Bequia February 13-20th

2-13 Before leaving Canouan Iian dove and found the Alma’s boat anchor. I was happy for them. We headed out around 10. We had our biggest seas yet. I think around 7 or 8 feet. Winds weren’t bad at about 18-24 knots. We were cruising pretty good when all of the sudden there was a big snap noise and something went flying across the boat. It was metal from one of the davit connection points on our dingy. The dinghy was almost laying sideways. This of course, was right during these huge waves. We quickly dropped sail and motored down wind to get it sorted out. Cale quickly thought a good solution was to run some support lines. We got those set up and then made our way to Bequai (the locals say Beck-way). It was about a 4 hour sail/ motor. We hadn’t planned to spend much if any time in Bequia. There was a string of robberies here a in the months leading up to us leaving but we had heard so many good things that we decided to give it a try. It is beautiful. The bay is huge and there are tons of boats here. The wind is about 12 knots, quite calm. We anchored in Admirality Bay at Princess Margaret Beach. Cale called around looking for someone to weld our dinghy. After speaking to a few people and finding out no one on the island welds, a man said he might be interested in trading dingys. It’s funny how you figure things out. They call it the coconut telegraph, but basically word of mouth. Someone always seems to know someone who…. We will try and look at it tomorrow. I swam to shore with the kids. Kelsey and I took the paddle board and float tube.
I’m hoping to do some major reprovisioning tomorrow. We are getting pretty low on food.

2-14 Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. We had a lot of stuff to take care of and errands to run. The kids worked on homework. A laundry service came by and picked up 2 bags. They brought it back same day. Cale and I dinghied over our propane tanks to get filled and dump our trash. We then got familiar with the island and got groceries. It’s interesting how each island has its own feel. I like Bequia. The market area is very cute. The shopping has been pretty good. We were able to get some canned food and pantry items at about what we paid in Grenada. We found a jar of Nutella at a bakery and snatched it up even though it was 40ec.
We met with a guy named Karry that Cale talked to yesterday. He said he’d trade dinghies. He drove us up(meaning straight up a winding, steep road) to his house. He was a local, said the land had been his families 150 years, his parents were French and Scottish. He was light skinned but talked like a local. He’s a mechanic, but also owns the floating bar here. We liked the dingy and thought we’d make the trade. We finalized the deal with a handshake. We were going to meet him later to trade, but he just showed up at our boat and we made the trade about 5. It was weird to say good bye to our old dinghy. I liked it for a lot of reasons, but it was the right thing to do. Our new one is still big and can hold a lot of people.
I snorkeled with Nina and Jackie behind our boat. It was actually really good. It was clear water. We saw a sea snake, eel, and squid and lots of different beautiful coral.
We picked up the Hold Fast 2 boys and played some night games on the beach. Mostly because Cale wanted to test out the dingy.
2-15
The kids did homework. Cale and I did a lot of work around the boat including making call about where we will haul out for hurricane season. We’ve settled on Florida, however there are rumors that because of last years hurricane there, insurance companies might say no to Florida.
I cleaned out the front Port locker. We went snorkeling at the beach just next to where we are located. The same place I went yesterday. We went back to the boat and then went to shore and walked along the princess Margaret Beach. It’s a very nice walkway. We saw our dinghy out in the water several times going very fast back and forth from the floating bar. It’s a little weird to see it.
We got pizza and ice cream in town. I also found bread for 10 ec and chicken legs for 30 ec. I thought that was pretty good.
The kids went to the beach. I was exhausted and rested and made dinner. A man found Cade’s hat he lost when we were there the night before and started hassling the kids to give him 5 dollars for it. Our friend’s dad, Iian, went over and talked to him. I guess the guy was threatening to punch him and saying he owned the beach. It has been super calm the last two nights. We are having a hard time finding a good weather window to get to St Lucia.
2-16
The weather is looking worse and worse to go to St. Lucia so we are waiting it out her in Bequia until Monday. The kids love it here and there is lots to do so it’s working out. We got up and hiked Mt. Peggy. It’s the highest peak on Bequai. It was a steep hike. I was worried Kelsey wouldn’t quite make it. It starts on the road and was quite steep. She complained of a side ache, but once we got on the trail she did awesome. The other kids as well. It was a great trail. The views were amazing. Coming down was the hardest part because it was so steep. We came out at Lower Woburn beach and walked across the beach and then up to the road and down to princess Margaret Beach. We planned to do a dive that afternoon but since we are staying for a few more days, Cale found someone to make chaps for our new dinghy and we had to run it right over. Cale and I drove it over and then walked back. It’s a nice local family. They are doing an RV road trip this summer from Tennessee to California. We got a ride back to our boat with Peter and Jackie. The kids got the kayaks down and paddled over to the floating bar, which created fun and drama. Kelsey was sad she didn’t get a kayak. She was sad and I was snuggling her on the back of a boat when a big catamaran, like 200 feet big full of cruise ship people (there are usually 2 or 3 of them that come to the beach everyday) passed right behind us. I’ve never felt quite like an animal in a zoo as I did right them. The people were all looking and waving, while I’m having a snuggle with Kelsey. It was a little weird. Once Kelsey recovered, we headed to the floating bar. It was tough on the paddle board because of the wind and waves coming at us but we made it and shared a Pina colada. Our old dinghy was there.
When we got back the kids went to the beach and I made dinner. I also made cookies. A very special treat on the boat.
2-17
Today was a workday. The kids did quite a bit of school, then we did some cleaning on the boat. We worked on the rub rails, rust, the cockpit lockers. Cale changed the oil on the generator and fixed Cole’s toilet. I took the kids to town for an outing while Cale did some other work. We took our trash first, then went and got cash for our dinghy chaps. While we waited we walked the main street. Kira’s was looking for a swimsuit and the boys were hoping to find a surf board, even though there’s really no surfing on this island. The kids had kayak races with Hold Fast 2 when we got back. The pigeon peas I made for dinner turned out pretty good but took forever to cook. We also tried a new fruit called sour sop. It’s a really interesting texture, but pretty tasty.

I talked to a local about some of the local dialect. Here are some of the words he taught me. Let’s go- “la go”
Enjoy yourself get lots of drinks when its party time- “shell down.” Shell down the bar. Buy out the bar. He said you have to be careful about contect because it can also mean go kill somebody!
What’s up- “wa ou sayin”

2-18 I read on Facebook group that there was a book sale. They featured a Harry Potter book so Cade was excited. We went over there at 10. No Harry Potter but we found a few books. We went to town after that. Cale checked at the immigration office and they were pretty strict about the 24 hour rule, so we decided to wait and check out tomorrow. We got some groceries. I accidently broke my 7of my 12 precision eggs during check out and had to buy more. Worst thing was when they broke they got my egg carton dirty. They don’t have cartons here. You buy them and put them in a plastic bag, so I’ve been bringing my own carton so they wouldn’t break. Doesn’t work when you accidently knock them out on the container. We came back and relaxed and hung out waiting to go dive. I made tortillas while the kids went to the beach and played in the waves.
We pulled Hold Fast 2 in their dinghy behind our dinghy, since they still don’t have a motor, over to the dive site. It was about a 10 minute ride.
There were 2 dive buoys. Kelsey and Nina snorkeled, so they could see the top of the wreck above us while we scuba dived, then they went closer to shore to snorkel.
The dive was really cool. It was a old tug boat. We were able to go all the way around it. There was lots of fish and corral. The only thing I didn’t like was there was a lot of current. At one point, at the beginning I felt kind of panicked. I realized it was because I was exerting myself too much and my heart rate was up and was making it hard to catch my breathe. I was able to settle my breathing down after a couple of minutes, but it was the first time I kind of panicked for a minute under water.
It took a while to rinse all the gear and then it started pouring rain, but we had promised the kids a dinner out so we went anyways. We ate at the Port Hole. It was pretty inexpensive and tasty.

2-19 We thought about trying to leave Sunday, but decided the weather would be much better if we waited one more day.. We had our boating friends from Hold Fast 2 and Rapau over for breakfast burritos. They had never had them so we showed them how to prepare them. It was a nice morning. After church on the boat, the kids went to the beach. I worked on catching up on videos and blog. There are huge catamarans that come in filled to the brim with people off cruise boats. It’s pretty scary sometimes how fast and close they come in. It’s also a bit crazy how some private and charter boats come in. Today we watched a guy try and squeeze in between Hold Fast 2 and the beach. At one point, he backed down and their was a snorkelers right behind him. I don’t think he ever even saw her. When they couldn’t get their anchor to hold they pulled up and were going over our friends anchor marker. They couldn’t make the turn and almost hit them. We videoed it in case it did hit. They were within a couple of meters or so of hitting. All this while the winds were gusting and the swells were big. The kids played games tonight on the boat. They started playing mofia. It was so fun to hear them laughing so hard they were almost in tears. We are grateful for friends at sea.
2-20 Cale cleaned the hulls and I swam to the beach with the kids to play for a bit. We went to town to do some last minute shopping for our overnight and got lunch at our favorite pizza spot and bought a few souvenirs. Cade got a whale tooth whistle, Kelsey a conch shell flower necklace, and Kira a t- shirt. We picked up our scuba tanks and spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready to leave. We didn’t expect to spend so much time in Bequia, but I’m glad we did. It’s a great place.