DEC 23, 2012 BEQUIA, GRENADINES

SUNDAY DEC 23, 2012 BEQUIA, GRENADINES
Well there was definitely a sideways roll from side to side last night as we sailed from Barbados to Bequia and in the middle of the night I was woken by a door opening and one roll, the closing on the roll to the other side. I was not going to get any sleep so out of bed I got and open and shut every door since I could not figure out which door was the problem! Minutes after I was back in bed It started again! Up I got again and opened and slammed the closet door (I had done it gently the frst time so as not to wake Terry but obviously not hard enough!). Back in bed - it started again - by now Terry was awake and he got out of bed and opened the mini bar - a little starnge time for a drink I thought! But no, he had seen wine bottles lying down in the bar the night before and they were lying sideways, so he turned them to the opposite direction - sure enough - they no longer rolled from side to side - and the noises stopped! It was not a door opening and closing at all!

By the way - you pay for all alcoholic beverages in the mini bar but the water and sodas are included. You can also buy an "all inclusive" beverage package for $49 per person plus 15% gratuities - both persons in the cabin have to buy it (one of the two cannot buy it just for them self) and you have to buy it for the entire cruise - you can't select certain days. The package includes almost everything except for premium spirits and champagnes, and wine by the glass which costs more than $10 glass. The Wind Star cruiseline carries a really nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc white wine that we enjoy called Chasing Venus - it is $22 bottle plus 15% gratuity. There is no way we need to purchase the beverage package!

As a result of our middle of the night "door slamming" activities we didn't wake up until 820 am (420am in Sechelt) unbelievable - but no doubt a result of early morning wake ups for the last 3 days! We were just pulling into the harbour and were amazed as we looked out of our porthole at the huge number of sail boats anchored in the bay - there were at least 100 - all here for the Christmas season travelling the Caribbean. The Grenadine Islands are a very popular area for private, and chartered, sailboats to spend the Winter. We saw flags and home towns on some of the sailboats from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, USA, Washington State, Toronto, to name a few.

There are 3 places with varying times, for breakfast each morning - continental by the pool on deck 3 or early morning risers, the Verandah on deck 3 for the main breakfast buffet and a la carte ordering, and the pool from 10 until noon for late risers continental breakfast. We threw on shorts and tshirts, grabbed a coffee by the pool and headed to the main lounge for the presentation by Gondalo from Uruguay, the destination Manager on board responsible for shore excursions. There were only about 10 of us at the presentation but it was excellent information and we decided to book the Tobago Cays sail and snorkel for Christmas Day, the clear bottom kayak trip in Grenada, and the catamaran sailing trip in Mayreau Grenadines - we're looking forward to all three!

Afterwards we ate a small continental lunch in the Verandah before taking the tender over to the island of Bequia. We walked along the main frontage road and listened to the singing coming from St ? Anglican Church - outside there were 2 old bells hanging by a rope from the ? foundry and cast in 1866!! The church had all the doors wide open and everything was painted in blue and white - definitely a Caribbean Church! We checked out The Garden boutique across the street - the European owner had lived in Bequia for the last 30 years and opened this store 20 years ago carrying large amounts of hand painted and batik clothing, sarongs and linens - all made locally in Bequia. For a tiny island (5000 square miles) with a population of little more than 5,000 we were surprised at the number of restaurants and supply stores - but of course this is the busy season in Bequia when all the sailboats arrive - all looking to take a break on shore and eat and drink at the local bars and restaurants, get items fixed that may have broken on their sailboats, and also replenish their food and beverage supplies. There are signs announcing order your pizza at VHF47 - so you can even get pizza delivered to your sail boat!

Gondalo had told us of Mac's Pizza restaurant where they made lobster pizza with lots of lobster - highly recommended so we took the recommendation! We walked along the frontage - a two foot wide concrete walkway in front of the restaurants, dive shops, stores and hotels - every time a large swell came in we would jump up or get wet feet and legs! We soon stumbled on Mac's and went to the upstairs deck and ordered their special of the day - lobster pizza! The 9 inch pizza was $90 EC, the 11 inch $110 and the 13" was $115EC. The EC - Eastern Caribbean Currency) is 2.6 to the US$.

It took about 45 minutes for the pizza while we enjoyed the views of the harbour and a couple of diet cokes, all the while listening to the blender as they blended many, many cans of Hunt's tomatoes into tomato sauce - no doubt the base for the pizza! They were also selling Christmas Tree shortbread cookies - $1.50 Ec each or $15Ec for a dozen.
When the pizza arrived it was excellent and far more than we could eat! We took back several pieces wrapped in aluminum foil for Gondalo.

Ultimately we soent nearly 5 hours enjoying Bequia and talking to the locals there before taking the tender back to the Wind Spirit. This really surprised us since it is a small island and we had visited before. Bequia has several, if not many, Rastafarians living there - you could smell the Ganga (marijuana) lingering all over the place and there wee several characters with very interesting faces that we spoke to. After visiting Ethiopia earlier this year we had visited the Rastaland given to the Rastafarians in Ethiopia by Haillie Selassie. here in Bequia we saw several pictures of Haille pinned to the walls and the locals loved to talk to us about their religion and the King of Kings when they knew we were interested in Rasta and had visited Ethiopia.

We also had a discussion with one young man who had just opened a small market building along the front street. His Mother and 3 sisters had moved to Montreal (and still lived there) when he was 4, and had returned for a visit once when he was 9 and again when he was 16 - so he had been living with his Dad or own his own since he was 4 years old. He was now trying to make a business for himself in the green grocery business. His Mother had sent him funds to purchase a fridge and freezer so he was hoping to provide more goods than the locals who had the open air stands along the road with fruit and vegetables (which is where he had started his business). He was so proud of what he had and took us through the store explaining every piece of fruit and vegetable and what it was. That night he was taking the 1 hour ferry ride to St Vincent - the large island next to Bequia - to pick up more supplies for his store. We really like this young man and hope he is in Bequia and doing well when we return next time.