Stranded on Mustique and Lambis Bar and Grill
LIBERTAD
Paul Huntley
Sun 8 Mar 2009 22:08
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So we arrive in Mustique to be ripped off for our
mooring - scenery was nice though....
First of all the mooring was over priced, then the
dingy dock was a joke - and I mean a slab of concrete with a gap underneath so
big you could get a small dingy under there, believe me we tried that one.
Understandably Paul and Tim went off in the dingy to find something
better and left Kirsty, Sarah and I to wander the sands...
Sarah and I went for a walk and found a cool peice
of beach for some arty photographry which was pretty cool - passed the time -
took a pic of a big peice of reef sticking out the surf (back to that
later).
Meanwhile Kirsty went and met the boys from the
dock where they had to land in the end after being very clever and attaching two
lines to the dingy to stop it from going under the ridiculous excuse for a dock.
They promptly looked for the nearest bar to relax and enjoy the sunset, this was
not to be. As soon as Sarah and I got back from our qt time - where we
discovered a little Caribbean man on a bicycle just jump in to the seas crashing
waves, have a swim around in a circle and then jump back on his bike and carry
on riding (very random!) - we were all told to leave. No, Tim had not been rowdy
enough to get us chucked out, the barman actually told us that there was a storm
and therefore we were not safe to stay on the island - we had to leave
immediately. Back to Libertad for a curry and a few beers then! So once we were
all back on the boat the beers were cracked open - closely followed by a large
crack of a small 'Moorings' (a boat hire fim) Katamaran which beached itself on
the aforementioned reef sticking out of the surf - very dramatic.
Paul called in a pan pan (we all learnt that this
means non life threatening incident) for the poor family who were calling on
Channel 16 that they were taking on water and we heard nothing back. A little
later a few dingy's turned up along with car headlights - the harbour master was
on the radio sounding like he just woke up from a very deep sleep or was
potentially still asleep. We heard the other boats moored asking the Katamaran
to let them know if they needed any other assistance. Difficult for a small
dingy to do anything though (which is all we had) as the reef was impossible to
get near (the mooring that the family were going for was right next to it and
there was no-one there to navigate them in). The storm was not near us - we just
got rocked and rolled by the accompanying winds and what the islanders called a
'coastal surge' and the bay that we were moored in was not at all
protected.
When we woke early this morning (around half 6) we
went for a quick swim in the still rolling waves around Livertad, packed up and
left for Union - which is a slight change in tack so that we can move on to
Carracou tomorrow. This is to get the boat hauled out of the sea to clean her
bottom (which is dirtier than Sarah's washing which she's doing in a bucket on
the deck)! So after 4 hours sailing, not long enough in my opinion, we
arrived in Union which is a much cooler place than Mustique and really feels
like the Caribbean. As soon as we rocked up in Libertad, who is excellent at
negotiating a natural reef harbour (or maybe that's Paul), we went for a beer at
the bar that is attached to the dingy dock - excellent idea. Then for a walk to
see the stunning views of the sea and surrounding islands, Petit Martinique;
Mayreau, Palm Island and Petit St Vincent. After a few more arty photos and a
quick fuel stop at Jennifer's (chips and fruit punch) we went back through
Lambi's (which is what the bar on the dingy dock is called) to Libertad and we
are just about to break out another rum punch before going to see a steel drum
band at Lambi's, which I am really looking forward to. More time tomorrow to
explore the rest of the island - from our quick walk today the amount of colour
will seriously reduce the available disk space on my camera...
Back to the rum punch - sarah is making so I'm sure
we'll all be in the Caribbean spirit pretty soon.
Love, Emma
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