At the south end of St. Vincent, we picked up a mooring next to Young Island and made the acquaintance of Spiro and Jimmy. We became THEIR customers, they are very territorial about that - for taxi rides to and from shore, for laundry, taxi rides on shore... The local knowledge came at a cost, but they were worth it. So...another successful rendezvous. This one with Patrick and Julie. And seeing Sandra off to the airport - thank you Sandra, for sharing the newness of your experience with us and being enthusiastic, flexible...all the things that made your trip a success. Be proud.
Bequia (pronounced somewhere between bek-we and
bek-way). On our approach an
inflatable dinghy headed our way.
At first we tho’t it was another boatboy, but their boats are never
inflatables. Rather their boats
are colorful home-made plywood and fiberglass affairs. And this boatman was standing,
wearing an inflatable lifejacket/harness and wielding a camera with a big
lens. That’s when i remembered one
of the guidbooks saying not to be alarmed by his approach. Not just his approach but his outright
acrobatics – thanks to a tether from the bow of his dinghy to his harness, the
overboard/kill switch wrapped around his ankle and the tiller/throttle
extension on his outboard motor.
He charges toward us, spins around, levels his camera and blows a couple
of tweets on a whistle each time he snaps a photo. Then he charges around to another angle, pirouettes and
snaps some more. That evening he
downloads his photos, prints one of each boat from the day, puts the print in a
frame and a price list on the back of the frame. The next morning he cruises the anchorage to deliver the
sample and an encrypted memory stick.
$50 for one photo, $100 for four, $150 for a whole disk full. We reviewed our 40 photos and
passed. But my! Kenmore Henville is an enterprising
young man. You can look him up at bequiaphtoaction.com. What i want is a video of him in
action. Nine months a year he
intercepts arriving yachts. The
other three months? I imagine he’s
creative with that too.
Now, about standing up in an inflatable dinghy…while zipping
around…it appears to be THE in thing.
The “rage.” “Everyone” is
doing it. If you’re going to be cool,
you will hose clamp a pvc tube to extend the throttle on your dinghy outboard
so you can reach it while standing, you are going to steer at full speed with
that throttle extension in one hand and the dinghy painter (the rope tied to
the bow of the dinghy…the one you might use for towing the dinghy) stretched
tight in the other hand and you will stand up. It might even help to throw your head back, tho casually
so. This may be a little more
challenging with Sea Cow’s inflatable floor (that leaks and becomes soft). But it appears i must attempt this or
be “drummed out of the corps.” Tho
i won’t attempt it without the kill switch lanyard extended too, and tied
around my ankle. For surely i will
fall out while making a fool of myself.
Then again, break my sword over your knee, i’ve never been accused of
being cool. Stay tuned…THIS may be
my chance.
Nice little island, Bequia. Seems quite a few sailors have made it their home. Saw a sail loft, took advantage of a
few chandleries. Lucky thing. One of the watermaker pre-filter
housings burst apart. I didn’t
find a replacement globe but found complete new housings. New electric fuel pump for the
generator. Ah, the list…and
fighting chaos. Glad to get these
things done now instead of in the middle of the Pacific.
We tied up at the one available dock. Explored town. Provisioned a bit more
and took care of the above chores.
We topped off water (without the watermaker, we were down to 60
gallons), caught up with the internet.
And enjoyed dinner at a charmingly unique restaurant there at the dock,
the Devil’s Table. It had a
“pirates of the Caribbean” theme.
The chef, Ken, used to cook on various cruise ships. And the waitresses were part of the
charm too.
During dinner, Browne, the dock master had kept an eye on
Akimbo for security. We went to
bed, Barry in the cockpit until a squall at 12:30. It must have been some time after that that someone snuck on
board and stole my “treat to myself” binoculars and Patrick’s new Sperry
flip-flops. Damn! I should have known better… We hung out an extra day, in case my
no-questions-asked reward would turn them up. But to no avail.
In the morning, Julie and i enjoyed a walk up to the ruin of
Ft. Hamilton. A placard there
taught us that Alexander Hamilton, of Declaration of Independence days, was
born in the Caribbean, on Nevis.
Today, the 29th, several boats set out south from
Bequia. Most boats here are
heading south now, to get out of hurricane territory. We enjoyed a rollicking great beam reach in 20-25 knot winds
to Mayreau Island. Under double
reefed mainsail and the solent jib, our SOG (speed over ground) reached 8.8 knots. It was a gorgeous day’s sail. One to remember. Akimbo left even a Swan 65 in her wake. The only boat to pass her was a 70’
tourist catamaran, and even she went by slowly. Mayreau (pronounced my-roe) has a made-for-Hollywood bay and
beach. And is only 3 miles from
the Tobago Cays. Those promise to
be even nicer than this?
Nice indeed, they are turning out to be, but really only
different. We spent the next two
days snorkeling with turtles and rays and over Horseshoe Reef. I’m spoiled, thinking some snorkeling
earlier in the trip was better.
Hiked around a few of the islands here. Watched “Pirates of the Carribean” one evening, looking for
and recognizing a cameo appearance by a nearby island. Great fun, good food and happy
company.
Interestingly, the weekend proved to be when there were
fewer boats at the Cays. Barry
pointed out that the charter companies usually do their “turn around” of their
boats over the weekends – the last charterer leaving and the next
arriving.
We sailed the short 4 miles to Palm Island, where there is a
resort and where we were the only boat at anchor – perhaps because swells roll
in there all night. Darn. This morning (June 2) we motored the
few miles to Union Island where we will check out of St. Vincent. We plan to sail to Carriacou next, to
check into Grenadan customs. From
there? On south.
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