So The Cub visited with Megan, stayed 2 amazing weeks where his little Tyrannosaurus Rex arms didn’t make it to the bottom of his pockets, bankrupted us and then buggered off home.

After being financially crippled by the child’s visit, organising Franco and his paperwork for Saint Vincent was a welcome distraction! Appointment booked with the Ministry of Agriculture approved vet, us and Ghostrider left Martinique and headed South.

Noonsite, the cruising guide site we regularly use were stating that Bequia should be avoided due to increasing crime. After speaking to other cruisers familiar with the area, we were told we shouldn’t miss it. Probably the biggest understatement of the year.

With St Lucia being a nightmare to visit with dogs we bypassed it, made a toast to the pitons as we sailed past and arrived in Blue Lagoon Bay near Kingstown. After Lee checked Franco in with a even snottier vet than Antigua, we weighed anchor and carried on the 7km hop down to Bequia.

Well what can I say about Bequia. Firstly, it means “Island of the clouds”. Secondly, Noonsite was mistaken. There had been a couple of opptunistic arseholes from St Vincent that were coming over to rob boats and then bugger off back home again. This lasted a couple of weeks until they were swiftly caught, given very short shrift and sent packing. So it’s fabulously safe.

It is also the largest island in the Grenadines at a HUGE 7 square miles! It is part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and is about 15 kilometres from the nation’s capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent.

There are a handful of hotels on the Island along with stunning villas and rooms you can rent. To get here you can take a direct flight from UK to St Lucia, St Vincent or Barbados and then an inter Island connecting flight to Bequia. Sounds like a lot of work. Do it. It is one of the friendliest, happiest, sunniest, most picturesque places we have visited.

There are 2 bays. Princess Margaret bay is the Northern most one in the above photo and Lower Bay is. You know. The lower one. They are divided by a small cliff with the most amazing snorkel site under it. So we parked ourselves there and stayed a month.

There was one supermarket in town which was like a mad woman’s shit. It made no sense at all, with it being a supermarket, dry store, hardware store and chemist all in one. Eggs are sold singularly which were then given to you in a small plastic bag but everyone was so relaxed about everything it didn’t really matter. The eggs were pre scrambled by the time you got back, so a win win!

Walking about was a slow, lazy business. The cause being the heat or the vast amount of weed that was being smoked everywhere. Either way, we didn’t care and happily wandered in every morning and floated back to the boat a short while later.

I had found Lee a gym that was a short dinghy ride away, and he was pleasantly surprised to find it was brand new. No air con but fans like aircraft engines. Nerys and I found the floating bar.

We quickly developed a routine where every other day we went on a walk together or Lee would hike or run up the mountain with Franco. After trying the mountain twice I didn’t bother a third time. I’m nothing if not consistent with my inherent laziness. Turned out we were walking it back to front but by that point I was more interested in snorkeling than hanging out of my arse barely a quarter way up a mountain.

Despite it being paradise we had heard about Tobago Cays. We packed up Diablito, Rob and Nerys packed up Ghostrider and we all popped a bit further South…