2024-06-30 Hurricane Beryl - Run Charm Run

We stayed in Bequia a bit longer.  Had a couple of rainy days, so defrosted the freezer, and Kris made some banana, oat, walnut bread.

Freezer a bit overdue for a defrost and clean

Very happy with my new bread recipe, easy to make and delicious

We took a nice but short walk along a pathway that runs along the shoreline of the Port Elizabeth harbor in Bequia.  It seems a bit sketchy in places, but no mishaps

Some sketchy looking stairs mounted to the hillside

Nice view at the top of the stairs

Any walk deserves some ice cream

Ice cream before lunch - sure why not

Taking the walkway back, old concrete walkway on left no longer is safe to use

And what better way to top off some ice cream, than with some lunch.  Stopped at Jacks bar, which is at the end of the walkway for a nice lunch.

Dean got some unexpected company who thought his burger looked pretty good.

Lunch looks yummy

Kitty jumped right up on Deans lap hoping for some burger.  Kris had a veggie burger, so kitty could have cared less about that.

After a nice lunch we headed to the boat, thinking that the next day we would go enjoy some snorkeling, but then we looked at the weather, and found that a front developing off of Africa looked poised to turn into a Tropical storm.  So we decided that prudence was in order, and we should head south out of the path.

Next day we headed in and checked out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, upped anchor and sailed to Carriacou which should be safe and out of the storms path.  We arrived to late to check in, so anchored and relaxed on the boat for the evening.

Next morning checked the weather, and UH OH - storm strengthening, and heading our direction, so went in and checked in, and upped anchor and sailed to the south end of Grenada - which should be safe and out of the storms path.  (Seeing a trend here?)

Next morning checked the weather and UH-OH - storm strengthening and heading our direction. We would probably be fine, - not too bad looking, just on the edge of the storm, but we decided better to be safe -  so upped anchor and moved to Prickly Bay to check out.  Got checked out, and decided to have a nice lunch out, as we new we would be sailing all night.  Had a nice lunch, and at the end the rain starting pouring down.  Did not want to wait an hour for rain to stop, so we had a very wet dinghy ride back to the boat.   

Dumping rain outside.

At 8:00 that night we upped anchor and set sail for Trinidad which should be safe and out of the storms path.  We were joined by several other boats.

Charm is the green boat, all the orange marks are other boats sailing south as well

Passing an offshore oil rig when the sun starts to rise

First 4 hours were lumpy, but then it was a decent sail.   Got in around 10, and went in to check in.  Saw an updated weather report - UH OH - storm now Hurricane Beryl, and has moved south a bit.  Everyone who thought like us that south Grenada would probably be fine is now is concerned to stay or go.  We made the crossing with about 20 boats, and after the weather update we looked and 100 boats where now all moving south.

Check in was slow, as so many boats checking in at the same time, but we were a group of 20, can't imagine what will happen when 100 boats show up within 3 hours timeframe.

With that thought we decided to leave the main anchorage which was already crowded and  deep, 30 to 40'.  Headed to the bay off Port of Spain which has 15' of anchoring and lots of open space.

Leaving crowded anchorage in Chaguaramas Trinidad

Large sunken boat near Port of Spain anchorage

Bay near Port of Spain

We will be south of the storm here, so should be no issues.  Glad we kept moving south.

Where the hurricane is predicted to hit on Monday, which is right where we were thinking we would stay.

2024-06-22 Tour of St. Lucia and on to Bequia

Monday we took an all day tour of St. Lucia with our friends on Matcha.   Our driver Richard picked us up at 8:30, and we did an almost complete circumnavigation of the island.  To be honest, the roads are so twisty turny, it was hard to tell where we were without constantly consulting a map.

Beautiful views, and Richard was a wealth of information.

West coast of St. Lucia, town of Dennery

Our guide Richard telling Dean about the history of the town.

Just a random photo as we drove along the southern side - beautiful island

Town of Soufriere on the east coast.  The west coast has more flat lands for cultivation than the east coast.

We stopped at the Tet Paul Nature Trail, and walked up to a viewpoint with great views of the Pitons, which St. Lucia is known for.  Gros Piton and Petit Piton.   You can hike the Pitons as well, but that looked to be a bit more than we wanted.

Quite a few steps to go on the nature trail

Panoramic of Gros Piton (left), and Petit Piton

The tour gang, Matt and Charlie off Matcha

Anchorage at the base of Petit Piton.  We did not anchor there, gusty winds, and some reported boat boy issues made it a place to avoid for us.

Bananas growing alongside the trail.  Bananas grow everywhere on the island

Pineapple.  Takes about 7 months to grow to maturity, several can be on one bush.  

After the hike we headed to the Diamond Botanical Gardens, Mineral baths and waterfall. We had a nice tour, and our guide pointed out and named a lot of plants and trees, and their common use for medicinal purpose- which we will never remember the names of, let alone what they were used for.  For use, just a beautiful walk.

Common name for this one was red hot dreadlocks

Beautiful blooms

Mineral fed stream - never clear

Waterfall.  Minerals have stained the rocks

The mineral baths

We did not partake in the baths.  It is hot water baths, which sounded unpleasant on a hot day, and we were getting hungry, so headed to a restaurant serving "authentic" St. Lucia food, for lunch with an incredible view.

Lunch

The view from the Beacon restaurant, where we had lunch

Back to the dinghy dock by 4 p.m. so we checked out of St. Lucia planning for a first light departure in the morning.

We thought we would have good wind, us and about 6 other boats all with the same plan.  We all ended up motorsailing, so bit of a bummer, but had 70 miles to the next stop, so could not go too slow.

Dropped anchor in Bequia, just as the sun was setting.  Bequia is a cruiser favorite. Protected anchorage, small laid back town, with some groceries, restaurants and hikes.  

Large anchorage, so boats are fairly spread out.

We walked up to Fort Hamilton for the view.  Fort Hamilton is really just a gazebo and some cannons, but quite the view.

View of Port Elizabeth, Bequia

We found another trail, and walked part, but were not sure where it went, so backtracked, but got some good stair exercise.

Amazing how steep some of the roads are.

Many colorful houses on the hills 

Admiralty Bay, main anchorage in Bequia.  

What's a walk in the Caribbean without some goats

We took a 2.5 mile dinghy trip out to the far west point on Bequia to see the Moonhole.

The Moonhole

Other buildings besides the Moonhole - all deserted.

On the way back we stopped at a couple of spots for a snorkel.   So nice not to have to wear a wetsuit, as the water is about 86 degrees.  Still not a lot of coral, or color, but some places look to be making a comeback.

Ocean surgeonfish (Thanks Monica)

Lots of variation in a small area

Swam through a ton of small fishes - they were about 1" long

Saw lots of white sea urchins

Couple of Ocean Surgeonfish (Thanks Monica)

Spotted moray hiding down in the rocks - we let him be

Dean spotted this peacock flounder - this photo is zoomed in.  

Same peacock flounder, do you see it?

We will be in Bequia for a while longer.  Still have another walk, another snorkel, and ice cream to try before we leave.

2024-06-16 Week at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We had a nice sail from St. Anne down to Rodney Bay, St Lucia.  Only one reef needed this time.   For those not familiar with sailing or Caribbean sailing, the island create wind shadows so when east of the islands, you can have 1 to 10 knots of wind, then you will approach the end of the island, the seas will build, and the winds increase significantly, and you can also have strong currents.   It pays to be ready for rough seas and high winds before getting to the open stretches between islands.    

If sailing very close to the islands, then also be prepared for strong gusts than can funnel down the valleys between the islands peaks.  Gusts near shore up to 40 knots is not unusual.

Rodney Bay is a large protected Bay, with a couple of resorts on the beach, so we do get loud music on occasion, but not bad, and generally just Friday and Saturday nights.

Not many boats here, so boats are quite spaced out.  We anchored somewhat in the middle of the bay.

Looking Southwest in the bay, more boats anchored in the south section

Looking north, a few more boats, resorts on shore, and Pigeon Island.

There is a nice walk and views from the peaks to the north on Pigeon Island.  There is a nice walk up to see the views and the remains of Fort Rodney,  but there is no place to leave the dinghy nearby - dock under construction - so will save this for next time (we did it 11 years ago with Derek)  

Looking Southeast toward the Marina entrance - A few  boats, and resort on shore

Our first order of business is always checking in.  Nice dinghy dock provided for free at Rodney Bay Marina.  Check in was easy.

Quite a few boats in the Marina - its off season so rates are cheaper

Nicely landscaped grounds by marina, with several restaurants, and a Gelato shop

The marina is inside a large protected bay.  There is a narrow entrance channel, and that is where the local fishing boats are kept.  Every time we go in, there are always guys working around the boats.

Local fishing boats in the channel leading to the protected bay.

St. Lucia is a large island with a large population that supports some "American" stores.  We took the bus (van) for $2.25 EC per person (less than $1) south about 4 miles to a bulk food store, similar to Costco, but smaller and no membership.    

The Massey Mega Store - half groceries, half home goods

We did not get too much, only about $150 US dollars in groceries.  Then back on the bus.  Had to cross over a pedestrian bridge to get back on the bus.  You know there is lots of traffic, and walkers if a small island puts money into something like that.

Pedestrian bridge by the Mega store.

Next day we headed in again, as there is a mall nearby with "American" stores.  We walked just a bit less than a mile down.    Kris was looking for some quick dry shorts for hiking, and some more fresh fruits and veggies.

Saw quite a few folks set up on the side of the road selling fruits and veggies

Wandered through the "malls", they were quite empty, but all the stores were open

Two malls, across the street from each other.  Empty but open.

Kris found a pair of shorts, and then we headed to the grocery store and got a few fresh items, then back to boat.    

Our friends on Hahalua are in the marina, so we stopped and visited with them briefly.  Our friends on Matcha also came into the marina  later in the week, so had a nice visit with them as well.

A trip in to get Gelato was also needed after cleaning the bottom of the boat.  The bottom paint is at the end of its life, so a twice a month scrubbing is needed to keep the growth off.   We will put on new paint in Trinidad, so only about 4 or 5 more scubbings to do.  - It is good exercise.

Will take a short island tour with our friends on Matcha on Monday, so looking forward to that.