Bequia, Grenadines Position: 13:00.647N 61:14.405W
SeaTrek
Bill and Judy Stellin
Mon 14 Jan 2008 13:45
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We are now at anchor in Bequia (pronounced Bek-way) in
their lovely bay. This is the first of the Grenadines you come to from the
north, where we had been, in Marigot Bay, Saint Lucia.
After a late start we headed south to our present
location, partly sailing and motoring. The winds were light and from
astern which made sailing rather slow. It dawned on us we were going to
violate the cardinal rule of sailing in the Caribbean and that is "don't sail or
enter harbors or anchorages at night". We passed and left the island
of St Vincent to starboard during the daylight, but it gets dark very
suddenly in the tropics. When the sun goes down, there is only a few
minutes before it is pitch black dark. At the southern tip of St Vincent
we entered the Bequia channel, notorious for strong currents and gusty
winds. Heading across this six mile channel we could see Bequia
looming in the darkness without a single shore light. It was really eerie
as we have made landfall hundreds of times in the dark and always there have
been shore lights of some sort. Not on Bequia; absolute darkness, no house
lights, no road traffic, (no roads), nothing. We pressed on to Admiralty
Bay which the pilot warns is strewn with shoals and unreliable lights. It was a
very nerve racking approach and we vowed never to do it again.
As it turns out, it was a piece of cake. We entered
the bay, dodged dozens of anchored boats, went straight to a spot on a shoal
about 15 feet deep, anchored, had dinner and went to bed. No big
deal. The next day, we moved further into the bay where we are now and
took a mooring because anchor holding is spotty in the bay. Mostly a
thin layer of sand over rock or in weeds.
I must say, I am finally becoming at ease with the
Caribbean. The people here are friendly, they smile, the water is
clear, the fruits and vegetables are edible and better priced and the
restaurants are good. Prices are even a little cheaper than Saint
Lucia. Now all the more, I realize how much I disliked Saint
Lucia and Barbados. It was mainly the people. Just a simple smile and
less crabiness would do wonders to improve the general feeling those
beautiful island exhibit. My views are shared with everyone we've talked
to since we have been in the area.
Today is Judy's birthday and we celebrated by going out to
dinner with our Kiwi friends, John and Katherine on Blizzard. We first met
them in the America's Cup port in Valencia then ran into them again in Tenerife,
the Canary islands. They sailed from New Zeeland to the Med just to watch
the Cup races and now they are on their way back home. Now that is
dedication to the sport; 27,000 miles over 21
months. We have sailed a lot, but it has taken us 11 years to put
27,000 miles on the log.
The restaurant had a great band from Sweden, of all
places, which we danced to and that made Judy's day
really complete.
This morning, Sunday, we went to mass in their only
Catholic church. Our timing was perfect. Mass started at 8:00AM, we
got there at 9:00AM just in time for the consecration (that makes attendance
legal) and about 45 more minutes of singing, hand clapping, handshaking and
good old gospel type worship. It was a proper Catholic mass, just gussied
up with typical southern black influences.
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