Company arriving from NB tonight

We arrived at Blue Lagoon, St. Vincent, on Monday afternoon, traveling from Bequia, where we have been doing some killer hikes.  We spent a low-stress afternoon investigating the SunSail Yacht Charters facility as well as walking around the locale.  Yesterday, we hopped on a bus to Kingstown, and snooped around, and included their Arboretum in our walkabout.  We got to see the offspring of the original breadfruit trees that Captain Bligh brought to the Caribbean to feed the slaves more economically.  Interesting, but it brings back all that we know about slavery, and it isn't good.  As it was cheaper to buy a slave than to breed one, the slaves were simply worked to death then replaced.

On a less morbid note, we again got acquainted with the bus system down here.  The buses are all vans, filled with seats, run privately and owned by each driver - no regulation.  Each driver optimizes his fares by driving fast, and attempting to get in front of the next guy to get the next fare.  As well, the people are packed in like sardines.  Years ago, the buses played gospel music at absolutely 10% higher than you could possibly stand it.  As you were convinced that you were going to die, the safe arrival might have served as the miracle you needed to restore faith.  Years later, we'd get on a bus and they played gangster rap even louder, packed you in tighter, and drove faster; but it seemed the devil was in charge.

These days, the music is just a bit lower, and seems to be lovesick, sad rappers with yodeling young women in the background.  The driving is just as crazy, and they pack you in better than Connors Brothers ever thought of.  A big truck came down the hill and onto the highway in front of us, and Dawn screamed as the driver slammed on the brakes, swerved off to the side, rounded a telephone pole and went back on the highway in a cloud of dust, missing all humans and the steep concrete ditch as well.  The rest of the bus was shaken up, but not by the driving as that was the norm.  Dawn scared them with her scream.

Ron and Judy should be here by 6:20, and we'll be ashore in the Black Pearl Bar, hoisting a cold one, waiting patiently.  They will be with us for a week allowing us to visit Bequia, snorkel the Tobago Cays, and perhaps a visit to Sandy Island and Paradise Beach.

Cat Tales dinghy (car) with the blue engine cover

driftwood chandelier

Waiting for Ron and Judy at Blue Lagoon.  Cat Tales is moored in the center of this pic off in the distance. (Not the catamaran tied to the dock)

This flower was very unusual, but I can't remember the name!!

The photo below was taken by Kenmore Henville.  He is a professional who races out to greet boats into Bequia in his rubber dinghy and fast engine.  He whistles to get your attention and then circles the boat taking photos with a huge camera.  All the time he stands while being harnessed to the floor of the dinghy so he doesn't tip over!  Many people we know use Kenmore's photos on their boat cards.  He took the series of photos at around 4:00 in the afternoon and by 7:30 am, he delivered a disc and his favourite shot framed matted, and under glass, complete with a price list.  He says, "No pressure, I'll be back in half an hour and you can give them all back, or you can buy all or just one.  We bought the entire lot.  He does quite a business, taking pictures all afternoon, spending all evening getting them ready and then delivering to various boats during the morning!  Now to find wall space back home to hang it!

Photo taken by Kenmore of www.BequiaPhotoAction.com

Hiking Peggy's Rock in Bequia

Chris Doyle's Guide is the cruising guide that we all follow down here.  It's full of advice about where to sail and where not to sail, along with restaurant information, things to do, clearing customs and of course, hiking.

We read in his guide that for a pleasant hike in Bequia, one should try the "Peggy's Rock" hike on the other side of the island.  Further details could be found on www.dolyeguides.com.  He suggested that we should take a bus to the Whaling Museum on the east side of the island in order to cut off an hour walk to begin.  The instructions began as follows:

" If you start with your back to the museum you turn left, and take the first concrete road on your left, it climbs up hill and has a three-barred white wooden fence along the right hand side. If you take a bus, ask the driver to put you off on the road where Johnny Olivierre lives; same place. Walk to the top of this road, it turns to dirt after a while. You will see a house at the top on your right. Turn left here.  Up the hill you will see some utility poles and wires ahead. Go in their general direction and you will come to another, rather hidden house. Leave it on your left and pass round the back and head uphill. Sometimes there is a trail, sometimes just goat tracks, but when you get into the prickly stuff at the top you need to find the path; it is not hard..."

And on and on it goes.  So I copied the whole thing down in long hand since we don't have a printer on the boat and held the pages solidly in my hand in the wind and read each section as we went along.

We were 3 boats in all on this hike:  "Indigo": Greg and Kathy who we had met several years ago in Trinidad and Grenada; "Easy Listening": Al and Michelle from Lunnenberg, Nova Scotia who we had met in 2004 coming down from Bermuda when we were both very new to sailing the big ocean; and of course, "Cat Tales": with Laurie and myself (Dawn).

You can see the rock from our boat in Admiralty Bay, but the hike actually took place on the other side.  From the top, because it's along a ridge, you can see clearly to the east and west.

The hike itself, varied from an uphill walk, through goat pastures, through an eroded path among short bushes, and finally a very steep climb up rocks through prickly catcus.  We spent about half an hour sitting on Peggy's Rock admiring the breathtaking views.  Across the bays and over the hills we could see the mainland of St. Vincent.  To the southeast Mustique could be seen.  To the south was Canaouan and Myreau off in the distance. We saw a small plane leave the airport way below us and he was out of sight before he was as high as we were!

See the small plane taking off?  This is the east side and windy side of Bequia.

Al, from "Easy Listening" hanging onto his hat!

Kathy & Greg from "Indigo"

Michelle and Al from "Easy Listening" with the east side of Bequia in the background.

Admiralty Bay in Bequia...can you find Cat Tales?  Photo taken from Peggy's Rock

Laurie & Dawn from "Cat Tales"

We made our way downhill even more carefully than the way up.  Coming down, we have a tendency to slip on dry leaves and gravel much like ball bearings under your feet.  Your feet had to seek larger stones and bedrock stuck in the soil. 

Cleaning out sandy sandals and sneakers near the bottom of the trail.

Finally down on the main road at the Whaling Museum, we decided to walk to find a cool drink and possibly lunch.  It's amazing how entitled one feels after such a hike!  The first spot that advertised food didn't have any.  He had just returned, but was very willing to open 6 very cold hairoun beer!  While we were cooling off a fisherman walked by carrying a large turtle.  It really breaks our hearts to see turtles being fished by the locals, but it is very legal when in season.  The sight predictably initiated a discussion as to whether or not any of us would eat turtle in soup or whatever.  We have all heard that it is quite tasty, but agreed that eating it creates a market for these and we concluded that we wouldn't do it.  Just then, the owner of the restaurant came over to our tables and suggested that because his brother just caught the turtle, he could cook us dinner after all!  We thanks him very much, but declined telling him that it indeed looked delicious.  He also apologized that he didn't have any whale meat for us because he had finished up the last of the whale meat from the freezer just last week!

Off we went down the road towards the airport...still looking for a restaurant!

We came upon a place that Kathy and Greg had purchased beer, but had never eaten a meal before.  It was called Toko's .  A very big and gruff gentleman met with us and said he had shark and conch and would gladly make up a small buffet table for the 6 of us.  Like turtle and whale, both conch and shark are becoming much less numerous in the Caribbean  However, we resigned ourselves to this meal and headed out to the patio with 6 more cold hairoun beer. While waiting, we watched the neighboring fishermen throwing out seine to catch bait fish.  When the owner called us for lunch at 2:00pm, we were ready!  The meal consisted of conch fritters, small shark steak fried up in seasoning and light batter, potato salad, green salad and breadfruit.  We all had a couple helpings and left some behind.  

Fishing boats stored

 

Toko's Bar and Grill...for the best fish on the island!

Full of food and drinks we decided that the hour walk back to our boats would take away some of the damage done by the lunch time extravagance!  Michelle and Greg were way up ahead and when we came around the corner, we spotted them sitting on the balcony of yet another bar...oh my!  The hell here never ends!

We thought we lost them...but here they were in another bar along the road!  Notice Michelle giving the "Queen's Wave".

Finally, we made it back to the Admiralty Bay and back to our respective boats where we all bathed in the ocean and went to bed early!

Arrived in Bequia, Pics to Follow

We arrived in Bequia yesterday around 1600H, but had to anchor 3 times before we found the sand and avoided the rubble. We actually sailed down the coast of St. Lucia on Saturday afternoon to break the trip up, anchoring at the surviving SMMA (Suffrier Marine Management Association) buoy, and enjoyed an excellent snorkel before sundowners and sleeping. Sleeping was so-so, with high waves and Cat Tales batting the buoy back and forth with its bows like a cat with a pingpong ball between its paws. Still, it was enough, and we set sail at 0615H on Sunday, with two reefs in the main and half the jib rolled up. The apparent wind varied between 18 and 27 knots and the seas were large and confused, but it really wasn't a bad ride with the low area of sail up, and the wind on the beam. We kept the rig the same behind St. Vincent, and still enjoyed an average speed of 6 knots in the more sheltered areas, primarily because of the flat water there; although the wind angle, on the beam also helped.

Interestingly, the seas were much flatter in the cut between St. Vincent and Bequia, even though the apparent wind was a constant 23 knots, and we were close-hauled.

We had planned to stop in St. Vincent and enjoy the island, but after researching it on the internet, found that boats are still being broken into, and not all people were that friendly. If we can't leave the boat, what is the sense? It is a shame the locals do not see the bigger economic picture. One break-in within the highly connected cruising society, and the average cruiser stays away for two or three years! One man gains around $200, but the community loses tens of thousands, maybe much more.

On our way in, the local photographer caught us in his dinghy, and took some photos. He dropped the proofs off this morning, and we're pondering whether and which to purchase. As well, we anchored beside the US flagged "Indigo", with Greg and Kathy aboard. We last saw them in 2009, when they crossed from Trini to Grenada with us. They stayed put because Kathy had some back trouble. We will have some catching up to do, when they visit tonight.

We called into the local VHF net this morning, announcing our arrival, and "Easy Listening", out of Lunenburg, NS, with Al and Michelle on board called us up. We last saw them down here in 2004 in Bermuda, waiting to go south. We have seen Michelle since in Canada, as she works the boat shows - She runs a sail loft called "Stevens Sails". Our social calendar will fill up.

We're hoping for rain to wash all the accumulated salt off the boat, but there is no rain in the immediate forcast! It is amazing how much salt piles up as the spray and wash falls and concentrates.

All for now, we're late for Customs and Immigration.

Last blog

If you've already gone to our last blog entry "hiking in St. Lucia", then please go back there again.
I uploaded that blog using my iPad, and I see that the pictures are clipped on the right side. Simply click on the first photo and you can see them all in full size and easily go from one to the next by clicking on the thumbnails at the bottom of the page where you just opened the photo.

Just another learning curve in the techno world!

Laurie and I will be heading to Bequia on Sunday to await our company on the 27th, Ron and Judy from home.

hiking in St. Lucia

Lorna and Brian from 'Peace and Plenty' along with Kristin from 'Silk Pajamas' took a hike with us the other day to the north part of the island. The hike itself was rather short, however, it took us a bit over an hour to get to the hike start. We left our dinghies at Pigeon Island where our boats are anchored and walked through the park, past the back end of Sandals and out onto the busy highway where we walked single file to stay safe from the traffic. With cars coming and going on the wrong side of the road, you have to really think instead of letting instincts take care of you.


When we arrived at Morne Pavillion, it became a shady walk in the woods, although a little on the uphill side. At the top of the hill, we enjoyed looking at the WWII artifacts and imagined just what was here in the days. We also came across ruins of a large building being taken over by the trees. We were told that this was a house that was under construction in the early 1960;s. Construction stopped when the owner could not use up the materials quicker than they were walking away from the site. It was that man's son who donated all the land to the St. Lucia Heritage Trust. The views of the mountains and shoreline along the south and the view of the topography of Martinique to the north were breathtaking!

When we walked back down the hill and back onto the highway, Lorna suggested a 1 mile detour, which I thought was amazing since she was really feeling the distance and the heat of the walk. Come to find out that she knew where to get a wonderfully decadent lunch at the Golf Course! So, off we went. After ordering a round of ice cold piton beer, we ducked into the washroom only to find it was the best one we had ever seen here in the Caribbean. Kristin even took the time to wash her feet and clean up her blisters. She had scraped her foot pretty badly about 4 days before this while cleaning barnacles off the bottom of their boat, Silk Pajamas! She was a trooper to even tackle the walk since her sandals directly rubbed the scrape. Well, no one from the golf club noticed and she left the room clean and tidy! Imagine, running water, soap, toilet paper and paper towel all in the same washroom. That was a 5 star event!

On the way from the restaurant, we stopped by an abandoned restaurant. We could only think that it went defunct in or around 2008 with the economy troubles. The vegetation was taking over and so far, very little vandalism had occurred. It looked like it was beautiful at one time.

We arrived back at our boats late in the afternoon after leaving at 10:00 that morning!! What a great day!

The other pictures were taken up in Martinique of a sweet turtle in Grand Anse D'Arlet.

You'll also see all the beach toys the large cruise ship took to the beach for the folks to play with!

Also, the cockpit pictures are from an evening with Denis and Arleen, Lorna and Brian, Glen and Jenny, Kristin and Terry and of course ourselves!

I have uploaded this blog using my iPad.  and I see that the pictures are clipped on the right side.  Simply click on the photo and you can see them all in full size and easily go from one to the next by clicking on the thumbnails at the bottom of the page where you just opened the photo.

no new news...sorry

I have a blog all set to upload with many pictures, however, the internet isn't strong enough here at Jambe de Bois to upload any pictures or text so it will have to wait. The crowd here this afternoon is using up all the bandwith and it may improve when the cruise ship leaves.

Just to let you know that we're safe and sound sitting here in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.

Dentist work done!

A few weeks ago up in Dominica, my (Dawn) crown fell off in two pieces in the middle of a great lunch. We waited until we got back to Rodney Bay in St. Lucia to check in with Dr. Glace, a well known and respected dentist among sailors here. On Monday morning, I called his office and they set me up for Wednesday morning at 8:00. Well, that's a half hour dinghy ride, so we were on our way at 7:30 am. The night before we had a great evening aboard Cat Tales with Denis and Arlene (Tiger Lily II), Terry and Kristin (Silk Pajamas), Glyn and Jenny (Wandering Star), Lorna and Brian (Peace and Plenty). So, off we go to the dentist bright and early! Dr. Glace built me a temporary crown over the course of about 45 minutes to an hour and I paid the bill and we were on our way. The total cost was 350.00 EC which is around 100 CAD dollars...a great deal. His price for a check up and cleaning is 145.00 EC, so Lorna and Brian are thinking about getting their dental needs sorted out before arriving back home in London, Ontario.

This afternoon, Laurie and Brian are working on wiring improvements on Peace and Plenty, while Lorna and I are over at Jamb de Bois checking email and setting up a blog. We'll stay here for about a week and then will head south towards Bequia and the Tobago Cays where we are expecting company for the first week of March. All for now...Dawn

Safe Arrival in St. Lucia

Laurie and I had a marvelous sail from Martinique down to St. Lucia yesterday! It was smooth sailing, as they say with very little salt water on the boat and NONE in the cockpit!!

After arriving, we had our anchor down beer with my Lorna and Brian (Peace and Plenty) and then on to Jam de Bois for dinner where we met up with many other old friends.

I have an appointment this Friday with a dentist in Rodney Bay. I lost a crown a couple weeks ago up in Dominica. I still have it, but unfortunately it's in 2 pieces! It's a tooth that had a root canal done to it, so it's not a big deal...just chewing on my left side. Seems that I'm able to get as many calories into me, so nothing has changed.

Laurie is giving the engines a good long look-over this morning and then we're off to the mall this afternoon and maybe the food court for lunch!

Goodbye Martinique

We're leaving Martinique in an hour or so. The trip to Rodney Bay St. Lucia is about 26 nautical miles, and may take 4-5 hours. The wind has dropped below 20 knots, but the seas are expected to still be up. Bumpy but safe!

We are looking forward to rendezvousing with our friends from Tiger Lilly II, Silk Pajamas, Peace and Plenty, Stopp Knot, Wandering Star, and the rest of the gang who favour Rodney Bay.