TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) Trip Report and Photo Archives Days 13 & 14 - St. Vincent

27 Dec. 2011
We started off early today as we had 40 miles to make to reach Cumberland Bay in St. Vincent.

An easy sail in the lee of the island
There was a fresh wind for our first day of upwind sailing, but Skyelark showed her pedigree while making over 8 knots with triple reefed main. We hit a few squalls and that really uped the excitement level, however with the sails well trimmed the boat handled beautifully and could be steered without much effort. By the time we were in the lee of St. Vincent we had lost the wind and though we tried to whistle one up we had to fire up the iron genny. We anchored in the north end of the bay and tied the stern to a tree in front of Mojitos Bar and Restaurant. Arrangements were made with Abe for some excursions tomorrow and then we headed to shore for dinner. We ate at Mojitos, and it was a real treat, they had the table al dressed with table cloth and fresh flowers. The soup of the night was pumpkin, however since we had to pre-order we requested callaloo soup and the chef was happy to oblige, heading up to the farm for some fresh picked callaloo. I had the lamb chops, which were nicely done with a sweet garlic sauce, the others had BBQ ribs & chicken, tuna and seafood curry. All the meals were good, but the fresh callaloo soup stole the show. My meal; lamb chops, soup, and two Heinekens with tip was 75 EC ($30 US). We made it an early night as Mike and Keith were going to climb La Soufriere, the volcano on the island, and had to meet the taxi at 6:00 am. The rest of the crew will be going to Baleine Falls on the far north end of the island.

Skyelark at anchor in Cumberland Bay as the sun sets


28 Dec. 2011
We had breakfast onboard, then prepared for our trip to Balinie Falls at the north end of the island. Keith and Mike left at 6:00 am to climb La Soufriere, but us less ambitious folks opted for a ride down the coast to the falls. Our boat arrived and it wasn’t exactly what we were expecting; it resembled a row boat and was powered by a 30 horse outboard. The seas were flat so we left hoping for the best. The small engine struggled as the driver hugged the coast, by the time we got to Chateau Belaire Dan decided that it was not up to the task of hauling all 6 of us to our destination, especially if the weather changed unexpectedly. He and Em disembarked and ended up catching a ride back to the bay with Mama Elmas son, who was in town. The trip from Cumberland Bay took 1 hour and 40 minutes. We finally reached the dock, which had been damaged in a storm and started the short trek up the river to the falls.

Guess which boat we traveled halfway up the coast of St. Vincent in.


Baliene Falls
The falls itself is small, but you do pass through a canyon, cut by the powers of the waters over the ages. We all took a dip in the cool water and some photos before heading back. In all it was not worth the effort to get there, and Dark View Falls is a much better choice. So back in the Bay I was looking forward to something I had wanted to try since sailing the islands. It all started last night when Dan was looking for Abe to finalize the excursions, he smelled something cooking at Mama Elmas and it turned out to be “mountain chicken” better known as Iguana. Now I ate Iguana chowder years ago in Key West, it resembled conch chowder with the meat minced into small pieces. This was to be something completely different, Mama Elma brought out a two bowls of lizard parts in broth with dumplings for Dan and I. The rough black skin with bright green spots kinda turned me off, but I ate most of the meat and about half the broth and dumplings. It tasted better than it looked but I just couldn’t get over the skin thing. Tony got some good laughs watching us try to look like we were really enjoying our meal.

A big bowl of nasty!

After our snack we headed over to Josephs restaurant to pick up another order of Tri-Tri cakes that his niece had prepared for us. We spent some time talking with Joseph, who is a pleasant elderly gentleman.

Having some beers with Joseph, one of the "pirates" of the Caribbean on St. Vincent.

I made some sauce from the last of Tonys Italian sausage and some fresh veggies that Dan and Em picked up in Chateau Belaire. Once again nightcaps were enjoyed lying in the cockpit and looking at the multitude of stars above.