11/7 Wednesday

Another fine morning. We had breakfast aboard and the Brits had gone ashore. Some of the Okies were flying out the next day so they had to return to base this day. We were going to head to Cumberland Bay on St. Vincent for our last night out and the Okies had already left since they had planned to go to Wallilabou Bay and return to base by evening.
We waited for a while for the Brits to return, but finally left without them. We had a beautiful sail on a close reach to the tip of St. Vincent, then motorsailed up the leeward side of the island. St Vincent is mountainous and covered with lush vegetation - it reminded me somewhat of Kauai.
Halfway up the coast we passed the Okies coming back from Wallilabou. We waved our good-byes to them as they had all congregated on the rail. I later heard someone say that one of them mooned us, but if that's true I didn't notice it, for which I am incredibly grateful.
We soon reached Cumberland bay, and since this bay is so deep it would require anchoring stern-to and tying off to a palm tree on shore. Not having done this a lot, I kept back and let the lead boat get settled first. Boats in my local cruising ground often carry a large spool of poly line for this purpose, but we were not provided with anything like that and had no choice but to tie all our dock lines end-to-end. I backed up toward the beach and gave the order to drop the anchor in about 45 feet of water. Kenzo then took the line and tied it to a palm tree on shore. The locals were possibly a little miffed that he did this because they usually do this for a fee.
Cumberland bay is very rustic looking; the sand is black like all natural beaches on the island. There are a few small bars and restaurants on shore. I got the sense this was the "real Caribbean" that Simon had been talking about - colorful characters on shore and plying small boats. The smell of woodsmoke and ganja wafting off the shore was intoxicating (at least it would have been in higher concentration.) The comparative lack of breeze and the general atmosphere gave this place a completely different feel from the Grenadines. Anchored only a few feet off the primive beach settlement, tied to a palm tree, I imagined this is what a lot of South Seas anchorages must feel like. Not all in my party were completely comfortable here, and some were worried about mosquitos and didn't appreciate the comparative lack of privacy. For myself, being with the flotilla took all the anxiety out of this unfamiliar location.

The reef to the south of the entrance was marked as a snorkeling location, so I went to check it out. Anchoring the dinghy, I got in the water and initially the visibility seemed bad, but it was just fresh water from the Cumberland river mixing at the surface. The reef here had the healthiest and most varied coral we saw on the trip. Lots of intact brain coral, elkhorn and lots of tube coral. I saw a type of basket sponge - irregularly shaped with an edge like shark's teeth - that I have never seen before. The area was also full of ridges and canyons with depths ranging from about 8 to 30 feet which made for very interesting diving.

We had a few showers and saw frequent rainbows here. I made the short trip to shore to have a beer with the Brits and the crew. Walking from one end of the beach to the other requires wading through the thigh-deep cool fresh water of the Cumberland river.

Cumberland bay is a possible launching point for hiking up Soufriere volcano. It would require a taxi and probably a guide - I would have loved to do it but didn't have the time on this trip. This is something I really want to work out when I return.

We had dinner aboard and settled down for our last night out. Loud conversation and smoke drifted into our anchorage seemingly all night long.

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