Day 456: Mayreau to Union then back – 07/04/11

Annie and Jim arrive to check out our plans for getting Bev’s dad from Union Island and it seems to work out well that we take them and Diana (Jim’s secretary who came down for the wedding) as well as Diana’s flight leaves from there around lunchtime.

Before we leave though, Annie and Jim decide to ‘take the plunge’ in quite a different way – jumping into the sea from the dinghy dock in their wedding outfits.  We try to watch from the boat but Ocean Jasper, their boat, keeps swinging and blocking our view.

I make spicy pumpkin soup and another loaf of bread and at around 11 am everyone is on the boat and ready for the off.  It’s a bit of a bumpy old ride, with short, choppy waves as we are going through water only 20 feet deep for most of the way, but at least we do manage to get the genoa out and sail for a short while.

Annie takes my place as a client in the massage parlour and gets a shoulder rub from Moe who’s back rent is going up every day as I still have only had the one massage in nearly a week.  Diana, Annie and Jim sit and read my blog account of the wedding – it must be really weird to read someone else’s account of your special day as we all see and record things in our minds in completely different ways.

Photo:  Diana’s new work station?

It’s amusing to watch Jim sitting as a passenger on a boat for a change – I think it’s the first time he hasn’t been in charge at the helm since the rally started, but each time he offers to help Moe has already leapt up to do whatever it is he is offering to help with.  Sit down, man, enjoy the ride!!

As we approach Clifton, Union Island, the boat ‘boys’ approach, all having the best mooring available for us.  We are only going to be a few hours, not overnight, so one mooring is as good as any other and we go with the first one that arrives by our side.  At EC$80 (£20) for an overnight, his first price of EC$40 is rejected by Mike and he settles for EC$20 and a beer.  Bev and I have got the lines ready and quickly secure the boat.

Mike takes Diana, the luggage, Annie and Jim over to the Anchorage Yacht Club in the dinghy.  It’s right by the side of the tiny airport, so close in fact that the planes look as though they are going to land on the roof of the club when they come in.  When he comes back for the rest of us the dinghy engine suddenly conks out – a fuel blockage?  He clears it and we leap on fast before it conks out again.

We stop at the Anchorage Yacht Club for a drink (water for me as it’s hot, hot, hot).  It’s a lovely spot to wile away the time before Diana’s flight leaves.  Amazingly you have to get a key from behind the bar to go to the toilet.  I say ‘amazingly’ because the toilets are in such a state that I don’t know why they bother locking them.  I note with dismay that there is a cloud of mosquitoes actually in the toilet bowl.  I have never peed so fast in my life, admonishing myself at the same time for not putting mosquito repellent on my bum!

Photos:  Anchorage Yacht Club, Clifton, Union Island

Photo:  Black tipped sharks lie in wait by the side of the yacht club

Annie and Jim walk Diana to the airport for her flight and Bev and Moe get a text from Stuart saying he is on the ferry and it’s leaving, so they make their way to Ashton to meet him.  When Annie and Jim return, the four of us decide to go for a walk through town.

Mike and I were last on Union Island in 1999.  It seems a lot different now, more colourful, more organised and certainly more friendly, or maybe we are just more used to the Caribbean way of life and doing things.

Photos:  Colourful views of Clifton

We walk through town and up the hill getting half way to Ashton before acknowledging that perhaps the sun is a little too strong to continue any further.  The scenery as we walk is beautiful, the colours across the reefs that surround much of this island are stunning.

Photos:  Union Island

Photos:  Jim, Annie, Mike and I at the top of a hill

We walk back to Clifton where I notice a rather wonderful sign on a warehouse wall.  Anyone fancy a chubby little boy or some neck wings?   The mind boggles!

Photo:  Mmmm

We stop at a bar, small from the main street, but which seems to go back half a mile before opening up on the waterfront.  Jim notices their sign for ‘fine wines’ and orders a couple of glasses.  They have no wine.  Okay.  He orders two Bloody Marys.  No Bloody Marys.  Okay.  Gin and tonic?  Well, they make one, then a 10 minute search follows for another bottle of tonic.  Okay, so we have two drinks.  Hairoun beer?  After all, it’s local.  No, only Carib.  Okay two of those.  Any potato crisps.  No, but we can buy them from the supermarket.  No wonder the bloody place is nearly empty!  The upholstery on the bar stools looks as though someone has been eating it.  We only get a smile from the waitress when she presents us with the bill because she is going off duty although she does then offer to go to the supermarket for us to buy some crisps and comes back with Pringles.  Mind you, they are the most expensive Pringles that Jim has ever bought – or was that her commission on the top?

We suddenly spot Bev and Moe on the street and go out to meet them.  It turns out they have been looking for us as Stuart was brought from Ashton to Clifton to check in but they need Mike and the boat papers to ‘release him’ from Customs and Immigration.  Mike goes back to the boat to get them and Bev and I go and do a bit of food shopping.  Somehow we all manage to meet up back at the yacht club and Mike does the ferry service with the dinghy, then it’s off with the lines and we head back to Mayreau.

Maggie and Bob come to collect Annie and Jim in the dinghy and we all arrange to eat early at Righteous’ restaurant up the hill.  Stuart gets himself settled in and has his instructions on how to use the loo and the shower without sinking the boat or flooding it with something horrible then it’s almost time to go.  When we get to the dinghy dock, the sky turns to hues of orange then pink and purple as the sun sets behind the hill.

Photos:  Stuart watches Moe photograph Bev doing her ballerina pose at the end of the dinghy dock

Photo:  How beautiful is that?

We walk up that bloody hill, slowly, pretending it’s for Stuart’s sake as he must be tired after all his travelling but as he shoots on ahead, the pretence is lost.

Bev, Moe and Stuart continue up the hill while there is still some light so that Stuart can see the view from the church over the Tobago Cays.  Mike and I go to the restaurant to meet up with the crew from OJ but they are not there so we just order drinks while we wait for everybody.  I peer into the kitchen to see Robert preparing some food for tonight – he is sautéing conch in garlic sauce and it smells wonderful.  While we wait he brings us a small plate of it to try – it’s definitely what I will be ordering tonight.  Bev, Moe and Stuart arrive and we settle ourselves down at our table giving up on the others as they have been discovered at Dennis’ all ‘internetting away’ so they could be some time.  Eventually they arrive though and Maggie has video footage of Annie and Jim jumping in the sea from this morning.

Photo:  Robert, proprietor and chef, watches the ‘plunge’ video

We have a wonderful meal and Bev and I discover their cocktail, Caribbean Kiss, which is delicious although thankfully no where near as lethal as their rum punch which Mike and Moe drink, both being a little giggly and tipsy afterwards.

Photo:  Bob and Robert outside Righteous and De Youths Bar and Restaurant

We leave Bev. Moe, Stuart, Maggie and Bob behind and give Annie and Jim a lift back to Ocean Jasper.  Back on Jeannius we switch on the generator as the batteries need charging and delight in the air conditioning.  Mike sets the anchor alarm but I really hope we don’t need it.