Carriacou and on to Grenada

Carriacou is a Grenadian island so arrival there marked both reaching Grenada and our insurance requirement to be south of 12 degrees 40 minutes latitude for hurricane season.  Since leaving the U.S. 6 months ago we have traveled over 1,600 miles so it’s time for a break.  Echo has performed very well but she needs some TLC and sprucing up at this point.

Richard grilling lionfish

Carriacou is a short journey from Union Island where we cleared out of SVG.  It’s main anchorage at Tyrell Bay is large and fairly well protected.  We found a nice anchor spot and recognized a few boats in the bay.   After clearing in our first stop was Honey Ryder to say hello to Sabrina and Tom.  We filled them in on having met their friends on Happy Island and they invited us to join a group for a Lionfish grill that evening.

Lionfish, not native to Atlantic and Caribean waters, are considered a threat since they have few predators and their population is growing rapidly.  Dive shops in the area are sponsoring trips in search of Lionfish to educate people on fishing and consuming these fish.  Tom had been on a lionfish hunt that morning with Lumba Dive, we were happy to join the group.  Richard and Diane, owners of Lumbadive were wonderful hosts and welcomed us into the group although we had not participated in the hunt.  They fish was delicious and along with Richard and Diane we met several other cruisers.  It was a fun evening and we were happy to have been included.

Carriacou is a very nice, laid back island with welcoming people.  We walked quite a bit and passed by a few of the many rum shops. 

Such beautiful signage

One of the many interesting rum shops.

Island graveyard

Hmm…intoxicated liquor?

Need a fence? Defencing Doctor!

We visited the boat building with John and Paulette of Seamantha.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Guido”s kitten

Our friends on Havkatt were in Carriacou with us also.  Hugo and Guido visited us on Echo where there was more splicing practice then we visited their boat for a very nice evening.  They headed to Grenada a few days ahead of us and luckily we checked our email the night before we left.  Guido’s birthday had been a few days earlier and he had asked for a kitten.  They had been looking for one and after leaving Carriacou found that there were three in a shelter there.  They asked if we might be able to pick one up and bring it to Grenada.   We were happy to oblige!

The kitten, later named Skipper, did just fine on his first sailing journey and was safely delivered to Havkatt in Grenada where he is enjoying his new life on the sea.

Note:  We have been in Grenada since late June and are preparing to haul Echo this week.  We have been busy exploring while also organizing boat projects and preparing to leave the boat for several weeks.  Hoping to have a recap of our time here in Grenada posted soon, it’s a beautiful island with lots to do and see!

~ Jeff and Mary ~