Written by Mia:

Itchy Foot and her crew love to have visitors and Clive returned for a third time back in early July and we were all excited as we raced to Grenada to meet him. We have really enjoyed the islands in the southern end of the chain and we were hoping the weather would cooperate and we could return and explore them with Clive. We pulled into Prickly Bay where we can see and hear planes taking off and landing. We had to promise to wake Teo when he arrived but even though he was tightly strung he did finally fall asleep. Clive’s plane was on time and Jon picked him up on the dock, and it was lovely to hear them chatting in the dinghy upon approach. We had a lovely catch up, hearing about Clive’s new job and boat purchase and summer plans and before we knew it, it was time for bed.

We spent a few days in Grenada watching the wind and weather reports and planning our trip back to Tobago Cays. In the meantime we met up with the lovely crew of Pierina and together explored Grenada’s capital, St. George’s. We ate chicken roti and ice cream and had a long walk around, before doing a little shopping. The town seems real and not touristy, a place you can visit a library and a fabric store, but I am sure it feels a lot different when the cruise ships are in town. We were anchored off Grand Anse beach and very much enjoyed the view and the water even if it was a little rolly. We did some snorkelling and swimming nearby and enjoyed the incredible sunset. Teo was impressing Clive with his big arms (forward crawl moves) and deep dives.

We had a fabulous sail up to Carriacou, which is a beautiful island north of Grenada. We anchored in Tyrell Bay after giving “Kick ‘em Jenny”, a live underwater volcano a wide berth. Clive treated us to pizza at the Lazy Turtle in Tyrell Bay and we had a lovely evening. The next day we checked out of Carriacou and sailed for an hour and checked into Union Island which is the southernmost customs office for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Our plan was to return to Tobago Cays which is just a stone’s throw from Union Island.

We arrived into Tobago Cays in the afternoon and jumped into the glorious water as soon as we could and were greeted by the welcoming committee and my favourite, trunk fish. They are amazingly relaxed and come right up to check you out, plus it doesn’t hurt that they have a cartoonish triangle shape and look like they are coming to kiss you. And then it didn’t take long for the main event, and we spotted lots of turtles, too! When we woke up the next day, the water was the most amazing emerald green and we took the dinghy ashore to snorkel off the beach. Teo and Clive went exploring and saw some iguanas and we did some snorkelling off the beach. We spent three days there and saw lots of turtles, trunk fish, rays  and star fish, and at one point a school of tiny sardines took shelter under Itchy Foot and we saw about twelve baby barracuda come fishing. Baby barracuda are the only type I can tolerate. Tobago Cays it is a truly amazing place and we feel very fortunate to have had the chance to visit twice.

On the way back south, we visited Mopio, a amazing tiny strip of sand with a gorgeous reef around it. We didn’t see any turtles here but we did see some of the most amazing aquarium like conditions of any of our snorkelling so far, it was full of little, adorable, colourful, playful fish. When we got ashore we had lots of fun running from the water one side of the island to the water on the other side. It was all of three long steps over a tiny hill of sparkling white sand. There was even a little parasol and next time we plan to have the place to ourselves! After our brief stop in Mopio we went to Petit St Vincent where we were joined by Blue Zulu to celebrate Itchy Foot’s 20th birthday! There were bubbles and cake, we even poured some on her deck. The private resort of Petit St Vincent has an outdoor cinema and Clive and Mia went ashore and giggled our way through “Live and Let Die” sitting in directors’ chairs watching the movie under the stars.

Jon and Clive gave Itchy Foot a scrub on her belly as a birthday present and headed to Union Island to check out in preparation for our sail south to Prickly Bay as our time was quickly coming to close. All too soon we were waving him off with tears in our eyes and happy memories in our hearts.