We have just finished lunch and a well deserved swim after a hot 14k walk on the island of Bequia, in the Grenadines. We have walked and hiked so many miles across this beautiful island over the years and thought we would try to find our way to a road we had seen coming up one of the windward ravines we had seen yesterday.. We head out from the dinghy dock and there’s only one way but up to the saddle, that divides the windward and leeward side of the island . We negotiate the light but determined road traffic to the bus stop, and take a left . This will take us to the village of Friendship and Friendship beach. As we lose elevation, we pass several brightly colored vacation villas against the back drop of the windward Atlantic. We wind down to the beach, and take a water break in the shade and brisk ocean breeze. We watch a few locals brave the swell and breaking waves for a cool swim.

We head off and make our way that becomes another uphill walk, passing a tropical nursery and now some impressive private villas. We work our way to a level spot and find ourselves at the Bequia Historical Museum . It’s closed, but we can walk around and see the old vessels used for whaling.

We glimpse ahead and feel we could be close to the ravine road. We make our way up an old 2 track road and find a no trespassing sign. We retrace to the previous turn off and, yes head uphill again. This time we wind out to a beautiful grassy overlook and take a rocky path toward the water, several hundreds of feet below. The winds have been blowing here steady 15-20 knots for 4 days, so we see the whipped up Atlantic and her waves crashing the rocky shoreline with all her effort.

We make our way through a rock quarry ( closed today because, well the government declared both Monday and Tuesday a holiday this week). We reach what appears to be access ( uphill further) to the road we are looking for. We travel 1/4 mile and find it narrows and then abruptly ends at a wire fence. We can see the access we thought we might find, but alas no go.

We retrace our steps and make a turn onto a most deserted appearing road and find besides a big black growling dog… another dead end. Our only goodness is finding wild frangipani plants and flowers blooming alongside the road.

Needless to say we have 2 strikes and decide to return quite the exact same way we arrived, back down to the beach

and uphill one more time ( now in the high sun) to the saddle and back down toward the anchorage.

This is our 3rd week back aboard Lost Loon. We have had a few hiccups…broken ham radio, a bit of an air leak in our dinghy, (yes, Patches has more repairs!) boat bugs upon return, and a bit of water taken aboard during our last passage. But also enjoyed local beers and cuisine ( roti and callaloo ), walked many miles provisioning in Grenada, met new sailing friends, participated in a huge cruisers Christmas potluck, and did our first HASH trail walk in the hills of Grenada.

We are waiting on winds to decrease a bit, and the seas to calm down before we make our next move North. We have friends returning from the states who bringing us a new ham radio in Antigua and we need to meet them ASAP.

I am lucky to have an uncle who happened to be looking for a radio replacement for us. We use it to maintain contact when we don’t have cell service , offshore sailing. We get weather reports and can also listen to safety and security issues thru a cruisers radio net. I can also use it , when connected to a modem, send and receive emails over the radio waves. This I think is totally ingenious and somewhat magical!! Well, my uncle has a good friend, Mr Larry Smith, K4CMS, who has generously given us his radio. We couldn’t be more appreciative!!! This all happened just 1 week before Christmas.. so yes, Santa Clause does exist and I know him. I know who one of my first contacts will be once the new radio is installed.

So, with the approach of a new year, we can say we are grateful for so many things….. stateside and sailing friends, for this lifestyle we are able to live, and for family that continues to support our dreams.