Bequia, Marigot - photos added

Eowyn
Fri 18 Jan 2013 00:05
 
 
Éowyn is presently in Rodney Bay Marina in the North of St Lucia in position  14:04.449 N 60:57.013W
 
After leaving Petite Martinique, we motorsailed to Clifton on Union Island to clear into SVG. Clearance was easy and friendly at the airport, so we strolled into Clifton to browse the colourful fruit stalls and small shops.
 
   
 
Before we left we had a drink on Happy Island, a small but beautifully kept bar built by hand from conch shells on the reef fringing Clifton by Rasta Jonti and his wife.
 
The View from Happy Island
 
Graham with Jonti on Happy Island
 
Late afternoon we sailed to Chatham Bay for an overnight anchorage. We had planned to stay several days in the Grenadines but there was a weather window to go North on Saturday 5th January with very strong winds forecast for the following week. With this info, we decided to cut short our visit in the Southern Grenadines and head to Bequia. The sail up was a delightful and fast close reach, arriving at Bequia and dropping the hook off Daffodil by mid afternoon. As usual Alan Reynolds was there in his trimaran and we met several other cruisers including Lee & Kirsty on Sadler 34, JonJon.  I owned a Sadler 34 in 1984 myself, so memories were rekindled as we sat in the very secure cockpit of JonJon.
 
Sunset in Bequia
 
Most of our time in Bequia was spent scuba diving with Ron & Laury from Bequia Dive Adventures. They provide a very personal service which suits our needs well. We had 8 great dives despite the rough seas conditions and enjoyed every moment. We had our usual lobster pizza at Mac's and again found our decision to sail was dominated by the weather window on Saturday 12th. We departed at dawn and apart from a squall North of St Vincent, had a good beat to St Lucia, making landfall with Jonjon at the beautiful Pitons anchorage.
 
  
The Dramatic Pitons & Eowyn in Marigot Bay Marina
 
Our run of good luck of maintenance had begun to run out, with 8 new issues developing that day! Most were minor but the failed fridge looked expensive! We pulled into Marigot Bay and after several hours of diagnosis I found a fault in the printed circuit board. Henning schneider at the marina managed to fit us in between superyacht maintenance and soldered it for me. Bob Hathaway, the marina manager, kindly got me a replacement engine room blower from Rodney Bay. Most of the minor issues were resolved so we were able to enjoy a superb dinner at our favourite restaurant, the Rainforest Hideaway
 
Yesterday we came to Rodney Bay where we plan to rent a car and become real tourists before flying home on 25th January for 2 months.