Trip Update - 25th January 2009 Mustique, Grenadines

Nutmeg of Shoreham
Ollie Holden
Mon 9 Feb 2009 15:54


Position: 12:52:70N 61:11:29W

 

Wanting to show Mum & Al the best of the Grenadines, we decided to sail to Mustique, home of the rich and famous, which is only 15 or so miles from Bequia by sea.  We had a lovely beat to windward between the small islands to the south of Bequia, and eventually took a mooring in Britannia Bay, Mustique.

 

Mustique is only a small island but it is very beautiful and is clearly groomed to perfection.  You are not allowed to anchor here but instead have to take a mooring for EC$200 (£50) for up to three nights.  For some reason, they never charged us – perhaps we looked too poor!

 

A while ago, after some pestering, I made the girls their first model boats.  For reasons best known to themselves, they insist on calling them their “modern boats” despite correction.  They are anything but modern – Millie’s is half a hollow coconut shell, and Mima’s is a solid piece of wood that I sawed into a roughly boat-shape.  They get towed behind the dinghy.  I took the girls  for a walk when we arrived in Mustique and they insisted on towing their modern-boats behind them – all the way up the road, through a park…  Glad we went for a bullet-proof design!

 

The girls and their modern-boats, Mustique

 

Forget Mick Jagger, the most exciting thing on Mustique when you are four years old is… a playground!  The first they’d seen since the Canaries.  The girls were in heaven.  There was also a lovely primary school for all the local kids (there are about thirty kids on the island)

 

Mustique primary school

 

We did a tour of the island.  There are many very exclusive residences dotted around, all very private.  Consequently you can’t see a great deal from the road, but we did get to see Tommy Hilfiger’s hedge.  He keeps it very well trimmed.  Also Mick Jagger’s roof, which is a funny shade of blue.  Shania Twain has a big house on the hill, which must have brought the house prices down a bit, having her as a neighbour.  Imagine.  All joking apart, it is a beautiful island, obviously not short of funds but possibly lacking a little realism.

 

Main road, Britannia Bay, Mustique

 

We sought refuge in Basil’s Bar, a beach bar made famous by the likes of Jagger and  the various bands that have played there.  It was quite pleasant to sip a drink and look out to see your own yacht swinging to her mooring, whilst various paparazzi gathered for a drink.  Sarah and Mum were on the lookout for someone famous but I probably wouldn’t have noticed them.

 

Basils Bar, Mustique

 

Sarah - the hostess with the mostest

 

Out in the bay, further out from Nutmeg, we saw the only motor boat that has ever invoked a feeling of jealousy in me.  Normally I’m not interested in motor yachts, but this one was very special, for the fact that it had a large section allocated for toys on a grand scale – a 45ft powerboat, and what looked like a 45 ft yacht, parked on the aft deck!  How cool is that!  It was called “Le Grand Bleu” and we googled it later to find that it is (or at least was) Roman Abramovich’s.  Can’t be many Siberians with one of these.

 

Abramovich’s yacht, Mustique

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