Caribbean Windward Islands sailing log for s/v Gyatso

A web log of the sailing vessel "Gyatso"

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Sailing Log for the Caribbean Windward Islands

The Easter Regatta on Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
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We arrived in the Windward Islands on 10 February 2007 after a great sail south from Dominica to Martinique. We also visited St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Carriacou and Grenada, our southernmost destination in the Eastern Caribbean, enjoying extended stays in several locations. Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, turned out to be a good place for us to catch-up on some personal business matters and to haul the boat for a bottom job prior to our Atlantic crossing. We liked Bequia so much on the trip down, we decided to stop there again for two weeks on the way north while we refinished on brightwork and participated in the Easter Regatta festivities. Our time in Grenada was extra special -- we welcomed Lisa's parents for a two week visit there.

Logbook Entries

Martinique, 2/10/07 - 2/14/07

We took advantage of the excellent French supermarkets to re-provision the boat. We especially liked the Leader Price store's selection and prices, and had no difficulty finding a boulangerie (bakery) for fresh croissants and baguettes. We stayed at anchor for two days longer than planned after finding it hard to tear ourselves away from this lovely French island.

St. Lucia, 2/14/07 - 2/28/07

Lat: 14°04.6'N
Long: 60°56.9'W

After a nice Valentine's Day sail south from Martinique, we went into the Rodney Bay Marina and stayed for twelve days. We enjoyed having cable TV and a decent internet connection ashore to catch-up on some personal business matters like filing taxes, etc. We sampled a few of the local restaurants, but did not find anything too inspiring. The marina and yard had good technicians as well as a well-stocked marine chandlery and is the site where the ARC Rally finishes in the Caribbean. We sailed south with a tow-day stop in The Pitons, mooring one night near the "bat caves" and another at Harmony Beach. Both were beautiful with dramatic views of the two cone-shaped peaks which give this national park its name.

The Grenadines, 2/28/07 - 3/3/07

Lat: 13°00'N
Long: 61°14'W

We spent four days on a mooring in Port Elizabeth, just off the Frangipani Hotel in Admiralty Bay, Bequia, declaring it one of our favorite anchorages in the Caribbean.

Grenada and Carriacou, 3/3/07 - 3/25/07

Lat: 12°00.6'N
Long: 61°44.3'W

As if we hadn't been treated to enough beautiful sights on this trip, the island of Carriacou welcomed us with an amazing display of celestial gifts while we anchored for one night in Hillsborough: A perfect sunset where we sighted the 'green flash' was followed by a full moon rise, a full moon eclipse and then a 'moonbow'. David fell asleep in the cookpit under the full moon, after calling Lisa's sister in Michigan on the satellite phone to learn that yes, in fact their was an eclipse of the full moon, perhaps the only in the past 23 years.

We arrived the next day at the main island of Grenada and anchored for two days in Prickly Bay which we found too rolly. On the day Lisa's parents, Betsy and Glen, were scheduled to arrive from Michigan, we moved to Clark's Court Bay marina and rented a car in time to meet them at the airport. We had a fun time with them exploring the island's many beautiful beaches and sampling the excellent restaurants.

The Trip North to Antigua

We worked our way north with 2-3 day stops in Carricou, the Tobago Cays and then back again to Bequia for our second visit as we headed north to Antigua. We stayed on a mooring for most of the time there while Iba and Lisa attacked brightwork projects. Almost every afternoon, we took the dinghy over to the beach for a swim and sundowner. We also watched the races and attended festivities as part of the Easter sailing regatta, April 5-9, before pushing further north and back to St. Lucia for a haul-out, and then re-tracing our steps to Martinique, Dominica, and Guadeloupe. We spent an extra day in Deshaies, Guadeloupe and were delighted when two yachts, Baccelieu and Lady Natalie arrived in the anchorage together. Both yachts were at the same boat yard as we were in St. Augustine, Florida, in 2006. We had a special dinner out celebrating together before we departed for Antigua for the start of the ARC Europe Rally and they continued south to Trinidad.