April 2013

April
Mon 1^st
Rolly and windy stay on boat.



Tues 2^nd
Still roly and windy with rain; so..Painting and guitar practice, after boat jobs; putting in new hose and stopcock, checking boom ..cant fix it! We need to get to Martinique for a rigger. That is weeks away.



Wed 3^rd
Shopping for music bits, Boss RC30 looper foot switches, mic and stand. Trudy bought a Kindle...Check out, we are heading off to Culebra. There is a nice black lady at customs who was extremely helpful and charming, quite the best customs experience to date. That is 2 nil to the USVI. Head back to the boat and muck about with my new looper pedal. Any idea how we get some decent free books on the kindle?



Thur 4th
8:00 am passes and we get up late. Prep the boat and set off down wind. For the first time we try this without the main sail. The yacht hand book says NEVER use head sail alone. However asking around most yachts are sailed like this. The main sheet is tightened down and we are using a high tech topping lift, so the mast is held reasonable firmly. Off we go in 15 to 20 knots true wind and end up travelling at 6.5 knots with between 10 and 15 knots apparent. It is really smooth and Trudy has a huge smile on her face based on the comfort we are in. Culebra has a tricky entrance and the Pilot book makes it sound and look worse than it is. We concentrate for about half an hour and we are in Ensenada Honda; a beautifully calm bay with a nice cooling breeze. Yellow flag goes up and we phone Customs at the airport. Another pleasant experience, he calls us back as he is dealing with other yachts, takes down most of our details, tells us we can come to customs in the airport tomorrow at 10:00. He also lets us know we can take our yellow flag down and go ashore to enjoy ourselves. He is a sailor and advises us of a couple of other must go stops. There is, what lookslike a log in the water, but it turns out to be an iguana!
We go ashore to “The Dingy Dock” a local yachty hang out, beers aren't too expensive and a rum punch is only $3.50 I happy hour. We meet a lady who asks Trudy if she wants a pit bull as she has a rescue dog to give away; she drags Trudy off to her house to look at him. Apparently it was love at first sight but he would complicate our lives too much. Back on the boat a guy is sailing around, in the dark, on a trimaran that look like three canoes stuck together. He is laughing his head off whilst dodging yachts at about 10 knots!



Fri 5^th
Late start and head off to customs. Another very pleasant experience; although he does tell us that the nice lady in St Thomas gave us some wrong info. Still that gives the Us 2.5 to nil! We wander round town and stop at Zaco Taccos for lunch. Very cheap and excellent Mexican food. We end up at the Dinghy Dock again. It is on the waterfront and next to the dock there are a large number of tarpon over a metre long we wonder if they are edible. Tonight we meet Captain Pat, another lady slightly older than us who is looking for another solo sailor that she can join. From what we have seen so far Culebra is full of friendly and interesting people, very laid back and a million miles away from the rest of the USVIs.
Sat 6th
Took a day to find a laundry and do all our stuff. In between we find a cafe with internet and manage to register the new kindle.
Sun 7th
Guitar practice ..with new looper!
Mon 8th
We hire a golf cart for the day. Top Speed 25 mph and we get stuck going up a hill and have to push! In 4 hours we manage to see most of the island and its beautiful beaches. The best of which, Flamenco beach, has no shade and is full of people. Zoni beach is smaller and almost deserted so much better as far as we were concerned. We pass the only museum on the island which is closed. It is in such a remote place that we will not get to see it. The view of the next islands were brilliant with clear azure seas, quite intoxicating.
Tue 9th
Spend the day (seriously!) downloading Calibre, the software required to get kindle books.
We have a 54mps connection, the best available in the Caribbean so far, showing signal strength and quality permanently in the 90s and we still have trouble. Check out rudders as they are getting a bit sticky; we should have dropped them in Trinidad and lubricated them. So that is something else on the haul out list. (together with filling the hole in the hull!)
Wed 10th
Get up at 5:30 to take the $2-25 6:30 ferry to Fajardo on the Puerto Rican main island. We hire a car and travel up to San Juan after a necessary stop at the West Marine Chandlers. Trudy does some clothes shopping and I go on the hunt for a guitar. We are both successful. I find a fender telecaster for £325, an incredible bargain. Trudy spends nearly as much in Victoria's secrets. We have just enough time to drive through Old San Juan get back to West Marine to pick up some shoes and get back for the last ferry back to Culabra. Old SanJuan is a beautiful Spanish fortress town. Very colourful and we wish we had more time to spend site seeing. Traffic has been awful both ways and the 95 mile round trip has taken over 4 hours. We really do not miss the traffic. We drop the car off at the wrong park and with 5 minutes to spare I have to run around the town locating the right park and move the car. I am the last on the ferry. The Captain very kindly waited for me!
Thur 11th
Day spent playing with new toys whilst Trudy puts on a fashion show.
Fri 12th to Sun 14th
The Ensenada Honda bay is very tranquil with good holding so we enjoy a couple of days relaxing on the boat. The weather is beginning to cool down and is very acceptable.
Mon 15th
Up anchor and head for Viques the next Spanish island. It takes longer than we had expected as we faff about using the auto pilot to automatically tack and eventually succeed. We calculate that we are tacking through 122 degrees so we can make 61 degrees off the true wind which equates to 47 degrees off the apparent wind. Not brilliant but it will get us where we want to go. We arrive too late to go ashore so just have a peaceful evening on board. It is however very roly.
Tue 16th
We have anchored off Espiranza in the south of the island. We dinghy ashore in the morning and take a taxi, $6 for two, to Isabella, the other town on the island where the ferry lands from Fajardo. It takes about an hour to walk around. There is a pretty pink clock tower and in the main plaza there is a large stone built stage. There is one supermarket and two banks. Approximately a third of the island is out of bounds as the Americans were, until 2004 using this area for bombing practise. There is still unexploded ordinance littering the place. We had planned to head south for Martinique or St Lucia on Wednesday but the wind and swell seem to be against us for a few days so we postpone themove.



Wed 17^th
Day spent trying to find a Mexican restaurant that had shut down and marine diesel engine oil as port engine is due a service. You will not find it on this side of the Island!! a $15 taxi takes us both on a trip all around the island to find the right oil. The site seeing is a bonus. Vieques is a much bigger and better appointed island than Culebra. The road are all very smooth and in good condition. The place is full of bars and restaurants but also it has some useful shops. Everyone is very helpful even providing information without being asked. We have been trying to learn Spanish but hasn't been necessary. After a few attempts most of the island inhabitants help out by speaking perfect (American) English.
Thur 18th
Port engine serviced; not much fun as sea a bit rocky. Oops forgot to turn on the diesel again so bleeding required. (along with bleeding swearing). The very nice customs man told us that we can check out by email and he would sent us the departure papers as a pdf file. We phone to see where this is and his colleague tells us that we need to come to the airport! Thanks! We could have done that yesterday. It seem that all the border protection officers try to outdo each other in one way or another.
Fri 19th
We are still watching the weather and it looks like we will get a window on Sunday so plan a trip to the airport on Saturday. Winds are quite high so we spend a roly day on board. Large fish spotted beneath the boat!
Sat 20th
Early start to get to customs for clearance out. Another very friendly and helpful guy. Full marks to the US. We get taxis to airport and to Isabella and they both take us to parts of the island that we previously missed. At the airport we stop for a coffee and a bite to eat. The cafe (garage) is run by a couple of old guys who look like bums the first of whom tells us the coffee is finished, but we can have the bit in the bottom of the jug! Do we want the special, beef hash eggs any way and toast? OK. One easy over and a scrambled. Too late, the “cook” has already done two easy overs. It is without doubt the worst prepared food we have ever had.
We frequently see iguanas up to a metre long crossing the road and Viques is renowned for its wild horses that roam freely and are always seen by the side of the road. Today we saw a mongoose for the first time and two minutes later see another!
Sun 21st
Up early, up anchor and set off for the South. We expect to pass St Croix by 5pm but get there by 3! over 8 knots but not quite the angle we want. We struggle through the night with force 6 winds and waves over 3 metres. We are adopting a 2 hour watch system but if we are not tired we stay on watch for as long as we can. It means the other person gets more rest and you are more likely to get to sleep if you are tired with all the rock and roll and banging around. We are not an ideal boat for large wind and seas. We put an extra reef in for the night and an alarm goes off on the starboard engine. Investigation shows the alternator belt has gone so its out with the tools in a force 6! a half hour later and we have our engine back.
Mon 22nd
Dawn comes and the wind and waves have died down to 2.5 metres and 22 knots! Sun comes out and it is a very pleasant sail. During the night the marine ply wall has detached itself from one of the forward bunks and the wind generator is rocking about due to a loose fitting. Plus the SSB aerial has detached itself. More maintenance required. Wind has still too much easterly in it which will extend our passage by about 20 hours.
No SSB means no weather (GRIB) files by (free) radio, so the Iridium phone comes out for the first time and at 11:30 we request a weather file, not sure when it will be sent. In addition to the satellite phone we subscribe to “Airmail”. This costs about $200 per year and they send you emails by short wave radio (SSB) this is a very slow service and only accepts text emails so we can only use this in emergency. The weather files are also limited in size to 10K which is just enough for a couple of days passage. On line GRIB requests are almost immediate and provide massive files. But the SSB has a very simple file that gets sent sometime during the night; so you need to log on twice. 18:00 we try a tack and forget to plot a position so it is two hours later before we discover that we are going slightly west of north with a strong current against us. I wake Trudy for a tack, she goes back to bed and I have an issue with loose lines on the lazy bag and a crunching noise from the back of the boom I wake Trudy again to sort out both. We need to reef so Trudy gets no sleep in her three hours off watch. The wind generator is supported by a tripod held together by 5mm stainless bolts. With all the banging one is wearing thin. It needs replacing but it is at the back of the boat and high up too dangerous to attempt at sea. Gaffer tape and cable ties are employed to hold back the wear.
Tue 23rd
At 02:00 I check for a Grib file and it has arrived. Weather info it dated 12:00 yesterday so the two day forecast is already 14 hours old. We can expect easterlies for the next day and a half. We are sailing about 50 degrees of the apparent wind in order to sail within 120 miles of our destination, Rodney Bay St. Lucia this angle gives us 6 knots but a terrible slamming. Whilst trying to sleep you get woken by a huge crash which moves your bunk followed by 3 or 4 smaller bangs that feel like we just ran over some large fish. Very uncomfortable and deprives us of much needed sleep. Who said sailing was fun!
08:35 Spongebob Squarepants is seen floating by to starboard.
Wed 24th
A weird morning with winds up and down from 5 knots to 21 knots 3 times in the space of an hour. Shake reef out, put reef in put 2^nd reef in engine on, off on, off, put 3^rd reef in...dies to nothing then starts to climb but we have a 2 .2 knot current against us and 15 knots of wind is not enough to stop us going backwards. Hectic! 3 hours later it settles down to a steady 22 knots! We fly in the wrong direction. After bypassing Dominica we settle down, current reduces to a manageable 0.8 knots and we expect to be in by tomorrow. More ropes used to tie up the wind generator and we turn it off and strap it up..less danger if it collapses. Not sure what angle catamarans are supposed to heel (less than 5 degrees) but the waves are frequently lifting our windward keel to nearly 20 degrees.
Thur 25th
Arrive in Rodney bay at about 4:30 am, quick prep of boat then bed.
Later we go ashore to check in, get some internet and get a few vitals.



Fri 26^th
Prepare a list of boat fixes, jobs and stuff we need to buy. Head out to chandlers and hardware shop. Try to by rocker cover seal but the ever helpful Ian Cowan says he will make me one.



Sat 27^th
Start jobs, reattach wall panel, drill out wind genny support and attach larger bolt, change diesel filters.



Sun 28^th
Remove rocker cover.
Mon 29th
Take rocker cover to Ian and he makes up a gasket on the spot. We also need to my some monel rivets 30 at nearly $5 each!
Meet up with “Chinaman”, actually he is from Guyana and an amerindian descendent, he comes on board and plans a new stainless steel bracket to brace our wind generator. We should collect this on Wednesday.
We buy a new pressure cooker, essential boat cookware! More clothes shopping for Trudy followed by another fashion show. This time I am trying to download software to fix my modem.
Trudy cleans bilges.
Tue 30th
Fitted new bilge pump, new lines on lazy bag, rocker cover gasket, strip light in starboard engine room. Half a day spent downloading modem software and firmware to try to get my SSB modem working. All engine checks. We need to fit new zinc sacrificial anodes.

March 2013

March
Fri 1st
Spend half the day recovering and the other half removing rust stains from the deck caused by red hot iron filings flying all over from the angle grinding. Dive under yacht in an attempt to find a torch that may have fallen overboard...no luck. We get a visit from Miranda, there is no karaoke this week as she has received a letter from “the big people” in St Vincent.


Sat 2^nd
Dinner party on Tjeldøy


Sun 3^rd
Begin preparations for a long (4 day) sail to the USVIs (United states Virgin Islands); put Teflon spray on blocks, engine belt, water and oil checks, check winches, stow anchor securely.


Mon 4^th
We put our old anchor up for sail on the morning cruisers net. We do not have time to get dressed before the first dinghy arrives to view it. An old rusty Brittany with no galvanisation left, but it goes for about £50. The boat is 20kg lighter.


Tues 5^th
We check out at customs and Immigration then say a few goodbyes pick up some bread and slip the mooring. 12:30 and we are off into the Caribbean sea. During the night we have full sail, three reefs, 1 reef, then end up with two until morning. We are taking two to three hour watches and between us we see one tanker and one cruise ship all night. AIS (new automatic identification system) identifies one vessel behind us briefly but we must be going faster as it does not re-appear.


Wed 6^th
Wind has dropped and forecast is for even less. We have all sails up and throughout the day manage no more than 6 knots. Wind moved round to south and drops so we begin to discuss going to Saba, a Dutch island in the north Caribbean, instead of St John or St Croix (Croy) as originally planned. Spend half the day trying to request and download a GRIB (weather) file using our recently acquired SSB. Request finally, successfully confirmed but still await file which may not be available until after midnight.
We see a sailfish / marlin, they seem to glide very smoothly through the water with the sail / fin vertical and straight beautiful to watch.


Thur 7^th
We get a grib (weather) file via the SSB and are now sure the wind will die on us. We sail on towards St Croix. The wind comes around behind us and we decide to try the Asymmetric spinnaker. When we finally get this up we discover that it is in fact symmetrical. In any case the wind drops and we take it down. However we are now in a position to motor all the way to St Croix as we have sufficient diesel left for the shortened distance.
On the approach to St Croix at night I see the luminescence from hundreds of squid that are all feeding near the surface, a little later hundreds of small fish and later still larger fish, though not so many. It is a fascinating way to while away the hours on a night watch.


Fri 8^th
6:30 in the morning and St Croix is sighted, by 9:00 we are on a pontoon in the marina. We do the paperwork for the marina and head to customs and immigration (called Customs and Border Control in the US!). There is a helpful guy outside who asks if we have ships papers and our B1 visa – yes, good we can continue inside and have photo and finger print checks against his (our) bio data on his computer. A couple of hours rest then dinghy over to the board-walk, pretty colours and new buildings on the front give way to old buildings in a Dutch style further away from the shoreline. This is another typical tourist area with usual tut for sale. We head back to the marina bar for sundowners and after meeting a few locals we eat the best mahi mahi we have ever tasted in a very light batter with large size chips made from real potatoes, most unusual. Lisa, one of the locals is trying to find white balloons. We eventually discover that her husband is going out deep sea fishing with 1000 ft plus lines; they tie white balloons to the line every 100ft to check the depth. We play “Corn hole”. You get four bags of corn and try to throw them into a hole on the top centre of a 2x4 ft board on a slant. One point for hitting the board, three for getting in the hole, you can knock any corn bag into the hole or off the board to adjust the score. Four people play, two at each end..further details on request. I explain our local pub game “Aunt Sally” and they immediately decide to fabricate some sticks and a dolly. Oxfordshire may have to hold the world championships in St Croix!


Sat 9^th
First thing in the morning, about 11am, we go to chandlers and get away with about 200$ including $50 for “Magik” boat cleaner. spend the rest of the morning deep cleaning the boat, check out from the marina and move across the bay to anchor. The marina is not the best, but it is the most expensive we have come across x 3!
Surprisingly the Majik boat cleaner removes all the rust stains from everything, Manureva looks the best she has ever done. We fill up with the cheapest diesel to date and head out of the marina.


Sun 10^th
Rest day with a visit to Rum Runners to watch the rugby; unfortunately they cannot get the right channel so we have lunch and get back to the boat.


Mon 10^th
We take a $2-50 bus trip to Sunny Isles, a shopping centre where we can get local mobile phones for $15. Our quad bands do not work as St Croix uses a different channel. Find a guitar shop and get some new strings (da'darrio!). I am trying to find a Fender Squire Telecaster Classic Vibe 50, but no luck. The guy has loads of classic guitars including Gibson 335 but will not sell any. He says when he has fixed one you can make him an offer.


Tue 12^th
Faff about re-dropping anchor, get second anchor fouled and need to dive on it, wrap dinghy painter around prop and dive on that...Christiansted is an awkward anchorage as there is a strong current part of the time and winds at 90 degrees so everyone spins about in a different way. We meet up with Lyne and Eric with their two jack russells from Amarula and swap stories since we have not seen them for about 5 months.


Wed 13^th
We have been disappointed by our new anchor, as yet it has not proved reliable. Move boat out behind reef, its a shallow tricky zigzag through a mass of boats moored close together behind protestant beach, but there is loads of space behind the reef in 4 metres so very happy – so far. We watch sea-planes landing and taking off in the channel less than 50 metres away. Looking out North towards the reef there is a huge surf that crashes over it accompanied by a constant crashing sound – hope that puts us to sleep better than the music last night. We visit a Mexican restaurant to see off Tony and Jessica from Rajin Cajun. There is a jam with a couple of mandolins and three guitars. Mostly yeehah music with a couple of nice blues numbers. We discover (local) margaritas at $1-50 after we have spent $9 on the tourist ones.


Thurs 14^th
A day tour out by bus to Fredericksted in the far west of St Croix. 30 miles each way and a non tourist bus costs $4 return ($48 by tourist bus). The place has a pretty colourful façade but most shops were shut as there was no cruise ship docked. They get about two per week. On the return journey we stop off at the Botanical Gardens, quite the best we have seen in the Antilles to date. Back on board Manureva has been going round in circles but has not tripped the anchor.


Fri 15^th
Trudy snorkels around the boat, the anchor is ¾ dug in but has not moved in two nights; things are looking up. Spend a half day reviewing the USVI marine guide; this mainly advertises all the duty free shopping available. We plan to go to St John next but it looks like you have to take a mooring at $15 each night so will probably only stay a couple of nights before heading to St Thomas. St Thomas gets up to 8 cruise ships per day! Masses of duty free arcades and malls. We don't expect to like this, however Water island, about a mile off shore is free from tourism and many live-aboards stay here for half the season.


Sat 16^th
St Patrick's Day parade in St Croix. For an as yet unidentified reason Paddy's day is one of the two biggest events of the year, the other one is Christmas. This year the parade had nearly 50 entries from the local Harley Davidson club, classic cars, school bands, mobile bars (free if they like you), drum majorettes, to a girl swinging by a ribbon from a scaffolding erected on the back of a truck, easily the most entertaining. Most costumes are shades of green and very rarely you see a spectator not in green. They chuck plastic jewellery and sweets at you from various floats. After a few hours we head for Luncharia, the Mexican restaurant. For an enchilada. They are rubbish, shredded chicken in a liquid cheese sauce heated in the microwave, wish we never bothered. The St Croix Blues band were playing which made it worthwhile.

Sun 17^th
St Patrick's Day official. We had planned to set off for St John today but on waking there are black clouds around and the wind is up over 20 knots. We expected this weather to arrive in two days time so are staying put, on the boat, and monitoring UGRIB and NOAA.


Mon 18^th
For the last few days we have been one of three yachts just outside the entry channel, however today we are on our own. We have been watching the seaplanes land in the bay close by but today we have had two at once landing each side of us together and later a pilot opens his window and waves at Trudy whilst she is doing her on deck exercises!


Tues 19^th
Weather has finally improved with less squalls, less wind and more sun. Last minute shop before heading off for St John.


Wed 20^th
Wake at 07:00 and prepare to leave for St John. Weather is good, a few fluffy clouds and wind is a pleasant 15 knots. We are out of the channel by eight and set off with one reef in; a perfect day sail spent trying to spot whales that supposedly migrate at this time of year. None seen, we pass chocolate bay and visit Great Cruz bay. It is full of approximately 50 private moorings with two spots to anchor, both taken. So we head for Cruz bay. There are spaces outside the bay but only private mooring allowed within. We sure feel welcome here! We put the watermaker on and drop anchor. Have a bit of trouble anchoring in sand and rocks. When I check the watermaker the port bilge is rapidly filling with water! Watermaker off; water still pouring into the bilge; fresh water pump off and it drops to a dribble. Investigation shows that a recently fitted fresh water hose supplying the watermaker flushing system has ruptured. It looks like engine room heat might have caused a blister. We now have no water until this can be repaired. We search for spare hose and an hour later a bodge has been achieved that will allow us water for a few days until we get a better hose. Of course we now have a wet bilge and the old problem with the sail drive seal has reappeared so we have a constant alarm every time we use the port engine! A cup of tea later and Trudy heads down to the engine bilge to try to dry the seal. I check the internet, several signals, but all for Gallows Point Hotel. We cannot use it. We are anchored outside Cruz bay and a succession of motor boats race past us kicking up enormous wake making this very uncomfortable! Tomorrow we will have to move. We dinghy into town and visit the National Park office for details of their moorings.


Thur 21^st
Little wind so we motor round to Maho bay. This is in the St John National park; like ¾ of the island! Mooring here are compulsory and cost $15 per night. The idea is that if no one anchors the sea bed will be preserved and the wildlife will flourish. We cannot remember ever being in a place with so little life. They operate an “honesty” system for payment. The long list of regulation includes a note that payment for an overnight stay must be made before 5pm. Our neighbours inform us that there is a small raft at the other side of the bay where we can pay. We dinghy over and there is a small pelican (waterproof) box with biros and envelopes inside. You fill out a form on the envelope put your $15 inside, take a receipt and post the envelope in a small steel post box. At 5pm the national park officers come around to check if you have paid. (some honesty system..) It is so quiet and calm that you can hear conversations on boats 200 metres away.


Fri 22^nd
We head back to Cruz bay and anchor in the same spot as Wednesday. Dinghy into town and park on the ferry dock. We catch a dollar bus to the other end of the island and check out Coral bay. St John's main highway is a steep climb through forest to a view over the bays in the south east. Coral bay has four restaurants and a mini mart. A half hour later we get the bus back. Cruz bay is another duty free shopper's paradise, lots of brightly coloured shacks selling jewellery clothes and art. And several restaurants and bars happy hour 3 to 7! a couple of “pain killers” and its back to the boat.


Sat 23^rd
Watch the St Thomas Rolex regatta races over the weekend loads of black sails and huge colourful spinnakers.


Mon 25^th
Trudy sees what she believes are two sharks under the boat. I am not convinced; I have seen a sharksucker which very much resembles a shark.


Tue 26^th
Travel all of 3 miles to the next island, St Thomas. We get a dollar bus to the chandlers and supermarket, but the bus only goes one way around the island and we get a taxi back by mistake! They look/are the same. A dollar one way and eight dollars the other. We are anchored in Red Hook bay, slightly more comfortable than Cruz bay but loads more ferries buzzing about until midnight.


Thur 28^th
Head off west around St Thomas to Druiff bay on Water island, about 10 miles. Park next to Ross and Diana from “One White Tree” haven’t seen them since Trinidad. We are in the process of dropping the anchor and Ross is already telling us about the jam on Sunday. Trudy dives on the anchor, which is perfectly set and swims off to catch up on gossip with Diana. A couple of hours later and “La Luna” drops anchor and Stu dinghies over to say hi. (not seen since Grenada time before last) He and Barb have been on a mooring in order to fix their engine. It rains! For about a half hour. Can't remember the last time we had rain. Wind shifts during rain and we have to get wet re-anchoring!


Fri 29^th
Windy and rain so stayed on boat.


Sat 30^th
Went dinghy ashore about 2 miles into Charlotte Amalie where there are thousands of tourist shops selling diamonds pandora and other jewellery watches etc. also a large range of electronics and camera equipment all “duty free”. This town is prepared for up to eight cruise ships at once, luckily there is one in town. We walk for 5 hours in order to save an $8 cab and spend more than that on curing blister! I had planned to buy a new guitar and Trudy was looking for a robust waterproof camera. (After 3 hour) We find both shops together and as it is lunch time we are forced to go to “Hooters”, the only suitable restaurant around...a further 2 hour walk and we are back near the dingy and the local supermarket. We need to prep for tomorrow's jam and pot luck dinner on the beach.


Sun 31^st
Rain and wind so bad that the beach jam is cancelled and everyone stays on their boats! I expect you are feeling sorry for us...


Hope everyone had a good Easter!

some more photos from September

At the Merry Baker's eating bunny chow! It is half a bread loaf filled with curry!

The tunnel in St Georges under the hill connecting the two sides of town.

It was for females only orignally, so the men had to walk over the hill. Cock up with camera!

Andy and Bettina on the top deck of the Buzzard.

Andy waiting for the bus in the rum shop.

Nimrod's rum shop, also the bus stop.

The great poster in Nimrod's!

A selection of photos from September in Grenada

Phil's 70th birthday on Hog Island.. Just love his t-shirt!

A group photo at the party.

First lobster of the season, just a bit early, the season starts in September.

Toby and the kids enjoyed themselves digging holes all over the beach.

The band

With the addition of bongo drums and a singer!

The birthday boy with his cake

Later on with singing and dancing

On board The Flying Buzzard for Mike's 60th birthday.

A photo from the bridge deck looking down on the top deck.

Me with Johanne and Julie on board The Buzzard.

Andy playing at Clarkes Court marina with Country Dave and friends.

First lobster of the season.

A view from the top of our mast with Hog Island in the distance.

Top of the mast looking east.

Looking towards Clarkes Court Bay.

Andy up there changing a light bulb!

February 2013

February

Fri 1^st

Search out a doctor, a small cut on my shin is going septic; small cuts can be a problem out here so it is good to catch things early. I start a course of antibiotics, so no rum for a while.

Sat 2^nd

Trudy spend the weekend making a a leatherette cover for our saloon table. New Sail-rite machine copes easily with 4 layers (and more) every home should have one. Their website is extremely comprehensive, with videos for all kinds of sewing projects, even reupholstering motorcycle seats!

Sun 3^rd

Saloon table looks great with cream leatherette cover! Robin has planned another mega-jam on Tjeldøy for 14^th Feb. Wasn't I supposed to be doing something else that day? Oh well never mind. Each member needs to prepare 6 songs and swap the details around. Seems a bit organised...

Mon 4^th

Day spent downloading backing tracks, chord charts and lyrics. I can't sing but at least I can try to remember the words to mime. Last day of antibiotics so a visit to Sailors bar is due.

Tue 5^th

SSB fails to work, so spend a couple of hours lifting panels and checking all wiring only to discover that the battery used solely for SSB has not been charging. This is a design fault as we assumed that we would use the port engine every couple of days and we have been sitting here for a few weeks now.

Wed 6^th

Three hours in the engine bay squirming over the batteries to fill up with water and check acid strength. Every time we do this the battery sensors go up the spout. Suddenly we are showing -800 amp hours, with red flashing lights, when we have been fully charged for two months. Voltage is fine so suspect instrument not batteries. Perform a reset, fingers crossed. Cocos to see Ice-cream Bob and Jackie. Thoroughly good set with loads of dancing and falling over. Stan Cora, Scott and Dave have to work valentines night so it looks like Robin's bash will be postponed.

Thur 7^th

Popped out to see Terry on Libertine, he has just got rid of his crew who seemed to spend all her time breaking stuff. Invited Stan and Cora for sundowners, shopping for a few vegetables and beers, Fedex to send forms to John Simpson for the Stars, bumped into Ronnie Wood with new wife Sally and Trudy on the dinghy dock;

Fri 8^th

First thing on the morning net, a complaint about Miranda's karaoke going on too late and being too loud. Argument ensues over the air waves regarding who's island it is anyway. Cruisers should just accept the party spirit of these island. Jam session on Libertine, then off to Fish Friday at The Fig Tree. Lobster, conch and kingfish barbecued but a 2 ½ hour wait! Wont do that again.

Sat 8^th

Calypso evening in Sailors bar, a visit to Mrs. Ts rum shop followed by karaoke at Miranda's. We leave at 12 and its still going on.

Sun 10^th

Just manage to get up at 11:00 to watch England Ireland game.

Wed 20^th

Trudy's birthday, so Dinner at L'Auberge, beef carpacio, tuna sashimi with wasabi cream, barracuda in a Roquefort sauce, lobster and chicken curry, green papaya gratin, callalou fritters, followed by Mango and passion fruit sorbet, rum steeped in mandarin or papaya, and off to Cocos for a last dance.

Thur 21^st

Evening on Rock and roll Star with Gill and Matthew. Gill is an excellent chef and provides quesedillas, Coconut shrimp and lamb koftas. We had planned an early evening but ended up back at midnight.

Fri 22^nd

Well deserved night in.

Sat 23^rd

Bit of shopping then Coco's to watch England vs France, Surrounded by French yachts in the bay..shame! Meet the 1976 world champion spoon player Heini who is Danish. He will try to regain his title in Ireland this year.

Mon 25^th

Set off to Industry beach for a Tai Chi class, no one turned up so we walked back via the pottery, up a huge hill. We are not used to hills as the largest number of steps we need to manage on the yacht is 4! Pottery is closed so in stead of Tai Chi we end up having a long walk and a beer.

Tue 26^th

Each year some trainee chiropractors visit the island to test their skills, So we head off for our free check up. Obviously..... hips are out of alignment and legs are different lengths etc. so after much manipulation and bone crunching we walk around town an inch taller.

Wed 27^th

Our Rocnor anchor has arrived! We now spend the day angle grinding the shackles off the chain to remove the old anchor, reverse the chain so the best galvanising is attached to the anchor, re mark the chain at each ten metres and stow the two old anchors at the bottom of a locker. Discover our second best torch has been nicked from the dinghy.

Thur 28^th

We have rust spots from the angle grinding all over the decks.

Can't find our best torch that's two gone in one day!

Another jam session on Tjeldøy, this time 9 musicians including three guitars and a very tight set was enjoyed by all.

February 2013

February

Fri 1^st

Search out a doctor, a small cut on my shin is going septic; small cuts can be a problem out here so it is good to catch things early. I start a course of antibiotics, so no rum for a while.

Sat 2^nd

Trudy spend the weekend making a a leatherette cover for our saloon table. New Sail-rite machine copes easily with 4 layers (and more) every home should have one. Their website is extremely comprehensive, with videos for all kinds of sewing projects, even reupholstering motorcycle seats!

Sun 3^rd

Saloon table looks great with cream leatherette cover! Robin has planned another mega-jam on Tjeldøy for 14^th Feb. Wasn't I supposed to be doing something else that day? Oh well never mind. Each member needs to prepare 6 songs and swap the details around. Seems a bit organised...

Mon 4^th

Day spent downloading backing tracks, chord charts and lyrics. I can't sing but at least I can try to remember the words to mime. Last day of antibiotics so a visit to Sailors bar is due.

Tue 5^th

SSB fails to work, so spend a couple of hours lifting panels and checking all wiring only to discover that the battery used solely for SSB has not been charging. This is a design fault as we assumed that we would use the port engine every couple of days and we have been sitting here for a few weeks now.

Wed 6^th

Three hours in the engine bay squirming over the batteries to fill up with water and check acid strength. Every time we do this the battery sensors go up the spout. Suddenly we are showing -800 amp hours, with red flashing lights, when we have been fully charged for two months. Voltage is fine so suspect instrument not batteries. Perform a reset, fingers crossed. Cocos to see Ice-cream Bob and Jackie. Thoroughly good set with loads of dancing and falling over. Stan Cora, Scott and Dave have to work valentines night so it looks like Robin's bash will be postponed.

Thur 7^th

Popped out to see Terry on Libertine, he has just got rid of his crew who seemed to spend all her time breaking stuff. Invited Stan and Cora for sundowners, shopping for a few vegetables and beers, Fedex to send forms to John Simpson for the Stars, bumped into Ronnie Wood with new wife Sally and Trudy on the dinghy dock;

Fri 8^th

First thing on the morning net, a complaint about Miranda's karaoke going on too late and being too loud. Argument ensues over the air waves regarding who's island it is anyway. Cruisers should just accept the party spirit of these island. Jam session on Libertine, then off to Fish Friday at The Fig Tree. Lobster, conch and kingfish barbecued but a 2 ½ hour wait! Wont do that again.

Sat 8^th

Calypso evening in Sailors bar, a visit to Mrs. Ts rum shop followed by karaoke at Miranda's. We leave at 12 and its still going on.

Sun 10^th

Just manage to get up at 11:00 to watch England Ireland game.

Wed 20^th

Trudy's birthday, so Dinner at L'Auberge, beef carpacio, tuna sashimi with wasabi cream, barracuda in a Roquefort sauce, lobster and chicken curry, green papaya gratin, callalou fritters, followed by Mango and passion fruit sorbet, rum steeped in mandarin or papaya, and off to Cocos for a last dance.

Thur 21^st

Evening on Rock and roll Star with Gill and Matthew. Gill is an excellent chef and provides quesedillas, Coconut shrimp and lamb koftas. We had planned an early evening but ended up back at midnight.

Fri 22^nd

Well deserved night in.

Sat 23^rd

Bit of shopping then Coco's to watch England vs France, Surrounded by French yachts in the bay..shame! Meet the 1976 world champion spoon player Heini who is Danish. He will try to regain his title in Ireland this year.

Mon 25^th

Set off to Industry beach for a Tai Chi class, no one turned up so we walked back via the pottery, up a huge hill. We are not used to hills as the largest number of steps we need to manage on the yacht is 4! Pottery is closed so in stead of Tai Chi we end up having a long walk and a beer.

Tue 26^th

Each year some trainee chiropractors visit the island to test their skills, So we head off for our free check up. Obviously..... hips are out of alignment and legs are different lengths etc. so after much manipulation and bone crunching we walk around town an inch taller.

Wed 27^th

Our Rocnor anchor has arrived! We now spend the day angle grinding the shackles off the chain to remove the old anchor, reverse the chain so the best galvanising is attached to the anchor, re mark the chain at each ten metres and stow the two old anchors at the bottom of a locker. Discover our second best torch has been nicked from the dinghy.

Thur 28^th

We have rust spots from the angle grinding all over the decks.

Can't find our best torch that's two gone in one day!

Another jam session on Tjeldøy, this time 9 musicians including three guitars and a very tight set was enjoyed by all.

January 2013

2013

January

This month has been a bit of a holiday for us and as such we have not done any sailing. We have spent all the time in Bequia doing holiday stuff, so not much to report. This is our favourite island so far. For anyone wishing to stay here we have been looking through brochures and would recommend either the Frangipani or Gingerbread hotels as the places to stay as they are right on the waterfront.

Please let your engineering friends know that our friend Robin, “Fixman 2” ,aka Simpson Engineering is for sale. Robin the ex-Ferrari driver and workshop owner wishes to retire to work on his ship Tjeldøy, but is prepared to do a couple of days a week to help out. His fully equipped workshop has all the kit for machining parts, milling, grinding, turning, aluminium and stainless welding. This would suit someone with an engineering background looking to semi retire or live in the Caribbean. There is a constant variable supply of work on yachts, large and small, ferries, cars and mopeds. Workshop 001784 457 3962 or mobile 001784 526 6729 for details. (remember we are 4 hours behind you)

Tue 1^st

Moved the boat again, this is the sixth move in Bequia Admiralty bay and I think we are now settled. Apart from that, it is just a recovery day.

Wed 2^nd

We end up at Coco's to listen to Ice-cream Bob and Jackie, They start slow but by the time the usual suspects arrive we are into some serious rock and R&R. Bobs wife Maran makes yoghurt and ice cream for the island.

Thur 3^rd

We are dragging anchor again, so we move and take advice on putting a second anchor down “in tandem”. Stan from Ambler helps us do this and we are happy again. (ish)

The problem with socialising with folk from foreign lands and e.g. tourists in Bequia's busy season is that they bring a lot of germs with them. After 18 months free of bugs I am hit by what ends up being a 48 hour flu (mini epidemic), along with a load of others. I miss the party on Tjeldøy, Trudy goes and has an excellent time. I sleep for the best part of 48 hours.

Fri 4^th

?

Sat 5^th

Winds are due to increase so anchor checks are a must. We think that our anchor is probably too small. The tandem second anchor helps, but does not dig in. Internet suggests 25kg for a 43ft mono-hull or next size up for a catamaran that means 33kg or 73lb for us. I hope Trudy can carry it.

Sun 6^th

We hear a complaint from Flawless “D” that a rude Scotsman has asked them to get off his private mooring. They have only been blocking it for three weeks! They ask us if this is because we want the mooring, and can they then use our space to anchor. No, we assumed that Robin wants to use his own mooring and we have just put a second anchor out... We meet Robin later and he says that now they have moved we had better use the mooring. We will move tomorrow.

Mon 7^th

Trudy dives in three metres and attaches a floating line to the second anchor she undoes the shackle so we can lift the anchor back into the dinghy (real action girl now). We check the mooring, it is in 17metres, and in case we lose Robin's lines we get Angie to act as boat boy and help moor up.

Tues 8^th

Great nights sleep the mooring is solid and flat calm with no snatching, even in the northerly swells. Peace at last.

Wed 9^th

We head out to the Firefly hotel and restaurant; for £2.50 they do a plantation tour, one of the best value tours in the Caribbean. Unfortunately the rain is so heavy that the tour is cancelled and we walk back to the docks. On the way back we meet “Irish” John, he invites us to his place Saturday morning before the blues festival for bloody Marys. Excellent! We lunch at Sweetie pies another cheap and cheerful colourful and basic restaurant that has been hidden from us in a back street. Probably now the best rotis in the islands. The only ones that were better were Mrs Taylor's, but she has passed the cooking on to someone new.

Thur 10^th

Cora from Ambler tells us that she dived on our anchor and that it seems quite small. We are now quite paranoid about anchor and decide to get a new oversize “modern” anchor, a Rocna 33kg, Juergen can get us one but it will take three weeks. Oh well it looks like we may have to stay here for the Bequia blues festival. We cook a Tagine for guests on board as we needed to thank Robin for hospitality and free use of his mooring.

Fri 11^th

Friday early doors is usually at the New York Bar, a regular meeting of ex-pats. After this we head out to try out a pizza at Macs, This is voted the best place to eat on Bequia and is always packed. We take a look at the food and the menu, decide it was probably chosen for its American influence and leave. They had lobster pizza for $100. Pizzas are an inch thick with little topping. We head to Aaron's shack and get a few slices of his excellent thin crust pizza at £1-50 each and head back to the boat. At Aaron's you only get what he has made. And he usually has a veggie and a meaty on the go at the same time. Today he has veggie and lobster. We take three slices of each about $15!

Sat 12^th

The butcher arrives with four or five iceboxes full of meat, sets up a table in a side street and people (and dogs) crowd around to see what he has got. We are late so no ribs left so we get some pork chops. He slices these using a 2ft or 60cm long machete which he swings above his head and misses his fingers by no more than 1mm. Whilst cooking supper we see flames and smoke in the bay. We have heard nothing on the VHF radio, but turn it up anyway. The Admiral II, a local ferry is on fire. Yachties with large dinghies and locals get all the passengers off and the crew remain on board to put out the fire. We later hear that the skipper was the first off! Whatever happened to going down with the ship? The generator failed and caught fire, there was no back up lighting, there were no lifeboats, only life jackets, so everyone would have had to get in the water if the fire had started between islands.

Sun 13^th

De Reef is a bar that has live music on Sunday afternoons. It is a large venue where ex-pats and locals mingle. We get a 1$ bus there and a flat bed truck taxi back to the dock.

Mon 14^th

Tue 15^th

Stan cooks a Hungarian goulash with sauerkraut which we consume on Tjeldøy, a great venue as there is room to walk around. We have a wild time but unfortunately I fall into the sea trying to get back on board. The first time since we bought the boat. Shows we are not immune to the dangers.

Wed 16^th

?wake up with bruises on my leg? Don't know where I got them.....

Thur 17^th

Robin invites musicians to Tjeldøy and we have a fantastic jam, Stan – accordion, Scott drums, Dave - bass, Bob - guitar, Cora – sax, all professional musicians, and I get to play second guitar; seriously enjoyable. We rock it up for four hours until after midnight.

Fri 18^th

rest?

Sat 19^th

Karaoke at Miranda's. The machine is poor, the screen is at a 45 degree angle its dark, rum is bad, but some of the voices are world class. Rica, a barmaid at Sailors Bar wins.

Sun 20^th

A day at the beach and a beer at De Reef. Peter (Fixman1) and his wife Brit ask us if we would like to house sit for them from May to July. Lovely house with view and pool, use of car, all services free. Very tempting must think about it. We get a flat bed truck (aka taxi) back. All land and water taxis are on VHF and have nicknames. We get a ride with “Fat man” who is tall and thin. Other boat boys are called Dede (girl), African, Dumpling, Why ask, Whats my name and Phat Shag. We see them passing all the time.

Mon 21^st

Need to find a dentist, I have just lost two fillings. This means a

ferry to St Vincent and a long wait. Phone the dentist no appointments for a month, can you come in tomorrow – any time? Yes

Tue 22^nd

We go for the second ferry of the day, its cancelled, arrive in St Vincent at 10:30, find the dentist, half an hour later three crowns are diagnosed and an hour after that three temporary crowns are fitted! £850. I need to go back for moulds when gums have healed.

Wed 23^rd

I go back to St Vincent to get a mould for permanent crowns. Just need to wait two weeks for crowns to arrive.

Thur 24^th

Opening night of the Bequia Blues Festival. This starts with a movie about the history of whale hunting on Bequia. They are allowed to take four whales per year but average less than one. Then off to listen to the Elite steel band. They are an excellent steel band but don't play blues; the bar next door has decent reggae.

Fri 25^th

Dana Gillespie sing with the London Blues band and others. There is a five band line-up.

Sat 26^th

Bloody Marys for lunch at John's then off to the beach to listen to a free concert all afternoon, in the evening we catch a calypso band “Farine” then crash, missing another five bands at De Reef, the other end of the island.

Sun 27^th

Back to De Reef and we see mostly a repeat of the bands we missed, get the T-shirt..Toby Armstrong was particularly good.

Mon 28^th

We get dry enough weather to visit the Firefly estate. Keith walks us round describing local fruits veggies and herbs. We come away with a rucksack full of fruit. Guava and Bequia apples; there is only one apple tree on the island. They look almost like plumbs and have a plumb type stone inside, but they taste like very sweet apples with a good crunch.

Tue 29^th

We get dragged out to a quiz night, lucky it is only on once a month.

Wed 30^th

Throughout the month we have been using our watermaker which has proved a good choice. It runs on 12v and whilst the sun is high and the wind is blowing the combined effect produces almost sufficient power to run it. We are consistently making enough power to keep 900 ah battery topped up.

Thur 31^st

Guitar practice day, after doing boat accounts..