Wednesday, October 21st, we have just arrived in Blue Lagoon Bay on St.Vincent and we have internet on the boat ! What a treat ! We are not anchored but moored on a buoy because apparently the holding is not good here, too many stones and not enough sand. Although Stefan still wanted to anchor I insisted on the mooring because of the good night sleep, there were too many other boats around us moored on a buoy. We motored all the way from Cumberland Bay to here because there was just no wind. Good for the batteries and the watermaker but not something you want to do a lot. We did take some time to do a MOB (Man Over Board) excercise and found out we definitely need some more practice on this! This is scheduled for the next week.

We left Bequia (pronounced Bekway) on October 17th to sail to Cumberland Bay on Saint Vincent.

Stefan had changed the oil of one of the motors the day before. I must say he keeps surprising me :-). We had smooth sailing for about 3 hours and then we needed the help from the motor to get to our destination. We were surprised of the untouched nature in St.Vincent. So beautiful and green. No white sandy beaches in St.Vincent since this is a vulcanic island the sand is black at the beach. We were especially looking forward to the hiking on the island. When we arrived we immediately were helped to not only anchor(the bow) but also have the stern of the boat tied to a palm tree. The boat did not move 🙂 ! There were only two other boats in the bay. No internet except at the one restaurant open. There were several vendors of fish, souvenirs and fruit. We got lucky with the fruitman since he had fresh guava and passion fruit. Yummy !

October 18th, sunday, we were going for a small hike but ended up walking for 3,5 hours! The sun was hot but luckily there were some parts in the woods. We went through the village into the woods and had a feast on the mangos hanging there for the taking.

The tropical forest was really beautiful, we saw only one other person who told us the road back to Cumberland Bay would take “hours”. We decided to do the full loop anyway instead of turning back…We arrived back at the boat at 4PM so not too bad. Apparently we did miss all the marijuana (it is called Ganja here)plantations during our walk. I read later that St.Vincent has the second highest production of marijuana in the Caribbean. Jamaica is number one. It is illegal to plant marijuana but the government is not doing a lot against it (elections are coming up). One pound costs about 500EC dollars in St. Vincent.

October 19th, we went to the bay next door, Wallilaboo with Flipper. This is the bay where they filmed the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, the Curse of the Black Pearl. Still today, we are about 10 years later, tourists come to see this bay for this reason.

We decided to hike into the town, apparently there was a waterfall. Whlie we were walking we heard the ice cream man and got an ice cream

October 20th, we decided to hike the vulcano La Soufriere today so we had to get up at 5AM as a taxi was picking us up at 6 AM with our guide, rasta Kenny. We would hike the more challenging route, from the beach up to the top, 1230 meter. More about this in my next blog update.

Today, October 13 at Admiralty Bay in Bequia, I am sitting at the Fig Tree restaurant, which is closed today, but I can  use their wi-fi, thank you Cheryl ! I cannot believe it has been 10 days since our last update. It is just so difficult to get strong internet so we get to the site and upload pictures. For the Esko readers, AX is superfast compared to the internet which we usually have in the different islands…:-), so I learned to be patient, ofcourse with a rumpunch or pina colada it makes it easier.
October 3rd, we left Tyrell Bay in the morning to sail to Tobago Cays. We sailed through the south entrance which apparently is a little tricky with all the reefs, we hesitated but it went fine. We managed to get a beautiful spot in front of horseshoe reef. The weather was beautiful, sun, some clouds and wind. There were only two other boats there. During the season this place can be packed with 20 boats! Time to go snorkeling and hiking on the different islands : Petit Bateau, Petit Rameau, Baradel and Jamesby.

October 4th, snorkeling, hiking and a lobster barbecue on the beach of Petit Bateau. Returning back to the boat with flipper in the dark was not simple, we had to struggle to get flipper back in the water. It was fun but we were both soaking wet arriving at the boat. No problem with 28 Celsius.

October 5th, special birthday…30th wedding anniversary! My morning swim was to Jamesby Island and Stefan joined with flipper and dry clothes so we could hike (little hike) to the top.

We decide to leave and sail to Saline Bay on Mayreau island. Sailing was perfect, 15 knots of wind and sun. Upon our arrival we were welcomed by a fisherman who was willing to get us a fish for dinner. We went into the little town of Mayreau, 300 people live on the island, no bank, one supermarket…We had pina coladas on the boat to celebrate and were waiting for our fish but at 6PM I knew he was not going to come … it was an anniversary dinner with bread, peanut butter and cheese 🙂

October 6th, we hike on the island of Mayreau, with beautiful views.

At the end of the hike we returned back in the little village and peeked in the pre-school building, it was lunch.

In the afternoon we went snorkeling and had grilled chicken for dinner.

October 7th, we sail to Chatham Bay on Union Island, it rained most of the way but the sailing was good. Stefan fixed the generator by putting in a new impeller ( I am learning now about motor parts ) while I cleaned the boat. Boat life is a constant struggle against salt and sand.

October 8th, it rained almost all day, I finished reading The Japanese Lover from Isabel Allende ( definitely recommended) We did go for a hike, but returned in the pouring rain and I was not prepared for the rough terrain with my flip flops… We ended up in a local bar on the beach with our boat neighbours Barbara and Pierre from France.

October 9th, did laundry in the morning, finally some sun and lots of wind. We went hiking to the village of Ashton.

We went snorkeling in the afternoon but first bought fish from Pleasure who would also clean the fish for us.  After the hike we picked up the fish at the bar of Pleasure and had a rumpunch before sunset.

Stefan took out his second anchor because we heard that the night would be rough with wind gusts of 8 beaufort. I had hardly slept the night before, being on an anchor with pouring rain and gusts of wind of 7 beaufort, swinging around the anchor is not good for a good sleep….We were not the only boat in the bay and at 6am in the morning we got up because it was really bad outside and saw another sailing boat swinging close to our boat. Luckily they moved the boat to re-anchor further in the bay. Scary …Needless to say the next night I hardly slept as the weather was the same and this for three days…At one point there is no wind and then all of a sudden there are windgusts of up to 8 beaufort.

October 10th, much of the same rainy weather but did a hike with Alex – Claude Vandamme’s biggest fan – so we could get off the boat for some time.

October 11th, still rainy weather but we decided to sail to Bequia Island.It was 6 hours of great sailing, great wind up to 22KTS (5 beaufort) with waves of up to 2meter. I just did not get sick but could not eat during the sailing. We arrived at 4PM and I was starving then! Stefan caught his first fish during the sailing, a great mackerel! He cleaned it and we vacuum sealed it and put it in the freezer, food for two dinners ;-). We went out for dinner at the Fig Tree, so happy not to have to cook!

October 12th, went into the town of Port Elisabeth to the internet cafe, Hannah had said she would be on Studio Brussel with a request….She had requested to play the ‘Stand by Me’ our weddings’ opening dance, to wish us a happy 30th anniversary. We sat there listening with tears in our eyes….Being away from home, even in exotic places is not always easy. We sent emails and chatted with the girls at home. We re-anchored the boat to be closer to land to have internet, to a mooring buoy, but in the end the internet on the boat was still not strong enough to get on a news site. Internet cafe to the rescue.