Bequia

Trip Down

After three weeks in St Lucia and some intense Christmas & New Year partying, we were glad to be pulling out of Rodney Bay Marina.

Our plan was to head down through the Grenadines, into Grenada then hot footing it back back up to St Lucia to pick up my brother Andy and his better half Ayla to continue North.

The crew for the Grenadines was to be Skipper, Clodagh, Adam, Damo, James & Kate Fitz.

Our first stop was Bequia, the first Island after St Vincent (which we had decided to dodge as the ratio of good to bad reports from others was around1:10), a sail of around 70 miles.

We left Rodney bay early evening with full bellies following a Birthday lunch for Clodagh consisting of rotis and smashing coconut cake. No booze as we were going to be sailing through the night.

The trades were with us and the genoa had us moving at around 6-7 knots most of the time, save for a little wind shadow behind the islands en route. It felt a little strange to be back into sailing overnight having not covered more than 10-20 miles a day since the Transat the previous few weeks.

We arrived into Friendly Bay early the following morning and after dodging a pack of sunsail boats departing to get back to their charter base, pulled into the anchorage. After a bit of snooping and the first anchor drop dragging, we went to the back of the pack and anchored just off St Margaret’s beach. Initially we thought this might be a bit remote for town but its proximity to the beach and lack of traffic was perfect for lounging and getting away from it all.

After a bit of brekkie we spotted Adian & Jacqui on Vagaris who were on our pontoon in Las Palams befoe the ARC start. Unfortunately they were heading North that day so we only managed a brief chat and a wave goodbye.

After a painful customs experience with an unhelpful, morbidly obese, miserable official (apparently they only have one pen between 2o sfatt), we were in with all paperwork done for the Grenadines.

We were charmed by Bequia immediately; it was everything that St Lucia wasn’t: quaint, friendly, quiet, relaxed and very few hassles from vendors or others on the street.

Our Stay in Bequia

We has originally planned to stay in Bequia for around 3-4 nights, but so taken were we with the place that we extended this to 7 nights, some of the highlights were:

· Daily team Rafiki Tennis tournaments at the courts in Gingerbread (the locals thought we were mad playing after 10am in the morning)

· The slowest yet delicious rotis in the Caribbean, served by local do gooder and Whoppi Goldberg Lookalike restauranteur

· A visit to the town’s weekly country & western music night, where James taught the DJs how to use their laptop and Clodagh and Kate asked continually for Dolly Parton but left empty handed. They were the only females in the place!

· The priciest tomatoes on the planet – GBP 1 per tomato and Clodagh & Kate’s furious negotiations in the fruit/veg market

· A visit to Mike’s restaurant, creatively named after the American owner, Mike, who annoyed his staff by admitting us after 9pm then fed us some grat food and some excellent tips for the rest of the Grenadines, thanks Mike!

· Buying a whole mahi mahi fish straight from the fishing boat and having it gutted and filleted before our eyes for GBP 1.

· Daily swims in and out from the boat to Princess Margaret beach, which had so few people on it, it felt like our own private place.

· The best steel band we’ve ever heard at the jump up in Frangipani, featuring covers of all the best 80s tunes and the longest rendition (circa 10mins) of Happy Birthday known to man, courtesy of Kate Fitz’s lies to the band.

· Our first experience of diesel & water delivery from a floating barge from the enterprising locals.

· Sampling espresso martinis which tasted of neither espresso nor martini. We never bothered to ask what was actually in them.

· The local turtle “sanctuary” run by an elderly local who breeds turtles in captivity then releases them across the Grenadines. We had mixed feelings about the sanctuary as there was cleary good intent behind the effort but the cramped conditions for some of the larger turtles were depressing.

· A visit to the bar/restaurant Sugar Reef on the Windward side of the island, breathtaking views of the outlying reefs and a definite reminder to sail on the leeward side of the island chain!