The next morning it was pretty windy and so we decided to head on to Canouan instead, when we arrived at Canouan we all had a swim and a beer - then went ashore for some food shopping and to find this local restaurant that Paul remembered from his last visit here. The restaurant was called 'The Hilltop Restaurant' - and it earned it's name, we climbed up and there were spectacular views, we were a bit early for dinner so we got a drink and waited. We waited some more and some more and Sarah got bitten a bit more by the mosquitos and finally dinner arrived. This was not as good as Paul remembers and also the portions were small! The good music didn't make up for the poor food and the extortianate price so the next morning Kirsty and I made pancakes to fill everyone up again.

 

On the way to Bequia it was a bit rough going but I sat up on deck the whole way (4 hours) to make the most of the sun - this ended in salt everywhere once the spray had dried on to me - not great! After we arrived in Bequia we got off to go to shore and get some internet access, go through customs and do a little bit of shopping. We have found out the hard way that in the Caribbean you need to know exactly what you want before you try to buy food (or for that matter probably anything), or you end up answering 30 questions whilst weighing up the merits of 10 mangos versus 20 passionfruit and also trying not to get proposed to / given fruit to try / asked what salad you'd like or insulting some poor veg seller at a market that you don't know the rules of when he sulks that you wont buy the mangos or the passionfruit or the salad from him. Anyway  we reach Libertad again are asked to move moorings so that another bigger boat can have ours. We bargain our mooring in exchange for a lift to the bar later that evening in our mooring boys boat - he picked us up at half eight precisely and took us there - this is the essence of the Caribbean barter - you have to make sure you're just cheeky enough to get a few added extras without coming across as rude!

 

So Paul cooked Sarah and I a lovely dinner and even a pudding while Kirsty and Tim went out for a meal and a few drinks before joining us later for the reggae - the reggae obviously started a bit late for our crew (the routine here is an early start at around 6am and I seem to drop unconcious at 9pm exactly - the rest of the crew usually hold out a lot later) so in the end we didn't actually see the music but could hear it from Libertad anyway.

 

This morning (Saturday) was an early start along with an early sail, we headed out of Bequia at quarter to seven and there was a strong wind all the way back to St Lucia. I perfected the art of extreme sunbathing. Lying on the back of the boat with feet under one rail and hands holding on the other, each time a wave crashed over the boat I get soaked and with the wind this can get quite cold. Sarah thought this was a bit too much dedication to the tan but if you'd seen the attention that Kirsty pays to this I think it's debatable. Paul managed to burn his ears today as well due to the sun being behind us and on the way Tim and Sarah put a 'reef' in the sail due to the gale 6 (or maybe it was 7) wind so you can see where my 'extreme' explanantion comes in. Paul has now cleared us for customs in St Lucia and Kirsty is already packed ready to leave tomorrow, my style is much more haphazard and I'll be leaving it til the last minute in the hope that we don't have to go! A new crew member flys in tomorrow also so we are all having a big barbecue on the boat tonight to mark the occasion with steak.

 

I hand the blog mantle over to Sarah (she's secretly itching to get writing i bet) and leave the adventures of the Grenadines and St Lucia.

 

It's been an amazing time and I hope to return to little Libertad some day soon. She will eternally remind me of the song by Queen - Fat bottomed girls make the rocking world go round!!

 

Love, Emma x