Bequia, Dec. 29th

The sail from Mustique to Bequia was short and exciting. Starting with a gentle breeze, we were overtaken by a squall that gave us up to 30 kts and a lot of rain too. An hour later we took out the reef and unfurled the genoa again and by 1:30 pm we entered Admiralty Bay.

A beautiful and wide bay with as much as 75 yachts and cats already anchored... Still there was enough room and it didn't take too long before another 'Walter' helped us with a mooring buoy.

Next came the bread man, the ice man, the water and diesel guy and the lobster guy :-)

Port Elisabeth is the main village and not too big. It's picturesque and totally ready for all the yachties. I managed to have the gas canisters filled and get the laundry done. Bequia is also famous for it'scraftsman for all kind of woodwork. So I went to Caribbean wood to get a new teak handrail that was broken. However, Caribbean Wood was closed for the holiday... :-(

Another yachty told me to go to Parish Workshop, Jim would be able to help me. It took me some time to find him and indeed it was only a workshop. But Jim was very friendly man and did help me out. He made me a new handrail, by hand and did it right away. He was a real craftsman but it still took him over an hour to fix it. I was watching him all the time and I must say that I was impressed by his skills. When he was done he asked me if he could ask $ 60 EC, that is about € 20..... I told him that that was perfectly okay and thanked him very much. Back home that peace of wood would have cost me at least 5 times as much and it would definitely not be better or nicer!

This morning we went for a dive. That was amazing, not only because of the fish but far more because of the scenery. Rock formations with numerous kinds of coral in beautiful colors. Too bad my camera doesn't go that deep...

After the dive we checked out at customs and immigration and did some shopping. Tomorrow morning at daybreak we'll leave for St Lucia and have dinner in Rodney Bay. That will be Marc's and Clare's last night... They'll leave Saturday.... :-(

Mustique, a different world

Mustique really is a different world, especially compared to the other Islands.

We took a small tour by taxi and the driver showed us some if the estates on the Island. That is from a distance and only those that were at all visible. He dropped us of at the lagoon beach, a very nice beach indeed but aren't they all.. :-)

Later the taxi driver picked us up again and took us back to Basil's Bar where we had lunch.

Just in front of us another super yacht got into the bay. This one had a helicopter on deck...

Well whatever, I can't say it's a nice boat especially not compared to the super sailing yacht that came in yesterday. But then again, you can't just sail her, you need at least 20 crew...

Tobago Cays, Canouan

Tobago Cays is probably one of the most famous places in the Caribbean and, for a reason.

The only way to get there is by boat. The Cays is a group of 3 tiny islands surrounded by reefs. The whole place is a nature reserve with a turtle sanctuary and it is indeed fabulous!

Once you managed to pass the reefs and found a spot to drop the anchor, at least one boat will come by to make sure you're okay.... whatever you might need, Walter in our case will bring it to you. We ordered some croissants and banana bread for the next morning :-) We skipped the beach barbeque with lobster and stuff but as we went to the beach we bought a T-shirt.

We took the dinghy to snorkel. I had seen a turtle before but this was amazing. Numerous turtles gently swam around, obviously used to snorkelers :-) I also saw some stingrays but you don't want to get too close to them...

The reef was great too but so was the current. You could hardly stay were you were, let alone swim into it. So it didn't take too long to get tired and head back for the dinghy...

Next morning Walter brought our stuff and after breakfast we sailed to Canouan. Union Island, Tobago Cays, Canouan, Mustique, Bequia are all part of the Grenadines and the Grenadines belongs to St Vincent, not to Grenada.

Canouan is a beautiful little Island with Charleston as the main and only village. As soon as we entered the bay another Walter showed up in a boat to help us with a mooring buoy. There were some other yachts but the resort seemed to have only 2 or 3 guests. We went ashore and walked around a bit. As we passed the 'supermarket' annex bar, I was called over to meet and sit with some guys and have a drink, the local rum mixed with some kind of juice. The people are indeed very friendly. I could only get away after I promised I'd come back later to buy a bottle of their rum :-)

I don't think they can legally brew that kind of stuff in Europe, it's 87.5%. If you'd drop the bottle, it'll explode!

Next morning we sailed over to Mustique. Mustique is a very exclusive Island where all kinds of celebrities and royalties own a place. The whole place is run by a private company but you can rent a one room cottage for $ 15.000 a week...

We had booked a table at Basil's Bar to have a delicious Xmas dinner. Luckily the price of that was more normal :-). We didn't see any celebrities, at least no one I know... :-o but watching the people there was fun. You indeed enter a different world at Mustique :-)

Thursday Dec. 22nd , Birthday at Union Island

We left True Blue Bay for Carriacou in the afternoon after picking up the new windlass and chacking out with the authorities. It was supposed to be a 6 or so hr sail but it took us all night to sail upwind in a force 6-7 :-o.

When we got into Tyrell bay it was already light. It had been a bumpy ride but a good ride, so much better then the North sea in these conditions. We stay over for the night and got some sleep. Early next morning, on Rutger's birthday, we left Tyrell Bay for Union Island. We had quite a lot of wind, about 30 kts, and it too was upwind all the way. Still it was a great sail! The plan was to check in with customs and immigration and sail on to Tobago Cays.

By the time we arrived at Clifton, Union Island, it was about 1 pm so we decided to stay for the night and go on next morning. At Union Island we also could go out for dinner and go to a bar to celibrate Rutger's birthday :-)

We found a berth at the yacht club, that was nice because the wind and the swell had picked up more so we could get ashore without getting wet.

After having lunch and getting cleared with customs and stuff we did some shopping. Rutger bought me a nice T-shirt.... 'born for sailing.... forced to work' :-)

We had dinner at a restaurant with a live steel band. At first it sounded like they were playing for the first time, but that was the way they started any new song. Then they started to play for real and very goo too!

Of course they also played 'happy birthday' for Rutger. That was really great! Happy birthday in a steel band variation … that sounds much more happy :-)

Later on we went over to a bar and had a couple of drinks until they closed up at around 1 pm.

I guess Rutger will never forget his 21^st birthday :-)

Today we installed the new windlass and did some other jobs on the boat. Tomorrow we'll leave for the Cays and stay there for the night. That is, if the anchor will hold.... the wind has picked up a bit more and although we'll be sheltered by the reef, that will only go for the swell, not for the wind.

True Blue Marina Grenada

Sunday Dec. 18^th

Last night we had dinner at True Blue Bay. Marc made the reservation but had already had a beer or two and obviously had trouble pronouncing his name, looking at the card they made for us.. :-)

This morning at 09:30 we all went for a dive, two actually, at Shark reef and Glovers reef. At the end of both dives, Rutger and I had to do a few tests, like taking off your mask, put it back on again and clear it. That wasn't to o hard...

The dives were amazing, especially for Rutger and me. It was our first real dive.

We saw a lot of fish, including a couple of nurse sharks, a stingray, turtles, moraines and lots of others. Also the corals were very beautiful. We went down to about 16 meters, too deep for my camera unfortunately...

After we came back Rutger and I filled in our new diving logbook, so now we're officially open water qualified divers :-)

This afternoon we'll chill at the pool or dodgy dock, the bar at the waterfront. Tomorrow we'll go back to budget marine to get the windlass and change the decklight. I wanted to fix the light but a part was missing so now I have to chill out too :-)

Also we'll do some shopping tomorrow and get some provisioning supplies for the coming days. The plan is then to leave for Carriacou on Tuesday and go for Union Island the day after. That means going back to customs and immigration again since Union Island belongs to St Vincent. From there we'll go to the Grenadines and Tobago Keys, celebrating Xmas and Rutger's birthday at Mustique :-)

True Blue Marina

Grenada, Saturday Dec. 17^th

Monday we did the rainforest tour.... that was a real great tour. Our guide was a guy named Darlington, a local Rastafarian with rasta hair that went down to his calves... More then once his hair got stuck when he closed the door of the van :-) In the jungle he bundled it and put it in his pocket!

Anyway, he really knew his forest and all the plants and birds, he told us many amazing stories and showed us a lot of exciting spots. Whenever he saw a bird, he would look at the color of one of our T-shirts and the one with the closest match in color had to remember the name. Mine was the 'breast speckled spine tail', you would think he made that up on the spot. However every time he took out his bird book and showed us a picture and all the names were in the book too...

He kept on talking and telling stories about the animals and the Island of Tobago. So by the time we had lunch it was around 5 pm.

By that time Kitty had fixed a seat on the plane from Trinidad and was due to arrive in Tobago at around 6 pm. So we had to skip the 'afternoon' part of the trip to get in time to the airport and sort things out with the letter to get her through customs and immigration.

Since we were a bit pressed for time, Darlington drove us to the airport via a shorter route.... He drove like a madman, but kept us assuring he knew all the (6) roads very well, where to hit the break and where to step on it... That didn't kept him from stopping from time to time to have a chat with somebody he saw walking down the road...

Anyway, when we arrived at the airport, Kitty already had gotten though customs and immigration.... nobody had asked her about any letter... I guess she flew in from Trinidad, a doestic flight. They should had checked things when she boarded the plane but well, that's Trinidad....

Tuesday Kitty and I still had to go over to immigration in Scareborough to get her on the crewlist. Next stop was customs to get clearance to leave Tobago.

We wanted to sail to Englishman's Bay first and then leave for Grenada but for that we needed a separate clearance which I found was too much. So we didn't bother telling them.... :-o

Englishman's is listed as the 6^th most spectacular anchorages and... it is! We didn't visit the first 5 yet but I believe whoever made up the list. It's a bay at the edge of the rainforest with only one hut where you can eat roti and that's it. The beach is gorgeous and unspoiled, a river from the forest flows into the sea and you can sea how the fresh water mixes with the salt water...

We stayed the night and most of the next day, snorkeling and eating roti. At the end of the day Jur, Elisabeth and Stephaan joined us for a goodbye drink. The had rented a car and drove over the bay/

After they left we set sail for Grenada.

It was about 80nm and we figured it would take us about 14 hours. We had to get in early next morning.... Marc and Clare had thought it might be nice idea to give Rutger his paddy open water diving for his birthday :-) Actually Clare already had called them and made the booking. Rutger was very excited when they told him!! However, that also meant he had to study. The course includes a theory exam that he had to take the next day... :-) Clare had brought the book with her so Rutger spent all his time reading...

The sail to Grenada was great. With 15 kts we actually had to slow the boat down, otherwise we would have gotten in at 4 am :-o

We arrived at around 6:30.and found a berth in True Blue Marina, next to the diving center. I thought I’d join Rutger and luckily for me, we could take the exam on Saturday so after clearing immigration and customs, I also had some time to study.

The first part of the course was in the pool and went really great. Today, before the real thing, we took our exams. Rutger of course beat me in the score, but we both passed. The dives today went great too so tomorrow we'll have a fun dive in a marine park and Marc, Clare and Kitty will join us.

That will be fun!!

Monday we have some work to do at the boat. The decklight didn't make the crossing so we'll have to replace that. Also I got a new windlass which has to be installed and a new outboard. The ride to customs and immigration was indeed the last ride of the old one and I was lucky to get a tow from s real nice guy from another yacht in the bay.

Monday Dec. 12^th

The first day in Tobago was mostly taken by the administrative things. I went over to customs to find out I first had to go to immigration... :-o At immigration I had to fill in all the forms but nonetheless the rest of the crew had to come over too to present themselves. Then I learned that I hed to write a letter to the chief immigration officer to ask permission to add Clare and Kitty to the crew list, also Jur has to present his hotel booking in order to get him off the crew list....

but first I had to go back to customs to get clearance to go ashore... There they told me I can't sail to the North of the Island without getting clearance first and of course I have to report at Charlotville to get clearance to leave Tobago...

Anyway, after I did all this we went up to King George fort. That was at the top of the mountain ans since it was very hot we had to take a break every 15 minutes and have a drink. At the last stop we had a beer at a Errol's place. We had a nice chat with Errol and when we came down from the foert we had another drink there and asked him for a good place to have dinner. He recommended a restaurant in Plymouth, about 15 minutes by car. He also happened to know this Scotty who would take us there. He would come over soon anyway to have his beer so if we wanted he could call him. So Scotty had his beer and took us to this restaurant. That really was a good place and we had a great dinner. Prices were European but that was okay. Afterwards Scotty picked us up again and joined us for a drink at the bar just 100 meters down the road. The music was good and loud !!

Scareborough is not a very nice place to stay, it's kind of shabby so next day, after we had a traditional Xmas breakfast with all kinds of local dishes at Errol's place, we sailed to Store Bay, some 12 nm further, just round the Southern corner of the Island. That was more like in the brochure... :-) A beautiful bay and beach. Also from there it's a 10 minute walk to the airport where we picked up Clare. The letter I wrote was stamped by immigration and I had to take that to immigration. Clare was already prepared so when they asked her for the letter she could tell them it had actually been delivered. It was a good thing I had gone through all this because she would not have gotten past immigration otherwise. Afterwards we had a drink with the crew from Maja, the yacht we met mid ocean and had just arrived in Store bay too. That had skipped Barbados because of the same letter crap they needed for the wife of the skipper who was flying in on Monday.

Anyway, Sunday we chilled out on the beach. There Franky came along and offered us to take us for a rainforest trip. That was something we already had planned to do when Kitty had arrived, so we booked a tour for Tuesday together with Jur, Elisabeth and her brother who would arrrive an Sunday. Actually, Franky would take us all to immigration first so we could sort out the changes in the crew list so that was very handy.

He also sold us tickets for the step up Sunday School, a kind of tradition where everybody is partying on the street, with life steel bands, food and drinks of course.

Although it was not as crowded as we expected, it was nice and the steel band was very good.

Today we took the dinghy to go to the lagoon, just North of Pigeon Bay. Luckily the outboard still runs. Rutger got capsized the day before when landing on the beach. A wave took him by surprise… Everything was floating is the see and the outboard was upside down. Luckily it wasn't still running so it did start later but obviously it hadn't liked the dipping and ran with a hiccup...

Anyway the lagoon was gorgeous and we had a great time. When we came back at the boat to get ready to pick Kitty up from the airport, she called me to tell me that her flight from Curacao to Trinidad was canceled. Technical problems.... they would try and get another plane but that wouldn't be until tomorrow. Later she send me and sms to tell me there wasn't a flight available form Trinidad to Tobago so it might be she won't be able to get in before Wednesday... :-(

Well anyway, I guess this is Caribbean style too. Too bad she'll miss the rainforest tour tomorrow but she has a good place to stay over with her father.