Anchored Tony Gibbons Beach Admiralty Bay, Bequia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
13 00.6'N 061 14 4'

As per usual each day seems to blend into the next. The only real interruption to the daily cycle has been the changing weather pattern from the usual winter dry to the stormy squall laden saturated sky of summer. The squally weather is the excuse I use to keep me pinned in my lovely anchorage. I took the picture the other day around noon time. You can see the proximity to the beach and the beach bar tucked into the corner. The morning time is my time. I'm up early daily, sit in my folding chair in the cockpit and watch the sun rise above the hills and then baths the palms and beach in piercing sunlight. I quickly become heated and to quell the heat, I take a swim to the beach and then stride down to the other end of the beach. Beautiful. It is my routine.

Just as in a normal neighborhood, folks need to get along and respect others style and proclivities. To control some communities form associations to exert more control over eccentricities. Now in the sailing world their are standards of behavior, unwritten rules and just general good seamanship habits. Things are a little more complicated in an anchorage full of folks with different nationalities. It pains me to say that generally the American charter crowd are loud and obnoxious. While this is irritating it is not risky. But the French bar none are the worst. They insist on anchoring squarely on top of you. It happens over and over again. To my mind, a cushion of space is needed in the event of an anchor dragging or any number of unknowables. It drives me crazy. The habit surely derives from MED cruising. Apparently the MED has little room anywhere so folks are much more comfortable banging into one another. Of course the MED is where most French begin sailing. But here in the Caribbean we have a little more room. It's like this. If a couple are the only ones in a movie theater, a French person would choose a seat right next to the couple. Yesterday, just as one French boat that was onto of me was pulling their anchor another French boat came in moments later and much to my dismay anchored even closer. They are 30 feet away most of the time, but gets closer when the wind starts its weird dance during squally weather. Now I could ask them to move, but this would become my daily routine. And then of course the French spend about half the day naked. What can you do? This is not to imply that they are not nice, as most are quick to smile and wave. These are simply cultural differences that I'm learning to roll with.

So the aforementioned squally weather is still around but I'd like to get moving. So I may pull up my anchor (that sits underneath the French boat) and sail 23 miles south to the island of Mayreau. This would be the gateway to the Tobago Cays National Park which look wonderful. I'll then steam 3 miles to Union Island where I will check out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and then head to Carriacou where I'll check into Grenada. Then I plan on sailing down the windward side of Grenada to St. Davids Harbor on the south coast.

Capt Chris