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl". No sign of Jonny Depp but plenty of Hermit Crabs, indulging in cheese Pringles, cheese and ham. This was Ju and Debbie's scientific experiment of the day, much to the amusement of the husbands. Later that evening, Romeo collected us from our respective boats to go ashore for a BBQ  lobster supper. Plenty of Champagne was consumed that day and Clive ended up going for an evening swim fully clothed......the loud shirt had been christened.

Canouan was our next island......the Italian Deli was amazing......moving swiftly on!

Bequia was our stay for Christmas with a fast, exhilarating sail from Canouan. Seven square miles of extreme beauty with a history deeply bedded with the sea. Bequia comes from the Carib name " Becouya" meaning " Island of Clouds".  Bequia has been under the control of the French (seized from the Caribs in 1650) and the British. Sugar became the major crop on the island with cotton as a crop for the smallholders. Sugar plantations, of which there were nine, meant slave trade. In the mid 1800s the sugar production decreased and the inhabitants turned to the sea for their survival. The huge natural harbour encouraged fishing (including Whaling), wooden boat building, navigation and other marine skills. Whaling brought in a huge amount of income and many of the inhabitants today, can trace their family name back to those early European whalers. International agreement has granted Bequia aboriginal whaling rights as it is considered a true cultural tradition providing food for the islanders. This is highly controversial since whaling was only introduced by French and Scottish settlers in the 1870s. It seems now however that the traditional whalers have hung up their harpoons and see more merit in whale watching rather than whale slaughter. The wooden boat building on the shores still exists and model boat building is a source of income to the talented people of Bequia. Another great programme is the Youth and Sea programme, where young people are taught how to sail, maintain boats and raise money for their club. We had the delight of meeting some of the individuals involved in this scheme, admiring the cups the club has won and the positive thinking for it's future. 

A wonderful walk along the Belmont Walkway, up into the island and over into Friendship Bay in sandals or barefoot. Fabulous scenery with a well earned lunch on the beach. Using a "Dollar Van" to get back to Port Elizabeth with a shoot off to the airport, showed us more of the beauty of this island.

Jobs still need to be done on Amelie, despite being in Paradise. We spent a morning with Stephen sorting out the navigation lights on "M", basically rewiring them and Debbie donning mask and fins to scrub the waterline. Absolutely exhausted we stopped to enjoy the company of friends, Colin and Lou,  who we had met in Morocco and happened to be in the same anchorage. 

Bequia is in the Christmas spirit with the radio playing constant seasonal music and at dusk, a child's idea of magic, lights up the foreshore. Live music every night, not always the most musical and certainly Jeverson needs to visit. The hit of the day is "Two Christmases in One" which refers to the terrible storms they had in 2013 which left the island with no power and water on Christmas Day.

On this note we wish you (from Paradise) a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Stephen & Debbie

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