Our time in Bequia was lovely and lively, with numerous hikes to the usual spots and usual enjoyment of the restaurants and bars.
 |
| The group of us visited the Heritage Museum in Bequia which was well worth the visit. A talk was given by an interesting lady complete with slides. We hung onto every word as she talked of the history of Bequia and the art of landing a whale, of which is still done today, following the guidelines set by the government and international whaling law. |
 |
| This is a huge whale bone. |
We found a weather window for our trip to Rodney Bay, and when we announced it, White Pearl insisted on a pre-Christmas party on their boat. It was attended by Steve and Maria and their guest Patty, Frank and Marie Claude, Joanna and Bill, as well as the hosts and us. It was a truly great evening. The next day, December 21, Cat Tales had a lovely sail to Chateaubelaire, St. Vincent, and a quiet night once the local kids stopped saying hello and swam to shore. The anchorage was very picturesque, with 5 other boats keeping us company. As the location has had trouble in the past, I asked on the radio what frequency everyone monitors at night, but I was not surprised when no answer came. The use of cell phones has made people a lot less responsible. We were underway before daylight at 6, simply because two boats were surprisingly circling us to anchor in the dark and we expected they’d be a complication to us.
 |
| Pre-Christmas potluck dinner aboard White Pearl (Hugh and Maria from Saint John, NB) with Steve and Maria and friend Patty, along with Joanna and Bill |
 |
| …and what comes after a very long hike in the heat?? Lunch and several beers, of course! |
 |
| Arriving at the Pitons in St. Lucia is always a stunning sight! |
 |
| Our overnight spot at Chateaubelaire, St. Vincent…stunning scenery! |
It was an easy sail to Rodney Bay, with two reefs in the main and around half the jib in use. The seas were rough, but we missed squalls and troubles, travelling between 6 and 7.5 knots. We were tired after a day of hanging on, and slept well in Rodney, just behind Komeekha by Reduit Beach. We cleared customs the next day and arranged a lunch with John Fallon. It was a great visit, and though we saw him a bit afterward, we were surprised with a good weather window and left for Ste Anne on the 29th. On Christmas day, we had Marie Claude and Frank aboard for lasagne. We only had drinks with two guests on New Years Eve: Zeke and Halley of Wabi Sabi, the big schooner cat. Still, we’ve had a meal at Le Sextante, had our usual shopping spree in Marin, and had a lovely sundowner party on a vessel named “Entomo”. The name comes from Captain Guy’s career in entomology. He has lectured for international universities on the subject as well as a significant tenure at McGill. This has been followed by another great sundowner party aboard Falcon I, with Barbara and Andrew of Ontario. We’ve also had our usual hiking and dining experience to Saline Point. It’s an hour hike to get to the restaurants at Saline, and a longer trudge back after lunch and a couple beers!
 |
| Lunch at the Basilic Restaurant in Martinique with Frank and Marie Claude from Quebec. We must say, besides being lovely friends, it was nice to have fluent French talkers when hanging about a French island with them! |
 |
| Frank and Marie Claude were stuck paddling since they’re still waiting for a part for their dinghy engine. Whenever we could we’d pick up their line and tow them one way or the other. Frank was starting to resemble Popeye! (BTW, Laurie picked out this shirt last season, all by himself! :) |
 |
| A traditional Yole sailboat. You should see these things go. When they race out in the bay, it’s spectacular! |
 |
| One of the shortest trips is the north end of St. Lucia to the south end of Martinique, and we had the perfect direction and speed of wind to make everyone onboard happy! |
We’re not sure what we will do next, but we need one or more trips into Marin, and maybe some hiking before we begin looking for a weather window. We may only go to St. Pierre, one of our favourite anchorages – intriguing views, history, geology, and beautiful clear water for swimming and wreck-snorkeling.
TECHNICAL
Well, the spilled gear oil was more tenacious than expected. A second cleaning was required with a spray of degreaser, a scrub, and a cloth followed by a vinegar wash. It isn’t yet perfect, but the smell is down a lot.
Besides that, we were thinking we were getting off rather lucky compared to others in our little group: Fathom This didn’t make it out of the boatyard because their rudder had completely seized. Then when they finally did get underway more than a week later, their windlass electric motor dropped off the windlass. They are under way now, and indeed just arrived at Ste Anne with us. Savannah Sky took off north as soon as their time was up at the marina in St. George’s, but when they attempted to anchor in Tyrell Bay, the windlass totally failed. They have made it to a mooring ball in Bequia – their second, as the first mooring ball let go in the middle of the night. White Pearl had a similar windlass failure when attempting to up-anchor in Chateaubelaire Bay, SVG. They are having it sorted in Rodney Bay right now. I can brag that we have had many windlass failures, and have so far been able to up-anchor manually – a “little boat” benefit. Komeekha had their troubles too, with some engine work needed, and a totally failed outboard for their dinghy (our cars down here). Frank has ‘enjoyed’ his extra workouts at the oars, though often someone shows up to haul or ferry them. He is anchored in front of us at Ste. Anne, and is enjoying a borrowed outboard – albeit an outboard that has required a lot of his attention. The worst problem was suffered by our friend Jock, who was dismasted at Kick-Em-Jenny. The mast came straight back on his West System boat, hit his dinghy davits and knocking his davits, his dinghy, and the complete outer skin of the back of his cockpit into the angry sea. He’s been rebuilding from scratch at the St. David’s boatyard.
 |
| Laurie chasing and fixing a leak in the starboard hull hatch. |
So, just to keep up, we had a seal failure in the seawater pump for the port engine, showing up with a scary filled bilge. I took the opportunity to upgrade some hoses and also learned from Frank of s/v Komeekha how to replace the seal without dismantling the pump. Still, it was hot work over more than two days.
We have a new ding on the starboard bow and we must find smaller amounts of gel coat for sale somewhere. Whatever one buys is solid or ruined before a year is up, and they don’t give that stuff away…
