Young Island Cut

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Sun 16 Jan 2011 11:16
We have now moved further south down St Vincent to Young Island Cut. This is a small lagoon area between Young Island itself, which is now a hotel, and the mainland of St Vincent. When we arrived it looked very different to how it had done 2 years ago when we visited and we thought we were in another place as there used to be painted signs all along the water's edge advertising the bars and restaurants, as we got closer we realised that they have built a new boardwalk along the front which blocks the signs. This is a huge improvement as the last time it was very tricky walking along there as the concrete was very broken up and large parts were missing.
The trip here had been eventful starting with the cast-off from Cumberland Bay. We had two lines tying us to the shore from the stern of the boat and an anchor with miles of chain out at the front. There were no boat boys to be seen at all which was strange and all the other yachts who had been moored there overnight had also left very early in the morning. We had swum to shore, and the plan was to release one line from the dock and I would swim back to the boat and pull it in. John would then release the second line, and I would pull it in while he swam back. All dead straight forward, easy and therefore doomed!!! I got back to the boat and got the first line on board easily, John eventually wrestled the second line free, but this was the heavier and longer of the 2 lines and while I was doing this the boat had drifted a bit - let's say John got a lot more exercise swimming back to the boat than he had got swimming to shore! This was not the end of his troubles by a long way - I lost a bucket overboard whilst cleaning the deck on the way and after 3 attempts had failed to hook it - the handle and rope were hanging straight down into the water, and John had to jump in and rescue it - another swimming session!!
Anyway, we eventually arrived safely, tied up to a mooring buoy, and went off exploring. After a trip to the Gourmet Supermarket we are now stocked up with Thai curry paste and coconut milk as well as ready made ice tea - yep that's what they call gourmet over here, we tried and failed to get some engine parts, and ended up in a bar drinking wine - a good end to a slightly stressful day!!
Yesterday we did a half day taxi tour round the south of the island. The first place we stopped was Kingstown, the capital of St Vincent where there was a Saturday street market. There is also a huge market on 4 floors selling every kind of fruit and vegetable, all grown on the island, like St Lucia, they import very little. There is a banana shortage here as the hurricane wiped out a lot of the plantations, although they are already starting to grow and should be back to normal in about 6 months - great news for me as my favourite cocktail, banana daiquiri's, are a little thin on the ground at the moment!! Kingstown was only a quick stop so we could get a feel of the place, but we are going back on Monday for a proper look round.
After Kingstown, we drove into the interior of the island, which is rugged and very wild. it is impossible to drive round the island, as the roads go up each coast but don't join up, and also there are no roads across the middle. The Mesopotamia Valley is the site of a second, now dormant volcano. This has now been turned into largely farmland, and farming is done in 'step' fashion to use the sloping land. The whole area is very green and fertile, due to the volcanic soil which is good for growing just about everything.

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One of the other main crops on the side of the volcano in the north of the island is ganga - the volcanic soil makes it especially good - or so I'm told. There are enormous plantations providing ganga for the locals and which is also shipped abroad. The sale of ganga here is illegal, although many locals use it regularly and the police won't necessarily bother you if you have a small amount for personal use - you can smell it everywhere, walking down the streets, in bars etc. The police are very keen to prevent export though and regularly patrol the seas and airport to ensure that as little leaves the island as possible.
We also went to the Montreal Gardens, which were started in 1995, and are beautiful gardens with a river running through, and the only thing you can hear is the sound of birds singing. It is very easy to kill a couple of hours here just chilling out and relaxing. The road to the gardens is incredibly winding and narrow and had we hired a car, we would have probably given up finding it long before we arrived as the roads are so bad - John would never have followed my navigation that far!

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The gardens with the mountains in the background.

We ended the tour coming round the Atlantic side of the island, passing another beach which had been used as a location in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Great beach, but again not developed in anyway at all - in the UK or the States, a location for a movie like that would have a theme park attached by now or at least a shop selling naff souvenirs - they don't really understand tourism here yet. There is an international airport under construction and due to be finished next year - we drove past yesterday and they have at least 3 more mountains to flatten first - it is going to be a long job, so at the moment you have to fly from another island or come by boat.

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'Pirates' beach

We cleaned the boat this morning as she was filthy from all the rain we have been getting - it absolutely pours down at least once or twice a day here at the moment. We are in the transition from the wet to the dry season, and also the coldest months. In about a month it should be drier, and in a couple of months warmer, although compared to home the weather is still fabulous - sorry guys!!