Friends Jack and Dru flew out to join us in Bequia, and we did a farewell tour of the Grenadines! First we visited Mustique. We explored a little on shore, swam off the beach, and enjoyed cocktails and an excellent dinner at Basil’s Bar. Memo to self: The rum punch at Basil’s is extremely strong and is to be treated with extreme caution!!

Next day looked like good conditions for the Tobago Cays: sunny and not too windy – so we moved down there. We were able to snorkel with turtles and rays off Baradel Island, and climbed a little way up the island to admire the amazing colors in the water – it never gets old! The boat guides warned us that the wind would be building overnight and suggested we move round to the cut for better protection. We tried, but couldn’t find space, and also felt that it was more rolly than the main anchorage, so we moved back round. We enjoyed the lobster cookout on the beach, this time hosted by Michael, who was the best boat guy we used this year.

Overnight, the wind did indeed pick up. We had hoped to snorkel on the reef the next morning, but unfortunately it was too rough, so we moved round to Saltwhistle Bay. Our timing was great, as we were able to pick up the outermost mooring, which had just enough water for us to fit! We walked and swam on the beach in warm, clear water. We were “claimed” by boat guy Alex (he helped us with our mooring lines and then asked us if we wanted to have lunch at his bar; we felt we couldn’t say No!). Lunch was excellent but took rather a long time to arrive, as they ran out of propane half way through preparing it and had to send someone over to the main village to get more. Such is life in the southern Grenadines!

The next day was time to start heading back north. We came into Canouan to take on diesel, and then had a great sail up to Bequia. We were there in time to walk along the boardwalk to Princess Margaret Beach for a swim, then explore the town a little.