Continuing along to Grenada

After a few days in Bequia we moved on to Canouan 15 miles to South. It was another vigorous sail with a double reefed main and wind just forward of the beam. A big rain squall came through just as we were about to anchor, so I got a bit wet up on the bow. We have been getting rain almost every day the last few weeks, though just short showers but sometimes heavy. We just walked around here a bit and looked at a small shop. After and hour we left and headed for Tobaggo Island a couple of miles away.

Tobaggo Key is the prettiest spot in the Grenadines. We spent the night here and did some snorkeling and had a short walk on the small island. It is a park and nothing here except nature and lots of other yachts. Through out the windward islands most of the yachts we see are bareboat charters, it seems to be big business down here.

After a day here we moved on to Clifton on Union island which is the last of the Grenadines except for Petit St Vincent. This is a nice spot to spend a couple of days and that's what we did. Got some good walks in up some local hills including the 'fort' which has an old fort on top of the hill and gives some great views.
   We cleared out with customs and immigration the last day hear and then headed for Carriacou which is a new country and part of Grenada. But first we stopped for the night at Petit St Vincent, which only has a private resort on it. Dorothy wanted to do some snorkeling here. We took dinghy out to a little sand island in the reef for a look see and did some snorkeling which was so so. We then did another dinghy ride for the 1/2 mile crossing to Petit Martinique for a quick look. This is part of Grenada but has no officials here.

The next morning we did the 5 miles over to Carriacou at the town of Hillsbourough and cleared in with customs for Grenada. We soon noticed the prices for shopping are better here. The town seems more affluent as well than St Vincent. Using our wi fi booster we found a free wifi sight that was unsecured again, most of our stops we have found a unsecured sight but most are very slow. This sight how ever was great and we uploaded a bunch of pictures to the blog finally.

We went for a long walk the next morning to the top of a nearby hill. We found a trail marked with red paint that left the road and took us to the top of the peak with great views. This is the second highest peak on the island. When we got back to our dinghy which was tied to the dock rails. A local fellow said he kept an eye on our dinghy for us and wanted some money. I said thanks but we never asked him to look after it and that were sure everyone here is honest and that it is safe. He still persisted a bit even as we left. This was a real problem in the Grenadines, we gave the dock boys a few ec dollars several times to help them out.  But here in Granada I don't think it's necessary.


INFO

-Beqia our favorite spot in the Grenadines. We found the Grenadines surprisingly expensive considering they are such a poor country, Probably the poorest of the windward islands we saw. I don't know how they afford anything, unless they are just gouging the tourists. We hardly bought anything here because of the prices and also choice was very limited. For Grocery's the best bet seems to be to take ferry to Kingston or your boat.


-For Canouan we anchored in 18ft at 12 42.48N 61 19.74W on April 24. We landed on the beach between the two docks as docks looked not great for dinghy with the swell and also hard to climb up on.


-Tobaggo key anchored at 12 37.91N 61 21.42W and I believe it was about 20 ft deep forgot to note it. A beautiful spot. We did not get charged anything though I think the charter boats were charged.


-Clifton at Union island we anchored in 30 ft at 12 35.68N 61 24.70W prices still expensive here. We used the beach once for the dinghy and other times used the anchor hotel dinghy dock, as they not ask for money here and we bought water here as well from a hose. Other docks some one greets you and asks for a fee.
-Petit St Vincent anchored in 30 ft at 12 32.10N 61 23.28W from here we dinghed over to Petit Martinique for a quick look see.


-Carriacou (Granada) anchored here on April 30 2013 in 25 ft at 12 29.03N 61 27.70W There was a $50ec charge for one month from customs and $8.30 ec for one crew member from immigration. Stayed a extra day due to the great free Internet we picked up.