Tuesday, April 2, 2019 Union Island

CRUISING DAY 3 - TUESDAY, APRIL 2

We began the day with a continental breakfast, after which we prepared for our dive to Hannah’s Happy Place on Union Island. It was a gorgeous dive with lots of fish. We saw a flamingo tongue mollusk right off the bat. A large barracuda was patrolling the area. There was much to see in this pretty, sunlite area.

Lunch followed. We had a green salad with corn, marinated tomatoes, Cucumbers with mint and yogurt And three types of quiche; Lobster, vegetarian, and goat cheese with spinach. All were delicious. Sorbet was the desert for today. Rick was able to kill Barb Knapp at lunch by passing her napkin back to her.

After a relaxing morning on the boat, we moved to Clifton Harbor after lunch. The rain kept us on the boat hiding out undercover. Captain’s  cocktails at 4:45.

We then headed into Clifton for dinner at Sparrows. We tried to shop some but most shops were closed. We sat in the little park and watched the local kids playing tag. The Sparrow van finally picked us up and we were off to the other side of the mountain. Sparrows is a quaint little beachfront restaurant. We all had meals way too large. Should have spilt a pizza!

Getting to Clifton. We took the dinghy under the little bridge in the background.

Helping us for a tip.

When I asked him what grade he was in, he said, "I don't do schools."
 Made me sad.

Love her!

You cant get lost!

We are not sure what this tree is, but is unusual.

Upon our return, the crew had the boat all cleaned and reprovisioned. They put all of the alcohol out in a nice display, so we had an after dinner drink before turning in.

Monday, April 1, 2019 Canouon/Mayreau/Union Island

CRUISING DAY 2 - MONDAY, APRIL 1

Happy April Fool’s Day - We have no jokes...oh wait...maybe one!

Breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit and mimosas. After our meal, AJ and Maor took up the anchor and we sailed to Canouan and then to Mayreau. Captain AJ made a special arrangement that we could have a visit with Emma and Ashley, our spectacular crew in St Martin for NYE 2016. He dropped us off and we had a great visit. We all recalled our dance night to Red Solo Cup.

On our way to the Mayreau dock.

There they are!

Ashley & Emma

Our crew from St. Martin minus Pat and Tom Wands.

Ever silly Emma!

After our visit, we came back to a lunch of grilled salmon on penne pasta with a vodka tomato sauce and a Waldorf salad minus the walnuts, which are in short supply on the islands. Dessert were rum balls hand made by Rachael.

We moved to Union Island after lunch where we snorkeled and I tried out the SUP. It was much more stable than the SUP in Antigua, but it still takes practice with the waves. Kathy got some beautiful pictures snorkeling during the trip.

Crab

File Fish

Sea Snake

Brain Coral

Pretty blue guy

Starfish

Mr. Turtle

Squid

Octopus

Trying to hide

Happy Hour commenced with pain killers - our favorite from the Soggy Dollar Bar in the BVIs. Dinner followed - ceviche appetizer, pork tenderloin, squash purée, cucumber spirals and a green salad. Dessert was a cheesecake dish.

Painkillers - our favorite!

A game called Assassin was introduced. It is a Clue type game where everyone draws the name of a person, a weapon and a location. From there everyone tries to kill their person by handing them the weapon in the correct location. The first person killed was Sandy on the sun lounger with a cork. She gave me her assignment which was more difficult. Bill Robinson with a cookie on the helm. I have never seen him up there, so this is going to be tough.

THE LIST OF THE DEAD

Maor was killed on the back steps with a bottle of beer. (by Tamar)

Sandy was killed on the sun lounger with a cork. (by Ruth)

Bill Knapp was killed on a beanbag with a hat. (by Kem)

Bobbi was killed in the cockpit with a napkin. (by Rick)

Rachael was killed on the trampoline with sunglasses. (by Victor)

Barb Doerr was killed in the galley with a book. (by Kathy)

Bill Robinson was killed at the helm with a cookie. (by Ruth)

Kem was killed In the dinghy with a towel. (by Rick)

Kathy was killed in the water with a pillow. (by AJ)

Tamar was killed on land with a shoe (by Ruth)

After dinner Victor and Sandy went to the bon fire on shore. The rest of us stayed on the boat and played Killer. This is the game where the killer winks and kills the others, who die a theatrical and horrible death. We had several rounds of that and laughed a lot. Kem got silly with Cathy's bra afterwards. He's a hoot!

While Sandy and Victor were at the bonfire, we played our only April Fools joke. Tamar, Rachael and I short sheeted their bed. So glad we got one joke in! The funny thing is that Sandy did not even know her bed had been short sheeted. Victor tried to act like all was normal, but she never figured it out.

Sunday, March 31, 2019 Mustique

CRUISING DAY 1 - SUNDAY, MARCH 31

We awoke after a good nights sleep, which was needed. We were served a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, cheese, hard boiled eggs, bagels and fruit. Captain AJ moved the boat to the island of Mustique, which is where the rich, famous and royalty have homes. 

Victor, Sandy, Bill and I took our first dive of the trip, which was shallow and a check out dive. The site was beautiful with very good visibility. Lots of coral, some long tendriled sea urchins and many fish. We also saw a turtle, 3 squid, trumpet 

fish, squirrel fish, parrot fish.

Lunch was served after our dive. We had grilled brochettes with chicken and vegetables with a Calypso Salad which had melon and vegetables. For dessert Rachael prepared mini key lime pies that were served in little porcelain spoons.

After lunch we split into two groups for taxi tours of Mustique. This island is quite unique. It was developed long ago as a spot for the rich to build homes by Colin Tennant, an Englishman. People came to work and settled the island. Today you can only live in Mustique if you have employment. The buildings are all immaculate painted in pastels. The islanders are very proud of their island. There is a statue of the founder.  Boom Boom, our taxi tour driver, said “God Bless Him” several times as we passed.

Colin Tennant bought Mustique and developed it from a deserted island with nothing but wild, roaming goats.

Many famous people have homes In Mustique; Shania Twain, David Bowie, Tommy Hillfigger, Ferrari, and Mick Jagger. Mick has his annual NYE party at Macaroni Beach. I asked about security and they don’t have any. The island is like family. Boom Boom said that Mick plays with his one year old son on the beach and that the boy looks just like him.Prince William and Kate honeymooned on the island. They reportedly played a volleyball match against the locals at Macaroni Beach Park.

Short runway!

This is Macroni Beach Park where Mick Jagger hosts an annual New Year's Ever party for the island. 

We returned to New Beginning for Captain’s Cocktails - Sea Breeze accompanied by a Parmesan Artichoke dip. We went back to shore to Basil’s Bar to listen to a band. We all had fun dancing to a mixture of reggae and tunes we knew.

Basil's Bar on Mustique

Lures

Great entertainment!

Captain AJ and Rachael at Basil's.

 The sunset was gorgeous, but no Green Flash, although it looked like we might get one.

Rachel had a delicious dinner waiting for us. We dined on lobster risotto with a green salad. Our interesting dessert was a poached pear filled with chocolate and covered with cardoman sauce. Yum! After dinner we had a long discussion on pranking the other boats. Captain AJ wants us to get a flamingo blow-up toy from one of the other Cruise Class boats.

March 30, 2019 Bequia

Bequia March 30, 2019

PRESAIL SATURDAY,  MARCH 30

After a little walk through the neighborhood Joseph picked us up drive us right back to the airport to catch our very expensive SVG flight to the French island of Bequia. We were told to be there at 11:00 for check in, and we arrived at 10:30. We got in the short line a stood waiting for them for an hour and a half. After this delay, our flight was also delayed. Instead of a 1:30 Bequia arrival, we got there at 3:30. No walk abouts to check out Bequia for us. 

 

  

Instead, we checked in with Tradewinds, had a beer and met our boat mates at the marina bar.

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  Bill & Barb Knapp, Sandy & Victor Bolduc, Bill & Barb Robinson, Ken & Kathy Conrad
  Captain - AJ from South Africa; First Mate - Rachael; 2 Trainees - Maor and Tamar from Israel
  
  
  
  
  
  The crew of New Beginning welcomed us aboard with cold towels to refresh, champagne and appetizers.
  We were shown to our cabins and settled in for the week. The aft cabin is very nice, but has less storage. We find that they all are good in their own way. 

Dinner was served by Rachael. The first course was a butternut squash and coconut soup followed by grilled Mahi mahi with grilled carrots, jasmine rice topped with plantain. Tiramisu was our dessert. Oh, so good.                                                                 

Friday, March 29, 2019 Barbados

 
PRESAIL FRIDAY, MARCH 29

Our early morning flight took us to Miami, where we met Sandy and Victor, who made a late entrance due to a delay in Houston. Luckily, our flight to Barbados was also delayed, so all was well. We arrived at BGI at 10:00 and were met by Joseph and taken to our Air BnB At 74 Maloney Drive, a three bedroom home in a pretty residential area. Barb and Bill Knapp had arrived earlier and had wine and crackers waiting for us. We hit the sack early in our little home away from home.