10/31 Wednesday

Woke up to great weather. Only three boats anchored in the bay. We set out about 9:30 for Petit St. Vincent. Winds were light and our destination was pretty much directly upwind so we motored and anchored in fairly shallow water in the anchorage between Petit St. Vincent and Petit Martinique. Snorkeling on the anchor confirmed what I had already observed in previous anchorages: that the depth finder was not showing depth from the bottom of the keel as we had been assured at the chart briefing. I have had this issue before with a Sunsail boat out of Tortola. In that case, the error was more egregious because the depth finder had been set with an offset of +7 feet... partway up the mast. Assuming an offset to the bottom of the keel (about -5 feet) results in being off about 12 feet - more than enough to get you into trouble. I think if the charter operator tells you where the offset will be they better make sure it is correct, otherwise change the briefings with a warning to check the offset yourself and give instructions.

Petit St. Vincent is mostly surrounded by reef and we took the dinghy out to try some snorkeling. We tried a few spots, and I towed the dinghy along but we didn't find anything exceptional. The reef is quite extensive though and it's quite possible we didn't find the best areas. We ended up dinghying all the way around the island and came back into the anchorage from the other side.

The other boats arrived by and by and anchored nearby. We were running a bit low on local currency and our guidebook listed Petit Martinique as having a bank. We were also looking for a few provisions and some ice so we dinghied across the channel to the dinghy dock.
Petit Martinique is part of Grenada, so technically you should have to clear in, but we had been advised that this was not expected for day visitors from PSV. We strolled the main street of the town and reached a building that looked like it could be a bank but it was unoccupied. Someone at the post office confirmed that the bank had closed. We visited the main grocery store but found none of the items we were looking for. We did score on the ice - which was EC$6 per bag at the gas station near the main dock - by far the lowest price we paid for ice on the trip. Ice was EC$10 at the Sunsail base. The Moorings base in Canouan gave us ice for free. Bars often charged EC$20. Boat boys often requested sums that convinced me that the scheme of towing icebergs south from the Arctic should be re-examined.

Vicky the hostess had organized appetizers (and punch-o-death) on the Catamaran, where we found the Okies in full Halloween garb - primarily pirate themed. These folks had truly come prepared with themed napkins, etc.

The sky had become cloudy and there was some lightning in the distance. I went for a long paddle and did some snorkeling with the flashlight. I swam around looking for fish but found that if I just stayed in one spot the fish would come looking for me. Tiny fish swarmed around me and bounced off me blinded by the light.

It rained at night and coming on deck I found us having swung uncomfortably close to the Brits. The wind had died and a current was swinging the boats in all directions. I had more chain out than I needed and took some in.

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