June and July 2013

June
Sat 1^st
Gavin has a gig in “Coco's”. we go, but there are only two other punters. The whole of Bequia is very quiet, so its probably time to head South.


Sun 2^nd
Spend a day working out what key 20 plus songs are in.
Cocktail party on Tjeldøy Ice-cream Bob, Gavin and I play, thoroughly enjoyable.


Mon 3^rd
Rain and high winds all day keep us on the boat.


Tue 4^th
More rain and wind.


Wed 5^th
Final shop and check out. Stop at Tjeldøy for a sundowner and to swap movies.


Thur 6^th
Early start and head straight to Hillsborough on Carriacou, one of the Grenada parishes and an island paradise. (according to the customs officer). It does however have the lowest murder rate in the world. And very little crime. Only 6000 inhabitants probably helps. We have a great sail with steady winds and not too much sun, ideal. We also see a whale about 15 metres away. I make a quick sketch of what I saw; a “falcate” dorsal fin about half a metre high and about 2 metres of its back, blow not visible, and the tail fluke not raised when it dived. Later investigation suggests this may have been a minke, or with an estimated length of about 8 metres a small Brydes whale. The customs guy that gave us the hard time when we tried to leave early in the morning three month ago comes into the office and greets us like long lost friends and welcomes us back to the island!


Fri 7^th
We try to sail round to the next bay but end up motoring, its only an hour away. We anchor in Tyrell bay. Later the Lambie Queen is the place to go on Fridays, but we head for Tantie Lizzie's first to check if Launa is back. She is still visiting her daughter in Scotland. In the Lambie Queen we meet Francis from Huddersfield. There is a village on Carriacou where most of the residents originally came from Huddersfield. There is a band playing, drums, steel drum, five string bass and keyboard. I ask if I can join them and they invite me to play next Wednesday at the “Off the Hook” on paradise beach.


Sat 8^th
Stayed on board due to wind and rain.


Sun 9^th
Lunch on the slipway, burgers and bloody marys. Perfect. Even though weather is a bit poor.


Mon 10^th To Thur 13^th
Stayed on board due to wind and rain. Weather can be a bit poor out here! Max winds at anchor have been recorded at 37 knots. Missed the evening at Off the Hook on Wednesday.


Fri 14^th
We wake up to the news that yacht Uisge Beatha has caught fire and completely burned out in Prickley Bay, the harbour we were travelling to next week.
Moalis from yacht Moalis came to visit; we met on Tjeldøy a couple of weeks ago. They are from Switzerland and have a small yacht with dagger-boards and no keel.


Sat 15^th
Up at 6:30, anchor up by 7:00 and were off down the windward side of Grenada. Not done this before and we are on a lee shore most of the way. Weather starts grey and gets....a bit less grey....then a bit sunny. Ends up a great sail and with currents behind us part of the way we average 7.5 knots and jolly good time! Arrive in Clarkes Court bay by lunch time. This trip we normally do over two days going the other side of the island so this is a massive improvement.


Sun 16^th
We get to Whisper Cove Marina for the first jam session of the (off) season. It is well supported, including the family from “Cape” dubbed the Von Trapps. They play two guitars, a flute and Mum sings.


Mon 17^th
Farmer's market. It is only one stall with a small selection of small vegetables.


Tue 18^th
Shopping Trip goes all around the houses visiting chandlers and hardware stores ending up at supermarket and off licence. A good tour that reminds us where everything is on Grenada.


Wed 19^th

The afternoon is spent practising with Gavin and Gary a local trumpet player. He is quick to learn and adds a warm tone to our playing. Then burger night at Clarkes Court bay marina.

Thur 20^th
Cooking Class on the dodgy dock at True Blue Bay. Slightly disappointing as it was a creole sauce that we have made loads of times, with chicken strips and pasta. Head to Whisper Cove for tapas, but its not on as tonight its “roast chicken night”. Smells and looks fantastic; shame we were stuffed at the cooking class.


Fri 21^st
IWW to check out gas bottle situation. Cricket at Clarkes Court bay marina, I am equal top scorer with 27 runs. Drop 3 catches and get the 4^th. Probably best to quit now.


Sat 22^nd
Trudy has taken up daily noodling. This is water aerobics with a metre long buoyancy aid, classes start every morning before I get up! Major practice day. Three hours in the morning with Gavin and I, followed by three hours in the afternoon with Gary the trumpeter.


Sun 23^rd
All the exertion of the cricket is beginning to show. Aches all over, must be an age thing.


Mon 24^th
Struggle to get out of bed but we need more music practice. Its turning into a work thing.


Tues 25^th
First Professional Gig...oooh ever! We are not too bad. Ambition realised so I can stop now.


Wed 26^th
Second Gig oooh oooh..We are rubbish. Still the crowd seemed to like us and we are invited back next week. Later we watch Iflie, a real musician who does a great job with backing tracks and an acoustic guitar. Something to aim for. He does have a singer though, which helps him a lot.


Thur 27^th
Jam and jewellery. Gavin and I practice, Trudy and Mandy discuss Mandy's new bead collection. She makes jewellery for a hobby.


Fri 28^th
Out and about chasing gas bottles and anchor chain. We need the stuff made in Europe because the stuff made in China does not last! Out for a beef fondue. Very Grenadian...Chucked the dinghy anchor overboard and the bitter end wasn't attached! £12 to get a local diver to search and rescue whilst we were at the shops.


Sat 29^th
A quick jam with Matthew and Gavin on board. Matthew is a very accomplished guitar player and a joy to jam with. Bus up to Guave for the fishermans birthday celebration. A huge street party with every other bar competing to outdo their neighbours in the noise department. Massive stacks with bass tones travelling through your body. The usual cat herding job at the end trying to find three bus-loads of cruisers.


Sun 30^th
A fun afternoon at whisper cove marina for the jam session. Extremely busy, all tables full and a packed bar.


July
Mon 1^st
Most of July spent in UK with the boat left in the marina in St Georges. Preparation included removing head-sail and bimini cover, doubling up all lines and putting out extra fenders, closing sea-cocks and hatches. Emptying fridge removing shore power, lashing the wind generator.

May 2013

May
Wed 1^st
Bank holiday, everything closed. Most jobs on board have been completed and are up to date and its a good job as Gavin and Mandy arrive on Secret Smile so band practice will start in earnest. Gavin now has five saxophones, and a clarinet aboard and is practising nearly all day every day. We catch up over a sundowner.


Thur 2^nd
Stainless steel parts have been completed so I fix up the wind generator tripod; it is now very secure. We head out to the marina as there is a jazz evening planned. We have a few happy hour bevies and search out the jazz venue. Band is rubbish and the acts are mainly live poetry readings, so its back to the bar.


Fri 3^rd
Gavin and I are running through a couple of songs when we notice Miss Molly is parked next to us and next thing we know Phil is aboard, beers come out and practice is halted for the day. Later we all head out to Gross Islet to the jump up. This Friday it has been combined with the jazz festival and although there seem to be less people attending there is more of a carnival atmosphere with a street parade, dancers, bands ,fire eaters guys on stilts etc. we didn't see any jazz acts though...not quite sure about this jazz festival.


Sat 4^th
Late start but I have band practice with Gavin and Phil. Phil gets us organised and we manage 6 songs that need a bit more work before we go live. The bay is filling up as folk travel south.


Sun 5^th
Every morning starts with band practice when Gavin is around. Add another two songs to practice.
Later we head off to the Fire Grill for some jazz. This time it turned out to be an African drum set, very good, and a reggae / ska band not so good; but no jazz...


Mon 6^th
Today following band practice I get homework! Head out to boatyard to buy pipe and wood that we keep forgetting. Elvis is not about, he has sold our old dinghy. So we should get some beer vouchers.
No jazz near us tonight. We visit Phil and Monica and Phil shows us the fishing bible.


Tue 7^th
Elvis is around and introduces us to Tyson who will work on some teak for us. I give Tyson the measurements and arrange to collect the wood...tomorrow. We pass by the fish stalls near a gas (petrol) station and get some dinghy fuel and a 3 lb tuna, nicely prepared. Later; We get to another two venues for the Jazz Festival. Saxophonist and Guitarist. Both excellent. Although we had to wait two hours after the billed time for each performance.


Wed 8^th
Collect two pieces of teak, back to the boat for some measuring and then ashore to give details to Tyson. Parts should be machined by...tomorrow. I buy the fishing bible. Phil, Monica, Mandy and Gavin visit us for a pot luck supper. We try the ceviche recipe from the fish bible and it goes down very well.


Thur 9^th
Wood need further measuring ...boat...shore.....tomorrow.
We head to Castries for some shopping and the Main free jazz event in the centre of town. This is very varied with good and bad dancing and music. Hey but its free, and there are beer stands.


Fri 10^th
We collect wood, its an almost perfect fit. We now have a board to attach dinghy engine whist in rough seas offshore. We make an effort to see a guitarist that we missed earlier in the week. He is not very inspiring so we head home early. Miss Molly have left, we had said our goodbyes earlier but expected them to leave in the morning. We expect the noise from the Friday jump up might have helped them to a decision to go early.


Sat 11^th
We collect Chris Castle, the surveyor who checks over our rigging; he is very thorough and explains what he is looking at and what we should check. It takes about two hours and we end up with a very favourable report stating we are good to go with annual checks. He suggests two things we can do to strengthen the rig and we plan to make the changes.


Sun 12^th
Begin reading “The Cruisers Handbook of Fishing” and get totally engrossed. This book is full of information and some simple cheap starter suggestions that we must try.


Mon 13^th
Visit Chinaman, they are all busy working on the island's electricity generator. Come back tomorrow.


Tue 14^th
We pick up Claudius from Chinaman's workshop to look at the strengthening plates we need, to upgrade our forward crossbeam. He measures up and we take him ashore. Plates will be ready tomorrow.


Wed 15^th
Collect stainless plates at a cost of £25, we just need a rigger to fit them now. Spend half a day getting flights for us and Gavin and Mandy. Book Port Louis Marina for July. We are heading home for a few weeks in July!


Thur 16^th
Whilst lying in bed reading I hear “Oh shit we know this boat” just as Trudy begins speaking to the guys we met last year who serviced our life raft. We do not need further work done by them! This reminds us that we have a half written complaint letter about the service. I send email out and get immediate response we will meet tomorrow.


Fri 17^th
Meet with Francis, Debbie and TC to discus issues with our life raft service. They agree to refund entirely for the service (they didn't do). Francis just signs the certificate, Debbie checks the work, but was in Trinidad at the time, no ones fault!
Buy fishing rod and reel net, lures etc. Told rods and reels are one size fits all.


Sat 18^th
Meet Francis and Tom (TC) from liferaft and inflatables. We get a letter that states they will return the entire cost of our life raft repair over the next 4 months; we hold our breath...not. Return rod and reel as they don't fit together, get new rod.
Spend the afternoon preparing different lures leaders etc. We have a few practice casts, all seems to work. Trudy notices my squid jig has caught....a plastic bag. Chicken again tonight.


Sun 19^th
Start preparing to head further south. (Trudy cleans bottom, chain and bridle). I catch up with diary and guitar.


Mon 20^th
Another Bank Holiday, everything shut so we rest up another day.


Tue 21^st
Final shops and check out, ready to leave tomorrow morning.
Typical, a Canadian (French) sits on top of our anchor, the whole bay is empty but.....
He can't be bothered to move and doesn't care if we wake him at 5 am tomorrow..


Wed 22^nd
We wake at 5 and set of by half past. A great sail for part of the time with over 8 knots for most of the way. 24 miles to go and the wind drops so we motor-sail. Then the skies open and we get storms on and off for the rest of the trip. 35 knot gusts that are very short lived but full of rain where visibility goes down to nil. We are used to this by now and take sails down in relative calm! We arrive in Bequia at 5:30 and Trudy immediately sets off to customs. By the time she gets back we have had messages from two friend who also arrived today and arrange to meet up later in the week.


Thur 23^rd
Angie from Kibe calls so we are out to Frangipani for the last Jump Up of the season and meet up with her and Robin. They have just been to Gingerbread for a curry and Robin complains that the Vindaloo did not have the strength of a corma. We will make a strong curry next week.


Fri 24^th
Drop off gas bottle. Cruisers jam session and fish Friday at the Fig Tree. We hear on the morning cruisers net that the old fig tree has suffered wind damage and there is a call out to anyone with a chain saw. An unlikely tool on a yacht! Angie comes to the rescue and later we see pictures of Angie chainsawing the tree with a load of guys watching her!
Chris, from Troubadour, Gavin and I are the only musicians and it turns out to be more our gig as we are performing songs, not jamming. Chris actually sings. So we have an ok sound.


Sat 25^th
Terry from Libertine visits early to say goodbye, he is setting off to haul out in Trinidad before going back to Scarborough N. Yorks. Pick up gas bottle and visit butcher. As mentioned before he only visits Bequia once a week on Saturdays. He has four cool boxes filled with mutton, goat, beef and chicken. We look at a goat quarter but decide on beef. It is weighed then the butcher chops it with his machete (much bigger than a cleaver) starting from above his head. Bones are easily split!
Invited for cocktails on Tjeldøy, Chocolate Cow, made by Shaun from Imagination, our own Bloody Mary and Robin's no name concoction with lots of coconut cream Lime and Rum; a few corn fritters, Camembert and salami. No need to make dinner tonight. Shaun recounts his shark stories, they save their fish heads until going to the Tobago Keys. After about 4:30 when most swimmers (but not all) have finished for the day, they put the heads out on lines and after about a half hour the reef sharks up to about 1.7 metres and rays up to a meter across come to the boat.


Sun 26^th
Lazy day. Download and listen to the Archers Omnibus. We do this most weeks.


Mon 27^th
Curry cooking day.


Tue 28^th
Shaun, Ali, Robin and Angie come on board for a curry night. We swap catamaran problems and fishing yarns. Since we bought the fishing bible it has become a daily read and we are always on the lookout for fishing gear and tips. Still haven't caught anything..


Wed 29^th
Quiet day...
Evening on Secret Smile with Gavin and Mandy, raw fish and dips.


Thur 30^th
My vocal effects box has turned up at customs. The officer says he is not sure if he can let me have it and must ask his supervisor; can I come back after lunch. Just a scam to get more cash. I speak to the broker and when I go back there is no problem.


Fri 31^st
Fish Friday again, and a jam. My guitar pickup has stopped working on one string it makes for a rubbish sound so I don't play. We try a new bar, the “Devil's Table” Jackie's band plays there. The booze is very expensive and the band are poor; Jackie's guitar is turned right down so you can't hear him. Its a shame because he is rather good.

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!