Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Carriacou

Carriacou is a laid-back island, much quieter than its big sister Grenada. I know that probably sounds a little strange because all Caribbean islands have that laid-back quality. But the pace here is slow, you don't see very many cars and other than on Friday night when music comes drifting out from one of the bars, you hear very little noise. We enjoyed relaxing, walking the shady roads and spending time with friends.

The road to Manchineel Bay is lined with pastures and beautiful views.

There's a new addition to Tyrell Bay since our last visit. This is the Lady D, a floating bar and restaurant anchored in the center of the bay. The boat's name is "Hallelujah" which is probably what most cruisers shout when they see it.

This is Denise, aka Lady D who will greet you warmly when you arrive.
We were very happy to find friends Geoff and Pat (S/V Beach House) and Steve and Anne (S/V Fine Line) when we arrived in Carriacou. So it was off to the Lady D for happy hour when we arrived and then lunch later that week.

Denise serving up either chicken, pork or fish with peas & rice, salad and coleslaw.

We were sitting and enjoying some conversation after lunch when a squall popped up. With no time to run back to our boats we rode it out on the Lady D. The winds were 40 knots and the blue boat in the back of this photo started dragging. The owners were on deck quickly and things got under control. We all watched our own boats anxiously to make sure everything was OK. It always feels better to be on your boat in a squall then watching it from a distance.

Friday night and it's time to hit "The Lambi Queen" for dinner and the steel drum band.
Steve, Anne, Wendy, Jim, Pat and Geoff.

What is Jungle Jim doing?
a. looking for a banana.
b. looking for his monkey.
c. trying to see the band.
Sunday we head for Grenada and wouldn't you know it, another squall line pops up. The first one gave us 28 knots of wind and no rain. That was actually great. We were flying along at over 7 knots. I actually saw a reading of 10.2 knots on the GPS as we surfed down a wave. Woo-hoo!!! The second line dumped rain on us!
So now we are anchored in Prickly Bay, Grenada only 153 ft, according to our GPS, from where we were anchored last year. Someone stuck a mooring ball where we were last year! Our friends know that we really liked our spot and felt very possessive about it. In many ways our arrival felt like coming home as friends waved to us from their boats. After all, we did live here for 6 months and this will be home again for the next few months while we sit out hurricane season.