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  Kingstown, Grenadines/St Vincent
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

I'm down in Villa Beach in St Vincent, relaxing by the beach after a busy few days. After leaving St Lucia I flew into the Vincy capital of Kingstown, and immediately jumped on the ferry down to the Grenadine island of Bequia (beck-way). It was Easter Saturday, and the ferry was jumping, the bar was open and everyone was having a blast. I met a whole bunch of people of Barbados and Trinidad who told me that, at Easter time, Bequia is the place to be. What a delightful coincidence!

Bequia host an big Easter Regatta, so there were hundreds of boats in Port Elizabeth when the ferry got in. I checked into my hotel and sat down to a late lunch of flying fish sandwiches (they were awesome!). The mood was really great and I met heaps of people from all over the world. I saw Bangladesh beat South Africa in the 'Salty Dog' bar, and the fruity local Hairoun beers flowed quite freely

Bequia - Harbour

.

The next morning I left the pier at 7am, on a sailing tour of the Grenadines on the old mail schooner 'Friendship Rose'. It was the best day of my holiday so far, there were about 20 people on the boat, a giant esky full of beers, and some top food. We sailing around all the Grenadine islands of Mustique, Canuoan, and down to Tobago Cays. The Cays are a few tiny islands and some big reefs sitting in the middle of the ocean (One of the islands was where Jack Sparrow was marooned in the first Pirates movie). We went snorkelling and saw all sorts of multi-coloured fish, turtles and iguanas (and I invented a whole new type of sunburn). After lunchtime beers (which followed morning beers) we crashed out in the hammocks on deck. The crew showed me the basics of hauling the sails up and down, and I showed them the basics of tipping beers up and down. The other passengers were champions too, and me and 2 girls in the US Peace Corp agreed to go hiking in St Vincent later in the week. Every so often, a school of flying fish would jump in front of the boat a fly about 20 metres away before dropping back into the waves.

By the time I got back to Port Elizabeth, I was feeling pretty happy. Me and one of the Pommie crew kicked on, and I was introduced to a local rum Captain Bligh's Sunset Very Strong Rum

Bequia - Easter Regatta time!

. It is 84.5%, and too flammable to take on planes so the local airlines watch out for it. It certainly does make the 'sun set' on your night. I was told the next morning that I had a top night at the Easter reggae/calypso concert and the fashion-model show, and people I'd never seen before were saying hello to me. I recall nothing...

So I decided to dry out, take it easy and watch some sailing on Monday. I was meant to help crew a little Aussie boat in the regatta, but the hangover ruled that out. I went into a local bar to get a score update on the NZ-Ireland match, and bumped into a big group of Kiwis who were following the matches down the islands like me. Some banter ensued, a few rounds were purchased, and then all of a sudden I was hammered again. I just remembered in time that I had an afternoon ferry back to St Vincent, and bid the Kiwis adieu until Grenada (where the Aus v NZ match should be quite interesting).

St Vincent is quite relaxed, and I'm taking a chill-out day instead of going up to the volcanoes up north. The news of Joey Johns retirement has just reached me, and I need time...time...

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