This morning as I went ashore I used the new dinghy dock closest to town, which is also where the cruise ship tenders deposit and pick up passengers who come ashore in Bequia. The small island does not have a large cruise ship dock (and personally I hope it never does), and that fact typically limits the ships that arrive here to somewhat smaller ones where passengers use tenders to get back and forth.
View of town and harbor from our open air classroom at Sunshine School entrance area.
I've enjoyed hearing feedback from our blog readers who know Bequia, and it seems everyone who had been to Bequia commented how the island was a favorite. That says a lot for the island - especially considering that getting here is not easy and involves big
planes, then smaller planes, and then a ferry (sort of a “planes, trains and automobiles" experience). But then, as with most things in life, the most rewarding things are often those that require a little real effort to accomplish them.Island dog joins me at my feet for breakfast at Lina's. The plethora of dogs on the island is both a help since it allows me to get a "dog fix" once in a while, but also a reminder of what I'm missing with Samantha, Kennedy and Jasmine at home. Fortunately Tim sends me photos when he isn't traveling of their adventures on the beach and at home, so that helps a lot.
As I arrived at the dock today I was wearing a new dress that I’d purchased in a store that sells locally made clothing – a simple olive green cotton dress w/slits up both sides and a drawstring at back, similar to what I’d seen
several local ladies wearing. I’m starting to understand why they wear this style of clothing, because in addition to it being part of the custom of course, it is also quite practical. While the dress may look much nicer than what I call my “shorts and tshirt boat clothes” – the design and materials of this dress is actually much cooler and comfortable in many ways. And the narrow slits up each side make stepping in and out of the dinghy a bit less cumbersome. The outfit is completed by why I call my “dress flops” which I bought in San Diego, and an old wide-brimmed fishing hat of Tim’s. Just call me cool breeze. 
At right, in what I call my Indiana Joanie hat in the dinghy. And left, the small outdoor cafe area at Lina's. The street is to my right and the harbor and ferry dock is just beyond that about 50 feet away (see photo below for another vantage point).
After locking the dinghy I went ashore to find breakfast and coffee. Fixman had not returned yet with our stove, so for now hot food came from shore, but what I missed most was my morning coffee and afternoon tea. A short walk from the dock brought me to the center of town, and I stopped at little café and deli called “Lina’s” next to bank and was surprised and delighted to find that they sell espresso, fresh croissants and baguettes. I chatted with the owner Stanley as I enjoyed my latte and a scrumptious croissant in one of his comfy wicker chairs which overlooks the harbor and main street. Stanley is an expat from Germany who moved here 16 years ago. Stanley also
helped start a school on the island for especially gifted students who outgrow the local public school system – Paradise Primary School in Lower Bay.A few other town views: Photo at right is taken from Lina's Cafe - the octagonal building is the Visitor Center and beyond that is the ferry docks. Photo below right is a view of Lina's Cafe taken from the street near the Visitor's Center.
Soon it was time to walk up the hill to the Sunshine School where I arrived a few minutes late for the 9am assembly and they were already singing hymns when I
arrived. Students and teachers spent our usual 30 minutes or so singing hymns together, followed by teacher Mr. Keithroy leading the questions to find out what everyone had done the day before after school. Keithroy is actually his first name and so the students are taught to call him “Mr.” and his first name (in the same way they call me “Miss Carla”), so we also refer to other teachers in the same way since it sets that example. (The Miss in this case has nothing to do with whether someone is married or not, it’s just the custom of using the first name).
A view of the exterior of the Sunshine School from the street as I climb the hill from town. The three windows in the middle of the top floor is the open air classroom I mention at the entrance. It's surrounded by the computer room and kitchen to the left and other classrooms and Mrs. Jacbos office on the right. Downstairs is the workshop and other classrooms for music and handcraft (sewing, knitting, etc.) lessons.
As usual, after the initial class they have with Mr. Keithroy which includes boys and girls together for book work, then the girls come to me and the boys go downstairs with Mr. Keithroy where they work in the workshop with him and “Uncle Bill”. As it happens Uncle Bill is originally from New Hampshire and splits his year between there and Bequia. In addition to Mr. Keithroy and Mrs. Jacbobs (head teacher), there are also about three female full-time teachers who work with the younger children (Miss Clerise, Miss Helen, and Miss Hermia), Miss Delnora in the kitchen and Miss Liz who comes most days to help keep the school clean and tidy (although the students also rotate some cleaning duties to help them learn how to take care of things). And then of course there are the part-time volunteers like me who join in when they are on-island and do what they can. Help is always welcome since the school is funded by the government only to pay the head teacher's salary. Everything else the school does is funded by donations and related support.
Kitchen area and cafeteria for the Sunshine School.
In today’s class there were only 5 girls present (it varies, often depending on medical visits to St. Vincent and what not). We worked on grammar skills related to matching singular or plural nouns to the corresponding verb tense, reading comprehension where we read a letter together and then answered questions about the content, and then math where we continued matching how to write out the numbers represented by the numerals. Mrs. Jacobs (Camille) mentioned that tomorrow she’d like to see us shift the math lesson to working on more specific “life skills” like buying things in the store (how much things cost, how to pay and make change, etc.). Perhaps I’ll make some “paper money” as learning aids. It’s times like these when I miss having a Target nearby where I could just pick up a game of Monopoly with ready made money.
Recess time after lunch where the kids get a chance to play games. Today is Simon Says.
Mrs. Jacobs invited me to join them for lunch which Miss Delnora prepares and serves in the kitchen each day. Today's menu was a wonderful concoction of rice and spicy sauce w/baked beans and cold cabbage – the beans were Caribbean style and reminded me of lentils. After lunch from 12:30-1 they have some free time (sort of a recess) where they are allowed to play, and today it was Simon Says, with one of the teachers being Simon. I enjoyed watching that very much – especially the good nature these young students demonstrate when the teacher tells them they are “out” in the game – no complaining or whining, they just sit down and watch the rest finish that game while waiting patiently for the next game to begin. I don’t mean to imply they are perfect little angels because of course I don’t know anyone who fits THAT description, but it just seems that a disciplined environment combined with patience and understanding, can result in some really nice kids who are well mannered and polite – even when they are kids with “special needs.” Those important social skills should serve them well in life if they remember and learn from them, for they will make them great citizens for the next generation of adults.
Miss Clerise (far left) indicates someone who is "out" in the lunch time Simon Says game.
I left the Sunshine School around 1:30pm to head back home to Sacajwea and change for the afternoon’s errands. I enjoyed the 5-10 minute dinghy ride especially well today because today the water was almost a turquoise color and it was so clear it was unbelievable. I could see the bottom so clearly I could pick out even small pieces of coral below and see anchor chains for a long distance. It was quite warm today, so I changed into a bathing suit and donned my snorkel gear for some exercise, and went for long swim/snorkel from the boat for about an hour. Typically I try to always swim with a buddy, but since that wasn’t really practical right now I just always made sure to only swim when there were lots of other people around who could hear me if I needed help, and of course I was especially vigilant about what I was doing and not taking any foolhardy chances. After my swim I took a transom shower in my swimsuit and washed my hair. The transom is the very back of the boat, and a transom shower is often included on boats like ours where there is a swim platform – where a freshwater hose is tucked somewhere within the transom allowing you to shower on the back of the boat. To me the only thing better than a freshwater shower is that shower out in the fresh air. There’s just nothing like it - the outdoor shower water is almost always soothingly warm from the sun and the fresh water rinses away the scratchy effects of the saltwater. Very nice.Later I went ashore again to the Gingerbread to use the Internet and spent some time working on those typically personal daily errands we all have to do: I checked my email since that was my “link” with the outside world for now, reviewed our bank balances and paid a few household bills, and I even renewed my library books at the South Portland Public Library.
This shows our position in the harbor with open sea to our right (shown in photo below). Dinghy rests tied to the "big boat" with a painter attached to the stern railing (far right).
I spent longer than I anticipated and by the time I started back to SJ in the dinghy, it was about 6:30pm, the sun had already set and darkness was arriving quickly. The water surrounding the dingy was calm and the wind was almost still which is rare this time of year. As I motored through the harbor among the many sailboats anchored there, about half-way back the outboard engine on the dinghy started to sputter a bit but then seemed to recover, and after about another 100 yards it quit completely and despite my best efforts refused to start again. Uh-oh. It seems I am out of gas. I checked the gas tank and it did feel light, but I hadn’t brought my flashlight since I hadn’t planned to be ashore until dark (novice mistake), so I couldn’t really see well enough to be sure if there was gas in there or not.So now I am adrift in the middle of the harbor with darkness pretty much upon me – the good news being that the dinghy is drifting with the wind and current out toward my boat, but the bad news being that if I miss the boat and others in the anchorage then I’m headed out to sea. Time to be thinking about what I can do to ensure the former happens and not the latter.
Fortunately it is a big harbor and there are lots of boats (but wouldn’t you just know it, just now there isn't a soul buzzing around in their dinghy and not a water taxi in sight). There were people in some of the boats I drifted by and I thought about hailing someone for a hand to tow me to my boat, but I’ve always been pretty independent, and since I have two good oars in the boat – why not just row myself to where I need to go? Actually, it would probably be more apt to describe it as steering my drift, because inflatable dinghies aren’t the best for rowing in the first place because of the pontoon windage, and a heavy engine hanging off the stern doesn’t help either. But nevertheless, I pulled the oars out from their little Velcro holsters from within the pontoon, slipped them into the oarlocks, and started to row. SJ which was still about 500 yards away, downwind, and although I didn’t exactly look as graceful as those skullers you see gliding along a river in a rowing skiff, I could quickly tell this was going to get me where I needed to go. My goal was to position myself so that I drifted right into the middle of SJ, thereby reducing the chance of missing her – so I adjusted with one paddle as
needed until I could reach up and touch her with my hand, and then pull myself and the dinghy hand-over-hand using the toerail toward the stern where I tied off the painter as usual. Piece of cake.Taken from our boat at sunset, shows the remainder of the harbor and open sea behind us.
Tomorrow morning I’ll need to radio for a water taxi to take me in and buy gas and oil for the dinghy, but for now I’m safely aboard for the night. I had turned on Sacajawea's mast light earlier -- as I do each night about dusk -- so she was a bit more visible in the harbor. As usual, before turning in I ran the engine to recharge the fridge to keep the perishables from perishing, took a flashlight forward and made the nightly anchor check of anchor chain and snubber to watch for any chafing of the lines or what not, pulled up the welcome mat by flipping the captain’s seat on the swim platform to the “closed” position, and then went below for the night. It was a pretty eventful day and I’m ready for some relaxation time. Good night!
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