Seaduced's Web Diary - Mustique - playground of the rich and famous... and me & John!!

Mustique - playground of the rich and famous... and me & John!!

Seaduced

John & Jane Craven

Wed 19 Jan 2011 11:18

After an eventful trip from St Vincent to Mustique, we decided to make the most of our time here and stay the full 3 nights. Mustique is a privately owned island, although it is still open to the public. The rules here are that you pay a fee to moor up of about £50 which allows you to stay for 3 consecutive nights so as the weather was terrible the day we arrived we decided to stay for the full time. Although the trip from St Vincent is a short 15 mile hop, we had 35 knots of wind and huge waves about 4m high all the way which was hard work as I felt incredibly sea-sick and had to lie down nearly all the way here leaving John to manage the boat on his own. As we arrived the sun came out and the island looked beautiful, the sea is a gorgeous turquoise blue and fantastically clear, but this was not to last - we had to wait for three hours for the rain to stop so we could get off the boat! By the time we got ashore most places were ready to close up as it was quite late, so we decided to hit the world famous Basil's Bar for a sundowner where we caught up with the crew of Sulana, some friends of ours who had arrived an hour or so after us.

Last time we visited here we only saw a small part of the island, so in order to explore further we hired a mini-mule, a common mode of transport here which is basically a not very souped up golf cart, for a few hours and set off exploring. Half the roads here are tarmac or concrete and the others, mostly those going down to the beaches, are just dirt tracks. As it was a 'fun' car, I offered to drive, an offer John was regretting taking me up on as there are lots of dips, like inverted speed bumps which I only saw at the last minute as I was distracted by the scenery. We found a few deserted beaches, which had gorgeous white sand, and crystal clear sea, on all sides of the island. There are some amazing properties here, we saw a book for sale in one of the boutiques full of photos of them. Most are actually available for rent when the owners aren't here but we haven't been to the office yet to find out how much they cost - looking at the size and decor they won't be cheap!! Lunch was at the Beach Cafe in the Cotton House, one of the 2 hotels on the island, with fabulous views over the Caribbean Sea to Bequia, our next stop. The whole island is incredibly well kept and tidy, it is like driving through a park. All the locals here are very friendly and there are strict rules as to who can live here, you must have a job, and if you are caught doing anything illegal you are immediately deported - this makes it a very safe island to visit.

Me and my 'performance machine'

Pasture Bay on the Atlantic side of Mustique

Wednesday night is the weekly jump up at Basil's Bar and everyone goes. There were lots of yachts moored up and we caught up with a few people who had done the ARC with us. A few of the Hurricane David cocktails - absolutely lethal, almost guarantees a good night's sleep - something which is a novelty here as the anchorage is known for being very rolly and has been especially bad this week - walking round the boat is very tricky as is getting on and off the dinghy - there have been a few near duckings doing this!

Basil's Bar

A dire warning - these trees grow all over the island - you must stay away from them when it rains as the sap they produce is highly poisonous, and never eat the fruit which is again scattered all over the place.