IMAGE – BEQUIA – local kids enjoying coconut boat races

Sunday 1st We were in the wonderful surroundings of the twin peaks of the Pitons on an official Soufriere Marine Park mooring buoy for our weekly treat of Sunday morning cooked breakfast. The Pitons are extinct volcano cones which rise 2500ft from the sea and dominate the horizon. This gave us the motivation to get on with a few boat jobs and we were looking forward to sitting back for the afternoon to relish the view and enjoy the rest of the day.
But sadly we were again harassed by the locals - this time a very smelly cave / beach living Rusta, paddled out on a canoe asking for bread for his breakfast - we did not feed him and therefore decided we must move on as he may visit again during the night. We moved on to get a different view of the Pitons and took up a mooring ball right in the middle of the two great peaks - truly a lovely spot. But again, more boat boys to offer assistance and sell their wares. This local harassment and intimidation is something we are not comfortable with, and is leaving a tarnished view of the area. We had planned to do some snorkelling in this area - but one of my ears was sore and giving me pain, so thought better to just enjoy a refreshing swim around the boat instead. Under hazy and humid sun, the water is so clear, and there was the odd local turtle to swim bye. We had a gusty sail south- with strong winds coming down from the high mountains on Monday 2nd to arrive by lunch time in Vieux Fort. After anchoring off the fishing harbour we went by dingy to main commercial harbour to check-out from St Lucia. This process was very easily completed, with both the Customs and Immigration people friendly, helpful and organised. To explore the town we left the dingy in the dirty, smelly fishing port which was very busy with lots of locals involved in the buying and selling of the catch from the day. We were told that the extra activity was due to Mahi Mahi season was on. We had a walk of the town and found the people friendly and thankfully no bother. The one main street 'town' had everything, but was basic. Most of the housing was makeshift with the ladies sitting outside in the shade and the kids playing either soccer or cricket in the streets. A few more yachts had arrived during the afternoon - so with safety in numbers in mind we moved across the bay for a less rolly anchorage and less local fishing boat traffic for a quieter, last night in St Lucia. We set sail to the country of ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES at first light, about 5.30am on Tuesday 3rd. So much for the pilot book saying the St Vincent Passage is normally a lovely broad reach run - we didn't have enough wind and had a 2 knot current against us! We motor-sailed down the west coast of the main and largest island called St Vincent, which was a beautiful vivid emerald green. We arrived to the northernmost island in the Grenadines group - BEQUIA just on dark, after a 60 mile day to anchor safely off the town of Port Elizabeth. In the early morning light of Wednesday 4th we could see the layout of Admiralty Bay much more clearly than last night, and as we were planning to stay here for a week or so, we made our way through the 50 or so yachts already anchored to move closer to the head of the bay on the 'locals' side where we could anchor and keep clear of the laid moorings and busier 'restaurant' side of the bay. The check-in was very organised with all the departments in the same building and the office staff friendly and helpful. The fee of 35EC (£8.00) per person is valid for cruising all the islands and mainland in St Vincent and the Grenadines for one month. We had a good walk of the charming little town, which had a lovely feel with loads of market stalls for fruit and veg and tourist stuff plus a recently refurbished narrow pathway - called the Belmont Walkway- past all the waterside restaurants. As we had specifically come to Bequia for the annual Easter regatta we visited the Frangipani Hotel where the regatta registration was happening and put our names on the crewing available list. As we were wandering the main street in the afternoon looking an available Wi-Fi base, the heavens opened and it rained steadily and heavy for a few hours. Thankfully we could do our internet stuff whilst it was raining, as being on the boat is hot and stuffy when we have to close up everything to keep the rain out. The aroma of freshly baked bread was too much to resist so I queued up with the locals for fresh bread at the local bakery at 7pm - this became a regular early evening activity. As we were anchored on the 'locals side' in Admiralty Bay we could hear 'the call of the conch ' from the local fishermen to announce that freshly caught fish was now on sale - so on Thursday 5th we had a quick dingy ride in to buy us some lovely red snapper for this evenings dinner - I love all this, it's just great, and this is one of the things we enjoy about cruising. Once the fisherman have removed the flesh from the conch shell the void space creates a distictive low pitched groan when blown. Whilst in town we did a bit of fresh food shopping in the local markets, lots of local colour and busy with many yachties and locals shopping to get ready for the Easter break. We attended the afternoon skippers briefing to get a good feel for the regatta events and activities - but sadly didn't get a crewing place - so no red Mount Gay crew cap as a badge of honour for either of us!, but we did get a few free Mount Gay rum and cokes during the late afternoon. Good Friday 6th was the first day of racing- so walked up the hill to the lookout over Admiralty Bay for a great view of the 10am start of the various classes. The bay provided a perfect course with various marks set for both viewer and participant enjoyment. We could hear the time calls and starters instructions on our handheld VHF to give us a good feeling of being involved - even if we were not on the water. At midday the local fishing/sailing boat had their race and we watched them prepare and launch their beautiful wooden boats from the shore with all their local families there for support. We attended the packed-out early evening prize giving and enjoyed the open bar for beer and rums and lovely nibbles. Easter Saturday 7th was the second day of racing, the around the island race for the cruising classes- plus events on the local beach for the kids. The little kids had so much fun with their coconut boat races, and the older ones with their wooden model boat races. We went out into the bay in our dingy to get closer to the action and watch the J24 class round the buoys lap racing. Afterwards we caught the local 'dollar van' -bus - to Lower Bay for a picnic lunch and afternoon at the beach. We were not closer to the finish line to watch the yachts finishing the around the island race. A Dutch ketch won the cruising I class and a lovely Austrian Swan won the cruising II class. Again the early evening Prize giving was a hit with all the yachties with an open bar (more free beers and rums with nibbles). We attended the 8am Easter Sunday 8th mass at the local Catholic church and after our usual Sunday breakfast (but sadly no Easter eggs) we caught the local bus to the southeast corner of the island to Friendship Bay to enjoy the lay-day party and events. The Bequia Beach Resort and Hotel is in a lovely setting on a palm lined beach and they put on a chill-out live band and provided local foods and some beach activities for the locals and competitors to enjoy - all in all lovely day out. The whole of St Vincent town came to Bequia today to party with friends and family at Lower Bay - the ferries were madly overcrowded and the little port was in a frenzy.
Mon 9th - Easter Monday - 3rd and final day of racing. The weather has been perfect for sailing with the easterly trading blowing 20 knots and cloudy sunshine. We again went up to the lookout in the morning to watch the racing starts and then by dingy over to Lower Bay for our picnic lunch in view of the finish line. The final Prize giving was a very grand affair on the staircase at Gingerbread Bar and restaurant, but sadly no free drinks or nibbles! We enjoyed the regatta very much by attending as many of the activities as possible - but were sadly non- competitors. Many of the racing and cruising yachts and their crews were leaving Bequia on Tuesday 10th on an overcast and muggy day. We enjoyed our 6 days in Bequia very much and will return again on our future trips up and down the Windward Islands, but it was time to more on and explore more - so on Wednesday 11th we sailed north back to the 'mainland' main island of ST VINCENT. We duel anchored, tied fore and aft (due to the strong current) off Young Island at the southern tip of the island in a very pretty spot. Young Island is a tiny heart shaped private island with an exclusive resort, whilst the locals hang-out opposite on Villa Beach. We had a lovely day-sail whilst listened to the local radio broadcast of the cricket - we haven't done that for several years now, since sailing in UK waters in an English summer. We listened to final day of the 1st test being held in Barbados - Australia won. James' back was not too good after all the heavy lifting of the anchor and chain involved in the stern anchoring from the dingy yesterday so Thursday 12th we had a 'not doing much' day, just sitting back reading and swimming and generally enjoying the sunshine on-board in this lovely area. Tourist day on Friday 13th- into Kingston Town via the local 'dollar van' bus -we had a very mad and bad driver. We had a good walk of the main rough cobblestone streets of the town which were busy with locals buying and selling from the various vast street markets. We bought our lunch from the bakery van in the market and walked to the oldest Botanic Gardens in the western hemisphere to enjoy our picnic. There is breadfruit tree here grafted from a sucker from one of the original plants introduced by Captain Blight in 1793, and we caught a view of one of the rare and endangered St Vincent parrots. We bought our weekly supply of fresh fruit and veg from various stalls in the market before heading back to the boat. After a busy hot day in the sun it's truly wonderful to come home and enjoy a lovely afternoon swim off the back of the boat. More up-close and personal with the locals again on Saturday 14th on the local bus ride to the closest village to do our supermarket shopping. These buses are local minivans run by enterprising individuals - they are all mad drivers and push far too many people in their vans. After our traditional egg and bacon cooked breakfast on Sunday 15th we sailed north - midway along the island to Cumberland Bay. We had read that the mooring would be anchored and tied back so we were all ready and prepared with our lines, and were required to pay Josef the Rasta in 'Give Thanks' 15EC (for his service) to take our stern line ashore and tie it right in front a prepared mooring post in front of his friends restaurant. Cumberland is a lovely local bay with a few shanty type restaurants and stalls and lots of friendly, helpful- but not harassing locals. We needed to check-out from SVG which we could now only do in the next bay south at Wallilabou. We had read that the boat-boys were far too intimidating and that night-time security of the boat is reported as an issue at Wallilabou so instead caught the local mid- morning bus there on Monday 16th from Cumberland Bay. We found ourselves looking for the customs office around an abandoned film set from Pirates of the Caribbean! Yes the films had used this shack restaurant and the bay area for the filming and had left all the props and associated items in the now disused set buildings - all really bizarre indeed. It was a bit of a wasted day as the customs man arrived at 4.30pm, and there was no immigration check-out available AND a 35EC charge for his 'overtime'. The shanty restaurant was not fit for purpose so we didn't dare to eat or even have a drink- but thankfully they had a TV and we sat and watched the 2nd cricket test to fill-in the waiting hours. Thankfully we hitched a ride from a local man with a rare empty car back to Cumberland Bay. He was a slow and careful driver on the many blind steep corners - so we actually could enjoy the 45 minute ride through the mountains. There is a fresh water stream due to the runoff from the high mountains that runs into Cumberland Bay so we took the opportunity to have a just on dark fresh water stream bath and also rinced out some clothes. The bay had about 20 boats for the evening - half and half charter and cruising boats so the local food stalls and bars had some customers for the night whilst we had our usual home-cooked meal of board listing to the local radio for music and entertainment. We left SVG and Cumberland Bay at first light on Tuesday 17th for a slow sail north to arrive back in ST LUCIA just on dark to anchor in Margiot Bay for the evening. We had a few boat jobs to do, Skype /internet etc and James wanted to watch the Barcelona V Chelsea champions league game on TV so we anchored in Rodney Bay for the day on Wednesday 18th, not 'officially' entering into St Lucia, just making use of the now familiar marina facilities. In strong winds and lots of heavy rain we made our passage north to MARTINIQUE on Thursday 19th. We had very poor visibility and thankfully the AIS showed us at least 2 cargo ships on our run into the main town of Fort de France. We collected 10 litres of rainwater to use in our deck shower, and rinsed out all the salty deck, ropes and lines. Thankfully the skies cleared and the rain stopped by the time we needed to anchor in the small anchorage just off the town. We were coming to the French Caribbean but really didn't really expect such a modern city - we could easily have been anchored off any French town in mainland Europe. There were highrise office and accommodation blocks, and a general feeling affluence. We officially checked-into Martinique with no charges or fees via an automated computer in the town chandlery on Friday 20th, and were using Euros as the local currency- all very different from the other island countries we have visited so far! We spent the rest of the morning walking the narrow busy streets checking out the various produce, spice and tourist markets - the town had a bit of a New Orleans feel about it. Some areas very modern i.e. large Carrefour supermarket in a mall and a lovely waterfront park /playground and dingy dock - other areas of run down housing - but not at all like the basic Caribbean we had just sailed from. There were plenty of cars, a proper bus network, and town electricity, so no hum from generators. Back on the boat we enjoyed our French lunch - baguette, cheese and pate with a pastry for dessert - what a lovely treat, which along with our croissants for breakfast this became a daily indulgence. We still have overcast skies and long rain showers on Saturday 21st - making the weather very muggy and humid. We visited a local landmark - the beautiful and interesting Schoelcher library building, which was built in Paris and displayed at the 1889 world expo then dismantled and shipped in pieces to Fort-de-France and reassembled - elaborate and ornate and still a functionary library. We decided to make the most of the large out-of-town La Galleria mall for the afternoon to do some bulk food shopping, and some window shopping of the French fashions. More bulk food shopping again on Sunday 22nd via the local bus to the out-of-town large Carrefour, again good bulk food shopping, as we can buy duty free wine and beer, canned foods and of course beautiful French cheese and pate. We enjoyed visiting this city very much; it was a very good anchorage just off the town- and a lovely mix of French and Caribbean sights, sounds, people and food. We decided to explore the islands southern bays and anchorages further so set off for a short sail across the very shallow bay on Monday 23rd to anchor off Trios Islets for the night. This is not a popular area for yachts, but does have an impressive golf course and sports complex for tennis, basketball and a sprint running track - very middle class French standards. To enhance our sunset drinks and cockpit dinner we had a lovely view back towards Fort du France city. We anchored just out of the fairway but had a disturbed night with the local ferry traffic so moved on again on Tuesday 24th to what we found to be another very upmarket european French area - Anse Mitan. The large hotel, marina and boutique shopping complex again felt like we could have been in the south of mainland France. On Wednesday 25th with the weather trying to clear-up from the now constant rain showers we had a short sail to Grande Anse D'Arlet. This is a very popular bay for cruising yachts, and out of the 50 or so yachts here we are the only British yacht amongst the majority French yachts. Grande Anse D'Arlet is a very pretty bay, with a few local turtles and relaxed mix of local and upmarket bars, restaurants and stall along the waterfront. Martinique feels like 'another bay - another day' type of cruising for us - pottering about - just as we like it! The next little bay of Anse D'Arlet on Thursday 26th had less boats and was a but rolly, but still very enjoyable. The weather was not great again on Friday 27th for our 15 mile sail again in strong winds and currents, we arrived at lunch time to find ahead of us a massive marina complex plus 100's of boats at anchor in Le Marin. All the boats in the French Caribbean must be here! 90% of the yachts were French - we only saw 2 other British yachts. After visiting all the chandlers etc looking for our now needed two new boat batteries James finally made his purchase and fitted the new anchor and keel batteries on Saturday 28th. There was plenty of activity in the marina complex with the charter yachts and their customers coming and going and also a mini boat show event was happening over this holiday weekend( 1st May labour day). We had an excellent view of the local Yole wooden boat racing on Sunday 29th as they raced amongst the anchored yachts. It was very exciting and colourful. We went into the beach start/finish area to wander amongst the locals all supporting their various teams and boats. The food, drink and BBQ stalls were doing a great trade. We enjoyed a perfect evening meal and our first on-board Caribbean BBQ for a long time. We have found that because we have the early sunset and pitch dark by 6.45pm it is not ideal for cooking a BBQ on the boat in the dark - so on Sunday we have our late cooked breakfast and then a sunset dinner. Again lots of very heavy rain and winds throughout the night and into Monday 30th - it is not enjoyable at all on-board when the weather is like this. The boat quickly becomes very hot and stuffy down below, and if the rain to too heavy we cannot sit out under the cockpit awning without getting also very wet. We collected 10 litres of water for our swim wash offs from our deck shower, gave the boat a good wash and wipe down and the dingy got a good fresh water wash too. The forecast is better for tomorrow so why move in the rain!
MAGE - BEQUIA - local kids enjoying coconut boat races