The Windward Islands

The Windward Islands are essentially the southerly islands in the Caribbean chain which are theoretically the most exposed to the prominent trade winds, giving them the title the Windward Islands. This set of islands includes Martinique, St-Lucia, St-Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada. As we moved on from Martinique we have been gradually making our way south through these islands.

During this time were fortunate to have Eryk’s sister, Eleni, and her family joins us in St-Lucia and down through the northern Grenadine islands. We met them in the northern part of St-Lucia in Rodney Bay, where there was a beautiful marina, plenty of stores, a water park and resorts lining the beach. Having enjoyed the conveniences of Rodney Bay for a few days, we then moved on to see other parts of St-Lucia, including the picturesque Marigot Bay and the peaks of the Pitons. 

Entering Marigot Bay felt like we were entering a small crevice in the mountainous terrain, once inside high-end resorts revealed themselves amongst the luscious green jungle surrounding the anchorage. Next, in the Pitons, we anchored just outside the beat-up town of Soufriere, next to one of the two Pitons, the Petit Piton. This spot provided us with convenient access to an endless supply of beautifully ripe mangoes just off the shoreline next to the boat. From here we explored the drive-in volcano and the mud baths, with the highlight of it all being the beautiful Saffire Falls which we enjoyed all to ourselves. 

The Saffire Falls was a little off the beaten path of the more touristy mud baths but well worth the detour. After an easy ten to fifteen minutes hike, we arrived at the falls and the scene was breathtaking, there was a small pool at the bottom with a stone path to the falls all surrounded by gorgeous tropical flowers. The added bonus of having taken the not so traveled route is that we had this all to ourselves. First having bathed in the pool at the bottom to open our pores, we then rubbed thick mineralized mud all over our bodies. At this point we were all looking forward to the beautiful transformation promised from the natural minerals found in the mud. Next, we climbed a few steps to the glistening water of the waterfall falling over 100 feet high to meet our bodies and abruptly pounded the mud off. Back in the pool, we washed off the remaining mud as we were generously served fresh coconut, recently picked from the nearby palm trees. This day was proving the be a memorable time, only made more memorable by being able to share it with Eleni, Jesse, Maia, and Bianca.

The next day Eryk, Tia and Hugh with Eleni and her oldest daughter Maia set out to climb the Petit Piton guided by their young and capable guide, Johnny. Johnny picked them up at six in the morning to beat the heat of the day and they all eagerly set out to conquer the nearby 2000 foot high mountain. This was a challenging hike and not suitable for all ages, so Jesse and I graciously volunteered to stay back with the two youngest children. Despite the difficult hike, they all came back all smiles and full hair raising stories that they eagerly shared with the rest of us.

From St-Lucia we sailed directly to Bequia, the northernmost island of the Grenadines. There we not only enjoyed the town, and the nearby beach, but we were also able to re-provision and take on more water so that we could continue down the Grenadine islands. After a brief and unfortunate delay to our Grenadine adventure due to a broken electrical connection in the windlass, we left for the little island of Mayreau. Salt Whistle Bay in Mayreau was a breathtakingly gorgeous anchorage, featuring calm, clear turquoise waters, and a lovely beach where we were able to anchor no more than about twenty feet from shore. No need to lower the dinghy in a place like this, everyone swam the short distance to shore. There we walked the beach and enjoyed our sundowner drinks in cute little bar and restaurant whose tables were shaped as booths build from rock and shaded by a dried palm-thatched roof. Our time in Grenadines with the Bertinato family concluded with a visit to the Tobago Cays. Anchored just inside the reef we enjoyed a snorkeling a scenic underwater world with only twenty feet of water between us and enormous sea turtles grazing on the ocean floor.

Once we deposited the Bertinato crew back in Bequia to ferry over to St-Vincent and catch their flight home, Eryk and I were at a loss, we had no more plans. Nearly concluding our first season cruising, we had only to explore the Grenadines before making it to our final destination of Grenada to wait out hurricane season. So we stayed another week or so in Bequia, enjoyed the quaint little island, completed some boat work, met some other cruising families, before we moved back to Mayreau, to once again enjoy the peaceful anchorage and beautiful scenery. Among the Grenadines, the highlights have been: Petit Nevis, where we had an entire island to ourselves for an evening, which was also the absolute best snorkeling spot to date; Union Island where Eryk and Tia found a nice surf break that was accessible by a dinghy ride from the anchorage. Also, we spent a night in the lovely anchorage next to the gorgeous resort island of Petit St-Vincent and made our way over to our current location off the island of Carriacou.  

In Carriacou, we found our ideal anchorage, Anse la Roche. This spot is a little bay with turquoise waters, lined with a sandy beach and surrounded by a beautiful reef for snorkeling. We dropped our anchor here and spent several days watching seabirds plunging into the water, or the large fish jumping to escape whatever was happening below. Since it was a small anchorage with only room for two or three boats, it gave way to the perfect opportunity to socialize with other cruisers enjoying the serenity of the anchorage. In particular, we got to meet and exchange stories with the family aboard Evenflow, a boat from South Africa wrapping up their cruising experience. We built little evening fires on the rocks at the end of the bay with care not to disturb the sea turtle nests abundant on this beach. This was such a scenic and serene spot, we had a hard time bringing ourselves to leave, but eventually, we did move on as we were expecting a shipment of a new boat part to arrive, so we moved to the much more populated anchorage of Tyrrel Bay. 

As we pulled in to drop anchor in Tyrrel Bay we met our sister boat, another Leopard 40 of the same vintage, Sandy Pause. As we awaited our shipment we enjoyed spending time with the crew aboard Sandy Pause, another Canadian family. We shared our Canadian cruiser’s perspective, compared stories of sailing a Leopard 40, as well as regular topics of homeschooling, and our cruising highs and lows.

We have now completed our first cruising season in Grenada. However, as much as we are saddened to have this first stage of our adventure come to a close. We are looking forward to exploring the island of Grenada as it promises to have lots of things to do, tonnes of boat kids and an opportunity to prepare ourselves for our next season of cruising the Caribbean.