HURRICANE BERYL

I don’t think I could write about our adventures so far in the Caribbean without mentioning Hurricane Beryl that made land fall on the islands of Carriacou, Grenada and the islands of St Vincent and the Grenedines in July 2024 before moving towards Jamacia then further north.  It was one of the earliest Hurricanes to form in the Atlantic Ocean. 

We were to witness what damage had occurred 18 months post hurricane on the island of Carriacou which is north of Grenada.  We anchored in the main bay, Tyrell Bay where a fair percentage of boats in the anchorage had been dis-masted or others, such as catamarans had been flipped over and then refloated.  The tide marks were very evident on their hulls. There were also two large boats left heeled over in the bay as well as one washed up on the beach.  

Ashore, along the main bay, the damage to property that hadn’t repaired or removed was very common.  The wrecks of small boats washed up on the beach and the makeshift covering of roofs and windows with tarps were everywhere. 

It was a large bay, and you could see that the vegetation on the hills had all been blown to pieces, but it was still a safe anchorage where we stayed for two nights.  We did find a small beach bar near a safe dingy dock that we had drinks at one afternoon.  We left to find Sandy Island which was basically a sand spit with a handful of coconut palms on one end.  Along with the other boats, we anchored in the turquoise waters and had a swim.  There is always constant wind in these parts of the Caribbean which is most likely where the name the “The Windward Islands” comes from.  It is helpful, as it doesn’t get too hot and it is usually a gentle 15knots which makes for calm sailing, although, we have been experiencing 18-20knots this past week. 

After a windy night at Sandy Island, we headed to the northern end of Carriacou to the bay XXXXLa Roche.  We had read about Tim’s BBQ Beach Bar where you could get a Lobster BBQ and access was only available via the sea.  When we arrived in the small bay there was only one yacht so we could find a space easily.  There were also taxi boats that bought people from other bays around the island to the bar. 

So, we headed over to the beach around 2pm for a late lunch and we weren’t disappointed.  There was only the one meal on offer, but it was more that enough.  The meal consisted of salad, rice, stuffed potatoes, some curry conch, fish & one piece of chicken and then the star of the meal a lobster cooked on the BBQ.  All washed down with a Rum Punch and a Pina Colada, this is living! 

The next morning, we noticed a lot of sail boats off the island and thought it looked like a race was underway.  Turns out it was part of the Grenada Sail Week and the little beach bar we had visited before in Tyrell was holding the awards party.  We had sailed back to Tyrell Bay that morning and later in the afternoon we headed into the beach bar to the sights and excitement of the party.  They had outside bars, food available and a live band that we stuck around and listened and were pleasantly surprised that all the music wasn’t reggae!  

The reason for returning to Tyrell Bay was to check out of GrenadCustoms and Immigration so we could travel further north to Union Island which is part of Saint Vincent & the Grenadines.