Three islands ....time to catch up.

We had a lovely stay in Martinique and finally it was time to leave. We heard of a Sunday lunch buffet and had to try it before we left our friends. It was excellent food and all drinks included for 35 Euro. The  salad bar alone would have been sufficient but fresh grilled steak,ribs,and chicken were at the next station. We certainly got our money worth. There were 14 of us. 

Thankfully we had a little walk to the dinghies along a very busy beach on a Sunday afternoon.

We left the following day for the short sail back to Rodney Bay St Lucia. Enough of the French food,good wine and cheeses. Our sail was uneventful and sort of feels like home coming into Rodney Bay. But after a few days the noise of the jet skis wears thin. But not before a hike. We took a bus to the capital Castries and hiked up to the Vigie lighthouse. We visited with James one of the lighthouse keepers and saw some beautiful vistas. Each ship large or small must make contact with the Vigie Light to get clearance to enter the harbour. 

This is looking down into Casteries harbour where the cruise ships dock. 

We visited some abandoned barricks and had an interesting history lesson at the archives.

Now some of the barricks have been revitalized to hold offices and embassies. The Mexican and the French were two we saw. 

 We had a great visit with our friends John and Sue from Saltscar III and finally bid them a fond farewell to head south. But the boat gremlins had other plans. As we started the engine the alternator was not doing its job. No charge was going to the batteries. Fortunately Brian had a spare and he proceeded to install it. But after finding it was slightly different than the old he was not confident he had installed it correctly. So we contacted Dawn and Laurie who had left the bay just before us that we wouldn't be catching up today. We put a call into a fellow that works on motors and only left a message. But as we all know the VHF radio is never private (thankfully) and friends were providing all kinds of advice. A fellow on a Canadian vessel Pilgrim came over and offered a hand. He was an electrical engineer with IBM for 30 years. He confirmed just a mixed wire and had us up and operational in about 15 mins. We left later that day and caught up to Cat Tales at an anchorage called Canaries. It was our jump off spot for an 11 hour sail at 5:30 am and unfortunately we motor sailed almost the entire way. But we did have one exciting surprise. Brian spotted a whale ahead of us and we came along side .... we really think he was sleeping. We were no more than 20-30 feet away. Dawn and Laurie were behind us they also had a show. 

It is really hard to get a good picture of a moving object on a moving boat with your hands shaking I was so excited. This is the only shot I got. 

We arrived in Bequia about 5:00.  We have had a lovely week here. It has been very windy for the past two days. We will leave on Tues for Carriacou part of Grenada to start to prepare for haul out. When we leave to head further south we will break company with my sister Dawn and her husband Laurie on Cat Tales. It has been a most special winter spending as much time together as we have. They have pushed us to hike to heights I wouldn't have without them and always a wealth of knowledge as we still learn the Caribbean ways. 

Oh yes while here I had a birthday. I was spoiled totally and had a lovely day. Thanks for all the Facebook greetings.