Photos of hiking up "Big Hill"

The other day, we posted a blog about a hike up "Big Hill" on Union Island.  Laurie and I hiked it the other day and the view was breath taking.  Here are a few pictures to accompany the blog from March 21st.

"Big Hill" is on the right.  We have yet to conquer Mt. Taboi on the left!

Stairs to start the hike...how lovely!  That was the last of a civilized path we saw!

A view of the marina that didn't make it!  Work stopped in the late '90's.

Just walking up, up, up...earning the lunch beer!

South end of Union Island

Laurie enjoying the view.  Check out the sweaty, wet shirt!

Checking out our dinghy at the dock!

Cat Tales anchored in the middle of the 3 boats off Frigate Rock

Really neat rock formations at the top of 'Big Hill'

Frigate Rock with Petit St. Vincent in the background

Another day, this is a view of Clifton's anchorage off the reef.  We have anchored there often, but not this trip.

Petit Martinique (owned by Grenada...go figure!)

A view of Petit St. Vincent taken from Petit  Martinique - check out the colours!

Kite making and flying is big here.  Such a simple design and they fly so great!

Just when you want to take a picture of your little boat, these monsters came by to ruin the picture.  Notice Kristin in the dinghy waving!

heading to Petit St. Vincent

No big news this morning, other than we're alive and well and hitting the seas (1 hour sail) for Petit St. Vincent. Silk Pajamas is with us and we'll do some hiking, eating and will share some cold beers. Hopefully, we'll put up a few pictures next time we blog!

Dawn

Enjoying the Grenadines

Sorry, no pics, as we just don't have the bandwidth. Terrible, too; as we have some doozies. Laurie here.

We're back in behind Frigate Rock, Union Island, having arrived yesterday. Right now, we just got back from hiking up a hill beside Mount Taboi. It was quite a hike to well over 800 feet, to a mountain top that was bald basalt, overlooking, almost straight down, the little hamlet of Ashton. The views were spectacular, with us overlooking the Tobago Cays, and all the major islands in the Grenadines. How about that; Dawn and I getting off the boat, hiking and climbing for over two hours, and back to the boat before noon? Thirsty work, as one can imagine ;-). Just as well we're back, as a squall is about to hit the boat. (I just got my naked arse soaked closing the windshield zippers.

Last Saturday, with Silk Pajamas going north to get their chainplate inspected after their collision, and Free Spirit heading south to be hauled out, we headed to Petite Martinique for supplies. The tiny island of Petite Martinique was once one of the smuggling capitals of the Caribbean, with boats hauling the booze from here to many other ports for smuggling into dry USA. It is suggested many boats from eastern Canada made the trip. For us, many years later, it may just be a coincidence that we picked up wine, beer, and rum at prices seldom seen any where else in the Caribbean; but yippee for us! (Actually, nobody beats the French ports for wine).

We stayed on a mooring for only one night, to take advantage of a restaurant ashore. The food was actually only so-so, not counting fantastic callaloo soup, but the tables were under individual roofs in a very pleasant, well kept garden, right off the beach. Before we left the next morning, we hiked completely around the island. It was a beautiful hike, only spoiled by a "special needs" man who walked with us for a while. Although he was almost assuredly harmless, his magnificent, large physique, and very tiny head, coupled with his inability to communicate did make us a little cautious, as we left the road and hiked into brush. He followed for about 20 minutes, then disappeared behind us as the path got steep.

We left Petite Martinique and motored to Petite Saint Vincent, only a mile or so away, and anchored in beautiful, shallow, white sand for three more nights. It is known as a Boutique Resort Island, with little cottages being run from a central establishment. If the guests need anything, they are to raise a flag on a pole, and a butler or whatever will drive a little golf cart to visit. We would be allowed ashore, just to the restaurant, only in reasonable attire; and Cat Tales has not much of that on board. We swam and read, and took one more trip to Petite Martinique when the wine prices haunted us again; this time by dinghy. We found a second restaurant on the island with the best value found on the islands this year. Dawn had chicken, of course, for only 15.00 EC and a couple of beers for 5.00 each. That amounts to about 10.00 Canadian! The plate was loaded too, with salad, macaroni pie, plantain, rice and of course chicken. I had the fish, which was fabulous!

Yesterday, after arriving back here on Union, we hiked over to Clifton for cash, bananas, and a lunch. Once more we were joined in our hike by a local, this one also a giant, but stark raving mad and paranoid. As he was scaring Dawn with his nudging up to us, jabbering away about who did what to him and how he was going to get back at them, I kept suggesting he should calm down and be less angry. It didn't help. While he was talking to the sky for a bit, Dawn suggested that we jump on the next bus (van) going to Clifton. After a bit, we hopped on a bus to avoid him, and he jumped on as well! He sat himself down directly behind the 2 of us. We hopped off at a restaurant, and he told the driver I would pay his way. Angry words developed, but by then, we were in the restaurant and out of harm's way. He was known by the people in the restaurant, who suggested he has "uncollected thoughts". We spotted him later on at a bar and quickly diverted to the back streets to find our bananas and cash machine.

For the vast most part, people on these islands are friendly and helpful; sometimes a little more aggressive in search for business, but one tends to be forgiving in that regard. They have terrible problems with poverty, unemployment, lack of education, and likely many family issues as well, if one listens to the bragging men. One thing that isn't talked about is the possible lack of diversity in the genes over the last two hundred years. We see too many albinos, deaf people, and confused people. Indeed, on Union Island, there are so many people talking to imaginary friends along the road that it might have been another good place to pick out a Pope. Again, I insist that we have had no incidents and the majority of the people are friendly, helpful, and good to meet.

Enjoying The Grenadines

Free Spirit sailing along with us from Bequia to the Tobago Cays

This morning finds us behind a natural breakwater at Frigate Rock, Union Island, enjoying relatively flat water.  We awoke at first light, got up and warmed the coffee, and took it to the foredeck to drink while we watched John and Alex of Free Spirit arrange their boat for travel and pull up the anchor.  After waving goodbye to them (major goodbyes were said in our cockpit with them and Terry and Kristin of Silk Pajamas last night), I (Laurie) went inside and made a little batch of banana pancakes.   We finished the pancakes just as Denis' Weather Net came on the radio, so we got to hear how Free Spirit was faring just as they were on the horizon off Cariacou.

We have a number of bananas coming ripe today, a number that are over-ripe and just got peeled and put in the fridge, and a fine piece of banana bread that Judy left us; so we'll get all the potassium we'll ever need if we keep up.  Ron and Judy also brought us a can of lobster which we're saving for a special pizza some night.

We arrived here from the Tobago Cays with both Free Spirit and Silk Pajamas, and have had a great visit with all involved.  Although the wind is strong and constant, our new windshield cuts back a lot of it, and makes us feel a lot less stressed by wind than last year.

Judy and Ron left our boat exactly a week ago, with me running them into the Bequia dock and watching them get on to the ferry for the trip to St. Vincent.  They missed the giant manta ray that rolled upside down under my dinghy just as they got out of voice range.  We had a great trip with them, with them bringing a tremendous amount of luck with them.  We had mild to medium winds throughout their trip - that switched from northeast to southeast such that we had a beautiful broad reach to the Tobago Cays and another broad reach back to Bequia days later.  We also had great fishing, with exciting strikes and two lovely black-fin tuna brought aboard. 

We got to see Al and Michele of Easy Listening (Lunenburg) in the Cays, and showed them the reef with the tame fish (Al said:  "This is the best snorkelling EVER!"); before saying goodbye to them.  They're heading down to Grenada for a March haulout.  Interestingly, just as we said goodbye to Ron and Judy, we also met up with Al and Michele of Tarantella (Halifax) (Michele is Brenda Cummings' younger sister).  Although we owe them a supper, it was not to be, as they also are on the fast-track for a haulout, and our friends on Free Spirit arrived after a rush down the islands from the Virgins.  Busy social life here.  We did get another hike up to Peggy's Rock; this time with the Haligonian Michele as well as Terry and Kristin.  Kristin was suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out), and absolutely had to do the hike after hearing about it.

We "buddy-boated" with Free Spirit back down to the Cays on Sunday, enjoying the perfect winds and playing with different sail configurations alongside them.  We got to the Cays by mid-afternoon and joined Terry and Kristin who arrived the day before.  The Cays were as rough as any of us had ever seen them, with both northerly swells and wind-driven waves coming over the horseshoe reefs and causing tremendous surface turbulence.  Cat Tales rattled, and the monohullers all said they did even worse.  We got together for a fantastic meal in our cockpit on Monday night, and really caught up with each other.   It was only 10:30 when the cockpit cleared, but all were in high spirits. That's late for us down here, since we refer to 9:00 as being the 'cruiser's midnight'!

A bit of drama occurred at 2 a.m., when a charter boat drifted down sideways and caught their beam bang on to the bow of Silk Pajamas.  I had heard the commotion and was in the cockpit to see and hear the impact.  The bow of the boat continued the attack down their port side, as the boat drifted by sideways to the wind,  and then drifted off into the night.  Kristin, who also heard the commotion,  was able to mitigate only half of the attack along the side with a fender, but could do nothing about the bow impact.  We and other boats watched as we saw that their drift was checked and their boat straightened out and bobbed like the other monohulls in the washboard seas, just feet ahead of the shallows of Jamesby Island, downwind of all of us.  None of us wished to venture out in the wild, dark seas to check on them, and they would not answer the radio on any channel.  We all went to bed, and in the morning, could still see them just short of the island. 

Terry and Kristin dinghied down to talk to the German couple who were chartering the boat around 9 a.m., after the couple didn't make the appropriate and expected visit to Silk Pajamas.  The couple were apparently rather shy about the event, but suggested they had simply dragged down, and their propeller was fouled by their dinghy line.  It was all BS, as their anchor was on the bow during the accident, and they were drifting fast, beam to the wind.  More likely, at 2 a.m., they had enough of the motion of the anchorage, and lifted anchor to look for another, quieter spot; and forgot to shorten their dinghy line.  Given that:  charterers are seldom allowed to move their boats at night, it is unlikely that sailing vacationers remain totally sober, charterers are less acclimatized to motion, the anchor was on the bow, the boat was moving fast totally sideways;  this makes more sense.  As it was, in the rather unstable seas, our own evening's fun may have been a little irresponsible.  

 I am most angered by the couple's unwillingness to turn their radio on to alert us that they were ok, and likely to survive the night; and would like to fill their ears with my opinion with significant decibels.  We all called often and for some time after the incident, and worried that we were not doing more.  It is, however, the norm for most boaters down here to only turn on the radio when it suits them; and the concept of "I'll be here for you if you'll be here for me" falls on deaf ears, even among our closer friends.  One captain friend even admitted to sleeping with earplugs to get a better sleep!

After the incident, we all decided to leave the sloppy water of the Cays and come to Frigate Rock.  We've hiked to Clifton where John checked out and I got an extension to stay, and also had a great lunch at the Anchorage Yacht Club.  There has also been time to read, skin dive, and carry out minor boat chores.

Kristin and Terry have been in touch with the charter company and their own experts regarding the damage.  They have a significant bruise a little to the side of the forestay chainplate as a result of the impact, and are choosing the lighter winds tomorrow to return to Bequia to have it inspected.  The concern is that the glass into which the bolts are bedded may have been softened or compromised.  They expect to be back in the area on Tuesday.  Until that, Dawn and I will just take it easy here, unless of course an extemporaneous social event takes place - an almost expected occurrence.

  

Smile for the camera!!

Heading for the Tobago Cays

Yesterday, John and Alex from the boat "Free Spirit" arrived in Bequia. We spent much time with them last season, but this season, they decided to go west to Bonaire. They left in the late fall and just arrived back yesterday. Kristin and Terry from "Silk Pajamas" and Laurie and I greeted them into the bay with a cold beer and then later spent time over sun downers listening to their wonderful tale of diving and snorkeling in the western Caribbean. It made us all very jealous and we were talking seriously about joining them next year, however, it would have been the wine talking! If we were to go, it's easy getting there, but it's really tough to get back to the Eastern Caribbean since it's all up wind. Something to think about for next season.

All of us will head to the Tobago Cays tomorrow for snorkeling and fun. When we anchor there, we are amoung other sailboats and a few boat boys taking care of our needs for homemade bread, and t-shirts! The little islands around the reefs are not inhabited which makes for great sky gazing at night.

So...off we go and will have not much to report since we won't be doing anything really!

Ron and Judy's week in paradise

We arrived from cold Canada to meet up with Dawn and Laurie, "easy as pie" at the Black Pearl Restaurant  in the Blue Lagoon, St. Vincent, courtesy of Stan, the taxi driver.  

A view of Blue Lagoon from the Black Pearl restaurant

Speaking of pie, the next day we sailed to Bequia, walked through town for some provisions to end the afternoon, relaxing at Mac's Pizzeria for a tasty treat.  Check out the mascot at Mac's, or is it, "mascat"?

Kitty at Mac's Pizzeria

 From Bequia we had a "gentleman's sail" to the Tobago Cays and caught two 18 inch tuna that caused lots of excitement during the crossing. The tunas made for 3 meals for 4 of us!!

Can you tell which fish came from Value Village in Fredericton?

The snorkeling in the Cays is like swimming in an aquarium. Dawn and Laurie have found a spot on the horseshoe reef where the fish are tame and ate banana out of our hands.  There were fish of many colours, like a kaleidoscope, but my favorite were the cute little trunkfish.

Trunkfish

The next day, we dinghied around a small island to swim with the turtles.  "Wow, wow, wow."  What an awesome experience.  The turtles are so graceful and gentle and really didn't mind us swimming beside them.

From the Cays, we moved over to the Island of Mayreau and anchored in Ron's happy-place;  Salt Whistle Bay.  The water, the beach, and the sun were perfect.  Dawn, Laurie and I went for a walk along the back beach while watching the kite-surfers.  Check out the beauty of this Bay.

The sail back to Bequia was on the rhumb line; straight and smooth with sails well trimmed all the way.  We anchored off the reef for a short swim to snorkel.  Here Dawn and I had several exciting sightings: fluttering squid,  juvenile damsels,  spotted eel,  a baby octopus,  and a large manta ray the size of a piece of plywood.  Just wait till you see the video of that.

Manta ray, the size of a sheet of plywood!

Green turtle in the Tobago Cays

Parrot Fish

Judy feeding banana to her favourite fish!

Ron's "Happy Place" to remember while back at work next week!

Check out these smiley guys : )

Cruise Ship leaving Salt Whistle Bay!

Hard to believe our week is almost over.  Our hosts have been most gracious and the 5-star (or 5 starfish) accommodations very pleasurable.  Our trip to paradise has been positively perfect!