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No Internet for the past three days so this is a bit of a catch up blog entry.
We motored down from Bequia to Charlestown Bay, Canouan. The bay has starfish all over the seabed. I started the day with trying to take a photo only to discover that my very expensive camera case had utterly failed and drenched the (now dead) camera.... so we are down to two cameras now - shame, but who cares - we're in paradise!
A quick stopover and we headed south to one of my favourite places on earth - Tobago Cays... a horseshoe reef surrounding several tiny uninhabited islands. We pick up up a mooring right in front of the turtle grass, jumped in an got right down to business - 2 hours of snorkelling whilst watching turtles (Emmy, you'd love this!).
There are no shops or bars in the Cays, so we sat back and watched the sun set over this beautiful little corner of our world.
The next day we piled into the dingy and headed for the reef. Imagine swimming in an aquarium full of coral swaying in the current and fish who swim all around you.. lobsters with a backdrop containing every colour under the sun... envious yet?
After two days of doing as little as possible Micke joined us as S/V Windward Star dropped anchor off our starboard bow. She looks more beautiful everyday!
After watching sun up we headed for Mayreau and Saltwhistle Bay. Yup, more paradise. The bay has a think white sandy beach splitting the sea and providing the ideal anchorage for us to drop anchor just meters from the beach. Micke took us to Roberts bar where we had great food and fantastic company (thanks Robert!).
We were joined by Sam, one of the taxi boats. Sam had a little too much strong rum that day. I guess that he has no idea that he met us, but he did want a million dollars for the photo - we have him a beer and he looked like he'd won the lottery.
Oscar and Nick got up early the next morning and went jogging whilst Patrick and I cracked open a beer and wondered what all that was about.
We reluctantly left Saltwhistle bay to head to Union Island and Chatham Bay... this place is dive mecka, but i'm not going to tell you why because I want to keep it as a secret. One thing though, I've seen more live coral in one dive that in every other dive put together that I've ever done! It was simply, a drift dive out of this world!
Chatham bay is deserted apart from a few small bars and trees and cliffs and, erm... well, that's about it to be honest. We went to the beach for sun downers then headed for the bar.
The next morning was a little busy. We were attempting to leave when a couple who are on a beautiful boat called Annie came over... followed by Jannica (who was on Jo) and Silvia who was on Camille (two of our companies catamarans)... Everyone loved the boat and decided that everyone should have at least one Swedish friend even if they are as white as cream.
We got away and motored for an hour to the other side of the island and Clifton (the town) where we picked up a mooring and rediscovered the Internet ;) -
After a pretty crazy night out last night we crawled out of bed, fixed the boat, bought the last few food items and headed for Canouan... calm seas all the way...
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With the waves still reaching three meters cruising was ruled out early in the day. We went to Sailors restaurant instead and had breakfast.... more breakfast and finally lunch. In between we did take a little walk up to the old British battery (little hill with old canons facing the bay).
After lunch we went for a snorkel at Devils Table; a little reef off the north point of Admiralty bay... wonderful coral formations - you'll have to trust me because I don't a photo :)
Off to Frangi tonight... it's jump up with the steel band. -
Wednesday morning and we are going to motor down from St Vincent to Bequia. The day started of with high winds through Blue Lagoon and that means high seas between the islands. Hermione, my 38\' Marine trader is kinda made with cancels and calm lakes in mind. Three meter high waves were not part of the design spec! We headed out and within 30 minutes we had a routing... we zig-zagged the whole way... with Hermione performing perfectly.
The weather was overcast which was good for the crew.. too much Sun today would have burnt us up seeing as we were out at sea for 2.5 hours (exactly one hour more than it took me to go to St Vincent from Bequia on Monday.
After we got here I showed Oscar, Nik and Patric Port Elizabeth, then we went for a quick snorkel (saw Eagle ray, moral eel, stone fish amongst others). Now it's out on deck for sun-downers...
More tomorrow plus pictures. -
I woke up to see what I thought was a white submarine on the horizon. Over coffee I was pondering on whether the UN had submarines as the vessel turned towards our port. Bequias Naval defenses consist of a dozen water taxis and a fort with a cannon last fired over a hundred years ago - I knew we were screwed.
I finished my coffee and was debating whether to hoist a white flag or scupper my boat when she came alongside. Submarine - No... this was the mother of all Gigayachts - named `A`. I wonder how many people have said to the owner `what?`after they have said `A` as their boat name.
I've been reading up a bit on her and luxuryproperty blog says she's over a million USD to fill the tanks. Never again will I moan about my fuel consumption!
Designed by Phillie Starck `A` is 118 meters long and cost a cool 150 million Euros to build. I can't help feeling he designed the thing , then got drunk, held the drawings upside down and proceeded to draw windows into the keel.
One thing I will say for her, when she dropped anchor a small flotilla of yachties got in their dinghies to go and have a closer look - this is a vessel that attracts attention and divides people with opinion.
What do you think?
Here are some more pictures from other blogs/videos:luxuryproperty blog - Malta Daily Photo blog - Video - Video - New Luxury items blog (picture proof that you can judge a mans taste by the tie he wears). -
The night before the Bequia Easter Regatta Karl; a captain who was in Bequia at the time, asked me if I wanted to help him crew a sail boat called "Carrie" for the "Round Bequia" race the following day. I jumped at the chance. Within a couple of hours we had a motley crew.
The following morning; 11th April 2009, was race morning and we were packed with enthusiasm for race day! The starting horn went and we had no idea what was going on so we were last off the line, however non of us minded at all - we were racing!
The Seas were wonderful that day as we tacked back and forth around Bequia head. Out of nowhere a pod of dolphins joined us . They swam so close to the boat that I touched one of them with my toes. The way they played with the boat was thrilling to see.
We finished the race second to last, but we did not care. We'd raced and we'd won in our minds. We'd been carried through the Seas by dolphins and we didn't need a guy waving a flag to tell us who the victors were!
We stepped ashore high on adrenalin. Sandra, who works with me, broke the news - my friend, Peter Cox had died in a tragic accident. Peter was swimming with his son off a beach in Ilha Grande, Brazil when a wave swept him under. He did not resurface.
Peter was one of the big motivational reasons for me to come here. I had wanted to work with him since I first met him way back in 2003. He was a man full of energy, enthusiasm, drive and love for life and family. He was also a director of the company and a very strong force in driving the company forward.
The first project I did with him was the website. I felt like we were two kids playing - we bounced ideas, words and thoughts around, laughing along the way. It was probably the easiest website I'd ever made.
After that came the newsletter which again was a pure laugh - I could not really believe I was working with Peter. He listened to my ideas and really considered everything, brought his own to the table and we just bonded around a common set of goals. I learnt a lot from him.
Peter was a man of many talents, however, the one overriding thing that I will always remember him for was the love he had for his family.
The seas took a great friend that day. I wonder if those dolphins knew that as they swam alongside.
I want to thank Kenmore Henville who took the photos above of us racing. Thankfully, for me, he captured a day I'll never forget. -
I woke up this morning and opened my stern doors to look out from Admiralty Bay (Port Elizabeth, Bequia). I was greeted with this....
It is said that the Irish leprechaun's secret hiding place for his pot of gold at end of the rainbow. Until now it has also been said that this place is impossible to reach, because the rainbow is an optical effect which depends on the location of the viewer - when walking towards the end of a rainbow, it will move further away.
... However, this rainbow definitely touches down on the French restaurant in Hamilton. I'm off to find gold tonight ;) -
My Marine Trader 38' was USA registered and named Nylander when I bought her.
I'm happy to report they she is now UK registered and named Hermione (officially) and with that the old US flag was today withdrawn from service...
... and my nice (oh, so many coats of varnish) restored flag pole is now flying scarlet upon stern :)
The Red Ensign (or scarlet) is the flag flown to designate a British ship (in this case, the red background denoted that it is a civilian vessel).
A big day for little Britain ;) -
Hermione (My Marine Trader 38') has very worn teak decks which kinda spring as you walk over them - although fun and somewhat comfortable, they are not practical and give me this constant feeling that I may be downstairs rather faster than one would expect;)
I've started the project to replace them. Each night I come home and remove more screws (adding to the hundred or more that I have already removed) and pull up a plank or two - It'll take several more weeks to remove it fully.
Under it is a glassfibre sandwich with plywood in the middle. I will cut out the top deck and pull out the plywood. This will not be a problem seeing as the plywood is sodden and makes cheese look like a more viable flooring product.
Next I'll epoxy in new marine ply, epoxy the glassfibre back and finally coat it with a few layers of gelcoat...
... The poor thing looks like she is having a major face lift at the moment, but she'll look all wonderful again soon! -
I was sitting on my deck last Sunday reading a book. I looked up and savoured the view - a 360 degree panorama of Port Elizabeth in Bequia.
One of the things that I like about my view is that the boat swings in the wind, so I can just look up and the landscape moves from side to side as the boat swings.
Anyway, I got to thinking... this is the first time in my life that I have had a real view and taken the time out to enjoy it! I grew up in cities with back gardens and walls. I've had some apartments with nice views out of windows, but I never really sat and looked out of the window. I've never had a balcony either. With a stern deck, a bridge deck and a deck across the bow I can't help but sit and look at the view these days - I like that :)
Totally unrelated, but I like this picture... I saw some fishermen preparing their nets the other day ...
About me
Tom Calthrop, Bequia, St Vincent and the Grenadines
Smudge blog
Activities and thoughts outside of my work with Barnraiser. Read my CV for professional information.
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