The Caribbean way

In preparation for our life aboard a sailboat, we spent days, weeks, months watching vlogs and reading blogs from other cruisers. So many questions, concerns and wanting to know what to expect. Frankly, it’s only after you’ve gone into the sunset that you realize you’re only partially prepared for what to expect. With great enthusiasm, Jeroen and Rajesh started preparing for the redesign of the electrical cabling, the installation of the Victron Quattro-II and the shore power transformer. After making an extensive parts list, they went to the boat parts store, where they came back very disappointed. The owner was present, but still unpacking all the stock, so he has decided to stay closed for the coming week, so that he has the time to unpack everything himself. Maybe it will open again on Thursday (it is now Saturday). The following days there was a heavy storm and in between all the showers Jeroen and Rajesh made as many preparations as possible, such as moving the water maker and hanging the Quattro-II. These are the moments when you lack solid ground under your feet and space. Everything is in disarray, the kitchen, living room and cockpit are full of tools and impassable for me. Because it’s storming outside, taking a walk is not an option and the only place I can be is our bedroom. I settled in here with some food and drink and my laptop with Season 4 of the Elementary series. I’m having a great time for the next few hours, but these are those moments when I miss my family and friends, where I would otherwise have gone to have a chat or go to the movies together. We also had to miss the first birthdays, promotions and a wedding. The physical distance feels big and that sometimes really hurts. Thursday morning Jeroen and Rajesh go back to the store and they were again in front of a closed door. It sucks, but this is the Caribbean way of life. We have therefore decided to sail the next morning to the island of Carriacou, which is part of the independent three-island country of Grenada – Carriacou and Petit Martinique. We check out in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, leaving Bequia tomorrow morning at 07:00 and sailing to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou. It was a beautiful sailing trip that took us 5 hours. The wind was between 13 and 20 knots diagonally behind and the boat went at a nice speed of between 6 and 9.6 knots. Carriacou (pronounced Carry-a-coo) is home to 8,000 residents. The capital is Hillsborough, the only town on the island. The port authorities are located in Tyrell Bay, which is why we sail there first. Tyrell Bay is where the mangroves and oyster beds are located, protected area and used by yachts to shelter from hurricanes. This is the first bay for us where we find it really busy with boats. We still manage to get a spot and drop our anchor. Jeroen goes to immigration and customs to check us and the boat in. Tyrell Bay has two marinas and a Budget Marine boat parts store and we hope this will help us get more parts for our boating job. Every country and every bay is new and for us there is nothing more fun than to first discover where everything is exactly. They go ashore at Carriacou Marina and walk towards the road from there. You can’t get lost on an island, because you can go around the island either to the left or to the right. We follow the road towards the other marina which is on the other side of the bay. It is quiet on the street, we hear the birds chirping, the sun is shining and we walk under a fan of green trees in the shade. Some of the houses we pass by cheerful Caribbean music and you can see people relaxing in their hammocks under the veranda and the smell of a joint is also present this time. Slowly we see the first small cheerful shops, bars and street restaurants and we know that we are getting closer to the core of the bay. There is a large supermarket and we cannot resist the temptation to walk in to orientate what they have. We see grapes and become very happy and buy them for our walk back along the beach. We have not yet found the Budget Marine boat parts store.

The supermarket has free WiFi and we make good use of this at that time to download a number of series and films on our phones. On rainy evenings/days we regularly hold a movie night or watch a number of episodes of a series. After asking around at other boats, it turns out that we should have walked another 300 meters for the Budget Marine boat parts store. With great hopes, we went there the next day and came back with only a Grenada flag that we didn’t have yet. Also, here they did not have the stuff that Jeroen and Rajesh need for their boat job. We decide to forget about the job for a while and enjoy our time here at Carriacou. We take a beautiful walk from Tyrell Bay to the capital Hillsborough, where everything appears to be closed on Sundays, including the bars and restaurants. Everything looks deserted and quiet. A local resident was kind enough to explain that there is a small roadside restaurant behind it that sells some food, because we had counted on going here for lunch. Mr Grill, turned out to make delicious chicken wings with rice and they tasted extra good. After filling our bellies again, we continued walking. Where the road ends at Lauriston Airport, we followed the beach to a stranded shipwreck and tracked through the mangroves.

This shortened path easily cuts through Lauriston point and connects Hillsborough Bay with L’Esterre Bay and Paradise Beach. We came out of the mangroves and splashed into the shallows with our clothes on to cool off before following the road until we were back in Tyrell Bay. The next day we take a short sailing trip to Sandy Island. Sandy Island is a small uninhabited islet opposite the beaches of Lauriston Point, Hillsborough Bay and L’Esterre Bay. Today the weather is less nice and there is a strong wind of 25-30 knots and in the end, we are the only boat moored in front of the island. It is a pity that we cannot make recordings with our drone. During a dinghy a bit of salt water ended up on the joystick of the controller and unfortunately, despite all efforts by Jeroen to repair it, this resulted in the controller no longer working. We snorkel every day and in addition to the usual Caribbean reef fishing, we see large schools of anchovies and herring.

Next to our boat we are regular spectators of these fish that sometimes jump out of the water in hundreds because they are attacked from below by larger fish, above water they are met by the birds of prey and pelicans. In the evening, we walk along the deserted beach and watch the beautiful sunset. Across from Sandy Island is Paradise Beach Club. A really lively little restaurant/bar, where we had dinner the first night. They will pick you up from your boat and bring you back after dinner, this is much better than a rough dinghy ride in the dark. Every Wednesday afternoon at the Beach Club they have a painting afternoon where you can paint the name of your boat on a piece of wood and it will be attached to the wall along with all the others. It is also a nice afternoon to meet other cruisers. We met many other cruisers who, like us, have just started their sailing adventure. So, recognizable how everyone experienced the first weeks. We bombarded the cruisers with more experience with many questions, especially getting Wifi on board the boat is a topic that is discussed for a long time. Starlink seems to be a good solution, which we will look into further. After five days of Sandy Island, the stock on board has become a lot less and it is time to do some shopping. We motor a little further to Hillsborough Bay. Here we are now anchored and, in addition to doing the shopping, we will look for a place with Wifi to update the website