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Dec. 22 Bequia
We had breakfast on board and then I mixed up a batch of rum punch, a holiday tradition on Skyelark. Dan took Rodger to the dive shop for his morning dive on a wreck and I went in with them. Alex came along and we stopped at the Gingerbread for coffee, I had fresh sorrel instead, a local holiday treat it was perfectly seasoned.


Making the rum punch

Afterwards I tried to find a saltfish and bake for a little snack no luck I arrived too late, the clerk at the store said. It wasn’t a total loss as the meat man was on the island and I was able to get some fresh leg of lamb, all the large portions had been sold, but I picked up about three pounds worth and it will make a nice lamb curry. The whole scene at his stand, located behind one of the grocery stores, is fun to watch. People will come up and ask for beef and fresh ham, he pulls large sections out of various coolers and bags then hacks off the desired amount with a huge machete; he was an average size man, but his hands were as big as baseball mitts. I caught up with Dan as he was bringing the rest of the crew ashore and he dropped the bag of lamb back at the boat. Mike and Debby, had arranged for a introduction to scuba session in the afternoon; the rest of us planned to hike over to Friendship Bay. We stopped at a local restaurant just past the boardwalk for callalou soup, served with fresh garlic bread; the perfect thing to fuel our hike. Now I had just planned to go to the beach near Jacks, but Dan convinced me to come along with them. It seems every year they somehow get me to walk up some mountain or across some island, even though I always say that’s the last time. The walk was steep in parts, up and down various hills, but it wasn’t too bad and I was able to keep up a good pace.

Boats anchored in the harbor

We passed the remnants of last nights party still carrying on at a local bar up the hill. I can now add Bequia to the islands I have walked across, St. Lucia, Mystique and Union being the others. We went to the Bequia Beach hotel, and choose a spot on their patio right at the shore. The hotel has beautiful grounds, and the building are arranged to give it an open feel. We had a lovely lunch at the Bagatelle restaurant adjacent to the patio. Dave and I had the chicken ceasar salad, Dan and Deb went for the fresh snapper served over a tropical salad, and Em had the cheeseburger and fries; all were very good and reasonably priced.

Lunch at the Bagatelle Restaurant

After a post lunch swim, we headed back to the harbor to meet with the others. Everyone enjoyed their dives, Mike and Debby were especially excited it having been their first time. We stopped at the Gingerbread again, this time I had the fresh starfruit juice, very mild in taste but nice. We then went back to the boat to give the rum punch a try and make any final adjustments. After an initial taste I added some Angostura bitters and more fresh nutmeg, the crew were more than satisfied with the results. Dan mean while prepared a snack from the barracuda we caught yesterday, these fish are slimy and smell like the dickens when you bring them on board, but once filleted and cooked the meat is very mild and flakey. I must say, he can cook, the fish was marinated in garlic and lime juice, battered and fried; served over lettuce with a soy sauce dressing and garnished with fried plantains and a thin slice of starfruit, the folks on the gin palace anchored in the bay should eat so well. We decided on one of the local restaurants for our dinner, ordering an assortment of local dishes as well as burgers and hot wings ( and they were hot!). We stopped at the Frangipani for drinks before returning to the boat, then finished the night with some Captain Bligh XO, the local rum, or Caribbean cognac as I call it.

Another beautiful sunset