Wednesday and we were up and about early in preparation for the run to Mustique, saying a sad farewell to the beautiful Tobago Cays..
We passed behind Canouan into the Atlantic to get a good sailing angle and the weather was very grey with rougher seas than forecast. As usual! Anyway, as we needed to make water, we sailed with the engine ticking over. Suddenly we had a 20 degree shift in the wind direction so we headed back to the Caribbean side and we had a great sail with Hellfire at the helm into Mustique.
We picked up an obligatory mooring ball and Richard dropped trash off ashore. Richard, Hellfire and Fiona then took a wander around the small main street while I took the opportunity of an empty boat to do a quick boat wash and brush up…..
After lunch on board we all had a lazy afternoon enjoying the beautiful anchorage and then headed into the infamous Basil’s Bar for sundowners. The local band were setting up for the evening party – the only problem was there were hardly anyone around, although we did spot Basil himself for a short while. After having a couple of expensive beers – which didn’t seem tooooo bad at 12.50 ECD a bottle (about £3) – until we realised that they added 10% service and 15% VAT to the basic price. Oh well, we did get to see the sun go down and had free internet service thrown in!!! Our server was pretty eager to please too….. We went back on board for a (huge!) steak dinner and I crashed pretty early although I did take some time out to star gaze from the coach roof.
Thursday we enjoyed a smoked salmon and scrambled egg breakfast and a leisurely start to the day. Around 11 – accompanied by a packed picnic lunch – we met with Michael our taxi driver – who was huge and used to pay professional basketball. He apologetically told us that Mustique was currently “shut down” so although we could visit Macaroni Beach he was not allowed to leave us there. Damn!!! This was where we had planned to spend the afternoon….. We were quite fed up – particularly as the beach wasn’t that busy and they really wouldn’t have noticed us….. Oh well, this is a private island after all and the Mustique Company dictate the rules. So we did the short island tour – with Richard and Hellfire having fun with the sexy tortoise statue…. During the tour we found out that Mick Jagger was on island, so perhaps the “shut down” was related to him getting some privacy while he grieves?? We got over our disappointment quickly when we ended up back on a small beach we were allowed to stay on, and there was no-one around…. so we took ownership of a picnic table and ate our lunch, followed by a very shallow bob at the water’s edge, being entertained by seagulls whilst admiring superyachts in the anchorage….. Great time had by all…..
We were back on board for more drinks and dinner – with Richard being in party mood and feeling a bit rebellious – so we had loads of tunes, rum drinking and singing along before headed off to bed…..
Friday we were up pretty early and were underway just after 9. Got a great sailing angle and sailed pretty much all the way from Mustique to Bequia. Was lovely! We all went ashore; had a local roti lunch; checked out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and then headed to the beach for another bobbing session and a final farewell to Lucie, Patrick and Linda with a fleeting visit from Chris. Had a great time and enjoyed a very early night after another moody sunset.
Saturday morning and we were up very early before picking up our anchor around 5.50 am. Heading out into the channel to St Vincent and we enjoyed seeing the sun rise….
The weather forecast lied again – why does this surprise me every time? – and we had 18-23 knots of breeze at around a 45 degree angle, with short sharp choppy seas in the channel…. Pushed on and hit glassy seas with lower winds as we ran alongside St Vincent. Then we spotted a pirogue heading out – very fast – to sea crossing our bow. We then spotted that he had a harpoon gun on the bow. Oh no, this is a traditional whaling boat. We knew that Bequia had taken a whale earlier in the week but hoped that this hunt ended up with the whale winning!
The channel between St Vincent and St Lucia was also rough and challenging….. with Hellfire and Fiona doing really well…. We had a brief dolphin display too but not close enough for photos unfortunately….. Then we came alongside St Lucia and the wind angle changed – again – and then again… Thankfully we managed to get into Rodney Bay Marina before dark having made really good time.
Our last dinner together was ashore at Bosuns and was really nice. Hellfire and Fiona treated us too which was unexpected and very much appreciated before heading back to sleep off a very long and tiring day. Without the rocking for the first time in a while!
Sunday morning and it is time for them to pack so we all did our own thing and then settled down to a huge brunch around 11.30 am…. Finally, at 2.45 pm we headed into the marina with their bags…. and waited for the taxi to take them to the airport. Hugs all round… can’t believe their holiday is over…. and then suddenly they were gone….
We sailed 217 miles with Fiona and Hellfire on board – which was challenging for them at times. Fiona didn’t really enjoy the sailing part of this trip but, kudos to her, she did tough it out… Hellfire was a complete natural and was great on the helm! We had a lovely time and I hope that I’ve done their trip justice in the blog!
Bye for now
Jan