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Admiralty Bay in Bequia makes a
wonderful relaxed place to hole up for a few days |
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A strange little derelict house tucked
under a dramatic rock arch in the approach to Admiralty Bay |
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These local boys know how to sail. A 'yole'
came flashing past as as we came into anchor at Bequia. |
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The traveller's tree palm is one of the
most ornamental and architectural palms you can find - sadly not
that many around as they look magnificent. |
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Bequia's birds are not shy about nicking
your chips. As you can see Leonie was charmed by their company. |
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The booby is a remarkably versatile
bird. Unlike the pelican it flies gracefully and unlike frigate
birds it sits happily on the water like a duck. It also dive bombs
for fish with great style. |
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A fine old schooner in Union Island.
These boats used to be used as ferries between the islands, but some
now have a renewed life as charter boats. |
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The famous Tobago Cays. It is a bit
strange sitting behind Horseshoe Reef with nearly three thousand
miles of Atlantic Ocean bearing down on you while you lie in flat
calm, the reef having completely dissipated the swells. Wonderful
snorkelling and diving too. |
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Cumberland Bay in St. Lucia is very
atmospheric, surrounded by high forested hills. It is a deep
anchorage, so you have to tie off to a palm tree. |
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Some miles from Cumberland Bay (and
others around here) people will come rushing out in rowing boats
offering to help you moor. Whoever you pick to help you (we chose
Kiki Lewis here) a squabble will break out about who spoke to you
first etc. Sometimes these boys can be a bit aggressive, but we just
ignore them and do business with the ones that aren't. |
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St. Lucia's famous two Pitons. The bay
in between makes a lovely anchorage. |
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In St. Lucia's enormous Rodney Bay boat
boys come round offering you everything from fish to fruit. |
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Marin on French Martinique is a huge
yachting centre, with hundreds of charter boats. I've never seen so
many catamarans in one place. We spent some days here getting new
hatches for the boat and finally getting our Autohelm fixed which
had been playing up on the crossing. |
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Luckily the harbour at Marin is
enormous, so we were able to find this lovely little quiet corner to
anchor in away from the main host. |
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This is Diamond Rock, on Martinique's
South coast. The story is that during the Napoleonic wars the
British, who controlled the seas, wanted to station a warship here
but did not have any spare. So an enterprising officer landed a
garrison-load of seamen on Diamond Rock and they hauled up enough
cannon, shot, water and provisions to keep them going for 18 months
while they cheerfully bombarded unsuspecting French shipping.
Napoleon was needless to say incensed, especially since Josephine
was the daughter of a Martinique plantationer. |
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Our chart plotter has been a boon in
these parts, making it very easy to pick your way round coast and
coral. It is generally very accurate but.... |
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Sometimes charts can be way out. The
waypoints on this chart are exactly the same as the one above, but
at a different level of zoom. As you can see if you don't keep your
wits about you trouble can be just round the corner... |
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as this Canadian-flagged yacht found
after thousands of miles of safe passages. A strange place to go
aground as this headland is never a lee shore. We could only assume
they got their position wrong and ploughed into the unlit headland
in the night. All too easily done. |
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Petite Anse d'Arlet on Martinique's West
coast is a charming little village. As is so often the case it is
nothing more than a smear of littoral development between the sea
and the dense interior. |
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A pretty little house at Petite Anse
d'Arlet |
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Dominica's dramatic landscape |
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In Dominica we anchored in Prince
Rupert's Bay near Portsmouth, the second main town. This schooner
near us was, we were told, once kept on permanent standby for a rich
industrialist in the event of nuclear war. It carried provisions for
12 months and thick steel covers for its hatches. Now it has a more
relaxed existence as a charter yacht. |
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Dominica has its share of hurricanes as
several freighters pushed up onto the shore testify. This one was
bought as a wreck by a local who floated it off, about to a new engine in... when another hurricane came along and
trashed it again. A sad story - rather spoils the view for the folk
in the house behind too. |
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Fishing boats at the head of the Indian
River, Dominica. |
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We asked Martin, an Indian River guide,
to take us up the river into the rainforest. Martin (aka Providence) is an official
guide and a wonderful source of knowledge about the flora and fauna,
as well as good company. |
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These massive trees are bloodwoods. The
Carib indians used them to make a red dye, hence the name. |
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How do you sunbathe in the rainforest?
Answer: climb a tree like this iguana does. |
