16 Jun 2008
Our migration south continues and with hurricane season fast approaching we have been going at quite a pace, and we are now in our 4th country of June!
All this sailing is quite tiring though and one has to rest from time to time, and there are few places better for that than Bequia, as this local fisherman clearly demonstrates.
As we will be coming back to visit these islands next year we have carefully chosen which paradises to enjoy on the way. We sailed straight past the main island of St Vincent without stopping. There have been several recent "pirate" attacks in Chateaubelair, an otherwise perfect anchorage located mid island with access to all the best walks on the island, so we decided to let the authorities settle the crisis before visiting.
Bequia is the northernmost and largest island of the Grenadines, and has everything to offer - a safe and calm anchorage, clear turquoise water to swim in, a beautiful beach, a colourful fruit & veg market tended by cool Rastafarian dudes, a pub showing Euro 2008 football, WIFI on the boat, what else does a cruiser need?
Not sure where the week went but Tim's guitar playing is getting better and Linda has added a few local fruit/vegetables to her favorite recipes so it was not all sunshine, swimming and sundowners!
Next stop Grenada, the islands of spices.
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09 Jun 2008, St Lucia
Another excellent sail sees us on our way from Martinique to St Lucia. We have a last trip ashore in the morning to stock up on pain chocolat and baguettes as we are leaving the French West Indies now and won't be back for 6 months or so. Part of us is excited at real local cuisine, and quite a lot of us isn't!
The sail is perfect, one of the problems we have encountered so far sailing in the Caribbean is that the passages between islands are fast and great sailing but as soon as you get behind the islands, you lose the wind because of the huge mountain ranges, and have to motor to the anchorage. For no reason I can see this didn't happen with St Lucia and we sail right down to the anchorage at the Pitons. As we sail in the view is truly spectacular, and in combination with great sailing on flat water gives us one of those wow moments.
We pick up a mooring right under the cliffs and perilously close to a coral reef, that makes for great snorkeling but a nervous nights sleep. Sadly the need to get south means we will miss St Lucia this season, and carry straight on through to the Grenadines tomorrow, but barring a St Pierre style volcanic event it should be here next year!
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08 Jun 2008, South Coast Of Martinique
Strange lumps of rock in the Caribbean part 2!
Following on from Redonda here's Diamond Rock, a British Naval War Ship. Paraphrased Wikipedia entry below.
In 1804 Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, aboard HMS Centaur and aided by calm weather, was able to run lines ashore and hoist five cannons to the summit of the Rock. Fortifications were hastily built, and the position supplied with food and water for a garrison of twenty men under the command of Lieutenant Maurice, Hood's 1st lieutenant. The Royal Navy garrisoned island was officially commissioned as a Man-of-war HMS The Fort Diamond.
For 17 months the newly commissioned ship harassed the French fleet on it's way to and from Fort De France, and then on his voyage to Martinique in 1805, Admiral Villeneuve was ordered by Napoleon to recapture Diamond Rock. A French-Spanish combined naval force of sixteen ships attacked the garrison on Diamond Rock. The garrison's stone water cistern had cracked, due to an earth tremor, so they were without water and short of food. After a fierce bombardment, they surrendered to the superior force on June 3rd, 1805.
A more romantic version is that the French floated barrels of rum ashore and then captured the rock from the drunk garrison!
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