We pulled anchor May 13th and left for Clifton, Union Island in the Grenadines. It is located at the southern end of the Grenadines chain of islands about 40 miles south of St. Vincent and midpoint between St. Vincent and Grenada. It is sometimes called “Little Tahiti” on account of its high, almost vertical peaks which on a clear day are visible from St. Vincent’s Capital Kingstown. It features the highest point in the Grenadines, with its 1,000 foot Mount Tabai. It has about 3,000 inhabitants and approximately 3 miles long. The town of Clifton is full of color and local character, with a picture perfect little market around a green. It is the southern point of entry for customs clearance in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Union islanders are very welcoming and friendly. Coming into the harbor we noticed that the 60 foot replica of a Kalinago dugout canoe called Karisko, that left Grenada on May 11th making stops in Union Island, Mustique, Bequia, St Vincent and Lt. Lucia en route to Martinique was just ahead of us. Boy that is some manpower of rowing. It was coming through Hillsborough, Carriacou before we left. The objective of the journey of the Akayouman is a symbolic re-enactment of an ancient Amerindian navigation route while linking the peoples of the Windward Islands. The Karisko project aims especially to create conditions for the Martiniquan people to re-connect with the Amerindian history and heritage of their island. Two boat boys met us as we came in and guided us to our anchorage. There sure were a lot of boats here and we were thankful for the boat boys guiding us in since we had never been here before and really didn’t know what to expect. They guided us to a nice sandy area near all the kite surfers. For those who have never seen them, they are on surf boards with lines attached to huge colorful kites. They were cruising in and out of the sailboats and at times I waited for them to get their lines tangled in the masts. If I was a little younger I would be out trying this. It really looked like fun. We were anchored near the S/V Scaramouch which is a West Indian Schooner used in one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. You can enjoy aboard this boat a daily trip to the Tobago Cays and play Captain Jack. After we got anchored we had the boat boys get us a bag of ice. When they came back they wanted $20 EC dollars ($7.44 US) and we thought we were getting ripped off. When we got to town we found that everywhere we went the bags of ice were all $15 EC dollars so we felt a little better about the boat boys. We walked around town checking everything out and found the price of food and drink was a lot higher than even Carriacou which was higher than Grenada. You don’t have much choice if you need something and even the selections were limited. We found some oysters crackers in one of the grocery stores and John bought all they had (4 bags). We found out later that this was a big mistake. They are really hard to find and every grocery store we go in that is the first thing John looks for. John can’t eat his Tomato Soup or Oyster Stew Soup without them. In fact when he was back in Florida he brought back about 6 bags. When we got back to the boat John decided to have some Oyster Stew and opened one bag of the oyster crackers and boy were they bad. The must have sat on that shelf for 3-4 years. We opened up another, and then another and all were the same. We threw them out for the birds to eat and I hope they don’t get sick.
One day we took a bus to Ashton and walked around. The main road was filled with bars and restaurants. We walked up a hill and saw a well that was built in the 1800’s and still used today to draw water. The houses all had cisterns to catch water on their roofs.
We were getting low on water so we pulled anchor May 19th and went over to Petite Martinique about 4 miles away. We pulled up to the dock and filled with water and got 3 bags of ice. It was a lot cheaper here and about a third the price than over in Union Island.
We left and headed for Chatham Bay which is on the west side (lee side) of Union Island with a large protected anchorage. It is a most beautiful yacht hideaway and dotted with local shacks which boasted great food and drink which we found out to be expensive at least more than we had been paying. There was no internet or cell phone service here. After anchoring we saw a few large turtle swimming around.
After a few days we decided to move a little north and go to Saline Bay, Mayreau. It is 1 ¼ square miles with a population of 250 people with a beautiful sandy beach. After anchoring we walked up the hill to the village. All along the walkways they had friendly bars and local restaurants. We stopped at one of the restaurants and had barbecue chicken and ribs. It was a great buy and the best we had seen since leaving Grenada. After lunch we continued up the hill to the quaint little stone Catholic Church (Immaculate Conception). We walked around to the back of the church and you could see the whole island. Boy what a view! The next day the mail ferry boat came from St. Vincent with about 100+ people aboard. We were told later they were here on holiday for a day.
Stay tuned for more adventures from John & Carol aboard the S/V Sweet Caroline