Salt Whistle Sailing: DAD'S ADVENTURES IN PARADISE PART 2 of 4

CARRIACOU, GRENADA -

Wednesday, October 21^st –

The weather and sea conditions were so good that Momo was able to be on deck for part of our sail. The ride was so smooth, I'm not sure he even realized that we were underway!

Momo looking up at the Genoa sail

We arrived to Carriacou at around 4:30pm and anchored in Tyrrel Bay. There were quite a few boats, and the water was bluer than I had remembered.


Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

We went for a swim and took boat showers, put the motor on the dinghy, then dinghied to shore.

Dad enjoying his swim in clear blue waters

We had dinner at the Lazy Turtle restaurant. The pizzas were delicious. We were told that they are the best pizzas in the country, and I have to agree. There was a birthday party there, and everyone in attendance was wearing brightly colored wigs.

Lazy Turtle is a great little beach-side restaurant

Sunset in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

After filling our bellies we walked down the beach in the moonlit night and checked out the boatyard and the fuel dock. On the way back to the boat the dinghy started to act up, and wasn’t running right. Probably time for new spark plugs. Oh, boats…always something!

Monday, October 26 -

I made eggs and pancakes for breakfast, then Skeeter dinghied to shore to check us out of customs. We needed fuel and water, and the fuel prices in Carriacou are duty free. This is a significant savings when compared to the main island of Grenada, and they have quality fuel. In some places you can get cheap fuel off a barge from Venezuela, but the sediment and impurities in it are not worth the risk of harming our engine.

Around 30% off retail price when you get duty free!

Carriacou Marine has a great reputation for having good prices and doing good work. For that reason, a lot of boaters haul their boats out here. We might haul Salt Whistle out there next year to do some work.

A boat "splashing" after getting work done in the boatyard

Salt Whistle has only been on a dock a handful of times since we’ve owned her, and I had yet to be behind the wheel any of those times. The fuel dock in Carriacou is a bit of a tricky approach for a sailboat with very limited maneuverability, since there are lots of obstacles and shallow reef right in front of the dock. And to add to the stress, a little hobie cat under sail was coming straight at us in the narrow channel and I had nowhere I could move.

It's usually me driving the boat, but I hadn't put her on a dock yet

Despite the obstacles, I pulled up to the dock perfectly on my own for the first time, after yelling at my crew just a little bit. The dock master said he couldn’t believe it was my first time, since he always sees people crash into this dock and I put her on it so smoothly. He said I put those other guys to shame.

Skeeter filled our tanks with duty free diesel, including our 2 jerry cans to have a little bit extra just in case. Those jerry cans of diesel saved us in the past, since one time we didn't realize our fuel gauge wasn't working and we ran out of fuel during a storm! Thanks to those extra few gallons of fuel we were able to make it safely into port.

Skeeter filling our fuel tanks with duty free diesel

On the other side of the dock was a sailboat with a couple from Detroit, Michigan who were about to perform a de-naming ceremony. We had never seen this before, and were very interested in witnessing it. It involved reading a poem to the sea gods and making an offering of red wine into the sea over the bow.

Pouring the wine overboard during the ceremony

Making a toast

After waiting for the other boat to finish filling their water tanks I filled up our water tank and jerry cans. We only use the starboard water tank right now, since we think the port side and forward water tanks have leaks in them. It is going to be difficult to figure out where the leaks are and to repair them, since the water tanks are underneath the floorboards and access is extremely limited.

I'm ready to fill up our water tank & jerry cans

I was somehow distracted when the dock master gave me the bill and I didn’t realize until we had left the country that we had been grossly overcharged for water. It said we bought 366 gallons when we only really got around 50. Damn! I need to pay attention next time!

Maybe I should have been checking the bill instead of posing for a picture!

We got a later start than intended because of breakfast and fueling taking so long. We left Carriacou at 1:30pm and sailed to the Grenadines.

Approaching Union Island, Grenadines

About to entry a new country

We put up the main and the genoa, but soon decided to furl in the genoa and motor sail because we were racing the clock to get to customs before 4:30pm to avoid the overtime fee, and we had to fight against a strong current.