January-2 2006

January

Bequia turned out to be every bit as good as people had said. A quiet community with friendly residents who clearly welcome and depend on the passing yachts of all types. Tramp steamers come and go p the main channel and numerous yachts lie at anchor or on buoys of dubious parentage. On shore there is an excellent fruit and vegetable market manned by a few ladies and a larger number of very pushy Rastas. The market philosophy is printed on the wall and includes a statement that customers will not be hassled. Maybe they don’t read so well... Frigate birds are constantly at work over Admiralty Bay and four or five may be gliding in the wind looking for hapless, well-fed terns to bully. The terns disgorge all their meal and the frigate birds catch it in the air or swoop to scoop it off the water. They are a good three feet across and menacing!

From Bequia we moved on to try to stay at the Tobago Cays but the wind strength was steadily rising and this was not practical. A glance into Salt Whistle Bay - crowded - and on to Saline Bay. We negotiated with a boat boy for two spiny lobsters and barbecued them on the new stern rail barbecue following a nice sleep in the freezer. Yum...
We had an uncomfortable second night and moved on to Clifton on Union Island. Although sheltered by a reef this was exposed to the steadily freshening winds.

Our friends John and Angela on Galadriel said Chatham Bay was good and the following day we joined them there and ended up sheltering for several days while 35 knot squalls raged past in an endless stream.

There were only a handful of boats and we were visited by all the boat boys with bread, tuna, fruit and vegetables to keep us going. We were told Tobago Cays was all white water with only a few boats remaining. Our US friends Bob and Kim went and only stayed four hours! Ah well, another year maybe...
We took the dinghy ashore to swim during the better days and were also able to meet up with ‘Shark Attack’ and attend his lobster and fish BBQ. A great evening with crews from other ARC boats, eating on rough tables and planks just behind the deserted beach. Apparently Tony Blair has even been for this event we are told. HUGE white ensign motor yacht (Leander) joined us for shelter.

On the windiest days we watched the local bird and fish life. We were surrounded by a shoal of smaller silver fishes at all times. At intervals the local yellow fin tuna and bonito would hunt them. The bonito leapt from the water and described a long low arc down into the shoal. The yellow fins went straight for them and the water churned. Lots of the shoal leapt into the air repeatedly and they often landed in our dinghy in large numbers. We tried to rescue them but they died very quickly.

When gannets, terns and brown pelicans spotted the feeding frenzy they dive into the melee in large numbers. The terns and gannets were graceful and dived many times. The pelicans were noisy and seemed to be dazed after each dive, resting for a while on the surface while filtering the fish from the sea water in their pouches. It was great fun to watch and helped to make the very windy days more interesting for us before moving on again.