January 2013

2013

January

This month has been a bit of a holiday for us and as such we have not done any sailing. We have spent all the time in Bequia doing holiday stuff, so not much to report. This is our favourite island so far. For anyone wishing to stay here we have been looking through brochures and would recommend either the Frangipani or Gingerbread hotels as the places to stay as they are right on the waterfront.

Please let your engineering friends know that our friend Robin, “Fixman 2” ,aka Simpson Engineering is for sale. Robin the ex-Ferrari driver and workshop owner wishes to retire to work on his ship Tjeldøy, but is prepared to do a couple of days a week to help out. His fully equipped workshop has all the kit for machining parts, milling, grinding, turning, aluminium and stainless welding. This would suit someone with an engineering background looking to semi retire or live in the Caribbean. There is a constant variable supply of work on yachts, large and small, ferries, cars and mopeds. Workshop 001784 457 3962 or mobile 001784 526 6729 for details. (remember we are 4 hours behind you)

Tue 1^st

Moved the boat again, this is the sixth move in Bequia Admiralty bay and I think we are now settled. Apart from that, it is just a recovery day.

Wed 2^nd

We end up at Coco's to listen to Ice-cream Bob and Jackie, They start slow but by the time the usual suspects arrive we are into some serious rock and R&R. Bobs wife Maran makes yoghurt and ice cream for the island.

Thur 3^rd

We are dragging anchor again, so we move and take advice on putting a second anchor down “in tandem”. Stan from Ambler helps us do this and we are happy again. (ish)

The problem with socialising with folk from foreign lands and e.g. tourists in Bequia's busy season is that they bring a lot of germs with them. After 18 months free of bugs I am hit by what ends up being a 48 hour flu (mini epidemic), along with a load of others. I miss the party on Tjeldøy, Trudy goes and has an excellent time. I sleep for the best part of 48 hours.

Fri 4^th

?

Sat 5^th

Winds are due to increase so anchor checks are a must. We think that our anchor is probably too small. The tandem second anchor helps, but does not dig in. Internet suggests 25kg for a 43ft mono-hull or next size up for a catamaran that means 33kg or 73lb for us. I hope Trudy can carry it.

Sun 6^th

We hear a complaint from Flawless “D” that a rude Scotsman has asked them to get off his private mooring. They have only been blocking it for three weeks! They ask us if this is because we want the mooring, and can they then use our space to anchor. No, we assumed that Robin wants to use his own mooring and we have just put a second anchor out... We meet Robin later and he says that now they have moved we had better use the mooring. We will move tomorrow.

Mon 7^th

Trudy dives in three metres and attaches a floating line to the second anchor she undoes the shackle so we can lift the anchor back into the dinghy (real action girl now). We check the mooring, it is in 17metres, and in case we lose Robin's lines we get Angie to act as boat boy and help moor up.

Tues 8^th

Great nights sleep the mooring is solid and flat calm with no snatching, even in the northerly swells. Peace at last.

Wed 9^th

We head out to the Firefly hotel and restaurant; for £2.50 they do a plantation tour, one of the best value tours in the Caribbean. Unfortunately the rain is so heavy that the tour is cancelled and we walk back to the docks. On the way back we meet “Irish” John, he invites us to his place Saturday morning before the blues festival for bloody Marys. Excellent! We lunch at Sweetie pies another cheap and cheerful colourful and basic restaurant that has been hidden from us in a back street. Probably now the best rotis in the islands. The only ones that were better were Mrs Taylor's, but she has passed the cooking on to someone new.

Thur 10^th

Cora from Ambler tells us that she dived on our anchor and that it seems quite small. We are now quite paranoid about anchor and decide to get a new oversize “modern” anchor, a Rocna 33kg, Juergen can get us one but it will take three weeks. Oh well it looks like we may have to stay here for the Bequia blues festival. We cook a Tagine for guests on board as we needed to thank Robin for hospitality and free use of his mooring.

Fri 11^th

Friday early doors is usually at the New York Bar, a regular meeting of ex-pats. After this we head out to try out a pizza at Macs, This is voted the best place to eat on Bequia and is always packed. We take a look at the food and the menu, decide it was probably chosen for its American influence and leave. They had lobster pizza for $100. Pizzas are an inch thick with little topping. We head to Aaron's shack and get a few slices of his excellent thin crust pizza at £1-50 each and head back to the boat. At Aaron's you only get what he has made. And he usually has a veggie and a meaty on the go at the same time. Today he has veggie and lobster. We take three slices of each about $15!

Sat 12^th

The butcher arrives with four or five iceboxes full of meat, sets up a table in a side street and people (and dogs) crowd around to see what he has got. We are late so no ribs left so we get some pork chops. He slices these using a 2ft or 60cm long machete which he swings above his head and misses his fingers by no more than 1mm. Whilst cooking supper we see flames and smoke in the bay. We have heard nothing on the VHF radio, but turn it up anyway. The Admiral II, a local ferry is on fire. Yachties with large dinghies and locals get all the passengers off and the crew remain on board to put out the fire. We later hear that the skipper was the first off! Whatever happened to going down with the ship? The generator failed and caught fire, there was no back up lighting, there were no lifeboats, only life jackets, so everyone would have had to get in the water if the fire had started between islands.

Sun 13^th

De Reef is a bar that has live music on Sunday afternoons. It is a large venue where ex-pats and locals mingle. We get a 1$ bus there and a flat bed truck taxi back to the dock.

Mon 14^th

Tue 15^th

Stan cooks a Hungarian goulash with sauerkraut which we consume on Tjeldøy, a great venue as there is room to walk around. We have a wild time but unfortunately I fall into the sea trying to get back on board. The first time since we bought the boat. Shows we are not immune to the dangers.

Wed 16^th

?wake up with bruises on my leg? Don't know where I got them.....

Thur 17^th

Robin invites musicians to Tjeldøy and we have a fantastic jam, Stan – accordion, Scott drums, Dave - bass, Bob - guitar, Cora – sax, all professional musicians, and I get to play second guitar; seriously enjoyable. We rock it up for four hours until after midnight.

Fri 18^th

rest?

Sat 19^th

Karaoke at Miranda's. The machine is poor, the screen is at a 45 degree angle its dark, rum is bad, but some of the voices are world class. Rica, a barmaid at Sailors Bar wins.

Sun 20^th

A day at the beach and a beer at De Reef. Peter (Fixman1) and his wife Brit ask us if we would like to house sit for them from May to July. Lovely house with view and pool, use of car, all services free. Very tempting must think about it. We get a flat bed truck (aka taxi) back. All land and water taxis are on VHF and have nicknames. We get a ride with “Fat man” who is tall and thin. Other boat boys are called Dede (girl), African, Dumpling, Why ask, Whats my name and Phat Shag. We see them passing all the time.

Mon 21^st

Need to find a dentist, I have just lost two fillings. This means a

ferry to St Vincent and a long wait. Phone the dentist no appointments for a month, can you come in tomorrow – any time? Yes

Tue 22^nd

We go for the second ferry of the day, its cancelled, arrive in St Vincent at 10:30, find the dentist, half an hour later three crowns are diagnosed and an hour after that three temporary crowns are fitted! £850. I need to go back for moulds when gums have healed.

Wed 23^rd

I go back to St Vincent to get a mould for permanent crowns. Just need to wait two weeks for crowns to arrive.

Thur 24^th

Opening night of the Bequia Blues Festival. This starts with a movie about the history of whale hunting on Bequia. They are allowed to take four whales per year but average less than one. Then off to listen to the Elite steel band. They are an excellent steel band but don't play blues; the bar next door has decent reggae.

Fri 25^th

Dana Gillespie sing with the London Blues band and others. There is a five band line-up.

Sat 26^th

Bloody Marys for lunch at John's then off to the beach to listen to a free concert all afternoon, in the evening we catch a calypso band “Farine” then crash, missing another five bands at De Reef, the other end of the island.

Sun 27^th

Back to De Reef and we see mostly a repeat of the bands we missed, get the T-shirt..Toby Armstrong was particularly good.

Mon 28^th

We get dry enough weather to visit the Firefly estate. Keith walks us round describing local fruits veggies and herbs. We come away with a rucksack full of fruit. Guava and Bequia apples; there is only one apple tree on the island. They look almost like plumbs and have a plumb type stone inside, but they taste like very sweet apples with a good crunch.

Tue 29^th

We get dragged out to a quiz night, lucky it is only on once a month.

Wed 30^th

Throughout the month we have been using our watermaker which has proved a good choice. It runs on 12v and whilst the sun is high and the wind is blowing the combined effect produces almost sufficient power to run it. We are consistently making enough power to keep 900 ah battery topped up.

Thur 31^st

Guitar practice day, after doing boat accounts..