After our shortest sail of the trip so far - less than two hours - we arrived at Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau, from the Tabago Quays at around midday on Saturday 3rd February.
My sailing pal John (the famous "Old Man Sailing") recommended the bay to us after his cruise around these parts last year. "Hardly anyone goes there and the beach is lined with Rum bars, a great place for a bar crawl, my favourite is "Last Bar before the Jungle"!
John is the youngest old man I know - I guess rum must be one of his not so secret ingredients!
It seems a year can make a big difference. The quiet bay that John found, was jammed with mostly chartered French catermarans when we got there and by the time we left the following morning, there were even more. It is though a beautiful spot with a lovely beach and yes, lots of rum bars. Quite how they all made a living though is a bit of a mystery. As soon as our anchor was down, a local guy paddled alongside us in his canoe. Ricardo persuaded us to have a lobster dinner that night at his beach bar/restaurant. Later we found that despite the bay being crammed crammed with boats there were precious few crews eating or drinking ashore.
Before we could buy dinner though we needed to get some cash. I had foolishly arrived with an empty wallet and Mick had just enough for a meal. So after a quick lunch we wend ashore to find a cash point. Then we discovered there were none on the (small) island. However, Ricardo said we should be able to get cash at the supermarket up in the village.
As it turned out he was wrong! On our way to the supermarket we stopped off for a beer at a restaurant run by one of the island's eight teachers (the population is only 450) - Teacher Annie. We had a long wide ranging conversation with her including topics such as the history and ownership of the island (it's owned by a family of wealthy cousins but they have sold of plots over the years which are now owned by local people) the political scene (the same government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has been in power for 15 years). We asked how the boundary between Grenada, which includes Carriacou, the island to its north and St Vincent and the Grenadines was established and learnt that the southern territorial limit of the latter was established by firing a canon ball north from the northern point of Carriacou - now named "Gun Point" - it's landing point determined that the northern extremity of Grenada's territorial waters.....
I'm glad I wasn't the one in the boat required to stand by and mark the splashdown - it must have been quite a risky undertaking!
On our return to Salt Whistle Bay we explained our failure to get any local cash to Ricardo. Initially he was a little glum but brightened up when I said we did have some Stirling and said he was quite happy to accept that. So we had our lobster dinner after all.
Here it is before....
and after...
After a good feed we stopped off for drinks with a couple of French guys who we had first bumped into at the dinghy dock on Canouan and then again in the small supermarket here on Mayreau. They were sailing a very modern racy looking boat...
Of course another very convivial evening was had. They were leaving for Tabago Cays the next day and we were heading for Union Island. We both planned on getting to Grenada and so we'll probably see them again.
That night we had nocturnal visitors - Bats. Apparently in Mustique they are notorious for earing ones bananas and whilst they did visit there our bananas remained intact. On this occasion however, virtually a whole banana was consumed by the little blighters....
It was a little unnerving to see them flying in and out of the boat whilst trying to settle down to sleep. They are extremely agile and were able to fly through the companionway entrance, circle the cabin and fly out again without coming to mishap.
Alas, our lack of funds meant we departed Salt Whistle Bay without undertaking the recommended Rum Bar crawl. Perhaps just as well.
Next stop Clifton on Union Island.
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