Anyone been to Mayreau?

[SqueakyDust]

Anyone been?

 

According to my Ocean Village brochure ...

"Mayreau Village - Be sure to check out the island's hub of activity, with four bars, a few restaurants and a sprinkling of colourful rum shops...."

 

Sounds like a true Paradise island, but I was wondering how easy it is to get around. Is everything within walking distance?

Can you organise tours privately, or do they have to be via the ship?

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated:D

[curiousx]

I've visited Mayreau frequently. It's a charming island with two big assets

 

a) its proximity to the amazing Tobago Cays, deserted islets where one imagines Peter Pan living

b) Saltwhistle Bay, one of the prettiest small beaches I have seen.

 

Re (a) - You could (and should) try to get to the Tobago Cays. If you don't want to go on a ship's tour (and I wouldn't), you could get one of the local boat boys from Union island to come over (5 minutes or so away by speed boat) and take you there. Excellent snorkelling, and the boat guy could do a lbeach BBQ for you if time permits. Off to the far right, you will see Petit Tabac, the island where Johnny Depp was marooned in Pirates of the Caribbean. Go to http://www.usual-suspects-sailing.com/ for descriptions of the various boat boys and select the one you want. Some of them have cell or email; others you could contact through Erica's Marine Services, also on Union. Alternately, for a great dive experience, contact Glenroy Adams at the dive shop in Union. Again advance arrangements are crucial). Don't depend on the ship or the boat boys to have snorkelling gear...take your own, including fins (at a pinch, the small body-surfing fins will do)

 

If you like snorkelling but don't want to go to the Cays, there is snorkelling at both ends of Saline Bay, where your ship will likely anchor. The north end is said to have the best snorkelling but also can have strong currents. I stuck to the south end and saw both spotted and green moray eel and squid as well as other tropicals.

 

Re b) To get to Saltwhistle Bay, follow the road from the Saline Bay jetty that goes straight up through the heart of the village (take a water bottle with you). At the very top, drop into the pretty Catholic church and look out to a spectacular view of the Cays. Leaving the church, follow the road downhill to the other side and you will arrive at Saline Bay. Buy a beer from the woman with the cooler at the end of the road or from the Saltwhitle Bay Resort; have a dip. Including goggling stops, allow about 40 minutes for the walk each way.

 

Hope this helps

[curiousx]

Leaving the church, follow the road downhill to the other side and you will arrive at Saline Bay.

 

 

Sorry, the above sentence should have read "Leaving the church, follow the road downhill to the other side and you will arrive at Saltwhistle Bay."

[SqueakyDust]

Thanks Curiousx.

 

I noticed the ship does a trip to the Cays but I thought it might be nice to see the island we stopped at (having said that when we stop at Tortola we jump on the ferry to Virgin Gorda:rolleyes: )

 

We might even try and do both if it's simply a case of getting a little 'boat boy' across to the Cays.

We have 2 young(ish) children who're sailing with us so only gentle snorkeling etc will be done. We recently watched a film "Deep Water" (?) about a couple who got forgotten on a diving trip and it really put the frighteners on me (big wuss:o ) so no way will I be learning to Scuba.

 

I think I'll tell the kids the island is "Peter Pan's NeverNever Land" and that the Cays was where they filmed POTC - they'll like that.

 

Cheers:D

[curiousx]

Hmmm, I suspect your two youngish children wouldn't like the walk over to Saltwhistle at all and as there are only about 3 cars/trucks on the island, transport might be hard to arrange. But the beach there is utterly ideal for youngish children and gentle snorkelling. I am pretty sure, however, that if you emailed the Saltwhistle Bay resort in advance, they would send someone to get you, especially if you were going to have lunch there (prices are moderate and food is OK).

 

Gentle snorkelling and a Peter Pan beach are also to be found on the Cay called Petit Baradel. Be warned, hwoever, that to get there, you will be crossing open sea in a speedboat and the likelihood that there are life-preservers aboard is zero to nil.

 

The huge Saline Bay beach is pretty nice as well, but ranks third behind these other two choices IMHO.

[SqueakyDust]

Hmmm, it's starting to look like we may be better off doing one of the ship's tours:(

I'd rather give my money to locals as I said, but if there is not the transport to get us around then I suppose we have to use the ship.

It doesn't help that the ships' Tour info hasn't been updated online, so I can't even check out their prices.

 

Maybe I'll forget about mayreau for a couple of months and concentrate on other islands first.

 

Thanks again Curiousx

[curiousx]

Here's a thought. The main provider for the ships' excursions is an outfit on Union called Captain Yannis. http://www.captainyannis.com/ Why not visit the website (there are some great pix) and contact the company to see if they are also accepting independent bookings for the day you are in port ?

 

I am not keen on the itinerary for the ship-arranged excursions...as described to me, it consisted of being picked up at Saline Bay, sailed through the Tobago Cays (without a stop for beach or snorkel time) and dumped on a sectioned-off part of the beach on a resort island (Palm or PSV - I can't remember which). That said, the people I spoke to also really enjoyed their day.

 

The itinerary I would prefer is one that includes a pick up at Saline Bay, sailing over to the Cays for snorkelling and beach time in the Cays, followed by a BBQ lunch at the Cays or a picnic or restaurant lunch at Saltwhistle Bay where you can also swim and snorkel. To get maximum beach time, it would be great if Yannis could arrange for you to picked up at Saltwhistle Bay by one of the few local vehicles, and taken back across the island to the jetty at Saline. It can't hurt to ask !

[SqueakyDust]

Thanks again Curiousx

 

I'm just looking over at that link now and notice he has a section on Children.

 

Curious as to how you found out who Ocean Village use for their tours when it's a different itinerary from last (this) winter!

[curiousx]

There's only a limited number of day sail suppliers on Union and Captain Yannis is the best equipped to deal with the needs of a larger ship...so I have made an educated guess that his company is the supplier - I could be wrong !

 

I also took a look at the various itineraries offered for Mayreau on the Ocean Village website. A couple of the catamaran trips seemed to spend most of their time in the Cays and sounded OK - one went to Palm as well and so to me was less interesting.

 

I also noticed one trip on an inter-island schooner that appeared to me from the picture to be the SS Scaramouche - she's a lovely craft and any time spent on her would be well worth it. This option, though, was 48 pounds a person compared to the others which were 28 pounds.

[SqueakyDust]

Oh, I didn't see Mayreau trip details on the OV site (well I thought I didn't!)

 

I'm getting a RUN Error at the moment and it crashes so can't check:rolleyes: