The Southern Grenadine Islands are clustered close together, and are the caribbean islands that dreams are made of – brilliant aquamarine water, white sandy beaches, vibrant green vegetation and about as picture perfect as you can get. But perfection has its’ price….. Continue reading “Picture Perfect – The Southern Grenadines”
It’s easy to get complacent when cruising, perhaps even more so when there’s plenty of people on board. Which may explain why I wasn’t wearing my sailing gloves and why I didn’t have the mainsheet wrapped around the winch as I normally do. Or maybe I just hadn’t engaged my brain that morning.
Ahh, Bequia (pronounced Bek-way) we’ve fallen in love with you! Bequia is the northernmost of the Grenadine Islands, but as St Vincent & The Grenadines are all one country, thankfully we get a break from clearing in and out of customs for a while. The islands are also closely spaced, so it only takes an hour or two, or less to sail between them. Continue reading “A Touch Of Paradise – Bequia”
The gang’s all here! There was much excitement as Mia and Geoff arrived on the dock on Monday morning, and somehow Toucan has been able to absorb our six guests and their luggage without too much difficulty, although I think our waterline is fast disappearing! Continue reading “Full House – St Vincent”
Our last ‘Toucaneers” to join the boat were Geoff and Mia Sherman, arriving in Kingstown, St Vincent on Sunday 4th January. They’d booked a hotel for a couple of nights in case we were held up and I’m sure would have been happy to wait there for us even longer if necessary. However, the strong trade winds and high seas showed no sign of abating until at least a week later, so after a ‘Team Toucan’ meeting we decided to head off from St Lucia on Sunday morning with 3 reefs in the main and a tiny scrap of headsail for the 30NM passage between the islands. Continue reading “Wet N’ Wild – St Vincent”
With our arrival in Martinique, we also entered into the Windward chain of islands, so called because they lie to windward of the route taken by the old square rigger sailing ships arriving from Britain and Europe. They’re impressive, majestic volcanic islands with sheer cliffs rising out of the sea and lush, dense vegetation. Continue reading “Pirates Of The Caribbean – St Lucia”
