June 24-27th
The squally weather was supposed to be subsiding and so we left the Pitons of St. Lucia in a rain shower that increased in intensity and became a squall as we left the harbor and rounded the first of the Pitons. The winds coming off of the Pitons increased to 28 kts. With the mainsail up the boat was difficult to handle in the erratic winds and torrential rain. I had been at the helm but when the squall hit I, as Mike likes to put it, Tapped Out and had him take the helm. As we crossed from St. Lucia to St. Vincent the showers stopped and the winds became steady again at about 18 -20 kts out of the East which made for a wonderful sail all the way to Bequia. As we passed St. Vincent we were met by a pod of about 60 Dolphins who raced our bow and lept gracefully out of the water. I should say the adults lept gracefully. The babies would leap up out of the water and land with a big flop……It was great fun to watch. Those that swam alongside and in front of DD would turn and look up as they swam and make eye contact with us. The feeling of connection it brings to us is unsurpassed and one of the greatest delights of our cruising life! We made our way into Admiralty Bay in Bequia around 4:30pm and anchored off of Princess Margaret Beach. When we had anchored we were met my David from S/V Daniels Story. He and his lovely wife Michelle have been coming to this area for the last 4 years and they have been a wonderful wealth of information. We also met up with the Marty and Deb on the Trawler, Bay Pelican, whom we had been in radio contact with at the Pitons. We spent the next few days getting to know new friends, swimming, and hiking around Bequia. We visited the Hawksbill Turtle Sanctuary one day with David and Michelle and then Hiked over to Friendship Bay the next Day. The locals have been out sailing their boats around the harbor in preparation for is St. Peters day on Tuesday. There will be festivities and boat races. I have volunteered to become the Tuesday Net Controller for the Coconut Telegraph, a cruisers SSB Net that meets M-F on Frequency 4060 at 8:00am. Many of the normal Net Controllers head back to their homes for the summer and so the help is appreciated. The Net allows cruisers to get in touch and share information. What have I gotten myself into? I hope I don’t get too nervous and start to stutter.
Living the Dream 