We're off!

We finally departed the dock at Grenada Marine on Monday, October 31^st, a week ago as I write this. Bye, bye, Grenada Marine …..

…. hoping that weather misses us (and it did)

We headed west, and we can now claim that we have circumnavigated the entire island of Grenada. It sounds so grand to use that term – circumnavigation – though it shall never apply to the globe for us. It’s amazing enough that we actually meet people (families included) that have done that!

We made a couple of stops along the way in Grenada. We had to check out the new Clarkes Court Boatyard and Marina in Woburn Bay. It appears to be hugely successful – it was packed solid. The new North Star chandlery there was very well stocked, and we took advantage of that to purchase safety equipment that was due for replacement on Serenada: fire extinguishers, flares, CO2 cartridges for our life vests, as well as a few other items.  We also stopped in at the capital of St. George’s  to complete our provisioning. Their Foodland has a dinghy dock, and you can cart your groceries right to your ‘car,’ just like at home!

We’ve learned to wait for good weather – typically a lightening of the trade winds – before we sail between islands. The day we chose to leave Grenada, the forecast was for lighter winds, about 10 knots; but very shortly after setting off, we got this….

NO WIND?!   Unbelievable down here, but as it’s said here in the Caribbean…

After motoring and watching our sails essentially flog for four hours, we decided to call it quits and anchor at Isle Le Ronde, an uninhabited little island north of Grenada; to head out again the following day.  While there we witnessed a rather unusual ?rainbow?

and another of the Caribbean’s stunning sunsets

Sure enough the following day (which happened also to be my birthday; though I seem to prefer referring to them now as such and such an anniversary of my 50^th) we had a modest wind with small seas, making for a lovely sail to Carriacou. 

Here we met up with cruising friends, Greg and Joe, on Serenade (gotta love their boat’s name!). Joe had invited us aboard with another couple, Richard & Rowena (new friends) for happy hour. Joe is the ultimate hostess. Happy hour became happy evening.

We’re in Carriacou still, chilling out on this quaint and quiet island. Apparently, it has the world’s smallest post office, a short walk from shore.

Also not to be missed here is Lucky’s chicken dinner.  We got change back from a $20 USD for two dinners and four rum drinks?! The bad news is that she only opens on Saturdays L

Signing off; 'til next time... with some more images from Carriacou