A proper Caribbean Christmas was had on Barracuda. We had anchored off Princess Margaret’s Beach in Admiralty Bay on Bequia, where the holding was really good (and necessary given the howling wind and squalls that kept coming through. Just like Argyll, really.). The day started with Angus Alexander, the lobster salesman (arranged through Didi Patricia), coming by in his rib with a couple of great big live lobsters, which would form the mainstay of our Christmas dinner. Following our first swim of the day we cooked the boys. Biggest challenge was the size of our pan: note to self – get a bigger pan or buy smaller lobsters. Then after a bacon and egg breakfast it was off to the beach for our second swim of the day. We invited Doug from S/Y Passpartout (an ARC boat) over to join us for Christmas dinner as he was on his own for Christmas. The ladies prepared a very fine Christmas dinner (‘parma’ ham and melon, lobsters, sweet potatoes and salad, and mincemeat pancakes with mango) all washed down in the usual way. Secret Santa arrived and we discovered who’d been naughty and who’d been nice.

This morning was a bit of a slow but early start as we started the beat back up to St Lucia. Steve and Bibi will leave us in St Lucia so we want to get up with a day in hand. We managed to get checked out from Bequia yesterday, which saved us time today on departure (you get 24 hours grace once the paper work is done). But for now it’s a long hard beat up the St Vincent channel.