Following the prize giving on Saturday 21st December at the Gaiety Night Club we had a quiet day at Rodney Bay Marina - getting a final laundry run completed with Mr Suds, getting gas bottles filled and catching the local bus to the nearby mall to supermarket shop. We had planned to depart Rodney Bay that afternoon but the Customs office was closed so in the end it was Sunday 22nd before we headed off southwards.


Snorkling to check the anchor

There are hundreds of islands in the Caribbean, many of which we have never heard of. The islands from Martinique (which is French) south to Grenada (all English) are called the windward islands Grenada is around 70 miles north off the coast of Venezuela. This chain of islands runs in more of less a north/south direction for about 170 miles with no more than 20 miles between each island group. With the predominant easterly trade wind blowing (at 20 knots plus most of the time) this provides eased sheet sailing both ways, although a bit tighter going north, with moderate to rough seas between the islands.


Pam negotiates with local vendor

Within the Windward island group there is the island of St Vincent and south of that the Grenadines Group that includes the famous Tobago Cays.
The Leeward Islands are those north of Martinique to and including the Virgin Islands, covering such islands as Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica etc.
So on Sunday 22nd December we departed Rodney Bay, down to just the two of us. First stop was the Pitons again. Lassez Faire was stopping off there also and Charm Offensive (the Sydney Hanse 445 owned by Nick Black) also stopped nearby. All the moorings were taken so we anchored in the bay between the Pitons and the town of Soufriere, aided of course by a local boat boy who then took a line ashore to tie us stern to a coconut palm. The following day we sailed to the island of Bequia. It seems as though Bequia has the reputation as the placer to be for Christmas and Mustique the place to be at for New years Eve. We sailed past the island of St Vincent and had a lunch stop at another of the Yachting World magazine top 10 bays in the Caribbean - this time Cumberland bay. Lassez Faire also stopped there. A very attractive bay although not a good beach. The island of St Vincent looked very attractive from the sea - unfortunately for the locals the Caribbean Crime Index (a site maintained for yachties) it rates only 5.6 out of 10 on the crime scale - the lowest in the Caribbean except maybe Haiti).


Interesting eating out opportunity in Cumberland Bay

Arrived in Bequia (pronounced Bec-way) to find a very full bay but once again a local guy who owns several buoys on the bay had one available for us. We stayed here several days - with Lassez Faire, Charm Offensive (with Nick and his parents John and Francis on board) plus Senta the Swan 48 from Sydney (with John, solicitor, and Karen and their two children on board). Christmas dinner found 14 of us at the Bequia Beach resort hotel, on the other side of the island, for dinner. Great setting right on a beautiful beach with a small surf breaking, band playing, excellent food, great cocktails and wine and of course great company with a bunch of ARC friends.


Pre Christmas dinner cocktails


Bequia Beach Hotel - our Cristmas dinner table!


Christmas dinner

Had dinner one night on Charm Offensive and had Lassez Faire on board Savarna for dinner and us on their boat for dinner also, drank champagne with the Centa team and generally were pretty lazy. Every day in the high 20's, although windy it is a warm wind, and water temperature in the 28's so plenty of swimming.


Pam negotiates with Bequia rasta


Present comimg your way Volker and it ain't the girl


Bequia KFC maybe?

New Years Eve always comes next so a day or so later it was an on the wind sail for the 10 miles across to Mustique. This looks like a lovely island and apart from the locals there are just 100 houses (maybe read this as including the occasional Museum like building and hotel resorts i.e. very big houses). This island is where some of the rich and famous holiday - Mick Jaggar, Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney, Michael Douglas, Tommy Helfiger were all rumoured to be in residence. The result was that apart from the road along the front of the bay the rest of the island was closed down by the Mustique security force. The island apparently operates as a body corporate so it appears to be a modern fiefdom. Basils Bar has been operating for 35 years and Basil still remains as the owner/operator.


Basil's Bar and Restaurant Mustique

This is the place to be for the New Year Eve dinner and dusk to dawn party - and that we did with the Lassez Fair team, but not until dawn!
Mustique - the bay provided a rolly anchorage, some nights better than others, cheap lobster offered every day (NZ$6 a pound), rum sold in casks and quick unannounced rain squalls. NZ$100 once off fee for a mooring. On New Years Eve the big boats started to arrive until the outside if the bay was covered with 200 feet motor yachts, Swan 80's and superyachts.

After three nights at Mustique it was time to continue south and we motored the 11 miles across to the island of Canouan, picked up a Moorings buoy off the resort hotel for the night. We went ashore for a walk around and a cocktail at the resort. They had an excellent deli type shop there with good wines, cheeses and other delicacies - we actually bought a takeaway pork dinner which proved to be very good.


Mustique beach


Grenadine style sailing

We are currently anchored in Saline Bay on Mayreau Island, a small island close to Tobago Cays and just 3 miles north of Union Island the southern end of the Grenadines. We plan to be here for two or three days before heading further south.

Cheers
Keith & Pam