Bequia

The Pitons as we sailed away at dawn

The main street of Bequia

Admiralty Bay anchorage

Bequia waterfront

Dinghy dock in Bequia ("Sparkle", our dinghy, is the yellow one)

The morning we left to sail to Bequia was peaceful and calm. The Pitons had a deep bluish tint in the early dawn sky and as the sun started to rise behind the mountains it cast bright gold rays behind the billowing clouds. It was an incredible sight. We had a long day ahead of us because we were passing the island of St. Vincent and heading straight to Bequia – a 10 hour sail. St. Vincent has a recent history of crimes against yachts so we decided to not take any chances.

As with many of our recent sailing days, this day brought us perfect wind and seas. When we were sailing in the lee of St. Vincent marveling at the beauty of the island, and commenting on what a shame it was that most of the yachts just pass it by, we spotted another large pod of dolphins heading in the opposite direction. The young dolphins were jumping completely out of the water! We tapped the side of the boat and about 10 or so came over and swam along with us for a short while. Before long they headed in the other direction to join their pod again. What a blessing!

We were excited to arrive in Admiralty Bay, Bequia since we had heard so many great things about it. But the next morning on the weather report we heard that a possible tropical storm was heading our way, so we knew we couldn’t stay long to explore. Hurricane season was definitely here, and tropical waves were already arriving every three or four days. Our time in the Grenadines was going to be limited this year!

We took the one day we had to go ashore and see what we could see, get a few groceries, and visit the fruit and veggie market. The market was a hoot! We got there and were immediately surrounded by the Rastafarians who have stalls there, and boy were they pressuring us to buy from them! We chose some tomatoes from one man and then others wanted to know what we were going to buy from them. Each one kept trying to steer us in the direction of their stall and then to their friend’s stall, telling us we needed to buy something from their friend. So, we bought one thing from each one…tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers, and even a shopping bag made locally out of a chicken feed bag. By the time we escaped the market we were friends with them all!

Bequia is a tiny island, but there were tour bus/taxis everywhere. The competition was fierce. We wanted to visit the whaling village where it is still legal to take a whale, and the turtle sanctuary, but there was not enough time. Instead we wandered around the streets of the tiny main town past the schools, the cemetery, local restaurants and markets, while we shared the streets with goats, chickens, and dogs. What a quaint and peaceful village!

The next morning we sailed out sadly on our way to Union island for a quick stop-over, and made a promise to ourselves to spend more time in Bequia next year.

St. Lucia

Gregory delivering fruits and vegetables

Dolphins!

The Pitons

Moored at the Pitons

Our special meal at Harmony Beach Restaurant, Pitons

Our sail to St. Lucia from Martinique was so much fun. It was one of those “perfect day for a sail” kinds of day. We cruised along at about 5 knots the entire way until we approached St. Lucia, then all of a sudden the wind picked up and our speed kept climbing. The sails on Aldebaran were perfectly trimmed and we were flying along…for us, anyway! When we approached 6 knots we started to get pretty excited, then 6.5 knots, then 7 knots!!! We were high-fiving as we got up to 7.6 knots. Unheard of in our boat!! Wow, what fun.

As we got anchored in Rodney Bay and started to settle in we saw out the back of our boat a pirogue approaching with a thatched roof and flags of all types flying, and the driver honking his horn to get our attention. Gregory introduced himself and offered every kind of fruit and vegetable we could imagine finding. We bought bananas, grapefruit, oranges, limes, mangoes, cucumbers, and sour sop (which he called sweetsop). He was so “happy for our purchase” that he threw in an extra mango and some limes. He promised he would be back on Monday with something special. It turns out he came back every day with “something special for us”. Gregory kept us well supplied.

The next day we watched as more and more boats sailed into Rodney Bay. One particular boat caught our attention….it was “Receta”. Even though we had never met the people aboard Receta, we knew the boat’s name because the woman aboard, Ann Vanderhoof, is the author of “An Embarrassment of Mangoes” (listed on our book list). Both of us read and loved her book, we even make her recipes, so when we saw them arrive we were quite excited at the possibility of meeting her. Later, when we decided to go exploring we stopped in the Marina to check out the restaurants and stores and get some cold water. We spotted Receta in the Marina and decided to go introduce ourselves. It was so fun to meet Ann (Steve was below doing some work), and of course we got her to sign our book!

Rodney Bay is a good place to get some work done on the boat, so we took the opportunity to have our SSB radio reception sorted out. With that completed, and our water and fuel tanks full we decided to move south towards the Grenadines…….but not so fast! The morning we were to leave Jon came down with the most dreadful symptoms I have ever seen. Oh my gosh…Dengue Fever. It was horrible. He had a high fever and the most excruciating pain in his back and legs. He had no sense of taste and he was so sensitive to light. I did a lot of research online and discovered that there is nothing I could do for him other than keep him hydrated and comfortable and to watch him carefully. No aspirin, no Ibuprofen, only Tylenol. After two days of this, his fever finally broke in the night. I knew that if it was really Dengue Fever the fever would return with a rash on his torso. Sure enough a day later it started again. Finally after a week he started to get a bit better. But it took at least 3 weeks to be back in full swing.

One week after Jon became ill; the marina threw a BBQ party with 2 nights free in the marina, so we took them up on it. It turned out to be quite a party and we had the opportunity to meet so many great people. Then the morning after the party while listening to the morning cruiser’s net on the VHF radio we heard the announcer tell us that it was trivia day! The questions that day were…..1) what did 100,000 self-conscious women purchase 200,000 of in 1980? Well, of course Jon knew that one….breast implants! So we called in and got it right along with one other boat. Now, to see who wins….2) Who sang the song “Puff the Magic Dragon”? The other boat did not call in and we called in with the answer….Peter, Paul and Mary! Right! Aldebaran wins!!! So we got a night out at H2O restaurant with dinner and desserts free!

Finally, the time came when Jon was strong enough for us to head south. As we left Rodney Bay it was pouring down rain. We took our time leaving and as we headed down the coast of St. Lucia it began to clear up. Just about that time we spotted some dolphins! Oh my gosh, we have been waiting all year to see dolphins and they were EVERYWHERE!! They would swim alongside the boat and then surf our wake. They would jump out of the water and criss-cross back and forth in front of our boat. We were squealing like children with glee! As we watched them they would come up next to us and turn their eyes up towards us to look at us, and then take off. We would tap on the sides of the boat and they would come up close to us again! We never wanted them to leave!

Our next stop at the south of the island was the Pitons, famous for their unusual beauty. We called Benny at Harmony Beach to see if he had any moorings available near his house and restaurant, and he told us hid did and would be waiting for us. When we arrived we were awestruck by the beauty of this area. The mountains – Pitons – jutted straight up out of the sea. When we neared Harmony Beach we saw Benny’s son waiting for us at the mooring ball. He was standing on his sea kayak. Benny Jr. helped us to secure to the mooring and then asked if there was anything we wanted to do that afternoon. We told him we were hoping to eat dinner at their restaurant (it looked closed up, but thought we would give it a try). He asked us what we wanted to eat….Creole chicken, Creole mahi mahi, or pork. I ordered chicken, Jon ordered mahi mahi.

Benny Jr. picked us up at 6:30 in his water taxi and delivered us to the restaurant. We were the only ones there and Jennealyn, the daughter, waited on us as Mom cooked the dinner. Since it was the end of the season we were the only two at the restaurant. Just the two of us. We enjoyed a rum punch as the sun set and toasted to our special night out and one year on Aldebaran II! When Jennealyn brought our dinner out to us we were shocked at the amount of food on our plates. We had our chicken and fish, and then there was rice, a salad of carrots and cabbage, sweet potato, chrystophene, fried plantain and breadfruit. To top off the evening we had ice cream and a healthy dose of mosquitoes! Jennealyn sent us off with six mangoes and a few ginger mints. Safely back at our boat, we prepared for an early, early departure to Bequia the next morning.

Martinique

St. Anne Waterfront

Community fishing in St. Pierre

Martinique lady selling peanut brittle and peanuts on the street

Anse Mitan Sunset

Our friends Renate from Emerald Seas, Kennedy from Far Star, and Tom from Jade

posing on the wall of Canal de Beauregard

Carol hugging the wall on the canal walk


Jon walking up the road with the 25% grade before we knew we were going the wrong way!


Mount Pelee, the volcano in St. Pierre

When we left Dominica to sail to Martinique there were three of us leaving at the same time; Emerald Seas, Far Star, and then us. It was pretty typical seas and winds for between-island sailing. The seas are usually choppy and large for awhile, and then calms somewhat, only to build again when nearing the next island. This day was no different. With 20+ knots of wind we were all sailing at 5 knots or more. We messed around with the trim of our sails so much in the beginning that Emerald Seas and Far Star quickly left us behind. Before long we were in the groove and moving towards Martinique at a fast pace. All of a sudden, our stay sail came crashing down. Jon had to go to the front of the boat to pull it in and tie it up, and discovered that the ring at the top of the sail broke. Without our stay sail we slowed somewhat, but still made good progress. Then we noticed that our depth finder was not working. This is not good when it comes time to anchor because we need to know how deep the water is and how much anchor chain to put out. We figured that we would call our friends when we arrived at our anchorage and they could help guide us to a good anchor spot. So we continued on…..

When we reached Martinique and sailed into the lee of the island, the wind and seas calmed down. We decided to put away our sails and turn on the engine to motor in the rest of the way. As we were motoring, the engine rpm’s kept slowing and then speeding up again……oh no…..please just get us into the anchorage!! Well, this happened over and over and we hoped we would be able to make it into the anchorage at St. Pierre just ahead about a mile. But no, the engine decided it had enough and just quit. As we bobbed around we considered raising the sails again and sailing back out as Jon checked the fuel filters. But it was calm so we decided to sit where we were and check it out. Sure enough, the fuel filters were clogged. Quickly Jon changed them out and we tried the engine again……it started! Ok, so that is 3 things gone wrong, we are done!

We reached St. Pierre and called our friends to let them know our depth finder was not working, however, as soon as got in close it began to work again. Evidently, it was just so deep between islands that the depth finder just stopped reading until it got shallow again. Whew!

St. Pierre lies at the foot of Mt. Pelee Volcano and has an interesting history. In 1902 St. Pierre had a population of about 30,000 and was known as the Paris of the Caribbean. It was the cultural, commercial, and social center of Martinique. In April of 1902 the volcano began rumbling and on May 2 a major eruption covered the city with enough ash to kill some birds and animals. Later that day a planter went to check on his crops with a group of workers on a large plantation. A torrent of volcanic mud, lava, and boiling gasses completely buried the estate. Many people had been killed in and around St. Pierre, but people still stayed there. Why?? Well, the new Governor of Martinique was overwhelmed at the idea of evacuating everyone, and plantation owners who were afraid of suffering financial loss convinced him to sit tight. So a committee was put in place to monitor the volcano and they enlisted the support of the local paper to tell people that there was no danger. A few people left, but the majority stayed, and on the morning of May 8, 1902 the side of the volcano facing St. Pierre burst open sending a giant fireball of superheated gas that flowed down over the city, releasing more energy than an atomic bomb. An estimated 29,933 people burned to death leaving only two survivors in town: a cobbler who was in his cellar and the famous Cyparis imprisoned for murder in a stone cell. Even the many ships that were in the harbor at the time burned. The city still has many ruins, and many new buildings share at least one wall with a ruin. It was amazing walking around the ruins in town at the base of the majestic looking volcano and trying to visualize the disaster that happened to the city.

The anchorage in St. Pierre is near the town dock which is right next to the market where farmers sell their fresh vegetables and fruit . On some days you will even find the local fishermen selling their catch of the morning. Most of the town business is near the town dock, so it was very convenient for us! We even decided that while we were in St. Pierre we would tackle our laundry duties. This was one place that even had its own Laundromat! We took our laundry, soap, and Euros into the Laundromat and attempted to figure out how to work the machines. Since we don’t know any French it was quite comical. A woman who was doing her laundry finally took pity on us and with great theatrics demonstrated how to use the machines. We got the first loads started and Jon left to go get some more change at the nearby store. Carol had just settled in to watch the clothes sloshing around in the washers when Jon came running back in and said our boat was moved and it looked like some of our friends were on it! So he took off running to get the dinghy and get out to the boat. Carol waited and watched from the beach across the road. Sure enough…….our boat was dragging its anchor and was drifting away! Our friends saw it and took their dinghies out to rescue it. By the time Jon got there, they had released some more anchor chain and stopped it from drifting. Time to re-anchor! Jon moved it to a more secure area and with several more attempts finally found a place where the anchor held better. Geez!

With our laundry finally done and our boat secure it was time to relax! But not so fast…..our friends Jim and Renate on Emerald Seas had another idea. They convinced us that we needed to all go hike the Canal de Beauregard in the mountains south of town the next morning. The canal was built by slaves to bring water around a steep mountain to supply the distilleries of St. Pierre. We read about it in the cruising guide and since Carol is afraid of heights she really wasn’t so sure she wanted to do it. But they talked us into it, saying that there were only a few places where it was really steep. So, Carol gave in and decided to go along.

The next morning we all met to catch a bus up the mountain to the beginning of the canal. The bus curved around the steep mountain road…up and up and up….and finally stopped at an intersection in a tiny village. Jim went in to a restaurant and asked for directions to the trailhead. The men told him to go up the hill to the right so we all trudged up the hill on a road with a 25% grade. It didn’t seem right, but we just kept on going until we reached an observatory at the top of the hill! When we got there we knew we had been deliberately mislead….not surprising since the French are not at all fond of foreigners. So, we walked back down the road and took another turn. We decided this time we would ask a little lady in her empty restaurant if she could tell us where the trail started. She was very sweet and motioned to us where to go since we did not speak French and she did not speak English. We all decided to buy a beer from her and sit for a minute to cool down after our hike up the hill. She watched us for a few minutes and she was clearly concerned about these 6 hot people sitting in her restaurant sweating profusely! Next thing we know she is delivering Pringles on a plate for us and telling us we needed to eat them. We all ate the Pringles, drank our beer, thanked the sweet lady and moved on up the road. We walked through this village that was so sparkling clean that it looked unreal. FINALLY we found the beginning of the canal. There were signs in French with clear pictures of people falling off the wall and the word DANGER over and over! Still, we marched on through a tunnel that was collapsing (did we have a death wish or what?) and onto the wall. The wall was 18” wide and on one side was the canal that was about 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide and on the other side was the drop off to the country side below. On and on this trail went and it was not just a few times that it dropped straight down it was over and over!! Needless to say, Carol was freaked. She didn’t say anything, she just went Zen and kept on going. Jon and the others were not bothered. They just kept stopping and turning around on that 18” wall high up the side of the mountain to discuss the scenery!! People would come from the other direction and we had to find a place where we could all pass each other. There were a few places where the trail would get a little wider and that was a relief. We ate lunch on one of those wide spots overlooking the farms below (Carol tried not to look).

Finally we reached the end of the canal. We still had a LONG way to walk back to a town where we had to find a bus to get back to St. Pierre. We wandered through farms and fields of sugarcane and just when we all thought we could not go another step we staggered into the nearest town. We found a little store and all the locals were very amused watching us buy cold drinks to guzzle down. Then we found a bus stop and figured one would be along any minute to take us back to St. Pierre. No bus. Finally a woman who spoke English told us no more busses were coming that day. Just when we were planning on hitchhiking back a “Taxi” (more like bus, but they called them taxis) showed up and we were on our way back. Exhausted we stumbled back to our dinghies and back to our boats at the end of a looonnnggg day.

When we left St. Pierre we sailed down the island to Fort de France, the capital. We checked in and then were told that the next day was a holiday (every French island we visited was having a holiday!!). It was also the weekend, so we didn’t get to see much of the city. We sailed over to Anse Mitan because we were told it was like a little Disneyland. That would be nice! Well, it was definitely a tourist destination for people from Martinique, but like every other day on the French islands, most places were closed. We continued sailing south the next day and stayed in a little bay about half way down the lee side of the island. We anchored near a few boats close to shore and thought it was a great place, except for the fact that a giant cockroach flew onto the deck of our boat. Jon did a great version of the Mexican Hat dance as he quickly ended the life of that cockroach!!

We moved on the next morning to Le Marin, the boating capital of Martinique where we replaced our anchor chain, got the stay sail repaired, and purchased a few more things for the boat. Then we moved over to St. Anne before leaving our last French island in the Caribbean to sail to St. Lucia. St. Anne is a beautiful little town except that everything was closed – again – so we didn’t get to visit many places. The French islands are a mystery to us! The businesses open late, close 3 hours for lunch, and have more holidays than any place we have ever visited. They won’t speak English even if they know English and friendliness in not generally their strongest trait. Still, they have such beautiful islands, so we are sure we will be back!