The Caribbean so far

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Sun 31 Jan 2016 14:17
Have been spending time with new friends. We met up with Britican and El Mundo in Bequia after having three exceptional days with the K1W1 Beanz ( Gavin, Sarah, Lowen, Theo and Reuben). Bequia is a small sleepy island south of St Vincent, and is a part of the Grenadine island chain. We anchored in Admiralty Bay and headed into Port Elizabeth, a small village/town. On arriving at the dingy dock there was a marked difference, compared to Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay in St Lucia. The narrow road was paved, but there was an air of dishevelment about the place. The small buildings in that part of the road were colourfully painted, but were a bit run down. There were vendors selling fresh fruits and veggies along the road, and a covered market where business oriented Rastafarians were selling produce. The “super” markets along that strip were small, with a limited supply and variety of items. I was looking for beer in cans (which can be surprisingly hard to find), as well as Coke Zero or Diet Coke (Coke Light down here). Also, wanted to get a sample of the local St Vincent rum.

We had heard about a store called Doris’ , and that it was great for provisioning, but we were a bit timid at first walking around. This seems rather silly in retrospect. As the days passed, and we spent 5 days anchored here, it all started to seem much more normal and benign. I think we needed a little time to take a fresh look and appreciate the place. Which we did:) El Mundo had guests and left, but fortunately we were able to hang out with Britican, and we have been together ever since. It is great to be able to sail together, have the kids play, hang out, share child minding responsibilities, and generally be friends, like it was when one was in university. Nothing else to distract from life…no full time job to rush off to, no official playdates, no scheduled “activities” other than playing on the beach, swimming, collecting shells, finding a rock buried in the sand and excavating the “dinosaur bones”.

In Bequia, Simon, Kim, and Sienna from Britican and me along with Pavel and Catherine went on an island excursion. We visited a Plantation, and saw Almond trees, coconuts, lemons, limes, grapefruits, soursop, breadfruit and some other fruits that I didn't know existed. We had a wonderful swim at the pool and cocktails( yummy but expensive) and a wonderful meal. The prices were a bit of a surprise……we should have figured that our beforehand, but in the end it was worth it. We then got a taxi to the Turtle sanctuary, where I had a great talk with the turtle man. He had two turtles with anomalies. One was born “white” so had a form of albinism, although it wasn't as white anymore, and another with a malformed shell which I suspect is a form of skeletal dysplasia. He was quite interested in that, so I emailed him the details, and I hope it will help him to explain things to the visitors.

I also visited an old acquaintance from my boarding school days, Sabrina Mitchell, who is running the Frangipani establishment in Port Elizabeth. It is a very nice spot, and it was great to see her after all of these years. Her sister, Gretel who was in my class, has also moved back to Bequia to run Gingerbread, another family business, but I missed her. Maybe if we pass by again, Ill get a chance to say hi.

We then decided to check out Mustique. This is the exclusive island where Mick Jagger has a beach house. Apparently he was there over New Years, as a couple we met on the ARC made it into the Cotton House New Years Eve party and he was there along with Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall and other such billionaires and megastars. Kim and I went on a hike on the island, but most of it was cordoned off from visitors, and the owners were around and wanted privacy (understandable). We walked around the village where the locals live. We both like exploring new places so it was a great time. We also hit Basil’s Bar, another famous watering hole. For dinner, we were going to all be at Basil’s for a Barbie and pig roast, but as it turned out it started too late for the kids, so we walked up the hill in total darkness and made our way to the “View” restaurant, with local cuisine. It was a lot of fun and I recommend it but it isn't fancy. Mystique's anchorage is known for being rolly, and the waves started to come in, so after two nights at a mooring, and after Britican got a puncture in their dinghy from the swells at the dock, we headed off. We also had an incident that that dock. Pavel fell into the water when we were arriving for dinner. He was a trouper, swam and I grabbed him and pulled him out. It could have ended very badly, but luck and Pavel’s swimming skills were on our side.

Britican needed to fix their tender, so we both went back to Bequia to see if there was a dingy repair kit to be found, but no luck. It was on order, and could have arrive tomorrow, the next day, a week from today etc. So we gave them some of our repair kit, and it worked! So we then went to the Tobago Cays and anchored there for 5 days. El Mundo joined us at the end, and invited us over for drinks. Cruisers are supposed to bring their own drinks when invited over ( this was news to me, but we have adapted) but when Tom from El Mundo opened up the Moet champagne, who was I to say no? Anyway, it was a lot of fun seeing them again. Alex and I did some snorkelling together and Pavel and James played on the beach and Pavel was teaching James how to be stealthy and to be a spy. They had a great time together.

The snorkelling on Tobago Cays was OK. I didn't get to swim this time on Horseshoe reef, which I will try to do next time I go there, but we did see some puffer fish, a type of Moray eel and huge stingrays. I also saw my first spotted eagle ray and a porcupine fish. There were a few small groupers off Petit bateau and I saw a couple of Lionfish (unfortunately). The snorkelling off of Jamesby Island was also OK off the top side of the beach further away from Horseshoe reef. Saw a few cuttlefish, rays etc. Saw one turtle when we swam off of the turtle swimming area, and Iguanas and tortoises on that island which the kids loved. Had a beach BBQ with lobster, with Britican which was also nice, and predinner beach drinks, picnic style, with Britican, El Mundo and Crackerjack.

We then headed off in tandem with Britican to Union Island, and Chatham Bay. This is an isolated bay of sorts. It is connected to the rest of the island now buy a pretty rough road that only a 4x4 can handle. The beach is a soft white sand, and you can beach your dinghy on areas where there are fewer rocks. There is a new place, Aqua, that has a very comfortable bar and a pool, where the kids played while the adults relaxed. Swimming contests like holding breath and swimming the longest distance, with flippers and without flippers etc ate up hours of time. Kim, Eve and I went for a walk down the beach, and met a local man, Alex, who describes himself as a beggar, and told us a story of the history of the island for food. He was a tall, healthy looking, seemingly intelligent man, with a deep baritone voice, and I wonder how he ended up here, with no obvious job or family, a hundred holes in his shirt, smoking weed and living in a tent.

Yesterday was just about the perfect day. Kim, Eve and I as well as Claudio, a young Italian family man from the ARC who had anchored in the bay, went on the 1,5 hour walk to Clifton to get supplies. To get there we had to walk up a narrow trail up past a meadow with goats, sheep and a cow, up further past a bull tied in place to graze, and then we found a dirt road. We took the left path, and that led us to a farm, and we had to make our way across country to the road leading to Clifton. The view was incredible of Mayreau, Tobago Cays, Bequia and St Vincent. It was sunny and the wind was blowing. We walked all of the way to Clifton, about 1.5 hours through rainforest, down to the coast and the beach, and then through the Clifton town itself, past the power plant, the dump and on into town proper. The people are quite religious. Many homes had religious sayings painted on the walls around the homes. " Jesus loves you but do you love him?" There were beauty parlours. There were little shop that had signs on the outside, painted, that stated that this establishment was allowed to sell “intoxicating liquors”. The main road had restaurants, a market area for fresh produce, and I went to the bank. The bakery was very reasonably priced. In a back alley I found another bakery where the lady made roti to order, and she was able to fill on order for me and Claudio. It is a mild chicken curry with potato and beans wrapped in a tortilla like bread. Delicious!!!! Then we went into a local taxi, a coaster bus, with “Jesus Loves You” with a painting of a thumbs up hand on the back corner, and off we went back to Chatham Bay, via Ashton, the other town on Union Island. The road had steep sides and the driver sped along the road and beeped as he was approaching corners, lest there be another car coming from the opposite direction. It felt like being on a roller coaster with the fear included. At one point he dropped off a sandwich to a lady on the side of the road, and picked up a few travellers here and there, dropped others off, all with smiles and hellos. Very cool. Very friendly. He let us off at the top of the mountainous hill leading to Chatham bay, and we walked down the path, that seemed even steeper on the way down, lugging our groceries with us, and we arrived back “home”. After a quick lunch and putting away groceries and letting the produce soak in my bleach solution, we went to the beach and hung out drinking a few beers on the shaded porch of a beach bar, watching the kids swim and play for hours. The snorkelling was great and I saw several types of eels! Very cool. Pelicans all-around diving for lunch. Swimming there, you are surrounded by thick shoals of small silvery fish, like sprats. It was a nursery of the sea. After a lazy afternoon, back to the boat to make Schnitzel, potato salad, cucumber salad, and fried plantains. Watched a movie, and Pavel fell asleep at 730, Catherine at 9 30. It was a great day.