Dawn and I enjoyed the regatta in Bequia. We hoped for good pictures, but all we have
is great crowds of white sails, far away, taken with a shitty camera, the
replacement we bought in Dominica after ours took a salt water swim. Yes, no enthusiasm.
We did enjoy going into the regatta meetings and
celebrations with our signature Mount Gay Rum red hats (primary sponsor), and
chatting up sailors and participants we know or just met. It made us wish we were racing.
We did a little more hiking after Peace and Plenty and Silk
Pajamas left, just enough to keep in shape.
One picture we did get was of a giant object in the water along the
boardwalk. The water conditions and sun
angle allowed a good look at it, and we realized we were looking at a giant
wooden rudder and rudderpost, probably from some ancient wooden vessel. Funny how we probably had walked by that for
years.
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| Giant Rudder and Post along walkway in shallows |
Saturday, picking the first day of a weather window, we left
Bequia and had a 5 hour sail to Saline Bay, Mayreau. The waves were pretty bumpy, but the wind was
only 12-18. We kept our speed below 6
knots, and the passage was nice enough.
Lots of salt on deck but not really violent. A rag cleanup followed by a shower overnight,
left us pretty clean again. We should have fished, but were both thinking of shore meals, I think. Catching and cleaning a fish when you can't stay in one place with two feet and a hand is not a fun thought.
Yesterday, we hiked Mayreau, primarily to see what had
changed in the 3-4 years since we had been here. We walked the new roads, saw a few new
buildings, and just enjoyed the quiet walking.
The views of blue and azure water, the close islands of the Tobago Keys,
Canouan, Palm, and Union were all breathtaking.
The old Catholic church is still in excellent shape, but it has been
joined by two rival religious groups to divide up the tiny population of this
little island. However, there was a
jump-up on the beach last night to celebrate the Caribbean Cricket team's
domination of the World Cup (both the mens' team and the womens' team), and the
extra divisions and worshipping didn't seem to be affecting anyone
negatively. Adults were dancing while
the children practiced their cartwheels.
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| Dawn, overlooking the Tobago Cays at the lookout behind the little old Catholic Church |
We noted that the continuing construction of a christian
youth mission had destroyed the remains of the old and only plantation house,
and the best lookout on the island.
Somebody's idea of progress, I guess.
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| Kite surfing east of Saltwhistle Bay |
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| A major investment in an unused road |
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| We found the concrete benches we used to sit on at the lookout on top of Mayreau, by the plantation house ruin. They are now outside the Catholic church. |
We had lunch at Dennis' Hideaway, a place we had always
meant to try. Dennis cooked filleted and
butterflied red snapper, and Dawn said it was the best fish she has ever had;
and for once was not missing the chicken.
Sadly, the beer was $9 EC, and not even very cold. Still good, and we had another round. The beer is usually between 5 and 7 EC, so it
was the highest priced yet! Bear in
mind, these are tiny beers, maybe 2/3 the size of a bottle of beer at home.
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| Wattle and Daub house - really just a stick and mud hut. Many locals were still living in these within our lifetime. |
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| The interpretive plaque for the "mud hut". |
After this message is posted, we intend to put the jib up,
and make the one-hour sail to Chatham Bay, Union Island. We believe we may have some friends there who
might want to do a hike today. The
towers don't reach Chatham Bay, so our phone and data plan will be useless. We'll be back in touch in 3-5 days.
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| Nothing like a couple of containers off a passing ship to be the basis of a good 3 car garage! |
