11 November 1994 Little Bay
Schoolwork in the morning. We bought some grouper from a fisherman (£1/pound). I filled two tanks. Craig did his first test today and passed with 100% - I was really proud of him. I did a Discover Scuba dive with Kiri Harris (daughter of the doctor from Lichfield). I went ashore for a chat with the fishermen on the beach and they agreed to take me diving for lobster with them tomorrow.
12 November 1994 Little Bay
Up at six o’clock in the morning and off in the fishermans’ speed boat. We travelled 10 miles out to Sail Rock and dived to the east of it. They operate with 3 people in the boat – a diver (Gary), a surface snorkeler (Rolf) and a boat handler (Lawrence).
Gary did 3 dives to 40, 40 and 30 metres. I did a 40 and a 30 metre dive with a 40 minute surface interval. I had to do a decompression stop on the first dive and Gary was down there 5 minutes longer than me! Gary takes 12 snares and a spear gun with him. They snare the lobster around the antenna and just tow them around. I only took a couple of snares on the first dive and 4 on the second. Gary caught 10 lobsters and speared 2 grouper - I only managed to catch 3 lobsters for them.
It was spectacular diving in very clear water. They gave me one lobster and said that I can go with them again tomorrow. The building on the beach is a “Bunkhouse” built by the St Vincent Government for the use of any fishermen who want to camp there. I had a lazy afternoon because I was shattered! I filled 3 tanks.
13 November 1994 Little Bay to Bequia
I went out with the lobster fishermen again – I didn’t catch any lobster, but they gave me a snare and a plate of cooked lobster. We sailed to Bequia and anchored off Princess Margaret Beach. We filled up with water from the Daffodil tender. We haven’t got enough petrol in the outboard to go swanning about Bequia, so we had a quiet afternoon and evening.
14 November 1994 Bequia
We did a to do list, picked up mail, went shopping and had an admin day. I filled 4 tanks. “Dabulamanzi” turned up in the evening and Gareth came over for a chat.
15 November 1994 Bequia
School work in the morning. We had lunch, went for a dive and suddenly the day was gone! I filled 2 tanks. I find it really hard to start working on the boat after I’ve done school work. I’m going to have to pull my socks up!
16 November 1994 Bequia
School work in the morning. We took down the No. 3 genoa and put up the No. 1 genoa. I took the No.3 genoa into town to be patched on the luff at the point where it enters the roller furling extrusion. We did a bit of shopping and another day was gone.
17 November 1994 Bequia
School work in the morning. I picked up the sail and we had a bit of a tidy up.
18 November 1994 Bequia to Mustique
We motored to Petit Nevis which is a small island with a whaling station. The Bequians still have a small whaling fleet - they hunt humpback whales in small wooden boats in a traditional manner. They haven’t caught a whale for several years. We walked around the island, had a quick snorkel and had lunch, before sailing to Mustique.
We anchored to the south of the moorings and then I went to explore Montezuma Shoal which is a reef about ½ mile west of the anchorage. I found a buoy marking a wreck on the east side of the reef and had a quick snorkel. On the way back the outboard kept cutting out, which was very worrying as this dinghy is very hard to paddle. Anyway, I made it back to the anchorage and spent an hour cleaning the carburettor which was full of bits again.
19 November 1994 Mustique
School work in the morning. Glenys and I went to do a dive on the wreck. We had a quick walk ashore. There seem to be a lot of lobster fishermen operating from here.
20 November 1994 Mustique
Pottered around in the morning and then walked around to the beach on the south west of the island. We had a picnic on the beach and spent the afternoon playing and reading.