February 22, 2009

Our grass is pretty green

Life in Bequia, ST Vincent and the Grenadines
Right at this moment our grass is looking pretty green on this side of the fence. Our days are full, everyone is happy, well fed and plenty of exercise. We have been doing so many cool things and it is nice to stay for a while and really get to see the island. We have been hiking all over, visiting friends on other boats, making fabulous food, reading and of course swimming. (I will leave out the bits about endless hours of varnishing, engine oil changes, rig tuning, SSB tweaking, anchor watch and missen climbing :-))

Our friends the Biddles left for St Lucia the other day but not before extending way too much generosity. Ross is an amazing cook and we enjoyed many meals including Mahi, Mahi and Wei even made us Tiramisu! Our favorite. Their daughter Ishbel is so cute and we all can't seem to get enough of her. Ross has been sailing for so long he has lots of tricks and Graham and I try to soak up as much as we can. Thanks to Ross's advice both our anchors are both operational and given that the winds are right now hitting up to 30 knots, we have 2 anchors out holding us in place!

There are lots of Canadians out sailing these parts and it just seems easier to make friends on the water. We said good bye to a couple from Toronto the other day. Wendy and Sam are sailing on a boat named Maestro. Amelia enjoyed a homeschooling social lesson on board their boat. She learned all about the Federal government from Wendy.

We also met up with some friends we made in Grenada Marine who are also Canadian. Joanne and Murray. We have been enjoying cocktails at each others boats and today Amelia went over and had a crocheting lesson. She had a great time and has been going at it ever since she got back.

Amelia made another friend in the bay who lives on her HUGE ketch and goes to school in town. She has been going over and playing after school. The boat is so big they play hide and go seek. Alex even got in on the fun the other day.

Every time we go to the beach we see people we know and the kids swim and we all sit and chat. It is really nice. Conversation just seems to come so easily, no pressure.....could be the booze?

Yesterday we walked to the other side of the island and went to see the turtles. It was really cool. This man on the island has been spending many years trying to boost the turtle population by helping them out in the first few years of life. You can get right up close to them and they are all at varying stages of life. As cool as the turtles were, the kids fell in love with the owners dogs. Too funny. They can't wait to own their own dog.

There are alot of fruits and veggies available on the island but the problem is that the vendors are mostly men and they harass the heck out of you and size you up and charge you what they think you can afford. A couple of days ago we solved the problem. Graham went in and moved about the stands with all the men and of course all the commotion stirred around him. "You want mangoes?" "Come over here, I have the best tomatoes" etc etc.....as all this is happening I sent Amelia in and told her to go quietly to the back to this old woman and ask how much for a bag of passion fruit and a bag of mangoes. She came back unnoticed and managed to get them each for $5 ec a bag. This is a great deal around here. We have been piggin out on passion fruit and mangoes ever since. The lady is always happy to see her.

Oh and I forgot to tell you that we also did our good deed for the week. Another Canadian boat had some trouble the other day. Their anchor snapped off in the wind and of course they began to drift away. When they ran up on deck, they went to start their engine and then an engine fire started. Our friend Murray yelled across to Graham that they needed helped, so Murray was jumping in his dinghy and Graham was jumping in our dinghy and of course the winds are howling. Well, Murray's dinghy wouldn't start and he had already let go of his boat so it is drifting quickly out to sea. Graham raced (as good as he could with our 3 hP motor) and helped tow Murray in and then the two of them set out to help the Cdn boat "Step Three" in trouble. He was finally able to get attached to a mooring ball and put out the fire. Graham offered to find his anchor and retrieve it for him. So Graham and I went out in our little dinghy and did just that. He never seizes to amaze me. It was just like watching a survivor challenge. First off, he swam all over and found it. Then he dives down and ties rope around it. Then he ties the rope to floating fenders. The he dives back down and begins heaving at it, cause it is really jammed in! He finally manages to loosen it and it floats up a bit due to the fenders. He gives me the signal to begin back to "Step Three" and drag the anchor back. Our little dinghy did a great job, against the wind and the extra weight. We made it back to the boat and up comes their anchor and we are left with a warm fuzzy feeling. The thing that was interesting was that their anchor broke off right on the point we had been warned about by Ross Biddle. It is this swivel shackle that Ross told us to take off of ours because there is this problem of them snapping off. Well we did just that at Grenada Marine and are now happy we did!

Tuesday the winds should die down and we are leaving for Tobago Cays, since we have the SSB up and running you will be able to track our progress. The following is a link to our position reports: Artemo Position Report
For some reason google has the island we are on mislabeled. It isn't Union, it is Bequia. 

ps....I would like to dedicate this blog to ZAC! 
Missin' you all in Bequia!

7 comments:

  1. thanks for the update. miss you guys.

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  2. I would say that was an action packed blogg for sure. Cant wait to track your progress. It sounds as if you guys are meeting up with a lot of fascinating people. I loved the pictures. My two favorite ones were of Millie driving the boat and of Alexs back and the dog sitting there. That sure was a kodac moment. That beach sure looked inviting as well.
    Keep us posted

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  3. yes you? Do you know another Zac?

    We are going off the grid for a few days. Heading to Tobago Cays tomorrow (Feb 24). I should be able to post an update via our ssb. We will see. Julie

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  4. Enjoyed the Blog, funny to dedicate it to Zac (who hates long blogs). I am with Theresa on the favorite pictures, just love the dog and Alex. And Amelia is "I am woman!" for sure. You go girl!
    Enjoy your voyage to Tobago.
    Mom

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  5. Hey Guys,

    You guys are bloody awesome. You have so much courage. I am longing to get some adventure going in my life here, although I must say the cruise was beautiful, and life is grande.

    AM said I should bring a kid down to visit you and sail, that would be great. Anyway, good luck sailing in the Grenadines.

    SS

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