Yes, and now Sant Vincent and the Grenadines. The 1st is the largest island and is the most northerly. The Grenadines are a number of small islands of which we will visit Union Island, Mayreau, the Tobago Cays, Canouan and Bequia before going to Saint Vincent. The islands are close to each other, so we always take small “hops” from one to the other.
The start on Union Island (Clifton) is rather tedious, by the way. Clearing customs is downright unpleasant with an agency that you cannot ignore and that charges 50 US dollars for “processing”, while we are man enough to walk to Customs ourselves. And we have never seen the nurse we are referred to to check our health, while the agency charges US$10 per person to take our temperature. This makes me think she’s the nurse. We refuse to pay this $20; the atmosphere is now well below zero despite the heat.
In a general sense we notice that we have a wrong image of the Caribbean: palm trees, beautiful blue sea, sandy beaches, yes, it is all there, but we also see a lot of poverty, junk, street dogs, broken pavement. We now know that sometimes the front of houses etc. can look quite nice, but if you look a little further, there is a huge mess behind or next to it.
On the street many men seem to hang around a bit, there is a lot of (loud) music, children often hang out too; you don’t see them playing much. You don’t see families. You see less women when they are busy, doing errands, there is laundry everywhere, children in their wake. Men and women seem to live in separate worlds. When we are at Mayreau they have apparently taught the children there to greet (white) tourists kindly, because they all do that. And when a group of white captains of the charter boats present play football on the beach of the bay, you see the children who participate enjoying this activity. Incidentally, we also see an empty stone-built resort there; “mismanagement”, according to the girl from the diner where we take some drinks and food. Because it is built entirely of stone, it is still there, otherwise it would probably already have been half collapsed.
We notice a large contrast on the various islands between hotels and resorts for tourists and the living environment of the islanders; there is a great distance between the white tourists and the dark population. If you don’t go for a drink at the local pub, but at the hotel set up for white tourists you immediately lose 55 dollars for a few drinks. Then you are sitting in a beautifully decorated, luxurious bar drinking a rum punch from a beautiful glass.
Besides sometimes a somewhat hostile attitude, for example when we photograph a group of gymnastic children (“Give me money, give me money!” is shouted from across the street) we also meet a boy who comes paddling towards us and the likes to chat. He recognizes our flag, knows about the war in Ukraine and that Ukraine is next to Poland. About Holland he knows that we have a lot of cows and a lot of milk and cheese. We drink Dutch Lady milk here, long-life milk from Holland.
Men who want something (offer mooring for money, sell bananas or other fruit) focus on the captain; women connect with women.
There are no marinas here, so the boats anchor in the bays or grab a mooring. These should always be checked to see if they are reliable. My captain has also mastered during the anchorage to dive into the water every time to check the anchor. The population sails in boats past the yachts to offer all kinds of things: lobster, bread, water, ice, laundry, lobster dinner. “Captain, captain, good morning, how are you, do you need anything?”
There is an (expensive) marina on Canouan and we spent 2 nights there to take a nice shower and have the laundry done. The staff is over the top friendly and at the reception you are offered a cold damp towel and an ice cold bottle of water upon arrival. The marina is almost empty, but can also store the huge yachts we see.
Nature differs per country. The islands that have higher mountains are more of a dark green; others more light green, but all with palms and lots of other trees. The water is generally clear blue and has a lovely temperature. We snorkel between the turtles and the captain encounters a shark, a barracuda and a stingray in addition to the “normal” fish. I’m just trying not to run into these ones. It’s no punishment to get into the water and wash yourself at the back of the boat on the swim ladder, take a dip to rinse off and shower with the fresh water from our “deck shower”.
Our Belgian friends of the Alskling ll have fallen behind a bit due to misfortune and we also have the necessary repairs to do. For this we set course for Martinique, the French island north of St. Lucia. We will not land or clear at this last island, but we will anchor to continue north with 3 day trips. We are looking forward to Martinique because of the family visits that will come there and also because of the French supermarkets where everything will be for sale again! Monday 7 March we set foot on French soil, after a month in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
