A day off the charts

A day off the charts

Monday 13^th and Tuesday 14^th May, 2024

Monday started with a “walk” across Union Island to Clifton—the only place to check out.  We had planned to repeat the walk we’d done on Sunday, but when we landed on the beach, a guy approached us with advice about the best route to Clifton.  He showed us a path that would lead up to a main road.  According to him, it was a much better way than the route we were proposing.  It may have been shorter but it was definitely steeper! By this point it was about 10 am and the day was promising to be quite warm.  Once we reached the main road, we started to descend quite steeply.  Visions of the return trip were dancing in my head.  After what seemed a pretty long haul, we arrived at customs in Clifton.  Check-out went reasonably smoothly (even though we were missing some necessary form!) Then we retired to a cafe for a cold drink.  

Perhaps I was suffering from a form of heat stroke, because I agreed to go back via a different, longer route through the town of Ashton.  Holy Moses! The day was showing no sign of cooling down and there was a distinct lack of shade along the road.  The climb up out of Ashton seemed challenging enough; then we rejoined the steep main road from earlier.  There were moments when I was convinced that I couldn’t finish the walk.  At one point, Mike took my backpack as well as his own! Once we started to descend, I was able to carry my backpack again.  

When we arrived back at the beach, sweat was dripping copiously from my face.  It had been a 7 or 8 mile roundtrip walk and we decided that it was about time to have some lunch. The restaurant beckoned.  After chicken / fish and chips, we returned to Cotinga for a swim followed by some rest. Mike decided to make us a light dinner out of a packet of “spicy Chinese soup”.  That packet should have had a health warning.  The first hint should have been that Mike made some rice “to go with the soup”.  It’s hard to say if the excessive heat came from the lake of hot oil floating on the surface or from the hundreds of (small) pieces of chili pepper.  A lot of rice and plenty of water were required to consume even a very small bowl of this stuff.  I started to wonder if having failed to kill me off with the hike, Mike was trying to wipe me out with that soup.  We both remembered that we had come close to making this soup for Rod.  He had a lucky escape!

This morning we hoisted the anchor shortly after nine.  We sailed to Carriacou using just the genoa.  It was an easy sail with some good winds.  We anchored in Tyrell Bay and checked into Grenada. This  should be the last check-in for a while.   

Gloria

12 27.392 N, 61 29.396 W

The town of Ashton as we descend from the col separating this town from Chatham Bay

We did get some good views of the island and the waters surrounding it

There are some very impressive properties on the island - this one on the road leading over to Chatham bay

There are also plenty of ramshackle dwellings

Sunset as spicy HOT Chinese soup brings tears to my eyes!

Our nearest neighbors in Tyrrell Bay, Carriacou ... shot from the cockpit of Cotinga

A passing squall and associated clouds made the sunset more interesting. This tug is moored behind us in Tyrrell Bay

A panorama of our first sunset in Carriacou 

Clouds as sunset