I had a great birthday. Started with a dip in the sea and at 11 we sailed to Mayreau to stay there on a bouy for the night. Sofia, Fredrik and Peter join us to celebrate my birthday at Mayreau beach club & villa. Had a fantastic day with lunch, hanging at the pool and dinner in the evening. Thank you Edgar for a great day spoiling me. Love you
Next morning we just went around the corner from Mayreau to Tabago Cays. This is a very popular place to snorkel and see a lovely sea life like turtles, rays and lots off fishes. Marie even saw a small shark out on the reef. Every morning I saw turtles coming swimming in to the reefs. First I saw a dark spot on the water and then a little head bright head.
We spent a few days here snorkelling, swimming, hanging with sailing friends and having a lobster dinner with them.
We said bye for now to Northstar that is going to pick up there daughter in St Lucia. After few rolling days in Tobago Cays we decided to join Mary to Sandy lane Marina in the south of Canouan. This is a very luxurious Marina. The facility is fantastic and the pool by the beach. You don’t think you are in Caribbean. Best is that the boat is still and we can have a calm night with air conditioning on. We are very happy that our friends on Zelda has arrived to St Lucia. It took them 25 days. It was a tough sailing with little wind. Well done
We heard from others that there was a nice bay on the east side of Union. We decided to meet up with Zelda there. When we arrived Elvira and BlueSunshine was there. Two off our sailing companions . Took a walk over to A to try a place that Mikael and Marianne was recommended by other sailers. A very colourful little restaurant and good food. Nice houses and views along the walk.
Finally we are in a calm bay so the stand up paddle board could be blown up and be used. It felt very shaky paddling but will be better I hope. Even if Lucia is passed I wanted to make more Lussebullar. This isn’t easy without saffron. I have tried to find it but with no luck until Mikael said he had some and was willing to give me some if I gave him Lussebullar in return. Can’t say no to that offer. Ended up having a lovely evening on our boat with the hole family from BlueSunshine and Elvira while the Lussebullar was made.
Next day Zelda arrived. So nice to see Sofia and Fredrik again. Haven’t seen them since we left Las Palmas in nov. We also got to meet Fredriks brother Peter that sailed with them across the Atlantic.
Hugs Eva
All is fixed on the boat and we head up to Sandy Island just outside Carriacou. Here we are not by our self lots of other boats. Best is that we dropped anchor and now I can jump in to the water from the boat. This is one thing that I have longed for. An other is to use my SUP board but that has to wait for a calm bay. Instead it is time to try our dinghy. It has only been in the water twice since we left Sweden. Once in Scotland and once in Spain and both times rowing. During this time it has been locked to the boat trough the hole sailing with all saltwater splashing on the lock. It was not only to unlock it and host the dinghy down. Edgar had to use our angel grinder, luckily we have extra looks with us. The dinghy is in the water and we head in to sandy island to have a swim.
Here we stayed for 2 nights just relaxing and enjoying sunset, swimming, reading, cooking and planning where to go next.
We decided to check out from Grenada an in to StVincent and the Grenadines. The island you see behind sandy island on the picture above is Union and is part of StVincent and the Grenadines. So not very far between the island. Time to move on and check out from Grenada. This can be done on Carriacou, so we decided to go in to Hillsborough on Carriacou. But they only had custome no immigration so we had to go down to Tyrell Bay. Drop anchor once more take the dinghy in and sit in a queue. While we where waiting, Micheal from Mary 1 came in as well to check out. They have very good food at the restaurant next to the custom and immigration office. Back in to the dinghy and sail up to Union to declare us in.
We got a buoy at the bay outside Clifton. Much easier and faster than put in anchor, specially when we get help with the lines. After that it is time to go in to land and declear us in. The office was closing so we had to walk to the airport…. Puah we thought until we realise that it was just around the corner. Took us less then 15 min to walk and no queue only one person checking in then us. All in all this was a full day and now it was time for dinner at the boat. We just got back in time before the sky opened up.
When it rains it rains really much but after that it is clear again and we had a magical sky. couldn’t decide which picture so here is a few
The next day was quite grew and rainy . We went in to town to get some money, fresh fruit,juice and soft drinks. Ended up with only money. The prices are ridiculous high. A medium size pineapple they wanted 14€ and a soft drink 33cl can 1.8€ and a litre juice cost from 4.5€.
It is 13 Dec and Lucia day in Sweden. So what’s better then to decorate the boat little, relax and do puzzle on the Ipad( tricky to have real puzzle on a boat that rolls a lot) while Edgar starts taking care of the lobster we bought. It was really good. We also follow our friends on Zelda that are on their way over the Atlantic with ARC. They are almost in St Lucia.
Next morning we head over to the island Mayreau. It was only 20 min away so very close . We ended up outside a very nice hotel which turned out to owned by a Swedish couple. They also have restaurants in Sweden. So next time we have to go to Falkenberg and Flipflop on the west cost . Not far from my hometown. We had a lovely day and evening with Marie and Kim from Northstar and Helena,Michael and Martin from Mary1. It seams like it is underwater currents in the bay since our boat is turned towards the other boats.
When we came back in the evening we saw that the other boats was very close to each other so Edgar went in the dinghy while I contacted our friends that was still at the restaurant. It was a bit dramatic but together in the dinghy’s the kept the boats apart and moved one off the boats to a buoy instead of anchoring.
Hugs Eva
After a nice full night sleep we where ready to fix things in the boat . Edgar went to declare us in. That took some hours. I was happy he was up quite early and was almost the first otherwise he might have spent queuing until after lunch since many boats had arrived during night and also needed to declare in. We went to do some grocery shopping. The food store was much better equipped then Cape Verde. Bit more expensive but that we knew. Our crew finally found tickets to fly home without needing to have to many stops on the way. They leave on Sunday afternoon so before that we needed to get the mainsail down so the rigger could have a look and hopefully fix our fueler. Just needed to wait for the winds to calm down. It was not that easy as the sail is 66m2 and the battens on the boats are standing . That means the longest is 21m long and the shortest app 3m . The sail came down and tied around the boom.
Matti went to a hotel to get better sleep. Although it didn’t roll any more. He needed to stretch out and get some better sleep maybe also a little bigger bed. The cabins beds are not the biggest one although Magnus stayed on the boat with us. The three of us went for a walk and ended up almost in the city center. We didn’t want to walk back in the heat so we decided to take the bus back to the Marina. These minibuses fit 14 plus to in the front. Only cost 2.5 Caribbean dollar wich is 10 sv kr. They let you jump on and of where you want on the route.
Our last night together we went over to the hotel where Matti stayed at and had a lovely dinner. Before that all three of us had to take a swim in the ocean. The first one since we leaft Cape Verde. Very nice hotel would have loved to stay there but maybe next time😀
We wave by to our crew who went home to their wife’s. Five weeks away and three off them on the sea where there was limited contact. The wife’s was happy to get their husbands back home. I finished my knittings to my grandchildren so Matti took them home and I know that they will get them in time for Christmas. Let’s hope they fit them also. If you get caught in the rain you get really wet.. what to do then ? Bake Lussekatter of course. Glad I brought saffron with me. It is hard to find. In this heat you don’t have much energy and all things you plan to do takes so much longer time and you need to rest in between maybe take a dip in the pool in the Marina. Which was very popular amongst many of us but guess the kid’s most. I am so glad that we got help with cleaning the hull and all our stainless steel. Vinegar in the water is the trick to get rid of the salt and after that wash the hull with boat shampoo. The boat is shining again. For now… The riggers fixed the fueler and now it is working. With help from Even, Jörn and Johnny from the Norwegian boat Lise the sail is back in the mast. Thank you guys for the help. Me and Edgar couldn’t have done it without your help. Lise and Saphir is actually roommates. Hmm you think a boat can’t have roommates but they can. In wintertime they are at the same yatch service in Henån. And now we have been sailing from Las Palmas via Cape Verde and to Grenada. The world is not that big…
The next morning we had a guided bus tour around the iland toghether with Even,Jörn and Johnny. We went to Annadale waterfall where we could jump in tomtar water but to many people and the water look so and so. Next stop was at Grand Etang national park with a lake in crater. Grand Etang Lake is a 36 acre crater lake inside an ancient volcano, one of two crater lakes in Grenadine. The lake is full with fish but you are not aloud to fish there. The guys was not that impressed. More fun was it with the monkeys. I wanted meet them. While Johnny was taking photos of me he got surprised by the others monkey that jump on him.
Time for lunch at Belmonte and see the chocolate factory. It was a very interesting guided tour where we got to know from harvesting the cocoa bean, fermenting, sorting, drying and becoming chocolate. Most of these steps are by hand only machines are used to sort out the size of the beans and getting the chocolate out of the bean. When they are drying they walk on the beans to spread them around and to give love to them as our guide said. So of course I had to try that. By the way the chocolate is really good but very expensive. Will eat it on special occasion.
The tour has one more stop. The River Antoine estate. A rom distillery that also using old tradition. Interesting to look at the procedure but didn’t feel so much for trying or drinking this rom. It is also very strong 74 % and can only be bought in Grenada. Very popular rom amongst the inhabitants. The last picture is when they are bottling the rom by hand and doing the last filtering.
Almost all boat us arrived and it is time for price ceremony. Lots of prizes for many boats. Best prize in my opinion was to Infinity that was keeping Helga company after they got problem with their rodder and was on top of that getting in water. Time to say good bye or fare winds to lots of new sailing friends, some of them we will meet along our sailing or follow on different ways. We also look forward to get out of a Marina and trough an anchor in a bay wheee we can jump in to the sea from the boat.
I still love to get feedback 🙂 Hugs Eva
Sailing with Saphir 