After a fabulous, although challenging sail from St Lucia, primarily due to the number of sail plan changes required, we arrived in Bonaire on the morning of 8th April 2024. It was definitely a little surreal to be back after 10 years, but it was a visit we were both looking forward to, since Bonaire had remained one of our all time favourite Top-3 destinations after sailing all the way around the world.
Approaching the anchorage was the first sign that things had changed, given the unusual dispersement of yachts in the mooring field. It was no longer the well organised two neat rows of mooring balls and it seamed like a partial third row had been added somewhat haphazardly too. The number of yachts, or lack thereof, was the second indicator.
These anomalies were later explained to us by the marina staff, a marina that was now almost packed to capacity with local motorboats of varying sizes, compared to the handful that had occupied berths when we first arrived in Bonaire. Apparently a third row of balls had been added to keep up with the demand. Then a few years ago, local authorities took a number of decisions that has placed Bonaire on a trajectory that will forever change the island, a change that is already apparent.
As part of these changes, cruisers are now having to pay astronomical fees for the privilege of visiting this island. These include an increase of the mooring fees from $10USD to $35USD per night. Additionally, all the dinghy docks that were originally free, have been removed and consolidated into one dock at a cost of $35USD per month. A tourist tax fee of $75USD each is charged in lieu of hotel and car hire taxes, which has nothing to do with cruising, but we had to
pay it regardless and, finally, a charge of $40USD each for swimming, snorkelling and/or diving, regardless of the fact that, to date, we haven’t been able to tie up to a single dedicated dive / snorkelling buoy as these are permanently occupied by dive boats and only one vessel is permitted at a time per buoy. This was yet another change, as previously we could snorkel or dive anywhere. Needless to say, the additional costs make it too expensive now for cruisers to visit Bonaire for an entire hurricane season, resulting in most mooring balls being dropped in the water, after demand decreased significantly from last year, thus explaining the haphazard array of limited mooring balls still visible.
The most striking changes, however, were along the waterfront. Miles of new construction, including shops, restaurants, apartment blocks and chain resorts, which, besides being a major strategic change in direction to allow chain conglomerates onto Bonaire, has had the consequence of closing down most of the mom and pop boutique hotels and dive operations. There’s no doubt that the pandemic contributed to this outcome too, but sad, nonetheless to see. Add the numerous cruise ship visitors to the mix and we felt like we’d arrived somewhere entirely different. Fortunately some of the beautifully refurbished little historic houses are still present.
The most disappointing change, though, related to the single reason we loved Bonaire so much and was the islands greatest treasure; its abundance and variety of sea life and corals. The first clue that something was seriously wrong was our first swim off the back of Paw Paw and a glance under the water. Sadly we were not greeted by massive schools of fish and stunning colourful corals of all shapes and sizes as we’d experienced in the past. Instead, what we saw were a handful of tiny sergeant majors and desecrated bleached coral.
Deciding to explore further afield the following morning, after breakfast we donned our swimsuits, grabbed our snorkelling gear and, armed with the new map we’d been given on where we were allowed to snorkel now, we headed out for our first snorkelling adventure back on Bonaire.
What a disappointment this turned out to be. Not only were the snorkelling sites few and far between, but the two we found were completely devoid of sea life and the area was just scattered with dead bleached coral. This was exacerbated by the fact that we couldn’t get to any other snorkelling spots after deciding to dinghy over to Klein Bonaire to see how widespread this devastation was, because the dive boats were monopolising all the buoys.
A swim to our favourite little reef from Paw Paw that afternoon revealed the same situation. It was completely soul destroying to see. Returning to Paw Paw, it’s fair to say, Elaine was not in a good place. The disappointed was so profound, she couldn’t even put into words how she felt. She simply could not get over what we were witnessing.
Reports from other cruisers and locals we spoke to, confirmed the same thing, indicating that it was fairly widespread. The huge playful parrotfish were nowhere to be found, the myriad of large colourful angelfish were nonexistent, never mind trying to spot a turtle. Apparently at either end of the island sea life and corals are in better shape, but mostly all that remains are small schools of tiny fish, resembling more of a nursery than the fabulous natural underwater paradise we’d loved so much on our first visit, when we felt like we were floating on top of a giant aquarium.
An article released a few days later on most of the world’s major news outlets emphasised the situation; along coastlines from Australia to Kenya to Mexico, many of the world's colourful coral reefs have turned a ghostly white in what scientists have said amounted to the fourth global bleaching event in the last three decades.
At least 54 countries and territories have experienced mass bleaching among their reefs since February 2023 as climate change warms the ocean's surface waters, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch, the world's top coral reef monitoring body. More than 54% of the reef areas in the global oceans are experiencing “bleaching-level heat stress”. Scientists have expressed concern that many of the world's reefs will not recover from the intense, prolonged heat stress, indicating that what is happening this time is new for them and to science. Simply heartbreaking, especially since we had a benchmark to compare to; our first visit 10 years ago, and could see the devastation firsthand.
As a result, snorkelling is not an activity we are partaking in now; just too upsetting to see. Instead Roy is enjoying his early morning walks and Elaine is participating in the noodling sessions every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, frequented by cruisers, locals and an inordinate number of American and Canadian expatriates, the latter as a result of a major immigration influx from these countries in the past few years. While these sessions are great exercise they are also very sociable and include a weekly coffee morning afterwards. Other social outings have been with cruisers we’ve met since our arrival, including Zipper (Sophie and Jamie), Onyx (Nolene and Jeff), Ice Flow (Susan and George) and Mama Tried (Guy), where dinner outings resemble the league of nations; an aspect of Bonaire that has not changed. However, “Burger and Rum” night is sorely missed, since the pandemic forced Patreece to close his restaurant. Karels Beach Bar is still in business and thriving, though, evident by the major renovations and makeover resembling a South Pacific establishment, sitting on stilts with its high peaked thatched roof.
Coffee mornings, breakfasts, sundowners and dinners are enjoyed ashore at some old favourites, including El Mundo, Divers Diner, It Rains Fishes, but also includes new adventures such as Between2Buns, Number 10 Bonaire, a very quaint, eclectic little place, and Hooked on Sunsets, to name a few. Additionally, reading, listening to podcasts, evening walks to enjoy the sunsets and working towards finishing and uploading the huge number of our outstanding videos is also keeping us busy.
Another service that is now defunct is the free bus service that used to take cruisers to the main supermarket on the island, Van den Tweel, twice a week, so it’s back to walking or hiring a car. Fortunately Roy coincides our top up provisioning with his exercise walks and has the added bonus of bringing back freshly baked French pastries for breakfast, straight out of the oven. Doesn’t get much better than that. It helps that prices are far more reasonable here too.
Other activities, which one can never escape as a yacht owner, are the endless yacht tasks. Wanting to enjoy some R&R on Bonaire, though, these have been limited to activities like cleaning the stainless steel, cleaning the rubber trim and replacing our swim ladder teak steps which inadvertently got broken while we were being splashed in Grenada.
A definite bonus of being back in Bonaire, is feeling comfortable enough to sleep with the hatches open again, unlike our recent visit to the Windward Islands. Having fresh air all night definitely helps our sleeping patterns, leaving us more refreshed in the mornings. It is, however, the stunning sunsets, enjoyed over sundowners, that still make this a magical place!
Having time to linger, though, rather than being continuously on the move, has its drawbacks and in many ways is exacerbating our endless feeling of being completely stuck, given that we have been unable to sell Paw Paw as yet. It’s forced us to deal with situations we never expected to still be dealing with or indeed undertaking activities we thought would be behind us by now. Examples of this include the safety and security concerns we had in the Windwards Islands, having to do another haulout, undertaking passages again, dealing with ridiculous restrictions from our yacht insurance company in so far as where we have to be located for hurricane season, contending with the outrageous prices of goods and services since arriving back in the Caribbean, including having to pay for services we can’t actually use, etc. Everything feels like it’s certainly not all that scintillating as it once was! The fun seems to be ebbing away! In many ways this could be a good thing, ironically enough, as it may make our transition back to landlubber life a little easier, if that event ever occurs!
And now for another titbit of Irish tradition and custom; storytelling.
Seanchoíche - pronounced 'shanna-key-huh' - invites people to come to listen and engage with spoken stories, ranging from personal anecdotes to poetry pieces.
Seanchaí is the Irish word for a storyteller, and the plural is seanchaithe. Oíche is the Irish word for night. Together, seanchaí and oíche create Seanchoíche - or storytellers' night, where people from the audience are also invited to share their stories too. This is another tradition we’re looking forward to, whether listening or sharing a story or two ourselves. For now, though, we have to keep our focus on enjoying each day as it comes and remaining focused on the present. Again, not necessarily a bad thing!
After setting our course for Bonaire on Friday, 5th April 2024, we enjoyed a great start with winds as forecast, giving us a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7 Kts. It helped that Elaine’s back was also feeling better after she’d hurt it while in St Anne’s and could enjoy the passage.
Unfortunately at about 20NM out, the wind petered out leaving us to crawl along at barely 5 Kts, exacerbated by the tidal current against us.
By 1100 the winds had picked up again, much to our relief, but then lightened from every direction, prompting us to change our sail plan from wing-on-wing to a broad reach. Unfortunately a terrible side swell kept knocking us around too and flogging the mainsail, but, by 1300, the consistent 15-20 Kt winds we expected kicked in and we settled into a groove, scooting along at a SOG of 8.5-9.5 Kts.
We did, however, have a more challenging night as the wind backed to east-northeast, which was less preferable by putting us on a course that was more southerly, although speeds remained in the 15-20 Kt range. The persistent side swell, though, was a stark reminder of our Atlantic Ocean crossing, except then, we had a swell hitting us on either side at different intervals.
On the upside, being a pitch black night, we had the most magnificent starry sky and we were delighted to see the Southern Cross again. Throw in a shooting star or two and it was simply perfect! Elaine, however, missed her partner in crime, Justine, on her watches. There was no one to stargaze with or have her in stitches of laughter about whatever silly thing happened.
With a beautiful crescent moon making its appearance at around 0400, daybreak followed soon thereafter and our second day at sea commerced.
When Roy surfaced for his morning watch, we jibed yet again and changed the sail plan back to wing-on-wing, which placed us on a far better course, one that was more comfortable too. Over breakfast we tuned into Chris Parker’s SSB/HF radio net for the latest weather briefing, pleased to hear the forecast had remained as expected.
A further change of the sail plan was required when Elaine surfaced around mid-morning, jibing and putting Paw Paw back on a broad reach, allowing us to continue at a SOG of 6.5-7.5 Kts, with winds out of the east-southeast at 10-15 Kts. These sail plan changes became a pattern over the course of the passage as the wind veered and backed.
By noon we had 276NM to go; we’d passed the 1/3-way mark, but we’d only had one cargo ship for company the entire time.
By sunset we reefed the mainsail, since we were expecting stronger winds overnight and, given that there was no moon, we didn’t want to be faffing around in the pitch blackness. It was, however, the current that was brutal, setting northerly at 2.7-3.6 Kts and creating an astronomical leeway angle, forcing another sail plan change at midnight to put us back on a wing-on-wing configuration. We were on the downhill run, though, having passed the 1/2-way mark just before 2000 and we had another clear, pitch black starry night sky to enjoy.
At 0600 on the morning of Sunday, 7th April 2024, we changed the sail plan again, jibing and then back on a broad reach as the wind veered. Thankfully the brutal current had dissipated and stayed that way for the remainder of the passage.
When Elaine came back on watch at 1000, Paw Paw was surrounded by sea birds of every description. Roy had been watching them feed for hours. It was lovely to see an abundance of sea-life again, including some rather large fish jumping out of the water, after years of being in populated areas devoid of this, except for the odd turtle or dolphin. We’d completely given up on snorkelling because there was precious little to see.
Under sunny clear skies we were still scooting along nicely on a double-reefed mainsail and a half-reefed headsail, given that the winds had picked up to 18-22Kts. Bonaire was in our sights with less than 67NM to go by 1700.
However, by the time Elaine came on watch at 2100 and Paw Paw had reached a SOG of 14 Kts wing-on-wing, our slowest point of sail, as the winds hit 25 Kts, the executive decision was taken to drop the mainsail and proceed on a reefed headsail alone. This was no easy feat in 25 Kts of wind, lumpy seas and on a pitch black night; the exact situation we’d tried to avoid by reefing the mainsail early the previous night. Regardless, it was the safest option all things considered, even though we’d both had a cardio workout by the time matters were back under control.
Having had plenty of time to reflect during her watches and having looked back on our very unpleasant and challenging Atlantic Ocean crossing, there was a reason Paw Paw wasn’t sold as we had expected and that that wasn’t to be our last passage. It occurred to Elaine that maybe there was a reward to be had for our tenacity in completing our circumnavigation against the odds. This thought had started to formulate with each “favourite” spot we revisited over the past few months and all the new places we thoroughly enjoyed seeing in the Windward Islands, as well as the unplanned and wonderful encounters which materialised with cruising friends of old, including spending time with Anne and Stuart, off Time Bandit, and the very special event of being able to see Rowena again, meet the family and participate in Richard’s sendoff, then being given the opportunity to return to Bonaire, through circumstances beyond our control, a destination still on our all time favourite Top-3 List after sailing all around the world. We indeed had seen the best first during our first hurricane season on Paw Paw and it suddenly seemed very fitting that we got to return to this underwater paradise ten years later.
These thoughts solidified with each passing day of this passage, a passage full of nature’s wonders. It was all reward enough, but we still had plenty to look forward to and we’d managed to shave off an extra day at sea.
When Elaine surfaced on Monday, 8th April 2024, it was already 0530 and Paw Paw was already sailing up the leeward coast of Bonaire. Roy had allowed Elaine to sleep through her early morning watch which was very naughty of him, but greatly appreciated. By 0700 we were tied to a mooring ball, surprised to see so many yachts here already this early in the season. Either that, it was hello again Bonaire!
And on that note, we’d like to wish Roy’s brother Len, a very Happy Birthday and hope that he had a fabulous day.
After arriving in the dark in St Anne’s, Martinique, on the night of 28th Match 2024, we had a very lazy day on Good Friday, starting with a cooked breakfast of poached eggs and bacon, accompanied by freshly baked soda bread; it was the best we could do for Easter eggs on Paw Paw this year. The stunning sunsets, however, made up for the lack of chocolate Easter eggs over the Easter weekend.
After breakfast, we dinghied ashore to dispose of our garbage, clear in, stop in at the little church situated on the village square and enjoy an ice-cream under the shade of the trees on the waterfront. That was indeed the sum total of our activities for the day, aside from dosing on and off in the cockpit while enjoying the cool breeze.
Fortunately all the shops were open on Easter Saturday, which allowed us to get all our errands completed, particularly, to do a “bulk” provision in preparation for our upcoming passage westward, not something we had expected to be doing again, but with the lack of variety and supplies, not to mention expense, on the other Windward Islands, Le Marin, specifically Leader Price, was the best place to purchase everything we needed and wanted, including all our French favourites, although this required two trips in the dinghy. Our busy day, however, never got started until we’d enjoyed a breakfast of French pastries and coffee at Mango Bay restaurant, following which we got dinghy fuel and visited the various nearby chandleries in search of a few specific items we needed.
Easter Sunday was another lazy day after we got our provisions sanitised and stowed, following which Elaine also decided to use her spare time to explore specific Irish traditions for this major event in the Christian calendar. As it turns out there were many traditions associated with Easter in Ireland, from a “black fast” on Good Friday to “cake dances” on Easter Sunday.
For some in modern day Ireland, Easter is all about chocolate eggs and a long weekend; even the pubs are now open on Good Friday. This, however, is a significant contrast to how it used to be celebrated, mainly as a religious festival, marked with some unusual festivities and customs.
As is still custom today, on Palm Sunday, “palm” is blessed in the church and taken home, although this can be any green plant such as conifer, spruce or yew, but it’s usually with branches of Leylandii; its abundance and flatness make it perfect for slipping behind statues or pictures in the home. In the past, slips of blessed palm were also worn by men in their lapels and it was customary to hang it in barns to protect livestock.
Good Friday, a day of prayer and fasting, meant a so-called “black fast” in days gone by, meaning that nothing but water was to be taken, nothing important was to be started, no work was to be done, although the day was considered a good one on which to plant potatoes and grain, no blood was to be shed, so there was no slaughtering of animals, no fishing boats were to be launched, no wood was to be burned and no nails driven through wood, in solidarity with Christ’s suffering on the cross.
Some women hung their hair loose as if in mourning and some people went barefoot all day. Men trimmed their hair and fingernails; doing this on Good Friday was thought to prevent headaches for the year ahead and, although cold and wet weather was expected, many visited graveyards, shrines and holy wells, where water obtained from a holy well was considered especially curative.
On Easter Saturday, holy water was blessed in the churches and people took containers of this “Easter water” home to bless the house and farm. At this time, since Lent was nearly over, butchers around the country held symbolic mock funerals for herrings, given that herrings sustained many people during the meat-free Lent and butchers were looking forward to an upturn in business by selling meat instead. In parts of the country, notably the southern counties and Cork city, they held a procession heralding the final day of Lent known as “whipping the herring’”, where a herring was tied to a rope and pulled along while it was whipped to pieces by the crowd.
At sunrise on Easter Sunday morning, many people rose early and gathered on a high vantage point to witness the spectacle of the “dance of the sun”, observing the sun reflected in a pan of water.
The use and decoration of Easter eggs is still customary throughout Ireland today. Not only had eggs connotations with life-power, but there would have been an abstinence from them for Lent, resulting in a rather large glut that needed to be used, satisfied by way of a feast of eggs for breakfast on Easter Sunday. Children added dyes to water to colour the eggs while they boiled or they were painted and decorated to be eaten, displayed or played with. An Easter dinner, comprising seasonal spring meats such as lamb, veal or kid were customary, with richer farmers distributing meat amongst the poor so that they too might enjoy a festive dinner. Dinner was followed by a “cake dance” held outdoors on Easter Sunday evening, with a large cake as a prize, a custom that has been revived in County Leitrim apparently. Will definitely have to see this!
The Easter weekend was brought to a close on Easter Monday with fairs, consisting of the usual trading and games, sports, sideshows, food and music, etc, to celebrate the end of the dark days of Lent and to look towards the late spring and summer.
For us, Easter Monday involved a nice hike from St Anne’s around the southwestern headland, followed by a light lunch ashore and then clearing out before returning to Paw Paw to prepare for our early morning departure to St Lucia.
Another tradition of Ireland undertaken over the Easter period is to mark the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, which involves a formal ceremony to commemorate those who died and where the Proclamation of Independence is read aloud. It is attended by the President, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister). This year, however, it was also attended by Northern Ireland's First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, for the first time. Given that Easter 1916 was the foundational event for Óglaigh na hÉireann (the Defence Forces), representatives from the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service take part in the ceremony, as well as a brass and a pipe band. The ceremony concludes with an Air Corps flypast and prayers of remembrance.
Tuesday, 2nd April 2024, was an eventful and special day in many ways for us. Although it was a methotrexate day for Elaine, she decided to try something different by taking her medication just before breakfast rather than early morning and going back to sleep. This definitely helped with the nausea and made our sail over to St Lucia far more pleasant than it would otherwise have been. Having the wind and sea in a perfect direction certainly helped add enjoyment to the sail and by 1000 we were safely tied up in our berth in Rodney Bay marina.
After clearing in with Customs and Immigration, something we’ve done multiple times this year in St Lucia in particular, on this occasion, we had a new online form to fill in for Immigration, a form that was designed for someone arriving by air or cruise ship. Needless to say, it required a vast amount of irrelevant data for a yacht, including the name and address of the resort we were staying at. Setting frustration aside, we completed the form as requested, although it added a considerable amount of time to our cleaning in process. This was just another example of the hit and miss service we’ve experienced throughout the Windward Islands since our return. Regardless, once that was completed we made our way to the Rodney Bay Medical Centre, where Elaine had her blood work done.
As a treat we stopped in at the Swiss Bakery on our way back to the marina to enjoy a coffee and baked delight and then headed to the marina office to check in there. It was a tad worrying that a new controlled entry system had been installed at the marina office because the staff had felt unsafe. Given that we had preferred to be in the marina rather than at anchor because we felt unsafe too after the recent boarding of a yacht in Rodney Bay, this revelation didn’t fill us with a great sense of reassurance. Safety and security unfortunately has been a major concern for us since arriving back in the Caribbean, primarily on the islands from St Lucia southwards; a real shame given that we never had these concerns ten years ago. Back then there was the occasional theft of an unlocked dinghy, which continues today, but never yachts being boarded while cruisers are onboard or indeed cruisers being assaulted or murdered while onboard. In all honesty we were both glad to be leaving the Windward Islands because of this uncertainty. A real shame!
Back onboard Elaine tried to nap while Roy went to purchase a new water heater for the starboard side, since the multiple repairs undertaken on the new one we fitted in Australia, developed yet another leak. There was clearly a problem with this particular rather expensive purchase. However, neither of us were successful in our endeavours. Unfortunately Elaine didn’t sleep a wink and the water heater that had been available in December, was no more. A new anchor light still alluded us too. Guess we’ll be needing another delivery from the US. Instead Roy used the remainder of his afternoon to wash the deck in the pouring rain.
While our return to St Lucia on this occasion was a short visit, it was primarily for two reasons. The first was for Elaine to see the doctor for a review and to get her prescriptions filled prior to heading westward, but more importantly, it was for a celebration of life.
We first met Rowena and Richard, off Galene, 10 years ago during our first hurricane season in Bonaire and have remained friends over the years. A fond memory we have was getting completely pickled with them one impromptu night on Paw Paw in Antigua; Elaine and Rowena on a warm bottle of Johannesburger purchased that morning, but was absolutely putrid and Roy and Richard on the worst bottle of rum Richard had ever tasted. To this day none of us can explain why we continued to drink such unpleasant beverages on our empty stomachs, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
With Richard being the rum connoisseur that he was, he vowed to improve Roy’s taste in rum and bought him a decent bottle just prior to the start of our circumnavigation, with strict instructions that it wasn’t to be opened until we’d crossed the Pacific.
Of course, when we reached Australia and visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, buying Richard a bottle of rum was a foregone conclusion, a bottle which had sailed with us on Paw Paw since 2018 in order to bring it back to the Caribbean for him.
Sadly Richard passed away before we could give him our gift, but his family and friends had gathered in St Lucia to scattered his ashes just off Pigeon Island in Rodney Bay. Producing the bottle of rum during his sendoff, having conveyed its history, was very much appreciated by the family and indeed a fitting way to toast Richard’s life; a very special occasion for us and one we were glad to be a part of. Needless to say, it was also lovely to see Rowena again and to meet the rest of the family. St Lucia was one of Richard’s favourite places in the Caribbean. May he rest in peace.
The next few days were all about the final preparations required for our passage to Bonaire, one of the ABC islands in the Southern Caribbean. Preparations included getting through the usual pre-sail checklist, Elaine seeing the doctor for her review and test results, as well as to pick up her six month supply of medications at the local pharmacy and Roy running more errands for bits and bobs we still needed, including yet another new MOB (Man Overboard) light, since the last one, purchased in Gibraltar, simply fell apart; another example of expensive, poor quality equipment for a yacht! While Elaine was at the doctor, Roy took the opportunity to get some top up fruit and vegetables too. The final task was to top up the diesel tanks, which required two dinghy trips rather than queuing at the fuel dock with Paw Paw or indeed delaying our departure by having to wait on the fuel dock to open. Even the small savings we would have made on getting duty-free diesel wasn’t worth the hassle. Instead we opted to clear out for a sunrise departure, casting off the dock at around 0600, but not before wishing Elaine’s folks a Happy 63rd Wedding Anniversary and we’d enjoyed one last Happy Hour at the Broadwalk with Rowena to say our goodbyes. What we definitely weren’t expecting was to get a message from Time Bandit (Anne and Stuart), who had arrived in St Lucia and were anchored in Rodney Bay waiting to clear in the following day. Unfortunately, with Elaine only seeing the message after our outing with Rowena, the timing of everything precluded us from seeing them again, but we did see Time Bandit resting peacefully at anchor as we sailed out of Rodney Bay at sunrise on Friday, 5th April 2024, bound for Bonaire.
With that, we said our goodbyes to the Windward Islands.
After splashing on Tuesday, 19th March 2024, and saddened at having to wave goodbye to Time Bandit (Anne and Stuart), we were left wondering if and where our paths would ever cross again. A definite downside to our vagabond lifestyle, but setting that thought aside, we motored the short distance around to Prickly Bay.
After we were safely anchored, we dinghied ashore to visit Budget Marine in order to get a refund for the products we hadn’t used during the haulout and to purchase the items we need for the upcoming hurricane season’s maintenance ritual.
While Elaine got comfortable in the lounge seats of One Love, Roy walked to the chandlery. However, Elaine had barely got settled, when a familiar face and voice appeared; it was Anne. Her and Stuart had got a taxi to Budget Marine for odds and ends they needed, not knowing we needed to visit the same shop. What were the chances! If we’d arrived five minutes later, we would have missed each other. Needless to say, it was a wonderful surprise and made the parting a little easier.
Sadly, it was the absolutely putrid coffee we had at One Love later that left us scratching our heads. It was barely a week ago that Elaine had complemented the establishment on the great coffee they served, but what we got that morning can best be described as lukewarm dirty dishwater. They’d certainly lost our patronage after that.
The following morning, we were both up early, after another rolly night, to complete our provisioning, purchase a few South African favourites at the marina’s mini-mart and by mid-morning we’d weighed anchor and said goodbye to Grenada Island, deciding to head straight to Carriacou Island for some much needed R&R. Although we could have enjoyed a great sail, unfortunately we had to motor, given that it had remained far too windy to hoist our headsail and neither of us felt like dealing with the mainsail flopping around in the swell.
It was just after sunset by the time we dropped the hook and got settle on our third attempt; finding a sandy patch between the rocks was a tad difficult in the fading daylight. Thankfully, though, we were back in a quiet, comfortable anchorage, where we enjoyed a barbecue with a tasty fresh salad for dinner, topped off with a nice long chat to Keenan and Brooke after receiving a video of the twins riding their bicycles for the first time without training wheels. Needless to say, they were very chuffed with themselves!
By 21st March 2024, not only did we get to celebrate Elaine’s dad’s birthday on a Zoom family get-together; he’d reached the grand ol’ age of eighty nine, but it felt like the first day of settling back into our sailing life. Everything that needed to be done was done and we had nowhere in particular to be. We could simply enjoy the rest of our sailing season. Our relaxing day was topped off with a lovely surprise of Michelle and Drew, off Pyxis, who were our floating neighbours in Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia, popping by. They’d been out lobster diving and happened to recognise Paw Paw as they were returning to Pyxis. Over a sundowner, while savouring a beautiful sunset and moonrise, we caught up and made plans to see each other over the coming days, before they hauled out and returned home for the summer.
Since Roy had spent most of his day cooking the huge ham we “won” at the supermarket in Grenada, based on the amount of money we’d spent on our groceries, dinner, not surprisingly, was sliced ham with a fresh garden salad. Given the size of the ham some was diced and frozen for omelettes and pasta dishes, while the rest was sliced for future dinners and sandwiches. His efforts were definitely worthwhile as it was quite delicious.
The rest of our stay on Carriacou Island involved a number of coffee mornings at the Iguana Café, walks on the beach, exploring the little village, including the surprisingly well stocked new supermarket, a dinghy excursion through the mangroves of the nature reserve and enjoying time with Michelle and Drew, which included a dinner outing at the Slipway restaurant and a Sunday afternoon of Mexican train dominoes on Paw Paw; another cruising couple were hooked!
However, while Carriacou is a reminder of the “old” and indeed more authentic Caribbean we remember, even in this little slice of paradise, there’s always those individuals who society could do without all together; inconsiderate imbeciles.
An incident with yet another smoker, who decided to sit down in a café amongst all the nonsmokers and light up a cigarette, upwind of everyone, was the straw that broke the camel’s back and moved Elaine’s tolerance needle to zero. She’s decided to start getting even after it occurred to her that it’s always the nice, ordinary, considerate, kindhearted people of the world, who, at the micro level, are permanently accommodating idiots rather than cause a fuss by working around situations, like moving to another table or simply breathing in the smoke that has been expunged from the smoker’s lungs together with heaven alone knows how many germs. Unfortunately the only result is that the decent people have been accommodating this behaviour for so long, the morons are now running the show; they’re simply everywhere!
This inconsiderate attitude sadly expands to so many other aspects of every day life in this post-pandemic western culture we live in now; people vaping in crowded areas, people pushing in front of you in a queue, people almost knocking you over on the sidewalks rather than pass politely, people pushing passed you to squeeze through a door or to get on/off public transport ahead of you, people literally leaning over you to get to a grocery item without as much as an “excuse me”, people zipping into a parking spot you’ve been waiting on so you can use it, people blasting out their hideous choice of music at all hours of the night and, let’s not forget our all time favourite of the Caribbean, cruisers anchoring on top of us. The examples are endless, including people making rude remarks about Elaine wearing a mask; comments like: “Doesn’t that stupid b*t+# know COVID is over” or deliberately coughing in her face. The ignorance and ill-mannered behaviour is astonishing and bewildering, especially given what the world had to endure through the pandemic. You would think kindness, consideration and respect are behaviours that would’ve come to the fore, but we’ve actually experienced quite the opposite instead.
While Elaine knows she has to walk away from these situations for the sake of her health, rather than confront them as she has done in the past, she’s working on a more subtle, but should be effective retaliation rather than accepting the behaviour of these morons any longer; itchy powder, sneezing powder, stink bombs, chewing gum, spilt drinks or fake vomit comes to mind. She’ll have to think of a few more legal tactics for the various scenarios we encounter on a daily basis, but these are a good start. Now to source the items!
By Monday, 25th March 2024, we’d cleared out of the country Grenada, although this was no easy feat, given that everyone and his dog had the same idea, taking us nearly two hours to get the paperwork we needed to enter St Vincent and the Grenadines. Regardless, by early afternoon we were anchored off Union Island, a new pasture for us.
Our chosen anchorage for the night was the beautiful Chatham Bay and a walk along the beach revealed a number of quintessential Caribbean eateries and bars, as well as a boutique resort. A swim and a sundowner at Sunset Cove followed by a beautiful sunset, accompanied by a “green flash”, which we hadn’t seen in ages, as well as a stunning full moon, wrapped up our stay.
Our next destination was the very swanky Sandy Lane Yacht Club on Canouan Island, although we enjoyed the scenery of Mayreau Island en route. Unfortunately with the strong winds continuing to blow while we were in Carriacou, we were still unable to hoist our headsail, but the period of calm weather we were patiently awaiting eventually descended on our anchorage off Union Island overnight. This meant we could hoist the headsail at last while berthed at the yacht club.
This yacht club was built by an Irish billionaire for suoeryachts, but accommodates the likes of us for a rather hefty price tag. However, we’d heard from more than one of our cruising friends that this was well worth the visit. Celebrating Elaine officially becoming a retiree and spending her first social security payout was the perfect excuse. Being the only yacht in the entire facility, though, reminded us of our stay at the IGY superyacht marina in Malaga, Spain.
Since the clearing in facility at the resort in Chatham Bay was inoperable and getting a taxi for the bargain basement special rate of $100USD to cover the 5Km drive into Clifton, was a price we were definitely not going to pay, we opted instead to clear in at the small airport on Canouan Island. This involved a golf cart ride to the gates of the property, compliments of the yacht club, and a short walk to the airport Customs and Immigration offices. Although it was hot, we enjoyed the return walk too, given the beautiful gardens, excellent walkways and stunning views.
Then, after clearing in to the yacht club and getting the scoop on the property, we decided to dinghy over to Shenanigans for lunch on their terrace, followed by a beach afternoon and a swim. A shower in the awe inspiring bathrooms was a far cry from the facilities at the Clarkes Court Boatyard and Marina and returning to our air-conditioned abode was priceless, given the scorching temperatures.
The next morning, before setting sail for Bequia, Roy enjoyed a morning exercise walk, his first in ages, we’d walked to the bakery for a morning coffee and freshly baked French pastries, we’d got our laundry done and washed the decks. We’d certainly enjoyed a very pleasant stay with a huge dollop of luxury.
By Thursday, 28th March 2024, we’d returned to Bequia Island, cleared out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and set sail northwards, taking advantage of the continuing calm weather to get as far north as needed to avoid beating to weather in stronger conditions.
Since we made good timing to reach Rodney Bay, St Lucia, we decided to continue on to St Anne’s, Martinique. Although we hadn’t undertaken a nighttime arrival in an anchorage in forever, by 2000 we were safely anchored, thankfully in a calm St Anne’s we know of old.
With that we’d like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter. Enjoy those Easter eggs, particularly more expensive this year due to the price of cocoa.
Deciding to explore our old stomping ground on the island of Grenada to see what had changed, we opted for dinner ashore. Dinghying to the head of Prickly Bay, we discovered an eatery we frequented often, now under new management and renamed to One Love. Since they were advertising their pizza night, we enjoyed a delicious and inexpensive pizza each, accompanied by a few sundowners.
Sadly Roy’s pizza didn’t stay put for very long. By the time we returned to Paw Paw he had clearly picked up a bout of food poisoning and spent some time expunging his body of the scourge. This incident certainly got Elaine worried, both for Roy and for herself, but fortunately he recovered quickly and Elaine was unaffected. It wasn’t the greatest start to our return to Grenada, but, note to self, avoid eating at the One Love restaurant. Instead we took our chances at the very much improved Prickly Bay Marina restaurant the following day, a favourite hangout during our 2015 hurricane season, for a coffee and baked delight. This was in lieu of not being able to get a morning treat at Secret Harbour Boutique Hotel and Marina after enjoying an early morning walk over to Secret Harbour Bay. Not only was the hotel restaurant still closed when we got there, but we were nearly knocked down by the speeding driver of the hotel’s shuttle bus. When confronted by Roy once we got to the hotel, the driver claimed he swerved to miss a brick in the road, but never apologised. It was even more infuriating knowing there wasn’t a brick anywhere to be seen; he clearly wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see us until the last minute when he swerved, at which point we were about to jump into the bushes bordering the road. Regardless, stepping back for a moment to reflect on what he said, he clearly valued avoiding a brick in the road more than attempting to avoid hitting two human beings; what exactly does that say about this modern world we find ourselves in!
Setting that scare to one side, it was a lovely morning walk nonetheless and we found Seaduction (Kirsten and Neil) in the marina, having last said goodbye to them in Finike, Türkiye. Unfortunately it was far too early to be visiting, so we took a slow stroll back to Prickly Bay, where we phoned our granddaughter, Capri, for her birthday.
The reason for our early morning walk, though, was as a result of Roy waking Elaine at around 0530, given that the wind had eventually calmed and we needed to get the headsail down for our haulout, a rather peculiar requirement for Clarkes Court Boatyard and Marina. Groping around in the dark in a very rolly anchorage was a tad interesting, but we managed to get it down incident free.
The remainder of our stay in Prickly Bay was primarily to collect the antifouling we had ordered and to purchase the last of the bits and bobs we needed for the haulout, as well as to stock up on provisions again, although the latter has continued to be a challenge across all the islands we’ve visited this year, with the exception of Martinique. It’s been slim pickings on a number of fronts, including bread, meat, fruit and vegetables. When Roy visited the large new supermarket not far from Prickly Bay they didn’t have an ounce of meat anywhere to be purchased and we’ve resorted to baking our own bread again to have something decent. Chandleries have also proven to have the same problem with Roy having to take a taxi or walk to hardware shops instead to purchase a number of items we’ve needed.
While back in Prickly Bay, we stumbled upon S/Y Windwalker and stopped to say hello, having last seen them in Phuket Island, Thailand; they had just completed their South Atlantic Ocean crossing a month earlier, having crossed the Indian Ocean via South Africa. It was also lovely to get an update from them on the whereabouts of other cruising friends with whom we’d lost contact since leaving SE Asia.
Other activities over these past few weeks have included running errands, completing our regular chores, catching up with family and friends, continuing with our Irish lessons and re-advertising Paw Paw privately in an effort to generate more interest than the complete lack of interest we have experienced via the broker, while updating our website to reflect the latest maintenance and services undertaken on Paw Paw. Fortunately we’ve had a steady stream of interest since then, but nothing that is likely to come to fruition before the start of the upcoming hurricane season, leaving us with no alternative, but to progress with our backup plan.
While the weather had improved, all things considered, with slightly cooler temperatures and some rain, but mostly sunny days, the easterly wind and apposing southerly swell had been relentless, making for a very rolly anchorage, something we never experienced before in Prickly Bay. So, after bouncing around for almost a week and feeling rather sleep deprived, we decided to explore pastures new in Grenada, weighing anchor early on the morning of 6th March 2024; our destination, Clarkes Court Bay, where we anchored just off Clarkes Court Boatyard and Marina behind Hog Island. Given that the wind and swell were in the same direction in this bay, we had a far more comfortable experience. What surprised us again, though, was the number of yachts crammed into this large bay and its adjoining coves.
First things first, however, after we were settled, was to dinghy ashore to chat to the staff at the boatyard to make sure everything was still in order for our haulout and to have a general snoop around, including checking the slipway, since this facility was still being built when we were last in Grenada.
The second thing that struck us about being in this neck of the woods, was the number of cruisers ashore taking advantage of the various delivery services, including the bread man, the meat lady, the fresh produce lady and the jack of all trades, John, who provided various services like getting propane tanks filled, getting dinghy fuel tanks filled, delivering pre-ordered groceries and soft drinks, etc. What we didn’t appreciate, though, was the blaring television tuned to some or other American news channel; definitely not what we wanted to listen to!
First impressions of the Cruisers’ Galley restaurant were not all that favourable, but that improved somewhat while eating most of our dinners there once we were on the hard. The experience, positive and negative, was purely dependent on who was working. This included the chefs and the waitresses, with some combinations resulting in absolutely appalling service and lucky dip meals ie did you get fries or didn’t you, did the same menu item produce the same results or not, did you get a glass for your drink or didn’t you, did you get your bottled drink actually opened so you could drink it or didn’t you, did you get sugar with your coffee or didn’t you, did you get hot or cold milk with your coffee; the combinations of this hit and miss service and meals presented were endless.
While the three perpetrators who had hijacked a yacht and murdered the cruising couple onboard in their attempts to escape to St Vincent, but were apprehended and extradited back to Grenada to face capital murder charges, we learnt that another murderer had escaped custody while appearing in court. As you can imagine, this sent reverberations through the cruising community and had us exploring the security at the boatyard in far more detail than we would have normally. Suffice to say, they had plenty of security guards scattered around the yard day and night with the gates permanently closed and manned.
Additionally, we were concerned about the orientation of the haulout slip to the direction of the prevailing wind, particularly, since the wind was howling when we arrived, which would have resulted in us being blown onto the starboard side of the concrete dock. Fortunately our concerns were unfounded because the boatyard staff were fabulous. We were very impressed with their efficiency and proficiency. It certainly helped that the wind had died down on the morning of our haulout, 8th March 2024, but members of staff still visited us in their dinghy, explained the procedure we were to follow and provided an extra set of hands on deck. Before we knew it, Paw Paw was hauled, pressure washed, positioned and chocked. By that evening we’d finished scrubbing the port hull and cleaned the stripes.
Over the following days we progressed with our well practiced method, a project we never expected to be doing again mind you. Regardless, we finished scrubbing the hulls, creating a wonderful mud bath in the process; not what we wanted, but dry sanding was prohibited. Then, using paint stripper, we stripped and sanded the waterline, applied the primer, then set about applying three coats of antifouling. While Roy did most of the painting, Elaine sanded the propellers and saildrives and sanded and cleaned all the throughhulls then applied the numerous coats of antifouling to the saildrives. She did assist Roy with the first coat of antifouling, but, with the subsequent applications coinciding with her methotrexate day, she wasn’t much help after that.
Other than the few odd jobs left of antifouling the propellers, marking the chain, cleaning the bridle, clearing the saildrive water intake slots, adding the new anodes to the propellers and saildrives, doing some polishing, getting the jack-stands moved to do the primer and antifouling on those patches and Spring cleaning Paw Paw inside and out, we were done, but had missed our slot to splash, resulting in us having to wait a few days to wait our turns. This meant we celebrated St Patrick’s Day on the hard, but Roy cooked up a storm in the galley with the slim pickings we had left in the way of provisions and we had Anne and Stuart, off Time Bandit, for company, which was definitely the highlight of this haulout and our time on the hard. The last time we’d seen them was in Penang, Malaysia, during the pandemic. Who would have thought that after we each left SE Asia a year apart and going different ways around the African continent (They went south via the Maldives, Chagos, Seychelles and South Africa in 2021, while we went north through the Suez Canal in 2022) that we’d all end up on the hard at the same time in Grenada. With our splash day revised to 19th March 2024 and, although we were excited to get sailing, it was sad to say goodbye to them. Regardless, we thoroughly enjoyed their company and will miss them. Fair winds and following seas as they head north for the hurricane season and we head southwest.
In between all this hard work, what we didn’t get completed, was having the plastic screens replaced on the helmstation weatherguard. After visiting two different sailmakers, we came up empty handed, but we enjoyed a nice long chat to Keenan on his birthday, a few coffee mornings and most dinners with Time Bandit, as well as watched the Guinness Six Nation Rugby final between Scotland and Ireland. Well done to Ireland on winning this championship for the second consecutive year. Before being hauled we also enjoyed a dinghy excursion to Hog Island and over to Whisper Cove, a boutique-type marina, where we enjoyed the lovely gardens and beautiful views while sipping our morning coffee. Receiving the news that the murderer on the loose had eventually been re-apprehended was a hugh relief too to everyone in Grenada, residents and cruisers alike.
On that positive note we wish you all: Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
And, of course, Elaine has to share a little bit of trivia relating to the country we hope to make our home in the not too distant future.
Long before any “global greening”, the very first known St Patrick’s Day parade, marched in honour of the 5th Century bishop credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, was thought to have been held, not in Ireland, but in Boston in 1737. However, later historical evidence recorded in Spain's Archivo General de Indias changed the established history, when the 17th Century documents revealed details of expenditures in the St Augustine colony and made reference to a procession in 1601 in honour of “San Patricio”, who was recorded as the “protector of the maize fields”.
As one of the patron saints of Ireland, believed to be buried in Downpatrick, County Down, the 17th of March is an important date in the Irish folklore calendar and has been marked with special customs and rituals throughout the centuries. His carefully crafted image is deeply intertwined with the story of Ireland.
So, while we await a sale and wonder when indeed we will make Ireland our home, we’ve re-immersed ourselves in our sailing lifestyle, accepting that this remains our future for some time to come.
Being a leap year, by 29 February 2024, we’d returned to Bequia Island from Mystique Island to clear out, spent the night and cast off the mooring ball at around 0700 to head further south; our destination, Carricou Island, just north of the island of Grenada. It had been 9 years since we last visited Carricou and Elaine remembers it well because the Customs officer, besides being extremely rude to her, but got more than he bargained for as a result, gave Elaine the flu which turned to pneumonia. This turn of events resulted in us spending a month floating in St Anne’s, Martinique, while she recovered just in time for Christmas and New Year as well as for the start of our circumnavigation with the World ARC on 9th January 2016.
With a forecast for strong northeasterly winds, we set off expecting a fairly fast downwind sail, but found ourselves bobbing around at barely 5 Kts until a storm passed over us, increasing our SOG (Speed Over Ground) to 9.5 Kts. Sadly it didn’t last, so on went an engine and we motorsailed the rest of the way. It was a tad disappointing because the last time we sailed this route we had one of our more memorable sails doing 9.5-10 Kts all the way.
Given that it had been more than 9 years since we last visited Carricou, we updated our knowledge of the area by reading the latest comments on Navionics, only to discover that we had actually been sent on a wild goose chase after reading about a change in the location of the Customs office which, according to the author, it had been separated from the Immigration office and moved to the northern side of Tyrell Bay. Confused as to why this had been done, we nonetheless dinghied to what looked like a new marina being built, a new commercial dock already built and a larger haulout facility. It was indeed infuriating to learn that the information we’d read was incorrect and that the Customs and Immigration office was located exactly where it has always been; at the southern end of the anchorage.
Climbing in and out of the dinghy is a mission for Elaine these days, so having to do it unnecessarily is an aggravation, only to be compounded by the ridiculous “musical chairs” she had to partake in while clearing in, not to mention yet another fee to be paid. Unless our memories have totally failed us, we never remember paying all these fees.
It was nice to see the Iguana Café had been spruced up, though, with what looked like very nice breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, although at hellish prices.
The rest of the establishments along the shoreline of the bay looked a tad more derelict than it was in a past life, although we understand a new “supermarket” had opened. Regardless, deciding to eat onboard, we both settled for an early night.
On waking to the stronger winds we thought we were getting yesterday, we decided to take advantage of this gift, so we weighed anchor and continued south to our next destination and a planned stop to collect our antifouling; Prickly Bay on the southern end Grenada Island.
It was somewhat sad, though, to be cruising along this route, knowing that a couple had lost their lives going in the opposite direction less than a fortnight ago, after their yacht was hijacked by three escaped convicts originally from St Vincent, while their yacht was anchored off Grande Anse in Grenada. The perpetrators used the yacht to get back to St Vincent. Fortunately the three were re-arrested, but two cruisers, enjoying their retirement, had lost their lives through negligence on someone’s part. It’s definitely left us very uneasy and uncomfortable about being back in this part of the world.
Another reminder of what part of the world we are in are the certain ilk of French cruisers who persistently anchor on top of us and our encounter in Tyrell Bay was no exception. After hunting around for a nice sandy spot when we arrived and just when we were about to sit down to dinner, along comes a late arrival who thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to anchor within spitting distance of us, over our anchor and swinging across our bow. Too apathetic to engage these kind of cruisers these days, we simply lifted our anchor and re-anchored. Needless to say their eyes grew somewhat larger by the second as Elaine manoeuvred Paw Paw to within inches of them to sit alongside in order to retrieve our anchor, which, needless to say, was buried directly underneath their yacht. However, rather than move forward to help the situation or indeed re-anchor after settling too close to us to begin with, all they did was wave. Incredible how shallow the gene pool has become!
By mid afternoon on Friday, 1st March 2024, we’d returned to our old stomping ground of Prickly Bay, Grenada, surprised again to see the number of yachts on mooring balls as well as at anchor and it wasn’t even hurricane season yet. It will be bedlam by then, no doubt!
For us, though, our time here will allow for some respite before our haulout.
Deciding to switch our itinerary to explore pastures new, on Sunday, 25th February 2024, we cast off the mooring ball on Bequia Island around mid-morning and enjoyed a slow motorsail over to the private island of Mystique, with its year-round population of about 500 people, who mostly live in the village of Lovell or in staff quarters of the private villas, while the remaining inhabitants occupy about 120 of these private villas scattered around the island.
The island is owned by a private limited company called Mystique Company, which is in turn, owned by the island's home owners. Ownership includes the airport and the private airline. There’s only one hotel on the island, the Cotton House, also owned by the Mystique Company.
After being greeted by the Harbour Master, who helped secure us to a mooring ball, we paid our dues of $220EC for a three night stay and dinghied ashore for a snoop around.
Mystique is a rarely visited island by cruisers for a host of reasons; one, its a beat to get there, two, it’s very expensive and three, cruisers are restricted to where they are allowed to go, enforced by a security team permanently established on the island. Why?
Well, it’s an exclusive sanctuary for royalty, rock stars, politicians and business tycoons to relax in anonymity. It’s been home to Princess Margaret, it was a holiday destination for the late Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Catherine, holiday there, it’s home to rock stars like Mick Jagger and fashion icons like Tommy Hilfiger, and it has been a holiday destination for other famous individuals including Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Denzel Washington, John Travolta and Bryan Adams, all of whom clearly did not want the common plebes like ourselves snooping around their homes or indeed socialising with them in the majority of the common areas.
We were restricted to the waterfront, a section of the beaches on the western shoreline, part of the park area nearest the mooring field and the beautiful little village, located opposite one of the lovely beaches, which comprised a number of colourful “gingerbread” buildings serving as boutique shops, a fine wines and cigars shop, the Sweetie Pie Bakery coffee shop and a supermarket, as well as a fruit and vegetable stall. We were also allowed to frequent Basil’s Bar jutting out on stilts from the shoreline.
Additionally we could take a tour of the island, for a fee of course, but we weren’t actually interested in looking at hedges and gates of famous people’s homes. Better still, though, some of the villas are for rent at the bargain basement special rate of $8,000-$150,000 USD per week depending on how many bedrooms you would like.
Attending the Sunset Jazz Dinner at Basil’s Bar on our first night, while a very enjoyable outing, albeit expensive, was definitely an interesting and somewhat bizarre experience, given the clientele that seemed so out of place in the modern day Caribbean setting; it all seemed very colonial.
Although Roy and I would not recognise most people considered to be famous, even if we tripped over them, we were sitting in the company of many, given that the restaurant was absolutely jam packed, testament to the number of golf carts associated with the different villas parked outside the venue. It was also evident that tables were “designated” to specific individuals and their families who seemed to regularly attend this weekly dining event, most walked in like they owned the place, which in fact they did, and no one was dressed in anything less than a designer outfit. Greetings between parties were kept brief and nonintrusive, bordering on nonchalant, and polite applause was offered to the band at the end of each song. All this while we sat squashed in a corner of the restaurant, at a table undoubtedly reserved for the visiting cruisers or indeed for the few cruisers willing to pay the prices.
A few days later, if it wasn’t for the lovely couple, Sharon and Martin, off Sonsy Lass, who had joined us for a morning coffee, we would never have recognised Shania Twain enjoying a coffee too at the Sweety Pie Bakery coffee shop, while we tucked into our baked delights.
That entire morning was, in fact, a series of chance encounters. It started with us meeting Sharon and Martin for the first time on the dinghy dock, although we knew of their yacht, given that they too had completed the ARC 2023 rally with us and we’d all shared the same dock in Gran Canaria. It was indeed another random event that resulted in us meeting cruisers that we could just as easily have met months earlier since we all probably walked passed each other numerous times on the dock back in Gran Canaria. Regardless, it led to an unexpected, fun morning and a celebrity sighting.
Other activities, besides lazying around onboard, included walks along the waterfront, although a security guard in her car was positioned strategically to ensure we didn’t infringe on the privacy of any home owners or overstep the stated boundaries, swims in the crystal clear water and taking the opportunity to clean Paw Paw’s topsides, as well as enjoyed our Zoom family get-together.
Would we visit Mystique Island again? No, but we’re glad we did. It was indeed an unusual destination with its own very distinct culture of privilege, class and all the trimmings.
