[Captains Blog] Bequia

We returned from Tobago Cays yesterday after a two-night stay tucked in tight under the lee of Petit Bateau while most of the other boats were exposed to the winds that were blowing strong out on the reef. We were ideally positioned to be able to see all the comings and goings of the fleet of small craft making their way through the channel to the main anchorage, but missed out on the breeze. The water got a little rolly overnight on the first night, which meant that Debra didn't sleep, so she spent the next day catching up snoozing out in the cockpit. We went for a tour around the anchorage in the dinghy, pulled it up on the strip of sand where the turtle sanctuary is, and I had a snorkel. No turtles, but some huge starfish at least 18 inches across.

The trip back was boisterous, and with the winds and tide against us we were being pushed away from Bequia, which, coupled with the current that was directly on the nose, the last couple of miles were achieved with the engine on. Strangely, a ship was aground in between two islands, and it looked to us as though the skipper had tried to run between them and failed. Any charts would have told him that he was stupid to try. It was a hard lesson for someone to learn, and an expensive one to boot.

Our power management is holding up surprisingly well at the moment, it might have something to do with the constant winds blowing the aerogen round, but since we had the fridge attended to in Le Marin we have been able to turn the control right down to its lowest and the keel cooler is doing the rest. Less power needed means more in the battery bank. When we get the solar panels fitted in January, we should have what energy we need from nature, less usage of the engine/generator and less diesel. The water maker is working well and we run the generator for an hour or two a day to run it in 230v mode to keep the water tanks topped up as well as the batteries.

There are fireworks here in the bay tomorrow night at midnight, should be good! Happy new year everyone!

[Cruise News] Tobago Keys, The Grenadines

We headed down here yesterday and have anchored tucked behind the island of Baradel which offers some protection should a squall come through .... don't want a repeat performance of Christmas 2010!  The Keys are just as lovely as we remembered them with crystal-clear waters, sands so white they almost blind you, and fish and turtles ... a true paradise for snorkelling.  It's pretty busy but most people try to anchor behind the reef so we are afforded a bit of peace and quiet.

We'll be heading back to Bequia tomorrow to get a place to anchor in time for NY Eve - it's always a popular place to be!

[Cruise News] Bequia

We've had a great couple of days since we've arrived back in Bequia with friends old and new.   When we were heading into town in the dinghy on Christmas Eve we spotted Pandora (the boat we rented 2010/11) at anchor with someone leaving in a dinghy and heading the same way.  We detoured to catch them up and lo and behold it was Mike and Nicola, owners of Pandora.  This was a big surprise as we thought she was out on charter so we had a quick chat and arranged for them to come over to Tumi that afternoon to see her and for a proper catch-up.  

Rum cocktails and rosé wine later, having put caught up on a lot of news, we headed over for drinks and dinner on the boat of some friends from this season, Tim and Paula.  We got to know them in Martinique spotting that they were flying a Devon flag and stopping by to say hello and being invited on board for a sundowner.  They live in Kingswear, just across the River Dart from Dartmouth, and are crossing the Pacific early next year, so we had a lot in common and to chat about.  Anyway we enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve balmy evening with them with the backdrop of lots of twinkling mast lights and colourful lights ashore .... really pretty.

During the night the heavens opened and washed off all the salt encrusting Tumi from the rather boisterous sail down here on Tuesday but Christmas morning dawned still and calm with the sun shining.  We joined six other British sailors for a late lunch at a local restaurant, sitting out on a verandah with a Swedish chef's interpretation of a traditional Christmas meal.  Well we got the turkey, stuffing and sprouts as we expected, but the potatoes were somewhat on the spicy side (a big understatement), the sausage wrapped in bacon gave the good old chipolata a run for its money and we had a side order of corn bread.  What really made us smile was the extra gravy, plenty of it but served from a tea-pot!  Anyway lunch was a relaxed and tasty affair, if a little different.

Being our third season in the Leeward and Windward Islands, we're not going to be posting as many photos this year as we've probably photographed them all before ... and we probably looked better then than we do now!  So only a few highlights will appear until we're in new territories, the first photo of the season being the aforementioned Christmas lunch .... just to show we're not forgetting our British roots!!

We're pick up Paul's son and his girlfriend on 1^st January to tour the Grenadines so have 6 days to reacquaint ourselves with our former favourite spots so we can give them a good holiday.  We think we'll head down to the Tobago Keys tomorrow to get the ball rolling but will be back in Bequia for New Year's Eve when there is a big firework display and party.  Should be fun.

[Captains Blog] Bequia

We have put Tumi through her paces on the way down from Martinique to Bequia, and she sailed beautifully between the islands, reaching nearly 10 knots at times, even triple reefed. We kept up with the larger catamarans and even outpaced some of the smaller ones that were racing down the leeward side of the islands trying to get here before us to pick the best anchorages. It was a very satisfying trip with winds of over 30 knots on the beam. We and the boat ended up here covered in crusted salt from all of the spray our bow wave created along the way, so an immediate shower was in order on arrival in Bequia to feel human again. The boat had to wait for a rain shower to achieve the same effect.

On the way, we noticed that the sea birds have adapted their hunting techniques to make the most of the boats like ours ploughing through the water and disturbing the many shoals of flying fish that scatter off to the side of our bow skittering over the waves to find a safe distance before splashing back in. The brown boobies (there are a lot of them around in the sunshine, and not all of them have wings) ride the winds, soaring just above the wave ahead of the boat waiting, and once the flying fish break surface, they swoop down, diving into the water, slicing through the surf and emerging a second later with a fish in their beak. Then it is onto the next one and the next one. I saw one bird chasing down a larger fish that glided for about 200 metres, but the fish was lucky on that occasion and got away, much to the booby's chagrin. For me, it was fascinating to see how creatures continue to develop their skills and evolve, Darwin eat your heart out!

 Once here we dug the anchor well into the seabed on the western side of Admiralty Bay and made sure that we weren't moving, then it was my job to get the dinghy down from the davits, put the outboard engine on, and go ashore to clear in. It was after 4pm when I got ashore and so we suffered the extra cost of overtime payment which I wasn't expecting, but the immigration lady was very pleasant, which softened the blow.

Bequia is just as we remembered it from 4 years ago. The familiar waterfront, the Rasta fruit and veg market, the restaurants, bars and various stores are all still there, and it is a real pleasure to be back. It seems that the island hasn't been spoilt in our absence. The technology available has moved on, and we now have a Bequia phone number, which we purchased along with a data plan so we can access emails and the internet over the phone network, and now we have a Tumi network all of our own to hook into. It makes life so much easier as we don't need to go ashore and have a drink in one of the bars just to access the web. I'll just have to stock more beer on the boat!

[Cruise News] Admiralty Bay, Bequia, The Grenadines

We're back in Bequia and very glad to be so.  After the disappointment of visiting Grand Anse D'Arlet, which seemed rather down at heel this time - sad to see - it;s lovely to see Bequia thriving and just as we remembered it .... charming, friendly and beautiful.And a real surprise this morning was to bump into Mike & Nicola who very much started our Caribbean sailing experience when we rented Pandora from them in 2010/2011.

Anyway, we'll post more very soon but just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone.