Grenada to St. Vincent direct - Sail Time??

[That Guy]

Doublewide -

It's looking like we might be able to get away with an overnight sail with larger tacks in open water.

If we do that, we'll be able to get to Blue Lagoon to pick up the wives in time to leave and head to Bequia for the night. I think I'm at a place where if we can't pull off the night sail, we'll bag the whole thing and just have the charter company deliver the boat.

DMCantor -

I think you missed something earlier in this thread...We're just heading north quickly to meet the rest of our group for the remaining 12 days that we'll be leisurely making our way back through the Grenadines with the wind at our favor!

I've just ordered a 2019/2020 cruising guide to the area so I can make an itinerary once we have this decision to self deliver or not and we get the charter locked in!

[Klos2019]

Depending on your routing decisions, I would recommend to visit Chatham Bay over Clifton on Union Island by far. Just spent 5 nights there last week and it was a wonderful anchorage. Both Sunset Cove bar as well as Vanessa's place were inviting with great atmosphere and great people.


It is everything you would imagine a secluded, laid back, stress-free island harbor should be.



Holding is great in sand and light grass with protection from N, E & S. No mooring balls and plenty of room to anchor. Not rolly at all when I was there. Only potential downside is the wind can send occasional gusts down the mountain and into the harbor, but we were also there during some stronger weather.


Sorry to hear someone had bad experience with the local boat boys there. I found both Phillip and Secki to be incredibly chill in their approach, especially compared to Clifton and other places.



Not much else there but you can get a taxi to Clifton to clear in/out from Ken at Sunset Cove.


I was also in Clifton for one night and it has a bit more to offer such as shops/markets/restaurants but the feel is a bit less casual with quite a bit more hustle from local vendors, etc. The harbor is tight and you will likely be better on mooring ball due to reefs and number of other boats. Open to the trades but the reef does protect from the worst of the wave/swell action. 60EC for mooring ball.


Best of luck on your travels

[wcapital]

What Doublewide said! We kept a boat in Blue Lagoon for 7 years and found St. Vincent to have some great people and interesting places, but unless you have a couple weeks or more total, particularly if its first trip to the area, I'd focus on the Grenadines. Bequia,, Tobago Cays, Mayreau, Carriacou...maybe Mustique, Union, Petit(s) St. Vincent & Martinique. And - unless things have changed lately, Bequia is by far easiest customs stop. Going to the airport in Union or (particularly) SV can be a real PITA.

[TriggerHappy]

Hi That Guy. My crew and I were thinking of doing the same thing. getting the boat from Grenada and meeting the better halves in St Vincent. At the end we scrapped that planned for two reasons 1) logistics involved of getting the wives to St vincent was too complex from Ottawa Canada in May (not prime winter holiday time) and too many connections 2) some of the crew didn't want to take the extra couple of days to get up to St Vincent.

we ended up doing a return charter from Grenada and went as far as Tobago Cays. The passage from Grenada (from Ronde island to Carriacou was rough!).

I think if you can afford the extra $1200 or so for the one way trip from St. Vincent do it... too many things can happen that would leave your respective partners stranded in St. vincent for a couple of days! Also if you are looking for an early departure from Port Louis, check out the day before and make sure you have your boat check done the day before as well. With island time you wont be off the dock until 10-11 or 12 and even making it to Carriacou will be tight by sunset. We left at 10 and got there at 4:00 pm.

Salt whistle bay not to be missed! agree with others Clifton can be missed. We stayed in Chatham bay and it was a really peaceful anchorage.

[That Guy]

TriggerHappy -

Thanks for the advice! We've already pulled the trigger and are happy with the decision...trigger & happy pun is definitely intended! Ha!

So yeah, our group jumped in with both feet for the self delivery up from Grenada to St. Vincent. Logistics to get the guys to Grenada and the ladies to SV wasn't overly difficult so wasn't a factor in our decision. We are actually paying more money to deliver ourselves (about $250 - $350 USD per couple including fuel expense for any upwind motor sailing), BUT we're adding a full 2 days to the charter for less than the cost of one day.

Thanks again!

[bellasailor]

Originally Posted by That Guy

It's looking like we might be able to get away with an overnight sail with larger tacks in open water.

You're lucky! Most charters prohibit overnight sailing

[TriggerHappy]

Originally Posted by That Guy

TriggerHappy -
Thanks for the advice! We've already pulled the trigger and are happy with the decision...trigger & happy pun is definitely intended! Ha!
Thanks again!

Nice!, Always in favour of a good pun! Glade it worked out, it will be an adventure and well worth the extra cost I am sure. PM'd you with the info you asked but thought I would post here as well to inform others (and to give others a chance to correct me if I am mistaken!)

You seem to have a much more relaxed itinerary so can afford to stop on the way down the lee side of Grenada. There is only about three bays that people stop in before Port Louis marina. The only one that might be worth stopping at is Dragon Bay by Molinaire point (where the underwater statues are) We stopped there once on an earlier trip but were generally unimpressed especially since some yahoo dropped their anchor right in the middle of the circle of statues holding hands and destroyed it!!!. We anchored further north that time for the night (can't remember the bay and it was really rollie). Also Dragon Bay is only 1/2 hour from Port Louis marina as well so if you made it that far might as well head on to Port Louis for the night. It is a nice Marina, great pool, nice washroom facilities.

If I were to recommend, stop for lunch at Rhonde Island on your way down from Carriacou or stop for a mid-afternoon snorkel at the underwater statue place and then head into Port Louise the afternoon before you have to return your boat. If you get there by 4:00 you can get refueled and then avoid the line-up in the morning as everyone is trying to top up their gas tanks before returning the boat. Dinner out at BB’s is a must! Best food we had in the entire island!
We were originally thinking of stopping in Hog island in the south were all the cruisers anchor and put up their yachts on the hard for hurricane season but just didn’t have time.

As for Carriacou. We loved paradise beach (watch out for the local jack iron rum!) really nice beach and bay to chill . Alternatively Sandy Island is beautiful as well but just sand and coral and it is a long dingy ride to civilization if you want to go out. We avoided Tyrell bay this time but have anchored there in the past. Cruisers like it because it is sheltered and close to everything, but charters might be unimpressed as not sure I would want to swim there and it is a lot more crowded. We took a taxi in to Tyrell bay and ate at Lazy Turtle (just noticed on Google it says permanently closed though!) last time we ate at Slipway and it was very good, closed for Sunday dinner though. If you stop at Carriacou you will need to head to Tyrell bay one way or another to check-in.