April 2012

April

The lagoon area in St Martin although 12 square miles of sheltered shallow water is by no means quiet. The main airport runway cuts through the lagoon near the middle and as such we are all anchored or moored less than a mile away; also, as there are two bridges to the lagoon, one to the North in the French side and one to the South in the Dutch side, there is considerable water traffic from one bridge to the other throughout the day and night. So we are in constant swell caused by boats passing by.

You can see the bottom reasonably clearly through water that is very yellow; it is this colour that puts us off diving in. Very little life can be seen in the water.

Sun 1^st

A trip out to use the internet. The signal in the lagoon is useless so connection is not possible afloat. We tour a new part of the lagoon on foot and by dinghy. We get free wifi at Pineapple Pete's and walk around the South side of the bay checking supermarkets and shopping. I have a “showarma”, a kind of messy overfilled kebab and have bad guts for the rest of the day. We find two supermarkets with amazing selection of goods and one has very reasonable prices, i.e. about the same as England.

Mon 2^nd

The Raymarine electronics engineer is expected today. We spend the morning fitting new bushes to our “goose-neck”, the joint that attaches the boom to the mast and main sail. Wind has dropped to zero so we spin about slowly in the lagoon getting very hot.

Tue 3^rd

We get a call to say that the electrician has a job that overran and it is unlikely that we will see him this week.

Wed 4^th

Go to Phillipsburg on a mission to buy a new laptop. We spend half a day finding the cheapest spot and get an ACER Aspire 1 with the long life battery, Intel Atom 1.66 GHz, 1gig memory, 250 GB hard drive a case an 8gig memory stick for £200, I hope that was a good deal!

Thur 5^th

We pick up our headsail from the sail maker and head back to pick up Sally and Chris, we drop them off at the airport dinghy dock and have a couple of beers before they go through. We go to the French side to get Internet and have a beer in the Cadisco petrol station! (beers as 1.5 euro) where the local French yachties hang out.

Fri 6^thTo Wed 11^th

Trying hard not to spend money shopping!

Thur 12^th

Andy the Electrician arrives early to fit our new log impeller. He looks at the job and says he will be back in the pm as he has another job to do first. We spend three hours dismantling the boat, unscrewing shelves, panels, walls and floors to find and provide access to the conduits so we can mouse the new line. True to his word he arrives and the job is completed. We then spend another two hours putting the boat back together. Stewart and Stephanie visit us for a jam session with two guitars and a violin, we plan to put a set together for Friday at Barnacles. By 10pm we have three songs, and the beer stops us continuing. We plan to continue practising on Friday pm.

Fri 13^th

Go to Barnacles for the jam session and food only Stewart plays as we did not get enough practice. Trudy has grilled prawns that are deep fried and I have a Greek burger, just a normal burger that has been stuffed in a pita with some salad. We are disappointed! Early on we listen to Stewart, Mason, Tony and a guy with a feather in his hat. All is good until a band comes on later that is so loud that your ears ring so we get an early night! (If its too loud you are too old!) Also music is rubbish, mainly shouting in the mike and the keyboard is playing loudly in the wrong key. It really hurt your ears.

Sat 14^th

Another day victualling the yacht; we split up as it chucks it down. Roads are flooded but we end up completing the second half of our big food shop. We now have tins and dried for about three months as here these are a third of the price on other islands.

Sun 15^th

Stay on yacht as wind is high.

Mon 16^th

Try to source half inch screwdriver to remove broken deck fittings. No luck. Go to Phillipsburg. On the way back we go to the bars at the start of the airport runway. There are two bars, one at either side of the runway and a beach behind where the planes take off. A road runs between the beach and the end of the runway which is protected by a wire fence. There are large signs saying “Beware of force from planes taking off and landing” “Danger of Death or serious injury”. However there are crowds that stand behind the jets, some holding onto the fence. They get blown away or blown horizontal holding the fence.

Flora from Folkloreic finishes our water catcher. This is the final job that we planned to complete before we leave, so we are now ready to go!

Tue 17^th

Except....Final shopping, (48 bottles of duty free), check out from French quarter, have lunch with Stephanie and Stewart from Matador and Simon from Bird. Lance and Michelle (new girlfriend ) should have been there with us but Lance lost her in the French marina, only a 200 metre walk around pontoons on the edge of the water! We fill with water, but there is no dinghy fuel. We pass out of the lagoon through the 16:30 bridge. I fit a hydrofoil to the dinghy engine. This is a bolt on fin that attaches to the outboard just above the prop. It is supposed to reduce fuel consumption, stabilize and help lift the dinghy onto “the plane” quicker.

Wed 18^th

Set off for St Eustatia, a good sail with full canvas up in moderate sea. We arrive and Trudy checks in, we can then both go ashore. There is a huge amount of smoke and clunking coming from the outboard but when it settles down the performance is a great improvement. (perhaps some swarf got into the intake? I hope not!) Oranje Baai is a quiet town on the coast and the top of a hill. There are many well preserved historic buildings from the 17c when it was the busiest harbour in the world. Mostly due to sugar and slaving. It is very quiet now and a delight to wander around. This is a place to chill, very different from the bustle of St Martin. We have a beer in the Blue Bean, there is a loud noise like monkeys fighting, we find out that it is the macaws that patrol at the start of the evening. We catch a glimpse only, nice to see them in the wild.

Thur 19^th

Leave Statia early and sail off to St Kitts. Another relaxed sail but with two reefs and a slightly bigger sea in parts. Trudy goes ashore to check in. The customs officer makes several mistakes on the forms so we need to go back again to get them changed. We wander around the town, most of it is designed for the cruise ships with designer goods, and when we get to the old town strangely the same Chinese souvenirs seen all over the Caribbean are on sale here. “Piccadilly circus” is a small roundabout that can be seen in all the brochures but there is not much more to see.

Fri 20^th

Late start and a leisurely sail for only ten miles to Nevis. We get some light rain which is very welcome. We pick up a mooring, one of forty and head to the port office and customs.

There is a sign on the dinghy dock saying do NOT lock your dinghy, we do anyway and ask why at the port office, I am told to go and unlock it (which I do) but given no reason. We go to customs and arrange the changes to the clearance form, this presents no problem other than they cannot get it to print. 20 mins later and we are off to walk around the town. Initially we walk through a cruise ship mall, they seem to be springing up all over the Caribbean with the same designer shops. Once through we get to a small town with a single road through there are a few local shops, several Chinese restaurants and not much else, an old machine gun forms a monument in the small town square.

Sat21^st

We get up at 5 and motor-sail all the way to Antigua. This takes 9 hours and ends with the last hour in a tropical storm with visibility down to about 50 metres. The start of the journey was interesting as the gps was showing us travelling backwards! After rummaging around in the Raymarine manuals we discover that the flux gate compass has reset itself 180° out. After further research we do two 360° turns slowly to initialise the compass variation, then get the chance to digitally adjust the compass to the correct heading. We waste about ten minutes performing this task and fix the problem. This then allows us to use the auto-helm. When we get to Falmouth harbour we have missed the customs office so cannot leave the boat. This is the island that fines up to $5000 if crew get off before the yacht has checked in.

Sun 22^nd

Trudy checks us in then we get off for a walk to the beach to see the Classic yacht race start. The yachts are extremely impressive, with beautiful lines and sail plans. We end up in English harbour where the yachts all parade through after completing the race. The evening entertainment is provided by Panerai the watch makers. We get free cocktails canapés, dinner and drinks and a band plays throughout.

Mon 23^rd

Stewart and Steph invite us on “Matador”, a Rival built in 1978. We head out to watch the racing close to. Some photos in our link.

Tue 24^th

When going ashore the dinghy prop begins to spin up. More work required!

Wed 25^th

Call Seagull inflatables, they can get a prop with a smaller pitch today otherwise there is a three day wait. We decide on the smaller one. I dinghy ashore at about 1/2 knot and walk a mile to Seagull Inflatables. I get a lift and help taking the engine off and have to provide boat papers and wait 3 hours for the prop to arrive. Once fitted and back in the dinghy the acceleration and planing is much improved so the smaller pitch was a good choice.

Thur 26^th

We go to the beach to watch the racing and then walk to English harbour and get a dinghy taxi across the bay to the Chandlers and back.

Fri 27^th

Mount Gay rum “Red Hat” party. If you have raced or drunk enough rum over the previous week you get a “free” Mount Gay Race week red hat. We got one. Another huge ambition realized! Party is busy and an active dance band are on. Also rum is free for a couple of hours.

Sat 28^th

Rest day!

Sun 29^th

Spent part of the day drilling out pop rivets from the bimini and inserting larger ones. This has been getting looser since we started. It is now tied down in place and the rivets are a vast improvement.

Mon 30^th

Return pop rivet gun to Jan,Check out at customs in English Harbour and get the boat ready to leave in the morning. We have stayed 9 days and the cruising and immigration fees come to about $100.

We have missed several days from the calendar during our time in St Maarten, this is only because we spent a lot of time sourcing parts and services. Also the bay is so large that you can spend ages just investigating the coastline to find dinghy docks (and bars). We also did a large amount of reading and got through about 5 to 8 books each this month.

March 2012

Thur 1^st

On the way to Guadeloupe we catch a fish trap on the port prop, it takes Steph about a half hour to entangle it and we now have a fish trap buoy on board! We arrive and anchor in Deshaies and as we had already checked in and out at Iles de Sainte we stay on board and do not visit the main land. It is very rough and the wind is all over so we need to do an anchor watch. During the night we swing very close to another yacht that is moored in the bay.

Fri 2^nd

We lift anchor at 05:50 as we are all awake and it is a long trip to Antigua. Early in the day we spot whale spume about 400m in front of us. This continues for about a 15 minutes whilst the whales speed away in front of us,never to be seen. When we arrive in Falmouth Antigua Trudy has to go ashore alone to check in as Customs are very strict and can impose $5000 fines if crew go ashore before being check in has been completed. It is also somewhat complicated as four of our crew are leaving the boat and flight numbers and addresses need to be included on the forms. We eventually all go ashore to the Mad Mongoose to try the local beer, Wadadli which is 5% and quite good.

Sat 3^rd

We sail around to Jolly harbour about three hours away. The pilot says it is extremely well marked by red and green buoys, however when we arrive there are some missing and the ones remaining are all grey. We take a pontoon in the marina which looks like it has seen better days. There is however a good supermarket and the happy hour is enjoyed by all.

Sun 4^th

Steph and Gabi set off at 4:00 am so we don't see them off! Helga and Steve help us clean the boat and later we sail to St Johns. On arrival it is so grim we head back and anchor in “Mosquito Cove” just outside Jolly harbour. We later drop Helga and Steve off in the marina where we manage one beer before they need to get their taxi.

Mon 5^th

We visit Budget Marine to buy charts and courtesy flags then spend the rest of the day chilling in Mosquito Cove.

Tue 6^th

A late start then back to Falmouth. The first half is a rough sail with all the reefs in, it then turns to an awful up wind motor-sail into Falmouth bay. The wind is still gusting 35 knots and we anchor with the chain pulling hard despite motoring against the wind. Jan and Susan from Peter Pan, who we met in Granada, visit and we decide to go ashore as this is their last night here before travelling to Germany.

Wed 7^th

Wander round Nelsons dockyard in English harbour, this is a quality renovation of the original dockyard. There are several classic yachts on the slip being prepared for Antigua Classic race week in mid April. All beautiful and shiny with some first class renovation progressing to teak deck hardware, masts, wooden blocks bright-work etc. We meet Mike “The Scrim” who makes jewellery and scrimshaw to order. Trudy is debating a dolphin wrapped around a pearl. Later we pick up “Peter Pan” Susan and Jan and drop them on the pontoon.

Thurs 8^th

Stay on board catching up on chores.

Fri 9^th

Go to see Mike the scrim, he has not only sold the gold dolphin but got a further commission on a new one. He will make Trudy another and will have it ready when we get to St Maarten. Later he cycles past the Mad Mongoose and tells us he will be in St Maarten on the 23^rd, for a couple of weeks.

Sat 10^th

Go to St Johns for a mooch about, find nothing but tourist traps so buy a roti, local, 10xcd and get the bus back.

Sun 11^th

We meet Dave from Old Bob a modern day classic made from ferocrete, Libby and Geoff who live on the island. Libby invites us over for a Sunday lunch party in a weeks time and suggests we spend the week going to “Green Island”. There is nothing there but beautiful beaches and reefs. A place to chill.

Mon 12^th

We shop in preparation for the trip to Green Island. The dinghy davit block breaks so we need to get more boat parts. We have a shackle that is a bit too small; The lady in the chandlers says her shackle is 390 xcd, about £97, so we won't want it! She is right...the small one will have to do.

Tues 13^th

Set off up wind from Falmouth harbour to Green Island. A beat sailing 23 miles to make 9 miles up wind. So we discover that we need to do 3 times the miles when travelling hard on the wind. This is the first time that we have had to work so hard to make progress. Fortunately we can make about 6 knots through the water or about 2 knots towards the way-point!

Wed 14^th

Wake up to a peaceful bay that slowly fills, first with kite surfers and then tourists fill both beaches. Super-yachts go and come as more arrive to enjoy this beautiful place. I re-reve the first reef line that has been wearing out the new sail bag and Trudy carefully removes all traces of mould that have accumulated on our snorkelling masks. We find that the straps on our Zoggs swimming goggles have all rotted, presumably due to a mix of sun sea and heat. We attempt our first video and apologise to anyone watching it for the sound quality, the wind noise is bad and we do not know how to edit it out!

Thur 15^th

Get up early and set off back to Falmouth harbour on a down wind leg. On the way back the 9 miles takes only 13 miles gybing 130 degrees to the apparent wind. We get about 6 knots.

Fri 16^th

We spend the day in four chandlers buying rigging parts including a very fancy snap block that will fit almost anywhere on the boat in the event of a block failure. We check out Catherine's café that gets a good write up in the pilot and end up going back there for dinner. Fois gras a lamb shank, fish tartare and a fillet steak mmmm. First meal out for about a month. Seems longer.

Sat 17^th

We need to shop for wine for tomorrow's Sunday lunch at Libby's. Otherwise a lazy day reading in the sun.

Sun 18^th

Bottom cleaning. Surprisingly there are no barnacles on our new rudders despite being in the water for about a month. However the rest of the hulls are covered with barnacles about 8mm in diameter. So much for the (hard) anti-foul in Grenada.

Sunday lunch out was a hoot, Libby started us off with a classic rum punch. (1 of sour 2 of sweet 3 of strong and 4 of week). Their house is totally open plan with the only doors being on the bathrooms; no windows and drinks were served in old jam jars. They have several cottages in the grounds up and down steep pathways. I was asked to put the (4 in one tray) chickens in the oven, a 30metre walk up hill to an oven that worked! About 15 of us with locals from various technicalities sat around chatting all day. Libby put on a great Sunday roast dinner, our first since leaving the UK. We were the last to leave as usual.

Mon 19^th

Recovery day...

Tue 20^th

Pour over charts and pilots to choose a route to St Maarten. (Saba, St Statia, St Kits, Nevis, St Bart’s, Montserrat?) We will be sailing part of the way in the dark with no moon. This will be the first night sailing since arriving in the Caribbean. We don't want to land in the dark or pass too near any lee shores; It is about 100 miles to St Maarten with many possible stops from 50 miles on. We decide to leave about 4pm. So if we make 8 knots we will arrive early in the morning and if we only make 4 we will still have a couple of hours daylight left.

Wed 21^st

We have a restful day and head out at 4pm.

It was an eventful night in the pitch black with no moon, but glorious stars. We set off with full sails up doing 8 knots but after about 8 squalls each getting worse we end up fully reefed and continue the rest of the night at between 2 and 4 knots. We are circled by a number of cruise ships that waste time and diesel each night to ensure that they leave each port at dusk and arrive the next day at dawn, even though it should only take them an hour!

Thur 22^nd

Early morning we catch another rope around the rudder. We cannot now start the starboard engine and do not want to dive in deep water. Even with the small 3 to 5 foot swell that we have you could be banged on the head by 12.5 tons of boat. As we near the bay we drop the headsail and slow down. By good fortune the rope seems to have dropped off.

We arrive in Simpson Bay at 12:30 pm, we missed the bridge into the lagoon by an hour. The island is shared between the Dutch Antilles and the French Department. The 12 square miles of lagoon in the centre is also split. Entry into the island, either the St Maarten or St Martin half is different; and we want to go through the Dutch bridge and into the French part of the lagoon. We dive to check the rudder and all is clear.

At 17:00 we up anchor and make our way to the bridge, which is lifted at 17:30. There are only four of us going through at this time and we are the last. The Yacht Club is situated about 20 metres after the bridge, and huge cheers go up as we pass by. This is apparently a daily event during happy hour. We make our way through 2 to 2.5 metres of water to the north of the lagoon where hundreds of yachts are parked on the French side. We locate “Vanity” and drop anchor nearby under the “Witches Tit”. This is half way between French and Dutch marine complexes. As we look around there are many familiar yachts from Grenada.

Fri 23^rd

We check in at the French immigration, you just fill out a form on their computer and pay 7 Euros. We find out it would have been $90 in the Dutch side. Have lunch in Cafe la Gare, it is just like being in France. Steve and Carol call by from “Innamorata II” (first love the second!) and we arrange a crawl from Yacht Club to Barnacles for the evening. Chris and sally from “Vanity” call by and we catch up on gossip and information about the area. They have sold their yacht, nearly.

Yacht club happy hour sees us watching new arrivals and meeting Tony from Tactical Direction, Len and Jean from Tuatora. We all head off to Barnacles by dinghy. It is an octagonal bar with stools and no tables. So you eat standing at the bar. A Greek chef but the bar had an Aussie feel to it. It is open mike night, and the talent contest goes on until after we leave.

Sat 24^th

A day spent touring the bay from chandlers to supermarkets and end up visiting the Soggy Dollar bar and Lagoonie's where we meet more old friends. Including London Pride and Guinness. A beer in happy hour, from 16:00 to 19:00 is $1-50 US. Desmond from “Cala d' Oro” is an Irish guy who has only ever sailed cats and is now on his sixth. He is most helpful with technical questions.

Sun 25^th

A rest day, reading in the sun.

Mon 26^th

Early start with the gas bottle being dropped off at Island Water World, then back to receive luggage from Vanity as they are staying the night, Dave from “Mistral” visits to asses our gas fitting requirements. We spend the rest of the day visiting chandlers. When we get back Sally and Chris are aboard and Desmond arrives for beers. Thai curry for all.

Tue 27th

Dave arrives at 08:00, Chris takes us to “Turtles” for breakfast, eggs Benedict with extra bacon! The rest of the day is spent chasing gas parts and Dave eventually completes our new installation. The old system was unsafe, worn out rusty, several joins etc. We now have from the bottle, a quick release valve, regulator with gauge, a solenoid valve, a single run of reinforced tubing, electric control box and a single split for oven and hob.

Wed 28^th

Dave comes back with plumbing tools to fix dripping tap. It is the kind of job that I would do myself but having tried it was so seized up that I dare not force it as it could result in no water and no gas as both are now on the same circuit. Dave has trouble but with the liberal use of impact hammer we finally free the tap to discover a small piece of aluminium foil has been preventing the tap from closing. In the afternoon we remove our head sail and take it to the sail-maker, the leach cord has frayed at the end and needs replacing. This is a cord that is used to tighten the leach (trailing edge) of the sail to prevent flapping and premature wear. On our way back we are hailed onto Cala d' Oro where Chris and sally are celebrating the money in the bank from their yacht sale. The party later continues on “Lala” Lances boat, the one that Sally and Chris are now staying on until they can arrange flights to England.

Thur 29^th

Guess what another rest day. How did we get back to the boat? How did the dinghy get lifted onto the davits?

Fri 30^th

We arrange for a Raymarine electrician to fit our log impeller transducer and tour the hardware shops, order water pump bearings, on the Dutch side, have lunch at Lagoonie's and a night in.

Sat 31^st

Parked at Shrimpy's dropped off laundry and walked around the French capital Marigot, lots of designer shops and it is very like any French seaside town. Back to Lagoonie's again where we hear from Chris and Sally that, due to money laundering regulations, their bank have stopped their account! Simon from “Bird” has decided to sail back to England via Cuba.

February 2012

February

Wed 1^st

We chase up our life-raft. The bottom had dropped out and the flaps to stop it blowing away had all come off. It was only two months out of date when we dropped it off so the three year service interval is far too long. It would have been useless for at least a year. We later hear that they can fail after only a year and on one occasion a 10 soul casing had only a six soul life raft inside.

We meet three Irish guys, Mick, David and Lonan who had announced their arrival, towed in, with a broken gearbox over the cruisers “net” (channel 68 at 8:30). the American controller suggests motoring to Martinique duh! With no gearbox? Later on ch 68 the same guy asks Mick if he is Israeli as that is what his accent sound like!

Thur 2^nd

Another day of cleaning and chasing.

Last night Mick suggested taking a look at his SSB set up so I visit him on “Transcendence”. He is very helpful in describing aerial, dipole, ICOM, ATF, KISS and PACTOR elements of his set up.

Fri 3^rd

Four Rudder bearings have been made so we should be in the water over the weekend. Get a message to say our life raft is serviced can they deliver it now. We meet Hans who has “Pink Panther” a slightly older version of our boat. He just lost a rudder, what a surprise. He tells us about the Friday street party/jump up at Gros Islet. Life raft arrives and Hans helps us winch it up into a housing in the boat currently inaccessible due to us being 6 meters up in the air. We take a bus to Gros Islet for the Friday jump up. The streets are packed and music booms out. We meet a local, Greg, who has been living in London for years who has come back to look after his dad. Buses stop at 02.00 so we get a bus back at 01:00.

Sat 4^th

We discover only 1 of 4 bearings has been made so we will not be launched until Monday. We pay for a boat clean ready for the launch. We have been chasing a new log / transducer impeller from the Raymarine agent and find out that this will cost $82 but with shipping and brokerage this will come to $192. So we decide just to rely on the GPS! Meet the Irish at our local bar “Captain Mike's” where we have Mahi Mahi creole style. Excellent.

Sun 5^th

We are parked in front of “Solar” a French boat owned by Luca and Paula, a Spanish couple, who want to launch. We are holding them up, but assure them that we will be out of the way by Monday.

Mon 6^th

Bearings and rudders still not finished! So we get moved around the boatyard so Solar can launch. Two years ago they lost their mast and are still waiting for the insurance (Alliance) to cough up; yesterday he had his outboard stolen from his dinghy; today the hoist broke so he is still stuck on dry land. Seems to get a lot of bad luck.

Tues 7^th

Should be ready today so we book a launch for tomorrow at 10 am. Hoist still broken and can't get parts....wash the decks again...Rudders are completed but need an epoxy coating and anti-fouling; still looks good for tomorrow.

Wed 8^th

Its chucking it down, the decks are filthy and we are waiting to see dockyard manager before we launch. He needs to pay for the cleaning! Access to our emergency tiller has proved impossible without removing the deck fitting so new fittings are required. Still waiting for rudder bearings to be fitted, but rudders have had epoxy and anti-foul applied. Sail drive outer seals have been fabricated and fitted, props back in place.

On the hoist at 3.pm stb engine primes OK, but trouble with port. Turn sea-cock off fill filter, start engine, turn sea-cock on and we get water out from the exhaust and overflow. Finally we are in the water again..we dock in the marina and complain about the state of the boat, they will clean it tomorrow.

Thur 9^th

Tjohn arrives at 9 to clean the boat. There has been a problem with water in the whole of Gros Islet and by noon there is no water left in the marina. Francis from Dinghys and Life-rafts comes to tell us that he does not have the cash to pay for our new dinghy so Budget Marine won't release it. We already paid him the full price but he has had an uninsured dinghy stolen and his cash flow has suffered as a result. This means he wants us to sub him for a week or our dinghy won't turn up. We owe him $1900 for the service of the life-raft but he owes us a dinghy! I agree to pay his balance on my credit card and he agrees to give us a better part ex for our old dinghy.

Fri 10^th

Angie and Shaun from Bequia turn up on the pontoon they invite us to dine on Shaun's yacht as on their way up the caught a huge marlin. They would have lost it but for the fact that in its struggle it got the line wrapped around its tail an effectively drowned itself. They are anchored in the bay and we decline due to the filthy weather, shame. Shaun's furling gear bearings disintegrated and so they needed to go to Le Marin Martinique to get a replacement manufactured.

Sat 11^th

We move out into the bay. Have a very relaxing, quiet gently rolling night, best sleep for weeks!

Sun 12th

07:00 watch start of Diamond yacht race outside St Lucia Yacht club, ten yachts start at 07:00 and begin arriving back from 13:00 to 15:00. Dinghy 10 mins across the bay and go to the Jambe du Bois a local arty driftwood type place and eat and listen to the live Jazz group. We discover that they have an excellent book swap so need to go back.

Mon13th

Take a trip to Castries by bus to look at more hardware shops!

Tues 14^th

Oooh valentines day, Go to Pigeon Island, a national park with military buildings and an 18^th century fort at the top of the hill. On the way down we stop off at the jambe do bois for the book swap and a beer.

Wed 15^th

“Liming” on yacht – reading sun-bathing etc..(liming = Caribbean word for not doing very much)

Thur 16^th

A visit to the dental hygienist for both of us. Told off for drinking coffee and red wine, but excellent cleaning job.

Fri 17^th

Liming again.

Sat 18^th

Discover another bearing is broken. More liming.

Sun 19^th

Eighth day Liming in Rodney bay although we are desperate to get north to Dominica and meet up with old sailing pals, the rest in the bay has been welcome and each night we await the perfect sunset on the yacht, that as yet we have not viewed. Either clouds, yachts, land or motor vessels have obscured the sun for the last eight months. Tonight is the night, Trudy sees the perfect unobscured sun sink into the sea. Unfortunately even though I was waiting expectantly for it I was so engrossed in Isaac Asimov that I MISSED IT!

Mon 20^th

Return to the marina to get baring fixed and to collect dinghy (some hope!)

On entry we have no gears on the port engine but we manage to get to the fuel dock where loose cable is diagnosed and fixed. Elvis agrees to get the baring made so we can leave today. True to his word the job is completed by 5pm. However we have waited all day for the paperwork to collect the dinghy from customs and a call from the broker explains that it will be one more day. So we stay in marina one more night, Trudy's birthday as it happens so its off to the Bosun's Inn our favourite Thai restaurant in Rodney Bay. We buy some “love apples” from a local guy, these are small pear shaped fruit, red in colour with an elderflower nose with sharp appley-peary flavour.

Tue 21^st

Call Life-rafts and Inflatables to find our dinghy is on its way to the local customs. Paperwork and customs inspection completed, we check out of the marina and clear customs ready to leave at 7am tomorrow. At 18:09 I finally get to see the perfect sunset. There was no green “spike” but a definite bright green spot appeared just as the sun disappeared. This was not the usual green afterglow you get from looking at a light too long but instead a very bright green spot. I think you need to keep a watch from the corner of your eye until the last few seconds to see this. We'll keep watching. Today is the 33^rd anniversary of St Lucia's independence from the Brits. We have a war ship in the bay and two visitors from England who we watch returning on a motor launch flying the royal standard. We are told it was the Earl and Countess of Wessex. According to blogs Lucians are not impressed, they expected The Queen at least!

Wed 22^nd

Leave Rodney Bay for Martinique at 7:00 am. We have a great sail with both of us getting 10.6 knots 60° off the wind with 20 to 28 kts of wind and one reef in. Luckily the sea state is moderate. We make great time and are outside St Pierre in the North of the island by 12:45 57 miles in less than 6 hours. It is Carnival in St Pierre, mardi gras and all that; wizards, witches, dancers in ghost and skeletal costumes, and they burn an effigy on the beach whilst bikers do burnouts wheelys ect. Later the wind is all over and we have to re-drop the anchor. The “shelf” for anchoring is narrow dropping off to 50 metres quite quickly this means we need to anchor close together and results in a few near misses so we end up staying awake in turn on anchor watch. Until 6:00 am. Cup of coffee then....

Thur 23^rd

Leave St Pierre at 06:30 with one reef in and as soon as we round the headland we are flying! Sea is big, up to 5 metres and wind get up, we put in a second reef, then a third with minimum headsail. About an hour later we let out a bit more headsail and we are then rigged for the 30 to 34 knots of wind we are getting. i.e. near gale with gale force gusts. We make good time again and arrive in Rosseau where Desmond a very helpful boat boy meets us. He lets us off XCD 5 of out XCD 30 of our mooring fee. Wind in the bay is all over (boxing the compass) which is why we took a mooring buoy. Tying a dinghy ashore to check in with customs is tricky as we have a rare westerly swell. This means the dinghy rides up about a metre when each wave comes. We watch a dinghy being smashed under a pontoon with the swell until some helpful Brits rescue it. Our ride ashore for a beer in the Zamzam bar is spoiled by watching our new dinghy thrash around the “Anchorage” pontoon and when we come to leave the swell is quite dangerous. Trudy starts the engine and I untie us, leap in pull on our anchor line, it has dragged inshore but a quick reverse by Trudy takes us out in the nick of time before crashing on the rocks.

Fri 24^th

Leave Roseau for Portsmouth at 10:30. arrive Prince Rupert Bay Portsmouth met by Jack(ie) from “Eddison's tours” so he will be our Indian River Guide for the time we are here. Read up on bars in the bay, but will probably try the nearest three! On bar is closed so we try Big Papas, and The Blue Bay. Big Papa is a hoot, he tells us that the local dogs play up in front of tourists as the locals can't kick them! e.g. one dog has pissed on his foot and another shat in the middle of his restaurant!

Sat 25^th

We walk into town to price up cabs from the airport as the boat boys are offering an all inclusive service from airport to boat. We are told it will be cheaper to taxi from the airport, but this turns out to be untrue. The bay is beautiful and calm and we have a good anchor hold near to the shore, it could not be better.

Sun 26^th

Do a bit of cleaning and prep for our friends and arrange a trip up the Indian River with “Blackie” AKA Eddison, for the next day. Blackie is very dark! And manages his team of taxi drivers tour guides and boat boys. They provide all services, ice, garbage removal tour organizing water and road taxis and he gave us some mangoes from his garden.

Helga and Steve arrive on LIAT flight with no luggage, they are told it is on the next flight....which gets cancelled. Luckily Stephan and Gabi are coming in tomorrow and should be able to pick their luggage up.

Mon 27^th

At 9:00 we are collected by Jackie and Blackie in pouring rain. We cross the bay in a wooden boat with 30HP outboard, when we get to the head of the river we have to get out and walk to the petrol station to buy Indian River passes. We return to a rowing boat and head off up river. The sun comes out and with no other tourists about we have a very peaceful trip viewing various flora and fauna. You can see this river in Pirates of the Caribbean parts 1 and 2! Steve and Helga took loads of excellent photos, unfortunately we forgot to get copies! At the head of the river there is a bar where we all have ginger tea.

Later, Stephan and Gabi arrive at the dock with all the luggage, recognising the bags, they just picked them up on the way out of the airport.

Tues 28^th

We all go on a tour of the island, first stop is Roseau where we buy cakes for breakfast and trolling gear to catch dinner tomorrow. Then off to the champagne dive site to see an excellent array of fish and coral. Trudy and I were persuaded to take a dive guide for $10 as we might miss the anchor attached to 4 cannon. (muddy mound with a bit of chain and the end of a cannon showing). snorkelling out to a 70 foot shelf showed that the visibility was at least that far. Part of the dive is over an area of seabed that vents gas from a volcano, so you are snorkelling through bubbles. Then back up the hill for a BLT and a beer. Next stop was at the Hibiscus falls and pool where we could go for a freshwater swim.

Wed 29^th

Set off for Iles de Saintes with F7 and a good swell. On the way over Steph catches not one, but two kingfish, the largest does for supper tonight and the smaller for lunch on Thursday. We try to enter West of an island but the sea seems to be breaking right across the entrance so we go around and add an hour to the journey. When we arrive on the mooring we go ashore to check in and are told that we should wait on the boat for 20 mins. An hour and a half later we finally pay for the mooring and go back ashore to join our friends for A beer. Then back to the boat. It is a very roly mooring and we are glad to set off for Guadeloupe the following morning.

March

We had friends on board for the first part of this month and have achieved our first goal of reaching St Martin during this season.

January 2012

January 2012

Sun 1^st

Struggle to lower beach in Admiralty Bay Bequia, and meet up with some local musicians Stan, Cora and Serconi and have an entertaining afternoon listening to live music. We meet Lupo their publican friend from Germany who speaks such broad German that even the Germans cannot understand him. We had been invited to a pig roast in Friendship bay but did not go as we were having fun where we were. This was a good choice as we later hear that they burned the pig.

Mon 2^nd

We went ashore, the dinghy breaks down several times. Trudy decides that she will get external help. Deedee a local girl water taxi driver rescues us, tows us to the boat and advises who is the best guy to fix it.

Tue 3^rd

Kerry comes to fix outboard, Trudy goes off sailing with the girls on Angie's boat “Kibe”. Kerry uses his load tester on our main batteries and finds one cell down and one cell dead; effectively we have Only half our amp hours available and are wrecking the other batteries. I need to fit a new 6v trojan at £150. Meet at the Auberge to listen to Secuni play.

Wed 4^th

Prepare to leave, take dinghy ashore and clean bottom, get supplies and dinghy fuel.

Thur 5^th

I am given a local boy's linux based computer and spend all day trying to fix it whilst watching the “No Fear” salvage take place. It has a small hole in the hull and needs lifting with air bags outside and towing to a calm shore.

Fri 6^th

Decide to stay until after the week end. Try to give Linux laptop back but instead are presented with the charger. No excuse now, so spend 3 hours and eventually get it started using Ctrl+D followed by CTRL+Z. Any help on this system would be greatly appreciated as I tried for 2 hours twice to create a Linux boot up stick.

Sat 7^th

A bit of bottom cleaning to remove the final barnacles and algae. Invited to Jurgan's place for lobster. He prepared an interesting lobster dip (lobster, cream cheese, paprika, yoghurt and grated onion) followed by lobster salad with potato and herbs.

Sun 8^th

Helped to extract engine from “No Fear”. She is now on the beach looking very sad. They dragged her up using a JCB and the hull now looks more like old wattle and daub plaster without the plaster. Robin looks on, he does not look happy.

Mon 9^th

Set off from Bequia; after clearing customs we have 24 hours to leave the SVG; A good sail in 15 to 20 kts. Arrive in Walliabou and get help with mooring lines at a charge of EC$15, still arguing since the last time we were here. We get charged a further EC$20 because we are tied to a pile 20 metres from the end of a dilapidated pontoon that used to be attached. We do not go ashore.

Tues 10^th

After an early start (7:30 ) we motor sail up wind for 43 miles in 25 to 30 kts and a large swell. Arrive Sufriere bay, usual thing boat boys overcharging, we get away with EC$15. We dinghy to customs and a rude chap on the pontoon wants to take my line. When I don't let him he calls me German and swears in English, or patois the f word is the same in both languages. Customs was very friendly and later in the day even waved at us in a bar. The immigration office was locked and still without a door handle since six months ago. The curtain twitches and eventually we are told the policeman will be here soon. Last time we were here he told us off, this time he gave us six month in St Lucia even though we only asked for 3 weeks.

We are moored next to a French boat. When we get back we are nose to tail nearly touching, their lines are about 10 meters too long. But in any case we are both sitting on new moorings that are too close and should only be used for boats less than 10meters.

When we ask they pull in their lines which helps a great deal as long as we “swing the same way”.

Wed 11^th

Head out to stock up with booze and have a roti for lunch. Take a bus to Ladera, a hotel with a superb view of the Pitons. This was suggested as the best place to have lunch in the Caribbean.

Thurs 12^th

Move moorings at 7 am with Trudy on the helm. The park ranger comes to visit and tells Trudy he saw her this morning “playing “ with the wheel! We set off towards Laborie to moor and wait for Ilsa and Grant who will be our first visitors. Its so rough that we dare not try to get in and instead go to Vieux Fort which is 2 miles from the airport. We have heard bad reports about this place and go ashore worried about the safety of the yacht and the dinghy. All is OK and the people we met were both friendly and helpful. The town itself is full of wooden clap-board buildings mixed with new concrete shops. However the fish dock is such a filthy harbour it will create a bad impression for an arrival. As we are making supper the heavens open and we are deluged with rain and winds up to 28 knots. This would make a great start to a holiday. We discuss having another attempt to get into Laborie tomorrow – subject to the weather.

Friday 13^th,

Clean up the boat and await BA flight with Ilsa and Grant. Flight arrives on time and it starts to rain again just as they get out of the taxi. It then rains off and on all evening.

Saturday 14^th

We set off towards Laborie and once again it is too rough to go in. Trudy says the steering is a bit strange but I assume it is just the sail trim. Ilsa manages to sail down wind at 10 knots, the fastest we have been on the yacht, rounding the point towards the Pitons Grant takes the helm up wind and I tell him there is no chance of beating Ilsa's record going upwind, He promptly proves me wrong by sailing at 10.5 knots! I explain that sailing will not get any better than this. We head into Jalousie bay pick up a mooring and dive in. The snorkelling is the best we have seen. Very clear water and although the coral is quite young there is a wide selection of both fish and coral. It just does not get any better than this.

I check the mooring buoy and when getting back onto the boat I notice that we have lost a rudder! I now wish we had ordered a spare back in August as there is a 1 to 2 month lead time on new ones.

Sun 15^th

We move to the Bat caves in the next bay a bit more snorkelling and the fish are even bigger, We take a trip ashore where the kids on the pontoon say they will watch our boat as sometimes the engines are tampered with, sounds like extortion. Went to a couple of bars we meet up with Kerry again, a guy who has spent the last couple of years looking after a villa for his mum. Eat in a restaurant overlooking the bay.

Mon 16^th

Sail and motor-sail up to Marigot Bay where we take a mooring in the inner bay 50 meters from the most expensive restaurant in the bay. We go ashore on the other side of the bay walk to the top of the hill for a beer and back down again for cocktails at Chateaux Maigo, “sex on the boat”, “sex on the beach” and pina colada, cheap and good, Staff are very attentive and good fun.

Tue 17^th

Head for Rodney bay and decide to take a birth to ease maintenance, shopping and get fresh water, tricky birth, as only one rudder. On the way we hear a laud crack a find a main sheet block has broken but remains just serviceable. We drop the main and motor. On arrival Trudy and Ilsa head into the lagoon to shop and vital, Grant and I hunt for spares (with no money!) and get a call to say we must go to customs to collect the new dinghy we ordered months ago. Its in a filthy state, has a rip and when blown up and launched is very unstable and too small. Time runs out so we go for beers in happy hour. We meet John and Sunny a couple we met in Grenada. They lost their dinghy in a rough seas between islands. We get back to the boat for a curry and the gas runs out before it is ready so we have to go ashore to eat.

Wed 18^th

Today is Ilsa's 40^th Birthday. Early start Trudy and I set off to the dinghy man to see if we can change it, Grant and Ilsa head off to find the spares to fit the American gas bottle as the old one is French and has different fittings, (Butane/propane regulator and fittings). When we get back Grant has sourced the parts and we are in the process of removing the life-raft for a service. It is for 10 souls and weighs a ton we need ropes winches and pulleys to lower it into the dingy. Trudy and I take this to the service agent and on our return Grant has fitted the new gas. We have a cup of tea! The next job was to remove water pumps and check bearings. This Grant performs in double quick time and discovers we need two types. A very helpful chap, Ian Cowan at Island Water World gives us details of the bearings, an exploded diagram of the pumps and tells us where we might source the parts. We find the bearings and Grant spend the rest of the day replacing them. (Thanks very much incredible job) This was done with a socket set and a “horse stopper”. (Ilsa wants to know how to stop a horse, answer “with her favourite tool, a hammer”). Success means we have a meal out with cocktails.

Thur 19^th

Late start so we meander down to Marigot Bay where we anchor outside and go to Dr Doolitle's, where the film was shot. Game of pool and across the bay for cash, cocktails and pizza.

Fri 20^th

We have a very early start as we are heading for a final chance to get in to Laborie.

On the entrance a huge swell turns the boat a quarter sideways and lifts a keel. Much engine input means she swings round and we are in the bay! We are the only ones there. When we get ashore it was worth it. Little tourism, about eight bars though we only use two, but one that night. At the Bamboo Bar we meet the owner, Captain Kent who suggests Righteous in Rodney bay can fabricate a rudder for me. He also cooks excellent snapper and creole chicken.

Sat 21^st

22^nd

We all took a bus to Vieux Fort, had a wander and another bus to Micaud to check out the Atlantic. Unfortunately the trip was a circular one and we missed the stop so we just got a tour of the centre of of the island. Back in Laborie we all have a roti lunch at the Market Place, a walk along the beach, back through the town and back to the boat for Grant and Ilsa to pack. Ashore we have a farewell beer in the Bamboo and see them off in a taxi. There are only two other boats in the bay and we discover reassuringly that one of them is skippered by Chris Doyle the guy who writes and edits the pilot books for the area,

Sun 23^rd

Watched by Chris Doyle, we set off from Laborie in a scary swell and managed to avoid the reefs. Motored to Rodney Bay as we did not not trust the rudder, anchored in the bay for a rest.

Mon 24^th

Set out to see Righteous, his guy says we need to see Elvis to get the rudders dropped whilst in the marina. We meet “Elvis” who is alive and well working in the IGY marina in Rodney Bay. He says we need a haul out as the rudder bearings will also be knackered. The fabrication of two rudders and 4 Teflon bearings will take about a week so we will be stuck in the boatyard for a week. $750US plus for the haul and who knows what two rudders and 4 bearings will cost. Ahghh. We book in for Wednesday morning at 8:00.

Tue 25^th

Receive a message to say our life-raft is ready, lucky we didn't need it last week! Trudy cleans the boat, catches up with emails and we “lime” for a day.

Wed 25^th to Tue 31^st

Early start arrive at haul out no problems now on hard. Not much happens whilst we wait on a dusty building site for delivery of stainless from the states. Elvis builds moulds for the rudders and machines bearings from oil impregnated nylon. Ian Cowan helped source the stainless. He is a great source of information.

We sleep badly and both us and the boat are covered in cement dust and old anti-foul sanded off other boats. Our noses and throats are dry, they just dismantled the gents toilet block, we cannot use our fridge or freezer when we are out of the water life is not much fun at the moment....

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!