Sailing south-east through the chain of the Grenadines, we first anchored in Canouan and then Mayreau, a very small island nested in the waters of the Tobago Cays Marine Park. We loved Salt Whistle Bay right away!

It is a spectacular half-moon shaped bay with palms swaying in the trades and white sand beaches on the Caribbean and Atlantic side of it. The waters were clear and wonderful to swim in…and it did not take long before we explore the beaches and even the hill from where we had a spectacular view of the Tobago Cays.

Our anchorage was beautiful BUT charter sailboats (catamarans of 50feet+) kept arriving and the bay filled up pretty quickly on the 2 nights that we spent there. We cannot imagine how busy it gets when it is the high season…On our last evening, a Catamaran with 9 Italian men anchored between a French Catamaran and us…so very close to us that we could almost see the name of the white wine they were drinking!

Beaches were more peaceful and as was our walk up the hill, through Mayreau’s little village of 250 people and then down to Salines Bay. The houses of the village suggest that Mayreau is not affluent.

We stopped at one vegetable and fruit kiosk and the vendor and his mom were obviously stone …in fact many people that we met since our arrival in the Grenadines looked under the influence of drugs. There was a certain desolate aspect to the settlements (Canouan, Mayreau) that was not present in Bequia.

The (catholic) church on top of the hill was a pretty sight and we had lunch there, hugging under trees for a bit of shade. The air felt almost burning and we felt like this pretty crab...drying out in the sun!

While there were many little restaurants in Mayreau, just above Salines Bay, they were all empty and the prices were a bit prohibitive…may be not for charterers who spend 1 week here but for cruisers! (lunches started a 35EC i.e. 17.00can dollars)!

However, we liked the peacefulness of Salines Bay and the view of Union Island, our next destination...

Quelle belle vue de l'Ile Union, la derniere de la chaine des Grenadines appartenant a St-Vincent. On nous avait dir que l'ile de St-Vincent etait plutot pauvre car personne ne s'y arretait, et cela au profit des Iles Grenadines, plus populaires chez les gens de croisiere. Nous avons donc ete surpris de voir que les villages des Grenadines - a part Bequia -etaient plutot pauvres et desoles...les iles n'ont pas d'eau potable, recoivent tres tres peu de pluie ce qui rend l'agriculture difficile et il y a les drogues...Mais les paysages sont magnifiques!