As we came north towards Bequia the high clouds vanished and it turned into a perfect day. With Easter approaching, the harbor was quite full. We anchored off Lower Bay Beach on the south side. I dived on the anchor and wasn’t fully convinced it would hold, but we had no problems. Shortly after we were settled, big northerly swells moved in and made things very uncomfortable – as can be seen by the trouble we had getting a level photo of the sunset!

Having had an uncomfortable night, we moved to the north side of the harbor which was busy but much more protected. We took our dinghy in for the planned modifications to its chaps, which seem to have been successful in preventing further stabbing incidents. Entertainment was provided by an oil tanker which resupplied the island’s tanks, and then turned around right in the middle of the crowded harbor!

Our time in Bequia was quite social. Friends Jill and Phil arrived on Morning Bird and we got together several times. We found ourselves moored near Joli, a C&C 61 we last encountered in Boston Waterboat Marina in 2019. Jeremy and the owner, Bryan, have stayed in contact over social media (Bryan refers to it as “Imaginary Friends”) and we visited them for cocktails. I connected with a WhatsApp group called Sea Sisters, who are quite active in Bequia, and through them we joined a hike to Spring, on the north side of the island. The hike started quite late and was mostly on roads so it was quite hot, and we were glad to stop for a cold beer at Firefly on the way home. Bequia has some steep hills, and for some reason roads seem to be built straight up them instead of switching back and forth. They are pretty hard to walk down; I find myself thinking “I wonder how they manage in winter?” and then remembering that this is winter! You’d need good brakes if you lived at the top of one of them.

Also with Sea Sisters, I joined an afternoon of Mexican Train Dominos which was great fun – which I may be saying because I had beginner’s luck! On our final night there was a happy hour at Plantation House, where we met a nice bunch of fellow cruisers. Most people now are making their way south to Grenada or Trinidad, so we expect to run into some of them again over the next month.

Bequia used to have a very successful Easter Regatta, which drew lots of boats and many spectators and party-goers to the island. Several years ago the government on St Vincent decided to take it over, and unfortunately managed to kill it, so it hasn’t happened for a few years. Fortunately, a group of volunteers has now revived it, so there was some fun racing to watch. There weren’t a huge number of boats, but since it was blowing in the high 20’s with gusts in the 30’s, there was plenty of action to watch!

The J80 (pink spinnaker) caught a gust just off a headland, broached, and only just managed to avoid being swept onto a cliff. The boat on the right is a model boat, about 2 feet long, headed directly towards us! The preferred means of tacking them appears to be: a small boy leaps off the front of a fishing boat, swims after it and turns it around. Not exactly how things work on Redd’s Pond!

There were also plenty of parties at local bars and on Lower Bay Beach. The music pounded into the night from Thursday to Monday. Suddenly on Tuesday everything turned quiet — things are starting to close down for the season and the islanders are reclaiming their island. We walked to Fort Hamilton, which wasn’t far but gave us some nice views of the harbor and down to our boat.

The winds were calming down and the sun was out, so it was time to make our way back down to the southern Grenadines. We now have about a month before we need to get to Trinidad, so we will take our time exploring these lovely islands.