Fort Hamilton: When we finally had a sunny day, we walked around the harbor and up the hill to the small remains of the 18^th century fort that protected the north entrance of the bay. Other than the several cannons mounted on a low stone wall nothing remained to be seen, although the view was fantastic. There are lots of old British forts and cannons in the Caribbean. This fort is really nothing more than cannons protecting the north side of the harbor.

Boat Work: All that wind finally did some damage to the sun shade we made in Trinidad two years ago. Kathleen spent several hours making repairs on her sewing machine. Then there was the niggling problem of salt water leaking into the toilet bowl. Having taken the mechanism apart and replaced a couple parts, Roland thinks the problem is solved for now. After we had returned to Chatham Bay, Union Island, Roland removed two stanchion plates on the starboard side where salt water and rain water had leaked numerous times over the ports. After re-seating them, we thought it would be nice to find out if the maintenance was complete. It hasn’t rained since! Then there was the not so little matter of an accidental gybe that tore our main sail. The sail has now been mended using our Pfaff sewing machine, but what a job as the tear was 10 feet in length. Someday we’ll get the extra sails sent down or buy a new one. There’s no telling how old this one is as the previous owner didn’t know.

Provisioning: Groceries are definitely more expensive here in Bequia than almost everywhere else we have roamed recently. And the prices vary from store to store, vendor to vendor. Milk, eggs and potatoes are non-taxable in this country, but almost everything else has a 15% VAT added, meat, canned goods, crackers, snacks, etc. So it’s not easy living for the locals either. The rising food prices that we read about in the States are having an effect here as well. The $1.00EC loaf of bread is now $1.25EC. And last year’s $3.00EC large loaf is now $4.50EC in Carriacou.

Petit Nevis: The only attraction here is the ruin of a whale rendering facility that was probably built two hundred years ago. It’s been abandoned for many years as the whaling industry is no longer viable in the Caribbean (although Bequia natives are still allowed to catch and process two whales per year). We made an overnight stop here after leaving Admiralty Bay on April 7^th. Not much more than a rock, Petit Nevis is a favorite spot for charter boats to spend the afternoon, but few others bother with it. The anchorage was rolly overnight, and a little uncomfortable, not somewhere to spend much time.

Back to Bequia: The following morning, April 8^th, we motored a mile to Friendship Bay on the south coast of Bequia. It’s a much smaller anchorage than Admiralty Bay, and again, not many cruisers bother coming here. There are several resort hotels and cottages and a couple of beach bars ashore, and lots of homes, but not the amenities of Port Elizabeth. We stayed for three nights even though the swells coming off the reef at the entrance to the harbor made it slightly uncomfortable. It was raining a lot, too, so we waited until Friday, the 11^th, to sail down to Canouan.

Sailing, Sailing: Yes, we’ve actually been able to do quite a lot of sailing without running the engine. Going downwind with the right wind makes that a lot easier. We made good time on a two-tack run, first to starboard to clear Isle de Quatre, then a port tack to Little Bay, Canouan, arriving in time to eat lunch. Since by this time we needed a few groceries, we got the dinghy ready for a long ride to the dock at the beach hotel. The outboard wanted to be a PITA (Roland took the carburetor off and disassembled it, again. For some unknown reason sand is getting past two new in-line filters and into the carburetor sediment bowl. When the outboard is stored on the deck, horizontally, the sand goes into the float needle valve and seat, causing it to stick in the open position. Too much gas and the engine doesn’t run. But, with the many times disassembling and reassembling, the turn-time is now down to about a half hour and the problem quickly determined.) so it was a little while before we were ashore. An hour later with canvas bags laden we were home again. The following day, Saturday, the 12^th, we had another good downwind sail to Chatham Bay, Union Island. Well, mostly downwind. We found that we needed to sail almost due west on a starboard tack (which was a little rough and choppy as the waves were broadsiding us) before we could make our turn to the south on a port tack. After that it was a much smoother sail with both sails full, sometimes seeing over seven knots of speed (speed made good over ground, as our little paddle wheel and transducer usually is plugged with animal or vegetable growth stopping it from turning. The only repair is diving and scraping away the debris with a small putty knife or screwdriver and in a day or two it’s plugged again) as shown on the chart plotter. We really do like to have both methods working as the paddle wheel speed can show what the current is like when readings are compared to the speed over ground readings.

The Crazy Winds of Chatham Bay: It can be as calm as a pond one minute and blowing with a howling wind the next. It doesn’t last long but it sure gets your attention. Here again we’ve been having our share of showers although it looks much worse out toward the open waters of the Caribbean Sea. Fortunately we knew what to expect from our visit here a year ago.

Shark Attack Beach BBQ and Jerry’s Palm Leaf Bar and Restaurant: Since James ("Shark" himself) stopped at the boat to advertise his BBQ, we made a reservation for dinner. It rained buckets most of the afternoon, and it didn’t look too good for seven o’clock. From our perspective it didn’t even look like anyone was even at the beach restaurant, a.k.a. a couple of roofs over very large tables with high benches that keep your feet from touching the sand. The tiny building also serves as a bar when there are lots of people on the beach. There is no electricity here unless it is supplied by gas generators so "Shark’s" lights were Coleman-type gas or kerosene lanterns which the wind kept blowing out.

But the food, served family style, was delicious! BBQ chicken wings and tuna, roasted potatoes, rice and vegetables, and lettuce salad with an olive oil and garlic dressing that was wonderful. We couldn’t even eat all of it, but considering that there was supposed to be another couple joining us, it was probably meant to feed four.

Company: It had been several weeks since we had seen anyone we knew so we were happy to see Nadine and Murray on S/V Squizz, a Canadian couple we had last met in Carriacou over a year ago. And then to our great delight, S/V Sea Cycle and S/V Gladys arrived from Martinique. Mark and Debbie had company as well, long time friends from Toronto, Nellie and Gary, who had joined them for a two week sailing vacation. We made plans to join them along with Geoff and Kathleen for dinner at the Shark Attack. It really put a dent into the monthly budget, but sometimes we just have to do it. Mark negotiated a slightly cheaper meal price for the ten of us, which helped. And it was worth it once again.

Sail On, Splendid Adventurer: For Christmas 2004 Roland had given Kathleen a CD of Caribbean music by James "Sunny Jim" White called Sandbar Serenade. One of the songs is "Sail On, Splendid Adventurer". Now to give you a little background, we had heard the boat name "Splendid Adventurer" on the radio in Grenada before, and thought to ourselves that it was pure coincidence. It’s a great song about Captain Phil and living the dream. Fast forward to the present: Mark told us that their friends would be coming into Chatham for dinner with all of us. A really, really, really expensive power boat came in and anchored in the late afternoon. At seven o’clock we were all ashore where Mark introduced Phil and Nicola whose other boat, a large charter catamaran, is called "Splendid Adventurer". You see where this is going, right? In all innocence we told them about this great song on a CD by James White, and before Kathleen barely had the words out of her mouth, Nicola piped up, "That’s us!" So here you have it. We met the real splendid adventurers in the flesh. And that really expensive power boat is called "Living the Dream". So we checked out Sunny Jim’s web site, seeing that there are several other CD’s, and Roland sent him an email to which he responded by leaving a message in the guest book on our web site. Way cool, as the kid’s would say!

Another "Forced March": By now you’re probably used to us calling our hikes forced marches. Along with Debbie, Mark, Nellie, Gary, Kathleen and Geoff, we hiked up the rutted "road" to the top of the ridge where the concrete road comes around from Ashton. The road continues around the north side of Union Island until it gets to Clifton. Thankfully, after the uphill hike, most of the way was downhill. You’ll see the part of the route in this month’s pictures. When we got to the area where the quarry workers crush big rocks into gravel, we saw the same lady with whom we had walked last year. She remembered us as well and we had a nice chat. By the time we got to town, we were all ready for refreshments at the Captain Gourmet Shop. Then a little shopping, and some lunch, and a bus ride that took five of us back to the top of the hill where the concrete meets the rut. Three of the guys walked back, each with their music playing through their ear buds. The rest of us waited for them in the shade of Jerry’s Palm Leaf Bar drinking cold Caribs and rum punch!

Movin’ Along: The following morning Sea Cycle and Gladys left for Carriacou. They had a few days of good weather to get to Grenada where Nellie and Gary would leave for Toronto, and Debbie and Mark’s son would join them for his vacation. We also moved along, but only around the point to Frigate Rock where we would spend a couple of days until we left for Carriacou. During that short trip we had a radio call from Sam on S/V Encantada. He and Margie were on their way to Tyrrel Bay with S/V Watermark, having had a grueling trip from Martinique via St. Lucia. One evening, back in Tyrrel Bay we had snacks (actually, a compete meal as Margie, Deb, and Kathleen provided great varieties) and drinks aboard Encantada. We all went to Lucky’s one more time for her Saturday night BBQ. Encantada and Watermark I will be heading to Venezuela to haul out at Medregal Village while they go back to the States and Canada for the hurricane season.