Mayreau Island, Grenadine Islands

Anchored in Salt Whistle Bay

Mayreau Island

Grenadine Islands

Caribbean Sea
12'38.8N/61'23.4W
391 miles from S/V Christa

Party...Party...Party...

My goodness. Our initial impression of Bequia was "Let's get out of here", mainly because there are a ton of boats and charter people. We are extremely spoiled from our good times in Barbados... beautiful white sand beaches, beautiful people, friendly faces, and no charter boat folks. So from now on we only have that experience to compare with the rest of our travels.

I think the last we wrote we were heading out of Bequia on Monday. But due to meeting good folks, and running into old friends, we stayed a few more days. We hung out with our new friends off of S/V Buxom, a 1938 gaff rigged wooden ketch sailed by Captain Colin. With Lindsey and Grace as crew, they hail from St John in the U.S. Virgin Islands from where they had just directly sailed, direct hand steering for five days straight. They introduced us to US Virgin Island Rum and many sea stories about their adventures.

While kickin' it on the beach we also met a lovely group of folks from Canada where to my surprise I ended up, as Tom says, 'holding court'. It is just amazing to me that people actually want to hear about our adventures.

We also met Ken, from Pennsylvania, who comes to Bequia once a year for three months and told us Mayreau Island is a must stop for us. Big shout out to Ken because we love it here!! 

Before leaving Bequia we finally heard from our friends, Tracy and Vytas off of S/V Sunshine Daydream, that they were going to arrive Monday. So we hung around to catch up with them again. It had been since the Canary's when we last crossed paths. And we really enjoy their company, so this was a must for us to spend an extra day waiting their arrival. Our reunion was short, but well spent. And we look forward to meeting up again with them soon.

The sail from Bequia to Mayreau was a short 20 mile beam reach. But as the usual for Sandpiper, the winds have been honking lately. So we had 20-30 knots off the beam with just a double reefed main and staysail out.

Upon our arrival to where we are currently anchored in Salt Whistle Bay we were pleasantly surprised to find a tiny, cozy, well protected anchorage surrounded with palm trees and a white sand beach for the 'Piper to drop the hook. I read all the books and guides along the way and you never know what your actually going to get until pulling in. What I have pictured is never what it looks like. But this is actually better then the books!!

I have been extremely spoiled from our previous stops throughout the years, and I know it. It is taking me a bit of time to get use to so many boats around us. But it's slowly growing on me as we are surrounded by charter boats anchored all around us.

Since arriving at Mayreau Island we have done nothing but relax and get back into our old routine of swimming, walking, and scrabble. We did a wonderful walk today from our anchorage in Salt Whistle Bay over to Saline Bay, it's a very small island and only took us maybe one hour with plenty of stops for photos along the way. We treated ourselves to an onshore lunch of lobster sandwiches and Creole conch for less than $25 US.

When speaking to the locals we asked "Where is everyone?" Their response was "With the US economy bad, it means bad business for us too." Everywhere we stopped we were the only non-locales (Whities) around, and the island has many bars and restaurants completely empty. This is a very small island of only 500 people, 7 cars, and only two hotels. It's slow moving, perfect for 'Team Sandpiper'.

We are anxious to move the 2 miles over to the Tobago Cays tomorrow if the winds die down a bit, as they are predicted to do. We want to explore the reefs and indulge in a beach bar-b-q. 

Stay tuned for more tales from the Grenadines. Cheers!

One Love,
Amy and Tom