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Thanks to everyone who has been reading our blog over the last few months and all your encouraging emails and comments which are always appreciated. We hope that you are all enjoying the festive season, have a great day.
Merry Christmas to All
Kevin & Jo
We woke early again on Christmas Eve morning for our final short hop to Bequia of 15 miles. We left St. Vincent in another rain squall, which although they didn’t last long they were fairly frequent and heavy on this sail with up to 30 knot winds accompanying them which made for another lively trip. There was quite a few other boats around, another 3 yachts going into Bequia, a couple of the inter island ferries going between St. Vincent and Bequia and a large cruise ship heading north but by far the most beautiful was a Caribbean Schooner, the Friendship Rose. They do daily charters between the Grenadines and St Vincent and they flew north from Bequia under full sail at an incredible speed but very stable despite the large swell running.
The Friendship Rose looking majestic
Owing to the shape of Bequia, there is no shelter from the land until you are in Admiralty Bay, so we were relieved to enter the natural harbour where there was another cruise ship anchored in the entrance. As we rounded the headland, we found that there was about 500 yachts already anchored! We had heard quite a few people mention Bequia and it is apparently now an annual event that this is where cruisers in the area head for the festive season, which includes a big fireworks display on New Year’s Eve. We had a little bit of hunting to find a spot to anchor but dropped our new anchor successfully in about 4m of water which was so clear I saw it hit the bottom. The resounding pull as it dug in was something we never experienced with our old anchor and was a huge relief to both of us. Kevin got in to have a look and found it was already buried to halfway up the shank and was going nowhere. We are over a sandy bottom and a large puffer fish also swam over to have a look.
Admiralty Bay, Bequia
I was straight in the dingy to provision the boat for Christmas; I walked the length of the main street. It was absolutely buzzing with people, locals and cruisers alike doing their last minute Christmas shopping in the brightly coloured shops lining the main street. The street is small with hardly any cars, there is a bright market with a great selection of fruit and vegetables and lively guys wearing rasta hats selling their wears who playfully fight with each other for your attention. There was no hassle from anyone and although the food was very expensive here, it is labelled that way and locals and cruisers alike were buying at the same price. I managed to get sliced turkey, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, turkey gravy and potatoes for lunch. I drew the line at £10 for a Christmas pudding so we are having banana bread and custard for desert, which seemed more authentic.
When I got back to the boat Kevin told me that there had been a small ships strong wind warning issued by the local coastguard starting 4pm Christmas Day until 28th Dec. We are quite safe in here but won’t be going anywhere until after New Year’s, with 10ft swell heights expected outside. There have been a few brave souls departing perhaps to catch flights or return charter boats. However, we definitely want to stay for the fireworks display on New Year’s Eve and apparently most boats stay through until New Year’s anyway. However, with upto 35 knots of wind in the anchorage through the afternoon we decided to stay on board for the evening as did most of the other boats around us. Our new anchor proving itself well as we didn’t move an inch.
However, we can already see it will be a Christmas to remember here, I told Kevin when I got back that it was going to be an expensive one for him as I wanted to move in! We are certainly looking forward to having a look around.
We were up early for the second leg of our journey to Bequia, passing across the channel to St Vincent, down the west coast (leeward side) of St Vincent and across the channel to Bequia. We had dropped the mooring line by 08:00 that morning having been awake since very early listening to the wind howling with the rain squalls passing through.
After passing the Pitons, you start to head out west towards St. Vincent as the south end of St Lucia curves away to the east. We were soon therefore in the channel with the full force of the Atlantic swell on our beam, there were also regular squalls with wind speeds up to 27 knots. It was a pretty choppy crossing and not exactly what you imagine of Caribbean cruising, but Invincible took it in her stride. We’d reefed down accordingly but were amazed how many boats we saw under full sail in those wind speeds. We think mostly charter boats and although they generally have rough cut sails to accommodate the less experienced sailors that sail them, even then they were pushing it. We were amazed at the number of boats heading south, it felt like a regatta sailing in such company, we hoped they weren’t all going to Bequia, which has a reputation for Christmas and New Year celebrations as it was going to be very crowded on the anchorage!
Regatta of boats heading south past the Pitons
After a couple of hours we were in the lee of St Vincent and it looked fabulous, much less populated with the steep volcano of Soufriere on it’s northern shore topped in cloud. Kevin had been keen to see the film set of the Pirates of The Caribbean which is located in Wallilabou Bay there. We had a look in the pilot book and it looked so good, we decided to stay the night to break the journey to Bequia.
Film set for Pirates of the Caribbean
We took a mooring buoy with the help of the ever present boat boys alongside a selection of other boats who’d also stopped in. We went ashore in the dingy and had a look around the remnants of the film set and saw the locals washing clothes in the river nearby. We were able to check in with customs for St Vincent and the Grenadines with the custom’s officer who comes to his office here for an hour at 17:00. We then had a meal in the restaurant at the end of the pier, the front of which was also in the film and in the many props and souvenirs on show there including a pirates flag signed by the cast is the mast that Jack Sparrow steps of onto the jetty at the beginning of the first film.
We had easily the best meal we have had since we arrived in the Caribbean which was authentic local food. We shared Try-Try fishcakes to start, then I had a vegetarian plate and Kevin Creole chicken, which came with rice and fried plantains plus various kidney bean and other local accompaniments. We went back to the boat and obviously watched Pirates of the Caribbean (Part 1) to spot the shots of the bay which appears as Port Royale in the film.
Locals washing clothes in the stream
Loading arm that Jack swung from to make his escape
Invincible on her mooring
Jetty that Jack stepped off his sinking ship onto and leftover cannons
Archway where Pirates were hanging from on Jack's arrival to Port Royale
Mast Jack stepped off from his sinking ship
View from restaurant
We decided to bite the bullet and buy a new anchor here as we could not continue much longer with our current one and by 8.15 we were on our way to the chandlery hoping to get everything done that morning. We decided to go for the Delta which was for sale here, we also noted on the way to buy it that 80% of the boats on our pontoon had one which was a good sign. Kevin soon had it refitted and the anchor locker and cockpit locker restowed.
I went off to Johnson’s hardware to try and get a new washing up bowl and a scrubbing brush, which may seem insignificant, but our water consumption across the Atlantic was significantly lower through the bowl we bought in the Cape Verdes, which had unfortunately cracked. I managed to get both and was so excited that I got straight to work on the checker plate in the cockpit with the scrubbing brush wearing a white vest top and short skirt not the best for cleaning, but I was so excited to get it looking like new (I have become like a 1950’s housewife now in my boat cleaning). It took me a while to register all the boat boys filing back and forth and I said to Kevin I should probably change, he said I shouldn’t as he was charging a fee!
By 11.30 am, we’d managed to get everything we wanted done, so I dashed up to the Customs & Immigrations office to check us out of St. Lucia so we could leave that afternoon. I assumed that they’d just look up our record from before, but no we had to fill out the whole triplicate form again with the subtle difference of a tick in the check out box instead of arrival box. I realised I needed Kevin’s signature and as I had just been given a fresh form and Kevin clearly wasn’t with me I couldn’t forge it either. It was 11:40 they closing at 12:00 until 13:30, which would be too late to get to Soufriere before dark. I raced back and fetched Kevin and we made it back by 11:50, the first guy we needed to see was out of the office, he came back but then wondered into the back office apparently to talk to a friend even though we were sat at his desk. He came back through at 11:55 and complained we’d be eating into his lunch break. He did however manage to fill in the 5 lines and three ticks within 5 minutes and allowed us to take our other sheets to the other two people in the office. We were checked out and had to leave St Lucia within 24 hours.
We went over to say our goodbyes to the many good friends we’d made here and slipped the lines. Pikorua waved us off from their boat too as we sailed off, we will see them again at our wedding in February.
Goodbye from Barry & Marie-Jeanne on Pikorua
We were soon out of the bay and sailing past the Barrel o’ Beef rock under full sail and a smile on Kevin’s face ear to ear! It was great to be under sail and off cruising again and the 15 miles to Soufriere were soon over and we were in sight of the spectacular twin mountains of the Pitons. It is a UNESCO World heritage site and you can see why. We took a mooring ball in the bay by the town of Soufriere which is in the shadow of Petit Piton. We arrived about 16:00 and had a fantastic evening watching the sunset and just admiring the view. There were a few of the 2 minute Caribbean rain showers passed through creating fabulous rainbows over Soufriere. We were both so excited to be in a new spot after too long in Rodney Bay waiting for supplies to arrive and the Pitons really has to be one of the most spectacular anywhere.
The Pitons
Rainbow over Soufriere
The ARC prize winner’s party occurred on Saturday night and Sunday morning there was a large exodus from Rodney Bay marina. We were then finally allowed to take berth in the marina so we could get water onboard and move on South. We had to ask a couple of times on the VHF through the morning before we were allowed in and when we got to the berth Barry & Marie-Jeanne were there waiting to take our lines, which was great, we were moored only one boat up from them. Barry could hardly wait to until we were tied up to tell us that Pikorua had won their class in the ARC!! It was fantastic news after all the hassles they had had on the way over with breakages and propeller losses etc. So congratulations to all the Pikorua crew!
We were straight to work as soon as we got in, refilling the water and Kevin was fitting the Fortress anchor that Barry had given us. Unfortunately, the shape of the Fortress, being a Danforth type anchor, it just wouldn’t sit comfortably in the bow roller so would not travel well there as it would need to. So we were going to have to have a rethink on the anchor, but after it dragging again in the good muddy holding of the Inner Lagoon, we were not going to trust it any longer.
We had been hard at work since 7am giving the boat a thorough clean and polish and by 2pm we were starving and ready for some food, so we decided to go for beer battered fish & rough cut chips at the Bosun’s Locker that we had seen advertised before. We ordered that and a couple of beers and waited expectantly. The waitress brought over a basket each, we looked in and found approximately 4 chips each (potato wedges) and two or three pieces of battered fish the size of fish fingers. This cost $48ECD (£12) each, I think we decided there and then that we’d had enough of Rodney Bay and the rob-the-yachtsmen prices and decided it was time to head south.
We saw Lawrence from Papillon in the afternoon who said that Lexie was recovering well and now in a hotel. Also Barry and Marie-Jeanne dropped by after saying goodbye to Barry’s daughter Jen & son Jonathan who’d flown back that afternoon. One drink turned into another and a few cocktails were had for a great last night in Rodney Bay helping Pikorua skipper and first mate to celebrate their victory again!
Marie-Jeanne & Barry from Pikorua, Class B ARC winners
We were awake very early at 4.30am by the sound of chain dragging on the gravely bottom due to rain squalls coming in and the concurrent wind increase. Although there was no real danger as we were not dragging far with all that chain and had plenty of room, it does disrupt sleep rather. When things had calmed down we got our heads down for an hour about 6am before we decided to investigate moving into the marina. We were due to be going out that evening to Gros Islet street party (the “Jump Up”) with Barry & Marie-Jeanne and preferred a safer mooring and we needed some water before moving south anyway. However, when we spoke to the marina they said all berths were reserved until Sunday, although there are several empty as many of the ARCers have moved on. We decided to try anchoring in the inner lagoon just beyond the marina which although it is pretty crowded turned out to be a perfect choice. There is no swell, we are surrounded by supermarkets we need for re-provisioning and bars and large houses and it’s really sheltered from the wind.
Kevin popped by to Pikorua to see if Barry needed a hand refitting his bowsprit and found them in the middle of celebrating the arrival of their friends aboard Blue Pearl a German Bavaria 37 crewed by Bobby and Carola who’d arrived at 4.30am that morning. We’d actually seen them cross the line when we got up. They’d all been drinking since then and were all fairly merry to say the least. It seems that Barry had also had the same plan as Kevin since our trip tp the Bosun’s Locker when they both saw the English breakfast on the menu as they were heading there next. Kevin came back in the tender to fetch me and we went to join them all.
After breakfast, we left Barry and Marie-Jeanne to collect their bowsprit and have a siesta and we went back to the boat, where Kevin also decided a siesta sounded good. I left him on the trampoline in the late afternoon sun as I went off on I think my fourth ever solo trip on the tender to the supermarket.
We met Barry and Marie-Jeanne, Jonathan, Jen and friend Henry on Pikorua at 7.30pm for G&Ts before the Jump Up in Gros Islet. Kevin collected Mike from Jeannius and then Bobby and Carola arrived from Blue Pearl, though reasonably left early having had visitors all day and not yet having rested from their 4.30am arrival. After G&Ts, we had a beer in the park area where the usual Friday night party was on complete with the best band on so far and a bigger crowd than usual. We took a taxi to Gros Islet and were soon mixing with the large crowd of locals and tourist there. There was no stage this evening but some large speakers had been erected and there was great atmosphere as everyone mingled on the street. We sampled a good selection of the local food available on the stalls including skewered kidneys, barbequed chicken, Sweet Henries (doughnut-type ball), patties of beef, conch and other fillings we were not sure of exactly. We had rum punches, spiced rums and of course local Piton beers from the various stalls and bars along the street as was only fair to distribute our custom before heading back to the marina to catch another local band on the stage.
