SAIL SEVENTY MILES - GET HARASSED BY LOCALS - WHO SCREWED THE POOCH?

Conditions were good so I left Marigot Bay just after dawn and headed South. Keeping the 'pedal to the metal' meant some sail changing in the lee of St Lucia and St Vincent as conditions got fluky but we made good time and I was able to pass my bail out spots of Chateabelair and Wallilabou and be happy about getting into Bequia in daylight. As it was we rounded the Devils Table reef and headed into the anchorage at 4 pm so we had plenty in hand. Seventy miles in 10 hours. Of course having been diligently fishing all the way down with little success mostly due to the vast quantities of Sargassum muticum which may provide good hiding for bait fish also meant that I was forever pulling in the line to remove weed from the hook I caught something just as I was reeling in prior to dropping sail. It jumped a couple of times then threw the hook. Ah well it looked like a barracuda.

I checked in next morning and rewarded my self with a roti at the Sweety Bird Cafe followed by a coconut icecream at Mariannes served by Marianne herself. However I was under some serious harassment from locals who made it very clear that they wanted a piece of my action. The big black guy was really quite agressive and made two or three passes at my feet. He then called in his gang and they looked menacingly on from their vantage points.

Talk about angry birds.

WHO SCREWED THE POOCH?

Someone was late making a lease payment. This payment was for the lease of the mountain slopes that the Park City ski resort has it's lifts and runs on. The leasor then took the opportunity to say that the leasee had broken the contract and instead of $155,000 now had to pay market value of $25 million. When no such payment of $25 m was received the leasor presented the leasee with an ultimatum pay up or take your ski lifts and vamoose. Who screwed the pooch? Well I guess it would be the guy who was late making the payment

The machinations around ski resorts in the USA are the stuff of a Grisham novel except they are less believable.

Anyway we have a great sunset. It really is that colour, no Photoshop involved.