MUSTIQUE

A dazzling school of blue tangs welcomed us to the island of Mustique. Our cruising friends assumed that we were going to this island in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of its many famous residents, such as Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Tommy Hilfiger... but that wasn't our motivation.

A very "ZEN" atmosphere

Mustique is where cruisers need to go to retreat from the monotony of life on board their vessel.  In Mustique, there are NO boat boys, NO boat services, NO chandleries or sail lofts, and NO fuel docks to distract you from sitting back and enjoying life one day at a time.  Mustique offers your choice of long soft sandy shores, select reefs to snorkel and often you are the only ones there.  But IF you come to Mustique- leave your cameras on board to respect the privacy of the many celebrities who have homes on the island.

Exquisitely decorated boutiques

BEQUAI (BECK way)

Ah-h-h, the Grenadines at last!

As we rounded the southern tip of St. Vincent toward its sister island of Bequai, the wind reared its ugly face, gusting and shifting erratically.  A massive cloud hung over the boats in Admiralty Bay where we intended to anchor.  We watched a grey curtain of rain fall down before our bow and put on our foul weather jackets.  Within minutes, the sky turned charcoal-black and we could no longer see the boats in the bay.  Exit Strategy does not have radar yet, so we turned back toward the open sea, switched on the navigation lights, and patiently waited out the storm.  About forty minutes later, the rain let up and visibility was improved enough for us to maneuver the vessel back into Admiralty Bay where we set our the hook along a lovely quiet stretch of beach called Lower Bay.  After all the excitement, I was ready for a nice hot cup of bush tea made by steeping a bruised lime tree leaf in water, as Martin/Providence taught us in Dominica.  For supper we had more comfort food- chicken and dumplings, then off to bed for a good night’s rest.  The following morning rewarded us with a beautifully clear sky.  We found ourselves anchored in water that was so pristine we could easily see our large cooking pot 18 feet below on the bottom that Dan had lost a grip on while rinsing it the evening before.   (He soon retrieved it.) 

The Grenadine Islands are relatively small, but Bequai is the largest. We were surprised that many yacht services were available here and thankful that for once we didn't need any. We wandered around and easily found loads to do as our photos will attest.

Bequai is so small that even the cattle pastures have an ocean view. 

In recent years, bee keeping was revived and produces richly sweet honey.

We saw many "Gracey" dogs here.

We visited the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary and got a tour from Brother King.

OFF COURSE to St. Lucia

St. Lucia was not listed on our ES Float Plan 2012 for a few reasons:

ü  We had vacationed there before. 

ü  We were concerned about reported safety issues.
ü  We had read about arrogant boat vendors.

ü  SKIPPING St. Lucia and sailing southeasterly toward BARBADOS (on our float plan) from Martinique would give us a better angle on the wind.  (We’ve wanted to go to Barbados for years and jokingly call it “BAH-BAH-dose.”)

However, when it was time to leave Martinique, the winds were largely coming FROM the EAST-SOUTHEAST, so we decided to set sail in a southwesterly direction to join our friends on s/v Tiger Lilly in St. Lucia for some more fun.

Resting at the pond up on Mt. Pinard with Lilly (s/v Tiger Lilly) and Joanne (s/v Out of Africa).

The winds were brisk with intermittent gusts measuring up to 25 knots as we sailed away from Martinique.  When we reached the northwestern tip of St. Lucia they became even more erratic, so the captain reefed both the main and the foresail.  Alas, it was too little too late- the hard winds had ripped our tired genoa once again.  Luckily, one can get just about anything you need for your yacht in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, our first anchorage. 




Rodney Bay, St. Lucia as seen from the peaks of pigeon Island National Park.

Rodney Bay has a large modern marina with  homes resembling those along the US Intercoastal Waterway lining the harbor. It has all sorts of yacht services and two large shopping malls, yet the malls were small-no, MINUSCULE by US standards.  I finally found two grocery items I’d been searching for since we were in Puerto Rico: Dream Whip and TWIZZLERS!!!!!  I also could not find brown sugar since we left the USVI/BVI and there it was on the shelf (but only LIGHT brown sugar). Provisioning in Rodney Bay was a dream! We topped up our groceries often because we seemed to do a lot of on board socializing with friends, as Tiger Lilly had introduced us to another wonderful cruising couple from South Africa- John & Joanne of s/v Out of Africa.  For some reason, I was always delegated to bring the dessert.  I suppose I earned the reputation after sharing some Caribbean Banana Bread, followed by Pineapple Flambé over cream cheese, Fudgy Brownies, Coconut Custard Pie, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars.

Gregory said HE was the ORIGINAL fruit boat vendor and came by often to our delight.

To work off the desserts, we took hikes through the northern tip of the island where there is a golf course with neighboring posh developments.  We climbed the peaks on Pigeon Island where we stopped to chat with a honeymooning couple from the Chicago area.  On other days, we were happy to power walk the rolling terrain around Rodney Bay.  We snorkeled the point at Pigeon Island and Cuti Cove in hopes of spotting a seahorse in the reef, but none were found.

The women always seem to take the lead when hiking through the bush.

One day, a group of us hired a bus driver to tour around the southern 2/3 of the island, thanks to John of s/v Out of Africa for negotiating a fair and affordable price.  Tom of s/v Tiger Lilly kept advising our driver, Darren, “We’re SAILORS!  We’re not nimbi pimbi cruise ship tourists.  Take us to see places in St. Lucia that are not tourist hotspots.”  Darren obliged and took us to a lunch spot frequented by locals and we each devoured a plateful of BBQ (chicken or pork) surrounded by mounds of local veggies, rice, provisions for 15 EC ($6 US).  We were impressed with how colorful and clean St. Lucia was and how beautiful and welcoming its people were.

Our tour group in front of Petit Piton: (L to R) Joanne and me, with Gosia & Chris (s/v Aldebaran),
Tom & Lilly and our bus driver, Darren.               

Soufriere; Gros Piton (2,619') & Petit Piton (2,460') in background

 Captain Dan & I moved on to our second anchorage alone, knowing that we would surely meet up with our friends "down the road.” We took a mooring along the coast just south of Soufriere near Harmony Beach.  There we walked the shore and the mountainous roads just north of Petit Piton.  One paved road turned into a footpath as we neared town. We learned from a dreadlocked man along the way that Hurricane Tomas caused landslides that covered the road.  On another bright morning we hiked in the opposite direction to the Hot Springs Baths & Waterfall and lounged there for a spell.  We dinghied over to snorkel the rich reef between the Petit and Gros Pitons, venturing beyond the marked area far enough to realize that the buoyed spot keeps one safely out of the strong current that cuts around Petit Piton. (Boy, did we get a work out swimming back…I grabbed onto large boulders three times to catch my breath!)

Captain Dan at the Hot Springs Waterfall

Saved By the DIAPERS

What are the odds of finding punctured plastic containers in different lockers within days of each other?

All vessels have limited storage space and we feel that our s/v Exit Strategy has more than ample areas to stow items, as we have not exhausted all the available lockers and dry nooks below the floor boards.   We try to stash things in places that make it convenient to use the item. For example: our laundry products are tucked into the port side cockpit locker near the buckets and cooler that the First & Last Mate uses to occasionally hand launder items.  The Captain also keeps his BBQ utensils in that locker because it is near the grill.

So guess what happens when a pointy BBQ fork runs into a large bottle of Tide AND the Captain subsequently picks the fountaining  jug up and wonders, “What the ----?”  You are absolutely right- a puddle of liquid detergent immediately settles in the bottom of the locker!  The First Mate started to sop up the soap with items from the dirty laundry bag in an effort to not waste the soap.  BIG MISTAKE.  It took multiple rinses to get the residue out of everything.  So, OK, after hours of sloshing that got squared away with no casualties except for the First Mate getting very pruney fingers and toes.

THEN, a few days later while preparing dinner, the First Mate opened a bilge area where canned goods are stored and discovered an oily substance in and around it.  But no oil was stowed in that particular compartment, so the Captain commenced to search for the source.  (“No ----ing way this is happening!”)  He soon found a punctured gallon of 10W-30 in the locker below the sink in his bathroom that is next to the canned goods spot. Much oil had seeped into the grooves under the floor of the shower.  More oil was found in the nearby bilge areas upon lifting all the floor boards, although nothing is stored in them.  The Captain issued the perfect order- “Get the diapers!” (ES has had a stash of disposal diapers on board that were left over from a sailing trip with the grand babies.)   Diapers were shoved under the shower floor.  They were squeezed into grooves.  More were tamped into oily puddles. Then the areas were washed down with vinegar a few times, and once again ES was squeaky clean. 

As luck would have it, the First Mate had cleaned the bilge areas a week before making this clean up less of a mess.  And she is still waiting patiently for the Captain to relocate the other gallons of 10W-30 to another compartment that is self contained and convenient to the engine.

Martinique- FWI

Martinique was not just another French Island. Yes, there were tempting baguette and pastry shops found along every street.  Fresh seafood, fruit, and vegetables markets could be bought daily at very reasonable prices.  Bells tolled every quarter hour from chapels in each village.  And yet, something was quite different about Martinique.  Voila!  The French residents there actually seemed happy to practice their English and were very welcoming to us!  I suspect that I’m still “murdering” their language because a few people even asked me to “Speak English, please.” 

Upon entering our first anchorage in Martinique, we were elated to find s/v Tiger Lilly bobbing gently on her anchor with our cruiser friends Tom and Lilly on board. We first met them in Dominica, but they sailed on and we hadn’t seen them for over a week. We thought we wouldn’t  see them until we got way down island to Grenada for hurricane season.  Tom and Lilly are GOOD people who enjoy having fun and exploring the islands. Lilly is a super people person and stops to talk to islanders along the way while we’re passing through the villages or hiking around the countryside.  And because of her out going nature, we were able to see parts of Martinique that were 'totally OFF the typical tourist track. For example:

We did NOT tour the local rum distillery, but DID hike through their cane fields...
Here Lilly and Tom of s/v Tiger Lilly rest for 2 seconds to snap a photo among the bamboo.

Ever been to a cock fight?  Tom & Lilly got us in gratis...

Lilly was in a local grocery trying to figure out which French labeled flour to buy
and she got us a private tour of Martinique's Volcano Monitoring Facility. This is the original seismometer.