We did a short run up the coast a little bay called Wallilabou which is famous (!) because it was a main location for Pirates of the Caribbean. There are still parts of the stage set around including a large, ruined dock. We went for a drink at the restaurant which looks like part of the set and is next to one of the set warehouses with a bunch of coffins outside. On leaving the next morning we passed the rocks where the sailors were “hanged”.
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
St Vincent: Wallilabou
We did a short run up the coast a little bay called Wallilabou which is famous (!) because it was a main location for Pirates of the Caribbean. There are still parts of the stage set around including a large, ruined dock. We went for a drink at the restaurant which looks like part of the set and is next to one of the set warehouses with a bunch of coffins outside. On leaving the next morning we passed the rocks where the sailors were “hanged”.
Monday, 29 December 2008
St Vincent: Petit Bayahaut
We began our journey back to St Lucia via St Vincent in relatively good weather since the ride down had been so wild and we were having to go into the wind and waves on the way back. On our first night, we stopped in a small bay called Petit Bayahaut that’s less than ¼ mile across and 1/8 mile deep. It has a small beach and is backed by steep wooded hills. We anchored in the dark completely alone in the bay – a welcome relief after the crowding in Bequia. In the morning we swam and snorkelled in fantastically clear, blue water. A superyacht and a couple of dive boats turned up – but we had the plum spot! We spotted a peacock flounder – really cool – and picked up a sand dollar.
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Old Heg Turtle Sanctuary
Written by Alex:
We went by Dinghy and Ricky’s Nissan Pickup truck taxi with seats in the pick-up bit.
The sanctuary is on the other side of the island to our boat. We saw a great big green Iquana in the road. The driver stopped to let it cross!
Brother King runs the sanctuary for Hawksbill and Green turtles. Old Heg is an old deformed Hawksbill turtle that can’t be released as it swims too slowly to catch prey and avoid predators.
The youngest turtles we saw were 12 days old – they were about 5cm long. We saw them being fed tuna chunks and they ate it all.
The Hawksbill has a very sharp beak as they are carnivores. Green turtles have rounded jaws as they are vegetarians.
I was very excited and glad to see so many turtles. It was a really good experience that made me happy -- particularly to see so many babies.
I am ashamed that people still catch turtles to eat when there are so few left.
We were allowed to pet the Green turtles (their necks are very soft) and at the end we bought T-shirts.
I felt quite happy when I saw the turtles were being helped.
I came out feeling really cheerful about the fact that someone is helping the turtle population.
We went by Dinghy and Ricky’s Nissan Pickup truck taxi with seats in the pick-up bit. The sanctuary is on the other side of the island to our boat. We saw a great big green Iquana in the road. The driver stopped to let it cross!
Brother King runs the sanctuary for Hawksbill and Green turtles. Old Heg is an old deformed Hawksbill turtle that can’t be released as it swims too slowly to catch prey and avoid predators.
The youngest turtles we saw were 12 days old – they were about 5cm long. We saw them being fed tuna chunks and they ate it all.
The Hawksbill has a very sharp beak as they are carnivores. Green turtles have rounded jaws as they are vegetarians.
I was very excited and glad to see so many turtles. It was a really good experience that made me happy -- particularly to see so many babies.
I am ashamed that people still catch turtles to eat when there are so few left.
We were allowed to pet the Green turtles (their necks are very soft) and at the end we bought T-shirts.
I felt quite happy when I saw the turtles were being helped.
I came out feeling really cheerful about the fact that someone is helping the turtle population.
Friday, 26 December 2008
Boxing Day
Jamie and Chris dived today and took some great photos. Alex and I did more normal Boxing Day things – like building a Knex car. It’s stranger on Boxing Day because, in the UK, it’s the day for games, T, cold walks and cold meat – not so here. Less veg, more beach!
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Christmas Day
Santa found Hakuna Matata! During the night he’d left loads of pressies underneath some silver baubles in the saloon. However we were under orders from the Skipper not to wake him up till 9am!!!!!!!!!!!! So the rest of the “not-yet-time-adjusted” crew had a lot of time to fill in before pressies could be opened. We spent the time watching Elf and asking and answering the question “what time is it now?”.The skipper’s waking up was so momentous we took a photo which is so unattractive we decided not to publish it!
The presents (which had taken around 1/3 of the suitcase space on the flight over) were eagerly opened especially by the youngest member of the crew.
We had booked a Christmas turkey dinner at a local restaurant so the rest of the day was spent swimming and on the beach and chilling. Around 5:30 a Caribbean Santa visited all the boats on his specially adapted rib-sleigh!
Christmas dinner was eaten with warm breezes, palms and other yachties but was missing stuffing and parsnips.
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Bequia
When we got to Bequia -- very early in the morning, the bay was full of yachts; we finally found a spot to anchor just off Princess Margaret Beach but the bay was a bit like Piccadilly Circus in the rush hour on a Friday. Because we’d done a night passage, Chris went off to have a nap and the kids made Christmas snowflakes, snowmen and baubles to decorate the saloon. Kind of strange – snowflakes, sun, rain and rainbows…We had a long dinghy ride into town to check in at customs and to provision for Christmas Day. We managed to buy some “holiday cookies” and other goodies for the day. After a swim off the boat, we settled down to watch Holiday Inn, eat dinner and wait for Santa to arrive.
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
St Lucia: 20/12-23/12
20/12: Arrival
We were met by Chris at the airport after longest wait in an immigration line ever. Chris took us back to the boat which had a welcoming vase of flowers, Caribbean products and a St Lucia T-shirt for everyone.
The boat was moored at Rodney Bay Marina which was showing the last signs of the ARC2008 celebrations. Hungry from our long trip, we went via the dinghy to a pizza and ribs place for tea with a play ground and the kids met some Caribbean boys and girls on the trampoline.
The boat was familiar and different at the same time. It had been through a lot of miles and different crew members since we were there last.
21/12: Rodney Bay
The kids and Chris went to local bakery to get breakfast and the kids went swimming with the kids from a boat called Cat Mousses. We ate in the marina and decided, as the Digicel people did their sound checks for the evening “jump up”, to provision and move on – as we couldn’t get fuel we simply moved out to anchor in Rodney Bay.
We passed this "Pirates of the Caribbean" boat in the marina.
22/12: Anse Cochon
Once we’d fuelled, we made our way south. Our Christmas destination was Bequia in the Grenadines and we were aiming to get there for Christmas Eve. We stopped part way in an idyllic bay called Anse Cochon. We all got our first taste of snorkeling in the Caribbean as opposed to the Med.
Alex’s comments: More beautiful than the Mediterranean. Quite a lot of coral. Very fishy.
Soufriere: 23/12
We stopped off at Soufriere before heading down to Bequia overnight. This was our first view of the classic St Lucia Pitons.
It was also our first view of pigs and goats grazing on the beach!!
After an unfortunate incident which involved the local hospital and a crushed finger, we set off in the evening on what turned out to be a wild ride to Bequia. So wild that we were 6 miles from Bequia about 3 hours before sunrise – so we reduced speed to 2kts and finally sailed into the bay at around 6:30.
We were met by Chris at the airport after longest wait in an immigration line ever. Chris took us back to the boat which had a welcoming vase of flowers, Caribbean products and a St Lucia T-shirt for everyone.
The boat was moored at Rodney Bay Marina which was showing the last signs of the ARC2008 celebrations. Hungry from our long trip, we went via the dinghy to a pizza and ribs place for tea with a play ground and the kids met some Caribbean boys and girls on the trampoline.
The boat was familiar and different at the same time. It had been through a lot of miles and different crew members since we were there last.
21/12: Rodney Bay
The kids and Chris went to local bakery to get breakfast and the kids went swimming with the kids from a boat called Cat Mousses. We ate in the marina and decided, as the Digicel people did their sound checks for the evening “jump up”, to provision and move on – as we couldn’t get fuel we simply moved out to anchor in Rodney Bay.We passed this "Pirates of the Caribbean" boat in the marina.
22/12: Anse Cochon
Once we’d fuelled, we made our way south. Our Christmas destination was Bequia in the Grenadines and we were aiming to get there for Christmas Eve. We stopped part way in an idyllic bay called Anse Cochon. We all got our first taste of snorkeling in the Caribbean as opposed to the Med.
Alex’s comments: More beautiful than the Mediterranean. Quite a lot of coral. Very fishy.
Soufriere: 23/12
We stopped off at Soufriere before heading down to Bequia overnight. This was our first view of the classic St Lucia Pitons.
It was also our first view of pigs and goats grazing on the beach!!
After an unfortunate incident which involved the local hospital and a crushed finger, we set off in the evening on what turned out to be a wild ride to Bequia. So wild that we were 6 miles from Bequia about 3 hours before sunrise – so we reduced speed to 2kts and finally sailed into the bay at around 6:30.
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