Hi from Clare, Saturday 28th January 2012
When I last wrote we had left Barbados on a slow travel down to Trinidad. We arrived last Saturday at Port Elizabeth in Bequia and stayed for three nights. Bequia had everything we needed, a protected anchorage, lots of cruising friends, wifi, fresh food, and a few restaurants along the foreshore for evening gatherings and rum punches.
Views of Bequia
Nine cruising buddies hired a taxi (truck with bench seats in the back) and traveled around the small island for a few hours; a very pretty and peaceful spot; a good place to visit.
We left Tuesday stopping off at Saltwhistle Bay on the island of Mayreau.
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| Saltwhistle Bay |
This little bay was Caribbean picture post card perfect but apart from a few islanders selling T-shirts and sarongs there wasn’t anything to keep us longer than one rolly night.
The next morning we sailed 1.5 miles across to Tobago Cays. This is reputably the best reef in the area with turtles, tropical fish and soft corals. We stayed for two days along with Tony on ‘Tactical Directions’ and enjoyed good company, beautiful beaches and snorkeling in a 28 degree aqua sea, as Tony said “Not a patch on the Barrier Reef” but then we are probably biased.
Tobago Cays
GO ANDREW!
Yesterday we sailed 6 miles to Union Island for supplies and to check out of St Vincent and Grenadines. When we checked in at Bequia, Andrew had a heated discussion with the Customs and Immigration people as they charge a hefty overtime fee between the hour 3-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. The problem is, the times are not published and the overtime rates are not mentioned until after the paperwork is done. So when we came to check out yesterday on a different island they tried to charge an overtime rate between 12-1pm on a weekday because of lunchtime. Once again the overtime hours are not published or written on the door. Andrew stood his ground saying he wasn’t prepared to pay an overtime fee because this is a government office and the overtime hours are public information. In the end the overtime fee was waved base on our “lack of knowledge”.
GRENADAN GRENADINES
So we are now at Carriacou Island in the Grenadan Grenadines. We are in the lovely calm anchorage of Tyrell Bay. Since leaving Bequia last Tuesday we have experienced very windy conditions. It is lovely now to be in calm waters; people are driving their dinghies around without getting drenched. We have come here to meet Pete and Courtney on ‘Norna’ who we feel we know after speaking with them for many months on the radio Net. It will be a quick hello as we arrived late yesterday and intend leaving tonight to sail 105 miles to Trinidad.
Love Team Atlantic
A, B & C xx
