We returned to Bequia
for Christmas, anchored out along Princess Margaret Beach. The anchorage was “rockin’ and rollin’, so
much so that Gretchen had to move to another berth to avoid landing on the
floor in the night.
We had problems (again!)
with the outboard motor for our dinghy and called upon Kerry, the best mechanic
we have found in the Windward Islands.
He quickly diagnosed our problem, fixed it and then provided a spare
part from his “stores” in case the problem recurs beyond repair. He noticed how much we were rolling and
recommended a reputable mooring close into town managed by “Phat Shag”. The Dive Bequia staff also gave a good
review, saying that he regularly dives on his moorings and does appropriate maintenance.
We were very happy to
be close in—although the music on the beach was LOUD, we were flat on the
water and much more comfortable in the night.
Christmas Eve brought on a big surprise—major thunderstorm
activity. We have never experienced electrical
storms this time of year in the Caribbean.
It rained all night and most of the morning, with lots of wind and
lightning. We were able to take a hike
to Fort Hamilton and see the cannons aimed at the entrance to Admiralty
Bay. It was interesting to note that the
fort was named after an American, Alexander Hamilton, although the purpose of
the fort was to defend the island against American privateers and the
French.
Our next stop was
Soufrière on St. Lucia, and there we found out how lucky Bequia had been during
the storm. There were nearly 20 people
who died in St. Vincent and St. Lucia due to landslides and bridges
collapsing. Several towns in St. Lucia
were cut off for a few days due to bridge outages and roads blocked by mud. I am sure that St. Vincent suffered similar
problems. The unstable ground and steep
terrain will make repairs very difficult, and in Soufriére, new restrictions on
where construction can occur have already been put in place. We saw at least five homes that were totally
destroyed, and several more that were damaged by mudslides. Much of the same area was severely damaged
during Hurricane Tomas four years ago, and there just isn’t very good holding
for soil on such steep terrain.
But the Soufriére anchorage was lovely: