Stormy Passages

Before we show you pictures of our trip south from St. Lucia to Carriacou I have to share one of my favorite sights in the Caribbean. It's the Flamboyant Tree in full bloom. At this time of year the hillsides are ablaze with color from these beautiful trees. This picture is of Pigeon Island, St. Lucia.

The sailing at this time of year is generally beautiful. But you can also get thunderstorms or squalls that pop-up in the middle of a beautiful day. We had several on this trip and Jim got some great pictures of the storms as they approached. We were never in any danger but we did manage to get wet!

Squall line along the northern edge of St. Lucia as we were heading south to the Pitons.

Squall south of St. Lucia. We were right in between the 2 systems and didn't get wet!

Clouds over the Pitons.

Petite Piton from our mooring in between the Pitons.

Squall line in between St. Lucia and St. Vincent.
One minute the winds were 13 knots and a few seconds later they gusted to 32 knots. Hold on!

We were passing this boat just off St. Vincent when I spotted these fins in the water. There were 3 whales about 50 yards off our port side.

They came quite close and then passed our stern. They looked to be about 30 feet in length. That's bigger than Merengue folks!

What a beautiful sight! It is nice to know these magnificent creatures haven't been wiped out of our oceans.

Only a few more miles to Bequia and this squall formed. One minute the island was there and the next it was hidden by a sheet of rain. We tacked away and waited for the squall to pass so we could see our way in.

With only one more good traveling day left we had a decision to make. Be weathered in Bequia for a week (not an awful thing) or continue on to Carriacou. We decided to head on to Carriacou and be that much closer to our final destination of Grenada. We covered at lot of distance in those 2 days traveling 95 nautical miles from St Lucia to Carriacou.