That's the view over Tyrell Bay where we're anchored at the south end of the island.
We arrived on Friday lunchtime after a brisk, 1 reef, close hauled sail of less than 3 hours from Chatam Bay.
On arrival, the Bay was flat but after a couple of hours a very significant swell was pushing in. It built up all afternoon and we ended up having a pretty sleepless night.
The next day the swell was at its height and large waves were chrashing onto the beach. Some boats looked in serious danger of being wrecked. Look at the boat towards the right of cente in the following sequence...
Thankfully there were no casualties.
We learned later that an intense low front which had come down from the northern Caribbean was the cause of the swell, which, according to long term cruisers of these parts, was quite exceptional.
We spent an hour + checking in with the authorities which involved being scolded by a rather officious and offhand Customs lady for various minor misdemeanors like standing in front of the door!
Then we checked out the 'Town', established where the supermarkets were and bought some essential provisions - two bottles of rum!
On our way back to the boat we passed another flying the OCC flag and invited them over for drinks that evening.
Thankfully the swell had subsided somewhat by the time Steve and Ann-Marie arrived. They turned out to be very experienced Caribbean cruisers who kept their boat out here and spent every winter here. The rest of their time they spend between the UK and Southern Africa which they have explored extensively by land.
In addition to telling us about their travels and giving us tips on where to go, they warned us about a couple of shady characters - two local brothers - operating a scam in the bay. They entice unsuspecting cruisers (usually charter catermarans because typically their crews are less experienced) to make use of 'their' dodgy moorings. Apparently some violence and damage has occurred on occasions when things have gone awry.
After hearing their description by our new friends, I suspected that I had unwittingly already fallen victim to their unsavoury endeavours. Earlier in the day I had bought bananas from one of them. We had run out and I thought it proper to support local enterprise. I asked for ripe ones but he didn't have any. "Not to worry" I thought, they won't take long to ripen, so I bought a bunch. Subsequently, it turned out that I had been done. They were green bananas and would never ripen in a month of Sundays.
The very next morning I saw the two rogues at work again - they were guiding a French charter catermaran onto a mooring buoy near us. The grateful crew clearly handed over money for the service and mooring provided.
Once the brothers had departed the skipper left to check in. I waved him over and explained what we had heard and suggested he dive to check the mooring. Easier said than done in the murk stirred up by the swell, but they did and discovered they were tethered by a rather thin line. They moved to another mooring!
Later in the day one of the rogues came alongside and demanded to know what I had said to the French crew. I replied that my conversations with other people were my private. In response he started shouting and swearing. Much of what he said was incomprehensible, but his manner was most aggressive. He was clearly trying to intimidate me. I immediately decided attack was the best form of defence and so shouted abuse back at him with interest. I was determined to show him that I was not going to be intimidated.
A very public row then erupted in the middle of the anchorage for a few minutes, with me inviting him to "just come and try" whatever it was he was threatening to do. Being a few feet above him, I felt quite safe in doing so. I'd already calculated that if he did, I would be quite within my rights to 'repel borders' and that it would also be quite easy to do so. He was rather large and overweight, neither of which would have been to his advantage if he had tried to clamber aboard.
He no doubt came to the same conclusion because he eventually motored off hurling further abuse over his shoulder.
I think Mick was rather stunned by the whole unsavoury episode but for a couple of minutes I was congratulating myself for 'seeing off a bad un'. Then the potential consequences of humiliating the local pirate in public began to occur to me. Will he come back with his brother or other reinforcements to get revenge under cover of darkness? Will he damage the boat? Will he pinch the dinghy? Will he muder us while we sleep?
"Oh bugger" I thought, "here's another fine mess I've got us into". "I think I'd better cancel our evening out" I said to Mick. We'd been due to meet some sailing friends ashore. Better get the dinghy up on deck too and lock up the outboard motor!
I toyed with the idea of locking ourselves in for the night but it would have become unbearably hot. Instead I retired with a dinghy oar and the fog horn close to hand. If they did get aboard I'd make a hell of a lot of noise and land some painful, but non life-threatening blows with the oar, and hopefully cause them to abandon the attempt!
Suffice to say I didn't sleep a wink that night!
I sent a text to our new friends to appraise them of the situation and they very kindly suggested we re-anchor near them and a friend of theirs, so we wouldn't be such an easy target out on our own!
So the next morning, having survived the night without being murdered in our bunks, that's what we did and then spent a very enjoyable couple of hours with them yarning about goodness knows what over coffee.
Before going over, I'd received a message from another OCC couple - Paul and Lori - whom we had met in and last seen in, Pasito Blanco, Gran Canaria, to say they would be arriving in Tyrell Bay shortly.They had sailed to Gambia and then crossed to Grenada.
I therefore invited them over for a beer. We spent the rest of the day catching up with each others travells and exchanging recommendations about places to visit. We were bound for Grenada where they had just come from and they were heading north through the Grenadines where we had just sailed through.
Our afternoon included a trip ashore for lunch in a restaurant Paul and Lori knew. Whilst there, Paul engaged a young couple in conversation. It turned out they were sailors too, from the Netherlands, but more of them later!
Whilst Paul and Lori were with us on Bonny, a dinghy full of lively young people came by. They looked familiar. Of Course, it was Adam, Liv, Ben and Charlotte whom we had last seen in Sal, Cape Verde. They had just arrived but were moving on to a Bay round the corner and would then be heading north. We had hopes of meeting up again later in the season.
Today (Monday 12/2/24) we went into the main town of Hillsborough to see the Carnival. First we undertook a half an hour walk to beautiful Paradise Beach. Steve and Ann-Marie had suggested we drop into to Beach Club there for lunch. We did, only to immediately bump into Adam and his crew. Their boat was anchored off the beach and they were all recovering from having attended the early morning 'Jouvert' at Carnival where everyone gets covered in old engine oil and paint. We saw a repreise of it later...
We joined them for lunch and recognised two other faces. It was the young Dutch couple from the Restaurant yesterday! It turns out that the two crews had met up in Tabago weeks earlier, after their respective Atlantic crossings.
More yarning and catching up with our various journeys and where next discussions followed. They then retired to their boats to recharge their batteries in preparation for attending the late night carnival festivities whilst Mick and I walked on into Hillsborough to see the afternoon parades.
They were very colourful and VERY, VERY loud.
After that we'd had enough and returned to the boat by minibus.
Yonna says "Yikes!"
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