St Vincent Welcome
13 May 2014 | Young's Island Cut, St. Vincent
Lynn
After a very disappointing night at the Pitons (being charged a $25 fee when we left Rodney Bay to go there, $20 extortion from a boat boy, with a bonus swath of red paint from his boat on our hull and bobstay, and the $54 to use the mooring - all EC$) with the record high for us on the boat of 49.7 knots (90km/h) while we were on the mooring, we were ready to head to St. Vincent. This was to be our last "big jump" of our trip back to Grenada for the Hurricane Season.
The forecast was fine, if not a touch higher winds then our preference, but nothing that would be a problem, especially since we are working under very reduced sails until we get the main sail fixed (or replaced). We departed the Pitons with basically no wind. By the time we got out of the influence of St. Lucia, we were seeing the forecast 18 knots. 2 hours from St. Vincent we were seeing winds consistently close to 30 knots, with the maximum gust of 38 knots, and the seas were growing accordingly. By the time we got to the top of St. Vincent, we were seeing seas on average of 10 feet, as far as we could estimate. We were VERY happy to get into the lee of the island. On the other hand, we reached a peak speed of 8.2 knots, something we haven't done before (going down a river on the outward tide does not count like this does).
We had initially considered Chateaubelair as a place to stop for the night, but since we had the time, we went straight to Young's Island Cut on the south end of the island. This would bring us closer to our intended "errands" while we were visiting St. Vincent. We arrived too late for us to check in with Customs and Immigration, and frankly, we were too darned tired to get the dinghy put together. It was an early night for the crew of 'Silverheels III'.
The next morning we got the dinghy put together and took the bus to the airport to check in, as we have done before. This time it was between 8am and 4pm, so we figured we wouldn't have any overtime fees with Immigration. Well, Immigration at the airport wouldn't deal with us (Customs does with no problems) and we were told to go into Kingstown, more specifically to the cargo docks. Despite the fact that the Immigration officer was literally falling asleep with boredom, or engrossed with YouTube on her phone, she couldn't check us in. Since we were going into Kingstown next anyway, it wasn't a big deal, but what a nuisance.
We got to the cargo docks, where we were told to go to the Immigration office just down the street. This was irritating in that they couldn't even give the right place to go at the airport. We walked to the office, where it took 20 minutes to stamp in our passports. Well, at least we were now in the country 100% legally. Funny, though, they complain that they are losing yachting business in St. Vincent.... Maybe if it wasn't a pain to check in (we have had Customs closed in Chateaubelair and the Immigration officer gone before) it may not be such an obstacle.
Anyway, this was Ken's first time in Kingstown. It is really not all that touristy. Yes, some taxi drivers ask us if we want a tour, but the local vendors say hello and good morning like they would to anyone else. No fawning, just basic business stuff. We grabbed lunch in a back alley looking type of place that had a number of places offering food, and enjoyed a great lunch for $10 EC. We then went to the supermarket to stock up on my favourite pepper sauce, "Bowman's". She puts papaya in it! The eight 300ml bottles should last us until the fall.
Kingstown seems to have more street vendors than any other town we have seen. Walk along the main street by the bus terminals, and you will likely find something to interest you whether it be fruits and vegetables, a snack, or a drink. Wooden homemade wheelbarrows seem to be a popular option for moving product around, but balancing it on the head works well for smaller loads.
Ken has been in communicating with a Vincentian HAM radio operator, Kumar, and we got in touch with him as we had some HAM gear to donate to the local club. Kumar popped by at 4pm for a drink, then took us back to his place for a little visit. He and his wife, Corinne, have a lovely home high up on a hill (we still don't know how the car made it up the steep grades) with a stellar view towards the current airport and the valley around it.
We had a really nice visit, and Ken had a chance to check out Kumar's HAM shack. We made plans to go for a drive up the windward side of the island.