St Lucia to Grenada with the “A” Team! Last Sail of the season

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May 15th and 16th, Charlie, Kyle,  Kristy, Steve Carlson and son Garrett arrive in St. Lucia to help Ken sail the boat the remaining way to Grenada where the boat will stay for Hurricane season.  The following is Charlie and Kristy’s recap of their journey.

charlie.kyle.gagarrett.kristy.ken

“We landed in St. Lucia for our first night at Rodney Bay.  We had
breakfast at the local bar and set sail that morning.  We then sailed
to Marigot Bay on the Southwest corner of St. Lucia and had our first
crew dinner with ken, Garrett, Steve, and kyle.  We then sailed our
longest day to Chateaubelair arriving at night to be greeted by a
lonely local kayaker.  The next morning we went into shore for
supplies and met some of the locals.  Promptly upon returning to the
ship we set sail to our next destination of Buccament Bay for lunch.
After lunch we sailed to Bequia.  We spent 2 nights in Bequia and made
our first friends of the trip.  Our first night on the island we met
an English group who had chartered a boat from Grenada and were
returning on the same route we were.  Our second day was spent on boat
chores and shore shopping.  After sampling some of the local fruits
and doing some sightseeing we called it a day to see our new friends
at dinner.  Dinner was spent listening to the elegant piano playing of
Steve on a picturesque view of the harbor.  We met our waiters soon
after dinner along the beach and went to the local bar to enjoy some
drinks with our new friends.  The next morning we set sail for Tobago
Cays making a stop in Canouan for lunch.  Upon arriving in Tobago we
noticed a French wedding on the beach with a grill and good music all
night.  We spent the night on the water and set sail early the next
morning for Anchorage bay in Union.  We spent 2 nights in Union and
celebrated my 21st birthday there.  The first day we spent drinking
out on happy island and met our British friends again.  They sailed to
the other side of the island and we all made a special trip across the
island, up and down mountains, to an area only accessible by foot and
boat.  There we ate barbeque on the beach, limboed, and danced the
night away.  The next day we spent on the beach making friends with
the local dogs, watching parasailors, and snorkeling along the reef.
After calling it an early night we set sail for our second longest day
to Grenada.  After experiencing our first minor squalls the crew was
relieved when we landed in our final port.  Port Louis was the most
developed place we stayed our whole vacation.  After some much needed
showers and drinks we found our British friends again.  After saying
our goodbyes we called it a night.  We spent most of the next day
cleaning the boat and taking a tour of the island.  We had some
trouble with customs, but after some stern talking to and some extra
fines we were cleared.  We held a tailgator party that night with some
local sailors and enjoyed our last night of the trip together.


Sincerely,


Charlie and Kristy


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Charlie’s 21st Birthday Party Union Island
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Last sail for this season and with the nephews – Charlie, Girlfriend Kristy, Kyle and Garrett. A really fun crew and as luck has it, the boys met up with a great twenty-year old British sailor that “fit” into our crew. to monitor this group, Ken and Steve were on the crew. Half-way to Grenada, the Grateful Red made another stop at Union Island – the party island – for Charlie’s 21st Birthday










Fred, Colby and Ken – St. Maartin to St. Lucia
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Ken’s memory of the Island order:


Leeward Islands


    

  1. St Martin                                                             May 4/5
    2. 

  2. SBA                                                                        May 6 (hike down the mountain at night)
    3. 

  3. St. Kitt                                                                   may 7 (Basseterre) – boring, bar owner from chicago
    4. 

  4. Nevis                                                                     May 8 (Ola’s sunshine restaurant)
    5. 

  5. Montserrat                                                         May 9 (fort, volcano)
    6. 

  6. Guadeloupe                                                       May 10 (Marina Rivere)

      

    1. Dominica                                                             May 11/12 –  day one portsmouth –guide, day two Roseau
      2. 

    2. Martinique                                                         May 13 (anchor drag)
      3. 

    3. St. Lucia                                                                May 14 (party with incoming crew)
      4. 

    4. St Lucia                                                                 Fred and Colby fly home
      5. 

    

    7. 



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With Kristine returning to Lake Kegonsa the boys had open season on excitement.  First stop was SABA, a nice sail, anchor off, dinghy in to a landing with a zillion steps plus path to a road and walk into a nice Dutch looking town.  Caught a ride to the “nicest restaurant” in town.  A good meal and few beverages later, a ride back to the trail and …… the in dark with beverages return was a bit more difficult than the climb up plus a rocky dinghy launch back to the Grateful Red.  No altercations with the dinghy nor crew.


sunshine.grateful.redsunshine -fred and ken


St. Kitt was bit boring so we headed on to Nevis.  Ola an old Norwegian fellow entrepreneur and now co owner of a Caribbean shipping business (great way to lose money) recommended the Sunshine bar in Nevis.  The crew had fun times, good drinks and easy anchor off the Sunshine.


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Next day sailed on to Montesarrat with a superb old English fort – whatever you can say about British beer or car electronics they can build a heck of a fort.  Half of Montserrat has been destroyed by a recent volcano so we sailed on.  Leeward side of Gaudeloupe required motoring and an ensuing diesel shortage.  Had to use the “spare” five gallon can to make it to a diesel stop.


Stayed two days in Dominica.  We hired a guide to take us to parrot country.  About 2000 feet up the Dominca mountains is the perfect habitat for parrots.  For such huge colorful birds they are hard find and see but pretty easy to hear.  The guide and hike was a blast.  The bar in Roseau was unique –  bar had a shower for all sailing customers.  Had a meal, beverages and shower at the bar!


Sailed on to Martinique – French country.  Anchored off in a nice anchorage with a bunch of boats, leeward side of the island seemed real protected ……. What we failed to notice was how the winds “rolled” down the mountains and burst in the anchorage.  After a couple of “bursts” we threw a second anchor better safe than sorry.  A few beverages and lights out.


Next morning is breezy so Fred and Ken are up at daylight and decide to start the engine …… just in case.  Before Ken can finish his Amaretto and coffee the Grateful Red is moving three knots downwind dragging two anchors.  Colby is immediately on the foredeck, chaos reigns  …… the Grateful Red is within feet of a huge cat flying an American flag and family of five.  With lots of help from the Cat, Colby doing a yeoman’s job on the foredeck the Grateful Red is tied off to the stern of the cat ….. and the cat anchors are holding both boats.  Another hour of diving and untangling both Grateful Red anchors, wind dies and sanity returns.  Just as the Grateful Red is readying to sail off the co commander of the cat comes out with dozen hot cookies to thank us for not hitting their boat??!!!  Great people – their boat never moved, only helped us.


One last sail to Rodney Bay St. Lucia where we met the next crew, told stories, had beverages and made plans for the next sail.