James Dodd, from whom I’ve learned much of my sailing over the years will shake his head in disbelief when I say that the first night on Mustique we were the victims of a bat attack!  He will recall the devastation on the wonderful Halberg Rassy – Frangi a few years back, caused by the fruit bats of Mustique invading the saloon over night and devouring the contents of the fruit basket, leaving recycled fruit, shall we say, everywhere!  Well Ryan, asleep in the saloon woke up to his worst nightmare Thursday night, as the fruit basket was next to his head, surrounded by an invading force of squeaking fruit bats, whose Christmas had obviously arrived early!  The bats were an excited talking point the next morning for Bella and Silas, especially Silas, who is quite interested in, again shall we say, recycled waste!

The day developed well after the exciting beginning.  Patrick, who knows Mustique pretty well, hired a 4x4 and set off to explore with the little ones, after we all breakfasted ashore on Mustique’s finest and the world’s most expensive (sorry – exclusive!) croissant and pain au chocolat.  

Ryan’s first job back on Oboe needs no explanation.  Bats obviously like red berries!  No permanent damage, however.  After that a wander ashore opened up the delights of the fish market, a hut on the beach with wonderful tuna, snapper and king fish.  Images of a dinner of fish mixed grill on a bed of creamy risotto were conjured up by the skipper/chef, so a small tuna and a snapper were duly purchased for the event.  More shopping revealed a source of vinho verde, a perfect accompaniment for dinner, so with a sense of achievement, Ryan and I retired to Basil’s for coffee and free wifi.  Lucky Lou, Ryan’s better half, currently in Oz, she got a Skype wake-up call in the middle of the Oz night!  Nigel paid bills on line (bills, bills, bills!) and argued yet again with his bank over blocked credit cards!

We all met up for lunch in Basil’s, where Patrick could not resist lobster and chips and then we all took a 4x4 tour of the island and in particular the sad activity of celebrity house spotting: Princess Margaret’s palace on a hilltop still dominates, the gift of the Tennent family, who own the island (pint of Tennent’s lager anyone?).  Tommy Hilfiger’s mansion is hard to miss too, with its topiary hedges spectacularly out of place in the Caribbean.  They did seem, however, to keep any number of gardeners employed trimming them with what appeared to be nail scissors!

The Atlantic coast beaches were amazing.  A few scantily-clad “beautiful people” playing in the surf, tortoises sitting in the shade and turtles emerging from the turquoise waters for the occasional deep breath before sinking down again for another 10 minute underwater paddle.  What an incredible playground.  We stopped at The Cotton House, an old sugar plantation, now an exclusive resort hotel – largely devoid of customers!  Then on to The Firefly Bar and Restaurant – largely devoid of customers!  As the sun set over the bay we sat and sipped martinis, pretending to be celebs., and we admired Oboe bobbing at anchor below us.  The photo attached, with Oboe 5^th from the left, hardly does it justice but in all a dream day.

Nigel