We arrived in Grenada yesterday...

And, this is where we have been....

Monday morning we went in and checked out of The Grenadines in Clifton, Union Island. Up anchor and off to Petit St Vincent and Petit Martinique about 5 miles away. P&J headed out with us after a temporary fix on the transmission was made by P, J, and Paul on Sunday. P&J on the bow of their lovely sailboat, Delphinis. It was a lovely sail...slow again...not much wind...10-12 knots. This picture is of Union from where we first anchored with the sand beach of Petit St Vincent to the right. After we anchored we had lunch. I have now found a reason NOT to eat all of the lobster dinners up and to have leftovers!!! Paul made the absolute BEST lobster cake sandwich...the recipe will be in his book...we both so enjoyed it that we wrote it down immediately!! This is a picture of Petit St Vincent from where we anchored. This is a very small island with not much there except a beach...and perhaps a few rental bungalows. After lunch Paul wanted to get some diesel so P&J came aboard the Lady H and over we went to the Petit Martinique side...only about 3/4 of a mile. At the fuel dock we were greated by Derek with a big smile and helpfulness...and to our surprise (one gets rather use to being treated poorly)... when we went in to pay...another beautiful smile and great customer service!! Wow.... After fueling we anchored the Lady H on the Petit Martinique side. The above picture is of Carriacou in the distance with Petit Martinique to the left (looking south). This is Lady H anchored off the Petit Martinique (Union Island in the background). We all went in to the dingy dock to walk around this very small island. This picture gives some of the facts about the island. P&J met this gentleman and he became our informal "guide" to town...the grocery stores...and to the Jack-a-Dan shop...where Paul and P HAD to buy a whole bottle of the stuff!This is a picture of the main street of Petit Martinique. Believe it or not there are cars here...not a lot...but they are here!! I became enamoured with these cute twin brothers...

The picture below is Union in the background...looking down from the main street of Petit Martinique...I have found I like these alley shots...And then a picture of the Petit Martinique beach with Carriacou in the background...Then on our way back we passed by the local school where the lesson of the day (the lesson that will be remembered anyway) was how to pluck a chicken!! We didn't wait around to see if it was truly a biology lesson and next was taking a look at the insides! A look east along the beach...Petit St Vincent to the left. Then back to the boat...back to the Petit St Vincent side...better anchorage...better holding...less wind and off to a snorkel. J & I were thinking of diving in the morning...but after the snorkel...just not enough to entice me to "suit-up"! The wind picked up during the night...the next morning before breakfast as Paul was drinking tea in the cockpit...he summonded me above...and almost within touching distance (certainly within spitting distance) of the Lady H is a French charter boat cat...motoring out of the anchorage...unbelievable arrogance when there is a whole ocean out there!I had looked at our bread and sure enough some of it had started to go green so as Paul and I were drinking tea in the cockpit...Paul decided to wake up P&J anchored behind us with a scene from "The Birds"...He got such a chuckle out of the racket the birds were making and what a racket they made!! They all settled in behind us and in front of Delphinis still yacking away and waiting for more!!! Then the lobster fishermen arrived as planned with Derek...from the "boat boys" the charters pay up to $30.00 e.c. per pound...we bought off of the fisherman himself...$15.00 e.c. a pound or about $5.77 per pound u.s. These were a bit on the small side...but I believe we will have leftovers! Since there was so much wind we decided to head to Hillsboro, Carriacou and check in...then get to Tryell Bay, Carriacou by evening! We walked the downtown of Hillsboro...of course I walked toward the dive flag...it seemed the dive shop was surrounded by a gated yard...I saw no doors open...and no activity. I was a little worried that there might be a dog on the premise...then I saw a dive boat (well it was designated a dive boat...it was a little better than one of the pirogues) coming in with a few people. I walked down to the beach and asked if the dive shop was open...a Frenchman responded "did you see a closed sign?" I said that I really didn't get that close as to see one. He responded snipitly back to me that the shop was open...and that I should have looked before coming down to the boat then he looked over at the other male occupant of the boat...smugly...as if looking for encouragement that he had been funny?...(rude manners would be my assessment)... I was then going to ask how was the diving....but...with that attitude...I just walked away and didn't even bother or go to his shop... Paul and P checked us in to the country while J & I walked downtown the other way just to see what there was of this little town. We were convinced that there was not enough to stay in Hillsboro, so back to the boats and sailing (and motoring) around the point to Tyrell Bay. We were excited for this town as they were suppose to have free internet...and there was a dive shop here that I had been in email contact with that we could perhaps buy another tank (used). The buoys to mark hazards...were almost submerged and brown...somewhat looking like a coconut floating in the water...it has been said that there had been groundings here...then the locals get paid to help. Delphinis was ahead of us and was on the lookout so when we were nearing one...hailed us on "our" channel and we quickly fell in line behind them. We tried everything to get the free internet...it just wasn't strong enough or had enough bandwidth...BUT we did have a wonderful evening and lobster dinner with P&J aboard the Lady H. This town too, was not enough to keep us here...so P&J had anchor up at 6:00ish am....and we waited for the dive shop who promised to be open at 8:00am for us AND with the current hydro'd and visually inspected tank.He was a very nice young man...from Jamica...but very well traveled. He told me that his business is down 50%...thus selling one of his tanks. So around 9ish...off we sailed to the island of Grenada with an aluminum 80 tank to add to our dive stuff collection on the Lady H.

The island of Grenada approaching from the northwest...Grenada as we sailed down the leeward side....we are now anchored in Prickly Bay, on the southern end of the island.