by chris ayres | May 2015 | UK to New Zealand
It was just a short hop to Bequia, part of the Grenadines. Sailing down the coast of St Vincent I had fickle winds but like the stubborn fool I am at times persisted in sailing rather than resorting straightaway to the engine. Clearing the coast the wind freshened, time to shorten sail, I settled on staysail and double reefed main, quite enough with the wind at 22-24 knots and gusting higher. Admiralty bay I am glad to stay is big with plenty of room to anchor, I was glad of that in the conditions. I headed for what I thought might be the calmer part of the bay and as luck would have it anchored quite by chance next to Lew & Bev’s cat.
In the night it really blew and rained too. I was glad of the rain as it washed all the salt spray off the boat, she had become a very salty Sea Bear.
With the salt washed off I took advantage next day to clean up the stainless of “Martha” which badly needed doing. It was still very windy and the sea choppy so I didn’t bother blowing up the dinghy to go ashore, plenty to do aboard. In the eve Lew & Bev gave me a ride into town, advantage of a big boat is a bigger and hence drier tender. We had a few drinks, some food and listened to some guys playing guitars and singing, a very pleasant eve.
Other days I explored the town, didn’t take long and walked over to Industry via Spring estate. At Industry, strangely named, you couldn’t imagine a more peaceful place was a turtle sanctuary run by a delightful old guy. Nice to see turtles close up and he is doing a great job to help preserve this endangered species.
Admiralty Bay Bequia
Close up to a Turtle
by chris ayres | May 2015 | UK to New Zealand
Left Bequia just after dawn, ran out of the bay and rounded Grand Cay. A wrecked freighter here reminds ones of potential dangers sailing here. A lovely broad reach with moderate winds took us to Canouan which I passed by carrying on towards Mayreau passing between the Baleine rocks and Catholic Island with its shoals. The wind was picking up a little, time to furl the jib , only it wouldn’t so a quick trip to the foredeck to haul it down and lash it to the deck. Then it was past the eastern side of Union Island, avoiding all the reefs of Palm Island and into the reef ringed harbour of Clifton. Forewarned that the holding was not good for anchoring I took a mooring bouy. Felt strange to be on the east side of an island facing the Atlantic with the ever present roar of surf on the reef, but the reef absorbed all the waves and it was calm inside. It had been a good passage, 30 miles in 6 hours. A visit ashore to complete departure formalities as I was leaving the St Vincent Grenadines, the next Island being Grenadian.
In the morning I walked up Fort hill above the town for some great views, although it was a little hazy towards the Tobago keys. Back to the boat , time for a swim of course then off for the short sail to Carriacou in the afternoon.
Clifton harbour from Fort Hill
Main St Clifton
by chris ayres | May 2015 | UK to New Zealand
I had anchored off Hillsborough the previous eve, only 1 other yacht here but there was a couple of Venezuelian fishing boats. One could have been a fishing boat from anywhere, but the other was very distinctive in style with a very high prow and a covered foredeck.
Ashore Hillsborough was very sleepy, it was a Sunday but formalities soon completed at Customs in the police station. Seems no buses on a Sunday so put off a visit to Windward till the next day. After a bus ride to Windward I saw wooden boats being built in the traditional way on the beach, lovely to see. Apparently they have quite a party when they launch them, would be good to be there for that.
In the afternoon I moved around the corner to Tyrrell Bay, this is the favoured anchorage for cruisers at Carriacou, so lots of boats here.
At Tyrrel Bay there is a mangrove lagoon or swamp which is a protected area for mangrove oysters so I took the dinghy there and rowed up it. Supposedly there are iguanas there but I didn’t see any.
Last minute as ever I arranged for some boat storage in Trinidad. The first place I emailed an enquiry too said they were full, which put me in a mild panic, have I left it too late?, what if they are all full? However the next two places I contacted said they had room so I reserved a lift out for 1st June, official start of hurricane season – just have to get there now.
Hillsborough beach
Boat building at Windward
Union Island from Windward
by chris ayres | May 2015 | UK to New Zealand
Dawn saw me away from Tyrrell Bay to make the passage to Grenada. The direct course to the West coast of Grenada passes over a submerged volcano, Kick ‘em Jenny, around which there is an exclusion zone, the size of which depends on the current level of activity. It was quiet at the moment. I thought I might pass to the east of the zone passing close to the island of Isle de Ronde and the rocks of the Sisters. There was however a strong current setting to the west and to counter act it I would need to be hard on the wind, so instead I choose to free off a little and pass Kick ’em Jenny to the west
I closed the Grenada coast near Gros Point and under it’s lee the seas were quieter and the wind lighter and more fickle. Looks a lovely island, forested mountains tumbling down to the sea. Eventually we arrived off St Georges at which point the wind picked up to 25 knots. Isn’t always the way , nice winds all day then coming up to anchor the wind decides to blast away! Just to make life interesting I guess. Anyway lots of room so anchor down in 5 meters and lots of chain out so holding well.
No anchoring is allowed in the Lagoon anymore, its been developed for a marina, and the Carenage is reserved for fishing boats so the anchorage is quite a dinghy ride out of the town but worthwhile for a look around. A few days here and I moved on to Prickly Bay just a few miles around the corner. This is the favoured anchorage for cruising folk. Here I had a chance encounter with another Vancouver, this a 32 “Naomi” with Ian who had recently completed a solo circumnavigation over 4 years. Had tea with him and a good gam. He too was on his way to Trinidad to store the boat for the hurricane season.
Leaving Carriacou
Rum Barrels
by chris ayres | Jun 2015 | UK to New Zealand
It is 80 miles from the south coast of Grenada to the north coast of Trinidad, too far for a daylight passage, so an afternoon or evening departure was the way to go, but what time exactly. Leave too early and with a fast passage it would still be dark on closing the Trinidad coast, something to be avoided, leave too late and with a slow passage the risk of arriving as eve falls the following day. So a noon departure was fixed on, the forecast looked good and leaving Wednesday should ensure an arrival before the weekend so we wouldn’t have to pay overtime to customs and immigration. Ian decided to leave at the same time.
Raising the anchor I headed out to sea, taking care to give a good clearance to some offshore rocks, the Porpoises, sometimes hard to see but identified by the breaking waves over them. Once past I could set a course, allowing for the west flowing current. It soon became apparent that the current was strong so I had to adjust the course to windward, not the nice beam reach I was hoping for but a close reach about 60 degrees off the wind, which was nice and steady at 15 to 17 knots and the sea state was kind. Time to settle back and enjoy the passage, “Martha” seeing to the steering I just had to monitor progress and watch for shipping. Indeed about 3 hours out 2 ships appeared, one in front and one behind, in the event one passed safely across my bows about a mile off and the other overtook me on my port side about a mile off.
Sunset and although it was cloudy the moon, about three quarters full, shone through them so the night was not dark and it was a pleasant sail.
There are a couple of gas platforms about 25 mile north off the Trinidad coast and they provide a good seamark, lit up like christmas trees they can be seen miles off. Dawn saw us about 10 miles off the coast but gradually the wind was dropping, a little later I spied a sail and then the AIS beeped, it was Ian in “Naomi”. With him being a bigger and faster boat I was very surprised to see him again and be so close after such a long passage. Transpired he had been worried by the set of the current and gone a good way to windward to avoid being set to the West whereas I had sailed a slighter shorter course.
Calm fell so we motored the last miles. closing the Boca de Monos, a passage between the mainland and Monos island. The coast was very dramatic, steep wooded cliffs falling to the sea and there were hundreds of pelicans flying in formation. Through the channel and then turned into Chaguaramas bay, threading a way through all the boats large and small we tied up alongside the customs dock to report our arrival. 80 miles plus, the log had stopped working awhile probably blocked by seaweed, there has been a lot of pelagic Sargasso weed this year. Ian had logged 100 miles.
Boca de Monos
Chaguaramaras
by chris ayres | Jun 2015 | UK to New Zealand
Chaguaramas was where I had decided to haul the boat out and lay her up for the hurricane season. It is a busy commercial shipping area but ashore there are several boatyards with very good layup and work facilities, everything from sailmakers to steel fabricators and several chandleries. A couple of days were spent on a mooring buoy in the bay, a bit rock and roll at times because of all the wake from passing boats but then it was lift out time. First I wanted to fill with diesel, a full tank limits condensation forming in the tank leading to water in the fuel. 7.30 Monday morning though there were two fishing boats alongside the fuel jetty and they didn’t look like they be moving soon. There was room inshore but space was tight, I thought I could get in OK but could I get out again? Hell lets try! I manoeuvred in OK , got tied up and filled with diesel. Getting out was even tighter than it had looked at first, well it had to be done, crunch time you might say only I managed to avoid the crunch and turn around unscathed with inches to spare. Next stop the lift out dock where the yard hands were ready to take my lines and soon Sea Bear was hoisted from the water and on stands in the yard. It felt very strange to be on the boat and it was not moving.
The next few days were spent laying up – hosing the boat down to wash all the salt off, stripping off sails and rigging and washing them, general cleaning, polishing the stainless work. I did take a day off to take the bus to Port of Spain for a look around, visited the botanical gardens etc but that was the limit of exploring Trinidad before catching a plane back to UK. There should be plenty of time to explore later when I return to the boat later in the year. Meanwhile I am back in the UK for a few months, to enjoy the English summer? and catch up with family and friends.
Ashore in the hoist
Fruit stall, Port of Spain
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