St Vincent And The Grenadines - Bequia and St Vincent, June 2018
Bequia and St Vincent June 2018 Crew: Ken Robertson, Jenny Thomas Thursday 14 June, Martinique to Bequia, 103 miles, 19 hrs 50 minutes, 11 night hours, 6.3 engine hours, 5.20 knots average speed. Total miles since leaving Falmouth in August 2016: 10988 Position: 130 00’.12” N, 0610.14’.63” W 103 miles meant an overnight sail bypassing St Lucia (visited last season) and St Vincent (not recommended due to high crime rate – a German sailor was boarded, robbed and killed only a few years ago). Between the islands the sailing was brisk with strong, favourable trade winds. In the lee of the Islands the wind was negligible and required engine assistance. Overall it was a good passage, too much weed to fish but lots of dolphins to keep us amused!
After lunch we dinghied ashore to check-in. Bequia is a port of entry for all the islands contained within St Vincent and the Grenadines. We were keen to visit customs prior to 4pm; after that they charge overtime putting the cost up from $35 EC per person to $80 EC per person, more at weekends! $1 EC (Eastern Caribbean Dollar) = £0.28, so not an expensive country to enter.
Rainy season subjected us to a very heavy downpour but we soon dried off having left a couple of large puddles on the floor of the official’s office! It was start of carnival week so we watched the brief parade of carnival queens, browsed the street vendors selling anything from wooden carvings, jewellery, clothing, fruit and veg to barbequed food. The music was too loud for my little ears so we went to a bar further afield along the bay’s beautiful walkway.
Heeding the advice not to take Lady Rebel to St Vincent we caught the 0915 ferry instead. At only $40 EC return per person (£10) is seemed an opportunity too good to miss. We were met by Christo Lynnch of Local Adventure Tours, our guide for the day. His price was cheaper than other tour guides but still $75US per person (£56). By the end of the day we felt it had been worth every penny! The coastline is amazingly dramatic with dense greenery, sheer cliffs and stunning bays.
Christo took us through Kingstown, the capital, bustling with market traders, up to Fort Charlotte (British built) where the cannons were facing unusually inland, to fight the Caribs!
We visited the Botanical Gardens, the oldest in the Western hemisphere and it is here that Captain Bligh brought the Bread Fruit Tree after the mutiny on The Bounty.
Bread Fruit Tree
The West (leeward) coast took us to Dark View Water Falls, the largest on the island made up of three falls. We bathed in the middle falls – awesome!
Soufriere volcano looked very impressive standing at 3000 feet with surrounding mountains at 3800 ft. their peaks up in the clouds.
After a Chicken Roti lunch stop at Troumaca Bay for a mere $10EC (£2.80) each – they were so delicious we’d have had two each at that price, if they’d not been so filling (even for Ken) - we continued back along the West Coast passing by Cumberland Bay where two yachts were bravely anchored. Having assured us the Island was safe Christo pointed out the massive hillside Ganja/Marijuana/Cannabis/Weed (call it what you will) growing area on the Western approach to the volcano, where even the police don’t venture. We were high on just the fumes; a scent we were now well and truly used to, not by our own making I hasten to add!!
We stopped at Wallilabou Bay, another Pirates of the Caribbean location, this time with the film sets still standing, including the docks where the ships were filmed and a museum of props and original film reels. We intend to watch the films again to see if we can recognise any of the various locations we’ve visited!
Unsurprisingly we stopped off at the supermarket for Ken to purchase some local rums – Sparrow (dark) and Sunset (very strong white). The Sunset is now made with slightly lower alcohol content as was considered too flammable to be safe on airplanes!! The next few days were occupied with some essential boat jobs. One of the battery leads had overheated and melted so had to be replaced and rewired to avoid a similar occurrence.
We did various tests on the wind generator which had suddenly stopped producing power since our return from the UK, for no apparent reason. We boxed it up and returned it to the manufactures in the UK, via FedEx, at the extortionate cost of £170!! We checked the oil on the outboard and pumped up the dinghy; we find it floats better with air in it! I started to seal the remaining portholes, but it was too windy, the sealant blowing everywhere. Instead I cleaned the yellow stains on the hull from the exhaust outlets while Ken began the task of connecting the engine alternator to the forward batteries that operate the bow thruster, windlass and forward heads. A long awkward job. The barnacles and weed growth on Lady Rebel’s bottom was horrendous due to her being left in Guadeloupe for six weeks, so we donned our masks, snorkels and fins and started the tedious mission of scraping her clean. It was massively exhausting having to dive under the boat holding one’s breath, scraping like mad, then returning to the surface for gulps of air. The rudder, propeller, log and drive shaft also benefitted a scrape. Some of the barnacles were so stubborn we came aboard covered in scratches! I completed this over the next two days while Ken continued with his electrical work.
Before and After Amongst other domestic chores, I defrosted the freezer; having taken to enjoying frozen yoghurts (to keep me off the ice-cream) and they were frustratingly taking an age to freeze! We did more rally, insurance and destination research, made several trips to the chandlers for electrical parts and locks to make the boat and dinghy more secure (in light of the recent crime reports in this area). A sailing yacht named ‘Swan’ was flying an Ocean Cruising Club flag so we called by, as is tradition, to invite them aboard for drinks. Peter and Sue returned the favour a couple of nights later plus we met them for a Sword-Fish supper one evening for the bargain price of $20EC (£5.00). Peter and Ken had breakfast ashore one morning in a bar that opened up early to show the football World Cup. The game started at 0800 hrs, Caribbean time; I don’t think they had any beers to celebrate England’s win. ‘Swan’ too stayed in Bequia for a week or so as the wind was too strong for pleasant sailing. It didn’t matter too much as it was Carnival week and we weren’t in too much of a hurry to move on as no hurricanes were seen to be developing! Part of carnival week was a ‘beach’ party at Jack’s Bar, where Lady Rebel was anchored – very handy! We figured rude not to go along and support the event. When I say ‘event’ we soon discovered it was basically VERY loud music, beachwear attire – minimal for some of the locals, even the larger ladies, but oh boy could they move their bits on show! Quote Ken ‘that’s not dancing, that’s sex on the dancefloor’! We stood mesmerised, with drinks in hand, for a couple of hours watching the locals dance/perform!. They are so incredibly and enviously rhymical, with what appears very little effort and certainly not backwards in coming forwards. We couldn’t chat to anyone, not even ourselves due to the Caribbean youngster volume level, so continued to listen back aboard Lady Rebel ………….. until 8.00am the following morning 😊. Oh to be young and party the whole night long!
Feeling the need for exercise we walked over the hill to Friendship Bay; a ‘wealthier’ area it appeared. Liquid refreshments were purchased at the posh Bequia Beach Hotel where the barman told us about the finale carnival procession happening in the main town of Port Elizabeth at that very moment. We thanked him for his local knowledge, paid the bill and hopped on a very crowded bus, full of people dressed for a carnival – face masks, glitter, men in skirts, you get the picture, playing very loud music. The bus was like a Tardis – rammed full, but the driver kept stopping for more passengers – we never did figure out where they were all sitting as we were squashed in so tightly near the front we couldn’t turn around to look! It only cost 1ECD (28p) so we didn’t expect a reclining seat, foot rest and air-conditioning. We collected the dinghy and motored straight round to Port Elizabeth for the carnival procession – a truck playing loud music, with people dancing upon it and dancing behind it. This truck went up and down the main street between the towns until the early hours, with street vendors lining the route. The music got louder as it collected more following dancers. After chatting with the locals, having sampled some chicken wings, beer and popcorn it was time to call it a night and say goodbye to beautiful Bequia!
Immaculate gardens
Carnival Truck! Next stop: Mayreau Island |
Passing the Pitons of St Lucia
