Recently WildChild, with her crew of 3, were anchored in Carricou and met up with our friends Bryan and Regina. I think this whole traveling thing is really about the people we meet not the places we go. After that we sailed up into the Grenadine island chain south of St. Vincent 2 days ago where we got robbed by a very polite thief.
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Friends in Carricou
After now spending 5 weeks in Grenada I have decided that I love the vibe or feeling of the island. The locals are very well educated and I argue almost as polite as Canadians, although the locals argue back with me that Canadians are almost as polite as Grenadians. Although WildChild has only been at anchor in Prickley bay in the south of Grenada we did tour most of the island by bus.
Last Monday we were happily and safely anchored in Tyrell bay Carricou beside our friends Bryan and Regina from… hmmm… illinois America I think. They are just the nicest most wonderful and polite people and it has been our pleasure to get to know them. I met Bryan in Prickley bay a few weeks earlier as I was carrying a heavy backpack full of milk and groceries the 2 miles back to the bay Bryan was walking behind me and offered to help.
As we sailed into the bay last week Bryan was hailing us on the VHF radio and offering advice about where we might find a nice spot to anchor beside them. We were delighted to run into them again as they are both just wonderful company. WildChild dropped the hook near sunset and as such we did not get a chance to explore the land.
Early the next morning (7:30am early) Bryan offered to give us all a ride into shore and show us around. He knew of a great local bakery where he knew we could buy both fresh milk, for Captain Lexi’s beloved morning Chocolate milk, and fresh baked cherry turnovers with the nicest flaky crust you ever did taste. We were happy for the personal tour and Bryan is just a wonderful guide.
The small local town has the same safe feeling as the mainland Grenada and the same fantastic bus system. We toured around the island before going into the sleepy little town with the bakery. Although I am sure I could fill an entire blog about Bryan and Regina’s generosity let me suffice it to say Bryan bought us all fresh baked ooey gooey cherry turnovers. Plus of course they treated us all out to dinner at a local eatery later that evening.
On last Tuesday Feb 11th the crew of WildChild all got checked out of Grenada at the nearby customs and immigration building. I have been wondering about this for a while now, and please forgive me for my complete ignorance on the subject… but… why do countries need us to check in and out with both customs… and.. immigration..? Like what is the difference? Why can’t all this be done by computer like in the french islands? I have no idea what-so-ever what the point of checking in and out with customs is…? What custom are they checking…? What is “customs”..? What do they even do…? and why are they interested in sailboats..? We are never declaring any cargo or good for resale on their islands… we are not commercial vessels. I am beginning to think it is based upon some old British way of thinking.
This whole process of constantly checking into and out of countries seems like an unnecessarily complicated and ineffective affair. The French have the right idea. All necessary government departments can easily be notified by computer thru a simple database entry. In the Dominican Replublic, perhaps the most complicated and expensive check-in and out procedure so far, they view it as an economic opportunity that cannot be missed, I think five different invented government agencies get a fee from you. In Barbados they add a ministry of health check just for fun because the plague is still a big worry for them. Every country seems to have their own idea of what is necessary based mostly upon the poverty level. Canada and America and the EU do not charge you a fee but poorer countries put more and more higher and higher fees on this procedure.
I used to dread dealing with all this bullshit but now I get the routine… smile be patient and stay friendly no matter what and prepare to have your wallet assaulted. They got sta get paid..!
Checking out of Grenada they wanted more money out of me for the privilege of leaving their lovely country. I think it was like $130 e.c. some bullshit about my cruising permit expired…? When I arrived I told them I was staying for 3 months, better to leave early than after your stuff expires, and it seems they only sold me a 1 month cruising permit. As I was there 11 extra days of course I just had to pay them for another 30 day cruising permit. Cruising permits is another lovely money scam you have to deal with, pay them for permission to move your boat. Government crooks are better at getting into your purse than the private crooks.
WHATEVER…!
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Sailing north to Union Island
With permission to leave papers secured in my hands we were all set to sail northward the next morning (Wednesday Feb12th). I had begun my usual Captains obsession with weather stuff a few days previously and determined we could get just enough angle on the wind to close haul almost straight up to Union island which is the most southern check-in place for the Grenadines and St. Vincent.
The un-fun thing about this return north for us is that due to the crescent shape curve to the Caribbean island chain we will be sailing slightly to the NNE and often still into the wind until Martinique. I have already sailed 10 thousand miles into the wind so whats another few hundred miles upwind really?
Mr. Kol is not yet used to upwind sailing and it seems after about an hour of the smashy bashy he starts to get a little green around the gills. He did better this time though and did drink water and stay hydrated. It was a very short upwind sail, about 12 nautical miles as the crow flies, to Union island but due to the current pushing us westward and the winds being more northy than the weather guessers promised we had to make a tac to get far enough to the east to make it into the bay. We had left Carricou I think by 9am and we made it safely into the Clifton Harbor of Union island.
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Dangers and Crooks
Here I want to go on a little tangent with you to give some context to this next part of the story. If you have been following you know that I am the head chicken in charge. I am super sure this sailing adventure is not worth dying over so we do not take stupid chances on the ocean. We face the dangers of open ocean sailing all the time, mother certainly can kill us if we make mistakes, but really the biggest dangers are from people. Human beings are the nastiest predators the planet has ever seen. So I am super cautious about NOT going to high crime islands, we just do not go to dangerous places.
Not all of these islands are safe. There are varying levels of safe-ness between them largely based upon both the education level of the population and the poverty level of the island. Poverty and ignorance breed crime. So we either try to avoid poor un-educated places or we keep our guard up and stay aware and locked up tighter.
St. Vincent is known for being a sketchy place for cruisers. Not very well educated people and lots of poverty on this island. Often the local population are pretty racist and they make the assumption that white skin equals rich people therefore opportunity to “get” money. Personally after reading reviews and cruiser comments for a day I became uncertain about the wisdom of stopping into St. Vincent at all.
The little island just north of us right now called Canouan has the highest crime in the entire Caribbean. Some of the Grenadine islands are great some are iffy and some are avoid too risky. I am going to include just 2 active captain reviews here for you…
So to be fair I was already feeling a little nervous about this trip into the Grenadines. As we made our way cautiously in between the reefs protecting Clifton harbor I am nervous as my tablet navionics chart did not agree with my chart plotter chart. I was moving forward slowly and cautiously watching my forward scan depth sounder and feeling my way in with both crew on deck as looks outs for reefs. Personally I really dislike going into shallow reefy waters without being able to trust my chart plotter.
This very nice local boat guy sees us coming in slowly and comes over and graciously offers to guide us in to the bay. He was an older guy and all friendly smiles. As he led us safely in he gave a wave to follow him then tried to lead us over to a mooring ball near the docks. I really do not have extra money to waste on luxuries like mooring balls, and as we were only going to check in and leave immediately for the next island north we really only planned on being there for an hour or so.
You can tell immediately that this place has a very different feeling to it then Grenada. Less regulated and more wild west. The bay was 40 feet deep and already pretty crowded with mooring balls and charter boats so really there was no place for us to anchor.
I conceded that maybe if it is not too expensive maybe we need to pick up a mooring ball for the check-in. The friendly boat guy was buzzing around us and kept hollering that we should go to the mooring, he will help us. On one of his passes I ask him how much…? and he says for 1 hour only $30 e.c. (about $12usd). I figure ok fine… let’s support the locals and save myself the headache and worry of trying to anchor in this crowded little bay.
The very nice local boat guy helps us get secured to the mooring and comes over to collect his money. After I pay him he moves back a bit and is scoping out our cockpit looking for possible treasures, I get a bad feeling. He says for only another $10 e.c. each way he will shuttle us the 30 feet to the dock at shore and the 30 feet back after we finish checking in. I decline, no thank you we will launch the dinghy and just row over.
I left Kolja on WildChild to protect the boat with the stern warning… ” Mr. Kol… nobody but nobody boards this boat until we return, I don’t care what good words they use… tell them NO… they can wait for the Captain to return. ” Elena came with me to shore for the check-in and Mr. Kol dutifully stayed on board to protect WildChild.
Check-in was easy enough. It was a 3 minute walk to the airport and the officials were very kind and friendly and helpful and made the process very easy. The government fees were not too bad, it cost us $106 e.c. to clear the three of us and the boat into their country. Easy process no problems at all.
When we return to the boat Mr. Kol informs us that another man was here saying this was his mooring ball. It seems… the nice guy who guided us in does not own this mooring ball, just a local guy who saw some white people coming. Being an entrepreneur he saw an opportunity. With all smiles he led us to someone else’s mooring ball, that he did not own or have any rights to use or rent out at all, and hook us up, got his money, and scrammed before the real owner showed up half an hour later.
Yep we got robbed in Union island before we even stepped foot on shore. It never even occurred to me that he would sell something that was not his to sell. I didn’t even suspect it. Lesson learned… pay AFTER you are done using the service. The crooks got me again. We left immediately and sailed the 3 miles north to Mayreau island. Smaller island where our other friends Rob and Anna said they would meet us.
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Whats next…?
Well from here we keep going north. If you look at the winds for the entire Atlantic ocean you will see that there is a HUGE nasty storm occupying the entire north Atlantic ocean right now, all the way from Newfoundland to England. This is causing unusually strong winds down here in the Caribbean at the moment.
Kolja heard that there is lake inside a volcano crater on St. Vincent he wants to go see. We were going to leave to Bequia today then find a safe place to stop in St. Vincent but the winds are currently too strong at the moment. I am thinking maybe we should stay put tomorrow (Saturday Feb 15th) too. Bequia is about 35 miles north of us and regarded as an absolutely lovely safe stop for cruisers. I am thinking we will jump up Sunday Feb 16th. Maybe jump up to St. Vincent Tuesday. Depending on how safe or unsafe we feel at whatever anchorage we chose in St. Vincent we may stay only 1 night or maybe a few nights.
I wonder if there is anything interesting to see on St. Lucia..?
Hmmm…
Okay … Cheers sailors…
Captain Lexi…
. ……. the wanderer……