ok then let's try this again.

Sunday, Dec. 4th 2011- Tampa to St. Vincent

In Puerto Rico waiting for Liat to leave at 3:25; boarding at 2:40. It is now 2:55 no boarding yet. Gate person says will stop in Barbados then to SVD. Website and person on phone said straight to St. Vincent. Stop in SJU had no tangle ups at all. It is freezing in the airport. Were off on time! It is so cloudy at ½ hour into flight that you couldn’t see anything until landed in Antigua!! What why are we in Antigua? Had no idea where we were headed because it was so cloudy. Then they made everyone get off the plane and walk to a bus and that took us just a short distance on the tarmac to another plane. Uh oh here is where the luggage gets lost? When we took off they said we were going to make another stop in Barbados! When landed in Barbados they told everyone to get off again and would have to go through customs, what the heck is going on? A lot of ppl outwardly complaining now so no customs. Then we were herded to the departure gate and waited about 10 minutes then back on the same plane! We and another couple did ask the gate man why their website says straight from SJU to St. Vincent but now all these stops and confusion. He stated it doesn’t matter what the website says it is what is on your boarding pass. Well my boarding pass also just read SJU to SVD. No logical answer for that from him that made any sense. So much for seeing a nice sunset, having cocktails on the Paradise Beach Hotel patio. Also was hoping to see the fly over of St. Vincent in the day. Didn’t get to SVD until 8:30pm. Our arrival time was supposed to be 5:30pm. Our luggage was there though. I did know of the Liat horror stories so just chalked it up to it can happen to you after all. I’ve checked Liat’s schedule from SJU to SVD since I’ve been back and it now seems that most are now overnight flights, that is crazy to waste a whole day flying to get somewhere that would only take 2 hours directly. There is still one scheduled flight that reads straight from SJU to SVD but don’t count on it.
Very fast service for taxi to Paradise Beach Hotel. Check in was fast, room was nice, determined to get those cocktails we went to the bar. The bartender was a young man named Clifton who was very nice and there seemed to be no problem for having some rum punches, Hairouns and ordering some cheeseburgers and calaloo soup, that were very good.
The Paradise Beach Hotel is very nice with great view of a little island that I now know is Young Island, private resort. Off to bed.

Monday, Dec. 5th 2011- St. Vincent to Mayreau

The morning is beautiful and only some clouds and sun! Our taxi driver “Kingsley” from last night told us he would take us to the airport and pick up time of 9:00am for 10:50 flight to Union Island. Phone call from office at 7:30am; he is here . . . .? Anyway he’ll have to wait gotta eat and get ready. We walked down to the little beach area and saw a coconut/produce/beer shanty at the far end of the beach and went to check it out. Bought 2 coconuts from the young man that tends it for I think about $1.50 each. He told us a story that if you mix the juice from a young coconut, an egg white and aloe and drink it it will “clean” u out. Sounded interesting at the time.
Just to let you know there is a bank/money exchange at the E. T. Joshua Airport, walk down the long hallway past the bathrooms and turn right no problem exchanging US to EC. The rate was 2.67 to our 1. Although stores, merchants and I think hotels round off to 2.6. At the end of your trip you can also exchange you EC back to US. Tip: Keep 40EC or $16US for departure tax.
Flight to Union Island had stops at Bequia, and Canuoun, very short time on ground though and didn’t have to deboard. It was very pretty seeing the different islands from the air. There was a taxi at the Union Island airport, he charged us 12EC ($4.50) for both of us. Seems to be cheaper down here than the BVI that is for sure. You could also walk to the dock if you wanted. We were dropped off at the dock and immediately a boat man came and wanted $200EC to take us to Mayreau. I called Dennis at Dennis’ hideaway where we were staying and he said to wait his nephew (Monroe) was at the bank there and he and another captain would bring us. There was a little confusion at first either at the bank or the gas station so we walked towards the little town and the original boat man dropped his price to 150EC, but it was too late we were on a mission. His nephew found us gee I wonder how? But the captain had disappeared. We waited for about 45 min and sat on a park bench, bought some fruit, then decided we were on our own and went into Clifton Beach Hotel for a chicken roti and some Hairouns. The roti was ok way too many potatoes, though. Eventually Monroe came and found us and didn’t seem too happy about the whole thing. We all piled into the boat and we were on our way. Very pretty ride and water splashing was nice, it was hot. When we pulled up to the Mayreau dock (Saline Bay), Dennis and a girl were preparing lots of lobsters and cleaning fish. Monroe gave us a ride up the hill. We like Dennis’, nice refreshing pool and lovely grounds.
Swam a bit and some Irish Jig music was put on; goat sounds in the background and one name “Wilfred” got loose and just came through the gate, little boy came and got him. Went up to Robert’s bar. Very colorful place and guy. Had several beers and talked with him for a while, he showed us around and stated this is not just his bar but everyone’s bar, very nice man.
Back at Dennis’ we sat around the bar and had cocktails, Utan makes very good rum punches if you know what I mean. Tony order the T-bone and it was fantastic, you could cut it with a butter knife, came with potatoes, salad and garlic bread all for about $20US. I had grilled red snapper also just terrific. EDIT gonna give a shout out for a Caribbean band down there because it took so long to finally get this trip report posted just a say for Caribbean music fans they had a cd that kept playing that was very good and I downloaded a couple of songs from an album the band was called “Affetuosos” our favorite songs were “Children of the Caribbean” and “Where Does A Man Go”. There were more, if you like to listen to local music while down there you can download these songs from amazon.com .99cents.

Tuesday, Dec. 6th 2011 – Mayreau

The day started off cloudy and a little scared because we were going on our day trip to the Tobago Cays and we wanted it to be total sunshine, but the clouds burned off quickly and we walked down to Saline Bay to meet our boat.
I had been in contact with the company Scaramouche to see when they were going to have enough ppl to make a day trip and today was the day. This company as far as I know has two boats the “Scaramouche” and a smaller schooner I forget the name. They leave for the day trip out of Union Island. They make their first stop somewhere I don’t remember, then Saline Bay, Mayreau for some snorkeling, then to the Tobago Cays to swim with turtles and they also take you to a reef out there to snorkel. Then they serve you lunch, then head over to Palm Island where you can walk around and look a bit, then back to Union Island.
They gave us a discount because they conveniently picked us up from our island of Mayreau, so we missed the first spot, that was ok with us. When the boat came into Saline Bay they let the ppl off to snorkel, walk the beach a little, and look at t-shirts. We were on the smaller schooner boat, not the Scaramouche. It was in excellent shape, clean and just the right size and a very nice crew.
Our first stop was Tobago Cays to snorkel with turtles, I saw @ six! Water was fine. We then went a short ways in a dinghy to a reef and saw lots of very big coral and a lot of fish. They served us lunch of baked chicken, yellow rice, and vegetables, it was very good. They also put out fresh papaya, mango, cookies, coconut bread and we also had our choice of whatever we wanted to drink, rum, beer, coffee, wine, soda or water. Our last stop was an expensive resort called Palm Island.
There were six other ppl on the boat, 3 couples all from England and all very nice and we all got along terrific and had a lot in common, that made the trip just that much better. The trip ends with bringing you back to Union Island, since we were picked up and staying on Mayreau one of the crew had already had a boat guy waiting when we got back to Union Island harbor to take us back to Mayreau for 100EC that is a very good price. We recommend this company very much. http://www.scaramouchegrenadines.com/enter.html
It was evening when we got back to Mayreau and is seems that all the ppl come out at that time, a lot playing Christmas music, doing yard work and all keeping busy. Seems like a good tight-knit community. Time to take a shower, order cocktails and have dinner.

Wednesday, Dec. 7th 2011 - Mayreau

Not doing much today, little rain this morning had a lite breakfast. Probably just go down to the beach and read all day. Had too much fun last night talking with Dennis, Utan, Kunta? and Shorty, it was Shorty’s birthday. All are very nice. Sitting on our balcony writing this it has a fantastic view overlooking Saline Bay and Union Island. A cruise ship is in and tourists walking around the island. The sun is coming out for another day in paradise. Just saw our boat we were on yesterday sailing by. Dennis had a charter group of @ 25 ppl last night for dinner and fun, that was good for him.

Thursday, Dec. 8th 2011 – Mayreau

Feel much better today. Going to walk to the other side of the island and visit the church and Salt Whistle Bay. Needs to warm up a bit. Salt Whistle Bay was gorgeous. Lots of boats in bay, t-shirts and some local art for sale. Our dogs were there. There are some cottages there we were told the man had died and the wife is not capable of taking over and daughter is supposed to take over. People are grooming the grounds. Went snorkeling but no reef just sea grass and garbage. Bought a couple of coconuts, the juice was very good, had a snack of tuna and crackers, apples and cookies (crix) that we brought with us. Swam and layed around and read all day. I had to hit another dog with a stick because it kept on bullying my dog “coconut”. We had a couple of rum punches and beer at the little sandy bar and then the bartender/taxi took us back to Dennis’. The taxi back is worth the $7. Forgot to see the church, probably will tomorrow morning before we leave. Our ferry does not leave until @3:30pm. It is evening again and everybody is out working in their yards, etc. Loud Christmas music is playing again across the street at a bar. Feel like having chicken wings and pumpkin soup for dinner. No pumpkin soup had callalou instead.

Friday, Dec. 9th 2011 – Mayreau to Bequia

Today looks very nice only a few clouds out this morning. Going to have cereal for breakfast. No cereal, so had an egg. Be careful at Dennis’ one morning I ordered an egg sandwich only 10EC and on our last day I only ordered one egg and was charged for a whole breakfast because they also served toast and jam? It got corrected though. I don’t drink coffee or juice so declined maybe that was the reasoning I don’t know.
The big goat behind our room was really complaining this morning. Need to pay for our stay, check our email (6EC for 30 min.), then we are going to walk up to the church and maybe swim a little. We don’t need to be at the ferry dock until 3:30. Dennis said because he was not busy this day we could keep our things in our room and swim and relax. We did walk up to the church it had a very nice view in back of the Tobago Cays it was hot, hot, hot. Swam a little and went up the tower in the hammocks to read a little before going down to get the ferry. Just to let you know if you stay on Mayreau you need to either call the ferry yourself or ask Dennis to call and make sure they make a stop to pick you up. It is not listed as a regular stop. We said our goodbyes and walked down the hill and sat and ate our coconut, Pringles, apple and had some water. T-shirt lady was there but didn’t have my size. The ferry was just 10 min late.
The ferry was nice and fast they served snacks and alcohol. Couldn’t see anything out the windows as everyone already had a window seat. Was excited to finally see Bequia’s port. When we got there we headed for the bank for more EC but were five minutes too late. The bank is straight in front of the ferry docks and another around the corner and up about 2 blocks. Taxi getting was easy 20EC to Lower Bay (@$7US). Taxi driver “Randy” waited while we went to a grocery store and got some breakfast things. I see lots of shopping stores we can go to tomorrow. Looks like a nice walkway with restaurants, arts & crafts, etc. Didn’t arrive to Da Reef until dark. Quickly got to our room and what a change from previous accoms. We actually got a 2 bdrm upstairs because they didn’t have any more 1 bdrms left. The grounds are beautiful as usual and just across a little rd from the beach. We quickly put our things away and went to the bar/rest. For some drinks and dinner. Only 2 things available, grilled fish and curry conch. We both had the grilled fish w/rice it was “cavalli” and very good.

Saturday, Dec. 10th 2011 – Bequia

Woke up feeling good. Walked up the hill and looked at neighborhood and saw a very cute house I thought about renting before picking De Reef. Nicely kept grounds better than the internet pics. Then walked the other way and stopped at Keegans and Mangos. Learned that Keegans was having a BBQ that night; Mangos menu seemed a little pricey but free wi/fi with chairs and tables near the water. Walked up the hill the other way and saw Avalon House and another house I considered renting; glad chose not to because of placement on the hill and not close to beach. Also saw Kingsville Apts. Again very nice grounds and pics on internet do not do it justice. Found out later whole property is for sale @2mil. Walked back via beach a lot of Machaneel trees posted with danger signs. Saw a place u could rent chairs for 10EC a day. Went into Bees Café, she sells coffee, tea, cold drinks, various baked goods all very inexpensive. Bought 2 slices of coconut cake to bring to our room had w/scrambled eggs, cheese (smoke gouda) from the grocery store and fresh papaya. It was very good. Found out our place has chairs u can take to the beach. We went down and snorkeled. There is a small reef right in front of Keegans. Saw various fish, needle fish and sea urchins so be careful if the surf is up a little that you don’t get rammed into the sea urchins. Took our chairs down and sat and read on the beach for awhile, then asked re a water taxi to town to shop and get some vegs. I just asked a couple of guys that were at a house a little ways down and a guy “Irvin” was just leaving in his dinghy and he reluctantly gave us a ride to Gingerbread House dock. He said if we were around @5:00 he would take us back. We walked the Belmont walkway and saw restaurants/bars and then onto Front St. There were a lot of produce stands and a row of vendors selling t-shirts and trinkets. Only one boutique open. Bought some fresh produce and stopped in a big old white church then headed back to Belmont walkway and stopped in at Tommy’s Mexican for beers and had some taquitos. Then on to the Whaleboner Bar. The bar has a giant whale jawbone wrapped around it and the bar stools have the vertebrae as seats. They said it was from the very 1st whale ever caught around Bequia. We saw Irvin gong by and flagged him down. We bought him a beer and he walked us down to another bar The Green Boley. Talked a while there. There was an Englishman in there that has not lived on Bequia for 30 years.
Irvin dropped us back off in front of Keegans and we went to change clothes and put away stuff before going back to the BBQ. They had a huge outdoor movie screen up in front of the patio and ppl were eating and drinking the food smelled good. We sat with Irvin and bought him some soup and drinks for giving us the ride. Tony had BBQ chicken I had grilled fish it was ok a lot of bones. For all our meals, several drinks and beers it came to $113EC = $43US. We have decided that the Grenadines are much less expensive than the BVIs, where we usually go. Although harder to get to, it is worth spending maybe a little more on airfare to live cheaper here. Irvin said he would take us to “Moonhole” on his boat tomorrow. We don’t know if we’ll make it.

Sunday, Dec. 11th 2011 – Bequia

Woke up a little groggy this morning probably because I took a benedryl and sleep aid before I went to sleep. The Benedryl helps with itching from mosquito bites. I could be wearing a suit of armor and still get bitten by mosquitos, nothing prevents them from getting me. Another nice day, a little breezy, the band for De Reef is practicing this morning for tonight’s music. We were told that De Reef is having a BBQ today, wrong. No BBQ but band will be playing. Walked down and got my usual coconut cake from Bee’s. Saw Irvin and told him we would not be going to Moonhole with him. After we wished we had. Didn’t realize that he takes care of a 42’ very nice monohull for a man up north and he was taking some kids and another family out for the morning.
I needed to use the internet so we walked down to Mangos and was able to use my kindle to use the internet, that was kinda cool just got it before the trip and first time I tried. Sat on the beach, swam and read a little. Went into De Reef to ask the bartender if there was going to be a BBQ later as we had heard, he told me “like I said before you can order from the menu”. Friggin rude. I think this was said to me because there was some confusion on our first night of arrival and because it was so late we asked him what they had to eat, he gave us a menu but then told us there were only two things we could order.
Anyway needless to say we walked back down to Mangos had some rum punches and ordered 2 cheeseburgers w/fries. They were great and they were discounted from 25EC to 17EC I think they do that every Sunday when they are having their music and all. Lots of ppl were laying on lounge chairs, eating, drinking and boats pulled up to shore partying. They had brought tables down onto the beach, very nice atmosphere. When we walked back to De Reef their band was playing, we swam and snorkeled a bit more then walked down the street to see if the little mini mart shack was open for some juice to mix with our rum and it was! The bottles of juice had a deposit so we will return them. We made a couple of drinks and went down on the beach to our chairs and listened to the band and ppl watched for a while. There were a lot of ppl here tonight.
Made it a short night, came up and ate some cheese, crackers, apples read and went to sleep.

Monday, Dec. 12th 2011 – Bequia

Got up early anxious to plan the day going to town and then turtle sanctuary and plantation. Found a taxi quite easily if you just walk down to the end of the drive there is usually one coming or going to town. Had to make another trip to the bank and waited in line for 45 minutes to get some EC. We like to deal with the local money. Before we got a taxi to go to the turtle sanctuary we walked around some more, more things were open today because cruise ship in port. Went into the book shop and bought a colorful print of Admiralty Bay from the 70s with boats, ppl and houses in the background. They also had a nice variety of maps and hand-painted art by locals. Looked in 3 other boutiques and would like to buy paintings and batik next time. There were also outside vendors that had some handmade sailboats. I think I’m going to get one on the way out on Wednesday. We hired a taxi to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary 70EC @$26US RT. The drive was very pretty to the other side of the island, everything very tropical and green. Saw fields with very tall palms, some cows and nice views of the sea. Stopped at the plantation there was a sign outside the driveway that said tours 10EC and I wanted to go in but our taxi driver said they did not do tours?. . .. We will check it out ourselves next time. The turtle sanctuary is a neat place where the man took it upon himself to take turtle eggs of the beach and raise them until @ 3 years old and release them into the sea. He wants to give them a better chance at surviving if left on their own they say that only 1 of 3,000 would survive. There were tanks filled with turtles at various ages, they seemed healthy and happy. When we got back into town it started to rain. The taxi driver let us sit in the taxi for awhile.
We went to check our email at Digicel it is right next to the blue pizza bldg. Then went to get more eggs, water, fruit and some of that great smoked gouda cheese and rum. We finally had lunch at The Porthole, a clean little restaurant right at the start of the Belmont Walkway. I had chicken roti and tony had beef roti, both were excellent. We meandered down the walkway taking pics and saw a parrot at the dive shop “George”. Then ended back at The Green Boley Bar/Rest. for dinks and talked with Liston. An Englishman from the cruise ship came and we chatted with him for awhile. He was a concierge on the boat. Talked about each of our country’s bad economys. He said they are holding back on spending more than we are and that is probably why we are getting hit so hard (we are in a tourism related business as well). Liston said the cruise ships do the locals no good since all food, drinks, etc. are provided on the ship, the locals don’t benefit at all only the government does. Liston talked about back in the 80s I think he said Bob Dylan was having a boat made here called the “Water Pearl” and showed us a t-shirt that he has had for years with a pic of the boat on it with the name underneath, can’t remember if he said BD gave it to him or he made it. Irvin came in and we had a few more drinks then Irvin said he would give us a ride back to our beach and we stopped at “his” boat to have a look. He made us some pea soup and fried ham and onions. We made us all a rum punch, but it was late and we needed to head back. He dropped us off in front of Mangos. I was glad I had a small LED flashlight. We went straight to bed.

Tuesday, Dec. 13th 2011 – Bequia

Our last full day in Bequia. Morning looks nice a small shower passed by. Time to go down and I think I’ll get a cinnamon roll this time. Decided to spend our last day at beach. Snorkeled some, read and just relaxed. A ferry load of St. Vincent teens were all over the beach. If you want to pay your hotel bill with a credit card you pay at the De Reef bar where the credit card machine is. When I went in to pay, the barmaid had an attitude just because I asked her a question about the exchange rate; I told her so too; she didn’t like that either and someone else was kind enough to help me. You know out of all our 11+ days in the Grenadines the only 2 ppl that we had a problem with were at De Reef . . . .We did not patronize them for lunch or dinner and we looking forward to just staying close and trying their food today, oh well. In the late afternoon we came up to read and relax and had a few cocktails before heading down to Keegans for dinner. We were the only ones there. They were very friendly. We ordered full dinners that started off with pumpkin soup. Tony had sirloin steak, I had jerk pork chop, it was good it came with salad, and rice or potato and vanilla ice cream to take home.

Wednesday, Dec. 14th 2011 – Bequia to St. Vincent

Guess what woke up to another beautiful morning! Just got to sort things out and wait to get ready to catch the 1:00 ferry to St. Vincent for our last night before heading home to Tampa. I had originally planned to stay at Paradise Beach Hotel again on St. Vincent but really wanted a pool today, so called Beachcomber’s and made a reservation there instead. We are ready to go and a taxi was at De Reef when we walked down the drive. We had almost 2 hours to kill before the ferry leaves. The Bequia tourism office (a round sm. Bldg.) is right in front of the ferry docks and they let us store our 2 bags there so we could walk around. Checked our email, went to the Garden Boutique and I did end up buying a small batik square. Then took our last walk down the Belmont Walkway, this time making it past The Green Boley J and checked out Mac’s Pizzeria and The Fig Tree. We stopped at the Gingerbread House on the way back and had some coconut ice cream, it was absolutely delicious. Tony had a passion fruit/chocolate sundae. It was time to board the ferry. We watched from the top deck for awhile all the things that came out from the cargo hold was unbelievable, watching huge trucks 2 and 3 of them coming out with full loads of dirt, then watching empty dump trucks, motorcycles, ppl carrying outboard motors, presumably to be repaired on St. Vincent getting on the ferry. The ferry ride was nice sitting up on top with a nice breeze. The crew had a line off the back and trolling.
I was so glad we switched hotels and stayed at Beachcombers with the pool it was so relaxing and the grounds are gorgeous. We just got a standard room that was fine amongst nice vegetation and just right for our one night stay. Swam a little and went down to the beach. The guy with the coconut/fruit/beer stand was there and we bought 2 coconuts, I think they are only $1.50 each. A poor man was swimming nearby and said he wanted us to look at his art. It was 2 boleys he had carved design onto and we bought one for 7EC. We had cocktails before dinner at the bar. Everything was it up nicely with Christmas tree and all. We talked with an Australian who told us he flew here to buy a boat and sail back to Australia with 2 other men. He said it would take them 6 months! Said it was something he has been wanting to do for a loooong time. Kinda taken aback when he told us it was a 40’ monohull, don’t know anything about sailing but that sounds awful small, hope they are doing ok.
I had my last dinner of red snapper and Tony had chicken alfredo, both were good. That night’s sleep was a little hard, the bugs were really loud outside the bathroom window slats and sounded like some sort of generator or motor was running throughout the night.

Thursday, Dec 15th 2011 – St. Vincent to Tampa

Taxi on time, Liat on time but again supposed to be direct to SJU, but said would have to make an unscheduled stop in Dominica. When I asked the gate girl about it she said that sometimes there are unscheduled stops but did not give a reason why. When we landed in Dominica they took all the luggage off the plane and told us it was usual protocol for all passengers to get off the plane and identify their luggage. When we were getting back on the plane I was starting to take a pic of the scenery and was gruffly told I was not allowed to take pics only to identify my bag and get back on the plane! I thought this was the strangest thing that has happened so far. When we were back on the plane the “new” passengers came out of the terminal and while on tarmac they also had to identify their bags???? This made a lot of ppl w/connecting flights in SJU very anxious. When we landed in SJU they asked all that had connecting flights to deboard 1st, ok no problem. Then the rest of us deboarded but then they made everybody wait on the tarmac together until all disembarked. Made no sense whatsoever. We had a five hour layover and took a cab to Isla Verde. We ate at a “Mexican” food place called “Lupe’s” . . .don’t do that. Way overpriced and not good. We saw a Chili’s across the street and wished we did that instead. Walked about a block to El San Juan Hotel & Casino and walked out to the beach and sat by the pool for awhile and read, surprised security did not bother us. Very nice hotel and beach. It is only about a 15 min. taxi ride to and from the airport. $10 each way. That’s about it and can’t wait to start planning next year’s trip.
Would love to hire a boat next time, visit Canouan, Caricou and Grenada and stay a couple of nights on the other side of Bequia at Friendship Bay didn’t make it this time.
Link to some pics http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/582053910VgsRim

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