St. Vincent and the Grenadines: From turquoise blue to lush green
The peace and quiet is over. Where there were 20 boats in Pirate’s Bay, in Bequia we get a place in the 5th row in the southern part of the bay. The sight of the masts is overwhelming, as there must be over 200 boats anchored here. At least the bay is huge, the anchor holds and we see a turtle while we are looking for a place to anchor. After the obligatory manoeuvre sip and anchor check, we take our dinghy ashore to clear in. We wind our way through the anchor field against the small wind wave that builds up so far back in the anchorage. By the time we pass the floating bar, our spirits are high again.
Once ashore, we withdraw East Caribbean dollars, a common currency in the southern Caribbean, except on the French islands. Clearing in is very easy and you can see the routine of the officials. The customs officer enjoys an ice cream while he checks our documents and we are ready in 30 minutes. We immediately start a little exploration. It's quite a contrast to the traditional Charlotteville. Bequia is very touristy - small cafés and restaurants with pizza, burgers and whatever else people like to eat on holiday are available. There are white yachties everywhere. We seize the opportunity and indulge in an American pizza (although we have to mention here, based on our Italian experience, that only the shape has anything to do with pizza) with extra cheesy, floury dough and topped with jalapeños. We refine the whole thing with Caribbean hot sauce to increase the junk food factor and enjoy it as a very welcome change from the otherwise very simple Caribbean food. We also have our first rum punch. Afterwards, we are absolutely stuffed and steer our dhingy in the dark back to the boat, which is not so easy to find in the endless white anchor lights.
The next day we do the shopping, take out the rubbish and end up looking for food at a rum punch happy hour right by the water where we watch the sunset in comfort. Back on the boat, we cook potato goulash for the following New Year's Eve using the sausage Stefan brought with him. Of course, it simmers for the whole of New Year's Eve, just as a good goulash should - we are used to cooking for two days for the occasion, as is traditional from our New Year's Eve celebrations at home. The next day at lunchtime, our friends Bjerke and Levent from Namai - affectionately known to us as Stahlsund - arrive with their girlfriends Kira and Charlotte. We give them a proper welcome with hoots and hollers of joy - after all, we last saw each other at the other sid of the Atlantic in Mindelo, where we shared our last meal before we cast off together.
We spend New Year's Eve together cooking, swimming, making music and chatting before our friends go to clear in. On the way back, we all stop for a drink at the floating bar. So we were together with Bjerke and Levent on both sides of the Atlantic in the floating bar. As in the afternoon, the evening continues with a lively atmosphere. We eat our potato goulash together with French baguette that the Stahlsunds brought with them - the best bread we've eaten in a long time! Otherwise, we play cards, drink rum punch from the coconut, go for a night swim, drink mulled wine (which turns the coconut into a mulled coconut), Stefan returns the favour by playing chess with Levent and, of course, we watch the fireworks from the foredeck at midnight. Then the evening becomes even more special, as Levent proposes to Charlotte during the fireworks. Of course, this had to be celebrated in style!
After a fun and long New Year's Eve, New Year's Day is usually a quiet day. In the afternoon, however, we still want to see something of Bequia and so the three of us make our way to the beach, where we take a short walk before enjoying a sundowner in a pub. The 7 of us spend the evening in our little cockpit again, eating spaghetti bolognese, this time cooked by the Stahlsunds, and playing cards.
The next day, together with the Stahlsunds, we continue to a must-see in the Caribbean: a small island archipelago in the Grenadines called the Tobago Cays. They are located around 25 nautical miles south of Bequia - the shortest distance for us in the Caribbean so far and so, after a leisurely 4-hour sail, we anchor again in turquoise-blue water at a depth of 5 metres. Only the reef protects the anchorage from the waves and the trade wind blows relentlessly at 20-25 knots. At sunset, we sail together against the wind and waves in the Stahlsunds dinghy to one of the islands, but it's too windy for a cosy sundowner, so we just go for a swim.
We spend the next few days snorkelling at different parts of the reef at a depth of 1-2 metres. Unfortunately, the reef itself is no longer the healthiest and many corals are already faded. Despite this, there are lots of fish and other sea creatures and we see many colourful fish as well as turtles, rays and even a nurse shark twice.
A little turtle……and suddenly a nurse shark appears.
Spotted eagle ray
Together with the Stahlsunds, we have a fun time exploring not only the underwater world, but also some of the small islands. We also climb to the highest point of one of the islands and enjoy the sunset from there. In the evening, we cook and eat together and usually play some games afterwards.
There is another island outside the reef - Petit Tabac - and when we find out that Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed on this island and not just any scene, but the ‘Why is the rum gone?’ scene with Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley that is so popular with us on board, we just have to go there. Unfortunately, the island was hit by the last hurricane in June and there are only a few palm trees left. While exploring the island, we discover a few hermit crabs but unfortunately no treasure map. At least Levent discovers a half-full bottle of rum that has been left behind, from which at least one or two brave souls take a drink.
After 5 fun-filled days with the Stahlsunds, we unfortunately have to say goodbye again, as Charlotte is heading back to Germany. However, we stay one more night in the island paradise before we make our way to the main island of St Vincent, 45 nautical miles North. We decide to sail overnight and weigh anchor at 10 pm. To avoid running aground on the reef, we stick to the route we had taken the days before, in addition to the nautical chart. We set sail away from the reef and sail through the night on a cosy windward course. As soon as we reach the southern tip of St Vincent in the early hours of the morning, we have no more wind in the lee of the island and have to motor. After 9.5 hours, we reach Chateaubelair Bay in the north-west. It is very unspoilt and reminds us a little of Pirate's Bay in Tobago. While Peter and Stefan explore the village, I stay on board with a slight fever and sleep all day. The people here don't have much and are all trying to sell you something. It's also the first time we've paid the guys at the dinghy dock to ‘look after’ our dinghy. We always treat everyone with respect and friendliness and try to buy a little something like fruit or vegetables from several of them.
Our sailing route in St. Vincent and the Grenadines
The next day, we go to the Dark Falls together with two guides. They pick us up from our boat in their wooden boat and take us on the tour. The hike is not particularly strenuous and leads first through the village and then through the forest. The weather is not at its best and it drizzles from time to time. The waterfalls are in the green jungle and pleasantly cool. Stefan treats himself to a shower at the upper waterfall.
The next day in the morning we clear out and are surprised that the customs officer knows Austria. He asks us: ‘Ah you are from Austria, are you from Fucking?’ We laugh and explain to him that the town has now been renamed Fugging to prevent the town signs from being stolen all the time (yes it was really called Fucking before). Stupidly, we had spent almost all our Caribbean dollars in the shop beforehand and were therefore 3 dollars short of the amount we needed for clear out, but the officials thought it would be fine and we should just pay for a beer next time. We say thank you and say goodbye to St Vincent and the Grenadines - unfortunately our next stop is also Stefan's last: Martinique.
Shortly before sunset, we pull up the anchor and leave the bay of Chateaubelair. The sailing conditions are very calm and so two of us can sleep well during the crossing. The many cruise ships we encounter are striking. They are huge travelling cities whose lights can be seen like a halo from afar - even before the AIS signal appears on our plotter. We realise we are entering more touristy areas. We pass St Lucia at night and unfortunately we can only make out the famous Pitons in the dark. We would have loved to make another stop. The weather becomes more unpredictable again from the early hours of the morning. Squalls blow through again and again and so not only the wind strength suddenly changes, but also the wind direction. We try to tack into the marina until we make a quick call and find out that the marineros are only there until 2 p.m. and that we should moor by then. As we only have an hour left and there are still 5 nautical miles to go, we start the engine and head straight for the small marina Pointe du Bout as quickly as possible. The entrance and the dockes are very narrow and we are glad not to have a larger boat. We moor with confidence - it is the first marina since Mindelo - in between lies an ocean, a 16-day Atlantic crossing and almost 3 weeks of island exploration in the still quite unspoilt southern Caribbean.
Crossing from St. Vincent toMartinique:
Distance: 90 nautical miles, of which under sail: 76 nautical miles
Engine hours: 3 hours
Time: 20 hours 26 minutes
Average speed: 4.4 knots