Mayreau to Port Elizabeth, Bequia
The distance from Mayreau to Bequia is not far and SeaDream 1 was afforded the luxury of laying to the anchor in the tranquil lee of Mayreau overnight.
Captain Bajarne Smorawski was on the bridge bright and early the next morning and ordered his officers to weigh anchor as dawn broke at 0600.
Within 15 minutes we were underway steering north and west towards Bequia the northernmost and largest of the Grenadines.
Just seven square miles large the island is a collection of quiet lagoons, reefs, and long silvery stretches of beach.
Coming ashore by tender among the first things we noticed are the colourful model boats made by locals and set up on stands around the harbour. They make a nice souvenir and are a welcome change to the ubiquitous and never changing T-shirt offered everywhere else.
Having anchored at Port Elizabeth many of the ships guests took in a scenic tour while others went sport fishing or sailed to the neighbouring island of Mystique.
It is 22 years since we first dropped anchor in this one of favourite ports of call around the world and little has changed here since then. So we embarked upon a sentimental journey walking the boardwalk that follows the waters edge and just for old times sake ate home made ice cream at Mariannes Ice Cream shack.
As we sat eating our frozen delights we gazed across the waters of the anchorage and remembered the many times when sailing in Red Hackle during the 1990’s we had sailed in and dropped our hook.
There cannot be many many places around the world that have changed so little but in Bequia we think we have found one