Passing the Pitons of St Lucia  in the early morning,

we sailed past St Vincent to Bequia, the northernmost island of the Grenadines. The anchorage off Princess Margaret Beach was very pleasant.

It is either a short dinghy ride to one of the many dinghy docks in the town, or a walk along the coastal path, past the picturesque restaurant and shops along the waterfront.

The tropical fruit at the Rasta market was delicious, but of course ended up being overpriced as I’m not good at bargaining.

It was a hot walk across the island to visit Brother King’s turtle sanctuary.

The Sugar Reef resort in the old plantation building was a delightful place for lunch.

Alik, the sail and canvas maker in Bequia had been recommended. His service was fast and very good.

The islands are all so close in the Grenadines. A brisk sail took us to the island of Mustique, where we picked up a mooring. The bay has a reputation for very rolly, we were lucky and had a few very calm days.

The famous Basil’s Bar was being demolished, a disappointment as it was the place to go on Mustique.

Other than that, Mustique quickly became one of our favourite islands. The beaches are beautiful and snorkelling good.

And you can get a really good coffee and croissant at Sweetie Pie bakery.

Mustique is the only place we’ve seen where you need to reserve a picnic table for lunch. As we wandered past to find a snorkelling spot, tables were being decorated and set with white tablecloths in preparation for island guests. The old cotton plantations have been turned into exclusive resorts, such as the very beautiful Cottonhouse.

Unlike peak periods, there were no restrictions as to where we could walk. We only saw two other people in our 4 hour hike along north and east coast track.

The lunch time view over the bay from Firefly was beautiful, unfortunately the meal very ordinary and overpriced.

Navigating through the reefs into Tobago Cays takes plenty of concentration, but is well worth it. Turtles are everywhere, fish are plentiful and the colour of the water spectacular in this marine park.

Having read John Caldwell’s book, Desperate Voyage we really wanted to see Palm Island. As a non sailor, he bought a boat and sailed from the US to Australia post WW2, almost killing himself numerous times along the way. He settled on what was initially called Prune Island, developing it into a small resort, which is now the beautiful Palm Island.

Chatham Bay on the lee side of Union Island, was a wonderfully calm anchorage after days of sitting in the wind. Apart from the numerous small establishments offering beach barbeques, there is nothing much here, except, once again, the big Sea Cloud.

The people, the veggie market and the town of Clifton, the capital of Union Island are all very colourful.

Happy Island, a small island on the reef was built by a local out of conch shells. At sunset the bar was a very lively spot, with very interactive dancing staff and killer rum punches.