St. VincentWe sailed away from Rodney Bay on the island of St. Lucia but didn't make Vieux Fort at the bottom of the island until after dark. For those following in our tracks; do not try this at night. We missed an unlit, unmarked gigantic pillar in the bay by almost 20'. We chose our next stop at what sounded like the lesser of evils; Chateaubelair. St. Vincent has a dark and dangerous reputation, but we didn't entirely understand the situation. The name Chateaubelair brings up images of grand estates in wine country or the French Riviera. This island is one of the most impoverished places we have ever stopped. The bays on either side are famous for pirates. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning. We jumped off St. Lucia early on May 30, 2023 to cross the channel to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It was mostly the sailing we hope for; brisk, from a good direction with sun and puffy white clouds dancing overhead. Skipper wasn't thrilled. We had left the marina and his new friends; the resident cat population and worst of all; we were on a heel. It was a fairly short leap though and by 1pm we were in the lee of St. Vincent and looking for a place to drop the anchor by 2:00. We had eluded pirates, but it seemed we were to be visited by the Bad Luck Fairy and by 3:00, Dois was incapacitated. He was prepping the dinghy for a run to shore. He had perched the pump on the life raft for a better reach to add air before he dropped the dinghy down into the water. As he stomped on the pump it squirted off the raft like a pumpkin seed and down he went. He twisted his ankle and tore his Achilles tendon. But we wouldn't know that for another two weeks. Dois is nothing if not persistent. And he isn't like the rest of us; he feels no pain. Ok, he feels it and ignores it. Like I said, he's not like me. The next morning he launched the dinghy and we went to shore to check in. But no way was he ready to see a doctor. That would take a few more days of swelling and my constant, loving concern and the fact that his foot was not responding to his basic commands before he conceded and we headed (hobbled) to the local (harumph) hospital. Chateaubelair Hospital is at the top of a steep incline. Dois had to go up sideways. There was no other option, until the Ambulance came up behind us and honked at us. They were in a hurry, it was lunch time. We shuffled out of their way and fell in behind their exhaust. The hospital was as you see it below, no more, no less. Oh yea, it was less a doctor. There was only a nurse on duty and we waited while she did nothing. Eventually Dois took a seat and I waited in the only other chair witch was a stone bench outside. Still, no one acknowledged our presence. It was hot outside so I went back in to ask if we needed an appointment. The nurse rolled her eyes and rattled off something neither of us could understand. So I asked if we could see a doctor. There was no doctor today. So I asked if we could get an x-ray. She said no. And asked Dois what was the problem. Five minutes later we left, there would be no help here. We would have to go to the next Island. We waited until Dois' foot felt a bit better and set sail for Port Elizabeth on the island of Bequia. We arrived in Port Elizabeth on June 5th. Hurricane season had officially arrived on the 1st. We are pretty far south almost out of the hurricane belt and it was early in the season. But the Hospital here on Bequia was as bereft of doctors and x-ray machines as Chateaubelair was. They recommended we take a ferry to Kingstown on St. Vincent, so we did. It is bizarre to travel on a large boat AWAY from Ashika. My camera died on this trip but in the big picture (pun intended) it's just a thing. I'm hoping I can get it fixed. Dois got x-rays done and met with a doctor to help with diagnosis. Dois tore the tendon but did not sever it. Win. Nor did he suffer any fracture. Win Win. We have a hurricane coming our way. The weathermen verify how extremely unusual this is down here at this time of year. Apparently the extremely warm waters of climate change are to blame. But that doesn't help much. We were going to leave early this morning, but the hurricane picked up speed for an earlier arrival. Due to this and the volatility of the predicting sources, we decided to hunker down instead. If the Good Luck Fairies return, this is all a big nothing burger and will spin up north like the GFS (USA model) predicts. But all the rest of the models predict something like the following by ECMWF (European model). We think we're in an OK position. Send your Good Luck Fairies our way! PEAS
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Dois Brock and Lauri Hamilton Brock splashed our boat Ashika into the Pacific April 2017 for a Round the World Tour.
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