Walk to Friendship Beach

Friendship Beach, Bequia (pronounced bek' way)

Today is May 1 which is Labor Day down here. Not too much is open so we thought we go for another walk (hike). This time we headed to the south side of the island where there is a very pretty beach called Friendship Beach. As usual, steep climb about half way and then down hill the rest. We happened upon what looks to be a pretty high end resort. Very nice bar/restaurant right down by the water. The bar ‘stools’ were little swings. Fun.








We stopped for a cold drink at a little snack shop and chatted with a very friendly lady there. Actually, just about everyone in Bequia is pretty darn friendly. Some islands you can feel a bit of a bad vibe from the locals. I think mostly those are the islands that have been totally invaded by the giant cruise ships and when they disgorge their passengers it is like an invasion. Hell, I don’t care for tbeing around that many tourists either! (No offense to any family or friends who go on giant cruise ships!) I guess some of the small cruise ships do stop here on occasion and ferry people in but not many and not often.



One of the fun things about the Caribbean is all the crazy kind of boats you see. Oh sure there is a regular progression of Beneteaus and a flock of Lagoon catamarans but there are also some real crazy rigs as well as some top of the line luxury sail boats. We went out to get some pictures of this one, Rebecca, but there’s no where to be to actually photograph it! It must be about 120 feet long, ketch rigged. This must be a 2-3 million dollar boat. The topsides as you can see are real shiny wood. Separate cockpit for helmsman away from crew and guests. The other one, Amazon, is the crazy one. I don’t think that big smokestack is still in operation but who knows? Looks like there is a solo sailor on board who always wears a kilt. I’ve seen him ashore as well but don’t know his or the boat’s story and not sure I want to!


We’ve commissioned our new awning and it should be done Monday or Tuesday. It will go from the mast to the back stay and nearly to the lifelines. It will have a loop on top to haul it up with the main halyard to give it a tent shape and a batten in the back edge to give it some shape. Can’t wait. We had a pretty hard rainstorm today and had to go hide out down below. It gets stuffy in a hurry down there! Sue went out to put the buckets in position to collect some rain water. Picture (if you click on it) shows the water going nicely into the bucket (and dripping elsewhere too!). While scurrying around to arrange buckets in the rain (I was busy!) Sue noticed the dingy. Earlier, we had pulled it up about amidships to clear the boarding ladder for our swim. Now it was right under the scupper and water was pouring off the deck and filling the dinghy! Well, that will have to be bailed or maybe do a wash right in the dinghy! Wait if I mounted the outboard the other way round with the propeller INSIDE the dinghy. . .THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!

More later. . .

Hi daddy! Do you like the large print?