The Grenadines Didn't Disappoint

We have been wanting to visit St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for years because any of our Tradewinds crew members who sailed there said it was their favorite and now we know why.

We departed St. Lucia on July 5th after waiting for a new water pump to be installed so we thought our engine troubles were over. About half way to Saint Vincent, an 8 hour trip, our port engine went out. We need both engines on a catamaran. For maneuvering, for anchoring, for mooring and sometimes while sailing.

We continued on to our overnight stop on St. Vincent, an island that very recently had a volcano erupt. This lush green island is incredibly beautiful. Luckily we had looked ahead on the SVG Facebook Cruisers group and a young man named Kemroy was recommended to us as a greeter to help us know exactly where to anchor in Chateaubelair, a beautiful little bay on the west side of St. Vincent. Since we had only one engine we appreciated his assistance.

Eighteen-year-old Kemroy hurried out to us upon arrival on his paddleboard and was nudged aside by an older local gentleman stating, "he's just a boy and doesn't know what he's doing." It was impressive how Kemroy kept calm and never disrespected the older man. He just kept pointing to where we should anchor so we wouldn't anchor on any reef, or drag anchor in the middle of the night. We couldn't have done it without his help. We paid him in cash and food and he went back to the shore.

Further investigation through Facebook groups led us to our port engine problem. It was the Mechanical Diesel Interface (MDI) box, something totally unrelated to anything else we'd dealt with. For cruisers, there's a Volvo Penta Facebook group that was very helpful.

After our overnight stay on St. Vincent, our goal was to get to Bequia in the Grenadines before our Colorado friends, Chip and Sue joined us. We arrived in Bequia the next morning to moor our catamaran in gusts of wind up to 22 knots with only one engine. Captain Joe was becoming very good at maneuvering with only the starboard engine. A greeter named Dede met us in her wooden boat to help us moor on a ball. The winds were crazy and we were happy to be tied up by mid morning.

We've been members of Tradewinds for 13 years and our first trip on our own was to the British Virgin Islands on Turquoise Dreams in 2009, Because it's so old, Turquoise Dreams has since been turned into a floating bar in Admiralty Bay in Bequia. It was closed when we arrived, but it was so fun seeing her again.

Chip and Sue arrived the next day and we were so excited to have guests. They arrived on the ferry that we dinghied alongside as they came into the harbor.

Chip quickly took over my First Mate job so it was really a vacation for me. (Captain Joe still had to work.) On their first full day, a local mechanice named Terone came on board to help install a switch that over-rode our MDI box so Chip got to enjoy boat maintenance on his first day with us. Afterwards, we toured Bequia and hiked up to Ma Peggy's rock. It was tricky even for we Coloradoans.

Tobago Cays was our second stop in the Grenadines. Words and photos will never describe nor capture how beautiful this area is. Tobago Cays is comprised of 5 cays; Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradal, Jamesby and Petit Tabac. We moored right in front of Horseshoe Reef and looked out over these beautiful islands and clear blue water. For two days, we lived, swam, and snorkeled in a turtle sanctuary. Our greeter Willie helped us moor there and he also took us to a beach for a delicious fish dinner made by Cook Beth who also baked the most yummy banana bread I've every had.

Our last stop in the Grenadines was Union Island. While we were able to walk over two suspension bridges to the small Frigate Island, we learned that in 1994 work began on a huge marina, a golf course and condo development. The developers went bankrupt early on and the area was abandoned, killing the mangroves and ecosystem of the lagoon. It wasn't until 2007 that discussion of restoration began. After trials and tribulations related to fundraising, the area was finally restored in 2019, 25 years later. Read the Ashton Lagoon story here. I never appreciated mangroves until spending time understanding how important they are to our environment.

After our long walk and local bus ride to Frigate and back, we unfurled the jib and headed to our final destination, Grenada.

I did a screen shot off of a video in Chateaubelair Bay, Saint Vincent after Kemroy left. Even though it’s a little fuzzy, I wanted to point out the palm trees on the top of the mountain. I couldn’t really capture the lava flow as we passed it. Soufriere Saint Vincent erupted from December 27, 2020 to April 22, 2021.

Turquoise Dreams, Tradewinds' first in its fleet and our first cruise on them in 2009. It's now a bar in Admiralty Bay on Bequia.

Top of Ma Peggy’s Rock looking down onto Admiralty Bay on Bequia.

None of us had good photos of Tobago Cays so I bought this drone image which comes close to depicting the area. We moored here for two days and had to pinch ourselves to make sure it was real.

This is the suspension bridge that took us to Frigate Island from Ashton. Such a sad story to know what happened to this area.