Friday 31/12/10
We motor sailed up from Marigot Bay to the anchorage off Pigeon Island anchored and dingied over to the island. A couple of the guys climbed up to Fort Rodney while the Nick and I had drinks (2 for $10 EC off the specials menu) and shared a delicious salad of marinated seafood served on a bed of lettuce and accompanied by tomatoes and cucumbers, $30 EC. The swell was running heavy so the cruise ship that was in port dropped a lot of people off at Pigeon Island and the queue for food and drinks was quite long, but we were on island time so no worries. After we returned to Skyelark we motored over to the marina and took a berth; ahh unlimited water and electric power funny how the small pleasures if life can be so sweet. We had planned to go to the yacht Club for the nights celebrations; however when we arrived they were well into serving up the BBQ meal and appeared to be almost out so we opted for Tequila Joes. There we had a fine buffet of nicely prepared local dishes and desserts along with a complimentary glass of champagne, $100 EC per person. The band was having issues with the sound board so after some drinks we headed down to the beach to ring in the New Year and watch the fireworks. Afterwards Nick and I went in search of some locals he had made friends with prior to our departure for the Grenadines. Trendy and John, the Rasta Master of Ceremonies, were happy to see Nick again and we spent the remainder of the night between a few of the local hangout; Happy Day Bar, The Loft and Rehab. John is definitely the guy you want to be with as he seems to know everybody in town and they all stopped him on the street to exchange holiday greetings. One of the highlights of the night was when he took over the sound booth at The Loft and started spinning his own mixes of true Rasta Reggae. Nick and I sat in the booth enjoying the music and watching the very lovely Lucian ladies dancing on the dance floor. Now this is a local hangout and we were the only tourist in the place. Nick, being 25 years old fit in a little better than this old, gray haired, white guy, but as we were with John everyone was very friendly and we exchanged New Years hugs and well wishes with a many great people. I always find it amazing when traveling that if you take the time to interact with people no matter the differences you have there are always common grounds on which you can have some good conversation and laughs. I got a ride back to the marina from Junior, a friend of Johns, about 6:00am; Nick rolled in at his usual 8:00am. It will be a New Years that we will both remember for a long time.