On Holiday with the Wides.... The day finally came that Steve and Irene (The Wides) arrived. We headed down to Carriacou airport to meet them off their internal flight. We're not sure if they were that happy to see us or just glad that they landed safely!! There were only 4 people on the flight and one of them asked to sit next to the pilot and he said YES!! Steve was non stop chat but paused for a second when he realised we were driving across the runway, its quite safe as they have electronic gates on either side so no one can cross when a flight departs or arrives!! That night we took them to The Roundhouse Restaurant, it only has four tables and is the only roundhouse on the island, it was absolutely delightful, although our hostess could have tried to crack a smile at some point.
On the way round to Hillsborough the following day we stopped at Sandy Island, where the notice reads "Take nothing but photos, Leave nothing but footprints, Waste nothing but time." Sandy Island is a 50metre stretch of white flawless sand with a few palm trees in the middle that is protected by reef. The snorkelling was great and snorkel Steve was like a fish!! That night in Hillsborough we went to the cool beach bar where they cooked us fresh lobster on the BBQ. I think Steve and Irene were shocked at the way we murdered the shells to get every last piece of meat out!! We also introduced them to Jack Iron, I guess we should be glad we could even taste our dinner!!!
Union Island was our next stop, Steve had now been smiling nonstop since he arrived and wasn't about to stop. He enjoyed snorkelling so much he bought a set for himself so he wasn't always using ours. Him and Irene were like mermaids and disappeared for about 2 hours. That night they experienced their first boat BBQ which was eventually a success after it was finally hot enough some 2 hours after they started to light it!! The Anchorage Yacht Club has a large sea pool with about 15 nurse sharks that made interesting watching each time we got out of the dingy. We ate in a waterfront restaurant that had a fantastic fish tank, they had a white snapper in it that was trying to eat everything, although we didn't witness a success for him.
So Irene had her first big sail up to Mayreau and about half a mile before the entrance to the bay we got caught in a squall, it blew 30knots and the rain was unreal and caused a real desert affect on the water. I reassured Irene that we weren't enjoying it either incase she thought we were completely mental! Luckily it only lasted 5 mins and we arrived into sunshine in Saltwhistle Bay. That night we ate in the restaurant at the resort hidden in the trees. Each table is made of stone with a large roof/umbrella and a round stone bench for us all to sit on, right towards the end of our dinner all the lights went out as their generator backed up. We paid the bill, the staff left and asked us to blow the candle out when we left!!
The Tobago Cays were quite choppy so we moored between two of the islands to ensure flat waters for a good nights sleep. We had our second BBQ, which was alight and hot alot quicker than last time, we ate steak and shrimp kebabs followed by chicken for our main course!! Unfortunately the turtles were out of town for the Wides but we knew where we could find some in Bequia. They did however see a starfish that was about a foot and a half in diameter!
Back to Mayreau but this time to Saline Bay, we met Dennis on Union Island he owns Dennis' Hideaway and told us we should visit for dinner. What a fun night we had, well until he brought us a nightcap which was half a beaker of rum each, the boys drank theirs but Irene and I thought better of it. I think we were quite lucky to get back to the boat dry that night!
Next on our list of things to do was sail up to Bequia, which was a 21nmiles upwind trip. Well who would have thought we'd have five squalls one behind the other in the last hour luckily it was only our bikinis and shorts that got wet. The rain was so hard it hurt, we were all delirious with laughter by the end of it!! Our pizza that night was well deserved by us all. The following day we just relaxed around Port Elizabeth, giving us all a little time to recover. In the evening we went to the Moskito with the swinging chairs. Dinner was made highly amusing by Steve who looked at the ashtray (a green pot made from bamboo filled with sand) and said "Pepper" and sprinkled it across his dinner before any of us had the chance to stop him. Now fully recovered we took a tour of the island and went to the Turtle Santuary. They had turtles that were a week old and were the size of my index finger, I so wanted to take one home. That evening we went to Coco's Place in Lower Bay for a Jump Up. Playing live was J Gool and De Bucaneers. De Bucaneers were good but J Gool was in a league of his own, we could barely understand a word he said. The following night we went back to the Moskito for their lobster night only to discover that J Gool was playing there but with the Real Ting, Matt and I had seen them before and they are really good and also kept J Gool under control so we didn't have to listen to him too often. I think he'll haunt the four of us for quite sometime......
Our last night was with the Wides was in St Vincent, on the trip over we managed to spot a dolphin. far away from J Gool, Young Island Cut was quite busy, we found our most expensive beers in one bar, they were normal price during happy hour!! It was a sad day on Friday as we said our goodbyes at the airport. The Disco feels empty without them, although she carries alot less sand now!!!
We're off to St Lucia and then Antigua to meet Matt's sister, Sian and James for a week.
Revised -- Sunday 27 January 2002
Carry on to Heading North, Post Wide Depression
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