St. Vincent and the Grenadines II
— to Bequia
I mentioned earlier that I’d say a few words about Hurricane Beryl’s effect on other islands north of the big island of Grenada. I stopped overnight in Carriacou to clear out of the country with Customs and Immigration and to take a brief look around the place, over which the eye of the hurricane had passed.
It looked like progress was being made in rebuilding, with lots of new roofs on houses and other structures and many stores starting up again, though with limited supplies. All the destroyed yachts have been cleared out and those that are salvageable, or may be, are upright in the boat yard or anchored out in the bay. It’s strange to see all those floating sailboats with no masts and gear hanging all over their topsides. Pretty sad.
And to think that a couple of months before the storm I had considered storing the boat hauled out in Carriacou but decided Grenada island was further south of the usual hurricane paths and had better service for some of the work I wanted done on the boat. A fortuitous choice!
The next day I had planned to clear into the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the small island of Union. However, the wind was great for sailing and since I wanted to get to Bequia island later that day anyway, I decided to just keep going and clear in there. As I went by the island at some distance, there wasn’t much to see to assess of how that place was recovering, but it was obvious there were a lot fewer roofs, and accounts I read by sailors who had stopped there said that they were having a lot of trouble making progress with recovery. They didn’t have much to begin with, as most of these islands don’t, so that didn’t sound too good.
As I was sailing by Union, it dawned on me that perhaps you might like to see what it’s like to be sailing along at 8.5 knots speed (9.7 mph) with the sails filled and driving the boat with no motor sound, just the rush of the water. So, here’s two videos with Union Island in the distance.
View from the helm station.
Watching the miles click by...
After six hours, with the wind slowing decreasing the closer I got to Bequia, I arrived in late afternoon, anchored, and cleared in with Customs and Immigration. Nice to have all that done and settle in for a stay.
The name of the small town around the bay is Port Elizabeth (after one of the queens of that name, I’m sure), but everyone just calls it Bequia (pronounced beckway) since it spreads all over the island with small locales of various names. It’s a very pleasant place with a long history going back to early whaling days and centered around this large wind-protected bay.
There are many little stores and shops, fruit and vegetable sellers, and stands for tourist curios along the main waterfront street. There are also many restaurants and hotels of years-long presence along the walkway just a step up from the lapping bay waves and leading from one sandy beach to another.
And, out in the bay are many sailboats anchored everywhere. As I said, it’s very pleasant and for years has also had an ex-pat community from all over the world. Easy to see why. As it was, I stayed there 19 days and could have easily stayed longer, but I needed to get moving.
One of the big considerations of a sailing cruiser is, of course, the weather and in particular, the wind. You’re always watching the weather forecasts one to two weeks distant to see what’s out there and how it changes—looking for patterns so you better understand how the weather systems work and might affect your location. And this, then, affects where you go and when—your plans. You can’t control the weather, but you can control your reaction to it.
Since my new crew buddy, Jane, would be arriving in St. Lucia on January 18th, I needed to get there in plenty of time to allow for unforeseen whatevers. And I wanted to eliminate a big possible one of those: weather. So, after doing my usual weather watching, I could see that there was going to be a stretch of time when the wind was coming from a northerly direction (bad for me since I wanted to go that direction but couldn’t sail with the wind in my face) followed by days of almost no wind (need wind to sail and not motor for hours on end). Following that, there was more wrong-direction wind.
But, the immediate next 2-3 days were good! Wind from the right direction and strong enough but not too strong. OK, time to shift gears and go. The next day I sailed from Bequia to northern St. Vincent Island—Chateaubelair—anchored, and cleared out. I’d been there before on my way down south last season and knew the layout and what to do. Convenient.
The following day, I sailed on to the island of St. Lucia and the port of Soufriere, where I am right now. I’m in a good spot to pick up Jane in less than two weeks without having to worry about the weather. Score one for Lance!