Bequai, South African Style

        The winds or lack there of sometime necessitate a change in sail plan. (Doesn’t it seem as though that’s a reoccurring theme in our blog?)  We were aiming to sail from Laborie, St. Lucia to the southernmost Grenadine island of Petite St. Vincent. However, after encountering a squall with winds gusting to 30 knots that was instantly followed by slight winds on our nose, we cut the distance of the trip in half by stopping at the Grenadine island of Bequai.
         We’d been to Bequai before, but this time it was with the South Africans and that made it a nonstop blast. Please refer back to my post “The People You Meet” in Nov.2012 in which I described the South Africans as “those who are always organizing a party.” Our dearest South African cruising friends are John and Joann on their aptly named vessel Out of Africa.   

John and Joann of s/v Out of Africa

        Our stay in Bequai’s Admiralty Bay entailed constant socializing through which we met quite a few new cruising friends. There is a daily cruisers’ net on VHF Channel 68 at 8 am.  Most mornings, when the net controller asked, “Are there any social activities for the net?” John would announce an outing and off we’d go.  Then while were were involved in that activity, he’d casually survey the attendees as to what event might be planned for later that evening or the next day.  Sometimes, John would instigate a get-together and then delegate the organizing to someone in the group who expressed a degree more enthusiasm than the average cruiser, (i.e., I was assigned the implementation of a snorkeling venture to Devil’s Table.) Some of the daytime activities included: wandering around the town of Port Elizabeth and walking the hilly road north, then east to the Turtle Sanctuary.  As the sun set, there were sundowner gatherings on various boats, a BBQ potluck dinner on Out of Africa, a pizza birthday party on another vessel, and a sortie ashore to check out Bequai’s Carnival “Jump Up”.

Brother King is caretaker of the Turtle Sanctuary.

Lunching goats after touring the Turtle Sanctuary
Harry & Melinda s/v Sea Schell are on far right.

         My favorite outing, though, was suggested by Melinda and Harry on s/v Sea Schell and spurred on by John.  It seems that they learned about the hike to Peggy’s Rock from Devi and Hunter of s/v Artic Tern.  There were about a dozen cruisers who gathered at the dock at Princess Margaret Beach. Harry said he knew the way, so we all followed him up the hill to the main road toward Friendship Bay on the other side of the island. We traipsed along chatting with one another as cruisers do, sharing boat maintentance and sailing stories.  Harry noted that we were supposed to take a path up the mountain once we got to the Whaling Museum, so we kept a lookout for the path because we knew that most island hiking trails were unmarked (EXCEPT on the FRENCH islands).
        We carried on…a few buckets of sweat later, Harry and I were walking mid-group and I asked for specifics on finding the path.  His answer was a bit sketchy.  There happened to be a boy standing on his porch near us, so I asked him if he could direct us to the trail.  The boy indicated that we had just missed it, so we back tracked a short distance and began the ascent.


Grazers on one of the grassy knolls

  
   The initial incline was enough to separate the men from the boys, BUT not the cruisers from the namby pamby.  We carried on…here and there were grassy knolls in the open sun followed by a nicely cleared trail through shady bush. I kept looking up, thinking that we must almost be there, but no.  During the strenuous climb, I got separated from Dan and thought he was behind me nursing a badly bruised big toe he had stubbed on deck.  I waited for him in a shady spot a few times (mainly to catch my breath), and then- SURPRISE!-  I saw him well ahead of me in the small cluster of hikers who were in the lead! 

Peggy's Rock (I still wonder how she found it...)

All our vessels are anchored below in Admiralty Bay

        After a few more buckets of sweat, the view from on top of Peggy’s Rock was overwhelming.  We were so relieved to have reached it without casualties, although a few in the group did stop about two-thirds of the way up.  They missed out on the cooling breeze and the birds eye view of our anchorage below that revealed the varied topography of the ocean floor.  We’ll share the photos taken with them, but it’s just not the same.
       And I swear-  if I ever take this hike again, I’m going to mark the entrance to the trail on the main road!

       PS:  When he arrived at the top, Harry publically thanked me for having the good sense to ask directions.

St. Vincent and Its Boat Boys

Many mountainsides have terraced gardens.

The cave at Kearton's Bay was a filming sight for The Black Pearl.
 

     
        During last season’s trip down island we took a pass on St. Vincent after hearing about incidents of theft and assaults on cruisers. Marijuana is the biggest cash crop on the island, although it is indeed illegal there, and that added an element of danger. There are so many beautiful, safe anchorages in the Caribbean making it an easy choice to skip those with security issues.  However, for more than a year, not a single report was made to detour us any longer, so there we went to enjoy the deep bays, exquisite and lively reefs, lush vegetation and the tropical fruits of St. Vincent.
        We walked to a nearby waterfall and ate our fill of luscious rose apples in the adjoining garden. Another day, we took a bus ride into the capitol city of Kingstown.  There we toured the Botanical Garden and learned more about tropical plants species from our knowledgeable guide, Sammy.  Alone in the anchorage of Petit Byahaut, we hiked the deserted ruins of a once popular resort and harvested a huge bag of mangos. Fishing is how many earn a living on St. Vincent and we marveled at the varied methods they used near dawn and dusk daily in Kearton’s, Barrouallie, and Buccament Bays.  We snorkeled often around the rocky shoreline that suddenly dropped off to dark depths and were rewarded with a splendid display of wide-ranging corals and sea creatures.

This one's for Lilly- The Cannonball Tree flowers exude
 a rose sent before its huge "cannonball" inedible fruits form.

Under one of St. Vincent's many waterfalls
 

     
















       What we did NOT enjoy were the numerous boat boys in select bays who would not take our polite “No, thank you” for an answer.  Walliabou Bay is one such location and, unfortunately,  it is the bay we chose to clear into customs and immigration. Walliabou is one of the filming sites used in the film Pirates of the Caribbean, so many boats stop there.  It seems the boat boys think that anyone who cruises must certainly be rich and able to buy whatever they are selling. Quite the contrary is true, of course. We know that most cruisers are a frugal lot and some, in fact, are down right cheap.  We sailed into St. Vincent knowing that the island was hurting for tourist dollars and decided to spend some money while there.  But we aimed to spend it on tangible items like goods and services.

Another filming location just outside of Walliabou Bay;
three corpses hung from this rock in the movie.

This movie set also houses memorabilia from Pirates of the Caribbean.

     
      We did pay for one man to help secure our stern to a piling, but all the others who were merely touching the boat thought they should also get a tip.  We promised one boat boy named Julian (who balanced a crate of fruit on an old surf board as he paddled) that we’d buy some fruit when we needed it in a few days, but three others continued to hound us.  We bought fresh tuna from Ronald who cleaned it and gave us tips on fishing around the island.  One afternoon a man rowed up to the boat and asked the Captain for rice- we gave him half of what we had on board.  Another day, a fisherman paused at the stern and asked for a soft drink which we gave him.


The boat boys were momentarily distracted away from our boat...

Ronald, a pleasant boat boy and a darn good fisherman!

        But one afternoon we were returning from town and a young boy stopped his bike at the dock where we were unlocking our dinghy.  When I smiled at him and said hello, he said, “You tip me?”
        I thought I misheard him and asked, “What?”
       He repeated his request.  I said, “Tip you for what?  What did you do?”
       He hesitated momentarily, then said, “For going to school.”
       WELL- the teacher in me politely let him have it- “Going to school is YOUR JOB. You’re supposed to do that and do it well.  I hope you keep going to school and grow up to be an intelligent man.”
     “What intelligent?” he queried.
     “Smart,” I said as we left the dock. “Smart enough to get a job and support your family when you grow up.”