Chatham bay it is. The westward side of union island is south most island we visited on our first trip to the Grenadines and has become a favorite. Vanessa’s on the beach for dinner, Shark Attack for souvenirs and normally some swirly winds that come swooping over the mountains.

Normally Vanessa’s boyfriend comes out to meet the boats and asks if you want a beach bbq that evening. From the previous times we have been here there is a little bit of a feud between the competing beach bars and when a woman in a boat started asking us if we wanted a bbq this evening we were unsure how to answer. I said “probably” but wanted to check if Vanessa was there, low and behold it was Vanessa in the boat. So we ordered 1 chicken and 1 fish, for the 3 of us.

Shark Attack came over after waiting patiently as we got the hook set and bridle secured and showed us his wares. I think we bought tShirts last year, this year we have some wood carvings as my closet is full of tShirts already.

This bay is normally pretty empty, however there are 15 boats here this time. They were kind enough to leave us our spot tho, way away from most of them and closer to the beach than they are.

On the way to dinner we circled in the dingy with our sundowners wishing the other boats a happy holidays and basically being texan friendly.

An awesome dinner as always. Couple bones in the fish for our tender mouths, but the breadfruit stole show. The breadfruit was sort of prepared like mustard potato salad, tho a bit thicker consitancy than a potato, but was yummy. As was the salad, coleslaw, chicken and fish that were part of the meal.

I had strung the LED lights and left them in disco mode, we could easily spot the boat from shore during dinner. Christine had invited a few folks back to the boat for more libations, but none showed up. Some table at the beach bar said catamaran sailors aren’t real sailors, so far this trip that is true. Maybe today? Course we only have 9 miles to go, and we are safely on the hook, maybe sleep in a little longer and not worry about it.

We need to be in Canouan around 4 pm today, to catch a taxi to the airport and meet Christine’s sister and family. I asked at customs yesterday, and I need to clear them onto boat even tho we aren’t going across boarders with them. The custom folks need to know where they are it seems. So we’ll have to do the reverse when we drop them off.

As beautiful as ever

Cleared out of customs today to leave tomorrow for another island and then into Grenada.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned but it’s real windy here. Steady state of 20+ knots of wind with gusts upto 36 knots in the anchorage and occasionally some big rollers coming through. Chatting with the beach bar owners the surge and wind is so bad that they aren’t even opening up to serve folks.

I woke up often throughout the night to check on our anchor and our position. At the 1am check I saw a cat that was dragging anchor go across the bay to reset its anchor. Ours held strong as we sailed over the surges and back on the lines again.

When the sun started to rise I spotted one of the lagoon catamarans we noticed on our way in on the wrong side of the surf line and pointed directly at the beach. I brought out the binoculars and checked it out from across the bay. No one was moving on board. About an hour later I spotted someone on land near the boat. It’s way down the coastline probably 1/2 mile from the end of the beach and last beach bar and very difficult to get to my shore. There was also another lagoon catamaran that looked to be heading that way, but stopped short meeting up with the local fishermen to drag their net behind the big cat. The fisherman would go over by the distressed boat and chat with the 2 people who were now trying to secure the boat with an anchor and pull the boat against the waves and wind. A couple of local boats seemed like they were going to help but it was a place with crashing waves and a nasty surge that prevented them from helping. As time goes on the boat is getting pummeled against the rocks and finally turns a beam to the waves that are now crashing over the boat. I have pictures when we find Internet again. Once the boat stopped moving with the waves you could see pieces being thrown a shore as it was turning into a salvage effort.

We don’t know if they were on one of the moorings on that end of the bay or their own anchor. Which ever it was it did not hold up to the gusts and conditions last night. A very sad day to see a less than 4 year old lagoon 440 or 500 sitting trapped by the sea against the rocks.

We toured the carnage by dingy and could see folks trying to get stuff like travelers and the sails off the boat. We got soaking wet in the dingy going against the waves. When the big gusts of wind come through the top layer of water turns to mist and it like rain going sideways it sorta hurts when you get pelted with the stuff. Our tour concluded back on board as all the beach bars were closed.

We saw some activity around 4 pm at the beach bar furthest up wind so we took the dominoes up there and had a couple beverages and a game or two of dominoes with Anthony or Tony or Bald Man as was the owners name. The locals didn’t have any more information what had happened other than they were supposed to come over to his place for dinner, a dinner for 10 folks all whom were okay and probably going to tow the boat someday soon.

I replaced the pressure water pump on the starboard side. We made water 3/4 tank on starboard and 1/4 on port side. Chicken and pasta for dinner and another night to keep an eye on the anchor.