After we left Bequia we wanted to go to Tobago Keys, which
is a very big coral reef, but the winds were very strong and we have been
advised, that snorkeling or diving is not too good in rough weather there (the whirled up sand makes the visibility so bad). So
instead we went around the corner to Mayreau, with a beautiful beach, little
huts in the sand, looked like something from a postcard.
A few drinks at the bar (Bob Marley being present everywhere). so funny, when they had to use the blender to make cocktails, they had to turn the lights off, as the power wouldn't cope with both.
We spend a lazy day there, with walks, snorkeling, playing boules at the beach. Ben had been sick now for a couple of days with his fever increasing and a sore throat. He had been spending his days since the 27th in bed sleeping. On the morning of the 30th his fever got even higher so we decided to take him to a doctor and sailed to Clifton on Union island. He had tonsillitis and was dehydrated. For new Years Eve we went to the other side of union island, to Chatman Bay. Another beautiful anchorage with only a few huts on the beach, which were restaurants or bars. We booked in with ‘Boldhead’ for a fantastic New Years eve dinner with 38 guests all up in the hut. The meals for all these people were cooked on a 2 burner stove!! Amazing! Put to that some lovely steel drum music and nice company of the other cruisers, we spend the evening eating, drinking, dancing and making new friends. One of the bars even put a little firework on at midnight! Happy New Year!
Walk on top of the hill at Union Island
New years we sailed back to Bequia to check out of the
Grenadines again. Oh, yes, I haven’t mentioned this yet. Every time you come to
a new country (pretty much every island here!) you have to check in and out of
the country. But it is easier than I thought. Custom offices are pretty much
everywhere here, just a lot of paperwork to fill in... The sail to Bequia was
very rough. The winds are very strong here at the moment. Very unusual weather
for this time of year. People say, it is not normal. It is weather like in
summer, when the wet and hurricane season is on. Normal for this time of year
are 10 to 15knot winds with calm seas. Instead the winds are constantly around
30knots, gusting up to 50 knots. On Christmas morning there was a very strong
storm with landslides, which killed people on St Vincent and St Lucia! Very
sad!
Back at Bequia Pete and Kate went for their first dive with
our equipment. It was a major task for the two of them to set it all up. But
they got rewarded with a nice dive at Devils Table. Kate went very well, she
just loves it. On the next morning, Kate, Lisa and I went for a hike to the
turtle sanctuary on the island, but got a ride half way through as it was
further than we thought but beautiful beaches on the way... at the sanctuary Mr King collects the turtle eggs from the
beach to get a higher survival rate. In the wild only one of 3000 eggs grow
into a grown turtle. He has so far over 900 turtles released!
walk to the turtle sanctuary
That night we left Bequia to have an overnight sail to Martinique.
Ben still wasn’t improving even with the antibiotics he was taking and we were
starting to worry he might have glandular fever. So we thought Martinique will have good possibilities for
doctors, as it is a French island. The sail through the night was another very,
very rough one, with Pete doing most of the shift... All we could have out was
a reefed main and the stay sail. But I must say the boat handles it very well (not the crew so much, besides pete we all feel sick when it get so rough...)
No comments:
Post a Comment