The sun rose over on our port side on the island of Bequia in the Grenadines at 6:30 a.m. piercing through the cloud cover. Its rays sparkled on the slate blue seas and slowly burned off the clouds revealing a deep azure sky. The sails were up by 9 a.m. and at one point we were scudding along at a brisk 7 knots with a slight but comfortable heel to the starboard as we sailed in a southerly direction to reach Tobago Cays.
Today is a full day. At 10 a.m. Alberto gave a brief introduction to how to find pictures on one’s camera’s file system. I have enormous regard for his technical prowess with a camera. Shortly after Alberto’s presentation Tom Heffernan gave his lecture on “My Hope is in Ethiopia: The History of the Rastafarian Religion” where he explored the roots and beliefs of the Rastafarians. We followed Tom’s talk with a playing of Bob Marley’s great hit “Redemption Song.” At 11:30 the sailors went aloft and reefed the sails. Just as we were sitting to lunch, a juvenile humpback whale began to breach over the port stern. It was stunning. I watched as this magnificent and massive animal repeatedly threw its body half out of the water. The reason for such breeching remains a mystery—perhaps they do it out of sheer exuberance.
The catamaran left for the turtle sanctuary at 1:30 with Alberto leading the intrepid turtle watchers and those of us who were going to the beach at Petit Bateau left at 2 p.m. As we Zodiac cruised to the beach we saw a swimming sea turtle and two on the way home. Swimming on this glorious palm shaded island was fabulous. The beach is filled with shells, particularly bits and pieces of conch shells, which have been polished by the sea. There were some intrepid vendors selling local crafts and George Thibaut purchased a very nice Rasta-colored hat from one of the local vendors. We left this great beach at 4 p.m.
The turtle sanctuary was quite wonderful. Green sea turtles were seen feeding on the sea grass and a very large stingray, approximately three feet across. Rum punch—a great favorite among the company on the catamaran—and Bob Marley songs were played on the catamaran. We followed all of this with a wonderful dinner in the lounge and library.
