View of Hillsborough from the hospital in Belair - Click to enlarge
There are two public routes on and off the island. The Osprey ferry and the SVG flight. Now it seems to be an established fact that the ferry is a much more adventurous route meaning it is often a nausea inducing experience even for the more seasoned sea travellers. Anecdotally the trip to Carriacou is usually worse than the trip back.
Photo by CAH
What a great experience. Lots of memories and and a moderate skin tan that will disappear quite quickly in this Welsh winter.
Although there were a lot of nice relaxing moments on the beach there were also lots of animal care that we were involved with. The beautiful scenery of the island should not conceal the tremendous work Kathy, Shurlyn and all the people that are involved and help out with the Carriacou Animal Hospital (CAH).
A trip to a nearby island called the Tobago Cays . This was a bit of a longer trip. We set off early in the morning and took a tour of several islands in the Tobago Cays archipelago. It actually took us to the neigbouring country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines but I don’t remember having to take our passports with us. The views of the islands was simply breathtaking.
A trip to a nearby island called the White Island. We took a quick boat ride to there and had a lovely BBQ, fresh lobster. Very tasty. One of the best things I remember is having a banter and getting pissed while standing waist-deep in crystal clear sea water. Will never forget this.
The prominence in White Island. Which I had to climb and take in the views
Saline island as seen from the top of White island
The BA 777 at Gatwick
Writing this at least a couple of days into my stay. The passport control people nearly didn’t let me in the country as they seem to pretend they didn’t know about Carriacou animal hospital and to top it off the donated medical supplies got seized by customs. With the great effort from Penny in Grenada we managed to get them back the following day which meant I missed the morning ferry to Carriacou .
Don’t think I have ever travelled with so much luggage. Besides my own stuff I will also bring over some consumables like surgical gloves, flea treatment and so on. Got some great plastic containers that are nice and waterproof.
View of the airplane
Those 4 boxes above was how I got everything from the WVS. I was a little worried about how I am going to get all the luggage from the long term car park, on the bus and then on the terminal.
The Chikungunya virus / Sun, Siyang et al., 2013
Soon after starting planning my volunteer trip to Carriacou I was given advice about vaccinations I would require. These were basically for rabies and tetanus. As I was tested and proven that I already had enough anti-bodies against tetanus (Clostridium tetani) all I had to do was to get my rabies shots. Great. Cashed out over £110 for this and thought this was it.
After months of preparation I will finally been taking a trip to the Caribbean island of Carriacou to do a few weeks of volunteer work for the Carriacou Animal Hospital. The trip was coordinated in conjunction with the WVS (Worldwide Veterinary Service) who has offered me loads of support and guidance.
I have put over £1,000 towards the trip but the CAH, WVS and I are also looking for any charitable donations of veterinary medical supplies.
