Trying to reason with hurricane season
Jimmy Buffett
Part of cruising in the Caribbean during the summer is that it is hurricane season. Starting in June, every day when I wake-up I check the National Hurricane Center website. That’s just how it is during hurricane season, which officially doesn’t start until July, but I start checking in June. Once you see something out in the Atlantic you can figure out how many days you have until that wave is going to hit the islands. Luckily with modern forecasting we are going to have days of notice before a major hurricane is forecasted to hit your position. Also you are going to get relatively reliable tracks. Modern weather forecasting is a marvel, but it’s nowhere near perfect.
So, as I woke up on June 26th and checked the NHC, I saw something out in the Atlantic that didn’t look good. At that point we had just checked out of Canouan in the Grenadines and were making our way south, stopping in Union Island for the night. It was a tropical wave moving swiftly across the Atlantic, and conditions were looking very favorable for tropical cyclone formation in the near future. I use the terms tropical cyclone and hurricane in this blog post interchangeably. It’s the same thing.
We had planned to stop in Carriacou for at least two to three weeks. We love it there. For those who haven’t been, and most haven’t, it is probably how I envision most of the Caribbean was 40 years ago. Carriacou is widely regarded as one of the safest and friendliest islands in the Caribbean. An expat we met on Christmas morning in 2021 probably explained it best. He said “Carriacou is old school Caribbean, there are no commercial flights here, and there are no resorts. The main way to get here is to sail your own boat or take the ferry from the mainland.” To say Carriacou is laid back is as an understatement. Island time has a whole new meaning on Carriacou.
Needless to say, we bypassed Carriacou and headed for the south coast of Grenada. The south coast of Grenada is, for most insurance companies, outside of the hurricane box. Our insurance mandates that to be protected from a named storm we have to be in southern Grenada among other things.
Weighing Our Options
Once we arrived in Grenada we had to come up with a game plan. Invest 95 (this was the name for Beryl before they officially categorize it as a tropical storm and named her) was tracking north of Grenada, but it was going to be close. Our main options were:
1. Haul the boat out, we already have a reservation for August, but the yard would have been able to haul us that Friday (Beryl hit on Monday),
2. Run for Trinidad. This presents it’s own problems that I will get into later.
3. Go into Port Louis Marina.
4. Tie up in one of the mangrove bays on the south side of Grenada, a very good option.
5. Stay on a mooring ball just west of Port Louis.
After about a half day of deliberation and Invest 95 still tracking pretty well north of Grenada we decided to go into the marina. We went in on Friday, June 28, and basically prepped the boat for a minor storm and relaxed for a couple of days.
We use a variety of weather websites and apps for weather. We also have a professional weather router for sailing. We spend a lot of time paying attention to the weather. They all have a variety of weather models to choose from, and often they align, which is really what you are looking for when determining what the wind and weather will be.
Run
When I woke up Sunday morning I immediately noticed two things. One was that our good friends Nestor and Yolanda on Blue Budha had sent us a message that they were running for Trinidad. Second was the forecasted track for Beryl had now shifted south and it was strengthening. I poked my head outside and saw our neighbors on Falcon’s Nest had their engines running and looked like they were prepping for departure. We had a quick chat with them and then had a quick conference between Nancy and I and quickly decided to run for Trinidad.
Trinidad presents its own challenges. When sailing to most islands in the Caribbean you just sail there and check in. Easy peasy. Unfortunately for Trinidad, they are positioned barely to the east of Venezuela and because Venezuela is run by a lawless dictator, their population is eating out of dumpsters and it is one of the most lawless places in the world. Piracy is an issue. So before going to Trinidad you need to submit a float plan and if possible travel with a flotilla. Checking in is more of a hassle than most countries as well.
The Trinidanian government is doing a very good job at security, they monitor boats via AIS and seemingly take security very seriously. I have to say, the Trinidad government and people we have dealt with have been fantastic. The government waived all immigration fees, and it seems like the authorities have been working around the clock to ensure safe arrival and get information to sailors seeking shelter from Beryl. If Venezuela ever boots Maduro both Venezuela and Trinidad could be a great cruising ground, but I digress.
So along with what was estimated to be 300 other boats we set sail at 7:45am (90 nautical miles) for Trinidad. It was a slightly sporty but uneventful sail and arrived to Trinidad around 11pm. We have a pretty strict rule about not coming into a strange port at night. Even with modern navigation instrumentation and software coming in to a strange anchorage is something I avoid at all costs. Luckily boats were streaming in to the channel, so we all lined up like ducklings and started filling up the few anchorages on the north side of Trinidad.
We stayed in Trinidad from Sunday night to Wednesday evening. We did not check in, nor go to land. Unfortunately we had no beer provisioned prior to leaving. So basically we just hung out with our friends on Blue Budha who were anchored right next to us. We chatted with some other boats we knew and made some new friends who had no internet connection. We let them use our Starlink to check in with family and friends.
Heading Back to Grenada
Wednesday afternoon we picked up anchor at 4pm for our overnight sail back to Grenada. Checking in to Trinidad takes the better part of five hours, and I’m guessing checking out is similar, so we opted to not do that and make our way back to Grenada. Our sail was much sportier than the forecast predicted (like being in a washing machine for 15 hours), so it was not the most comfortable sail back. We’ve now been here at St. George for a couple of days. There is visible damage, and from talking to the locals lots of trees broken. For the most part the southern part of Grenada has been spared. Several boats were lost to the storm via broken or dragged moorings.
Lessons Learned
As a person who is not a life-long sailor, I am always trying to get better. So here are my thoughts after talking to a lot of sailors and having friends that put their boat on the hard stand in Carriacou or stayed in a marina on Canouan, as well as talking to a bunch of locals. The best thing that we could have done, and did do, was not linger further north where we were. We knew getting to the south coast of Grenada gave us the most options, and we were rewarded with our efforts. Remaining north of St. George, Grenada is a terrible idea.
As far as what to do out of our five options my number one option would be to run for Trinidad. Taking the storm out of the equation is the best medicine. There’s no playing games with a storm of this force, safety of crew and boat is paramount. Also, running for Trinidad meant we didn’t have to take down canvas (sails, helm enclosure, etc) and make the boat hurricane ready. It was a relatively benign 14-ish hour sail. I would have probably left a day sooner, but people left 8 hours after us and made it safely.
I think the second-best option would be to go on the hard stand at Grenada Marine. Any of the yards on the south coast would be fine, but Grenada Marine’s yard is nestled deep up a valley surrounded by tall hills from every direction but the south. In my opinion it’s the most protected yard in Grenada. I would ask to be put in the very back of the yard if they had room. We are still here cruising for another month, so that would have been some tough and maybe expensive decisions to make.
Another excellent option is to tie up on the mangroves in Egmont harbor. Many boats did this and came out unscathed. You have to take down all canvas, put out two or three anchors, and many tie-off points to the mangroves. This harbor is also well protected, the boats that went there reported 40 knot winds. Not bad considering the strength of the storm. A couple of boats did break free, but they successfully motored around until the winds abated. It was calm enough in there to do that.
In the end, the marina we were at, Port Louis, was unharmed. We were med moored and I would not have wanted to weather that storm like that although we probably would have been ok. In retrospect, this wasn’t a great option even though none of the boats were damaged. I would choose the mangroves over the marina.
My least favorite option would be to stay on a mooring in St. George, or really anywhere on the south coast. We have a friend who spent the storm on one of the St. George moorings and he spent the entire day motoring because the mooring was dragging. He essentially dragged the mooring away from other boats for six hours. No thanks Scott, next time run to Trinidad.
Aftermath
The airport on the south coast of Grenada experienced 90 knots sustained with a 120+ knot gust. Carriacou, Petit St. Vincent and Petit Martinique sustained hours of winds exceeding 150 knots. Those islands, and Union Island, Mayreau, and Canouan received similar wind conditions. Every one of those islands is destroyed. The reports we are receiving suggest that 95% of the structures on those islands have been utterly destroyed. Of the ones that did survive, their roofs were ripped off.
The initial humanitarian efforts are focused on getting food and water to those affected and power and cell towers restored. In Port Louis we see docks full of humanitarian aid being loaded on to small ships headed north. Carriacom nations are sending everything they can. This initial push is great, but these islands are very small and have little resources. None of them have a hardware store. Everything will have to be brought in. The rebuilding process is going to take years.
This is a picture I took of a church on the top of the tallest hill on Mayreau. It had stood for over 100 years. It was built out of solid stone. The locals were using it as a shelter. It is now gone. I cannot imagine the terror of being inside that stone structure as it was ripped apart by Beryl.
We have spent a fair amount of time in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We have friends there. They are wonderful islands and people. Luckily it seems like for the most part the people are safe. Pray for a fast recovery.