Current Location – 9°22’N, 79°57’W – Panama
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than those you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. –Mark Twain
On to New Adventures
Well, our time in the Windward Islands, or Lesser Antilles has come to an end. We sailed from the Bahamas to the Eastern Caribbean in March of 2024. In late December we set sail for Bonaire and left the beautiful islands of the Eastern Caribbean behind. We pretty much made it to every major island in the Lesser Antilles. In total we visited 15 countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The only ones we didn’t sail to were Anguilla, Montseratt and Barbados. We have previously visited Barbados, and would never sail there as it’s not cruiser friendly. We spent a night anchored on the SW coast of Montseratt, but never stepped foot on land. It is still my goal to get to Montseratt for St. Patrick’s day, it’s supposed to be one hell of a party.
Sailing Community
When you’re roaming around on your boat visiting islands you wind up meeting a lot of other sailors. The sailing community is a very small community, setting your life up to sail, even for part of the year is not an easy task. Most of the people we meet are full time sailors, they either rent out their house, or sold everything to live aboard. We’ve nearly all gone through the same riggomorole of downsizing our lives to move on to a small boat to travel. Doing this is no easy feat. Just outfitting a boat and making sure it is seaworthy and all, or most of the systems are operational is sometimes a herculean feat in itself. There is a kinship in that alone, throw in treacherous patches of ocean, boat work, rolly anchorages and general sailing hardships and you get a bunch of people in the same boat so to speak.
So when you have something that breaks, or isn’t working, or a dinghy goes on walkabout there are usually a lot of people willing to help out. Everyone’s had a dinghy motor issue or anchor drag at some point, so most sailors are keeping a lookout for other boats and definitely willing to lend a helping hand. We’re all part of a loose tribe of sailors, some staying in a defined area and some travelling long distances.
We gather at times to celebrate US Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. even those not from the US. We go hiking together, spend Sundays drinking beer on the beach sometimes, do dinghy drifts, dinghy disco parties, play board games, meet to teach local children to read or swim, snorkeling, scuba diving, dinghy exploration, split cars to visit far away grocery stores, rum distilleries or volcanoes. We share local intel, weather, tools and fishing spots. These are our neighbors and tribe.
Most of the people you meet wind up becoming acquaintances and friends and you see them a few weeks or months later. You wind up seeing a lot of people over and over. A very few wind up being good friends. It’s tough to say goodbye to the people whom you’ve travelled with for a long time. Some of the folks you meet out here are pure gold and it is very hard to say goodbye.
We are at a point in our travels where we are leaving a lot of people behind to voyage to new locales. Hopefully we meet such good friends in other parts of the world.
Favorite Island
We are often asked what our favorite island is so far in our travels. If we had to pick only one it would have to be Bequia in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is not easy to get to unless you’re a sailor, this is part of what makes it special. There is little crime, few tourists, cheap beer and rum, excellent diving and snorkeling, white sand beaches and a very chill vibe. At certain times of the year there are flowers floating through the anchorage and loads of butterflies. It could be heaven on earth.
Each island has its own culture, history and things that make it special. We absolutely love Grenada, partially because we have spent so much time there and know it so well. The south coast of Grenada has so much to offer for sailors it is not to be missed. Each island has its own charm, culture and reason to visit. The truth is we nearly love them all and would return to any of them except for a few.
Local Cuisine
One of the great things about travelling is tasting the local cuisine, local beers and rum. Trinidanian Doubles are a dish that consists of a lightweight pita type bread topped with chickpeas and delicious spices, we get ours with chicken.
Trini Doubles are widely sold in the southern Windward Islands, but our favorite is from a street vendor in Bequia, right outside the dinghy dock fence, every Tuesday and Friday. They open at noon and go until they sell out, which isn’t long. There is always a line, sometimes it’s long. Once you make your purchase you can go to the Rendexvous Bar and get an ice cold Hairoun beer for EC$5, which is about US $2. Heaven on earth.
Bequia also happens to be the only island in the Caribbean that is allowed to harvest whales. They don’t always get one, but when they do some of the whale meat is available cooked from street vendors. I’m not a fan of killing whales, but they do have to do it in really small hand made boats under sail power only. It is incredibly dangerous, and only done by a handful of men on the entire island. When they do get one, the entire island takes off and it’s a big event when they clean, or flense the whale carcass. Nothing goes to waste.
Nancy and I had the opportunity to get some humpback whale, we are not fans. It has the consistency of brisket, but tastes like fish oil. Not for us.
Provisioning Struggles
We used to take it for granted going to a Kroger the size of a Wal-Mart in West Chester, Ohio that you could get everything you wanted. Hell, they have a bar in the middle of the store. Not so much here in the Windwards. We have spent months looking for a tub of cottage cheese. Some islands, such as Dominica have more produce than you could ever ask for. Good luck trying to find an egg in Grenada two weeks before Christmas. One local joked that the chickens are too tired to lay eggs before Christmas. It is nearly impossible to find one. We once spend nearly an entire day searching for a tomato. Finally at our last stop we found a lady that I am pretty sure had every tomato left on the entire island. You’re always searching for something, but you will never go hungry.
Day Sailing
The sailing in the Eastern Caribbean from a distance perspective is very easy. Most islands can be reached in daylight, so no night sailing is needed. Most anchorages are easily accessible, and with little tide to deal with for the most part there isn’t too much current do deal with. For the most part the Eastern Caribbean isn’t that difficult, the only big issue is compression zones.
Compression Zones
One of our good friends is a power boating couple. We took them sailing recently and we were talking about the wind in the Eastern Caribbean and the topic of compression zones came up. Many of the islands in the Eastern Caribbean are very tall, and the wind normally blows at 15-20 knots. The tall islands funnel the winds between them in the channels and those winds can sometimes blow to 35 knots. The problem is you go from being in the lee of the island where the wind is very calm, maybe 5 – 10 knots and within a quarter mile it is blowing 30 knots. When you are on a catamaran this is potentially very dangerous, many sails have been blown out and a couple of catamarans have even flipped over. So special attention needs to be taken when getting to these compression zones. You definitely need to keep your wits about you.
Grenada Bus Rides
We’ve taken public transit on many of the islands, but our favorite is the Grenada system. One of the most thrilling thing about the Grenada experience is the public bus system. First of all the Grenada public bus system is not publicly funded. It is a system of private buses (think large vans) that consist of a driver and a sort of conductor. The driver drives as fast as he can through the very tight Grenada streets until the conductor tells them to stop, either because someone needs to get off, or they see someone they think needs a ride. I’ve never seen public transit that is so efficient. The fee is EC $2.50, or about US $0.85. The conductor also controls the music, and this is obviously very important to them because you can see them checking the upcoming songs on their cell phones. It’s normally some type of reggae playing at level 10. The vans are seemingly never full because the conductor can always squeeze in one more person.
Weather and Warm Water
The great thing about the Eastern Caribbean is the constant trade winds, the consistent upper 80’s temperature, the near daily rain showers, and the 80-84 degree water temperature. It’s definitely hotter in the summer and a bit cooler in the winter, but you only really notice that when you spend a couple of years down here. I can easily dive without a wetsuit in the summer months, but when winter comes I definitely need a wetsuit or I start to get cold.
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