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Up at 06:00.  Hot night, even with the windscoop.  Came up on deck to find us pointing to the west, which is even more unusual than pointing to the south.

Some small entertainment on the ‘Sailing’ channel – a charter yacht arrived around 06:10, dropped anchor, lifted anchor, moved, dropped anchor, lifted anchor, moved and then dropped anchor again.  They seemed to subscribe to the school of thought of “Drop the anchor and chain, pile it into full astern until it digs”, but that method doesn’t work very well in Bequia.  Much better to drop anchor and some chain, tail back, let out chain, tail back, let out chain, gentle astern, check the anchor.  Two ferries have headed for St. Vincent, along with an inter-island freighter.

Birds are dive-bombing in lower bay, must be fish.  Bread boat water taxi has showed up, heading for ‘Reverie’, and the guard dog is barking. continue reading…

Not the best of nights; one squall and awake several times to investigate non-rhythmic noises.  Got up relatively late, 06:45.

Yacht is prepped, we leave for Bequia soon.  Sailing in the morning light is cooler, it’s easier to see the reef to the west of the Cays, and the sun isn’t as strong on the skin.  Speaking of skin, my arms are approaching the colour they held when I lived in this part of the world, and nary a ‘real’ sunburn in sight.

Departed the Cays at 08:15 via the Jamesby/Petit Bateau cut, with myself at the helm and Dad spotting the channel.  Nice reach up to Bequia, roughly 6.5 knots under one reef.  Around 10:30, we saw a large gathering of seabirds in our lee (upwards of 100 birds), about 10 nautical miles south of Bequia.  Must have been good fishing. continue reading…

And now, the penultimate part of my tale – crackers, another dragging anchor and 20 foot seas.

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Continuing from my previous posting, I present you with the tale of the dragging anchor, part 1.

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