So Roger fixed the outboards – that was OK but we were left a bit iffy on what he actually did so we shall see in the longer term. We had some good craic in the marina with Charles on ‘Altair’ and James and Gillian on ‘Zephyr’, including a not-bad meal at Bosun’s, but ended up doing very little in Saint Lucia other than provisioning.

We were away from the anchorage at 0515 on Friday 28th April for the 51nm to Chateaubelair on the west coast of St Vincent. Despite some adverse current on the passage between the islands for just 3-4nm we had good winds and an average speed of 6.4kts with the wind mostly 15kts ESE, so a close reach.

The three bays on the west coast of St Vincent – Chateaubelair, Cumberland Bay and Wallilabou – are the most dangerous and insecure in the Caribbean, and you should stay well offshore when passing. Rubbish.

Graham and Joan were already in Cumberland Bay with ‘Karma’ and had sent us up-to-date info about clearance: usually Monday to Friday 0900-1600 in Chateaubelair, and Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1600-1800 at Wallilabou. So we anchored at Chateaubelair and went ashore where Graham and Joan were actually waiting for us – change of plan on this particular Friday as the officials were not there. So we all went round to Cumberland Bay to anchor and have a stern line ashore. Local “Boat Boy” Ivor is there to meet us and provided the long line to a palm tree. All snugged down and all well.

Clearance was completed at Wallilabou by taking the dinghy round. All good.

We had a fabulous time over the weekend and the local people could not have been friendlier or more welcoming. Ivor’s mother, Mummy Elma, has a bar and restaurant, and there are another four bars on the beach. So we had beers at Mummy Elma’s and Benny’s – seems there is a bit of local politics and drinking at all the bars doesn’t work.

We had a lovely walk to Spring Village for bread – excellent bakery – and on up the valley into the mountainous interior. We were advised to stay on the road as paths off may lead you to someone’s ganga plantation and they may not be too happy about that.

In the evening a few boatloads of fishermen arrived in the bay from Barouallie with a large net to catch small fish for bait. Interestingly when they closed the net in a circle they rowed the closing boat at high speed with four men on the oars. Very traditional.

It is likely that these are the same fishermen who managed inadvertently to upset a lot of passengers on a cruise ship. The latter had gone out whale and dolphin watching on 30th March, and while they were out they saw the fishermen hunt and kill two orcas. The Prime Minister has now promised to ban the killing of orca which are in fact the largest members of the dolphin family. Short-finned pilot whales are caught and will be caught in future – we saw a pod of three on passage from Saint Lucia.

On Sunday 30th April, Graham and Joan had arranged for Ivor to take us round to Wallilabou in his boat where we met up with Thaddeus Saloman for a tour of part of the island. Thaddeus’ car said Suzuki on it but we think it was designed by Dinky Toys. “Small” did not really describe it. Anyway we drove south along the west coast with grand views of the bays, through Kingstown, part way up Mesopotamia Valley (to be revisited), a lookout over the Marriaqua Valley (the breadbasket of St Vincent), to the new international airport (of which they people are enormously proud) and on to Blue Lagoon anchorage and marina. Then for the highlight of the day.

Back north to Mount Wynn Bay where hundreds if not thousands of people were gathering for the annual “Pork on the Beach” event. This is a competition between restaurants for the roasting of the best pork … and music … loud music (which is actually tautological as all music in the Caribbean is loud) … and drinking …

Well now, you thought you had heard of some strange drink concoctions but St Vincent takes the prize: how about Campari and beer? Or Campari, Guinness and Rum? Who would have thought that Campari had such a following in St Vincent? We tried the Campari and beer – just the once.

The pork was excellent, Thaddeus’ girlfriend Pat joined us and the event was very friendly and sociable – Phil got interviewed for local TV but it probably ended up on the cutting room floor.

Ivor collected us from Wallilabou and the trip back in the dark was delightful as fireflies darted about on the cliffs in a display of illuminated acrobatics. When we got back to the boat we found two large bags of juicy, fresh tomatoes delivered by Carlos, who also works in the bay.

A superb day.

On Monday we had a walk to the ridge overlooking Cumberland Bay and then BBQ on ‘Karma’ where we ate blackfish brought by Pat – we subsequently found out that this is pilot whale. It was very tasty.

So, how did we feel? As safe and secure as anywhere else and perhaps more so as in Cumberland Bay people live on the beach and there are dogs that bark at night at any unusual activity. Will we return? Without a doubt. The only good thing about the myths and rumours is that for us it keeps the place quieter, but then this is not so good for the people who live there and have little other than farming and fishing.