Gotta Smile!: We're On The High Seas! Carriacou to Bequia

January 15 - 21, 2015

1. Grenada, 2. Carriacou, 3. Union Island, 4. Tobago Cays, 5. Mayreau, 6. Bequia

We began our voyage north today, January 15th. After being landlocked for such a long time, it was wonderful to leave the marina and head out to sea. The first stop was Carriacou a five hour trip. We were sheltered by islands at the beginning and end of the trip, but the middle was just plain nasty. Six to eight foot confused seas battered us from both sides and the bow. It was a rough couple of hours. When we entered Tyrrel Bay, we found flat water. It was perfect. Everything we love was there: an anchorage in a quiet bay, dinner in the cockpit with a soft breeze and a starry sky. It was made even better with two of our favorite people on board. All four of us kept saying "Wow, this is the best!" And, it really is!!!

Carriacou

Happiness!!!

We had a lazy morning on Gotta Smile, then lunch
on board. At last the dingy was launched and we
were off to explore Carriacou. Our first stop was
the Lazy Turtle for a beverage.

Three baby goats enjoying a fun day at the beach.
We walked this beautiful beach for two reasons: we
were looking for sea glass and we all have fitbits.
Every day is a competition for the most steps and
the first one to get 10,000. Guess who is winning!

After our walk on the beach, we took a bus
into Hillsborough. This restaurant's sign
caught my eye. Cow Heel Soup??? I think
we will stick with our original dinner plans.

Dinner at the Slipway Restaurant. No cow heel
soup, but the most delicious lobster tail dinner.
Great ambiance -- an open air rustic restaurant
right on the beach and only steps from the bay.

Good-bye Carriacou -- next stop Union Island.

Union Island

Arriving at Union Island after a short
eight mile trip. A boat boy helps Jon
secure our lines to the mooring ball.

An extremely narrow entrance to the dingy dock
requires hands in or scraped knuckles.

We purchased some produce and bakery
goodies in town and met this woman.
It's not unusual to see people balancing
containers on their heads. I'm still amazed.

Clifton is a very small underdeveloped town. (It was
described in the guide book as cosmopolitan. The
author has been in the islands too long!)
Again, the people are friendly and welcoming.
Petrographic drawings indicate that the ciboney
people were in the area as early as 5400 BC. They
used raft type boats to explore and eventually made
sea going canoes that exceeded 20 meters.

Jon discovered another way to display
the shell collection.

'It takes village' to get me in and out of the dingy!

Only one rolly night in Clifton. Sunday
morning was breakfast, devotions and
some blog time.

Beautiful water, sailboats and kite boarders
in our wake.

The Smillies get one last view of Happy Island as
we leave Chatham Bay.

Tobago Cays and Mayreau

We wanted Bonnie and Jon to see
Tobago Cays so we made a short
stop on our way to Mayreau. The
Cays were really rolling. After a quick
lunch, we did a short dingy ride to
see the neighborhood. When we
landed on the beach, Kyle helped pull
our dingy to shore. He then adopted
Brian.

The Cays are a national park.
Their most famous residents are
large turtles. We did see three from
a distance, but the iguanas let
us get much closer.

The boat's name is 'Make Friends'. We feel like we are making friends
every place we go. The people are so welcoming.

Pulling into Saline Bay, Mayreau.
Notice the distance to the beach.

Bonnie and I did our first biathlon. We dog paddled to the
beach, walked the beach in both directions and dog paddled
back. Note the baggie in my mouth -- I carried my fitbit so I
could count the steps. Oh, and I used a noodle for extra
floatation. Could this be a new Olympic event?

Mayreau in our rear view mirror.

Move over boys. Bonnie's turn at the helm.

Bequia
We had three glorious days in one of our favorite places, Bequia. I'm a little sad at departure time. I know I will never come back here. Lots of great memories from our three visits. Now it will be interesting to see how other islands compare on our way north.

The dingy dock and welcome sign in
Admiralty Bay, Bequia.

Time for some liquid refreshments at
the Whaleboner. The bar stools are
vertebrae and the edge of the bar is
a rib. Bequia is sanctioned by the IWC
to take four whales a year. It must be in
the traditional way. All by hand. Few
people have the skills or nerve to hunt
them. Many years they kill none.