Chateaubelair

We've spent several very quiet, lazy days at anchor behind Young Island. We tried to find a car to hire, to go and see the sights of the island, but there were none to be found. Even the airport's car hire was out of cars.

So, we relaxed on board, and climbed the nearby island, Fort Duvernette. The only access is a spiral staircase around the edge of the island, leading to the fort at the top. It was built in the early 19th century, under British colonial rule. Somehow a number of cannons were hauled up the rock, so the "lobsters" (Royal Marines) could defend Calliaqua Bay. The cannons remain, with the ruins of the powder magazines.

We snorkelled the area, which was quite deep and overrun with sea urchins. But still full of fish life and corals, lots to see. At night, some of the fish put on light show.

Our neighbours were a couple of South Africans on a South African Leopard 45 catamaran, Sisu. They needed some help getting a broken Microsoft Surface laptop to charge. We tried our best, but nothing worked — they're going to have to find someone to help them get the SSD out (not an easy task). We went over for some drinks and got the catamaran tour.

Now, it's time to head north to Martinique, to pick up some friends. So, we took a taxi into Kingstown to get antigen tests. While we were there, the supermarkets lured us in, and we stocked up on fruit and groceries. St. Vincent has excellent fruit, and a big fruit and vegetable market.

I went to the city's customs office to check out, while we there. The fire alarm went off just after I'd arrived, but thankfully an officer ran back in to grab the forms I'd need to fill out, while the building evacuated. I could fill out departure forms in multicoloured triplicate, while the fire marshals did their thing. This may not be the best place to do do check-out, small yachts are not high on their priority list, and I had to sit around waiting quite a bit, for someone to process my form. Then he couldn't get the key to the room that he was supposed to stamp the form in so, very apologetically, he stamped the form outside the locked official room.

Bureaucracy done, and well stocked up, we set out under sail for Chateaubelair, towards the North end of St. Vincent, on the way up to Martinique. Tomorrow we'll head out first thing in the morning.

The anchorage in Chateaubelair has very mixed reviews, so we were very happy to have a local, Fitzmore, paddle out to us when we arrived, and confirm that we'd anchored in a good sandy area. He twisted our arm to come to shore for a drink, which was a nice way to get a quick glimpse of the town.

Chateaubelair is nestled towards the base of La Soufrière, the volcano that erupted in April. The whole village was evacuated for 3 months afterwards, but seems to be picking up again now. It has beautiful black beaches.

Navionics Track