After a respite in Rodney Bay St. Lucia, with a leaving marina blender party, Ken and Kristine sailed on – solo. Martinique, Dominica, Les Saintes – encountered few anchor off issues, part of the learning curve – Guadeloupe, Desirade Island and Antiqua. Lots of water, anchor-offs, cruiser partiers and ports for the Grateful Red, but all wonderful Caribbean cruising.
Friday,we sailed to Bequia Island into the big Admiralty Bay complete with wind. We found a holding spot near the beach and soon realized why we were alone. You catch a lot of the rocking swell but it was secluded and lovely so we stayed. Our dinner was decided when a local in his colorful boat came by to offer some juicy lobster for sale. One had our name on it and that made up for the rocking boat syndrome.
Some “boat traffic”…
Sunset on Canouan Island
Saturday, we left for Canouan Island and got a great mooring close to the shore in Charlestown Bay around 1:30pm. We were assisted by John (the iceman) and our night charge was 50EC.
We took the dingy in and had a drink at the beach resort bar and then walked into the “town” to get some easy provisions. The vegetable market was open and I bought some okra and mangos while
Ken drank a cold beer (also sold in the market). We never saw the internet shop that was advertised, but that was not a big issue because we could pick up wifi free from the resort. Benefit from being on the closest mooring I guess. Bought 2 red snapper for dinner and I poached them because they were so big for the fry pan. We ate one and saved the other for fish taco’s another day. Very good!
Sunday, left for Saline Bay, Mayreau Island and found a nice anchorage in a quiet corner of the bay. Beach was a swim away and we decided it was time to get our feet “wet” and do some snorkeling. Our Brownie unit for scuba was not working and we decided it required proper service on the compressor before we trusted it to provide our oxygen while diving! Walkedup to Dennis’s hideaway (a favorite spot for boat cruisers) for Callalou soup and a seafood appetizer. It was magical and empty. We are still wondering where all the touristsare. I imagine the locals are wondering the same. We finally got a good nights sleep because of the lighter wind conditions. Before dark we bought a seabass from a local and would have it tomorrow
Wednesday,
January 11th, we pulled anchor without any difficulty considering the wind and what appears to be our “too-small” anchor rode that slips in the windlass. With auto and the front sail, we made our way across to St. Vincent, heading along the windward side south to Blue Lagoon anchorage. It was a long 40 nautical mile sailing day with large swells and uneven seas. We arrived at Blue lagoon, near Young Island and found it quite small and full, but with assistance from Dexter (from TMM) we secured to a mooring ball for the night and paid our 40EC charge. Rum and cokes at 5pm and we were set! This is NOT anything like the Blue Lagoon we think of. We found it crowded with many abandoned boats; some half in the water, but the marina was full of SunSail charter boats, most of which were catamarans.
Blue Lagoon
Winston, our driver to the botanical gardens. He was an extra in one of Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie. fun to hear his stories!
On the way to Montreal Botanical Gardens
Our “jurasic Park”
Evening office hours!
Thursday morning after breakfast, we put the motor on the dingy and went to the marina dingy dock and showered and utilized their internet. At 9:30 our tour guide,
Winston arrived to take us on a ½ day tour of South St. Vincent, complete with the Montreal Botanical gardens. The botanical gardens are the oldest in the western hemisphere and it was here that Capt. Bligh brought the breadfruit tree after the mutiny on the Bounty fiasco. It was truly beautiful and at one time was a place for Newlyweds to go for a private retreat. I felt we were in Jurassic park and half expected some roaring dinosaur to come out of the rainforest. We drove through the Mesopotamia Valley and also up along the ridge of the valley that looked down to the lush valley that once was the crater of the long dead volcano. We found the houses cute and brightly colored and most well kept.
We got back to the dingy dock around 12:30 and decided to dingy to Young Island where there is an exclusive resort, restaurant, bar and spa. The restaurant is open to the public and most arrive via small water tender. If any of you have visited Little Palms Island in Florida, it is much the same. We had a lovely lunch there and after, returned to the boat for some afternoon internet and boat tasks. We decided to spend another night before our next stop of Bequia Island.
See you on the Water
