Feb 9
I made breakfast at the hotel; bacon & cheese omelet, plantains and toast (there’s no toaster or oven so I just grill the bread in the pan). We took the bus into town then found one heading to Windward for a visit to our favorite beach at Petit Carenage’ the ride took us up to the high peak where we were treated to great vistas of the sea and nearby islands. We got dropped off at the Sunrise Disco and started the walk to the mangrove trail, it seemed longer than I remembered and I thought we might have passed it but every once in a while we’d see something familiar.



We found the trail, which is lined part way with conch shells, and followed it to the beach. The waves were stronger than usual and there was quite a bit of erosion at the beach, some areas were cut down 3 feet below the tree line.





The beach at Petit Carenage

One section hadn’t been affected as much so we set up our towels there; a small group of people were just leaving as we arrived so we had the beach all to ourselves and took full advantage of that . I tried to swim a little but the waves created a current that kept trying to pull me away from the shore and being so isolated I decided it wasn’t worth taking a chance of getting into a problem so I joined Kim in just grabbing some rays.



A fishermans boat at anchor with the Grenadines in the background

We stayed there for a couple hours and started to make our way back to the bar to wait for a bus. There was a makeshift shelter on the beach and we stopped for some photos and to take a break from the hot sun before the long walk back. You could see some boats being built in a couple of the yards along the way, this part of the island is world famous for their boat building skills and you can’t mistake the distinct lines of a Carriacou Sloop.





Even the makeshift shelter has fancy trim on the fascia





The Sunrise Disco


Back at the bar we had a beer while waiting for the bus, they aren’t as regular here as in other parts but eventually one will come along. Once back in town we stopped at Laurena II for lunch of jerk chicken and I used their very strong wifi signal to upload some photos and check my work e-mail. Afterwards we took a walk down the beach heading out the other side of town until the cliffs prevented any further progress. It was nice to sit under a shade tree and relax for a while before making our way towards home. I still wanted to swim so we stopped at the Butterfly Bar and I took a dip at the beach there between drinks while Kim sat and read the book she got from the book exchange at the hotel.
The trail through the mangroves is easier to follow from this direction and once we were through we stopped at the Hardwood bar for a drink before going back to the hotel to drop off some things. The remainder of the afternoon was spent at Off the Hook sunning and swimming in the beautiful water there; many of the cruising boats that were moored off Sandy Island had left so it was pretty quite.
Because we had such a big lunch we didn’t eat dinner, we just hung out between Off the Hook and the Banana and Merit Bar; I bought an 1/8th of Barrel Jack and we spent the evening sitting on the beach and looking at the stars.


Feb 10
We had hoped Curtis could take us out to Sandy Island, but he already had a commitment to take someone to Union Island and would be gone the whole day. We grabbed a bus into town, the driver didn’t seem to be on any particular route so we got an impromptu tour of the island since it seemed we drove almost completely around it; it was nice to see parts we hadn’t been to before and it gave us a sense of just how big Carriacou is.
Once in town we found the taxi driver that drove us from the ferry dock and made arrangements for him to pick us up tomorrow. We walked down to LaPlaya Bar for a drink, and then stopped at Ann and Sharon’s restaurant for lunch; I had a chicken roti while Kim had chicken and chips. Both were very good and reasonably priced. We wanted to have some beach time so we took a bus back to L’Estere and spent the rest of the day just hanging out.



La Playa Bar



View through the trees

We still had some food left so I made some ham and cabbage stir fry for dinner with plantains and fish fingers, that piece of sailfish is going a long way.
After dinner we split our time between Off the Hook and the Banana and Merit Bar till most people had left and then stayed on the beach late since this would be our last night on Carriacou.