Christmas & New Year
Arion's West Indian Adventure
Hermione & Douglas Pattison
Sat 2 Jan 2016 01:28
Douglas and I were feeling quite rotten for a few days, tiredness, swollen glands, dizziness etc which now seems to have disappeared, but we put it down to some sort of virus and now we are feeling fine and normal (and not needing to hit the sack at 8pm!!)
We headed South from Marigot Bay (where Dr Doolittle was filmed) to the Pitons. A very short 1.5 hour sail. On arrival at the Pitons we were hounded by dreaded boat boys. Boat boys are local youths in motorised dinghys who ‘adopt’ boats on their final approach into ports. They ‘help’ you pick up a mooring, and if you accept help, they expect you to pay them. it is hard to get rid of them sometimes and they are jolly persistent. Because the pitons is a national park and the water is incredibly deep we decided to pick up a mooring and our boat boy took us to one and we duly paid. I knew from our guide book about people selling moorings that did not belong to them, so I asked for a receipt. The boy gave an explanation as to why he did not give receipts and because we had the children down below, we just got on with it and paid him. A few hours later we found out that the mooring was not his to sell and it caused a hullabaloo with the local park rangers, who went off to find this boat boy…… needless to say that for the rest of the day and night I thought the boat boy was going to come back to seek revenge!! The town, Soufriere, I did not feel comfortable in at all. we were constantly hounded by stall holders, boat boys, beggars etc, and unlike in other places, if you did not want what they offered, they scowled at you. The town just did not have a pleasant vibe to it, and when we did go ashore we certainly paid the local youth a few dollars to look after our dinghy……… for fear of finding a big hole in it later on!!
The next morning, (Christmas eve) we set off bright and early for our first big hop of the trip- a 9 hour passage to a beautiful island called Bequia. The children were so good on passage. As soon as we got out of the lee of St Lucia the sea became very rough with big swells and lots of lovely wind. At this point the children were down below in their ‘den’ watching a film. By the time we reached the leeward side ( flat calm, no wind) of St Vincent Alice was fast asleep and Arthur came up on deck where he happily painted for an hour or two and we had some lunch. St Vincent looks like a very beautiful island, but from talking to many people, it seems that the boat boy situation here is very bad, and it is really not very safe, so we sailed on by! Popping out into the big seas and wind again south of St Vincent, we had a fabulous blast over to Bequia where we arrived in Admiralty Bay in time for an afternoon play and swim on the beach which was heavenly after a long sail.
Admiralty Bay suited us perfectly as it has a really bustling, friendly and pretty town with everything you need, plus 3 beautiful beaches and some lovely snorkelling all within walking range. We spent Christmas morning in the town talking to our family and friends on FaceTime, and a picnic lunch on the beach in the afternoon. Alice and Arthur had some lovely presents and were very excited to learn that Father Christmas had found them on the boat (there had been great concern that F.C would leave their presents at Church Farm Cottage so we wrote to him in Marigot Bay to explain the situation!)
We could have stayed here for much longer but after 4 days we decided to move on round the corner to another bay on the island. This time we were the only boat in Friendship bay. It has a lovely beach with little else. The next day we set off and had a 4 hour passage to the Tobago Cays. Wowie! it really is picture postcard scenery with white sand and bright turquoise crystal clear water. You have to navigate through the cuts very carefully using your eyes and not the charts which was exciting, and a first for me! Arthur and Alice watched two turtles feeding on the weed while they swum overhead (thanks to Granny and Pop, Alice is able to see underwater with her special body board with a window in it) and I saw and followed a huge stingray.
Next stop; Union Island for New Years Eve. A really great and bustling island with lovely locals. On our approach into Clifton, the main town, we saw a boat which we recognised and anchored next to fellow 14 sailor Ed Clay and his wife Megan. Small world!!
Tomorrow we set off for Petit St Vincent, Petit Martinique and so will keep you posted!