Bequia

After the music festival in Bequia the crowds really thinned out and we needed to spend some time using the good wifi we had here so we spent a lot of time on the boat working. Other than than we got in a few good hikes, a daily (almost) swim at Princess Margaret Beach, daily (almost) shopping at the fruit and veggie vendors along the main road and time with friends who came and went while we stayed on.

Walking on the windward side

There's lots of color and interesting artwork everywhere here; these were on out our walk to the Old Hegg turtle sanctuary along the eastern shore.

At the turtle sanctuary we met Brother King, a Bequia born fisherman who started this sanctuary seventeen years ago and by his count has released over 900 turtles that have hatched on his watch. He raises them until they've grown large enough to release and have a better chance of surviving in the sea. There's no enforceable protection for the hawksbill turtle in the Grenadines and he's on a mission to save as many as he can and help rebuild the population. 

Brother King gives Skip the scoop

A few of the babies

Old Hegg herself whose mutated shell doesn't allow her to swim well enough to survive in the wild. She's been here since she was born

One way to tell that you're on the windward side..

Other days we hiked to Fort Hamilton just above the anchorage and looked down on the crowd.... 

Saralane is the boat above the trimaran just above the treeline in the center

... and hiked to Bequia head ALL the way at the north end of the island. 

Our view on this windy day... the southern shore of St Vincent in the distance. 

Bay rum trees... we haven't seen these for a while. We caught their scent before we spotted them.

There seemed to be more vendors per capita on this little island than we've seen anywhere else and though we're still mourning the end of avocado season, we found some very fresh produce that's helping us get past it. The lettuce doesn't get much fresher than this. We asked for two bunches and two slashes of the machete later we had two very fresh bunches. Wouldn't it taste great with some avocado in it?

There are only a few streets in the main town here and in addition to loads of vendors along the street there are loads of places to get an inexpensive tasty meal. Though no one can be accused of overly creative mis en place here, this roti sure filled us up. With this meal we almost broke my friend Linda's nonna's rule not to eat anything bigger than your own head... but not quite.

The local beer

We've since moved on to Mustique and have spent the past three days in a rolly but pretty anchorage on this very exclusive island. We'll probably move along again south today and will say goodbye to friends Tony and Judy on s/v Lime'n, at least for a while, as they're heading north.

Lime'n settles in on her mooring

Other friends are coming up from the south and we're sure to cross paths with them in the next few days in the Grenadines. And big news on the centerboard blog front.... we took a few more photos so we're getting closer to writing it. Maybe a Mustique blog first and then the centerboard blog?