Change over day
Oriole
Sun 7 Mar 2004 11:40
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For the passage from St Lucia to St Vincent a fast
reach is the norm, but we
had the calm before the next load of wind and motored half the way, and then unusually had a lovely run down the normally windless lee side of St Vincent. We anchored in Petit Byahaut, a little bay deserted except for a small hotel and restaurant which can only be reached by sea. A boat appeared to take our dinner order and at dusk the light was lit on the beach to show the best place to land so that there was a good chance of sitting down to dinner without a wet bum! The restaurant owner is a keen diver and took us diving the next day, firstly into a cave
inhabited by rare bats and then
down a narrow crevice to a vertical
wall which fell away into an abyss hundreds
of
feet deep, and made us feel quite uneasy. There were more tunnels in the rocks
to swim through and lots of interesting fish, coral and sponges.
With a forecast of strong winds and swells we abandoned the increasingly rolly anchorage and sped across the 10 mile channel to Bequia and managed to find a spot with good holding and good shelter in the top corner Admiralty Bay which is noted for its vicious wind blasts in
strong wind conditions. For a couple
of days the weather took a turn for the worse and we engaged in shore activities. Bequia hassome good restaurants and the take-away pizzas would make Pizza Express lookto its laurels. Gill and
Peter exhausted themselves walking
half the length of the island and the electronic
gremlins which have recently infected
Oriole had a day off from Peter's attentions. We sadly bade farewell today to our excellent crew and the gremlins are heaving a sigh of relief. 
Gill and Peter off home for a rest.
Although not yet flushed out, they are cornered
thanks to Peter and their demise
is imminent.
The arrival of Robert and Dani who come in on the
evening ferry from St
Vincent is eagerly awaited.  The press was there for the arrival of the
new crew
It does not sound as though the wind is going to
give us
much peace for a while so Dani, who as far as we
know is
a non-sailor, may
get more than she has bargained for.
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