We sailed in to Bequia Dec 23, dropped anchor in our “usual” spot in a nice sand patch, and relaxed after a 38-mile sail from Carriacou. Christmas eve day we went into town early, stocked up on produce and Christmas goodies (pastry and chocolate!), and arranged to have Christmas eve dinner at the Fig Tree with friends Linda and Chris on Troubadour. Our group grew to 8 with Paula and Scott on Scherzo and Paul and Sheryl on Distant Shores joining us, so we met new friends too! Dinner was fabulous (R had duck!) with fun company and great music from a very talented Bequia woman, Amanda Gooding. Her music is on itunes and Amazon (album: Life’s Too Short). So, in between drinks and dinner servings we danced!

As we were celebrating over a long leisurely dinner, the weather gave us a light show the likes of which we have rarely seen. Cloud to cloud lightning (luckily!) blasted away all night long (no exaggeration), lighting up the entire anchorage in Admiralty Bay. And the wind howled and the rain poured. What speeds the wind achieved we have only an idea, because in the night Santa made off with our wind indicator.

Thankfully, we caught a break in the rain to dash back to our boat after dinner. Boats dragged all over the place (except for those of us on Rocna anchors!). And they didn’t stop that nonsense Christmas Day – one dragged most of the way out of the Bay before the owner awoke. Too crazy windy/wavy for little dinghies to go after him… So the radio has been quite entertaining. And the charter boats just keep on coming (60 boats arrived the same day we did!). We anchored w-a-a-a-y at the back of the Bay, because it is quieter, and there are fewer boats. But still, boats keep anchoring too close, or right on top of us. Grrr! “Bitch wings” have been deployed, successfully we might add!

So we enjoyed a cozy day on Celilo - Christmas lights ablaze, Christmas music playing all day long, goodies at hand, ham for dinner, followed by Christmas movies and popcorn.

For us, the hardest part of this cruising life that we love is being away from family and dear friends on these special days. Know that we thought of every one of you all day long.