Days –1 and 0
We began our trip leaving cold, blustery Indianapolis, Indiana. Three couples from Indiana met our fourth couple from Pensacola, Florida in San Juan. Ater spending a fun evening partying in an open square with hundreds of locals in San Juan, we departed the next morning. The flight to the Grenadines was beautiful. We really enjoyed the “terminal” at the Canouan airport. Our first Hairoun, a St Vincent beer, was greeted with much anticipation. After short van ride to the Moorings base, going through the motions of paperwork, and a chart briefing session, we began our adventure by ferrying our luggage to our Benneteau 505 moored in Charleston Bay. The location is fabulous but will improve if and when the breakwater is built and a marina can be constructed allowing easier access to yachts. Our evening start was uneventful after a good dinner and drinks at the Pirate Cove Bar, part of the Tamarind Beach Hotel.

Day 1
We awoke to blue skies and a mid morning departure. Winds were up and seas were rolling but what a great start. We sailed while learning the ins and outs of our club 505. Our sail to Petit St Vincent was fabulous, a word used frequently during our 7 day sail. We moored at PSV and radioed for dinner reservations and were told we needed “trousers” to attend dinner. This was a problem since none of the men had brought any. I was quickly blamed for this as I had refused to bring any slacks. We only provisioned the boat for one night’s dinner so the search began for alternative dining. We located the Palm Beach Club on Petit Martinique using the cruising guide. They made arrangement to come to our yacht and pick us up. We were treated to a wonderful, open-air experience. We were the only diners and were treated superbly. Good food, good atmosphere, good friends. Couldn’t have been any better. Do know, if you travel to Petit Martinique in this manner, technically you are breaking international law as it is a different country and you are not clearing in and out of customs. This is done routinely by visiting yachters.

Day 2
Began with a short sail to the Mopion Sandbank. Just as the name implies, it is a sandbar in the middle of the Caribbean Sea a few miles from any land. A tiki hut sits in the middle of the "island". What a neat place. Anchorage was less than reassuring. Some of us snorkeled through the reef while the remainder chose the dinghy ride onto Mopion. We had a beer, took some awesome photos of our group on this most unique place, and returned to the yacht and headed for Clifton Harbor, Union Island. We did our first Mediterranean mooring at the Anchorage Yacht Club. Four divers hooked up with Glenroy Adams to arrange our dive for the next morning. Lunch at Lambi’s was an interesting experience. We all ordered food and were brought two generous plates full of chicken salad and fish salad sandwiches. None of us ordered this but it was good food and the beer was particularly cold. The afternoon was a lazy day in the bar and on the beach for some. Others took the approximately 30 minute hike up Fort Hill where we were rewarded with a spectacular views of the Caribbean Sea, Mayreau, Canouan, and the Tobago Cays. The hike was well worth the time and the mild to moderate degree of effort. Dinner at the Yacht Club with drinks and billiards ended another spectacular day.

Day 3
Divers were up early for a trip to Mayreau Gardens for what ended up being a spectacular 50 minute drift dive. Fantastic reef and marine life including stingrays, lobster, and two sharks, a 4 to 5 foot black tip reef shark and a larger bull shark. This was the best dive in my brief career. Glenroy with GrenadinesDive(www.grenadinesdive.com) was outstanding. He can be contacted by phone or email. Non-divers spent the day in Clifton shopping and provisioning any extras. They met a local named Platt(sp?) and arranged for a lobster beach BBQ for later that evening. Pizza to go from the Yacht Club and we were off to the Tobago Cays. We anchored in the north channel between Petit Rameau and Petit Bateau. Some swimming and snorkeling was wonderful. Platt and his buddy showed up in the late afternoon and began preparing our BBQ. As night fell, we went ashore Petit Bateau and had a fantastic dinner of lobster and slaw salad provided for us. The cost was only $25 per person (US).

Day 4
We had made arrangements the night before for Platt and his pal to return and shuttle us to Petit Tobac. This is in the Cays and was the island Johnny Depp(Captain Jack Sparrow) was marooned on(twice) in Pirates of the Caribbean. It was about a 15 minute speedboat trip. We spent about an hour walking the island before returning to our yacht for our departure. What a neat experience! We raised anchor and spent the day sailing to Mustique. We had to go via the Moorings base as our dinghy motor had failed. We were given a new motor and were quickly on our way. The trip our longest sail by far to this point. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be though. We picked up a mandatory mooring ball and paid our fee to the Mustique Company . This fee is somewhat expensive but is good for up to three nights. It was fairly late when we arrived. We radioed for dinner reservations and prepped for what was to be a wonderful night. After dinghying in, we were picked up in two “mules” for the trip up a very steep hill to Firefly. What an incredible bar/restaurant/exclusive hotel! There are only four suites and pampering is the word. The view from the bar and restaurant was breath taking. It looked out over Brittania Bay and the moored yachts. The restaurant only had seven tables and seated 34. Be sure to make reservations if you wish to experience the Firefly. The food was absolutely wonderful. Nothing more needs to be said. After dinner, we took the mule ride back down the hill to Basil’s Bar. Unfortunately, no obvious big names were present. It was a fun and happening place, but we were beat from a long sail day. We had a couple drinks and called it a night.

Day 5
There was short sail to St Vincent. We anchored in the Young Island Cut with the help of Gringo, one of the local boatboys. We made arrangements for a taxi tour with Sam’s Taxi and Tours. The eight of us traveled by van along the west coast of St Vincent. This took us through Kingstown and a few smaller coastal cities. We stopped at Wallilabou Bay. This is where several scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed. There are remains of the set there to see and the area itself is beautiful. They were building new sets in preparation of beginning to film Pirates sequel parts 2 and 3 in late march. From there we went further to the north and visited Dark View Falls. This was very nice but reportedly not as beautiful as Baleine or Trinity falls. We returned to our yacht and got ready for dinner. Another great dining experience was had that evening at the French Veranda Restaurant at the Mariner’s Hotel. Super food and atmosphere! Gringo took us down the street after dinner to a neat, open air bar before retiring for the evening.

Day 6
After breakfast Gringo took five of us on a short boat trip around Young Island to thumb shaped rock jutting a few hundred feet out of the water. We took the stairway path to the summit and discovered the remains of Fort Duvernette. The view of the coast of St Vincent, Blue Lagoon, and Young Island was great. The trip back down was somewhat treacherous as the path is worn away in areas. We snorkeled the area for a while before returning via Gringo to our yacht. We departed for a brief sail to Bequia. Following our arrival and anchoring, we all took a brief swim around our boat in Admiralty Bay. We met up with “D” Menace, a local boatboy, who took us ashore and hung around that evening. Dinner was at Mac’s Pizzaria. It was everything it was cracked up to be. The lobster pizza was fantastic. We bar crawled down the beach back to the boat. Time at the Whaleboner and Gingerbread were greatly enjoyed. We ended up with some items missing missing at the end of the night and were fairly certain “D” Menace and friends lifted them. I would suggest if you see a boat with “D” Menace on the side coming up to your yacht that you look elsewhere for assistance. This was the only bad experience we had with regards to the boatboys on the entire trip.

Day 7
We arose and got an early start for Mayreau. It was another good sail. Our arrival into Salt Whistle Bay left us in awe. What a stunningly beautiful place, like no other I’ve seen. We walked the area, shopped at the beach “boutiques”, and relaxed at the bar and on the beach. A quiet, relaxing afternoon prepared us for dinner at the Salt Whistle Resort. What a private, tranquil setting for a 10 suite resort with its own restaurant/bar right on the beach. The food once again was truly wonderful. Only two of our crowd took the road up the hill into town. They reported it was a neat experience and worth the time and effort.

Day 8
Our final morning of sailing led us back to Charleston Bay and the Moorings Base on Canouan. After clearing off and cleaning up the boat and checking out with the Moorings, we checked into the Tamarind Beach Hotel right next door. How beautiful the rooms were. We all met back on the beach for beers, burgers, and the sunset. Dinner at the hotel restaurant, Palapa, was okay. I wasn’t sure if the food was average or if I was just disappointed our trip was coming to an end. We spent the rest of the evening in Pirates Cove Bar before turning in for the night.

Day 9
We had a 7am departure so wake up calls came way too early. The trip home was uneventful. This trip was everything we thought it would be. The sailing was more challenging than the BVI but not overly so. There is a lot of talk about the boatboys in the area. We had not problems other than “D” Menace at Bequia. They were there if you needed anything and if not, a simple “no thanks, we’re good” was all it took. The moorings were much less populated. If you need to be around large gatherings of boats and people, the Grenadines may not be for you. We thoroughly enjoyed our seclusion where we were the only diners on more than one occasion. We made our own party. Plans for our return ASAP to the Grenadines began on the plane trip home. We look forward to a return visit and a more relaxed tour of these wonderful islands.