Jan. 19: Petite St. Vincent & Petite Martinique
It was a beautiful night out on deck; the sky was full of stars until about day break when clouds started to roll in. Dan made a frittata for breakfast, a recipe I showed him last year that had now become a Skyelark staple, its main advantage being it can be easily made at sea even upwind. Last night Mr. Fabulous had promised to bring us a tuna in the morning, but we set off early and he hadn’t arrived in the Cays yet, once out of the marine reserve we put a line out in hopes of catching one ourselves. The winds were moderate and we sailed along nicely, Mike at the helm and everyone else just enjoying the ride as we sailed for Petit St. Vincent. When we were nearing Union Island we spotted a local boat in the distance traveling at a high rate of speed, jumping over the waves from the slight swell. Once it got closer we could see the distinctive yellow hull of Jean Claude’s boat, he approached from the beam and without missing a beat he swung around behind us and came along side the dingy, his assistant holding a nice tuna in hand; they dropped it into the dingy gave us the thumbs up and were off just as quickly as they had arrived.

Our tuna courtesy of Mr. Fabulous

It really makes you feel appreciated that he would go out of his way like that, but we find the same in a lot of the local vendors we use regularly. One of the advantages of Skyelark visiting this area so often is the boat boys al know the boat and they know we aren’t going to buy any bread or ice and that we already have our dinner arranged with Jean Claude; so we hardly don’t get approached by anyone besides the tee shirt vendors who can usually count on a sale. We arrived in good time to the anchorage just off the beach at Petite St. Vincent; the water here is an amazing mix of blues and aqua marines, almost rivaling the Cays. We went ashore for a pre- lunch swim and drinks at Goaties beach Bar, which is part of the resort on this private island.

Goaties Bar


Enjoying a drink

For someone looking for an upscale getaway on a beautiful Caribbean Island, this could be the place; there isn’t a lot here just the resort and its facilities, but they are very protective to their guests privacy, yachties are only allowed at the beach bar and on the nearby beach; the rates aren’t cheap, but not as high as the villas on Mystique. Em came to pick us up when lunch was ready, one that would rival the fare served on any superyacht; lobster salad with cocktail shrimp accompanied by fresh tuna sashimi and sushi rolls.

Lunch Ala' Dan

The next stop on our agenda was to make a visit to Petite Martinique, which is just the other side of the channel from Petite St. Vincent, and is part of the nation of Grenada. There are no custom or immigration facilities on the island so no time was spent on that, we just locked the dingy to the town dock, got some fuel at the pump there, and headed off to the main road. We walked along the road until the pavement stopped and it became more of a dirt road and then finally a narrow trail. We passed many small graveyards and people would call out hello from the open doors of their homes. We were amazed by the number of goats we passed, certainly more goats than residents on this small island, conspicuous by their absence were chickens of which we saw very few. Now I don’t know how Dan always seems to manage to trick me into exercising, but before I realized how far we had walked we had gone completely around to the other side of the island and almost to the top of the mountain in the center. I have to admit the views are stunning as you go around, with Carriacou and Grenada on one side, the open Atlantic to the west, the Cays, Union, Canouan, and St. Vincent visible on the other side, and you get a great perspective of the reef between here and Petite St. Vincent from that elevation.


The views from Petite Martinique

We were tempted to hike to the summit, but I didn’t have my Spot Locator with me so I just would have had to do it again next year. Back at the boat we sat around relaxing and catching up in e-mail and internet as Dan prepared for our onboard barbeque, a veritable feast if ever there was one. Tonight’s fare would feature chicken, burgers, tuna and my homemade lamb swarma sausages on the grill with Em’s ratatouille, cole slaw, and fresh made roti bread, if you lose weight sailing on this boat it is your own fault. We had wine and beers with our meal, but only one round in the cockpit afterwards; I think everyone was still feeling the effects of my rum punch and the two bottles of Captain Bligh we drank last night (except for Mike who has been quite diligent in maintaining moderation in the midst of all this temptation). Since it such a beautiful night I opted to sleep on deck again under the vast canopy of stars visible without any light pollution from the nearby islands.

Thanks for the reports Sammie. I love reading and seeing your pictures. One of my all time favorite places is St. Lucia and all of the Grenadines. Many of your pictures take me back to our trip. Do have fun and it seems to me your "life is to be lived" would make a great T-shirt to go along with your book one day.

Jo