Moored off Sandy Island, Carriacou, Grenada

Sue & Gina on seats at bow

Mal enjoying the sail

OMG! This is one of the reasons we had come half way round the world. We left our anchorage at Tyrrell's Bay and, again, the wind was on the nose. We rounded the first point and could see immediately a tiny stretch of white sand with a few yachts moored up close, Sandy Is. There are only a few low palms, small vegetation and pelicans. We picked up a mooring and immediately jumped in to swim, snorkel & kayak the afternoon away. Similar fish to what we've seen in Oz but the pelicans are different; smaller and range from a light to a dark brown/grey. The water is a lovely temp and the colour is, as we had expected, turquoise. This is a National Park and the local rangers arrived to collect 25EC ($8) which meant we could stay 24 hrs. We can see Hillsborough from Sandy Is and we will move there to spend a few days exploring and provisioning. The great thing we've noticed is the islands are all close. We can see Union Is from here and we can pick up provisions as we go rather than having to store too many. However, it was lucky we had some supplies the other day as Grenada had one more public holiday than we had anticipated and all shops were shut!

Mal & Gina picking up the mooring

For those interested in aspects of the boat, there is a pull-out shower nozzle so when you come back on board after swimming you can have a rinse in fresh water - lovely! Gina & I are amazed at how stable the double hull is; during our rugged sail across the strait the other day, nothing was displaced; my water glass was still standing in exactly the same place! This is obviously playing a major role in my wellbeing!

Two things we all agree that's noticeably different to sailing at home is the amount of traffic and the different nationalities you meet; Swedes, Canadians, lots of French, heaps of Americans, Brits, Venezualans and heaps more. At all times of the day you see a huge amount of vessels sailing up or down the coasts.

We spent the rest of the day reading, adding another line to the mooring and generally hanging out.