Our first month in the Caribbean Part 2

Diatonic
Anthony Warr
Fri 15 Jan 2010 02:48
12 35.7N 61 24.8W
15/01/2010
St Lucia
 
After 5 days sorting the boat and dinghy out we left Rodney Bay on 2nd January to sail to Castries, the capital town where a big festival celebrating Recovery Day (after New Years Eveand Day) was being held, more loud music and throngs of people. On our second night we enjoyed a goumet french meal at a fantastic beach restaraunt. 
 
  
 
 We left Castries and went to Marigot Bay,
 
 
a fantastic Hrricane Hole but now over commercialised. Soufriere was our next anchorage for 2 nights and enjoyed a visit to the Volcano and Botanical Gardens.
 
  
 Had another goumet meal at the Hummingbird Restaraunt. We cut our visit short because we felt a bit threatened from the boat boys who were forever coming out to us at anchor trying to sell us something.  
 
  
Cleared Customs and went down to Vieux Forte for 1 night before the 40 mile passage to Bequia.  However we stayed 2 nights since the wind had risen and it looked quite rough. In the end we still had a boisterous passage to Bequia with 32 knot winds between the islands. Bequia is part of the St.Vincent group of islands and we had to clear in via customs and immigration.  We spent 3 days here and were able to get some supplies such as gas water and fuel before sailng down to Canouan and then Salt Whistle Bay in Mayrea.
 
This is a most beatuful anchorage that boasts a fantastc beach with the local boat boys preparing beach BBQs at night.
 
The next day a 3 mile sail took us into the Tobago Cays where we anchored behind Horseshoe Reef facing 3000 miles of Atlantic Ocean to Africa. 
   
 
 The wind was blowing quite strngly at 25 knots but fortunately the reef is breaking up the big Atlantic swells and we are relatively protected.  The fluorescent turquoise bluey/green waters and white sandy beaches of the nearby desert islands are magnificent. Although this is now a marine park charging $10 (3 pounds) we are able to swim with the turtiles and snorkel around the reefs.  We have been planning to try and get though the coral reef in the dinghy to get to a small deserted island in the palm trees (or Tony is!) In the event we had high winds and heavy rain so spent the day on board.
 
Our 3rd night was spent anchored at the back of one of the small islands where boat boys were doing a BBQ. However we declined since they wanted $100 each (25 pounds) for a Maui Maui (Dorado) steak and breadfruit which we thought was taking the proverbial.
 
Today we have sailed eyeballing our way through the reefs to Union Island. Since we need to get up to Antigua, 400 miles north, which is quite a slog to windward we have decided not to go any further south. If we don't get a US visa we shall be coming down here again in May on our way to Trinidad. If we do go north to the USA then we will very likely be coming down here in November.
 
We are anchored behind the reef next to the small runway in Clifton on Union Island and looking forward to going out to dinner tonight. Fortunately Clifton has an interner cafe that we can reach with our wifi and get all our emailing done as well as this blog.
 
We will be leaving in the morning to go back to Bequia and then on to St Vincent, St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadaloupe, montserrat then Antigua but will be taking 3 weeks over this so will do the next blog from Antigua.