Bequia hiking group to Cinnamon Park with St. Vincent in the background: Chis and Hilary, Patty, Maria, Maria, Dawn, Steve and Laurie with the florescent headdress.
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| Bequia anchorage at night with Christmas light everywhere |
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| Palm trees at Spring Bay, Bequia |
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| The sailing fleet anchored in Admiralty Bay, Bequia, St. Vincent for the holidays |
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| 137 pounds of yellow fin tuna, plus 2 more identical ones, just caught by local fishermen in Bequia |
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| Spa Day at the Plantation, Bequia for Maria and Patty |
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| Christmas Parrot on Savannah Sky |
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| Sailboat umbilical cords at Port Louis Marina. If you don’t disconnect, you never leave the dock. |
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| Savanna Sky at Port Louis Marina, Grenada |
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| Port Louis Marina, St. George’s, Grenada with the Fort in the distance |
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| Dawn, Maria, Maria, Hugh, Laurie and Steve in Grenada |
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| Grenada hike to the Friday BBQ at the Grenada Yacht Club. Maria, Dawn, Maria, Steve and Laurie |
S/Y Savannah Sky – December 24, 2024 – Log #20
Savannah Sky Position: 13 degrees 00’ N, 61 degrees 15’ W
Bequia, St. Vincent, Caribbean
Christmas in the Caribbean
Launching Savannah Sky into the blue Caribbean Sea in Grenada is always stressful. Will she float? What gremlins might appear that we have to find and eradicate quickly?
Ah, it is a sailboat so the unexpected becomes the expected, or so it seems.
Putting Savannah Sky back in order at Port Louis Marina was hot hot hot. There isn’t much breeze in the bay and our heat tolerance had to built-up once again.
Our days were spent cleaning, fixing, putting sails on, checking all systems and going over our trusty engine and generator making sure things worked as expected.
Then there were day hikes with our friends, Dawn and Laurie on their catamaran Cat Tales to grocery stores and restaurants. New friends Hugh and Maria, also from New Brunswick, Canada on their 56-foot massive power boat White Pearl, brightened up our days in the steamy tropics.
Because a sailing rally called the ARC+ with 96 boats was due to arrive in the Marina, we had no choice but to sail away before we were really ready. But plan B is always lurking in our minds down in these little latitudes.
We bashed our way north from Grenada to Carriacou in lively conditions. Carriacou was essentially destroyed when category 5 hurricane Beryl leveled the island in July of this year. Destruction is everywhere with what were houses and businesses completely gone.
As we attempted to anchor in Carriacou’s Tyrell Bay, taking care to avoid any debris on the seabed from the hurricane, our trusty anchor lowering system, a windlass, decided to self-destruct leaving over 100 pounds of anchor and stainless-steel chain uselessly dangling in the clear water.
Thinking quickly (ha ha), we remember there were untrustworthy moorings scattered about the bay that might hold us in place for a day. Grabbing a mooring, we secured Savannah Sky before working on our wayward half deployed anchor.
The windlass itself was beyond repair and unworkable. So Captain Steve had to retrieve the 90 pound anchor and associated chain lifting by hand. How difficult could that be?
Yeow. Luckily no fingers were lost in the process.
Dropping our mooring ball at dawn the next day, it was more bashing north to Sweet Bequia and another mooring ball due to our wayward windlass.
Maria’s long-time nursing friend Patty flew into St. Vincent where we met her at the ferry dock and escorted her back to Bequia and a waiting Savannah Sky for her 11-day sojourn on the warm Caribbean sea in the tropics.
It was fun having a guest on Savannah Sky, something we hardly ever do. Patty was the perfect guest: meeting and partying with all our sailor friends, hiking, drinking, wandering around Bequia, drinking, eating, drinking, swimming, spa day, massages and oh so much more.
Christmas in Bequia is always very special with sailors from every point of the globe gathering for these festivities and trying to party like the locals. It simply doesn’t get any better than this.
Here’s wishing all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas!
Sail on, sail on Savannah Sky…
