Tuesday morning and – guess what – it’s raining again! We do a few boat jobs and get Morphie ready to go to sea. By sunset the weather looked like it was improving and we planned to go to the Boardwalk for the start of the Jazz festival as they had a live band playing – but the heavens opened again and it was torrential – it hammered down continuously. Decided not to bother and so stayed aboard for a quiet night. It was really really hot and humid with all the hatches closed and the rain was relentless pounding on the coachroof above our heads. Not nice…
Wednesday morning and amazingly we have some signs of a blue sky behind white fluffy clouds – so looks like the front has finally moved away. Hurrah…. The water in the marina, however, was sludge brown due to the rain run off from all the hills around – yuck!!!! We paid our marina fees, checked out of customs and got charged overtime fees again – didn’t know it was ‘labour day’ ie a bank holiday over here….grrrrr… Anyway, finally slipped away and first stop was the fuel dock for diesel and some petrol for dink and our Honda generator. As we had checked out already we were able to buy this duty free – didn’t make much of a difference, but made us feel better! Saw our friends Dan and Ruth’s catamaran Evensong on the hard so we patted her on the hull and wished her the best for the forthcoming hurricane season…
Finally left Rodney Bay marina around 11.15 am and motored out past Barrel of Beef rock (who makes up these names????)….and then got the sails out. Had a really nice reach right down to the Pitons where the wind died on us. The scenery is spectacular here…and we really can’t believe that we are anchored under one of the most beautiful sights we have seen in the Caribbean… And on our own boat… Pinch me now!!!! Had a quiet (and dry!) night at anchor and were pleased to see that the marine police are patrolling this area as there have been problems in the past. Stayed on board – ate healthily for a change – and had an early night.
Up before the sun at 4.00 am and we set sail for Bequia at 4.45 am…. No dramas in the dark – although we did come across a cruise ship moving really really slowly towards Castries…. Said goodbye to St Lucia and the Pitons as the sun started to come up… Magical moment.
Sails up and flying between 6 and 7 knots in relatively flat seas on a beam reach… Winds relatively light to start with…. Wonderful sailing – still no dolphins or whales but hey…. Then as we almost reached the coast of St Vincent the seas and the winds picked up, which this area is renowned for….so we reefed down and enjoyed the ride. Weird though – as soon as we got into the lee of the land the wind completely died and there was nothing – then it switched to the other side – but still not enough to sail. So the engine went on and we had to motor down the coast of St Vincent. We decided not to stop in St Vincent as it has had so much bad press in terms of aggressive boat boys and security on board with numerous boat burglaries and dinghy thefts in recent months…. This was a shame as the island looked really pretty and dramatic from the coast and this is also another Pirates of the Caribbean filiming destination… Particularly Wallibou Bay where the film sets are still standing albeit not maintained….. 
Rounding the bottom of St Vincent the wind went southerly…. Guess what, we are going south! Damn…..can’t sail this either…. And we are feeling weary so decide to continue to motor to reach our destination. After 10 hours at sea we finally reach Admiralty Bay, Bequia. As we were looking for a place to anchor we had to avoid the large turtle that kept surfacing in front of us – and also had to tell the local boat boy who was trying to sell us fresh lobster that we were a bit busy right now! Anyway….having set the hook easily…. we quickly tidy up ourselves and Morphie and go ashore to do customs. Guess what – more overtime fees!!!! After 4pm it is overtime… Oh well….never mind….let’s boost the local economy. But, to be fair, the process was pretty quick and easy and only cost us around £40 for a month’s stay!!!
Went ashore to Jack’s bar on Princess Margaret’s Beach for sundowners and admired the view across the anchorage. Then back on board for a quiet night…..and slept very well as the motion of being back on anchor rocked us to sleep….. 
Friday we were up at a reasonable hour, had a leisurely breakfast and had a snorkel around. Went ashore to dump some trash and to explore the town a bit – Port Elizabeth is the only real town on Bequia. For such a small place it is very noisy – the market in particularly loud – but no-one bothered us as tourists. Although loads of market stalls around selling t-shirts, jewellery and local crafts – there was no hard sell…. Quite refreshing after St Lucia – perhaps we have started to look like cruisers who are renowned for being tight!!!! Anyway….we went to the tourist office and got some brochures, fixed up some diving for Monday, and wandered down the shorefront walkway having a look at all the bars and restaurants that we may frequent while we are here….
This afternoon we had a bobbing time back at Jacks and got chatting to a local guy who was off fishing. we came back on board before dark and had a steak and salad dinner…. Then the fisherman turned up to sell us some fresh fish which he had also filleted for us – so we now have four sizeable fillets of fish in the freezer waiting for a tasting session later in the week. We are not sure what it is – but we were told it’s really tasty – but if you don’t hear from me again then you know why!?!?!
Saturday more boat jobs and more exploring planned…..
Bye for now
Jan