Sunday, 25 Feb: A very peaceful night in our new position, tucked into the edge of Tyrell Bay. After the gloomy weather yesterday, we wake up to sunshine again and what looks like lighter winds. Perfect day to get on the move again! Last evening as we were scouting the bars in the bay, we recognised some of the locals – clear sign we have been in Carriacou for too long!
We head off to the customs & immigration office to check-out of Grenada, so that we can enter the St.Vincent side of the Grenadine islands. But as we get there, we see a long queue. We don’t really “do” queuing these days, and this looks like at least an hour wait. It seems that with this brighter and calmer weather, lots of yachts are planning on getting mobile today, not just us. So we skip out of the queue and head off, so we can get to Sandy Island before all the mooring buoys have been taken.
It’s only a 3 mile sail out of the bay and around the corner. As we approach, Sandy Island looks stunning in the bright sun light. It is a deserted thin strip of white coral sand with a line of palm trees down the middle, and amazing turquoise water on the lee side. There are no buildings or even a hut – it looks picture-postcard-perfect. Just what you imagine an island in the Caribbean Sea to look like.
This area is all designated national park so we have to tie up to a mooring buoy, anchoring is not allowed. There are already 5 boats there but we manage to get one of the last 2 mooring buoys. It’s hard to concentrate getting tied up when there is this stunning scene in front of you. After a few photos, in case we lose the sun later, the national park boat pulls up and we pay US$20 fee for the mooring for 24 hours.
Then we head to the beach in the dinghy to experience this paradise. The beach is very steep but luckily 2 guys help us pull our heavy dinghy up above the wave-line. Most of the yacht crews have also come to the beach in their rubber dinghies, so there are quite a few people – but certainly not crowded. The walk from one end to the other takes just a few minutes. The windward side it piled up with dead coral, bought ashore by the strong waves. But the lee side is a beautiful clean white beach.
And now, it’s drone time. It’s quite windy and very gusty around the palms. Glen is a little nervous to fly in these conditions, but determined to get the aerial view of this island. Oana makes a helipad from the beach towel, so that no sand blows into the drone once the rotors start spinning. Take off is a bit wobbly in the gusts but once above the palms the wind is constant. The challenge is seeing the screen in the bright sunlight, so Glen goes into the shade of a tree. After 5 minutes of flight with great control of the gimballed camera, Oana asks, “you got some good recording?”. Pffff he wasn’t! After take-2 with the on-board camera, he lands the drone perfectly onto the middle of the towel. Another satisfactory flight. Boy! This Mavic drone is good, so very stable to fly. The screen was giving “high wind warning” messages, but it seemed to cope just fine.
We get chatting to a young couple of the beach. Turns out they lived in Dubai, sailed at DOSC and, also like us, came to Europe to buy a boat and set off for an adventure. They set sail from Spain to the Caribbean last December and have already seen most of the windward islands. They are now heading to Aruba and Panama, planning to arrive back home in Australia in August. Wow… these guys are moving fast! Add to that, they didn’t really know how to sail before buying the boat. Fast AND brave it seems.
We are getting a bit burned on the beach, so head back to Cloudy Bay to cool down. In the shade of the bimini, with the cooling wind blowing, it’s the perfect temperature. As we sit, there are 2 guys kite-surfing from the beach. This gets Glen’s attention and he starts digging out his own kite gear, to go kiting in the morning. Meanwhile Oana announced that Magnus Rassy, the owner of Hallberg-Rassy has both liked our FB and has shared one of Cloudy Bay’s photos onto the Hallberg-Rassy Facebook page. Whoopy, Oana’s endeavors with social media are really starting to hit interesting audiences. What a boost! Maybe we might make it to one of the photos in next years Hallberg-Rassy calendar! 🙂
Later in the afternoon we again go to the shore, but this time to snorkel off the reef at the end of the island. The reef isn’t very colorful but there are plenty of fish and it’s great to snorkel together, each pointing to the colorful fish as we spot a new one.
Back on Cloudy Bay, we get our first sunset for what seems like a long time. The sky is finally clear of dark rain clouds. Oana cooks a delicious red Thai curry which we eat watching the sunset colors progress.
Given the wind is at 15-17 kts and the fact that the island is the only protection to the Atlantic swell, we are surprisingly stable on Cloudy Bay. And the moon is up reflecting strongly on the coral beach… and stars. Oh what a day! … and evening.
