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Diane's Diary3/18 Mon vWe left Martinique at 9:30 am for the short sail to St. Lucia. Since the sail was so short, about 3 hours, we decided not to leave at the crack of dawn as we usually do when sailing. We usually like to leave early because we know the wind is generally lighter before 9am. The wind was out of the east- northeast which should have meant a good sail for us except they were blowing about 15-20 knots & the seas were on the beam about 6-8 feet so the boat was rolling about 25 degrees so it was a very uncomfortable sail. I had taken my seasickness medication so I didn't get seasick at all but it was definitely an uncomfortable passage & it took 4 hours. I was glad we didn't have to go any further that day & was glad when we got into Rodney Bay as my stomach was not doing so well. We had lunch & then got the dinghy into the water. Larry didn't want to put the dinghy into the water because he was tired but I wanted to go grocery shopping. They have things here that we couldn't get in Martinique like cream cheese (real Philadelphia!), shortening, Ting grapefruit juice etc. However, S/V Legacy came before we left & Joe needed to go to the supermarket too so he took me with him. That was nice as I was surely going to get wet with the dinghy we have. I wish we had bought the new dinghy & engine a year ago! Anyway, we did NOT want to spend the money to clear into customs since we were only staying for one night. Legacy was only staying the one night also to drop their daughter off at the airport & then was headed back to Martinique. They wanted to have a last meal together so we just ate on the boat ourselves. We were tired from the trip & all that running around to leave. We probably should have just stayed another day to relax in Rodney Bay but we were nervous since we weren't clearing in. We didn't want to get fined by customs. 3/19 Tues We decided to stay overnight at the Pitons, which were only a 3-hour sail away. So, since we weren't in a hurry, we didn't leave till 10:30am. We did take the dinghy engine & oars off the dinghy but decide to just trail the dinghy behind us since we would be in the lee of the island where it isn't rough & we would need the dinghy to go snorkeling in the Pitons. Anyway, it was a beautiful sail & since we weren't in a rush, we only had the main up. 2 boats passed us going into the Pitons. However, when we got there, those 2 boats that passed us got the last 2 moorings! We could have anchored stern to shore but since we were in a park we would have had to pay to do this (at the same price as the moorings!) & would not have been able to leave at 5:30am as we would have had to wait till the boat boys came to untie us. We also would have had to pay the boat boys to tie us up & then untie us the next day. Since we didn't want to do that, our only options would have been to sail back to Marigot Bay about another hour against the wind or continue south to St. Vincent or Bequia. We elected to sail to Bequia even though it was almost 2pm by this time & we wouldn't get into Bequia till around 10 or 11pm. Normally, we don't go into anchorages at night but we had been there 2 previous times, knew the anchorage well, & knew there were no obstacles or fish traps to get in out way. St. Vincent is the one island most cruisers never go too because of the boat boy problem & security issues. So, we decided to go to Bequia. Larry drove though the St. Vincent channel for the 4-hour passage. Even though we had an east- northeast wind, we had lumpy seas with seas as high as 9 feet. I could never have driven through these conditions as well as he did. Thank goodness I had continued to take the seasickness medication so even though I felt nauseous I didn't get ill. It was 7pm by the time we finally got into the lee of St. Vincent where it calmed down. I finally took over the helm so Larry could get some rest. But actually he had to navigate to make sure we were going OK then he got to rest. I had to start the engine when we got into the lee of St. Vincent as we were getting zero wind. As soon as we got into the Bequia channel, the winds came out again in full force. I was driving but got really cold so I asked Larry to take over while I got my jacket. When I returned he said he would continue on the helm which he did until we got closer to Bequia. It actually was an easy entrance & our biggest problem was making sure we didn't hit any boats that didn't have an anchor light on. We arrived around 10:30 both tired but glad we had arrived. Since we had not eaten dinner, we had a very light dinner of ramen noodles that hit the spot just right. We made sure we weren't dragging anchor & went to bed. We knew we were far out in the harbor but that was OK with us as we would just reanchor in the morning. Unfortunately, since we were so far out we rolled quite a bit but we were both so tired we slept well. 3/20 Wed We were both still tired from the passage so we took it easy today. We did move the boat in closer as we were definitely far out in the anchorage- almost near Lower Bay so we moved in closer to Princess Margaret beach, very close in towards shore, only a few hundred feet from the beach. Since customs is not a problem with having to rush to clear in here, we just decided we would do it tomorrow. We launched the dinghy. We saw our friends on S/V Great White Wonder. We had last seen them in Trinidad. We went over to their boat around 3:30 & stayed till around 5. It was really nice seeing them again. 3/21 Thurs We went into town around 10am & cleared into customs, stopped at Grenadine sails to get some repair work done on our bimini & awning, & stopped at Budget Marine. We also ate lunch out in Mac's Pizza as everyone had been telling us it was so good. Well, it definitely was the best pizza we have had in a long time but at $25USD for the both of us for lunch & 1 drink each I think it was expensive. We got back to the boat around 2:30pm. I typed some emails & we took a quick swim. GWW came over for cocktails around 5:45pm & stayed till around 8pm. We had a nice time catching up with them on all the news from Trinidad. 3/22 Friday We went into town about 10am to get our propane tank filled. We were out on our second tank & had started it on Feb 5 so we weren't sure how long this tank was going to last. We had gotten both tanks filled in Trinidad but they didn't fill them up as much as normal as we only got 2 months on the tank & we normally get around 3.5 months. They gravity feed the tanks here which supposedly means they get more propane in the tank that way. But that also meant we had to leave the tank overnight. Luckily, we have two tanks so it didn't matter that we had to leave it overnight. I'm glad we have 2 tanks. It was about $13USD to get the tank filled here vs. about $7USD in Trinidad. It will be interesting to see how much longer the tank in Bequia lasts if any. We wanted to make sure we had propane, as there is no place in the Tobago Cays or other small islands to get propane. Last year, one of the cruisers needed to get propane in Union. They did have propane but you left your bottle & took one of theirs. Since most of there tanks looked old, we didn't want to have to do this. Anyway, we got the awning & bimini back from the sail maker. We decided since we are going to stay a few days & it's definitely hotter here than Martinique, we would put up the awning to keep the boat cooler. I can definitely notice it's hotter here than Martinique - not by too much, less than 5 degrees but it's more humid here. It could also be that the summer is approaching so it's becoming hotter already. I am definitely NOT looking forward to the heat in Trinidad & we heard Venezuela is hot also but not as humid as Trinidad. It was very nice & cool in Martinique but I also remember when we were there last May that it was a lot hotter than Dec- Mar. So, we put up the awning. After lunch, I started frying up some chicken cutlets so we could have chicken cutlet with Swiss cheese in a mushroom & wine sauce. It came out pretty good as I have made this dish a lot. I was lucky to find breadcrumbs in St. Lucia - I could not find them in Martinique. Larry went for a walk on the beach while I was cooking. At 4pm, we went into shore to see this presentation by Capt Clive Kelly about the Amazon Indians & his work to protect them. It should have been very interesting as it was a good topic however, I found him boring & with a huge ego. He had previously stopped by our boat the other day & I made the mistake of telling him he was in the latest issue of Latitudes & Attitudes magazine S/V Pride had given me. Well, he wanted to take it & copy it. But I was not sure I would get it back & since my picture was in it, he asked if I would copy it. I said I would. He also stated he would pay me for the copies & give me a set of earrings for doing it. He never came through with either offer. When he came to pick up the copies he never mentioned the money & said I should come by his boat to get the earrings. It's not that I wanted anything from him, it's just I got the impression he is a user & egomaniac & I disliked him. He didn't start the talk until after 4:30 & by almost 6pm he had not shown his film. Them he said he couldn't get his film to work on their VCR so he had brought others for us to see - in all, I wish we had not gone as I think it was a waste of time. Anyway, we came back to the boat & had a really nice dinner. 3/23 Sat We went into town this morning to pick up our propane. Most of the stores close at 12 so we went early before they closed. We also went looking for the Easter Regatta T shirts but they weren't selling them today. We want to get them before they run out of the size we want. We got back to the boat around 11:30am. The rest of the day was spent working on the PC, swimming & reading. 3/24 Sun Well, we went to watch the local boats have a prewarm up race for next week's Easter Regatta. We still are undecided if we will stay for the Regatta or not. Actually, we saw only one local boat go out this morning to practice so I thought it was pretty boring. These local boats aren't half as pretty as the Yole boats in Martinique. Anyway, we went around 9:30am because Larry wanted to get there early to take pictures. We got back around 11:30. We did get to meet the local guy & his family though. The rest of the day I spent updating my logs, reading, & writing. I was tired since it rained off & on last night & the rain kept me up. I think today will just be a lazy Sunday. |