Isle de Quatre

Oh yesterday was amazing. I went to an uninhabited island off of Bequia for a day of snorkeling, beaching and general relaxing.




Last week a guy owning a motorboat came to the hotel to tell me about the different tours he can offer... I asked him if he had some brochures. He said no, he did not. So I offered to take photos for him and make him a brochure... and he said great! Now I get to go on all his trips for free and all I have to do is be a tourist. I can't believe my luck.



So I set off yesterday morning with 8 other people who I had met before at the hotel bar. Michael (boat guy) put the fishing line in the water and we motored over the Isle de Quatre and our private beach for the day. A reef blocked off part of the shore making a lagoon perfect for snorkeling and as we were getting out Michael brings over his freshly caught Barracuda along with some red snapper that other fishermen just caught. More relaxing was followed by our beach BBQ with amazing pumpkin mash prepared by Elvis (who usually plays guitar at our hotel) and then listening to 4 guitarists (half the group were musicians) jam the afternoon away.

The group were SO nice and Michael, JR and Elvis were amazing too. Just really really nice laid back people. Check out his website here.

Isle de Quatre

Island life

I find most of the expats living on Bequia are quirky. And I don’t mean just weird; but interesting, different… not your garden variety neighbor. And I used to wonder if its cuz you have to be a little bit crazy to walk out on your home and all that is familiar and culturally similar and move to this lost island that’s so different from everywhere. Or if these are the adventurous people that see the beauty in a life like this and have freed themselves from their home. I guess it’s a bit of both.



But I love Bequia. And the longer I’m here the more I love it. The more I continue to realize that I live here, that this amazing little island is my home. That my life regularly includes siestas on my hammock, laying on white sand, going for drinks in beachside bars and street parties next to the sand.



I love Bequia because its laid back. Nobody cares about the latest trends or fashions- put on a faded t-shirt and people know you belong here, anything more and they will dismiss you as a passing tourist. The beaches are amazing, even the center of the harbor is nothing but shady almond trees on the water’s edge, ok there’s a patch of ugly concrete ferry dock and a strip of bars and restaurants built too close to the water, but its still just a sleepy little town. But there’s enough to do- with surprisingly good bars and restaurants for such a small island, enough stars to go blind counting them, and very friendly, laid back people- you can just go hang out next to the popcorn machine or the bus stop and I’m sure before you leave you’ll have made a new friend.




I love it because its so natural and it feels like anything is possible- even though its pretty limited in supplies, it feels like everything and everyone that is here is very accessible- in general that’s what I like about developing places, there’s room for improvement and possibilities are just waiting in front of you.



So what don’t I like? I miss some parts of western culture- Alternative music, good live music, art, events, alternative culture in general. Being on a tiny island I do feel a bit stranded at times, not able to reach other places except by boat or plane. And I miss having 2 days off a week. There’s so much I wanna do and see and its hard to do any of it in just 1 day. But other than that, I can’t really complain. Nor am I planning to.

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

Home!

I live a 2 minute walk inland from here. Friendship Bay - yes, I love the name, I think its amazing. The bay is under Mt. Pleasant. The hotel is right on the beach, and a bit further down is where I go swimming usually. On the right there's a huge reef and a bunch of fishermen.

Just peachy

I was just flipping through some blog entries and I realized that it seems like I spend all day rolling around in the sand, getting high on paint and playing with seaweed... I wish.

In-between all that I still gotta get through (often) 10 hour work days which are (strangely) not always filled with rainbows and unicorns. In fact I've discovered there are many different types of frustrations coming at you from hundreds of different angles; all very not fun to deal with. I am constantly amazed at how happy our guests are, and how normal we seem even though at the back of it all is pretty much constant chaos.


But things are improving... the next few weeks should be the turning point, either where everything explodes or things begin running smoothly cuz I'm actually gonna start making people accountable for their work, and proper work. Hopefully. Either way, it should be interesting times... and that is why at the end of the day I need to de-stress and go coconut bowling or tree painting.

Either that or I'm going crazy. But everyone in Bequia is a little crazy.

Island Things

As part of the 35 things I must do before leaving the island we have...

#32 Grow a Seaweed Beard

I went to sleep last night with my chin in a bowl of seawater, and low and behold this morning I had a ravaging seaweed beard!


This one may seem easy, but believe me, pushing out 300 strands of fresh seaweed overnight from the lower extremity of your face is not an easy task. Oh, and I grew some seaweed hair for good measure too. Don’t really know why it turned out to be orange…

Pia and Flu then decided to get in on the act and now orange seaweed hair is all the rage.

Shake Regularly. Store in a cool, dry place.

Lately I’ve been feeling… not uneasy, antsy, I don’t know the word. And I’ve realized its because its been a while since I’ve been/seen/done something completely different and new. I have this need to explore, even if its just walking down a street I’ve never been down before (which is hard in Bequia with its 3 streets). Anyways, I was able to place that feeling and do something about it today.


It seems like a month (instead of just a week) since my last day off, but today it finally arrived and with Pia and a random dog we found on the beach (now named Flu and sitting outside my door) we set off to explore the peninsula on the eastern side of our bay. Topographically speaking (I’ve had the urge to start a sentence like this all day) it’s a pretty small area, but there’s so many different, umm… land-things!


We began walking through a dry jungly area- well we really went swimming and lazed on the beach first- then got to a part with only small wind-blown shrubs which led into huge patches of naked rock hill, then into cliffs being pounded by the windward waves. Just across was another smaller beach- Ravine bay- and we continued around to decorate the ruins of an old hotel (more about this in a later post) then randomly a huge swath of prairie grass appeared with more wind-blown and twisted trees, cliffs, then back to jungle and back to beach.


And even though this was right next to my place it was so nice to explore something new, and now I feel satisfied again. So to keep my curiosity at bay we’re planning a 3-day volcano hike in early Feb, a sail to the Tobago keys (Amazing amazing marine park and uninhabited islands a bit south) and hopefully soon taking a few days to ferry down to the southern Grenadine islands of Canouan (yes Nadja, in a Canoe) Union and Mayreau.

Mesa

So my 35 things have gotten sidetracked lately since I've been busy hammering and painting to make my new table. Today its finally finished- behold the most amazingly cool table on my balcony. Also the only table on my balcony.



Seaweed beards and bamboo installations coming up soon!

Waah

A cold beer. With fries. While in a hammock. On a balcony. After a day of swimming in the sea. And laying in the sun. Is perfect.

Shades of Bequia

So lately I've been busy working, beaching, painting, hammering, drumming and... photoing!

Last week I went photoing (yes its now an official word) in and around the harbor...I got to explore the little side streets and hills of town. So here's some photos of the back of Bequia, where the people actually live, work and play.

Bequia - Town and around

Click on the photo for more pictures.

King of Travencore

For Christmas I received a mandate from god (or germany… they both start with g) and now I have 35 things I must accomplish before leaving this island… so here goes…

#13 Build a raft

Step 1: Collect the necessary materials


Step 2: Build raft

Step 3: Behold the most awesomest raft in the world. Complete with a fish-flag and palm-sail.

Step 4: Sail!

...and with this one I get to kill two birds with one stone:

# 14 Use the raft to sail around the world

Kind of. It rocked our world. Does that count?