Previously on Luckyfish, we arrived in St Vincent and berthed at Blue Lagoon
This week we explore The Garden of Eden, sail south to Bequia,
go lobstering, and I discover my spiritual home
How are you Tuya? Im good.
It's 12:30 and we are drinking rum punch
and the glasses are empty, which is not good
and Zaya is doing what? What are you doing down there?
All good What is that?
Where are the prawns? Prawns are here
Mmmm, I hope they are good They are going to be
They will be when you have finished with them Do you want the butter
Yes, need butter Our berth at Blue Lagoon, St Vincent, had
put us amongst the charter companies. Luckyfish looked small but proud alongside
these much heavier boats. Little did we know that one of these neighbours
would bring us a big stroke of luck in the weeks ahead.
We hired a driver to show us some of the island. He took us to the highlight, Montreal Gardens,
up in the mountains. Or, go into Kingstown first.
Which would you prefer? I think shopping first, OK?
And them maybe come back this way The gardens sound beautiful
Also, its owned by an Englishman His name is Tim.
He is from Wales. Most people say it is like the Garden of Eden.
Very pretty Do you know where these girls are from?
I would say, Philippines? Close, keep trying.
At least you didnt say China. Congratulations Dominica?
Fiji? No, its too hard really.
Have you heard of Mongolia? Mongolia, Yeah, I think I have met some already.
Oh really? So folks, welcome to St Vincent.
You've met Mongolians before? Yeah, we have
On St Vincent, wow, amazing. On the way we called into the capital, Kingstown
Bought some snorkeling gear and sampled the islands staple,
curried chicken roti. We passed through the rich agricultural area
of Mesopotamia. The driver discussed the islands history
and the irony that the suffering of the islands slave forebears
should result in Independence from Britain in 1979
and a home for their descendants in what is now an island paradise.
We arrived at the gardens in the cool mountain air.
And the owners have lived here for sometime obviously
and they've been busy. You should get to meet him.
I knew they would enjoy it here Yes, its a great spot. Beautiful.
This we call Shrimp Flower Looks like shrimp
At the back the orange hibiscus Although we didn't meet the owner we learned
that if you are going to see one garden on St Vincent,
this is the one to see. A staggering amount of work has gone into
developing this beautiful estate. Part of its revenue comes from the sale of
tropical flowers to hotels, restaurants and special occasions.
Back at Blue Lagoon we met a French charter captain
who gave us the run down on places to visit between St Vincent and Grenada.
The stories we heard made us keen to head south immediately.
So, in the morning we left the slip and set sail for Bequia.
We had no idea of the experiences that awaited us there.
The passage was just 10 miles but we managed to stretch it out over 3 or 4 hours.
It was slow, uneventful and immensely pleasurable. So Tuka. Tuya, where are we?
Bequia Hey, cool.
We had moored off St Helena, Anchored in the swells off Ascension,
moored off Barbados and berthed in St Vincent, but it wasn't until we dropped our hook
in Admiralty Bay, Bequia that we finally realized our dreams.
What are you up to? Someone drop the camera and get me some drink!
Bequia is sailors mecca, heaven, paradise. Ask any sailor fortunate enough to visit.
Bequia had extinguished the desire to move on and we would stay here a month.
How can words possibly describe the feeling of being on anchor
in Admiralty Bay. It is a like living in a surrealist painting.
The colours are intense, the air and water crystal clear,
the surroundings welcoming with a board walk and dinghy jetties
making transition from ship to shore effortless And the neighbours, well the neighbours are
sail boats of every creed and colour, capped off by beautiful
wooden schooners built locally and still operating today.
A living history. Barely a powered vessel to be seen beyond
the boat boys runabouts. Jetskis are banned.
Even the cruise liners have masts. If there was a sailors heaven, this was certainly
it. And, we had not even begun to learn of the
rich sailing history this tiny Caribbean bay had to tell.
For us it began with a visit to the Frangipani bar,
where a steel band was playing. That's Adele. Hello.
We learned the bar was built on hallowed ground where
Bob Dylan had his beautiful 68' schooner the 'Water Pearl' built.
We learned that the pirate Blackbeard would hide in this bay
when he was out of favour with the British Admiralty
And later we met local musician and singer Socony
who had a remarkable personal account of sailing with
one of the most well known sailors and story tellers of all time,
Tristan Jones. This is not a joke. Please record this.
This guy is one of the most famous sailors. Seriously.
I was a bar-tender, in 1973, in St Vincent, at a place called
Berties Palm Garden It was a Chinese Restaurant
Have you been to St Vincent? Yeah, we have, yeah.
A guy came into the bar He came in
This is not a joke Im talking about Tristan Jones here.
He came into the bar to have a drink. No Joking! Thats not like Tristan [Laughs]
He sounds like a sailor! He sits at the bar, orders a drink, offers
me a drink asks for a piece of paper and a pen
Its not a joke He wrote down on the piece of paper, in Spanish
[Spanish] I ask him, what it means?
He wrote, you know Bart Simpson? He draw like Bart - cartoon whatever..
Do you know what it means? Not a clue.
Lord please help me to keep my nose out of other peoples business.
And I have never met the guy before and Im asking him like
What are you writing this for? And he sticks it up on the side of the bar.
And it stayed there. He had 3 boats.
Lets see how good you are. You said you know Tristan Jones.
Outward Leg, Sea Dart, Barbara Oh, you know about Barbara?
How about Banjo? You know about Banjo? No.
You know Knarly Simmons? No.
Theres a guy I am going to introduce you to. Knarly Simmons was in charge of Tristan Jones
3 boats. Barbara, Banjo and Sea Dart.
We sailed from here to Curacao from Curacao to Santa Marta, Colombia
from Santa Marta to Cartagena, Colombia on Sea Dart
27 footer 1973 in February
Tristan Jones did not need anyone to sail with him
He would read the sextant with one eye and the chronometer with the other
to be precise when he was crossing the Atlantic Ocean
Dont talk to me about Tristan - because I know
Theres a few people trying to bring his name down now
Its bullshit But meeting you gives a lot of substance to
the story. Socony went on to tell us the outcome of his
voyage with Tristan to Cartagena. Once anchored there, Tristan left Socony with
Sea Dart while he went ashore for an hour or two to
buy some tobacco. He didn't return for two weeks.
Socony stayed loyally on the boat. The explanation is classic Tristan Jones.
On Tristans return he told Socony the reason for his delay
was because he had been arrested and imprisoned in Colombia
until his final release. I lifted my head, and I checked the wind in
the sails and in that bygone moment
we had been one entity the wind, the sea, the ship
and me. Bequias harbor is a haven for learning to
sail. Local kids learn the ropes in optimists
and anything with a sail on it. It was a good opportunity for the girls to
learn handling our dinghy too. Oh Shit.
While in Bequia it occurred to me that not all of us
are born where we belong. We may have to spend a lifetime looking for
it. I had not been looking for my spiritual home
but I found it in Bequia. Everyone here was a sailor, or a boatbuilder,
a fisherman, a rasta or depended on them for their livelihood.
We had cashed in. Not chips for money. But dreams for a moment in a place like this.
We are going forwards aren't we? We are going to a new place now.
It is nice to be sailing again. Yes. After about a week on anchor we decided to
visit Friendship bay, on the south east coast.
Once anchored in Friendship Bay, we could make out the outline
of a wreck beneath Luckyfish. Do you think it has been there a long time?
No. Not long. A few years. Its not an old wreck. Theres not alot growing
on it. I decided to snorkel on it.
Try as we might, we could not catch one of these delicious creatures.
We would be back again in a few weeks, armed with local knowledge this time.
Well everyone, we hope you enjoyed this episode. Next week we have an exciting event planned.
We are going to be coming to you Live, Mobile and direct from
Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. Zaya, Zaya version 2.0 and sister Eggie are
going to be joining me as we take you on a a tour around this exciting
city. We are going to be visiting the places that
we visit, during our day to day lives. It should be an interesting take on a side
of Mongolia that is not often shown. The event is scheduled for 9pm, Tuesday the
22nd August thats, Eastern Daylight Time, or New York time.
To be sure you dont miss it, click the bell icon next to the subscribe button below.
So, bring along your questions, be they about Mongolia, Sailing,
Luckyfish, whatevers on your mind. And we hope to see you here.
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Andrew John
And Fordyce
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Until next time, or Tuesday if you can make it, thank you for watching.
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