WTFR WE? : Onward to the Grenadines

Before we start our journey I wanted to mention that when we were dinghying around the harbor in St Maarten, Jeff spotted diesel can covers on a sailboat that was moored a couple of boats behind us. We closed in on the boat to check them out and soon a friendly woman came up on deck to greet us and chat about the covers. When we returned to our boat I said mostly to myself "was that boat named RECETA?" Where had I heard that name before?
Then the light came on, I opened the famous travel book "Embarrassment of Mangoes" (thank you Ricky and Nancy) and sure enough RECETA belongs to Ann Vanderhoof, the author, and her husband Steve. After further research I did confirm that this was the very same boat and the woman that came up on deck was Ann. Apparently RECETA, was on a similar journey south, as the evening before we were leaving Roseau, Dominica they ended up moored just a boat in front of us.

"RECETA" of "Embarrassment of Mangoes" fame

This time of year, like "Receta" many Caribbean cruisers start thinking about heading south to safer waters prior to hurricane season. We were no exception. The usual destinations are Grenada or Trinidad. Our plan was to make it to Trinidad by late May, early June. Instead of being on our nose, we had east winds and waves so we were able to sail south to Martinique at a steady clip of six or seven knots... perfect!!!

We island hopped with brief overnight anchoring in Martinique and St Lucia.

We then anchored in Bequia for a couple of days to explore it's whaling and boat building history.

The gentleman in the photo below is actually the owner/proprietor/tour guide for the Bequia Museum. Most of the photos in the museum were either taken by him or of him. And he was able to speak in depth about fishing, boating and the dying whaling industry which Bequia is known for. He, his brother and his sons are boat builders and craftsmen extraordinaire. As a younger man, he built a model ship for Queen Elizabeth and was given an award by Queen Elizabeth herself... yup, not expecting to see a photo of that in this humble little museum...

It was then on to Tobago Cays. No chart needed here. It was fairly easy to see where not to go!

Colorful wrecked boat. I thought the white markings on the island looked pretty cool until Jeff told me that they were bird droppings!

We anchored for a couple of days at a beautiful little site nestled between two tiny islands and looking out toward the island of Mayreau.

We dinghyed around to the other side of the larger tiny island and did a walking tour around it. (It took all of forty five minutes!)

As you can see from the water spots on the lens, it rained briefly...but that was no deterrent in the warm breezes.

Not only was this area breathtaking above the water, but right around our boat we were able to snorkel and see this...

Continuing our hop south, we sailed to Union Island which is part of the nation of St Vincent . We moored very close to these kiteboarders and enjoyed a great show...