Friday morning was the day we decided to leave Bequia and head only 5 short miles to St Vincent. It was nice and calm in the bay, and after our morning swims, and breakfast we set the sails
Briefly we took the reef out of the mainsail, then put it back in…. don’t be fooled by dropping winds-said the wise woman….

We did get some great Go Pro footage, as we reached 9.2 knots ( the highest speed yet) with 22-25 knots with a reef in. A bit of spray over the cabin top, and some drenching waves due to the crystal blue salty swell, a rain shower would be good tonight to wash the boat off.
We anchored in “Blue Lagoon” after being offered a mooring ball for only $35 US. When we called him on it, he changed his tune and said it was $35 EC, which is less than half that of the US amount. We decided to anchor.
The remainder of the day consisted of a short walk into the town closest to us, checking out the shops along the way. Prices here are much better than the Grenadines.

Saturday was to be market day in Kingstown, so Darren and I decided to take the bus into town and do some provisioning. When I say bus, im being liberal here. They are not “busses” as we know them they are 8 person passenger vans, crammed with 15 people. Music blaring, and they give Dale and Myself a run for their money in the “rally car driving “ department.

The grocery store was to close at 1pm so we had to get to town ‘early” As cruisers, we don’t really have an “early” . 10 am it was. We caught a “bus” right outside the resort we were anchored at and headed into our Adventure. My destination goal was as below.

First we headed to the Fish Market. Really cool. Many Vendors selling Tuna, Dorado, Kingfish, Wahoo, snapper… you name it. They sure looked good. Maybe as close as we are going to get to fish.

Then the vegetable market. What great produce they had. But lesson learned; when you ask a native Vincentian if the peppers are hot or not, and they say NO, … don’t believe them. She SAID they were sweet, not hot. My fingers are burning.

Grocery store next, for the remainder, milk, pop, beer, meat, and dry goods. They were well stocked at the store near the airport. We had a cart full of provisions as we leave the store, and on comes a bus. Its 10 passenger capacity had already 12 people, but the conductor said for us, and our cart full of groceries to come along. Amazingly, I wouldent say we fit but they got us in to the van, a little harder to hold on this time with our hands and knees full of shopping bags. There where so many people in the bus by the next stop they could not open the sliding door to let someone out and the Diver had to get out come round a help pry the door open.

But we got back safe and sound and all was well.

We hunkerd donw for a second unpleasant night of sleep in blue Lagoon. It was pretty, the wifi was great at the restaurant, as was the Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica, but the swell coming over the reefs made the anchorage very rolly.

Sunday Morning out we were, bright and early. Yes early. Left anchorage by 9, headed northward towards a few bays for diving and snorking. Our first stop was Petit Bayhout, where the snorkeling was calm and clear.
Then onto Bat Cave, where Darren and Colin had a beautiful snorkel thru caves.

Our anchorage for the night was in the local town of Waliblaou, which was made famous in the 2003 and 2005 return of Pirates of the Caribbean! This town was the main set.

The original sets that Disney Co built are still here, although not just a façade anymore, they have built building around them. The cannons are fiberglass, and the crates and stack of hay near the dock still stand.
The Hurricane of 2008 destroyed much of the dock part of the set, but many remnants remain. It was a really neat stop. No Johnny Depp.

Pizza for supper tonight. ( we ARE told there ARE fish here, the market did not import them from elsewhere)

Next Post, St Lucia