Bequia to Carriacou

Finally left Bequia on Saturday, May 5th, heading for Chatham Bay on Union Island. Had a wonderful sail with a beam reach and all sails up! Sometimes the sea gods smile! Had a rip on one of the fishing lines and after heaving to it was a barracuda too big to keep. Then, just off the anchorage at Chatham Bay, another rip on the line and we brought a great blackfin tuna aboard. When the winds and seas are kind, we do quite well heaving to and locking the wheel down, getting the fish on board and doing everything we have to. Unfortunately, you have to bleed tuna, because otherwise the blood heats up and taints the meat. Not quite sure how it happened, but this tuna bled from the time it was caught, and for some reason DW decided to drag it off the opposite side of the boat that we brought it up on. Once again, blood everywhere in the cockpit! Took awhile to clean up after we anchored and marinate the tuna (Little Gidding had a great recipe in Cruising World that is our favorite). Kyeta caught a small barracuda, and offered to do dinner on their boat with their friends Paul and Nancy on Aurora. Combined the fish had a wonderful meal with appetizers.
Spent a couple of days in Chatham Bay and the snorkelling was fantastic. The weather was great and it was a beautiful anchorage. Sharky does a fish dinner on shore when there's a few boats, and had a great dinner of snapper (I asked him to please cut off the head so I didn't have to look at eyes), potatoes, coleslaw, and local vegetables. Left Chatham, hoping to meet up with Casa del Mar and Ticketoo in Frigate Bay on Union, but as we passed them by we could see they were rocking side to side quite a bit. Decided to go into Clifton Harbor where we anchor behind the reef. It was still quite choppy because of the high winds. Had drinks at Happy Island and met up with new and old cruising friends.
Left Tuesday for Carriacou. Kyeta and Aurora left before us - it was 10 miles, so we knew we'd make it there sometime during the day. They anchored in Hillsborough and then sailed over to Tyrell Bay to anchor. We decided to press on those extra couple of miles to Tyrell and take the bus back to Hillsborough. Another day of a fantastic sail. Put up a double reef with the stay sail and just had a great day. Pulled in and saw our sistership, WindBorne III from Toronto. Anchored, put the sun shades up and took the bus into town to check in. This was Dennis' first time in Hillsborough. I forgot that it was Ann (Kyeta) and I that always went in to check in, take the bus to the bank, pick up groceries and all that other good stuff.
We met up with Dan and Jaime on Nereia again, and it was great to see them. Dan took Ann, Nancy and myself on a walk one morning to get our exercise. They've spent a lot of time in Carriacou so we got a great tour and saw some adorable little kindergarten and grade one children who gave us great smiles for our photos. Met up with the principal from one of the schools who was telling us about an event celebrating different cultures, and their school was in charge of doing a presentation on Guyana. They needed some ingredients for the local dishes that they couldn't find - Ann (Kyeta), Nancy (Aurora) and Dan (Nereia) came up with the spices they needed and Ann and Nancy took them back. Then there was the shipment of books that came in from the States (go to www.boatersforbooks.org). Melodye from Second Millenium was gone, and Carolyn and Rick from WindBorne III (Carriacou is their second home) took charge. They asked if I would help take books off the ship from Grenada to the restaurant across the street, where the schools could pick them up. I asked a few friends, and we ended up with myself, Ann on Kyeta, Paul and Nancy on Aurora, Dan and Jaime on Nereia and Kathleen and Roland on My Lady Kathleen taking over 40 boxes of books off the ship, onto a truck, then off of the truck and into the restaurant. The two Dennis' were out fishing! Had fun and it felt good to help. These children really don't have any type of library books, so if anyone wants to go to the website and/or send books to any of the Caribbean islands, it's always appreciated.
Unfortunately, time is getting short and it's time to start heading south. Where did our winter cruising season go??? ~~~~~_/)~~~~