We arrived in Bequia, and knew many other boats in the bay. We anchored towards the outside of the pack, content to have a beach bar off our bow and some potential snorkelling sites nearby. We dinghied into town and checked in alongside Wildly Intrepid. The checkin was straightforward if a little stern; Michael got told off by one of the officials for sitting with his feat up on a rock wall outside the office. Disrespectful!
We wandered around the quaint little town and found a lovely boardwalk lined with restaurants and some great beaches.
Our buddy boats gave us the downlow – wingnight on Thursdays was not to be missed, this also lined up with Christian’s 14th Birthday, so we had a plan.
On the way over, another boat had reached out with a delightful message – a boat with a 13 year old boy. We were excited and intrigued – could there possibly be another teenage boy for Christian to hang out with??? So a day later, we were invited to happy hour at their boat. We stopped by to introduce ourselves and say hi. Mellow Puff are a Kiwi boat, and we excitedly invited Daniel to join us for a snorkel the next day, and told them about the wing night plan. They seemed equally excited to have another boy around. Flo has had so many more friend opportunities, its time for Christian!
The world cup is on. So we scoped out a beach bar to go and watch the game. We made a fun video of Michael and Christian jumping off the boat and swimming into shore to watch the game, Flo and I were in the dinghy and were the film crew. England were playing Portugal (?) and so I left dad and the kids at it and walked into town to get a birthday present for Christian. Birthdays are pretty low key, but I wanted to get him a t shirt to remember the place by, and found the perfect one at a little shop by the beach. Bequia has the cutest whale as their mascot. I only learned later that its because they have a history of whaling, and continue hunting them to this day. Yikes!
The local hike, Ma’ Peak, could be seen from the boat. Now all the hikes are compared to climbing Nevis Peak – a real feat! This one wasn’t nearly as high – 292m elevation gain (compared to 600+ on Nevis Peak). No problem! We headed out, starting from the center of town, in the afternoon sun. The train went through town and then we followed meandering roads across the island, through the Caribbean homes and little shops that grew more sparse as we got farther from town. The views were incredible, and the island is small and narrow, so you are quickly on the windward side looking out on the ocean, and feeling the welcome breeze. Hiking in the heat adds so much to the difficulty level, and we were sweating in the sun. We found the path that lead up a steep hill that turned into ‘Ma’ Peg’ and continued through brush which gave us some shade. The final lookout, over the bay where we were anchored was a great reward for our efforts!
Christian’s birthday started with a snorkel with his new friend. We enjoyed exploring along the reef at the southern edge of the anchorage. We then gave him his gift and at the birthday cake, a Basque Cheesecake with Caramel sauce. Christian is a real foodie so I knew he would love something more refined. We then got ready for wing night and dinghied over to enjoy 50 wings with 30ish cruiser friends, where Christian was toasted and drank may coca colas. We left after dark full of chicken and friendship.
Bequia is full of cruisers. Beach hangouts, Pizza nights and happy hours. Unfortunately Flo’s ears have been really bothering her and so I decided to take her to visit a doctor. A friend on another boat had the same issue and had visited a walk in clinic here that was quite straight forward. So the next morning, Flo and I got in the dinghy and headed to town. I suggested that before we go to the doctor, we hit the local thrift shop that I had heard was fantastic. She was feeling up to that 😊 So we walked up to the shop and were not disappointed! There were so many great items – home décor, clothes, we spent quite a while there and left with a big bag of treasures. The couple running it were also Canadian, and had visited the Island on vacation 30 years ago and loved it so much they moved there. Everywhere you go there are people like that, who have traded the rat race for the sunny laid back Caribbean vibes. As we were leaving the thrift shop, we found ourselves in a torrential rain storm. It started off not too bad for 2 vancouver girls, but then it started bucketing down, and we had to take cover, first under the eaves of a building and then in the bar across the street. After the shower let up a bit, we started walking towards the doctor’s office, on a little street just off the main street. I had to get some money out to pay her, and by that time my phone was down to very low power. I also did not have wifi, so was referencing a limited screenshot. We were a bit turned around and couldn’t seem to find it, so we ended up in the emergency room at the local hospital. The staff were willing to see us, but I could see it would mean we would be waiting all day. They did however, have wifi, so I was able to reload the doctor’s office directions and we set out again, to try and find it. In the end we found it, and the doctor saw Flo, and confirmed both her ears were badly infected and that she needed antibiotics. We filled the prescriptions and headed back to the boat, stopping off at our friend Roxy’s boat. They had a hole in their dinghy and were stranded. So I dropped Flo off and came back to give them a ride into town to buy a few things. Always happy to help out a fellow cruiser, as there is always someone willing to help you out when you need iit.
We had been having trouble with our watermaker and it finally packed it in. The housing for the pre filters was threaded and would no longer seal; we would need to order a spare in Grenada. We were very low on water, but luckily were able to have water delivered that day to the boat thanks to a local service. We switched to doing our dishes on the deck, and rationing our water consumption.
