Fai Tira Blog 16.00 UTC  Thursday 14th January

Fai Tira in Bequia    13:00.59N 61:14.86W

Well, we’ve just left Soufriere. What an amazing place!

In a trip, so far, full of contrasts, none could be much more stark than those of our two ports of call on St Lucia and also, to an extent, even the one that existed between the, run down, poor, lively and just a little bit risky, residential area adjacent to where we parked our boat and the ramshackle centre of Soufriere town itself.

As soon as we entered the bay and the view of the buildings began to crystallise, there was a feeling of excitement tinged with an edge of intimidation, but all the time remaining hugely stimulating.

Our boat boy, Messiah, was as sharp as nails, looked and sounded impressive with his flashing white teeth, dreadlocks and sculptured torso. Shoulders about three times wider than his hips and a verbal delivery that had you thinking he had to be the top man (and with a name like that who would argue?). So it was no surprise to find ourselves, eventually, moored to a buoy, not a stones’ throw from the lively and sprawling community where he lives.

A little bit of research had revealed the local areas of interest to visit and an enquiry to Messiah about getting there saw the cash register light up in his eyes. Darkness was rapidly descending and there would be time enough to check his scary prices the next day, but now was the time to relax and absorb the emerging atmosphere of the evening.

As the light faded noise increased, silhouetted figures emerged and gathered in animated groups. We were alerted by voices in the water, not far off the stern of our boat. Two snorkelers had located a shoal of fish and were shouting its’ location to the occupants of a nearby fishing boat that was rapidly circling, whilst at the same time, casting their nets. Before long the scruffy shore line was heaving with activity and noise, as group of people pulled on the weighty nets to the directions of the men in the boat, and if their effort was anything to go by and also the occasional glimpses, we caught, of reflected flashes of writhing fish, then the catch looked substantial and successful.

The town just had to be explored straight away. So with the dinghy looking very vulnerable and insecure, hauled high above the water line, we set out.

It was now quite dark. The road ran along the shore. The sea was contained on our left by huge randomly distributed boulders and on our right, for the entire length of the road stood an untidy collection of mainly, timber buildings mostly residential, but also a mixture of small, sometimes barely recognisable scruffy bars and shops. There were people everywhere, small children were playing, dogs were just laying around sleeping and cockerels pecked at scraps by the side of the road. Groups were gathered, smoking and socialising, while others sat in their front doors or hung out of windows and all the time the sound of reggae music belted out from various locations and the smell of whacky backy hung in the air.

We strode down the centre of the road, past the remains of wrecked cars that seemed like they’d always been there, looking like a couple of gun fighters at the OK Corral, probably because we were too nervous to commit ourselves to either side.

We’d come to realise by now that when people make an approach, it’s often because they want to do a deal or sell you something, and at this time of night it’s normally something to smoke. However they are, mostly, just incredibly curious and friendly and all conversations were ended with knuckle to knuckle partings and the _expression_” no bad days”. We had many such encounters before reaching the town and all of them fun and good natured.

The first task, for me, the next day was another walk into town down the exciting half mile road. Although less intimidating by day it was still very lively. My task was a visit to the tourist office where I was greeted by a lovely helpful lady called Rattie. I had a number of questions that required answering; one of them was how to make an international land line call. She explained the difficulties and immediately offered the use of her own mobile ( where else would that that happen) and in response to the query regarding Messiahs charges, she organised a taxi to the Diamond Falls, Botanical Gardens and Sulphur Springs for a third of the cost and all with a well informed and friendly driver. The venues were impressive and all attended by well informed guides, but none more impressive than the sulphur springs, which are located in the remnants of the crater of a still active volcano.

As we arrived back, we were greeted by the guys off Lucy Allice, Jackamy, Blue Magic and Camamile as they were about to start the same tour.

For us it was a stroll round this truly lived in town, that saw us end up in a bar belonging to John Mitchel a guy recently returned to the Caribbean after a long spell working in London. An entertaining conversation ensued culminating in a tour of the establishment in the company of proud owner who spent ages reminiscing about his working live on the building sites in the suburbs....Fantastic!!

Our final evening was spent as the only occupants in an open terraced rickety restaurant overlooking the waterfront, the meal was great and inexpensive.

The night walk back held the same excitement as before except that this time we were feeling more comfortable. We passed a beaten up looking pool table under the shelter of an open makeshift, lean to, like building that appeared to be one of the favourite meeting places. They sold beer we fancied one, and after also placing our dollar on the table, found ourselves, cue in hand, challenging the local hustlers. An hour later, after many knuckle greetings and slaps on the back, Pete and I emerged unbeaten..What a bizarre and surreal encounter.....Brilliant!!

The next day we motored round the corner, to do some snorkelling, and moored in the bay that separates the two Pitons. Massively spectacular, but again a total contrast. The popularity of the spectacle had caused the area to be turned into a beach resort. Pete and I had a great swim, taking bread to feed the fishes, with the highlight being the sight of a free swimming moray eel. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we left water taxis full of tourist turned up and dominated the whole area.

Back on Fai Tira we relaxed a bit before preparing the boat, then started the motor and raised the anchor as dusk fell, pointed the bow in the direction of Bequia and sailed into the night 

Bye for now.

Pete and John