Waiting for Weather at Frigate Bay Dec 27 - Jan 4, 2012

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When we went to Frigate Island we thought we would be anchored there only a night or two waiting out the weather to move to the Tobago Cays. A week and a day later we finally left. It did wind up being a good place to wait, even though there were still some rough and wet rides to shore from here. One of the nice things about staying here instead of in Clifton (the other major anchorage) is that we were at a more laid back area of the island of Union. When we traveled south we were in Clifton so this gave us a chance to explore a new part of the island.

Frigate Island is marked by the stopped development of a marina and condo complex. We understand that they had hoped to build docks to accommodate 300 yachts, but as it was doing considerable damage to the delicate ecosystem here, construction was stopped by the UNEP. The work that was done stopped in 1994 but you can still see the outline of the dock areas and the retaining walls that had been put in as part of this project. Now there isn’t anything on the island but it is a great place to hike so we took advantage of doing just that.

While at this anchorage we did have access to the town of Clifton as there are frequent buses (these are really vans) from Ashton. They are inexpensive (5 EC = $1.85 for both of us) and get us right into the center of Clifton for our veggie/fruit shopping. One thing that we have noticed that is different from the last time we were here in June 2011 is the number of cruisers and charterers there are now. You can easily tell those that are here on a weeks’ charter quickly based on either how “white” they are or how burnt they are. There are other ways to tell when you are in an anchorage, but we won’t go into those.

One side affect we noticed is that many of the vendors in Clifton are not as friendly as we have seen in other places – they seem to be “tainted” by the number of people that fly through here and are not really interested in them as people, just in getting what they want and in a hurry. Ashton, on the other hand, is far enough away from the hustle and bustle and we find everyone here much more friendly and willing to stop and talk. We are glad we made the decision to come to this end of the island, especially during this high season of charterers. We are hoping that once the holidays are over places will be a little less crowded. We know that there will be still lots of boats in all of the anchorages with the continuation of charterers and all of those liveaboards who like us are now moving around now that the hurricane season is over.

Luckily we have the luxury of not having a fixed schedule so we can stay a place longer than expected or we can move to another area. We are enjoying that freedom of choice.

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Photos

What a Sight
Just one of many large sailing ships that you see plying the waters of the Caribbean

One of the many views
A view looking out on the windward side of Frigate Island.

Basalt Columns
When you get up close you can see this is made up of columns of basalt caused by volcanic action.

Post Card Photo??
One of those post card photos that we got to take while on a walk on Frigate Island.

Looking Toward Ashton
A developer back in 1994 thought he was going to transforming this area by building condos and a marina. Not much is left of what had been put in before they stopped work on it. This is a view looking toward Union Island down near the town of Ashton.

A recognizable feature
A landmark of Frigate Island is the large mound just ahead. It is definitely formed by volcanic action.

The calmer side of the island
A view toward Tsamaya and the anchorage on the protected side of Frigate Island.

Not Much Remains
Not much remains of the retaining walls that had been put in during the construction of the marina. 17 years of sea can do lots of damage as you can see.

Brain coral
A view of some brain coral we saw on the “beach” at Frigate Island.There were many samples of broken coral here.

Seen any conch shell lately?
How many of you get to see conch shells when you take a walk? The paths here are littered with them

The outline of a marina still remains
It appeared that quite a bit had been done on the marina project before they stopped work. They had plans for 300 berths. It definitely would have changed this end of the island.

One more view
We are on Frigate and looking toward Union Island.

Oysters anyone?
Oysters anyone? There appear to be many clinging to this piling. Some good seems to have come of the decayed marina structure.

Required Sunset
The sunset for this blog from Frigate Island anchorage.

Trying to stay dry
Janice tried to remain dry on the dinghy ride from the boat to Ashton on Union Island, but it didn’t completely work. It definitely helped as Bob was soaked from head to toe on this trip.

A hitchhiker?
As soon as we got back to the boat, this boobie decided to land on the dinghy while we were still in it. We saw that both legs were banded – not sure who did the banding, but he was definitely quite friendly and stayed around for some time. He even came back for a visit the next morning.