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Larry's LogSunday we all went into a small mall outside Castries where Diane and Heidi finally found some things to buy. We then went back to near Rodney Bay and had pizza for lunch, which was pretty good. Then it was back to the hotel and some relaxing on the beach. Heidi came back to the boat with us for dinner and then I brought her back to the hotel, via dinghy, to the beach. There was a dock there but it was pretty high and she didn't feel comfortable trying to climb up to it. The next day, we went back into Castries to do some MORE shopping at the open market where vendors setup their stalls. The vendors were a little pushy but not too bad, although Heidi felt they were. We didn't find anything to buy and after lunch (not too good) in a local restaurant in town, we went walked to the duty free shopping mall at Point Seraphine. There weren't any bargains to be seen there either. Oh well. We went back to the hotel and had a very nice dinner at the hotel's best restaurant. Excellent food and a good time. Tuesday we didn't do any shopping. All of us just lounged around the pool and beach for the day. The only problem was that a cruise ship was in Castries and some passengers came to the hotel to lie on the beach. It made the area crowded and noisy, and for Heidi, not exactly the type of day she wanted for her last day of vacation. Still, they only stayed for a few hours and then all was quiet again. That night, we all ate the Caribbean Buffet at the hotel that was pretty good. Heidi was leaving the next day and we came in early to meet her for breakfast. She was basically packed but did some last minute shopping in the hotel shops. We saw her off at around 12:30. I hope she enjoyed her stay; she seemed to like it. I know we enjoyed her visit. That afternoon, we went back to the boat and started cleaning the bottom. It hadn't been done in awhile and it REALLY needed it. Diane and I worked for about 2 hours, cleaning the prop, prop shaft, rudder and hull. It still wasn't completely clean, but it was much better. I also cleaned out the through-hulls, particularly the engine intake since there were some barnacles starting to grow there. Of course, I also did the speed log impeller and the depth transducer as well. The next day we prepared for the passage to Bequia. We moved the boat back to near the entrance to the lagoon, cleared out, checked on Kajsa again for Patrick and Teresa, bought some groceries, checked our email account, went back to the boat and hauled the engine onto the stern of the boat, hauled the dinghy onto the foredeck and stowed the loose items. We went to bed early, but I didn't sleep too well - don't know why. The passage to Bequia was one of the best we've had. We managed to get up at 5am and were underway by 5:45. After the anchor was up and stowed, I put duct tape over the anchor locker lid so water wouldn't get in and seep through the windlass boltholes again. I had not had a chance to fix it again. We started out with a reef in the main and the full jib. The breeze was about 15 knots in Rodney Bay and that is about what it stayed during the entire passage. South of Rodney Bay, there were clouds covering much of the island so we couldn't see much, and as we got further into the lee of St. Lucia, the wind lightened. I did manage to get some nice pitcures though, as the area around the Pitons is very beautiful. We continued sailing though and were making about 6 knots over the ground. Finally, the wind went calm and I started up the engine. At about 8:45, we passed Gros Piton, the southerly of the two peaks, and turned for the lee side of St. Vincent. We would go past St. Vincent on our way to Bequia, skipping the island because of numerous security problems we had heard from other cruisers, some of which had made the US newspapers. After passing Gros Piton, the wind picked up again since we were going out of the lee of St. Lucia. Diane noticed that the chart had a series of wavy lines at this point and asked what they meant. I said they were tidal overfalls, meaning that we could get very high and steep seas in this area because of the prevailing westerly current going against the tide. We got some of that but it was generally OK. I turned off the engine and we sailed toward St. Vincent. In the 15 to 18 knots from the East-Southeast, we had a very nice beam reach, hitting speeds up to about 8.5 to 9 knots with just a reefed main and small jib. It was one of the best passages we did. As we got near St. Vincent, the beauty of the island struck us both. It was much greener than St. Lucia, at least at that time, and the coast had many very pretty beaches and coves. I hope that one day the government will get the place "cleaned up." We did have to motor as we got further into the lee of St. Vincent and then got to sail again as we passed Bottle and Glass Reef off the west coast of the island. The sail through the Bequia Channel was also very nice with about 15 to 18 knots, again from the Southeast. We were hard on the wind since Bequia is slightly Southeast of St. Vincent, and tried to make a course of 165 to 170 degrees since the westerly current was setting us away from the bay entrance. We made the entrance, clearing Devil's Table Reef and began looking for a place to anchor. As Diane was looking through the binoculars, she said she saw Great White Wonder. We had last seen Ken and Vesta in St. Martin and had tried to say goodbye when we left the lagoon but they hadn't been on the boat. So we took down the sails and motored over. We shouted hello and they came up from below and shouted hello. They said we were just in time for a party that evening, and to come over after we were anchored. Diane said OK. It was about 4:30. We had been underway for about 10 hours, making very good time, but we were tired. We had also been up very early and didn't slept well the night before. We went back and forth about whether to go to their party. I would have to launch the dinghy, mount the engine and generally get the boat straightened out. I had wanted to just relax after the long passage. I would have launched the dinghy the following day to go into customs and clear in. Well, in the end we went over and had a very good time. They had organized a potluck aboard GWW and people had really made some nice dishes. Of course we hadn't because we just got there, but Diane did have some snack food that we brought over. So, after a good passage and a nice party, welcome to Bequia. |