We were ready to go. Dominica, still COVID-free, finally opened their borders to boaters and announced that they would be doing their own testing rather than trusting anyone else’s. That meant all we had to do was hang out by a customs office and wait for weather. But the wind wasn’t ready to take us. We at least got as far as Bequia from Mayreau in a nice light-wind window in the early morning, with the full moon shining behind Jazz’s head. And we even had a surprise inspection of our bow rail as we approached the island.
Once there, we spent our time walking up the hills, and around the edge of the harbor past the empty bars and cars with painted-on license plates. Fortunately, nearly everything is outdoors here, so we didn’t feel too bad about having lunch on the side of a local restaurant overlooking the harbor.
Waiting for weather also implies naps.
Eventually it got flat enough that we could motor back up to mainland St Vincent. Jazz had promised to fix a friend’s wetsuit, and we confirmed that the Sailrite can sew through neoprene, though it’s not the easiest to work with. We also confirmed that Captain loves the sewing machine.
Waiting on the mainland meant that we could get some things done, like provisioning. We stocked up extra heavily, expecting that smaller Dominica would have less to offer (fact check: mostly true). Part of that process was managing to get a delivery from 32 Islands Brewery in Mustique sent to Kingstown. So by the time we left the grocery store, we had a pretty absurd haul.
Part of that haul included a bunch of roti from a favored street stand, which we re-packaged to freeze for our passage and quarantine. Also, there was a little kid outside the grocery store who meowed like a cat the whole time we waited for our taxi, which was bizarre and surprisingly annoying. (Also, see all the stands outside the supermarket? They’re selling fruits and vegetables, literally in the parking lot of a store that sells fruits and vegetables. Last time we were here, there was some talk of a government action to kick them out, but they’re still there. I mostly find this odd.)
We weren’t super excited about a supermarket level of risk shortly before traveling, so we did the double-mask thing for our Kingstown trips.
Trips? Plural? Why yes, we did go back to town, because we found a spa that would do mask-on massages and pedicures, and gosh darn it, we should have pretty toes. And we noted, in passing, some very strict security around the public library. No unauthorized entry!
We also took care of some deferred computer updates at one of the waterfront cafes. (Pictured: Andrew managing two Ubuntu updates, neither of which went perfectly smoothly.) Meanwhile we both enjoyed some Krew beers, and Jazz made friends with the local cat.
Not to neglect our own cat, we did bring the Captain back up Fort Duvernette. He loves going up, and still refuses to go down more than a few steps under his own power. Also, here’s his best Simba. I may have sung.
For lack of anything else to do, and because we needed a few extra groceries, we took a walk around the Blue Lagoon marina, just down the road from our anchorage. And we loved this sign from the parking lot.
I don’t have great stories for these things, so here’s me drinking cognac from a bowl, dignified AF (because our cups are too narrow and we don’t have proper snifters), and some grilled pita-pizzas we made based on a recipe from Due.
We kept looking at the wind, and it kept not being terribly great. We’re traveling north, and we don’t point to wind very well, so we’d like the wind to come from somewhere south of east. The trades zig back and forth between southeast and northeast, but now we’ve seen one or the other persist for a long time. During hurricane season, SE winds made it easy to leave the Tobago Cays, and hard to get back. This season, the reverse has held: mostly-NE winds make it hard to go north. So eventually, as the long-term forecast showed no change, we decided we’d take the best window available, and we checked out of Saint Vincent for what we assume will be the last time.
Thanks for the update! I treasure your posts. We celebrated St Paddy’s last night. I was in full gear! Check out face Book. Love and miss you!