Carriacou

Tyrrel Bay    

Tyrrel Bay is one of the most sheltered anchorages in the Caribbean. There were a lot of yachts here but loads of space for more and we felt that it was justifiably popular.

On first impressions there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount ashore in the bay other than lots of bars. Our pilot guide describes the island as an enchanting place, one of the friendliest in the Caribbean, with over 100 rum shops but only one gasoline station. Wandering around the shoreline we visited several small food shops and a couple of much larger ones so getting food wasn’t an issue. There are 2 scuba dive centres and actually a small sail loft as well. Essentially most of what we needed without having to trek to Hillsborough, the island’s capital.

We pottered about on the shore and walked up to some higher ground to get a better view over the bay but didn’t really venture outside of the immediate vicinity of the bay.

Whilst we were there we also did a bit of snorkelling in the bay. There is a small coral reef we thought was worth looking at and in the centre of the bay is sunken fishing vessel split into 2 pieces just a few metres below the surface.

On each trip ashore we could keep an eye on the progress of Philip and Rhys’ on their diving course because they were at the early stages and so all their exercises were done in the shallow clear water just off the beach.

Enthused by talking to them about their course, we arranged to do a couple of dives with the dive centre which was training them. So as well as lots of socialising, some good snorkelling and plenty of Caribbean-style chillin’, we spent the best part of a day boning up on diving knowledge and techniques so that we could make the most of our 2 dives. Nicky also spent an hour or so, floating around off the beach with Claudia and Philip as Claudia tried out her new-to-her dive kit in preparation for a refresher course she had booked. The diving was excellent and is covered in a separate blog entry as I took so many pictures. Overall, we had lovely time in Tyrrel Bay and could easily have spent longer in Carriacou gently enjoying life. Indeed, we had intended to move around to the more exposed anchorage in front of Hillsborough for a short while to snorkel over the coral reefs north and south of Sandy Island but the wind direction and swell was not good for that, which was a real shame as Phillip, Claudia and Rhys said that the snorkelling there was excellent. 

However, conscious that there are loads more islands to see between Carriacou the Virgin Islands, from where we expect to jump north to leave the hurricane belt for the summer, we decided that we would leave Hillsborough and Sandy Island for another visit and, instead, planned to move on to the St Vincent Grenadines.

Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou