St. Lucia to Bequia

May 20, 2009 – Leaving St. Lucia

The diving here was superb. Walls and colorful reef structures and lots and lots of fish. Visibility so-so – lots of particles crapping things out.

We did four dives here – two Monday, two Tuesday with a local divemaster named Chester – really nice guy – had been to Monterey, but opted to dive only into the aquarium, so at least he got to see a leopard shark! We saw seahorses on just about every dive.
The last dive we did yesterday had it all – you couldn’t look at a sea fan without finding a ton of flamingo tongues, seahorse, lots of drums, a little jellyfish, a turtle and a cabbage looking nudibranch! No pelagics yet though. Ryan did see a small stingray on one of the Saba dives and we did see quite a few sharks in Saba, come to think of it. I guess I should rephrase that and say what I really mean – no spotted eagle rays yet! Oh, and if Poseidon wants to throw in a couple whales and a whale shark while he’s at it, we won’t complain.

The diving was leisurely – 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. starts which got us done about 3:00 each day – then about an hour to sort through the dive gear and rinse it – I would do that while Ryan tended to the compressor and started filling tanks. Chester would pick us up at the boat in the morning; we’d load gear and tanks, go do a dive, come back to the boat, change out tanks and go off for dive two. He had a fairly small boat – fiberglass hull with an engine on the back. Good for backwards rolls, a bit tall to heave ho your butt back in. One dive one, I was the last one out and it seemed like everyone was sitting on my side of the boat and I commented that I was afraid it was going to keel over with my heave-ho’s to get in. Nope, but made it super easy to get in. One dive two, I was again the last person out and the load on the boat was evenly spread out and I commented that I liked it better when everyone was sitting on the same side of the boat.

Warren and Mickey’s youngest son Cass arrived on Sunday night. He’s just finished his first year of college and will be here to help them take the boat out of the water in Trinidad in a few weeks.

Monday night the boat battery wasn’t recharging as it’s supposed to. Mickey noticed this when she went to get ice cubes for her cocktail and her ice had melted. Ryan spent some time on the phone with the mechanic in Trinidad then spent a good hour or so in the engine room fixing it.

Yesterday morning, while waiting for Chester, we were boarded by Marine Police. Very cool and laid back – not at all the same experience as getting pulled over by highway patrol. He filled out some paperwork on the boat and on the crew, all smiles. Asked me if I was an American citizen which was odd as he was holding my American passport as he’s asking.

Now we’re off to Bequia where I should have the opportunity a plenty to upload this. Guidebook says that internet is everywhere in Bequia, should even be able to get wifi on the boat.