Trip Report – Sue and Bob, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Feb 5-15, 2009

After departing cold and snowy Boston, we arrived after changes in PHL, SJU, and a stop in St. Lucia, on St. Vincent on Thursday, 2/5 at about 7PM. Miraculously, everything was on time and our luggage made it as well. After two previous charters to The Grenadines, this was our first with Barefoot. It will not be our last. After exiting C&I, we were met by our driver Keyshaun and taken to the Barefoot facility adjacent to Blue Lagoon. Phebis (I apologize throughout for my spelling of names) met us and assisted us and our stuff via dinghy to our Jeanneau 40.3, Winter’s Gate that was on a nearby mooring. The boat was extremely well maintained and looked good inside as well as out. We had no material issues with the boat for the time of our charter.

We arrived on the boat pleasantly surprised to find our dry provisions on the table in the saloon, and the fridge chilled with a bag of ice and a few beers in it. Phebis gave us a quick overview of how to light the stove and basic systems and we took him back to the dock and had dinner at the restaurant at Barefoot, Drift Wood. Though very busy, we were well received and proceeded to rehydrate from the trip with perhaps a few too many of Randy’s rum punches and had an enjoyable dinner. We retreated to the boat and put away our provisions and called it a night. This was a great way to spend a sleep aboard night as being out on a mooring, we were able to catch a nice breeze and slept much better than if we were at the dock.

Friday, around 8:30, Chalkie came out and asked if we were ready to be taken to the dock to commence the boat briefing and work on getting going. We had a chart briefing from Philip, cleaned up paperwork, boat briefing, loaded cold goods, had a bite to eat, and were away from the dock a bit before 1PM. Chalkie and a helper got us away from the dock, raised the sails (new genoa and main), took up and stowed the fenders, and were picked up by a colleague in a dinghy and left us under way for Bequia. This was service the likes of which we have never seen after 20+ charters in the BVI and 2 in The Grenadines. Sailing in 13-15 knots of wind under a one reef main and full genoa we were anchored in Lower Bay on Bequia and settled around 3PM. We chose Lower Bay as it is about as far away from the town as one can be, and we wanted to get down to Mayreau the next day saving the time to get out of inner Admiralty Bay. Shortly after anchoring, a brief shower passed and we were treated to 2 rainbows.


We took the dinghy into town to the Rasta Market and topped off on some veggies and a few other items. We had afternoon rummers and dinner aboard and were the only boat in Lower Bay that night as we have been on previous occasions.

Saturday we were under way by about 9AM bound for Mayreau in about 15-18 knots of wind again with a single reef in the main and full genoa. We made a steady 6-7 knots and were at anchor by 12:30 in Salt Whistle Bay.

After lunch aboard, we took the dinghy to shore and walked up to the village. We went up behind the church and saw the views of the Tobago Cays from there – wow.

We wandered a bit and ended up visiting Robert Righteous for a cocktail or 2. After walking back down to the boat, we swam, walked around the beach and retired to the boat for cocktail hour. We had dinner with Robert. His conch fritters and creole snapper were excellent. All around, this was a great day.

Sunday, after sleeping in, we got some ice delivered by Blackboy, and ordered a lobster dinner from him for delivery to us on the boat in the Cays for later that evening for $35 US/person. We motored down to the Cays and took a mooring up close to Baradal and were there by 11 AM. The mooring fee and park fee was $65 EC. Boat Vendor activity in the Cays seemed much quieter than on previous visits, though the typical variety of goods and service was there. Walter from Union seemed to be our go to guy for t-shirts, cigs, ice and other sundries. It seems that since the establishment of the Park, and the need for vendor licenses that this has moved a lot of the part time vendors down island. We spent the afternoon snorkeling and swimming with the turtles which were very abundant. It seemed that at any time for the rest of the day there was always at least one in sight. Dinner arrived at 7 and we enjoyed the rest of the evening under a full moon listening to JB from our iPod through the boat stereo. It was a tough day, but someone had to do it.

Monday took us down to PSV in 18-22 knots of wind where we arrived around noon. We took the long way there – around Grand de Coi, almost to Carriacou, then east to PSV as the swells were building to 5-7 feet and I did not feel like navigating between Mopion and Pinese in the following sea. We were able to get over the shallower sandy patch in the anchorage and got a good set the first time.

Spent the rest of the day lounging, dinghy ride around to the reef on the windward side, swimming, and generally goofing off.

Tuesday was off to Union to re-provision and have lunch ashore. The wind was building to the range of 20-25 knots so we went for the short trip to Clifton under a double reef main and about 80% genoa. We anchored off Newland’s Reef and sat with the boat for an hour to make sure we weren’t moving and proceeded to lunch at Lambi’s. This turned into a bit of a comedy on several fronts. First, for lunch, feeling in need of a grease fix, we ordered the fried fish anticipating something similar to fish and chips. As per the menu description, we each literally got a fried fish (snapper) including head and fins with rice and vegetables. Though very good, it was not what we anticipated. Following lunch we made a vice run for beer, rum, ice and the like and returned to the next challenge of the day. In my infinite wisdom, when we tied up to the dingy dock at Lambi’s, there was no planking or easy way to attach the dinghy lock line. There was, however, a piling of PVC material that was convenient so I ran the line around it and locked it. This served its purpose well until it was time to depart and I discovered that the line had ridden the piling about 15 feet down to the bottom of the harbor and that the lock was working well. This is not a particularly nice smelling part of the harbor to want to go for a swim in, less so that day as there was a lot of fish cleaning that had gone on. Fortunately, a local person on the dock was able to find a piece of re-bar bent at the end into a hook that we were able to fish the line and lock up high enough to grab. As less than 50% of our ice had melted, we considered this a success and moved on.

After this episode we took the boat for a 1 hour sail around to Chatham Bay for the afternoon and an evening beach barbecue with Shark Attack. Since our last visit here in 2006, it appears the beach barbecue business has gotten quite competitive with now about 5 different people doing this at Chatham. According to Shark Attack, as the beach is privately owned, the owner has made it available to others (for a fee?). In the future, Shark Attack told us he has purchased some land near the northern point where he plans to build a bar/restaurant with a dinghy dock. Timing estimates for completion were vague. Dinner that night was snapper and chicken which was good, though we were a bit disappointed as we were anticipating lobster. In theory, it was too windy that day for the fishermen to get lobsters.

Wednesday morning we awoke to company anchoring outside the bay, the Club Med II.

This was another short day as we sailed back to Mayreau/Saline Bay, lounged walked around, had an afternoon libation at a bar in the settlement (forgot the name) with an upstairs deck overlooking the bay. We went back to the village for dinner (lobsters) at J&C which was very good.


Thursday we motored back to the Cays. We motored for 2 reasons, the first was that it was a fairly short distance and mainly into the wind. The second is that the wind was running 25-30 knots. This time we anchored a little southeast of Baradal, as the 100 feet or so of chain we had out (in 12 feet of water) felt more comfortable than trusting a mooring. The current and the wind were a bit uncomfortable so we lounged around the boat for the afternoon hoping things would moderate as the next day we had to get up to Bequia. Not a thrilling thought to do this passage close to the wind in 25-30 knots. The anchor held perfectly through the night and as the moon was waning, the stars were brilliant.

By Friday morning the wind had backed down to 20-25 knots and after our ice delivery from Walter, we were under way at 8:30 for the 22+ or so nautical mile close hauled slog upwind to Bequia. We set out with a double reef main and about 60% genoa to start. On clearing Canouan, and hitting open ocean the seas were running 7-10 feet. The boat handled like a dream and we were making 7-8 knots according to the GPS. The dodger on Winter’s Gate knocked down a lot of the spray, though I got thoroughly soaked on a few occasions when waves broke at the wrong time. Keeping the trip interesting was an unanticipated race that developed between us and another boat that left around the same time. Over the course of the day the winds eased down to 15-20 kts, and seas to 3-5 ft. We let out more genoa until we had it all out. By the time it was 3 PM, we were still about 2 miles off of West Cay on Bequia with easily another 1.5 – 2 hours to go so we dropped the sails and pressed the start button on the diesel. We got to a mooring in the inner harbor and were tied up by 4 or so.

A few minutes later, our racing companion anchored next to us and we had a good conversation and a lot of laughs. This couple were on their own boat that they brought down from the New York area the previous May and were in the process of working their way back up island to get back this coming May. Dinner at Gingerbread of Mahi Mahi was excellent.

Saturday was time to bring the boat back to Barefoot and we were under way by 8:30. Winds were about 20 kts. We motor sailed up to Anse Chemin before bearing off toward Young Island. Due to the current, necessity to make 2 tacks, and a good squall that came through, we were in the area of Blue Lagoon by 11:30. Minutes after contacting Barefoot, we were met by 2 guys in a dinghy at the markers who basically took over from there, putting out fenders and getting us backed in to the dock. We got our stuff off the boat, and checked in to one of the apartments at Barefoot which was very nice with a great view of Blue Lagoon down to Bequia.

After lunch, Phyllis took us to Fort Charlotte which was a very worthwhile side trip and enjoyed great views from the Fort at about 600 feet elevation as well as learned a little local history courtesy of our guide.

We returned to Barefoot and played with the parrots for a while before retiring to the bar. We met Seth and his friend Chris (formerly a mega yacht skipper) and solved the problems of the world and tackled other weighty as well as mundane issues over a few drinks before sitting down to an enjoyable dinner.

Sunday morning we met Phyllis at 8:00 for the taxi ride to the airport for our 10 AM flight. The agenda for the day was SVD stop in SLU change in SJU to BOS. We had forgotten that from St. Vincent one usually takes off heading downwind as opposed to the usual into the wind. The plane pulled a good hold-shot and got off the runway fine. We got some great views of the leeward side of St. Lucia including the Pitons along the way. San Juan was mobbed as I believe Sunday is cruise ship arrival/departure day there. Before arriving home in Boston around 6 PM we began planning our return.

Overall, this was one of top 3 charters we have had in over 25 boats in the Caribbean. This was due to a combination of area, boat, charter company, and weather. The crew at Barefoot always seemed to be there when they needed to be, and were very helpful and responsive to our requests. The boat was well maintained and sailed great in light as well as heavy winds and seas. The only complaint we have is that the can opener on the boat could use replacement. Our next trip to the Grenadines will definitely be with Barefoot.

Sue and Bob