"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Mark Twain
Please note that this blog displays most recent posts at top, so to view SJ log entries in chronological order simply start with the initial posting on Feb 5 and follow the "Newer Posts" links, or click on select dates at left to view just those dates. (Click on the arrow next to a month to open the list of entries posted in that month). Enjoy. cy
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During the final days of my trip to SVG, especially after Tim’s return on March 8, we were so busy that I wasn’t able to keep up with my log on a daily basis. Therefore this final post is just a plethora of “vignettes”, if you will, of favorite things and memories of all kinds from those remaining days.
Favorite snack this trip: Drinking coconut water with a straw right from the coconut. I bought this refreshing drink along the Belmont Walkway from a local man who had a wheelbarrow full of them, and who cut the top off with a compass (like a machete) as I waited.
Friendship Rose crew raises sails.
Favorite excursion: Day trip to Tobago Cays on the hand-built wooden schooner Friendship Rose. Exhilarating sailing, stunning scenery, wonderful food, a graceful and classic old boat, and a friendly and helpful crew made for a great day.
Favorite new saying: I understand that the Caribbean people have many sayings, but one of my favorites is this one: “"Don't ask me where I'm going - ask me where I've been".
Not so favorite affect of tourism -- the origins of
“dinghy watching”
On weekends or after school it’s not uncommon to see young island boys hanging out at the docks, and often they want to “help me” with my dinghy even when I don’t need it, or want to “watch” my dinghy while I’m away from the dock. This is an unfortunate result of visitors who, perhaps in an effort to help, created the “watch my dinghy” way of thinking in exchange for a pittance of $1 EC (about 30 cents US). So the trend came from outside the island rather than inside, because of course if I tie up my dinghy properly and lock it if needed, there is no need for anyone to “watch it”. And I have never seen a native Bequian ask anyone to watch their dinghy. This is an unfortunate learned habit for youth that we tourists started and that is now a reality that we all – locals and visitors alike – must deal with every day. I think it’s unfortunate because it creates a false need and tempts young men to hang out at docks looking for tips instead of going to school or doing something more productive with their time. 
Carla dinghies into town to pick up Tim as he arrives back in Bequia on ferry from St. Vincent.
In previous trips I felt intimidated by these youths who take my line without my asking and then look at me expectantly. But now I’m getting more comfortable about looking them square in the face and saying thank you politely and then walking away, and just saying no if they ask to watch my dinghy while I’m gone. This was the case last Saturday when I arrived at the town dock to find several boys ages 10-14 just hanging out there, and I chatted with them about what they were up to after stepping onto the dock. I refused offers of help I didn’t need and offers to watch my dinghy since I was going to tie it up properly and it didn’t need to be watched.
That day, just before I walked away, two of the boys jumped into my dinghy without asking permission because one had dropped a coin in the water just below my boat and he was trying to use the dinghy to retrieve it. So while I wasn’t thrilled they had jumped into someone else’s private boat without asking – always bad form among boaters – I realized what he was trying to do and they weren’t really hurting anything, so I just stayed to watch and be sure they got back out again eventually. Then one of them decided to be a wise guy and tried to push the other one in the water, and then suddenly they were pushing and shoving each other in my dinghy which of course makes it my business. I told them that if they were going to fight to get out of the boat. They didn’t hear me (or ignored me) at first, so I got closer and raised my voice and with a more authoritative tone, told them if they were going to fight to get out of my boat -- and that got their attention. I also got the attention of a local man in another boat on the other side of the dock who repeated my request to get out of my boat in a much sterner voice than I had used, and another man who walked down the ramp to see if I needed help.
Tim is in the green shirt in the middle of the top deck. The photo is too small to see his smiling face, but boy is it a welcome sight!
I’ve found men here watch over the boys and do a great job at not letting them hassle visitors or anyone else, and they get on their case when they do. I didn’t feel the boys were hassling me – to me it seemed more a normal case of kids doing what kids do – which sometimes is to take advantage of someone else’s kindness to them if they think they can get away with it. Perhaps that is not a trait limited to kids eh? Anyway, I handled it, but I also appreciated that those men were keeping an eye out all the same – not only for my comfort, but also for those young men who I hope will learn better ways to spend their time than idling it at docks waiting for tips. When I returned to the dock after running my errands, my dinghy was sitting there waiting undisturbed as I was pretty sure it would be, and I chatted cordially with the young men again as I was preparing to get underway. It felt good to overcome my fear of standing up to them when they took advantage of me being polite or nice to them, and none of them ever got in my dinghy again unless they were invited.
Favorite donation to a cause: I was working in the Gingerbread early one morning and a little boy of about 6 from the primary school was recruiting sponsors for a spelling contest at 50cent/word (that’s 50 EC cents). I’m always a sucker for little kids doing educational things, so I sponsored him for $5EC which appeared to be the typical donation on his little sheet, and I was touched by how excited he seemed to be when he ran back to his mother to show her his donation from a strange lady.
Favorite fish story: I love sea turtles, which are probably my favorite sea animal, and while snorkeling Tim and I saw two turtles munching on the sea grass near Princess Margaret Beach. I also saw a turtle poke its head out of the water every now and again in the harbor around 
Sacajawea, which always made my day. To me sea turtles are like the manatee, just gentle creatures that mind their own business and move peacefully from place to place, gliding along with their wing-like propulsion extremities and never bothering anyone else. There is a sea turtle refuge in Bequia (http://turtles.bequia.net/) where Orton King, a former skin-diving fisherman, is trying to save the hawksbill turtle from extinction.
Hawksbill turtle found in Grenadines and at Bequia turtle refuge.
Departure from SVG for St. Lucia, and then home to Maine
I left St. Vincent and the Grenadines on March 11, after Tim and I delivered SJ back to St. Vincent across the Bequia channel the day before. I decided to forgo yet another night at the dock while additional repairs to SJ were underway, so I headed toward home one day ahead of Tim to spend one night in a very nice but inexpensive hotel in St. Lucia at Rodney Bay. Rodney Bay is a
very protected harbor on the northwest shore of the island near the capital of Castries. Rodney Bay and Castries are north of the more well-known “hurricane hole” of Marigot Bay, a location long-famed for its use by pirates and rum runners who used it to hide their sailing galleons in the hidden harbor, and more lately known in the world for its mega-yacht basin and background scenery for the remake of the Thomas Crown affair with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Rousseau.
Caribbean Liat flight from St. Vincent to St. Lucia
I was staying in St. Lucia at the Coco Palms Hotel, and after six weeks on board it was wonderful to have a hotel room all to myself, with a toilet that flushes instead of pumping a handle 10 or 20 times, hot and cold running water from the tap, a soft bed with fresh linens in a room that doesn’t swing around in the night when the wind howls, and a restaurant just across the stone courtyard where someone else does all the cooking. I’m not trying to complain because I chose to live aboard, including everything that goes with that; but I did feel truly pampered during that 24 hour break in my itinerary.
When Tim arrived the next morning and he and Daine (taxi driver) joined me for a leisurely breakfast in the plantation style restaurant, I felt refreshed and ready for the long drive back to the international airport at the south end of the island and the even longer trip home. It would be good to see our house again and especially those three doodles of ours -- Samantha, Kennedy, and Jasmine.
Coco Palms Hotel in St. Lucia
Until next time…. 
If you’ve stayed with me during this log, then thank you for your time and attention; and I hope you enjoyed the photos and the anecdotes. On the way home a friend from Bequia emailed me to ask if I could return in April to pet sit and house sit at her lovely three-apartment guest house while she is away (http://www.aquaonbequia.com/index.html), so if I’m able to make that and have time I’ll post some entries from that experience too. Until next time, I wish you safe and happy travels wherever life takes you!
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