We departed St. Lucia at 0615 on Tuesday, December 28, bound for Bequia in St. Vincent and The Grenadines. We wanted to arrive at Admiralty Bay in time to settle in and experience the advertised New Year's Eve fireworks over the harbor. After getting out of the wind shadow of St. Lucia, we had a brisk broad reach in 15-20 knots NE and set a course down the windward side of St. Vincent to avoid its wind shadow. Bequia lies just a few miles south of St. Vincent. While we were sailing fast we landed a two-dinners-for-two sized Big Eye tuna. Later we caught a small 'cuda we quickly released. Even though we were on the windward side, along the coast of St. Vincent the wind lessened and backed until we were almost dead down wind. This, with the lumpy seas from abeam made for a somewhat uncomfortable ride. At least we had tuna for dinner to look forward to!

We arrived Port Elizabeth, Bequia around 1430 . As expected, Admiralty Bay was quite crowded—probably some 200+ boats by the time the festivities began. Bequia is a very popular stop and we are here in peak season, with plenty of charter boats and lots of families spending their holidays in The Grenadines. We picked a spot to anchor just off the beach in front of the "Sunny Caribbee" plantation house in very shallow water, hoping other boats wouldn’t join us too closely. But as New Year’s Eve approached, more and more boats arrived and before long we had very close neighbors. This was the most densely populated anchorage we have ever been in. Ashore, the cruise ship herds added to the population. Adding to the anxiety of being in a very crowded harbor was the presence of the famed significant northerly swells which bent around the harbor entrance and created very “rolly” conditions, especially for the monohulls which one could imagine could bang their masts together rolling that much in such close quarters.

We went ashore several times to clear customs, browse the grocery stores, generally stroll around – and to do our laundry . We also visited several boat model shops. Bequia is famous for wooden boat building – traditionally the small whaling boats, and now model boats - handed down by its original seafaring and whaling residents. The shops were very fascinating and the models are very beautiful and expensive. Fortunately, Pas de Deux does not have a proper fireplace mantle to display one.

On New Year’s we went to bed at the normal cruisers’ midnight (around 8pm) and set an alarm to wake up in time for the fireworks scheduled for midnight, leaving all the windows opened and cockpit cushions out. Donna had retired a bit earlier and Dave was happy to see stars out in the sky, betting that any rain would hold off for the few hours he would be asleep. Wrong again. Everything took a soaking despite a mid-sleep scramble. But the rain did stop long enough for the fireworks and the show was quite good on an island scale (you can’t expect it to compete with the 4th of July on the National Mall) even though we had nothing dry to sit on but the trampoline. The harbor was one big party and at midnight a cruise ship and the local ferries added their horns to the noisy celebration. A lot of cruisers launched parachute flares – we suspected they were using their out-of-date flares and hoping for the best. All in all it was a great setting and we enjoyed it very much. Then finally we could go back to sleep - with the hatches shut….