Clearing out from Grenada (in Hillsborough, Carriacou) our plan was to head to Union Island, a short trip across with the whole day to do it.
As we left the relative comfort of the anchorage and headed west of Jack a Dan (a large rock jutting out of the water, home to pelicans), we immediately caught the wind. Unlike Grenada, Carriacou was very windy on the leeward side that morning. We had already put in 2 reefs prior to leaving and with the wind gusting 30 knots we brought in the jib as well. A difficult sail, we continued to beat up the coast until we cleared the north headland. As we started our crossing to Union Island, not only did we have the gusts to contend with but also the swells. By this point I am starting to feel ill so gladly helmed to keep focused as we pummelled the waves. As Dylan went down below to check that nothing was flying around in the saloon, another gust took us and we broached. Having never broached before I was terrified. Clutching onto the wheel I squealed as the boat heels right over and the steering becomes too tough to fight against, wind loud in my ears, I see Dylan's startled face from below. Ever the protector, Dylan starts to sing a silly song, diverting the attention away from the situation. Stubborn mule that I am, although petrified I continued to fight the wheel until after what seems like an age, our rudder pops back in the water and we continue sailing as if nothing happened. In hindsight the whole scenario lasted a couple of seconds but it was enough for me to hand the helm over to Dylan and disappear below to study the charts instead!! During that ordeal the boat made a 'twang', when Dylan went on deck to investigate further he found that the starboard aft stay had completely sheared from the deck and was swinging in the wind. A bungee cord and several twines later we secure it to the other stay and start to discuss our next steps.
Shaken from the experience I proposed we head for the nearest anchorage and survey the damage, wanting to quickly get out of the wind and swell. We were nearest to Union Island but to get into the anchorage would have involved numerous tacks and we didn't fancy worsening the situation! Managing to demast 3 weeks into our adventure was not a story I wanted to tell our grandkids in years to come. Why not use the engine? We are hardly like the Pardys but with the large swell running and 30 knot wind right on the nose we were doing almost 2000 revs, reaching almost 180 degrees and only going 1.8 knots! Petit St Vincent although a little further away could be reached on a port tack, was an easy anchorage to access and required little engine use so that was a winner! Of course we hadn't been there before so we were just trusting my navigational skills and our newly acquired seamanship. Luckily the trust we put in ourselves paid off and we sailed a further 4 nm with no problems and dropped anchor with plenty of daylight left (feeling quite chuffed with ourselves for overcoming our first dilemma at sea!).
After a stiff rum and coke (always fruit juice for me as Grenadians don't seem to stock diet anything!) we investigated the severed chain plate and found it was heavily corroded and the last load it had endured when we broached just tipped it over the edge shearing the plate. We plugged up the hole to make it water tight and started to relax, surveying our surroundings.
Petit St Vincent (PSV) is the most beautiful place I have been to, to date. It is exactly what you think of when you picture the Caribbean. A very small private island, it is surrounded by bright blue waters and white coral sand with no inhabitants other than the hotel guests and when we arrived...no charterers!! The island is a resort for the rich and famous where one goes for utter seclusion, staying in stone cottages with a flagpole that needs to be raised if you wish to have room service. With privacy in mind, as yachties we are unable to explore the island but we are free to walk on the beach as long as we are discreet with hotel guests. On one walk we found a hoard of black coral that had been washed ashore which we quickly put in our bags, keen to make the most of this find as normally you need to dive between 300 and 3000 ft to get it!
Looking over the side of Orion we could see 6 metres down to a whole family of conch. Keen to capture our own conch, prepare and cook it we went on our first snorkel which in itself was a daunting experience. According to our Garmin, the current was running at 1.5 knots which made jumping in the water a little scary, unsure whether we would be swept out to sea! Thankfully we could swim against it and started to dive seeing puffer fish, lion fish, arrow crab and a huge starfish. Finding the biggest conch in the area for our dinner we brought him onboard to start the dinner preparation. Dylan was appointed chief preparer whilst I volunteered to be the photographer. We started by knocking a hole in the shell between the 2nd and 3rd ridge and to loosen the claw, this allowed us to pull him out of his shell. Next step was to remove his stomach, eyes, snout and skin. Finding a conch basher in the galley, Dylan then began pounding the meat until translucent. We wanted to be able to taste the flavour so we just dipped the prepared conch in breadcrumbs and fried it. Although a lot of effort to catch and prepare the conch, he tasted lovely – like a non rubbery version of calamari. Shall definitely be helping ourselves to more of those off the ocean floor!
After a weekend near this paradise island, we figured it was time to face the music and get our rigging fixed. The wind had been gusting up to 36 knots but on Sunday they were a casual 25 so we made a dash for it. The islands further up the chain would become more remote with very little technical yacht services so we made the decision to backtrack and sail back to Carriacou. Not what we really wanted to do as our plan was to work our way North but as we are quickly realising, all plans need to remain fluid!
A couple of hours of motoring but this time with the swells, we surfed our way into Hillsborough, Carriacou. Unfortunately the swells only got worst and we spent the night feeling like we were on a ride in Alton Towers!! 8am comes and we make our way back to customs and immigration that we had only left some 4 days earlier. A little perplexed to see us back so soon and having no country stamps in our passport to account for the last 4 days (PSV is part of St Vincent so we never cleared in) we turned on the charm and got welcomed back into Grenada.
A further 2 hours of motoring and we arrived back in Tyrell Bay. Having read Doyle's cruising guide he states that there is a great French guy here that specialises in stainless steel fabrication, now all we need to do is hunt down his trimaraft workshop!
No comments:
Post a Comment