can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Voyageur - Log day 277 - Not so beautiful Bequia!



12 April 2011

Suddenly all hell broke loose. A tender had collided with our bow, hitting the anchor in the process, then the chain started paying out, creating a terrible commotion. David leapt to the bow with the flashlight. No damage was done except for our rude awakening. What is wrong with the weather? It has rained almost continuously for the past two days now. And... it almost chilly too. Certainly we have had the chill out time we had so long longed for! I have spent the mornings with my head deep in lockers, cleaning and tidying, the afternoons lazing around reading. Now we are impatient to be on our way again.

There are just two days left before we are due to arrive in Marigot Bay in St. Lucia. When you have zipped around the globe in fifteen months it is actually not so easy to sit in an anchorage for days and days. I can never understand people taking five or ten years to do the trip we have just done, as much as they cannot understand us. We waited until midday before we headed out of the bay and across to Young Island at the south of St. Vincent. Crazy Horse and Ocean Jasper had left in the early hours but we heard from Mike on Jeannius that because of the rotten weather conditions they had diverted to Young Island, an anchorage in the very south of St. Vincent.

When we got there, there was no sign of them, they must have moved on or changed their minds. Our original plan had been to put into Wallilabou Bay halfway up the coast of St. Vincent but David and I are very nervous of this island. It does not have a good safety reputation amongst yachties. Sparrow, as he called himself, tied us to a buoy and asked for 60 EC Dollars. After a brief exchange the price was reduced to fifty five, fifty for the boss and five for him. John was charged twenty until the evening when the boss man arrived. He knew nothing of Sparrow's ill gotten gains and charged John another 50 EC dollars. What can you do? You are totally at their mercy. Anyway it seems worth it for peace of mind and a quiet night.

We are going to rise very early tomorrow morning and make for Marigot Bay in one hop. Jenny and I are looking forward to some shore leave. Normally I really love to be swinging to our own anchor but the weather has been so inclement that even a short dinghy ride from ship to shore and you are liable to be thoroughly soaked through. At least in Marigot Bay we can step ashore, go walkabout, or just simply sit in one of their cafes and catch up with the other World ARC crews.....

Susan Mackay


Previous | Next