Yesterday, we announced on the FOD (Friends of Denis)
morning net that Dawn and I were going for a walk on Lower Bay, just to snoop
around and climb some of the steep driveways.
Well, we were met by ten more people at the dock. By our reckoning, that is a note on a net
about nothing inspired twelve people to go on a hike to nowhere. We did see the bay from some new vantage
points, and had a lovely lunch at Keegan’s beach bar; and really, these hikes
are little more than mobile conversations, where we change partners every ten
minutes for new debates or bits of gossip.
It is really fun.
We left Rodney Bay on Thursday, March 3rd, at
3:00 in the morning as planned, and with highly reefed sails, had a comfortable
but long day to Bequia, landing at a little after 3:00 in the afternoon, tired
and salty. We got the cockpit cleaned up
and the sails away, and had a nice evening on the boat anchored well out in
Lower Bay. It was windy and swelly, but
we slept well anyway.
Here, like Rodney Bay, we seem to know many people: some, like Susea and Gene of Moody Blues, and
Cathy and Greg of Indigo and Fran and Chris on Changes we’ve known for over a
decade; others we’ve met a little more recently; and others still we are
meeting as a result of the FOD net. Many
of us are very much on the migration back to the south to put the boats
away. Indeed, Maria and Steve of Aspen
left two days ago and are already in a marina in Grenada doing the odd chores
required. We haul out a bit later, April
17th.
The crowd here does keep us hopping in the usual
manner. We’ve had a hike up to Peggy’s
Rock, another along the northern ridge to Industry Estates, and the hike
yesterday in Lower Bay.
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| Hiking with friends up to Peggy's Rock. Hot and very sweaty! |
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| From the top of Peggy's Rock, the sights are stunning. Only thing missing is a place to buy cold beers! |
We signed up for
a rum shop tour last week, and got thrown together with a crowd of 30+ put on
an old school bus and run over to Paget Farm; where we enjoyed walking between
6-7 interesting rum shops; complete with the local characters. It was quite fun; and the ex-pats from the US
who arranged it are to be congratulated.
All enjoyed it, and money got to move to a poorer part of the island.
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| The local rum shops are quaint to say the least. The bus took us over to Paget where we were able to walk to 6 rum shops and then the bus took us back. A good time was had by all! |
We’ve been enjoying the restaurants and the town as always;
and that means in large crowds with extended tables most often. Bequia seems to be changing for the
better. There is a group of people that
calls itself “Action Bequia”, that seems to have turned the corner on litter
and garbage management. Although they
are involved in numerous other endeavours, we believe this is the one that will
pay the most dividends. I always felt
embarrassed for the community when the smaller cruise ships disgorged their
tourists ashore. This year, as a result
of the hurricane damage in the north, the number of ships is doubled, and they are
seeing the cleanest Bequia that we have ever experienced. Good for them! Among the boats in the bay are an abnormally
large number of mega yachts. They too
have fewer destinations to choose from. They
don’t seem to know just how big they are and often anchor right in with us
all. Very strange feeling indeed.
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| Finally, garbage and recycling in Bequia! |
Lorna and Brian of Peace and Plenty (Dawn’s sister) have
sold their boat to a fellow Canadian from BC.
He took ownership last week and Lorna and Brian have been staying at a
friend’s boat on the dock who were kind enough to loan it since they were back
in the US. Lorna and Brian fly back to
Canada next week and will be enjoying time with their daughters and
grandchildren and shoveling snow! We
will miss them here in our sailing community greatly!
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| Lorna and Brian - happiest day when they sell the boat. Trev - happiest day when he buys his boat! |
TECHNICAL
My previous post about nefarious engine alarms can be
disregarded now. I spent some time in
the port engine room, unwrapping wires and poking around, and came up with a
broken wire. I cannot tell you what its
purpose is, or how it caused the alarm, but once reconnected, all is
quiet! Nothing else to report except
that we have started to make our haulout lists – meaning we are smelling the
barn.
