Christmas in the Caribbean Part I - Picking up the boat

I'm nearly 2 months late in starting this write up, but better late than never...

In October last year, we decided to return at Christmas to the Grenadines for the 3rd time in just over a year. Why do we love it so much? It's a lot less developed than places like Barbados, totally chilled out, and has a real yachtie atmosphere as it's where many ARC participants choose to spend their Christmas and New Year.

Barbados

Silverpoint

We flew into Barbados for a 2 night stop over at Silver Point boutique hotel. We'd stayed there about 6 months ago on our second trip out here. It's situated on a quiet part of the island well away from the main tourist area (St Lawrence Gap & Rockley Beach). It's a great hotel for a couple looking for a quiet & high quality get away, less recommended for families or people looking for a lot of nightlife. We met a couple on the first night and ended up having supper and a few drinks with them. (Click on above image for album)

We took a trip into the capitol, Bridgetown, which I didn't think offered much other than to see local people going about their business. I don't think I'd bother going back. The best bit was the always-a-cultural-treat Route Taxis / Rasta Bus. These are privately owned buses that drive along set government routes and tend to be a bit spartan inside. The first few time you use them, it can be a bit intimidating, but it's a fascinating cultural window into the life of the island.

Barbados

St Vincent



St Vincent is only a short hop away on the local airline, LIAT. You'll typically pay about $200(US) return. As the flight comes into land, you pass very close to the main charter fleet anchorage - Blue Lagoon. Both Barefoot and Sunsail have bases here. It's worth noting that St Vincent Airport has one cash machine that, in 4 visits, not yet seen working: Get at least enough cash to last you until you get to Bequia.


We'd chartered Pelican Pete - a 1999 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 34 from Barefoot Yacht Charters. We got a pretty good deal - $2,450 for 10 days. This is pretty good considering you'd normally pay a minimum of $3,000 for 7 days over the Christmas period. We both instantly liked the boat, smaller than we'd previously chartered, but still more than spacious enough for us both. Actually I think the cockpit locker would have been spacious enough for us both.


The check in process consists of a skipper's technical briefing on the boat's systems, checking inventory and a chart briefing to a acquaint you with the cruising ground. We'd been only 6 months before, so Becks went off to find a cash point and I sat through the briefing. Either way Barefoot strike a great balance between enough information and not wasting a whole day of your trip.


When we were ready to depart, the Barefoot dockside team take you out of the bay, hoist the sails, leap into a dinghy and wave goodbye. The island of Bequia is only a short 3 hour sail from Blue Lagoon. Conditions were blissful as we were on a broad reach all the way down into Port Elizabeth. I suspect that the wind was a force 2, but this is based on instinct rather than data as this is out 3rd consecutive charter without wind instrumentation.


Bequia
We arrived in time to pick up a mooring buoy and enjoy the incredible Caribbean sunset.

To be continued...