Grenada to St. Vincent and the Grenadines

[Dreddy]

Hello All,


We are chartering a Cat from St. Georges in March. I have been reading Doyle Guide on area info. It is mentioned that sailing from Grenada to St. Vincent, hug the leeward coast and tack at Sauteurs. My question is, would it be advisable to head further upwind taking a course further east of Ronde island, or cut through the volcano exclusion zone between Kickem Jenny and Ronde Island?





Thanks in advance......


Dreddy

[Cwens]

Possibly useful info on Kick em Jenny: https://uwiseismic.com/volcanoes/kic...g-information/

[Dreddy]

Chris,

Thnx

[BrianInBoston]

I chartered a cat from Sunsail St Georges in Grenada a couple years ago. Hugging the west coast of Grenada is scenic with the high terrain and misty clouds to starboard. But there is little wind there and you'll probably be motoring if you want to make same day the customs office at Carriacou to clear out. We did set sails once we had ocean fetch on the beam at the top of Grenada and that was the best leg of the trip. It was easy to fall off a bit and leave the volcano exclusion zone to starboard, it's only a mile or two wide. We then sailed best beat angle after that and doused west of Hillsborough Bay, motoring in from there. I suppose you could also motor eastward across the top of Grenada and sail from over there, but that's some rougher seas up there and we opted to do the motoring in the flat water in the lee of Carriacou.

Please do post your experience with crossing the SVG border in both directions in the COVID era, that was already pretty tedious back in 2019 and soaked up two half days. But I'm sure we all look back wistfully at what we complained about back then...

[Dreddy]

Hey Brian,

Thanks a lot for the input. Good to know. I figured the best bet would be to fall off at the northern tip of Grenada, Then turning to best upwind angle.

I’ll post a trip report.

Right now things are a little fluid with Covid testing as you can imagine, there are Covid testing‘s for days.

Testing here, before we fly out through Miami, spend the night in Grenada get tested again to get into Saint Vincent, test and Saint Vincent to get back to Grenada, test in Grenada to get back to the United States.

By the end of the trip I’ll have calluses in my nasal passages…!

The painful part is the fact that we only have a 36 hour window on the test. So, the only guarantees I get our same-day testing.

Translate that to a family of four…

Same-day PCR testing Denver $1000
Same-day PCR test in Grenada $444
Same-day testing PCR test St. Vincent $444
Same-day testing PCR test Grenada $444

Just in Covid testing it’s costing us $2300 bucks!

My beer and rum budget just took a huge hit

But despite my Rantings, these are truly first world problems.

I’m hopeful that things Loosen up considerably…

[speedyox]

Originally Posted by Dreddy

Hey Brian,

Thanks a lot for the input. Good to know. I figured the best bet would be to fall off at the northern tip of Grenada, Then turning to best upwind angle.

I’ll post a trip report.

Right now things are a little fluid with Covid testing as you can imagine, there are Covid testing‘s for days.

Testing here, before we fly out through Miami, spend the night in Grenada get tested again to get into Saint Vincent, test and Saint Vincent to get back to Grenada, test in Grenada to get back to the United States.

By the end of the trip I’ll have calluses in my nasal passages…!

The painful part is the fact that we only have a 36 hour window on the test. So, the only guarantees I get our same-day testing.

Translate that to a family of four…

Same-day PCR testing Denver $1000
Same-day PCR test in Grenada $444
Same-day testing PCR test St. Vincent $444
Same-day testing PCR test Grenada $444

Just in Covid testing it’s costing us $2300 bucks!

My beer and rum budget just took a huge hit

But despite my Rantings, these are truly first world problems.

I’m hopeful that things Loosen up considerably…

Hi Dreddy,

I'm planning a June trip to Grenada so I'd love to stay in the loop about what you find. The cost and time delays associated with PCR tests for clearing into SVG and back into Grenada are making it seem maybe not worth it for a couple days in Tobago Cays.

One thing I stumbled on today is that the US seems to accept covid home test kits that are supervised via telehealth.

https://www.afar.com/magazine/cdc-ap...ational-travel

Have you looked into those. It seems like $150 for a whole family rather than $120 each in Grenada. I'm curious if Grenada would accept them upon arrival.

[Dreddy]

Hey Speedy,


Thanks for that. I didn't know about the supervised telehealth.



I will post a trip follow up. Knowing my luck, after my trip, Covid tests will probably be abandoned.

[sck5]

We did that passage several times and the part from Sauteurs to Tyrell Bay was the only time in years that my wife got seasick. It can be rough at times. My plan was always to stay as east as I could once we got out of the lee of Grenada.

[Dreddy]

Oh, good to know. We have two younger boys 10. & 11 …. Sounds like a Dramamine trip…

How long did the passage take? We’re in a cat so up wind sailing will be a slog… might need to motor to make appreciable headway.

We’re looking to do st.George’s to tyrell in a day.

Do you think it’s doable?

Cast off by 9 am after Covid testing……..

[dcondit]

For Denver, your cost appears to be based on testing at DIA. We did same day testing at Walgreens in the Denver area multiple times over the past few months for trips at zero cost. Just to be sure, we made reservations at two locations just in case one was problematic and then cancelled when we got the results in less than an hour. For one early morning flight we did testing the evening before with no issues. That still gave us a 24 hour cushion and we could have used DIA as a back-up.

[Dreddy]

Hi dcondit,

Thanks for the info. What test did you take? The PCR test? Or the antigen? At best Walgreens can offer a PCR test within 72 hours, but that has stretched out to 36, and with this much non-refundable on the line, despite having travel insurance, I have to do the overpriced airport option.

Both Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines require a PCR test only. I wish I could use the ID now, or antigen. Both of those are available within a day or so..

If you’re seeing something that I’m not, do you let me know. I appreciate your help. I’m not in any big hurry to spend $1000 to get my family Covid tested at the airport. Lol

[speedyox]

Grenada seems to have changed their entry requirements in the last few days and now allows more types of tests, including rapid antigen tests (within one day). That should knock some cost off entry from the US, and potentially also from SVG to GD if any of those tests are cheaper than PCR in SVG.

From the puregrenada travel advisory:

URGENT UPDATE
PERSONS MUST HAVE A NEGATIVE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR) TEST OR NUCLEIC ACID AMPLIFICATION TEST (NAAT) TAKEN WITHIN 3 DAYS OF ARRIVAL IN GRENADA (DATE OF SAMPLE COLLECTION MUST BE WITHIN 3 DAYS OF ARRIVAL IN GRENADA) OR A NEGATIVE RAPID ANTIGEN TEST TAKEN WITHIN 1 DAY OF ARRIVAL IN GRENADA (DATE OF SAMPLE COLLECTION MUST BE WITHIN 1 DAY OF ARRIVAL IN GRENADA)

[Dreddy]

Speedy,


Thanks for posting this. I am pleasantly elated. I hadn't gotten around to looking at the Grenada website. Fingers crossed SVG is following suit.

[CaptJimFrei]

I've sailed directly across Kickem Jinny - just because I could - four times since 2004 and never had a problem.

[Tia Bu]

It's mostly a motor sailing trip, probably. Hug the coast and "tack" all the way into the bay at Sauteurs to get as far upwind as you can. Then to leeward of the islands in between, and you'll probably still have to motor back up to windward once you get in the lee of Cariacou. Beautiful trip.