Our "loose" plans to sail to Bequia for the Christmas celebration were changed due to the accident with Monica's leg. Port Lous Grenada was still a pleasant experience. Andreas' from "Dulcinea" held a birthday party. It was a wonderful evening together with many sailors and with good food and drink.
We rented a car for 2 days and we got to visit i.a. ancient Westerhall Brewery and of course bought a bottle of rum Nr. 7😉. The trip also took us us to Annendale Falls - not exactly like Norwegian waterfalls, but nice.
Grenada has very narrow, winding and bad roads with left-hand traffic, it went well 👍. Good driving culture here.
We probably saw more than the tourist destinations since we ended up on many local "shortcuts".
After 1.5 week in port, it was nice to set course south of the island to anchor up. We ended up in Prickly Bay, on a buoy, as there were so many boats there and not much space. Finally, we could again just "fall" into the water when we felt like it 😉, delicious.
There was a nice beach with dingy pier and a beach bar -The Sand Bar. We ate fantastic tuna for dinner 👍
We also went for a walk and found a really nice beer brewery just a few hundred meters from the beach, we made a visit there 🍺.
We stayed in Prickly Bay for 6 days and The Sand Bar was visited 3 times - we had great food each time. The place can really be recommended 😃.
On Christmas Eve we sailed to Le Phare Bleu and we invited Carlton, one of the guys from the boat Mystique, to eat with us. The Christmas atmosphere and Christmas music was a bit strange and mixed experience, but cozy.
Christmas Day was celebrated with barbeque on the beach at La Luna Resort with new friends from ARC boats, we were a total of 15 people .
It was a beautiful place with another nice beach. And we went swimming both before and after it was served delicious food 😃 - fantastic.
Back in La Phare Bleu we met several people we knew and it was a nice evening.
On Monday 27 December, our crew member Egil traveled home to Norway. Then he had been with us for 2 months. It has been a nice and exciting experience we have shared, but both he and we thought it would be good that we were now going back to the "usual", he home and eventually to work and we to sail on "the two of us" as we usually do .
On the 29th we sailed north towards Carriacou accompanied by the boat «Nova». Due to more wind and bigger waves than desired, we anchored in Halifax Harbor, Grenada. The next day we sailed on to Sparrow Bay, Carriacou. There we met «Escapade» and «Zelda», both participants in ARC +.
On New Year's Eve, we had all booked a table at Tim's Sunset Bar & restaurant in Anse Roche Bay. We were picked up by motorboat, as the place was only accessible by boat, and it was too rolly to stay there with a sailboat. When we arrived at the beach we had to wade ashore 😃.
There were 5-6 large tables under a roof covered with palm leaves. There was also a bar and a dance floor. The chef, Tim himself, roasted a pig whole and there were lots of freshly grilled lobster, chicken, etc. with wine and drinks and everything at a good price.
The whole experience was wonderful 😃
On January 1, 2022, we moved a little south to Hillsborough. We anchored just outside the city and on Sunday we and 2 of the other couples wandered around the city. No big city, but it has most of what you need.
On our way through the city we passed one of several churches. There was a service and we were invited in. We lined up silently at the back, but were asked to come forward. We felt a little anxious standing in shorts and a t-shirt and all the others were in their Sunday clothes 😏.
The pastor wanted to pray for us and asked the whole congregation to stretch out their arms toward us as he prayed.
When he was done he wished us a still nice journey and then he said "now you can go" 😂.
On the way out we could see in the faces of the others in the congregation that this had just been perfectly ok.
An unusual but nice experience.
We also found a small shop / bar where we talked to the owners and were told that on Fridays and Saturdays they made soup in large pots - take away.
Kai and I went back the following Saturday and ate delicious meat soup.
We joined a diving center to go diving, and it was the first dive since we took the diving certificate (again) in October 2020.
I, Monica, was very nervous, but the dive leader was very calm and she made me relax. When we came down we swam at a depth of 15-18 meters, we saw a large lobster, a small shark lying under a rock and lots of fish in beautiful colors. After 40 minutes we went up again and then moved to a new place and dive no. 2 - a new nice experience 😃👍.
We also took a trip to Tyrell Bay where we rented a kayak and paddled into the mangrove forest. Exciting!
Many sailors and other boaters drive their boats into the mangrove forest and moor there when there are tropical storms or hurricanes on the way.
I think we would rather try to be in a different area if there are storms on the way. It did not look 100% safe 😏.
At Paradise Beach we met some guys who had lots of live lobster. We got their contact information and the next morning we ordered and got 4.5 kilos of live lobster delivered to the boat. Kai killed and divided them 1 hour before barbequeing.
We were 4 couples, from Nova, Dulcinea and Zelda and us, who loaded up the dinghies with bbq's, plates, glasses and cutlery, wine, beer, salads, etc. and went to the beach.
It was a completely undescribable evening and Kai was the grill manager😃 - pictures can give an idea..
Kai and I moved to Sandy Island for a couple of days, lovely 👍. Here we got to snorkel a bit at some coral reefs.
Then with several other ARC boats, we went again to Paradise Beach Club, this time to paint the boat's name on wooden planks to hang on the wall. We were from 6-7 boats that night. Several boats i.a. Norwegian ARC boats, had been there earlier (for years) and done the same.
Then we had to do a PCR test and checkout before we sailed on to Union Island and checkin there. It's a new area, but here in the area of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines we can visit several islands before we need new tests.
We "caught" up with some new and some "old" friends on Union Island, and after we moved from Clifton to Chatham Bay we also got a new bbq and a real campfire on the beach 😃. We also went for a walk to look around a bit on land as well.
After a few days in Chatham Bay, we sailed on to the Tobago Cays after a shopping stop in Clifton. There has been a lot of wind the last few days and the trip from Clifton to Tobago Cays was quite "bumpy" with headwind and a lot of waves, but getting there was worth every wave - what a place !!! 😃
Absolutely fantastic, with turquoise blue water, reefs and beautiful snorkeling areas.
We have snorkeled on beautiful coral reefs with turtles and sting-rays, sharks and lots of fish. It's like being in an aquarium 😃.
Hard to describe, but some of the pictures can give an indication of how great it is here. This is the place to visit in the Caribbean.
Snorkling with a shark.
After 4 days in the Tobago Cays we sailed on to Saline Bay on Mayreau. We went for a walk together with Ross and Loise from "Blue Mist" across the island. It was really hot, up and down steep hills, and on the way back we stopped by a cool bar where Kai had a "jamming session" on bongo drums with Robert "Righteous", a famous Rastafarian. 😃 Robert sang while they both played.
Further down towards the bay and the boat, we passed Dennis' s Hideaway, a bar / restaurant and "guesthouse". Dennis runs everything by himself and creates a pleasant atmosphere, he is also a skilled chef, a kind of ombudsman, he has had Mick Jagger as a guest several times - what stories he had to tell. He served us a delicious goat curry. It was late before we got back to the boat. 😃
Now we sail on to Mustique, the island where i.a. Mick Jagger has a house, and for the next 2 weeks there's also a blues festival .
Monica & Kai Robert
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