St Vincent and the Grenadines- Bequia

13:01.0N 61:15.5W

14th January 2015

5446 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

This morning finds the gallant crew of three battling a force 3 zephyr and 1 meter swell as we leave Admiralty bay on Bequia to pass by St Vincent to starboard and go on up to St Lucia, a trip of about 60 miles. The plan is to anchor in Marigot bay tonight but we have a couple of alternatives if we don’t make it that far, so fingers crossed for a trouble free day.  It has been a few days since the last blog and we have moved around so I am working from a combined memory dump onto a pile of notes from Steve and Norma, if I miss anything I will no doubt be chastised later, so here goes.

We finally departed Chatham Bay on the morning of the 11^th, one notable point about the morning was a flock of Pelicans who were busy dive bombing the reef not 25 meters beside us; they lined up like Stuka dive bombers in groups of 2, 3 or 4 and then rolled into a dive one by one to smack into the water with their mouths gaping wide, all very impressive and I am sure a great way to gargle in the morning. I was a bit jealous as my throat was still a bit blistered from the Manchineel fruit. On that note the Caribbean Compass magazine that we picked up in town had a whole article about the Manchineel, funny how you find all of this information after the event.

A duo of Pelicans begin their bombing run

One is under the water as the second dives down

Not a Pelican but still pretty impressive aerobatics

A new brand of ‘Hair On’ lager we are experimenting with daily doses to see if it has any effect on Steve’s top cover.

Manchineel article that was our bag when I ate the Apple of death.

Our next stop was the Tobago Cays to drop the hook for lunch and what can I say about that, well WOW! Just about covers it I think. A truly beautiful place, we launched the dinghy and went over to a little island on Horseshoe Reef to do a bit of snorkelling which was a pretty great way to spend a morning if i say so myself, even Steve broke his duck and actually went swimming. Crystal clear, warm water greeted us as we dived under to be met by a multitude of little brightly coloured fish. I managed to just see the back end of a large Turtle as it swam by but as I started to follow, swimming as quickly as I could go, Steve pointed out a big Barracuda in front of us, we decided to bravely swim back to shallower water and leave the turtle to get on with business.

Approach to Tobago Cays, Horse shoe reef in the background

One from the RTYC rally to Queenborough last March I think?

We got there early to beat the rush

After lunch we headed past Mayreau for the 18 mile run up to Charlestown bay on Canouan for the night. With the wind still gusting up to 30 Knots we ended up anchored right up into the NE corner of the bay about 100 meters from the coastguard station which felt pretty secure all round. Life ashore in Canouan is pretty basic to be honest, as I pulled alongside the little beach an old man gave us a hand with our lines and having gainedc our attention proceeded to give us his life story, he was a conch diver until recently when someone hit him on the head with a conch shell after an argument about prices and now he couldn’t dive anymore. We shared a  drink with him and gave him a few dollars to mind the dinghy as we went for a walk around to try and find food and internet access, the never ending hunt goes on. No success on Canouan but we did meet a really nice guy who ran the coconut bar on the beach, when we asked him about internet he said he would need electricity first but did go on to offer us a complimentary coconut each so all was not lost. As it began to get dark we sat at his little bar drinking first our complimentary coconuts and then a few of his beers by candle light just to be polite you understand and he told us all about how he set up the coconut bar.  A really nice evening as it turned out, rarely do you find someone so dedicated to, and proud of, a small business which he has grown from a cool box on his shoulder, to a shed, terrace and beach furniture area within a couple of years with absolutely zero capital. His future plans include electricity and a dinghy pontoon, I for one wish him well.  

Bright and early the next morning we were of again for the 22 mile windward slog to Bequia which was a horrible trip in very rough seas. Spectra even buried her bows under back to the staysail root on a couple of occasions which was definitely a first. Needless to say we arrived in Admiralty bay wet and tired having ran the engine the whole way which again is a first since the trip over from Portugal to Madeira. Bequia is a strange place, the first half of the bay is very neat almost French Riviera styled with a manicured walkway along the seafront and lots of neat dinghy pontoons to tie up to. The second half of the bay unfortunately seems to be populated by every down and out smack head in the eastern Caribbean, I also think there must be a mental health institution on the island because there were some seriously disturbed people wandering around or on a few occasions rolling in the street which doesn’t make for a relaxing atmosphere. This was the first time that we felt it necessary to all go to the cash point together and stay in a tight group at that end of the bay. As always seems the way, a place we would rather have moved on from results in a stay for various reasons. This time it was the bowthruster which firstly refused to start and then when we did get it going ran non stop to starboard which could get very expensive if it decided to do that in a crowded marina. This called for a maintenance day and while Steve worked on the control panel I worked on the main switch which seemed to be stuck on. My bit of the problem required the application of money unfortunately, 100 EC purchased a new switch as the old one was broken in the on position and I soon had that all working. Steve’s end of the fault was trickier but ultimately cost free, water had found its way into the switch panel during the previous days pounding and after a good drying out and resealing all is working again. I think the root of the problem is me pushing the buttons too hard sometimes. Mentally it is very hard not to keep pushing the button harder and harder when you have a super yacht right in front of you, the wind is gusting and you need the bows to move quickly, anyway I have promised to do better in future. Norma and myself also spent a morning scrubbing the water line as Spectra has grown a hula skirt of sea grass all around her middle which is a very modest look but adds nothing to her sailing performance. We rigged a rope around the boat to hang onto and I went along first with the scraper getting the big bits while Norma followed with a scouring pad to make it all smooth again. All very efficient until Norma let out a scream, I looked up as she screamed again that something was grabbing her  foot. I dived under to see the tail end of the rope brushing her leg which for some reason I found much more amusing than she did, a cup of coffee and a cigarette later all was well with the world. That afternoon to celebrate we went snorkelling at the posh end of the bay and added an Octopus, several interesting shells and a puffer fish to our list of underwater sightings, unfortunately there was also a couple of turtle shells lying on the bottom but having said that they still hunt passing whales from Bequia so the odd turtle is probably seen as fair game.

Leaving the Cays and approaching Canouan

Well that brings us up to date Steve and Norma are still standing out in the rain while I type away and all is well with the world. The only fly in our ointment at the moment is that we have just found out that we will need full visas to get into America on a private yacht. I had been assured, by someone in the know, back in the UK that our ESTA registration would cover us but apparently not. At the moment the nearest US embassy is in Barbados which is galling as we spent several weeks there over Christmas and had we known we could have got them organised then. On the bright side we have a few months to get it sorted before we have to change plans so if anyone has a suggestion of where we can get full visas issued between St Lucia and Miami or even better the American Virgin Islands please drop me a line.

Until next time………………

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