Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
12.27.349N
61.29.254W

This morning dawned as another beautiful day in paradise. I’m disappointed that we are leaving the Tobago Cays so soon but since we are checked out already, we’d better start moving.

We threaded our way out the southern route through the Cays among the islands, reefs and coral heads. Not really all that difficult since everything was visible in the crystal clear waters. We pointed our bows south and headed to Carriacou; geographically a separate island but politically, a part of Grenada.

The sail was as perfect as they come. Fifteen to 18kts with flat seas and hardly more than a 5 degree list. We hummed along at 7+ kts. When we dropped down to 6.5, it felt as if we had thrown out an anchor. Fun, fun, fun.

However, this was the last day our little convoy would be together. When we left the anchorage this morning, we knew that if the conditions were right, DocNoMore, Foreclosure and Cloud Nine would continue on the leeward side to the south of Grenada to wait for a weather window to cross over to Trinidad and, like I said, you couldn’t get much better weather than we had today. Exit Strategy and another boat named Break & Run (who we haven’t met) came with us toward Carriacou but only planned on spending the night before taking a different route along the windward side of Grenada to Trinidad nonstop.

We pulled into Hillsborough, Carriacou for an hour to clear customs into Carriaco/Grenada but then continued on to Tyrrel Bay where we heard that there was a fairly new haul out facility that could paint the bottom of our boat. Those who have spent some time in Trinidad and Venezuela keep telling us stories of rising costs and hard to get haul out dates, so this option was looking better and better.

Tyrrel Bay is another large open harbor with a sleepy fishing village feel to it. We dinghied to the haul out facility where we met Susan and Roy, the transplanted Floridians who manage it and made arrangements to have the boat hauled on Monday. We’ll be able to stay on the Palace while the work is being done or if we get frustrated, there are a couple of little air conditioned cottages that we can rent nearby.

With our business completed, we walked down the beach to a pizzeria where Agnes and Lloydia served up two tasty little pizzas. We also met Robert & Wendy there, two retirees from England, who have been living here for 17 years and had a nice conversation about why they had chosen Carriacou as their retirement home.

I feel good about this little village. The people are friendly and appear to like having cruisers in their presence. So, I look forward to spending the next week or so here.