Back to Bequia

We got a message overnight to say Leonie (Taylor) and Jake wanted a lift to Bequia. Rowan was at the ferry dock to pick them up at 9am. We did not want to leave too late as we had to get to the customs office before 4pm to renew our permit for another month. Poor things obviously had quite a farewell drinks send off last night and had a lot to do in the morning, not least saying good bye to all the dogs they have been looking after. We knew the wind was going to pick up a bit, which it certainly did. It was blowing about 26 knots and we were motoring on the choppy waters. Poor things, Leonie was seasick right from the start and had to sit in the helm seat, hanging her head over the side every so often, while getting sprayed by the sea and sitting in the full sun. Even poor Jake suddenly was overwhelmed and had to lean over the side. It was three hours they were very glad to see the end of! They were still happy though as it did save them a ferry ride. I thank my lucky stars that I just don’t seem to get sea sick at all, so tough on those who do. The minute we got to flat water entering Admiralty Bay in Bequia they were absolutely fine, and back to their bubbly selves. They had a refreshing swim off the back of the boat once we anchored. in our favourite spot off Princess Margaret’s beach.

Coincidently they were booked into a room owned by the Daffodil marine services, who had done our laundry. They came out to PolePole to return our missing laundry and took Leonie and Jake to their accommodation.

We headed into town to customs, dodging downpours of rain. Customs is definitely a slow process. When they realised we hadn’t signed Phoebe out when she left, that took even longer as they phoned the airport on St Vincent to check flight records to confirm she had actually flown out. The town was buzzing, we have discovered that everything closes after lunch and reopens after 4pm, plus it is a Friday. After a little shop we were back to PolePole or a refreshing swim.

The cemetery in town completely covered by a pink creeper.

Rowan had booked for us to have supper at the Fig Tree Restaurant which serves good creole food. Leonie and Jake joined us thank goodness, as there was nobody else eating on a Friday night. Desperately sad as there were definitely more staff than us. The food was ok but I can only assume they are cutting corners to make ends meet. Rowan had the goat curry which was actually very good. It was very interesting listening to all Leonie and Jake’s stories. They have both been in the safari business and have travelled all over east and southern Africa. He is English and did a gap year working in South Africa on a wildlife farm in the Transvaal, and fell in love with Africa. She had done a very interesting 3 months volunteering on a marine reserve on Mafia Island near Zanzibar. Sounds like we wouldn’t recognise Zanzibar as it’s population has exploded to over a million, with Tanzanians flooding over to get work in all the new Italian resorts. We were there in 1988 and we had to get a police permit to leave Stone Town. There were no taxis or busses only huge Bedford trucks as the roads were so bad. It took us a whole day to cross the island, 24 miles. I can’t remember how many times we got stuck in mud and ruts. Sounds very different now, roads running all around the island to the resorts. We will definitely pick their brains on any East and Southern African safari we may plan.

We were more than ready for bed at 9:30pm. Clearly sitting on a bouncing boat is exhausting!