Great sailiing and ivory hunting.
Oriole
Sun 21 Feb 2016 15:33
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Admiralty Bay Bequia, St
Vincent.
Sunday 21st February 2016
We finally completed all the jobs we had set
ourselves in Port Louis Marina, Grenada with the help of an excellent
chippie. Although the marina is rather expensive by Caribbean standards we
had the pleasure of fast free wifi wired directly into the dock.
On Saturday morning we got underway after a brief
last visit from the chippie and motored and motorsailed up the lee side of the
island. Once we had passed inside the exclusion zone of Kick'em Jenny
Volcano we were able to bear away and make Tyrrel Bay in one tack. There
was our bête
noir Amelia A3 now consigned to the mangroves still without an
engine and doing the decent thing and gently rotting. We anchored well
away from maraunding ferries and yachts but over the next few days were
plagued by Swedish yachts anchoring on top of us. Their habit of rafting
up together in the rock and island anchorages in Sweden does not translate well
in the tradewind swept anchorages of the Caribbean, where you need space.
Chris had decided not to dive after damaging a
tooth on a bit of lobster shell in her Sunday lunch lobster salad - possibly
suffering from too much pre-prandial rum punch. So we said a fond farewell
to George and Connie of Arawak Divers, enjoyed a magnificent lunch with some
friends who are disposing of their yacht in favour of a winter home on the
hillside overlooking Tyrrel Bay, raised the anchor and set sail for
Bequia. Chris by this time was in urgent need of a dentist and we had
been strongly recommended to see a French dentist in Kingstown, St
Vincent.
 The Admiral in charge.
The sail to Bequia was one of those rare one
million dollar events in the life of a yachtie. The conditions could not
have been better. 15-18 knots of wind, occasionally up to 25 just ahead of
the beam, very little sea and with a few white puffy trade wind clouds.
We smoked! 40 miles in 6 hours from raising the anchor to
picking up one of Phat Shag's moorings in Admiralty Bay. "Hey
Brother, I thought you weren't coming this year - yer late"
 Foaming at the bit.
So far all our friends up and down the islands
understand our desire to quit while we are ahead. So many of them have
seen owners and their boats getting older and more decrepid and then having
a crisis of one sort or another. Perhaps our brush with Amelia A3 was a
wakeup call, but we have not consciously been aware of that.
On Friday morning we took the 0630 ferry to
Kingstown and found the dental sugery of M. Truchot. What a lovely guy -
expert, gentle and very sensible. After a threeway consultation it
was decided the tooth should come out and we exchanged very few dollars for
a rather manky piece of ivory. Chris is now back on an even keel and
we are enjoying a very quiet period in Bequia.
 Few white caps in the market
today!
Friends at home seem to wonder how we occupy our
time while we are away - "Dont you get bored?" Friends here also cannot
imagine how we are going to occupy our time at home without getting
bored. We had a long lecture from the Rastifarian Rascals who run the
local fruit and vegetable market about "retiring". They seem to think that
the only thing we can do if we stop sailing is to relax in an arm chair!
"You've got to keep working Daddy, stop working and your heart stop too"
Little do they know about golf, gardening, cycling and all the miriad
activities which keep our circulations going!
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