Bequia

Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Sun 29 Jun 2008 21:29
Hello Friends                   "13:00.57N 61:14.51W"
 
We've enjoyed some good sailing as we've worked our way south and experienced quite a few squalls which almost count as frisky. Whilst passing HMS Diamond Rock in Martinique, we encountered a squall with 45 knot sustained winds, which was great practice at dealing with fresher weather!  But remember that a squall in the English Channel is cold & wet but out here it's like having bucketfulls of warm bathwater chucked at you, so not really a problem.
 
In view of the approaching Summer weather, we've adjusted the rigging to add a 3rd reef tack line brought back to the cockpit. This means that the 3rd reef can be rigged from the cockpit without having to wander around the deck - it seemed a good idea to us and works really well. [For the technically minded, the previous arrangement had a short strop at the 3rd reef tack, hooked onto the gooseneck with the usual reefing line at the clew, brought to the cockpit. We've removed the strop and just put a line through the cringle, around a block at the gooseneck and lead back to the cockpit. Now you drop the halyard, heave in the tack line at the starboard winch and then the clew at the port winch - nice and easy.]
 
From Martinique we bring you this picture from the anchorage at St Pierre - taken just a few metres from where Blue Sky was anchored: not entirely surprisingly we could not persuade the turtle to face the camera...
 
 
A short sail down to St Lucia saw us anchor in Rodney Bay overnight while the plagues of jetskis were asleep. We departed early the next morning before they had recovered from their hangovers and had a great sail south to Cumberland Bay, St Vincent. Fresh winds from a little north of east saw us belting along, often over 9 knots with 2 reefs in both the main and the genoa. Cumberland Bay was typically peaceful and the local boat boys friendly if persistent. But as we were presented with a huge quantity of fruit for hardly any cost, you can't complain - a kilo of mango, a kilo of limes and a kilo of passion fruit for the price of a bottle of beer.
 
Fede went snorkelling again and brings you these photos from the reef at the south side of the bay...
 
firstly a trunkfish
 
 
and this smudge in the middle is an octopus, carefully matching its colour to the coral.
 
 
We anchored downstream of the river mouth this time, which provided a refreshing swim as the cold fresh water lay on the surface few centimetres of the sea and naturally washed the salt off as you climbed out of the water.
 
We're now in Bequia where all is well and Fede continues to excel as Cabin Boy, his care and attention to stainless polishing makes the skipper look positively idle !
 
Our last pictures are some mystery fruit which we purchased in the market in Ste Anne, Martinique. We truly do not know what this is and the taste was pleasantly fruity if slightly bland. When fresh, the whole fruit had a distinctive chocolate aroma, though this did not seem to come from the flesh once the fruit was cut. Any suggestions bloggers ?
 
 
 
We hope all is well with you wherever you are reading this. Our next stop will probably be the Tobago Cays where Fede's camera will no doubt be put to good use.
 
Best Wishes
 
George, Michael & Fede