It was only when we rounded Big Cay, the most westerly point of Bequia, that we began to appreciate how many Grenadine islands there are. We passed between Pigeon Island and Isle a Quatre on our way to Mustique but could see many others, both to the east and south of us. Thank goodness for GPS to assist us in identifying them! Several other boats were approaching Mustique with us but fortunately there were enough mooring balls for all of us as anchoring is only really permitted for the larger (>60ft) boats. The harbor master met us and assisted us with threading our mooring lines through the beautiful stainless steel swivel. No concerns about the state of the moorings here.

We feel very privileged to have been able to enjoy the privately-owned island of Mustique over the past couple of days but I’m sorry to say, we failed to introduce ourselves to the likes of Mick Jagger who have homes here. The island seems to have a good philosophy in that there is overt consciousness about protecting the natural beauty of the island …. and it is evident that people observe the rules because we have never before seen such white sand and crystal clear water.  We have seen several turtles swimming around the anchorage.

img_1515Today we decided to walk around as much of the island as we could …. and now we are paying the price with tired legs.  Maybe tonight we will sleep better even though the boat is rolling around quite a bit.  Although a bit confusing at times, we managed to find our way past the airport and over to Macaroni Bay on the eastern shore (thanks for the recommendation, Ed).  It has the most amazingly soft, white sand, as you can see from the featured photo above and the footprint below. After walking it’s length and a swim, followed by a small picnic lunch, we were ready to set off on the footpath along the eastern shore.  More wonderful beaches ensued, though signs were posted on Pasture Bay that swimming was not allowed due to strong currents.

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We then headed inland, saw a large tortoise in the woods along the way, then returned to the road, circled around the southern hill, past the salt pond near Lagoon Bay to return back to the achorage in Britannia Bay. Too bad we can’t afford the $10,000,000+ price ticket for homes so we could call this home.  Tomorrow we head to the famed Tobago Cays, our last stop before meeting up with Bids and Nick in Carriacou on the 16th, we hope…..