Seaduced's Web Diary - Cumberland Bay

Cumberland Bay

Seaduced

John & Jane Craven

Tue 11 Jan 2011 00:07

Today we had to check in at both customs and immigration, as we are now in St Vincent & the Grenadines. In some places these are in the same place but not here. As we are not in a main port, the nearest place to check in at immigration is Wallilabou Bay, the next bay south of here, but you still have to do customs at the next office, further south again, and immigration is only open between 5-6pm. As this is technically overtime, office hours are 8am-4pm, they charge you extra for that as well. Luckily, as our book is a little out of date, there have been changes and there are now customs and immigration in Chateaubelair, about 20 minutes dinghy ride north. When we found Chateaubelair - which took longer than anticipated as we wern't exactly sure which bay it was in and we had to check a couple first, there was no sign of an office at all. The boat boys here said there was a house on the sand, which was customs and the immigration was at the police station. As everywhere, there were a few guys loitering and fishing on the dock as we arrived so once they had helped us beach the dinghy, one guy offered to take us to the office. We arrived at the police station to be told we needed to go to customs first. This presented a bit of a problem as the office had been destroyed in the hurricane and there was a certain amount of debate between the policewoman at the desk, our guide Christopher, and the local school teacher whose lesson he interrupted to get help!! We at last arrived at the right place - it was someones house and we sat and completed the forms in their front room. Some of the islands here have what is called eSeaClear, an electronic clearance form you can complete in advance but the guy just looked at me as though I was mad when I asked if he had access to that!!! After immigration, we went back to the police station, cleared customs and were eventually legal again. On the way back to the dinghy we were given some yams by a friend of Christopher as a gift so we could try the local produce.

Chateaubelair - John and our guide Christopher who also showed us how they catch sprats, (similar to whitebait), in weighted circular nets

Across the bay of Chateaubelair

From where we are anchored there are various short walks to the villages nearby, so we decided on a stroll to Spring Village, the home of the boat boys, before lunch. The village was small and colourful. As there has been a recent election, the roads are all painted with campaign signs, as well as the walls being plastered with them. On the way we were told that to get from the bay to the main road we would have to cross a small river - it was a raging torrent!! The village was very quiet, but there were some people about, just hanging out and trying to sell things. There were also a group of women doing their washing at six huge sinks at the end of the high street.

Crossing to the main road

Post lunch we went to Wallilabou Bay, which was the home of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies. This bay has had a poor reputation for security on yachts and the boat boys there are more aggressive than helpful, so we decided to see what it was like by dinghy. There were a few boats in, not many and although some of the sets still remain from the movie, we weren't missing much and we are better and safer where we are. The hotel is obviously pirate themed, as are a few bars near here, but other than that it's not very exciting. A lot of boats do go, probably for the whole 'pirates' experience but even the locals here say it isn't really that safe.

The building in the background is what is left of some of the stage set of the "Pirates' movies

The nice thing about Cumberland bay is that there are no tourists, and only a few yachts, some crews don't even go ashore at all. We decided to eat dinner at a local beach bar, Mame Elmas, which is in the process of being completed, the tables and chairs are old packing crates, and the walls are tarpaulins with holes in that the rain comes through. We had met Mame Elma during the day and when we asked about dinner, we had to order at lunchtime so she could get what we wanted. That seems to be usual here - although the restaurants have menus, they only serve a few things, and if you want fish, they like to have the time to go and catch it for you. Dinner turned out to be creole style tuna, with rice and peas, potato salad, and coleslaw - all fresh and tasty with a definite creole kick! The whole meal with beer as well, left us with change from £30. One thing you do notice here is that all the bars close early. Yesterday, it was about 9pm by the time we had anchored and generally faffed about with ropes etc, and we talked about going ashore. We didn't in then end, which was just as well as the bars were all closed by 9.30pm!