Bequia - Music Fest 2008

On Thursday night, Bequia's annual Music Fest kicked off to a great start with the 13-piece Elite Steel Orchestra. Luckily for us it stopped raining long enough for us to dinghy in and meet up with Mike & Kylie from "Meggie". The music had already started by the time we got there and there was a big crowd of people dancing and enjoying the music. The steel band was very good, and played everything from Beethoven's "Fur Elise" to more recent stuff like Alicia Keys' "No One". We've posted some photos and will hopefully post a video as well.

Saturday afternoon we headed out in the dinghy to a good snorkel spot affectionately called the "Devil's Table". The coral was okay, nothing spectacular, but the reef was teeming with activity. It was late afternoon and all the reef fish were in a feeding frenzy, so there was lots to look at. We also saw a small group of two-inch cuttlefish, which looked like tiny aliens hovering in the water.

And just before we got out of the water, Kevin spotted a big old lobster taking shelter underneath a coral overhang. We must've irritated the heck out of him, as we kept diving down and getting as close as possible trying to get the "perfect shot" with our camera. He didn't complain though; he was probably just happy we didn't take him home for dinner.

Yesterday afternoon, both "Lucky Dog" (who we met in Mayreau) and "Meggie" stopped by to let us know that there was a free concert on the beach. It was the last day of the Music Fest, and we had nothing better to do (except do our taxes -- hmmm...tough decision, there) so we headed over. The beach was gorgeous and there were people swimming, hanging out on the sand, and of course dancing to the music. We listened to a jazz ensemble followed by a reggae band and both were really really good. There was a fun festival atmosphere and at the beer tent they were giving away these lottery-type scratch off tickets for every Hairoun (local beer) purchased. Of course Kevin's ticket was a winner and he got to choose from an array of prizes. The only really appealing thing were these bright orange baseball caps bearing the "Vita Malt" logo. Now, we've seen this drink throughout the Caribbean but never actually tried it. It is apparently a non-alcoholic carbonated malty-tasting nutrition drink. Not something I'd be likely to order but now that my husband is a walking billboard for it, we'll have to give it a try sometime.