Day 152, Year 6 Closing the Circle
Date: Friday, March 25, 2011
Weather: Partly Sunny Day, Wind E 20 knots
Latitude: 12 35.785 N
Longitude: 061 24.689 W
Location: Passage from Tyrell Bay, Carriacou to Union Island, the Grenadines

Unbelievable. We have finally crossed our outbound track and officially completed our circumnavigation. I will not feel that I have completed the circle until we reach New England, but I am happily celebrating our return to the Caribbean. We celebrated this special occasion on Happy Island which we first visited in January of 2006. A local named Janti built a little island here on the reef using abandoned conch shells left by fishermen on the beaches and has turned it into bar and restaurant. Watching the sunset with a rum punch in hand on Happy Island was perfect closure. Steve says he is honored to be here with us and we are so happy that he is here to celebrate this occasion. We have to pinch ourselves just to check that this is a reality. We are gathering all of the flags of the countries we have visited so we can fly the flags tomorrow and remind ourselves of the wonderful experiences we had had. We are behind Newlands Reef, on a mooring ball in beautiful, clear turquoise water, and the view is phenomenal. This reminds us that the voyage is not yet over. We have another six weeks of travel here in the Caribbean before returning to the US. So the circle has been closed but the Voyage of Windbird is not over yet.

Our day started in Tyrell Bay in Carriacou and we moved to Sandy Island to snorkel. We picked up a mooring and then headed out in our dinghy. We headed south along the island. I was drift snorkeling with the dinghy as anchoring was not allowed and Mark and Steve were following along behind. Somehow I got myself into a very precarious position, between a rock (the coral) and a hard place (the dinghy). The current and wind pushed me into a very shallow area and I could not turn myself around. I ended up with my first coral scrape in the past five and a half years. Since I did not have on my dive skin (as our daughter has always recommended when snorkeling) I ended up with a horrible coral scrape along the line of my swimsuit at the top of my leg. It is really not pretty and my only hope is that it does not get infected. In the meantime, it is very painful but is being treated with the appropriate drugs. Once I got the dinghy out of the very shallow area, the rest of the morning went much more smoothly. We snorkeled the north end of Sandy Island and found the swaying soft corals that we had read about. They were deep but it was mesmerizing to watch. We walked on the beach and enjoyed the beauty.

Next we motored over to Hillsborough on the north side of Carriacou to check out of the Grenadan Grenadines. Anchoring there was a long process as we just couldn’t get the anchor to hold. We finally had to call it good enough and I stayed on Windbird to watch while Mark and Steve went to Customs to process the formalities. Then we sailed into the wind for the five miles to Union Island. We were met by Andy, a local boat boy, at the entrance to the harbor and asked if we would like a mooring. I said no, but then Mark decided that we’d pay the 50 EC ($20 US) for the night since anchoring here is between two reefs-one in front of you and one behind you. He wanted the peace of mind of not having to worry about the anchor not holding in such tight quarters. We followed Andy to the ball (not a ball really but a collection of old life vests and plastic bottles) and got ourselves attached. Then another boat boy, Nicholas, came by offering fresh mahi mahi for sale. Steve sprang for the fish which we planned to grill for dinner after returning from Happy Island. Mark and Steve went ashore to check us into the St. Vincent Grenadines and then we were off to Happy Island.

We have checked into twenty-eight countries or territories on our ‘world tour’ and each one has been wonderful. We met a fisherman from Montauk, New York, on Happy Island this evening. Dennis was a NYC fireman during 9/11 and retired with disability after that terrible disaster. He started fishing with his dad on Long Island and is here in the Caribbean as crew. He is trying out different sail boats and plans to buy one and sail his dream around the world in the next few years. He asked the question that almost everyone asks. “What was your favorite place as you traveled around the world?” And it is a question that we can’t answer. Each country and each little island within those countries were all special in some way. We’ll spend part of tomorrow reflecting on our travels and let you know what we come up with as our ‘top ten’ favorites-if we can get it down to that. It will also be fun to list all the islands and see just how many we have visited.