We had ten days left before we needed to be anywhere in particular, and spent them meandering between some of the nearby islands. We didn’t go very far!

We were curious to see Palm Island. The gorgeous strip of white sand beach, with pitched roofs of a luxury resort behind it, is visible from quite a distance. We anchored off the island and went ashore to explore. Unfortunately the resort appears to have not yet been rebuilt since Beryl; however they still don’t want visitors to go beyond the beach. Hopefully someone will rescue this lovely spot soon. The beach is lovely to walk on, and we enjoyed the view of sunrise the next morning.

The weather was a bit blustery so we headed back over to Mayreau and enjoyed a couple of days there. We swam off the beach, walked over to the other side of the island to Ranch Escapade, and had fun watching the local fishermen bring in their seining nets. Everyone got involved, including small children who ran shrieking along the beach carrying wiggly fish!

After six weeks in St Vincent and the Grenadines, it was time to move on. We checked out at Clifton on Union Island and went over to check in at Tyrrell Bay on Carriacou. This is another island that had substantial damage from Hurricane Beryl, and in particular there were a lot of dismasted boats in the bay. Some of them looked abandoned; I hope the islands find a way to deal with this growing problem. The harbor was teeming with fish and we enjoyed watching frenzies of larger fish and laughing gulls hunting nearby. We celebrated Jeremy’s birthday on board.

Just around the corner from Tyrrell Bay is wonderful little Sandy Island. It’s really just a spit of coral that somehow holds onto some clear white sand and a few trees. A conservation group maintains a few moorings there and works hard to preserve the island. Over the years we’ve seen it with substantial greenery to almost none as it is now. It’s amazingly resilient for such a thin strip and should recover again.

Sandy Island from more or less the same spot in 2023 and 2026

Our friends on That Way convinced us to go with them to Saline Island just off the bottom of Carriacou. This was a tiny slot of an anchorage with puffy winds and a weird current that sometimes held us at 90 degrees to the breeze. We snorkeled a little on the reef and explored ashore. There were masses of old conch shells, as well as signs of an old settlement, so the island must have been used as a fishing camp once. It was fun being somewhere so isolated for the night.

As you go south from Carriacou to Grenada, you pass by several small islands, as well as Kick ’em Jenny, an underwater volcano. Few people stop here. We anchored off Ronde Island which has a nice anchorage although not much beach. Cruising guides talk about a path that goes across the island; some people say it’s too overgrown to use while others say it’s been cut back. We didn’t do it, so will have to save it for next time! The holding here wasn’t great and I dived on our anchor several times because it didn’t look like it would hold, but it stayed rock solid for the two nights we were there.

We were due in Grenada so it was time to move again. We spent almost six weeks on small islands and really enjoyed the slow pace, friendly locals and casual encounters with other sailors. I can’t think how we used to cover St Lucia to Grenada in 8 days when we used to charter down here! Having time to really get to know the area has been a great gift.