We set sail for St. Vincent on December 18th. The winds and rain we’d been seeing had calmed a bit and the sea was ready for us to make the 38 nautical mile sail to Wallilabou Bay. So we said good bye to the Pitons of St. Lucia. I wondered whether we’d see them again.
We arrived in Wallilabou Bay without incident, but the sail over had some exciting times. We ran into several 30 knot squalls which helped us become more comfortable with our boat in these winds. The weather forecast had told us of these squalls and we’d prepared by putting one reef in the main sail, which you may recall means we don’t have the entire main sail up. Eyes of the World handled each of the squalls with ease and delivered us to our destination happy and healthy.
Wallilabou Bay was one of the main sights for the filming of “Pirates of the Caribbean” a few years back. The sets are still up, although not in the best of shape. One of the main houses has been converted into a hotel and restaurant. It was a nice place to stop for the night.
The next morning, still under clouds and covered with rain, we decided to sail to Blue Lagoon near the southern end of St. Vincent. There is a marina there and we needed to clean out the boat and get fuel before sailing into the Grenadines. We spent a few days in the Marina and it was nice to be on land again.
We’d planned on spending Christmas on the island of Bequia, 8 miles south of Blue Lagoon. Leaving St. Vincent behind us, we arrived in Bequia’s Friendship Bay later the same day. The anchorage here was very nice, but a bit rolly. It was the 22nd of December, so we decided to press on to Union Island’s Chatham Bay to spend Christmas.
The sail down to Union Island was gorgeous – one of the best we’d had. Additionally, Chatham Bay was just fantastic with a well protected anchorage, snorkeling just off the boat and a long sandy beach for running the dogs and taking walks.
Our Christmas was unlike any I’ve had so far in my life. The night before, Margit made us Christmas Eve dinner on Lucky Star. Living up to her usual yet amazing standards, we had:
Starter: Smoked salmon canapés
Amuse Bouche: Fried green mango slices with balsamic reduction
Salad: Asparagus cucumber boat with St. Lucian Piton limes
Main course: Margret duck breast, potato gratin and crème de cassis foam
Desert: Mince meat pie with ginger cream
Read that again. Sounds like dinner at a 5-star restaurant, no? Well, it was a Lucky Star restaurant and it was a wonderful evening.
Christmas Day consisted of a lazy morning reading and watching the birds eat the bait fish. It doesn’t seem to bother the pelicans too much when the brown booby steals what fish it can directly from his mouth. The girls and I could watch this for hours. When we finally got going, we joined Chris and Margit for a two-hour snorkel just off the back of our boats. We were swimming among thousands of these bait fish, seeing their world now directly. I so wanted to see the pelican splash down right in the middle of them. After a small lunch, in anticipation of the upcoming dinner, we read a bit and might have dozed off for a bit.
Christmas dinner was just as good as the night before, perhaps better. Margit, once again, whipped up a meal worthy of any critic’s rating. I might mention that her galley, like ours, is much smaller than even the smallest kitchen in the US. Not to mention the availability of the food, veggies, etc. The menu for that evening included:
Starter: Foie Gras direct from Paris
Main course: Leg of lamb with roasted vegetables
Desert: Apple tart made from scratch - remember the size of the galley
It may have been a bit sad to be so far away from family and friends in the US, but we had such a good time (and good meals) with Margit, Chris, Jackie, Cooper and Coco. It was another night to remember aboard Eyes of the World.
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