The little island of Bequia tops our list of favourite islands. We spent 3 weeks in Bequia and were sad to leave. Not until we left and arrived in St. Lucia, did I fully appreciate how much I loved it there. We have to return to Bequia to pick up some teak we have purchased to replace the transom, and I can hardly wait to return.
We were fortunate enough to catch a couple of days of the Jazz festival being held on the island. We made our way over to Frangapini(a local restaurant/bar and hotel) along with our friends Kevin and Amanda from Solstice, the first night to enjoy the soothing sounds of the steel drums. There were a couple of different steel drum bands who played, but the one that sticks out was a 12 piece drum band that littered the night with their gentle sound. We also attended the Sunday afternoon event which was held at Lower Bay beach and the atmosphere reeked of party and as the sun shone and the people mingled we were accompanied with a jazz band mostly led by a saxophonist followed by a reggae/rock/hip-hop type of band from Barbados who were really really fantastic. They closed the jazz festival in style and had everyone on the dance floor dancing and grooving to their unique sound. A good festival, good company and good times.
Our friends Liz and Allan have purchased property on the island and we wanted to check it out so on a beautiful sunny, windy day we made our way over to the windward side to have a look. Along the way we stumbled into an old refinery transformed into a pottery studio and store. We wandered amongst the fabulous pottery and through the studio as we made our way to the beach. After checking out the property, we chilled out at the beach bar and watched Allan kite board off the beach and amongst the reefs.This beach on the windward side has to be one of the most perfect beaches we’ve come across and we were the only people enjoying it that day. A lazy but perfect day.
Unfortunately the weather window was upon us and it was time to leave Bequia. We up anchor at 3:30am and headed north to St. Lucia. We had an uneventful light sail to St. Lucia and were able to skirt the north coast of St. Vincent and get a good view of the plantation farms along the mountainside. The “farms” that litter the mountainside are ALL ganga (aka: weed, marijuana, pot etc..) and are found in abundance. It is known amongst the cruisers that if you visit St. Vincent the north part of the island is OFF LIMITS! When you look at the north part, there are no cars, no roads, no houses. The only thing you see are little tiny wee shacks scattered about the mountainside.
We arrived in Marigot Bay and had a chance to catch up with our friends Gary and Saba (2 local rastas who have become very good friends of ours) and Jeff and Jan (2 British who have moved from England to St. Lucia permanently). While anchored in Marigot we got a freaky west wind that not only brought west winds, but a west of north swell into the anchorage. This isn’t good as the anchorage is exposed to the west. Thankfully we were on board as the wind blew Meggie almost on to the beach. We up anchor quickly and took a mooring in the inner lagoon which is completely protected. We moved up to Rodney Bay and anchored at Pigeon island and waited for 2 weeks for weather. The wind blew 25 knots gusting into the 30’s for almost 2 weeks straight. We tried to leave at the beginning of the windy forecast as we thought we would be ahead of the building seas, but once we rounded Pigeon island we were exposed to 25 knots of wind and big waves...how big ??? but big. Meggie‘s decks were awash with spray covering the entire boat….hmmm….not exactly what we had in mind. The wind and waves were NE and we were headed N, so Meggie was bashing her little heart out until finally we made the call to tuck our tail and turn around. Meggie sailed comfortably down wind back to the anchorage at Pigeon island, and we got our spot back and hunkered down for the remainder of our stay. While in St. Lucia we mostly worked on Meggie and couldn’t wait to get the next window to move on. Finally after far too long we got a window and decided to head to Portsmouth, Dominica. We left St. Lucia and headed to St. Pierre in Martinique with a north of east wind at about 18-20 knots and about 8 foot seas. We had a quick sail to St. Pierre and were able to sail the lee side as well. Although we love Martinique, we wanted to spend some time in Dominica so the next morning we up anchor and had a beam reach for the total 55 miles to Portsmouth, Dominica. We again had about 18 knots out of the east in the morning with 8 foot seas out of the east as well, which built to 22 knots with the odd 26-28 knot gust and 10 foot waves. Meggie rode the waves beautifully as they were on our beam and with 1 reef in the mizzen, 2 reefs in the main and our small jib sail up, we cruised along at an easy 6.5 knots and were anchored in the beautiful Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth well before sunset. Dominica’s beauty is found in it’s simplicity and of course the lushness of the forests. The mountains are reams and reams of green that seem to go on forever. The towns are made up of simple box construction houses painted an array of pinks, aqua’s, blues and yellows where chickens, roosters and dogs roam freely. We left Portsmouth and headed to the capital Rosseau by bus, with the intention of hiking some trails in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Because there are only 2 buses that run up to the town of Laudat (where the trails all start) and we were in between buses we hired Fitz to take us up to the Middleham falls hike.. Once on the road we realized quickly why there was only 2 buses that drove this route. The climb itself is impressive, but to top if off the road is barely wide enough for 1 vehicle let alone 2 and before turning any corners Fitz would lay on the horn to announce we were coming through. We hiked to the falls though the dense forest and enjoyed the quiet amongst the trees. The water fall at the end was beautiful but a little disappointing as we compared it to it’s neighbour’s waterfalls in Guadeloupe. Just to be back in the wilderness was enough to make me happy and the local fauna is outstanding in itself.
We finished the afternoon off by wandering the streets of Rosseau chatting with the locals and finally boarded the small local bus for the 45 minute ride back home.
Saturdays bring a bustle in the little villages in Dominica. Like most islands Saturday means market day. From Meggie we can see the numerous colour umbrellas that clutter the streets, and the hustle and bustle market day brings. Once in the market you’re surrounded by all local produce and smells of accra salt fish, fritters and a bunch of deep fried “surprises“ cooking in the streets. Women and men pack their baskets full of fruit and vegetable for the week as they chit chat about the weeks events.
We poked through the market but always end up at our favourite fruit and veg lady down the street. Just to give you an idea how much we pay for local produce, we got: 1 papaya, a bunch of carrots, 3 green pepper, seasoning peppers, 1 cabbage, 2 cucumbers, cristophenes, 12 tomatoes, 3 mangoes, sugar cane, 6 passion fruit, bunch of bananas all for about $30.00 EC which is about $11.00 CDN. Not too bad huh!
From here we will sail to Les Saintes tomorrow and then carry on to another one of our favourites, Guadeloupe. The future “trend” for weather (so our weather forecaster says) is moderating trade winds and seas, beautiful perfect sailing conditions….so we’re holding him to that!
We’re enjoying being on the move again and enjoying the Caribbean sailing because once in Antigua it will be go time once again, all our attention focused on Meggie (but wait…isn’t that all the time anyway?).
Well I guess that’s all for now….hopefully March brings an early spring for everyone back home.
Ciao for now.
Kylie and Mike