This is the first half of this trip report, through November 4. ..Carol Hill This was our first visit to SVG and our first flotilla. Aboard DELPHINE, a Sunsail Jenneau 36i were my wife, myself and our 13-year old son. Neither of our two older children could go on this trip, so it was the smallest crew we've gone with so far. This, together with the perceived challenges of harder sailing and security of this cruising ground prompted us to give flotilla sailing a try. Having read the stories of attacked cruisers and aggressive boat boys, and with Sandy forming in the Caribbean, this decision increased our peace of mind leading up to the trip, though in hindsight it appears we needn't have worried and the trip turned out wonderfully.
We left Seatac airport the evening of the 26th for our overnight flight to Miami on American Airlines. I was concerned about the possible effect of Sandy on MIA operation, but apart from canceled flights to Jamaica and the Bahamas everything seemed to be running normally. Our flight from Miami to Barbados was delayed due to mechanical issues, but fortunately we still got to Barbados in time to catch the SVG Airlines flight to St. Vincent. Flying SVG Air instead of LIAT ( based partly on feedback on this forum ) turned out to be a good decision. Other flotilla participants flying LIAT arrived only after many hours of delay. The terminal in Barbados was somewhat chaotic, but eventually the SVG Air agent led us to the plane. After landings at Canouan, Union and one other place I can't remember, we landed at St. Vincent, where we were met by Harold, a taxi driver sent by the Sunsail base. At this point, it was already dark and raining heavily. We had planned to provision on the way to the base, but seeing how the supermarket was jam-packed with people sheltering from the rain we decided that my wife would go provision on her own during the chart briefing the next morning. We did stop at a cash machine to pick up some local currency. Traffic jams turned what should have been a short drive into a longer one and after a 24-hour trip we were eager to arrive.
At the Sunsail base, we were greeted by Simon Carey, who is the base manager and manager for Sunsail and Moorings in the region. He was extremely friendly and welcoming, as were all the staff. Blue Lagoon is, of course, a much smaller base than Tortola and the difference in personal attention was very noticeable.
The boat was ready, we put our bags aboard and went to the bar of the "Black Pearl" restaurant overlooking the base, where Simon treated us to a drink.
At the bar, we met some of the other flotilla participants, a group from Oklahoma, Oregon and San Diego who would eventually form the 8-person crew of a Sunsail 444 - one of four boats that would make up the flotilla. The others were a Sunsail 39i, our 36i, and a Beneteau 44 lead boat.
After stowing our things, we settled down to our first night on the boat.
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The next morning's weather was much nicer and we were able to see our surroundings. Blue Lagoon is pretty, but not completely protected from swell and surge and the docks and boats are in constant motion.
We had been given complimentary breakfast coupons, so we ate in the restaurant. I then attended the chart briefing while my wife took a taxi to provision on her own. At the chart briefing I met the remaining flotilla participants: apart from the crew of the Cat who would be collectively referred to as the "Okies", there were 2 couples from the south of England on the 39i who would be collectively referred to as the "Brits". I never learned what we were collectively referred to, and perhaps it's for the better.
The base manager Simon led the chart briefing, which he did with characteristic enthusiasm. He welcomed us to the "real caribbean", described some highlights and answered a few questions. We met the crew of the lead boat: the captain was a very young man of French heritage with roots in Bequia named (or nicknamed) Kenzo. The technician and hostess were Aldo and Victoria, both Vincentian and also in their early twenties.
When I returned from the chart briefing, my wife had already returned from the supermarket and was stowing provisions with my son's help. The supermarket run is usually one of the more stressful aspects of these trips and I felt bad that she had to do it without my help.
The plan was to leave around noon for Admiralty bay on Bequia, a logical first stop. Since the entrance to Blue Lagoon is right around the draft of our boat (6'2") depending on tide, Sunsail likes to take the boats in and out themselves and they got no argument from me. We seemed to be ready first, and after dropping our pilot outside the lagoon we were on our way. Wind was SE about 10 knots with moderate seas. With nobody else in sight, we raised the main only to sail slowly on a close reach toward Bequia - I didn't want to get too far ahead of the lead boat since I wasn't sure of how the flotilla would be run. Eventually, we saw two other boats emerge in our wake and we were overtaken by the Beneteau. Rounding Devil's Table, we got our first glimpse of Admiralty bay and our first interaction with a "boat boy" as we were met by "Afrikans" in a dinghy who led us to one of the mooring buoys close to town and tied us up, for which he collected EC $50 (about $20 US). When the flotilla was complete, Victoria (Vicky) came around and distributed a repurposed water bottle of her rum punch to each boat and asked if we would join the group dinner at Coco's. We were treated to quite a bit of this punch in the course of the next two weeks and though I don't know what exactly went into it it was manifestly a dangerous concoction.
The lead boat had a kayak and a paddleboard (the Yolo Yak) on deck and I borrowed the paddleboard to explore the harbor, which was good fun. This particular paddleboard is very stable and perfect for the beginner. We never have room for toys like this, but they fit perfectly on someone else's deck and having them along was a nice bonus.
Just before dinner, we learned that one of the crew of the Cat had taken a fall and had to have some medical treatment, so the group decided not to go to dinner. We ended up having dinner with just the Brits and the Crew. The seafood dinner was nice with entrees priced around $20.
After dinner, we settled down to our first night out on the boat, which was on the warm and humid side with little wind.
10/28 Sunday: We woke early the next morning and had breakfast aboard (french toast and eggs). By this time, a problem with the boat had become evident - the head leaked a bit at the base. Not unusable, but not pleasant and something we wanted fixed if possible. We showed Aldo first and when he wasn't able to fix it Sunsail promised to send a tech out to our next stop.
We had our first morning flotilla meeting aboard the Cat, where Kenzo informed the group of his decision to proceed from Admiralty Bay directly to the Tobago Cays. This was fine with us, since that was our top priority destination, but the Brits were none too happy because it bypassed Mustique and they communicated in no uncertain terms that they intended to visit there. Long swells from hurricane Sandy were still running and Kenzo was of the opinion that Mustique would be very rolly (which was probably true).
The boats left together about 10 am on a close reach (wind still SE at this time). Having the smallest boat, we fell a bit behind on the 24 mile passage. We motorsailed the last bit so that the lead boat would not have to wait as we intended to enter the Cays together. As we threaded our way between Petit Rameau and Petit Bateau, our destination came into view.
The Cays had the largest concentration of boat boys that we saw on the trip, and one (I think it was Romeo) was on hand to thread our lines through the mooring buoy just behind Baradel. Sunsail encouraged us to use the mooring buoys here on the premise that the fee ( EC$45 per day plus EC$10 per person per day park fee) supports the park.
Unlike the BVI, where mooring buoys all pretty much have a pendant and float, the buoys in SVG are more diverse and many have a ring and chain which is too heavy and cumbersome for a flimsy boat hook. There is usually someone willing to help and in our situation the lead boat crew was on hand. I've seen other boat crews launch their own dinghy to help with that, but that requires sufficient crew. When I return sans flotilla, I might have to experiment with picking up such moorings by the stern like a singlehander would.
Once we got settled, it was off to snorkel Horseshoe Reef. This was the destination we had read and heard so much about and we couldn't wait to try it. We took the dinghy and tied it to one of the small buoys just inside the reef. The results were somewhat disappointing due to widespread damage to the hard coral. I went out a second time that day with Kenzo where we covered a larger area both inside and outside the reef, and though there were numerous fish and soft coral, the hard coral is not very varied and much of it dead. This was somewhat reminiscent of our experience in Loblolly Bay on Anegada. As a snorkeling experience, Horseshoe Reef was similar to Colquhon or Eustacia in BVI, but fell short of spots like the Dogs, Indians or Treasure Point. Nevertheless, Tobago Keys is a beautiful spot and we spent the rest of the day relaxing, swimming and paddling the Yolo Yak. The plan was to spend the next day and night there. We had dinner aboard and retired to a warm and clear night that would be the weather pattern for the whole trip.
A bit about the dinghy: On all our previous trips the standard outboard was the Tohatsu 2-stroke 10hp. On this visit, Sunsail seems to have switched almost exclusively to Mercury 10-hp four-stroke outboards. Initially I thought this would be a good thing, but I soon looked back with fondness and nostalgia on those Tohatsus, since the new motors soon showed a number of drawbacks: The Mercuries are incredibly quiet at idle. So quiet that when you start them and go forward to untie the dinghy you can't hear them quietly go out until you return to the dinghy stern and find yourself adrift. They have to be choked even after 20 minutes in warm weather. Fuel appears to drain back from the fuel hose whose bulb has to be milked everytime the motor is started or it is liable to fail. Pulling that cord was the best cardio I got on the trip until I figured some of these things out. It wasn't that I got a dog either - I saw others including the crew engaged in the same struggles. The Mercuries have the gearshift integrated into the throttle handle, where finding neutral is fussy and can't be determined on sight. They won't stay up - the locking mechanism is either a bad design or relies on a lot of plastic parts that wear out so that without a carefully executed raising and lowering in just the right sequence to just the right angles the unit is likely to fall back down just as you are attempting to beach the dinghy. Mine also would not stay down in reverse (unless you helped the locking mechanism along by hand), so engaging reverse gear above idle would make the prop startlingly climb out of the water towards your face. Maybe because the power rating is exaggerated, or because they are so much heavier, or because the prop is chewed up because the unit won't stay raised - but the dinghy would take forever to plane with just me aboard. Surprisingly, these 4-strokes also used more fuel than the old motors - without a refill in Canouan we would have run out. Lastly (and perhaps most seriously), the weight of these units make it impossible to move them to the stern rail on passages. This wasn't so much a problem in the weather we had, but certainly could be in rougher conditions. At the end of our cruise Simon told me that they planned to return to using the Tohatsus, which I was glad to hear.
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10/29 Monday
Spent all day at our mooring in Tobago Cays. We tried some of the other snorkeling spots along Horseshoe reef. Occasionally, we encountered strong local currents which made us wary of venturing too far from the dinghy. Sunsail sent a technician to attempt to fix our head. He determined that some threads in a fitting were stripped and some parts would have to be ordered, and that the issue would be taken care of at our next stop. We had no choice but to be patient with the process. As on previous trips, we rigged our lightweight hammock under the boom. This is one of those ENO stretchy nylon hammocks which packs very easily. On our 36i we put the boom somewhat off to the side and rig a line to a cleat like a preventer. That gets the mainsheet tackle out of the way. Then we clip one carabiner of the hammock to the fitting for the spinnaker pole, and the other to a fitting in the track on the bottom of the boom which holds a mainsheet block. This makes of a great place to read and relax on a boat without a lot of places to stretch out abovedecks.
We sent some messages using our rented satphone. We had not expected to get cell coverage as widely as we did and in hindsight would probably have dispensed with the phone, though it was nice to know we always had a communication channel to our relatives. We partly justified the rental expense as an experiment to see if we found it useful enough to possibly own one.
The lead crew had organized a beach party and dinner on a beach on the other side of Petit Rameau. A local vendor does regular lobster cookouts and has tables set up, though you are asked to bring your own plates and tableware. When we arrived the party was well underway and Vicky's punch had made the rounds. Dinner was served and I thought it was quite good though not inexpensive at EC$100 per person.
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10/30 Tuesday
We had been told the day before that we might have to dock in Clifton Harbor on Union Island for the repairs to the head. At the morning flotilla meeting, which was held on the Cat as usual, we were told that the plan was to go to Chatham Bay on Union, and that the mechanic would fix our head there. Chatham Bay was an easy 4 mile broad reach and we anchored in this very pretty looking bay.
Soon after, the mechanics from Sunsail arrived and we thought it best to make some room for them. Our guidebook had a snorkeling symbol at Rapid Point at the north end of the bay, so we set out to check it out. I dropped the dinghy anchor in a sandy spot and as we got ready I got the sense that we were not staying in place. Wondering how we could be dragging the dinghy anchor, I jumped overboard and snorkeled to the end of the rode, which was trailing loose in the water as the dinghy was being carried away by wind and current. I grabbed the line, and with my wife and son still in the dinghy I started towing it back in direction where I thought we had put the anchor down. I didn't hold out a lot of hope of finding the anchor, but eventually spotted it and saw that the shackle pin had not been tight and had unscrewed, but was still partially in the shackle. I reassembled it and we had a very nice snorkel in this area, venturing around the rocks of the headland.
When we returned to our boat, the mechanics had already finished their job and left. The repair looked good and we had no more problems with it.
As we relaxed on the boat and watched the turtles that surfaced all around us, Kenzo from the lead boat came by to inform us that there had been a change of plans and that they intended moving the boats to Clifton harbor. Some of the flotilla party wanted to shop and apparently the Cat was low on water. If found this surprising, since we had only used one quarter of one of our two tanks at this point and the Cat no doubt had much larger water tankage.
In any case, we were very happy where we were and shopping is usually way down on our list, so we decided to stay and rejoin the flotilla in Petit St. Vincent the next day. Went ashore for ice (not easy beaching the dinghy in the swell), had dinner aboard, played a board game and went to bed. The night was punctuated by some strong gusts of wind, but otherwise clear and a bit cooler.
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10/31 Wednesday
Woke up to great weather. Only three boats anchored in the bay. We set out about 9:30 for Petit St. Vincent. Winds were light and our destination was pretty much directly upwind so we motored and anchored in fairly shallow water in the anchorage between Petit St. Vincent and Petit Martinique. Snorkeling on the anchor confirmed what I had already observed in previous anchorages: that the depth finder was not showing depth from the bottom of the keel as we had been assured at the chart briefing. I have had this issue before with a Sunsail boat out of Tortola. In that case, the error was more egregious because the depth finder had been set with an offset of +7 feet... partway up the mast. Assuming an offset to the bottom of the keel (about -5 feet) results in being off about 12 feet - more than enough to get you into trouble. I think if the charter operator tells you where the offset will be they better make sure it is correct, otherwise change the briefings with a warning to check the offset yourself and give instructions.
Petit St. Vincent is mostly surrounded by reef and we took the dinghy out to try some snorkeling. We tried a few spots, and I towed the dinghy along but we didn't find anything exceptional. The reef is quite extensive though and it's quite possible we didn't find the best areas. We ended up dinghying all the way around the island and came back into the anchorage from the other side.
The other boats arrived by and by and anchored nearby. We were running a bit low on local currency and our guidebook listed Petit Martinique as having a bank. We were also looking for a few provisions and some ice so we dinghied across the channel to the dinghy dock.
Petit Martinique is part of Grenada, so technically you should have to clear in, but we had been advised that this was not expected for day visitors from PSV. We strolled the main street of the town and reached a building that looked like it could be a bank but it was unoccupied. Someone at the post office confirmed that the bank had closed. We visited the main grocery store but found none of the items we were looking for. We did score on the ice - which was EC$6 per bag at the gas station near the main dock - by far the lowest price we paid for ice on the trip. Ice was EC$10 at the Sunsail base. The Moorings base in Canouan gave us ice for free. Bars often charged EC$20. Boat boys often requested sums that convinced me that the scheme of towing icebergs south from the Arctic should be re-examined.
Vicky the hostess had organized appetizers (and punch-o-death) on the Catamaran, where we found the Okies in full Halloween garb - primarily pirate themed. These folks had truly come prepared with themed napkins, etc.
The sky had become cloudy and there was some lightning in the distance. I went for a long paddle and did some snorkeling with the flashlight. I swam around looking for fish but found that if I just stayed in one spot the fish would come looking for me. Tiny fish swarmed around me and bounced off me blinded by the light.
It rained at night and coming on deck I found us having swung uncomfortably close to the Brits. The wind had died and a current was swinging the boats in all directions. I had more chain out than I needed and took some in.
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11/1 Thursday
I woke up at 4am again. The Grenadines are 3 hours behind Seattle, but geographically probably should be 4. With darkness falling so early I was having a hard time adjusting my internal clock.
The morning was overcast with showers - the only such weather we had on the trip. By afternoon it was sunny again.
The next two days were supposed to be "free sailing" days for the flotilla, which I guess is supposed to give participants a chance to go places on their own and also give the lead boat crew a little down time. We had a morning flotilla meeting on the Cat and the Okies had staged a minor coup by coming up with their own itinerary for the rest of the trip which included Mustique. With no conflicting plans of our own, we decided to go along.
In light winds we motorsailed past Palm Island and into Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau. There were already quite a few boats there and a north swell was rolling them. There were a few mooring buoys available and we took one (EC$45). The 39 was already there, and the lead boat came in soon after. They attempted to anchor at first, then took a mooring as well. Leaving my son aboard, my wife and I dinghied ashore and tied up to the dinghy dock which was in bad repair and didn't feel very secure in the swell. We did some walking on the beach both on the bay and the windward side which at the narrowest part is only a few steps away.
Later, I borrowed the lead boat's kayak and surfed a few of the waves breaking at the northern point guarding the bay. Boats continued to arrive - this is a very popular anchorage. Eating dinner aboard was a challenge because the wind held us totally sideways to the swell and we rolled annoyingly all evening and all night. After dark, a charter Cat with a local crew came in and after several attempts to anchor in deeper water anchored so close to our mooring that it made me nervous. The wind kept us apart, but it didn't help what was already not the most restful night.
11/2 Friday
Morning brought a light shower and light winds. We were still rolling and eager to go somewhere else. The others decided to go to Canouan to the Moorings base, but it seemed to me that this location didn't have that much to offer and could be rolly too, so we decided to go back to Tobago Cays instead. After a relaxing run, we entered the Cays (easy the second time around) and anchored inside the reef instead of taking a mooring this time. We took the dinghy to snorkel the passage between Jamesby and Petit Bateau, which was shown as a snorkel spot in our guidebook and was quite nice. We swam ashore on Jamesby and sat on the beach for a while.
Returning to the boat, we got a call from the lead boat that they and the Brits were leaving Canouan and coming to Tobago Cay as well. The Okies elected to stay in Canouan.
When the lead boat arrived, I borrowed the Yolo Yak again and had a nice long paddle, through the turtle sanctuary at Baradel, landing at that island and exploring, then paddling completely outside Horseshoe reef. After several days of fairly light winds, the waves were barely breaking over the reef. Also did some snorkeling around the boat looking for turtles and generally cooling off.
We had a visit from "Mr. Everywhere", one of the boat boys who sold us a bag of ice. He also left us another present - some nice streaks of red paint on the hull rubbed off from where he bumped into us. He was apologetic and offered to try to remove the streaks (though he had nothing to do it with), but also said something along the lines of "Hey, it's just a charter boat". I removed the streaks myself.
My wife baked some cookies and we played another board game and had a generally relaxing evening in this lovely and spacious anchorage protected from the swell and with a nice cooling breeze.
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11/3 Saturday
Another beautiful morning with just a few sprinkles overnight which had us getting up to put the hatches up and down. My mother was turning 80 on this day, and I used the satellite phone to call her in Germany. After breakfast, Kenzo came by in his dinghy. The plan was for all in the flotilla to board the catamaran and motor out to Petit Tabac - the Cay outside Horseshoe Reef. Our son only came along reluctantly, since he has noone his age to talk to in the wider group. I thought he should have more enthusiasm because he is constantly ribbing me about the superiority of catamarans and complaining about the size of our boat. The catamaran was an almost-new Sunsail 444 which had just been sold and did not even have a name applied yet. It certainly felt spacious and the galley looked amazing.
Kenzo took over as captain and we just relaxed on the way to dropping anchor in the small anchorage. Donning snorkel gear, we went to check out the reef. The inside was unremarkable and we attempted to cross to check out the dropoff on the other side, but were thwarted by waves and shallow reef. After some searching, the end of the reef nearest the anchorage provided the best snorkeling and we saw a ray and some squid, as well as a lot of sponges. We swam ashore and walked the beach of this empty island. Apparently, there was a story that a satellite had crashed near the island and some space junk had washed up there. We did see some debris and someone claimed it was part of the satellite but I was skeptical of this claim. The basic story, however, appears to be true and I found a story about it here
http://i-witness-news.com/2011/12/14/russian-spaceship-wreckage-found-in-tobago-cays-identified/Returning to our boat, the flotilla left for Canouan on a close reach. At this point I was comfortable enough with the area to take a direct route and pass between One Fathom Shoal and Baleine Rocks en route to Glossy Hill which flanks the apron of the Canouan airport. Rounding the riprap of the runway fill, it struck me that maybe with our mast we should have kept farther off, but no planes were in approach.
We entered Charleston Bay and picked up one of the buoys belonging to the Moorings base. Most of the buoys had two pendants that are intended to be picked up and directly made fast on each side of the boat. I thought it an odd system and didn't want the slimy lines encrusted with marine growth on deck, so ran our own dock lines through them.
The Moorings base in Canouan is new and quite small - basically some mooring buoys and a few buildings adjacent to the Tamarind Beach Hotel. The staff there were very friendly. We were supplied with free ice, used the showers and the wifi. Around the time we arrived, buildings were being fumigated due to an apparent rise in cases of dengue fever on the island. A member of the Moorings staff told us there had been 22 reported cases in the previous month. My wife had a Sarah Connor moment when she was getting ready to take her shower and a worker in a gas mask and hazmat suit wielding an oversized leaf blower belching thick smoke burst into the ladies' bathroom.
We walked from the base into town and bought a few grocery items (mostly beverages), and found an ATM where we were able to replenish our dwindling supply of local currency.
Moorings re-filled our dinghy tank and we could have refilled our water tanks (they have a long hose that reaches one of the moorings), but we had just switched to our second tank and didn't feel we needed it.
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11/4 Sunday
Mustique was next on the itinerary. Since the wind had shifted to a more NE pattern this would require some upwind sailing. We left Canouan and could just point the east tip of Bequia hard on the wind. The wind instrument on the pedestal showed us 60 degrees off the wind and if I sailed any closer we seemed to lose a lot of speed. This didn't seem right and the mystery was solved when after our first tack we were able to sail about 10 degrees off the wind - the windvane at the top of the mast was about 25 degrees off center. With the bimini in place, I had come to overly rely on the instrument and now had to crane my neck to check the top of the mast more frequently. As I write this it occurs to me that maybe the Raymarine unit has an electronic correction that can be programmed - I didn't think to check that at the time.
Though upwind, it was a pleasant sail single-reefed in about 15 knots of breeze and we didn't even have to put the dodger up. Still, we were last into Britannia Bay. Kenzo helped us with our mooring lines and we set off to explore the reef by dinghy. We did some snorkeling near the south end of the bay. It was fair snorkeling, the visibility was not the best that day.
Mustique charges EC$200 for a mooring with up to three nights stay. That makes a single night kind of an expensive proposition and we planned to stay at least two.
Reading about Mustique I had been somewhat put off by the focus on its famous residents. I don't care much for celebrities and I care about royalty even less, so this did not make the island a draw. Once I got past my prejudices I had to admit that it is a really lovely island. I had somehow imagined a high-end marina type environment with spa and concierge, but exploring on land revealed a picture perfect group of buildings, fruit stands, fishermen and their boats, and lots of palm trees. A somewhat sanitized Caribbean scene where nothing run-down or otherwise suggesting poverty is allowed and, as my guidebook writes, "crime is against the law". Still, authentic enough to my eyes and the small food store had the best selection of items we saw on the whole trip and at prices seemingly no higher than anyplace else. It must have been very relaxing because if we did anything else that day my log book makes no mention of it. We looked forward to exploring the island next day.
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