05/20/2013, Saline Bay, Mayreau, the Grenadines
With Ken's back getting better, the decision was whether to spend an extra night on the mooring in Young's Cut and take a bus into town together, or just take off on the "monstrous" trip of about 10 miles across to Bequia. I had already walked to town the previous day (and took the bus back for the return 4 miles!) and had seen some of the area with my morning runs. We decided to just head out, and save the visit to Kingstown for another trip. From a sailing point of view, it was a great choice! We moved along at over 5 knots with just the jib out, with a {{gasp}} beam reach that made it to an almost broad reach! Wow, a trip that actually moved us along at a comfortable pace without being on our ear. It was also an easy trip for Ken's still somewhat cranky back. It was one of those sails that puts a huge smile on your face!
Upon arriving at Bequia, we set up to anchor. The first attempt was a failure, as was the second attempt. I was gung-ho for a third, fourth and fifth attempt, but Ken was concerned about a sound coming from the windlass. He wanted to go to a mooring so we could investigate further. Fine by me, since a non-functioning windlass means I have the job of hauling up the anchor by hand. Granted, it's exercise, but it isn't much fun if you have to re-anchor repeatedly, as is not uncommon in Bequia. We got a mooring, so close to the dock that we didn't need to put the outboard on the dinghy (sacrifice privacy for not having to put the dinghy together... a trade-off we could live with for the short term). Our testing of the windlass was inconclusive, but I think it was a function of how fast I was bringing the chain in with the anchoring attempts. Hopefully we won't find out the hard way. Stripping down the windlass and cleaning it up is one of the jobs planned for this summer, anyway, and this confirms that.
Bequia is a very nice place to run/walk/hike. The roads are not very busy, and there are some interesting places to explore if you are so inclined. Just know that there WILL be a hill or two en route.
Saturday morning Ken and I went ashore to buy some groceries. There is a little supermarket that has the best flour we have seen anywhere, as it shares the building with a bakery. The bakery was closed, but I picked up my flour. We continued on back to the area where the fresh produce is sold. This is where I remembered one of the negatives of Bequia. Upon enquiring as to the price for mangos (yes, they were nice big grafted mangos) I was told it was $5.00EC per mango, but I could have a deal of $4.00. Per mango? There are trees dripping with mangos right on the island, and I can buy them on other islands about $1.00EC each, and they were asking $5.00EC. I can buy them cheaper than that in Canada, and the tree branches sure aren't bending with them there! Other produce was pretty dear, too, so we bought a few "essentials" and moved on. We spoke with one of the staff at the bookstore, and she mentioned that sometimes a young guy sells them for $2.00EC per bag. While we were enjoying a lunchtime roti at "Sweety Bird" (fantastic rotis there, in our opinions) she called out to us that indeed he was selling them today for $2.00EC. When we saw him, we were told the price was $4.00EC. Normally that is a price I would not complain about at all, but the fact that the price magically doubled for us since we were tourists ticked me off. Keep your mangos, I have no desire to be screwed just because I'm not a local. Bequia is, in our opinion, expensive. I should have stocked up in Kingstown. One of the locals commented that some Bequians think the island is another Mustique (privately owned, and the houses are owned by the very rich and famous), and that it is open season for whatever you think the market will bear.
Sunday morning, we left Bequia for Canouan. Canouan is half private resort, half "regular" Eastern Caribbean. Even if the prices are no better for buying things, although I seem to recall they were a little more reasonable, we can be solidly anchored and there is great snorkeling there. Plus, it doesn't have the reputation for thefts that Bequia has (although they do have a security patrol now). We voted with our keel. Bequia is not a place we will visit for any long term stays, and I will do my darndest to make sure we are well stocked up before we arrive.
Our trip to Canouan was pleasant, although it threatened to pour on us. We had some light rain once or twice, but only of a slight nuisance value; it caused us to remove our sunglasses for 10 minutes a couple of times. The anchor held first try, and we were greeted to the sounds of a beach party. The water is great for swimming and it is very uncrowded here. A few charter boats on their moorings (this is a charter base) and a handful of other boats anchored or renting moorings. We'll stick around here for a little bit and get to know the island better, and if the anchorage does get rolly, we can pop down to Mayreau or Union Island, or even the Tobago Cays.
Well, I am now finishing and posting this from Mayreau. The anchorage in Canouan ended up being just a little too rolly, and the wind was doing some strange things. It wrapped around the island to come in from the NorthWest, rather than the ENE direction we had out of the lee of the island. In the middle of the night our drag alarm woke us up with a major wind shift, and yet again in the wee hours. The situation just wasn't sitting well with Ken and I, so we upped anchor (the dinghy hadn't been assembled so it was a quick procedure to head out).
We had another nice jib-only sail in the 18-23 knot winds on another beam reach (Damn, Skippy! We could get used to this!) moving along at over 5 knots again... that doesn't exactly break the sound barrier, we know, but with a number three jib alone, not too bad! And the trip was only about 5 miles to the island of Mayreau, anyway. We passed by the entrance of the popular anchorage of Salt Whistle Bay and decided to push on to Saline Bay, since Salt Whistle is rife with moorings and was looking a little more condensed than we felt like. We had Saline Bay all to ourselves, until a charter catamaran dropped anchor right next to us. The whole bay, and they felt the need to breathe down our necks. Yeesh. We were not heart broken when they left. We now have the company of about 5 other boats in the anchorage now.
We have sat through a 30 minute squall now with winds peaking at around 30 knots. The anchor is well dug in, and the roll is minimal. The forecast is talking about more squalls with this tropical wave until tomorrow morning, then things will settle into some slightly elevated winds for the rest of the week. it doesn't matter to us, we are a stone's throw from other anchorages and islands in somewhat sheltered waters.
Hmm, it's raining again... time to wash down the foredeck so we can collect some of the rain water in the tanks...
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05/16/2013, Young's Island Cut, St. Vincent
It's been a fairly eventful last couple of days, at least by our standards!
Monday we left the dock at Rodney Bay Marina to continue our southerly migration. Our new batteries are working wonderfully, and the new prop for the dinghy is awesome. We had the trouble before with our old prop with getting our dinghy on plane, but she goes like hell now! But I digress. We were south of the bay when we gave our friends on 'Amoray' a shout on the radio, to find out that their boat had been broken into while they were enjoying the Jazz Festival the night before. Dammit. The t'iefs even got Glen's birthday presents. We eventually got down to the moorings between the Pitons.
We have admittedly become a little more crusty towards boat boys. I don't mind money spent when needed, but to pick up a simple mooring is something we have done many, many times now. Even the not-so-simple moorings are something we are pretty good at, so when the boat boys offered their services to help us pick up a mooring, we politely declined. Besides, the dings in our gelcoat on our topsides are 90% boat boy induced, and we didn't feel like dealing with that possibility, either. We picked up the mooring with zero difficulty (although one of the guys hovered near by in case we screwed up). Later, it was the Marine Ranger who did the dinging of the boat. The "kid" is one of those aggressive throttle users, and whacked our topsides where he didn't have a fender. His fender, when it finally hit our hull, also left a large blue stain on our hull. He wasn't forthcoming with even an apology, however I wasn't going to let him off lightly. He now knows my opinion of his unprofessional boat handling skills, and that apologies are required. I am glad we didn't spend money on getting our hull polished in Rodney Bay this time around!
Tuesday was a civilized 7:30 am departure from between the Pitons. When we got to the south end of St. Lucia, there was an uncomfortable amount of swells and waves, more than "advertised" in the weather forecasts. In my mind, I figured we would give it an hour to see if it would improve, otherwise we would turn back... and it did improve. We had a decent trip down to St. Vincent, although the autopilot steered like a drunk. We would really like one of the new "smarter" versions!
Chateaubelair is the first acknowledged anchorage in St. Vincent. In the past, it had a bad reputation (deservedly) for armed robberies, break-ins and other thefts from cruisers, however, it has been incident-free for about two years now. That seems to be the nature of crime in the Eastern Caribbean - a place can be terrible for a bit, the authorities or locals crack down, and it becomes wonderful again. There is also a tendency to ignore some stuff as a matter of convenience or putting one's head in the sand (i.e. the number of dinghy thefts in Grenada last year, and Rodney Bay, but not the same "voting with the keel" as many do for places like St. Vincent or other islands).
Our friends on 'Joanna' were anchored in Chateaubelair, so we thought we would join them. It is also (supposedly) a place where boats can check in with Customs and Immigration. We were greeted by Little George, a young man in a red kayak, who showed us where should anchor. He is the general "go-to" guy in Chateaubelair. He is protective of "his" cruisers, and will take care of anything for you, whether it be boat watching, garbage disposal, guiding you on a hike.... whatever.
Ken and I paddled the dinghy ashore so that I could do the necessaries with the local authorities (it's close enough that the outboard isn't needed, and the restaurant owner, George's cousin Philip, will happily keep an eye on your dinghy). Ken went back to the boat, and I walked in the annoying rain that turned into a downpour. Customs was closed (a house by the dock, with a hand lettered sign that says "Customs"). The person who does Immigration at the Police Station was also unavailable... maybe later, maybe tomorrow.
Wednesday morning I went for a run. The area north of Chateaubelair is very picturesque, with fields, farmers and cows. Mango trees showing the promise of a rich season lined the roads, and the farmers all carried an old fashioned hoe or a machete to take care of their crops. Everyone was very pleasant and friendly. I found my way to the Dark View Waterfalls, a groomed park area with a $5.00 EC admission fee. Since nobody was there to collect, I went in anyway. The bamboo bridge seems a little shaky to me but there is another solid bridge a little farther along (it is all wheelchair accessible, an uncommon occurrence in the islands). The falls are lovely.
Back to the boat and time to pull anchor. We figured we could check in farther down the island, wherever we ended up. We eyeballed the various bays (including watching the boat boys at Wallilabalou trying to wave us in) and decided to try Young's Island Cut, a place we had considered before. We rounded the south end of the island, and were reminded of why we didn't go there before - the wind rushes around the end of the island, blowing 20-30 knots- and throws up some decent waves, all on the nose. The last time we had considered doing this route, we gave up and sailed south to Bequia, an easy 8 mile jaunt. This time we persevered.
Upon reaching the Cut, we were met by Sparrow, journeyman to "Charlie Tango", a moorings and taxi/tours operator. He showed us to a mooring and accepted the drink that was offered (not the beer). While we were putting the dinghy together (outboard is a good idea here!), Ken's back did one of its' hissy fits, and locked up on him.
We walked, sore back and all, to the E.T. Joshua Airport, approximately 2.5 miles from where we are moored. We had heard we could check in there with Customs and Immigration, but weren't sure until we heard from Jimmy, owner of Charlie Tango, that this was true. We bought a bag of the local plums and walked and ate. Upon reaching the airport, we were directed through doors that said "Passengers Only" (???) and to see the Customs officials there that would never happen in North America!). We walked into the "Arrivals" hall of the airport. The Customs officers were wonderful to work with, and very welcoming. Immigration was less welcoming, and since we arrived after 4:00 pm, we had to pay them a $35.00 EC overtime fee (never mind the fact that they are there for the airplane passengers, anyway!) and he only gave us a month. As my Island friends say, "Stupes!"
We found a bit of a shortcut back which took us around the runway (the other end goes over the beach). The wrong side of the tracks here is living next to the runway, but we didn't feel threatened in any way as we walked there. Even the pothounds were non-threatening.
We went to one of the restaurants that line the waterway here for dinner and had seafood rotis. They were tasty, but probably a little too spicy for most tastebuds. We were home and in bed before 9:00.
On my run this morning I went by the area called the Lagoon. It is the home of a large charter fleet, and there is a small marina there, too. It has the not atypical mix of new boats and derelicts, fishing boats and workboats. Where we are in the cut is a little more accessible to things, from what I can see.
While I was on my run. Ken decided to see if he could get the Grenada Cruisers' Net from up here. He did manage to hear it through the repeater, and even check-in. Well, they know we are in the neighbourhood now!
We'll take a little time to let Ken's unhappy back settle (this is usually a two day phenomenon for him) before heading south into the Grenadines. While the moorings aren't the best priced ones we've seen, they are certainly solid, and we aren't going anywhere just yet. Besides, we can get more plums while we are here.
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