Blogs from Bequia, Grenadines, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Central America Caribbean

Geo: 13.0032, -61.246We made it to our chosen Christmas destination. Now our pace slows down again. ;) ... read more

Sailed up to Bequia (pronounced Bekway) today 26nm and a bit of a bash on the nose, but managed still to sail most of the way. Seemed to take ages though and the seas were a bit sloppy. Got to Bequia and Boomerang is there. YAY. The boys paddled over on their paddleboard and Luuk’s first comment was “What took you so long?”. Apparently it’s been too long since we saw them!! Had dinner with Boomerang at the Steakhouse as they are leaving tomorrow and then we won’t see Oma and Opa again until we get to Holland. 21st: Explored the town of Bequia. BBQ on our boat with Alkiera that night 22nd: BBQ (grill on an open fire) on shore with a group of other boats. A really nice night, enjoyed meeting new people and ... read more

St Vincent and the Grenadines is a long string of islands, St Vincent is the biggest and most northerly. It is about the same size as Barbados but, being volcanic, St Vincent is very rugged, its extinct volcano topping 4000 feet. We stayed in a very basic eco-lodge ... in other words a bamboo shack complete with resident green lizard. The shack was wonderfully situated halfway up a hillside amongst verdant foliage that turned out to be lots of market gardens. Here grew root crops (sweet potatoes, peanuts and yams) and fruit trees (bananas, tangerines, mangos and cocoa). They were tended by both men and women, working the steep slopes in seering heat. Their soil looked wonderful, dark and fine. A lot of crops were new to us, like soursop which looks like a spikey green ... read more

Tobago Cays After a lovely sail with Chilli Cat beside us and the kids doing a general knowledge quiz on the VHF we arrived in the most beautiful Tobago Cays. This is one of the Caribbean’s biggest coral reefs and set amongst the most turquoise water we have ever seen (so far...). This is also a tricky piece of waterway to manoeuvre in as the depths are very shallow and not great for a boat with such a deep draught – extreme care must be exercised when we are following a catamaran. After a spot of lunch we headed to Turtle Beach and bump into a huge clan of ARC families (Rafiki, Mad Fish and Intrepid Bear). The boys had great fun playing with all the kids whilst snorkelling with turtles and exploring the ... read more

Bequia We arrived in Bequia a few days before New Year’s Eve and anchored up with Maloo, Chilli Cat and Senta. This huge bay is peppered with boats and we pushed ourselves in so we were close to Princess Margaret Beach. Gill always talked about one of his favourite pizzerias where they sold lobster pizza. Hence this of course that was our first mission to sample one of these culinary masterpieces! In all 14 of us sat down to a variety of pizzas watching the world go by in this pretty bay. The next morning was my birthday so after a lovely breakfast we headed ashore with Maloo and Chill Cat to the turtle sanctuary. After stiff haggling we all climbed into a taxi to visit this shabby turtle sanctuary where we were greeted ... read more