We ended this phase of our adventure with a fabulous lobster dinner at L'Auberge. There was live music provided by Stan and Cora, a keyboard player and saxophonist respectively accompanied by a great guitarist and the evening turned into a bit of a party.

We've met some wonderful people during our 6 weeks and I can't wait to go back in April....I expect Ron will know most of the Bequians by then!

My journey back to the UK was uneventful (a good thing) and included a flight from Bequia to St Lucia on an 8 seater Islander aircraft....it was lovely to see some of the islands from the air.

84 days and counting till I fly back......!

Return to Bequia

We ended up staying in Saline Bay on Mayreau until Saturday 15th due to the strong winds but we had a lovely relaxing time while we where there and met a lovely German couple off a boat even smaller than Zahara called Fira. We both thought Max and Gouda were very, very brave to sail across the Atlantic in a boat with no guard rails and practically no freeboard (the distance from the waterline to the deck)!

The beach is wonderful, especially when it isn't covered in passengers off the cruise ships that stop in once a week. There was a very amusing incident when the inflatable swimming platform that they'd towed in from the ship, broke, taking its payload of overweight Americans out to sea to their dismay and consternation but to everyone else's amusement.

We had an exhilarating sail back to Bequia, close hauled in a force 5 to 6 wind and a very confused sea. It felt like coming home and we picked up a mooring close to L'Auberge, Ron's favourite restaurant and I am very much looking forward to sampling their renowned lobster tonight.

We were delighted to see Eric from Pouletou again and even more delighted to discover he's met a lovely Argentinian lady called Jimena from Buenos Aires. We hope to see them again in Bequia at Easter.

Sadly, I have to return to the UK on Friday (not looking forward to having to wear clothes....) and Ron will be staying in Bequia until I return in mid April, though he'll have the odd trip with guests between now and then.

Ron will be updating the blog in my absence and if life gets interesting in the UK (please, no more snow!), I'll update as well so keep watching!

We'd love to know how the blog is being received so please feel free to comment.

The Grenadines tour continues

We left Bequia on 27th December having had a fabulous Christmas Day which ended with a lovely meal at the Gingerbread Hotel. The sail to Saltwhistle Bay in Mayreau was amazing, force 4 to 5 winds on the beam and glorious sunshine......until we came to anchor and then the heavens opened. The bay is not huge and was pretty crowded but we managed to squeeze Zahara in and stayed for a couple of nights. The beach is stunning, I'm not sure the photos do it justice. We played beach boules on the "Atlantic" side and Ron won the first series 10-8.....!

It's just a short hop to Tobago Cays and we anchored in turquoise waters very close to a cordoned off area where the turtles collect to feed......and we got to swim with them!

On New Year's Eve we headed off to Union Island and anchored in Chatham Bay, another gorgoeous beach with just a few local beach bars although there is now a development at the southern end of the beach where we had a drink and dip in the seawater pool. We spent the evening on the beach at Tony Bollhead's bar and bbq and enjoyed some local food with a Frenchman called Eric and a group of 6 from Guernsey. The weather turned nasty overnight with squally showers and we ended up reanchoring at 4.30 in the morning. New Year's Day was spent recovering from the excitement. We decided to stay an extra day as the weather had quietened down so we went snorkelling for a while once Ron had sorted a problem with the water pump fan belt then had a slow walk on the beach, visiting a couple of the beach bars along the way.......

On 3rd January we set sail for Clifton, also on Union Island, checking out the anchorage near Frigate Island on the way. We picked up a mooring as we were going to be there for a few days and spent some leisurely days exploring Clifton and nearby Ashton, reprovisioning the boat and discovering a lovely little restaurant that made wonderful pizzas. On the last day we climbed Fort Hill.......sadly it was a spur of the moment decision and we didn't have the camera so no pictures of the view, I'm afraid!

We headed off to Frigate Island for one night then onto Saline Bay in Mayreau and we'll be here a few days probably as it looks like the winds will get pretty strong for a few days. We intend to visit Canuouan and Mustique on our way back to Bequia but who knows...........?!