December 2011

Thurs 1st Dec

Sailed to Saltwhistle bay on Mayreau a very busy (packed) bay the famous hotel here has been closed for months so

we walked across the island for 3 beers with Robert “Righteous” at the Righteous and d youths bar I.e all his kids.

Some idiot parked 10 meters away from us. After much debate, not helped by the boat boys who he had paid, he final

moves – from ten meters one side to 15 meters the other. Trudy lost sleep doing the late anchor watch as we swung to

within 5 meters in the night.

Fri 2nd

Decide to have a short sail and a rest, so go 6 miles to Charlestown bay on Canouan. We said we would never come

here again but found it much better than we remembered. Although the boat boys were a nag at least they didn't user

the f word to Trudy. We found a bar that did Carrib beer at 6EC$ instead of the $18 last time! So we might come

back.

Sat 3rd

Arrive in Mustique very quiet with extremely clear water. You are not allowed to anchor here unless all mooring buoys

are taken, and then only with permission from the Harbour Master. It costs £50 for three nights on a mooring or at

anchor, as long as you are less than 70ft! We go to two local bars with beer at 5 and 6 dollars, then to the infamous

Bazils bar (where Bowie, Jagger and Collins are known to frequent) and paid £4 for a small tinny!

Sun 4th

Jobs day check sea water sea cock and filter and do all online bank checks.

Mon 5th

Go ashore to the shops, you could buy a pair of shorts for a little over £100, supermarket well stocked with expensive

wines, French boulangerie etc, buy some bits and head off for a walk around the bay, past a lagoon to a beautiful bay.

You need to book the barbecue shelters; its all very toffee town.

Tues 6th

Sail to Friendship bay on Bequia, a beautifully peaceful bay similar to Lullworth cove with extra buildings in pastel

shades. We dingy to a wrecked pontoon, walk through a hotel compound that is run down and mostly closed up. It has

the style of a Spanish Hacienda only the bandits have been and gone.

Wed 7th

Decide to dinghy to the beach to see the whaling museum to avoid the dodgy pontoon. We surfed in and pulling the

dingy up the beach I fall arse over tit. You will have seen the scene on one of those video snapshot programmes,

beach babe cracks up, not a dignified landing. After visiting the museum which is a couple of miles trek we try to

launch the dinghy. The surf is too big and it fills with water a few times before we decide to pull it along the beach.

Several times it nearly capsizes which would be a disaster for us as it would almost certainly knacker the outboard.

We eventually find part of the beach with less surf and manage to paddle out – lesson learned.

Thurs 8th

Motor round to Admiralty bay and park off Princess Margaret beach. Go ashore for a roti and a couple of beers, and

to meet up with friends on the island.

Fri 9th

We meet up with locals and end up listening to local band in Baje finishing as about 2am.

Sat 10th

We are invited to a boat safari supper, 9 boats are visited with beer, wine or cocktails on each, we end up on Tjeldøy

a 100ft motor vessel owned by Robin “Fixman”, It used to be a ferry to the Norwegian island of Tjeldøy; we have

been on a range of yachts from 32 ft to a 150ft fishing vessel sailed single handed by Eric the Frenchman. Out of 9

boats six are single handed.

Sun 11th

Rest day – what do you expect!!!

Mon 12th

Tom arrives, he is an outdoor pursuits instructor, among other things, he show us various climbing techniques for

getting up the mast. We need to practice this as lack of exercise is making climbing difficult.

Tues 13th

Shopping for hardware, plumbing parts etc. followed by a gathering in the Green Boley. Trudy invites ten people round

for dinner next Saturday.

Wed 14th

Get ropes and Karabiners out to make a couple of prusik loops one for hand and one for foot. These will be used as

secondary safety devices when climbing the mast on a halyard.

Thurs 15th

Pump up Kayaks we intend to get fit. They are stowed each side of the deck.

Fri 16th

Meet up in the New York bar It chucks it down with rain so we stay until it stops. Very rolly night.

Sat 17th

We are having a party on board tonight and as it was so rolly we decide to move to a calmer place in the bay. After a

couple of failed attempts we get an alarm on board that I immediately diagnose as engine overheating. So it is turned

off. Further investigation shows that we have a foot of water in the bilge. And the warning light indicates we have a

failed sail drive seal, something that will need a haul out and a 40 mile trip with a hole in the boat! A sail drive is a leg

that sits under the boat with a propeller at the end. It requires a foot diameter hole in the bottom of the boat so it can be

attached to the engine. We are now dangerously close to another boat and with a lack of manoeuvrability I call on a

friend to stand by in case we need a push. We try to drop anchor 4 times with one engine and eventually find a reasonable spot.

Before the party, we arranged to meet up at the Green Boley, unfortunately it is not open as the owner is drunk! Well it

is Saturday evening.

We end up with four guitars on board, penny whistles, blues harps shakers maracas and drums, after chilli and

pancakes a fine jam session follows.

Sun 18th

Further engine investigation uncovers broken sail drive outer seal and a broken jubilee clip between exhaust hose and

“Vetus box”. This is a box that mixes exhaust gasses with sea water that has been used an engine coolant and results

in reasonably quiet exhaust. It now appears that the broken jubilee clip allowed the exhaust to blast gas and water into

the bilge, rapidly filling it up, and as the outer sail drive seal was broken water got between the seals and set off the

warning light. We are lucky, no haul out is required. We hope.

Early afternoon we dinghy ashore and take a walk to “De Reef” a bar in the next bay. On the way John stops for us in a

mini moke and gives us a lift down the hill. We find out later that it is so poorly maintained that we are luck the brakes

didn't fail or a wheel drop off, both have happened before.

Mon 19th

Shopping for parts, takes all day, monkeying around in the bilge puts oil all over the boat.

I manage to drain the water from the sail drive, with a pump and a drinking straw, fit a new jubilee clip on the exhaust

and we are ready to go again. The engine fires up and the alarm is still on. I remove the alarm switch and discover a

load more water, suck this out and the alarm now goes off. We are ready to go.

Tues 20th

We stay on board waiting for Tom to bring his lap top, for an overhaul, and Angie to measure the trampoline to sew a

canvas strip with cringles to cover the trampoline when we need to set two anchors, which may be soon as the

“Christmas Winds” are coming. We deflate kayaks as they are a safety hazard on deck in this wind. So much for

getting fit.

Wed 21st

Wind now a steady 20 to 25 knots and there is a “bit of a chop” in the bay so we stay on board again. Catching up with

diary.

Thurs 22nd

Weather no better we are only 200 meters from the shore (and nearest bar) and 600m from the town, but the boat is

swinging around and pulling against the anchor so much that we dare not leave her.

Fri 23rd

We do final xmas shop and end up in the Green Boley. The owner is a notary and a JP. At 8pm he is so pissed that he

goes to bed! We get back on board about 23:00 to discover a French boat “Manuae” has broken away from its

mooring, has hit one cat in front of us and is heading our way. Angie on “Kiba” motors to the left and drops a second

anchor to avoid a collision and Manuae drops an anchor just in time ending 20m in front of us. Just what you need after

a night in the pub! I dinghy out to discover he has no engine and chose a mooring for safety! Restless night..

Sat 24th

Yesterday we booked a meal at the poshest restaurant in town with Stan and Cora playing (an excellent duo); however

last night we apparently agreed, in stead, to have a barbecue at Jurgen's pad with bring your own.....everything food,

drink, guitar. Jurgen has no music system and no gas. And at the same time we agreed to cook the meat for an xmas

dinner for 10.

Chris and sally from Vanity arrive in the bay and we catch up...A brand new Lagoon was washed on the rocks in Chatham bay during recent high winds.

We left Jurgen's at 2:30 and rested at the almond tree as the band was still playing. Back to the boat at 3:30am.

Sun 25th

Slow start, we go to Vanity early on to have a chat then before you know it, it was time to start cooking on Tjeldøy. I

motor of with pressure cooker, frying pan, herbs and 1 1/4 pints of our own water at the stuff on Tjeldøy is brown!

Another great party on Robin's boat.

Mon 26th

Angie wakes us up, “are we going to Irish John's house in Friendship bay?” Yes , we have had a long standing

invitation that we had not yet taken up..We head off to Tjeldøy to do the washing up, and at 3pm we dinghy ashore to

meet Cora and Angie, pick up a “Dollar” bus and set off for Friendship bay.

John is looking after a house and cottage for the guy who runs Roman Abramovich's fleet. It is a very relaxing

environment with no locks and no windows. John looks after about 20 bee hives and supplies the island with Bequia

honey. We buy some and it is delicious. The estate also has about 2000 palm trees, potted and in various states of growth.

On the way there we stop to photograph a dinghy as both Cora and Angie are building a similar dinghy from marine

ply and resin, and the plans are not very clear. We are all (the usual suspects) invited back to John's for a cocktail party on

Thursday. Bring rum.

Tue 27th

Get up and decide it is a jobs day, including an oil change on Stb motor. This is done by warming the engine and

using a suction device to remove the oil. Robin offered to lend me his manual oil extractor but instead I decide to use a

cheap electric pump that I have on board. I need to suspend an old water bottle to collect the oil, clip the motor to

alternator positive and an earth and hold one pipe in the water bottle and hold the other in the hole where the dip stick comes out. All goes well until a dinghy passes creating swell and the pipe in the water bottle comes out spraying my bare feet with hot oil and spraying the engine bilge with the black stuff. I now need to get around to cleaning the bilge, but cannot do this in the bay.

Wed 28th

Our visas run out today and our ships papers tomorrow so we need to go to customs and immigration today. We go

but they need to keep out passports overnight. They do not explain the process.

Thur 29th

11:15 Immigration open but revenue and customs closed, back at 14:15 three queues working - good. Get to the front

of immigration and we get two more forms to fill – to the back of the queue. When back at the front we need 2x $25

stamps, need to go into revenue queue (could have told us earlier!) queue for stamps, back to immigration all OK.

Passports back and off to Customs queue. They try to send us to immigration again but we argue (politely) and they

agree we don't need to. Pay a further £10 each for a month cruising permit and we are clear. The only advice that any

official gave us was that we needed a photocopy of our cruising permit when we renew. We did not need this and still

have both copies.

We go to cocktail party in friendship bay, then its on to the jump up at the Frangipani. We bump into Stewart who we met with his partner in Grenada. We ask where Cassie is and he tells us she died on the beach. she was 54 and had a brain haemorrhage.

Fri 30th

We have a late one on “Vanity”.

Sat 31st

We are informed that “No Fear” Robin's second boat, has broken its mooring and has been washed ashore. We see in the new year and watch the fireworks from the upper deck on Tjeldøy, they last 12 minutes, very good. Four

Norwegians visit and bring some prepared mojito cocktail. After this we did not go to the beach party which finished at 6:30am!