A Caribbean Cruise with a difference!

Although the Helford is as pretty in winter as in summer, the opportunity to jet off to the Caribbean in January was just too good to miss. Thus I packed my T-shirts, shorts, mask and fins and spent ten days as Assistant Engineer aboard the British square- rigged sail training vessel ‘Stavros S Niarchos’. I joined the ship in Barbados, from where we sailed first to Grenada, thence to Bequia and finally back to Barbados.

The sailing out there is trade wind stuff- 20-25 knots of warm wind consistently from the east. You sometimes get variations in the lee of the islands but that gives a bit of interest. Such winds do not generally kick up a big sea either, but the waves are high enough to give the flying fish a good take-off platform - it is amazing how far they can fly. Sometimes a boobie would join us, flying off to one side at about topgallant height, diving from time to time to catch a flying fish in mid air.

Grenada is at the southern end of the Grenadines. We moored in St Georges and a short water taxi ride away is a lovely sandy beach with a few bars nearby. The rise and fall of the tide in this area is only about half a metre and not far off the beach I found beds of sea grass, with several species of fish, large starfishes and lots of urchins. These can be a bit of a menace as they are in shallow water and can easily be trodden on. The spines are not normally poisonous but are extremely sharp and brittle and once embedded in the skin are virtually impossible to remove and can be very painful.

Bequia is almost heaven on earth. On the fringes of Admiralty Bay are several areas of good snorkelling with lovely corals, very brightly coloured reef fish and the occasional large ray. The most common wrasse rejoices in the name "slippery dick fish" which is a bit curious. On the windward side of the island an eccentric American has set up a turtle sanctuary where he rescues and breeds Hawksbill turtles.

If you get the chance to visit the Grenadines do so - and please take your mask and fins. The water is warm and the only constraint on snorkelling is the danger of a sunburnt back (wear a t-shirt), but the rewards in the colour, diversity and quantity of marine life make every moment special.

Robert Hewett

Extract from HVMCA newsletter No.26 Spring 2003