Monday 6 March

We are starting to understand the appeal of the Caribbean. Take yesterday for example. After visiting a series of very interesting boats at Union Island (boat watching is a favorite sport around here) we sailed off the anchor enroute to Bequia, about 30 miles to the north.

A short beat around the fringing reef of Union Island in 18 knots of warm breeze has us reaching at 13 knots abeam of our previous anchorage. The white and brown colors of the reef stood out in stark contrast to the deep blue of the safe depths.

The Tobago Cays, a group of South Pacific-like islets and reefs were to windward, and we decided to sail to weather of them, in case the wind backed to the NE later on as we approached Bequia.

Even though it has been blowing in the 15/20 knot range for weeks the sea state was quite mellow - just three to four foot evenly spaced wind chop.

With the Tobago Cays reefs safely tucked to leeward we bore off, pumped in a couple of tons of salt water ballast, and let fly on a beam reach along the back side of Canuan Island.

As we approached Bequia the wind indeed went NE and we hardened up. The water is deep around the SE corner and along the shore into Admiralty Bay, so we short tacked the cliffs working the lifts as we came into the shore.

This is a popular spot, and there must be at least 100 boats at anchor in a relatively small area. As we beat into the head of the bay an inflatable came zipping out to meet us. Aboard were Dan and Matt Neri, SetSail correspondents, and friends from way back.

We tacked and jibed amongst the anchored boats looking for a spot to drop the hook with room to swing. Finally choosing a spot just to leeward of a big S-and-S cutter, we let fly the main, sheeted the mizzen in hard, and coasted to a stop in 50 feet of inviting looking water.

Bequia is an ideal spot for cruisers, if you are after infrastructure - i.e., places to eat out, boogey, find marine supplies, and meet old and new friends.

In the former category, we were happy to catch up with Tom Hopman, one of the founders of the Caribbean Compass - the Caribbean sailing rag. We'd last seen Tom in Mexico, in 1976!

If you like to sail, enjoy short hops, and want to get off the boat when the hook is down, this is the place to cruise.

Tonight we're going ashore for dinner, and (hopefully) to rock and roll.