September 2012

Sat 1^st

First day of the lobster season so we went to our favourite restaurant “Whisper Cove” for surf and turf. Delicious!

Sun 2^nd

First Sunday of the month is the boat jumble sale in secret Harbour. A load of old rubbish, but we meet Shais from “Fantasy” Her and Jim are Australian and have been living on board with 4 kids 5 to 15 for over five years and all kids are self taught. We remove the sail bag as tomorrow we visit the sail maker. Pm and it is time to go to Roger's beach bar again. We are all looking forward to a rest!

Mon 3^rd

First thing we get the bimini off and take it, plus the sail cover, to the sail maker. We have some repairs, and we will reinforce some areas against chafe and some for “though skins” to use as water collection system.

Tue 4^th

A trip around the shops with “Shade-man” to visit all the hardware, chandlers and supermarkets in a quick dash. Then Danny arrives with the stainless steel frame for Trudy's dual helm seat.

Wed 5^th

Jo the electrician turns up at 8:30 and spend about a minute assessing our requirements. When our stainless steel pole arrives he will do the work.

Great, no need to wait in, its the first Wednesday of the month so we can go to the best book swap in the Antilles. We book a taxi with “Shade-man”to take Trudy's seat frame to see Rambo at the wood yard to fit the base and the back.

Thurs 6^th

Another busy day. Joanne, former “Miss Dallas” and Bill from trimaran Ultra invite us to a fishing seminar. They are parked in the marina next to Ron from Cat “Molly Bloom” who was a professional game fisherman. He gives a thorough explanation of methods and kit required to feed yourself on board. Cedar plugs, spoons, teasers, squid jiggers, feathers and more. He even has a rod and reel specifically for catching bait. This is followed by a lobster barbecue. The local fishermen had been out this morning and collected about 100 all swimming about in the bottom of their boat. You weighed and paid for your lobster, the guys cut off the tail and used a spine from the lobster to twist and pull out the gut. On to the barbecue for 8 minutes; nothing better.

Fri 7^thto Sun 9^th

Quiet weekend spent making mosquito nets, checking batteries (¾ litre water) and cleaning.

Mon 10^th

Research net. We are looking for SSB radio, aerial, ground, modem, auto-tuner and watermaker. This is all expensive kit that we will need if we go into the Pacific and as this may be an option we would prefer to fit these now and bed them in before they need to be used in earnest.

Tues 11^th

We collect the base and back for the new seat from Rambo at his workshop where he builds kitchens and bedrooms. He has done an excellent job.

Wed 12^th

Drop off the seat and pick up the bimini from the sale-maker and fit to the boat. This takes about two hours, then we plumb in the new water collection system. During the night it chucks it down and we collect over 50 litres of water in less than an hour. Very pleased, tomorrow we will both take an extra long shower!

Thur 13^th

Bus into St Georges. The driver is listening to the news on the radio, unusual.. a girl gets on and suggests that some music would lift the spirits. This started a row that lasted the entire journey .. you are a service...should keep your customers happy...you should be interested in your country...you shouldn't bore tourists with our politics..We missed most of the political debate...and didn't get any music!

Tour the hardware shops and buy more parts for the boat. Order SSB and auto tuner.

Fri 14^th

Pick up our sale bag and fit it together with a new (red) topping lift. We now have our name in large writing advertising the boat. We have also picked up Trudy's double helm seat that has been upholstered in bright red sumbrella.

Cricket! I joined 27 other people to play 14 a side cricket. There is a mix of nationalities with only 5 on each side that new the rules! I have not played for 41 years but fielding and batting came back quickly. Bowling ugh.. I used to be a fast bowler (at school) but luckily only had chance to fire off a few practices. All wide or high except one that I threw into the ground a metre in front of me. They didn't pick me to bowl. We got the other team all out for 59. I managed a respectable 8 being caught at square leg by a Frenchman! We managed 80 to take the match.

We couldn't stay for the after match craik but instead followed this up with a trip to the north on the island to the fishing village Gouyave. Shademan is our driver. Each Friday they produce a wide range of fish dishes sold in the streets. A live drum band plays with dancing in the streets. It is quite hypnotic. On the way Shademan buys us each a bag of “snow ice” a small plastic bag full of flavoured ice. You bite the corner and taste either peanut or custard flavoured concoction, a bit like a popsicle made in a plastic bag.

Sat 15^th

Pam and Nick have laid on a Mississippi dry rub rib party. Usual thing for here, you bring your own nibbles and salad and enter the competition for the best potato salad. There is live music supplied by some of the cruisers from the regular jam sessions, ice-cream, cup cakes and brownies followed by a raffle for cases of beer bottles of rum or “Jack” and free nights in the marina.

Sun 16^th

Another jam session, but this time more of a jazz feel about it.

Mon 17^th

More net research, mainly for a watermaker. Send list to Sherri from Wholesale Yacht Parts. Sherri can get us better deals on import costs using Fedex.

Tue 18^th

Visit St Georges to order watermaker from IWW. Then a day browsing shops and lunch in town.

Wed 19^th

Tour the black sand beach with Shademan and trek up the cliffs to a cave with petroglyphs and vampire bats. Really! Wingspan about 40cms on average. Nike trainers ruined after only second trek in Grenada. Terrain is tough out here.

Thur 20^th

Stainless pole on board for final measurement for welding. We go to cooking class. How to cook cou cou, a bit like couscous or polenta with extra spices and cooked with coconut milk. We like this class http://www.truebluebay.com/activities/details/cooking-class as the two cooks take the mick out of each other and make it a hoot, you get strong rum cocktails for £1.25, the class costs £3 and you get a meal at the end. Apart from that you get some great advice on cooking local dishes. Back to the “Oasis” near where we are anchored and waste an evening on karaoke. Even Trudy “sings”.

Fri 21^st

Stainless pole arrives, it is a tad loose so needs extra washers. I re-rig all our reefing lines with extra padding to prevent chafe. Sherri calls, she will have quote available by Monday.

Sat 22^nd

Danny arrives to fit final part of stainless pole for our wind generator.

Sun 23^rd

Finally it rains in daylight so we can adjust our water catching system. We fill tank to ¾ full.

Mon 24^th

Get a call from Palm Tree Marine, Jo should be with us by lunch time to help fit wind generator. Batteries were low this morning and we needed to start an engine for an hour.

Wind geni fitted but nose cone gets broken. PTM will obtain and fit replacement.

Tues 25^th

No wind all day and night so we cannot check generator.

Wed 26^th

No wind again. It is Barracuda’s birthday party tomorrow in Prickles Bay Marina. So we motor round and park in the bay.

Thur 27^th

Relaxed morning as cooking class does not start until 15:00. good fun as usual. Barbecue sauce and scallop potatoes. Recipes from the True Blue Bay resort website.

The party is billed as an open jam session but in reality several of the local bands perform and jam with each other. We get a bottle of rum punch from Barracuda on each table and the vibe is very good. Many of the usual jammers have turned up with their instruments but don't get t play, some leave early; At 1.30am they dismantle the set so a Canadian guy and I start some blues on guitar and ukulele near the bar. Barracuda and his son join us and we jam for about another half hour. Well worth the wait.

Fri 28^th

Cricket again. We thrash the opposition by over 100 probably because we have some local ringers on our team; actually the gardener and the dock manager. Then back to the Tiki bar to listen to a very subdued Barracuda band, after last nights late session.

Sat 29^th

Seconi is supposed to play at De Big Fish but does not turn up. Oh well at least we get an early night. We meet Hans (AKA DJ Paul or Pink Panther) an Austrian entrepreneur who has sold his DJ business to go cruising. He has also raced in GT2 against Fixman2 among others. Imagine winter in Austria and in a warehouse 400 tons of sand, palm trees etc several beach bars and all heated to 40 degrees C. Well its a bit like here actually but I guess the Austrians like it.

Sun 30^th

Jam session in whisper cove is well attended. Probably because it is chucking it down and not a good day for the beach. All that practice on “Moondance” pays off as it is well received. Even when we play it for the third time! Just got to work on Girl from Ipanema now.

Ric, (cstaguy) a fellow cruiser videos the southern bays in Grenada ending at Rogers beach bar.

http://youtu.be/bvAY2CenQ_Y

August 2012

August worst for hurricanes in last 20 years.

Wed 1^st

Bad weather is forecast so we check out from Bequia and head for Carriacou. A brisk motor-sail and we arrive in Hillsborough on Carriacou after customs have gone home. We head off for the police station and seek the immigration officer. We are now legal to search for a beer and an internet connection. Weather still looks grim.

Thur 2^nd

Sign in to customs and move round to Tyrell bay. This is a known hurricane hole. The mangrove swamp is an oyster bed and only opens when storms are expected. Its open!

We go ashore to get some local knowledge and internet details. Storm Ernesto is forecast to move north of us but nothing is certain and there is a constant precession of boats moving into the mangroves.

Fri 3^rd

We have a safe night as Tropical Strom Ernesto has tracked north luckily. It was however full of worry, even though the winds only gust once to 35 knots we sleep in fits and starts and every three hours download the latest information on the storm. At 5:30 we get the latest and decide to go into the mangroves. Ernesto has gone further north over Barbados and between St Lucia and St Vincent. We missed the worst of the wind but when a storm goes through it is followed by a reverse swell. We are now expecting a swell of between 3 and 5 metres. If we had gone into the mangroves last night we would at least have had a good nights sleep. This is the first time we have done this manoeuvre and are not sure if we go in forwards or backwards. There are several cats already in and all have their bows into the mangroves with 4 to 7 lines ashore and either one or two anchors astern. We decide on 4 lines ashore and within an hour we are tied up and dropping our secondary anchor into the dinghy. We feed out the warp and chain and throw the anchor out. Done....three hours later we need to take the dinghy out again to lift the chain and anchor and place it further upwind getting covered in mud in the process. We can settle in. There is no internet access here but a kind lady on “Boldly Go” was relaying details to all those in the mangroves without access. We see gusts up to 30 knots as our mast and windex (anemometer) are above the shelter of the mangroves, but the boat hardly moves as we are so well sheltered.

Sat 4^th

Early on we hear a call to the coastguard from an aircraft on channel 16. They give the position of an overturned life-raft in the Caribbean sea. This morning the general consensus on the radio is to stay put for another night, but one by one we watch each yacht remove all their lines, lift anchors clean decks and go; by late afternoon we are the last in and settle for a quiet night in the pitch black, no loom and moon does not rise until late.

Sun 5^th

Quiet night in the mangroves and spent the morning retrieving the anchor, cleaning all the mud from it, loading it onto the trampoline, then removing two of our lines. Engine on, fenders on remaining two lines cast off and reverse into the middle of the swamp. I retrieve the lines from the mangroves whilst Trudy remained with the boat. We motor out touching 1.1 metres of mud but not hitting anything even though we draw 1.4 metres. Head out to anchor in the bay and clean all the mud off Everything! So happy to miss hurricane we head out to celebrate and end up finishing the 5 year old rum aboard...late. In the Old Rum Shop we meet fellow live aboarders Jon and Shirley from a dark blue hulled sloop “Khaya Moya” that we were parked next to in the mangroves, Henry and Mary Jane from “Tabasco” and Barbara who has settled ashore after her husband died some years ago. She is in her 60s and still keeps her Wharam catamaran.

Mon 6^th

7:30 we are woken up. The “No Fear” crew arrived last night at 9:30 and they need crew for the race. I am in bed and very bleary; it seems like they are just as bad. We have coffee. I get a bottle of water a hat and plaster factor 50 on, this is my race prep and we dinghy to “Tabasco” to check where the course has been set. Course in hand we take the anchor off “No Fear” and attach it to the dinghy which we leave behind. We are off to the next bay. Angie calls in the raced committee and declares us as contenders and that we will race with a hanked on headsail this changes our handicap and prevents a disqualification but forgets to mention that we have no pole. This would have improved our handicap. To remind you “No Fear” is the yacht that broke its mooring and sank at Christmas leaving a metre square hole in the hull. A week ago it was in five pieces, hull, keel, engine, rudder, and mast. During the last week keel was attached, launched, mast fitted, rigging tuned, engine fitted and a brief sea trial performed. Angie has driven this project with Jay and Robin performing some of the duties and a lot of help from other locals. Angie is a German girl in her 30s who has been living aboard Kibe a 36 ft sloop for a couple of years after crossing the Atlantic on another yacht. Jay is a Canadian schoolteacher who lives alone aboard “Spirit” a 45 ft sloop when not working in Canada. She also performs a major role at the Bequia reading club held Saturday mornings at the “Fig Tree”; Robin, you may remember, otherwise “Fixman 2” is an ex Ferrari racing driver who crashed out in flames at the one and only race around Birmingham bull Ring. He took over from Fixman about 20 years ago. At 69 he is our very energetic skipper and helm.

The race starts at 10:00 and with a mix of weather including baking sun and 35 plus knot torrential rain with no visibility. Four hours later we have been round the course twice and pass the finish line. On corrected times we are 1 minute and 2 seconds behind 3^rd placed “Tabasco”. We had been ahead of them three times during the race. On our (poor) handicap we end up 7^th out of 8. The keel stepped mast has moved back an inch and a half, 3cms, at the deck. This is in winds over 30 knots. The race was very exciting with e.g. Tabasco missing our stern by 1/2 metre and with a yacht almost touching our stern as we cross the finish line. John, who we met last night, could have stepped from their bow to our stern. We are all knackered so have a half hour kip and head ashore for the prize giving. Jerry, who owns the bar and organizes the sponsorship reads out results and gives out prizes. He gives himself a prize for the most crew (5) in the double handed race! He won but should have been disqualified; (his sponsorship, his regatta...) nobody protests. We sit with Edgar, an Aussie who has been out here 5 years he has a J24 that he sailed single handed from St Lucia. He came 2^nd overall in the regata.

Tue 7^th

Jay stayed with us overnight as No Fear has only 2 1/2 berths; Angie and Robin arrive with breakfast having been shopping and we discuss the “merits” of a moving mast, race tactics etc. They are heading for Happy Island, a bar on the reef outside Clifton on Union Island. They will stay there a night, snorkel in the Tobago Cays and head back to Bequia. We consider joining them but this would mean going through customs and immigration four more times for a couple of days and at a cost of about $200. Plus we still need to get our engine serviced. It will probably be an unpleasant sail as we sit in the bay with frequent 25 knot squalls with torrential rain.

Wed 8^th

Try to get hold of Uwe the engineer to sort out someone to service the engine. We find his house but he is having lunch, can we come back later. We have loads to do around the island and by the time we get back he is closed. We have been recommended a place for breakfast and lunch, Sally's Kayak Café, we go there and meet Bob Goodchild the yacht surveyor who suggested we do not go into the Pacific without changing our rudders, we let him know that he was right!

Thur 9^th

We track down Uwe who will service our engine tomorrow.

Fri 10^th

Engine Serviced, so we go ashore lambi fritters at the Lambi Queen and eventually find huge crowd at the Lazy Turtle. Sally an Australian from Sally's Kyak is having 60^th birthday party. She has stepped off her yacht and at 60 has just opened a restaurant.

Sat 11^th

Stay on board all day due to heavy rain and high winds

Sun 12^th

Go for cocktails to “The Slipway”, unfortunately we did not book! So we have to make our own lunch. Whoever heard of booking in the Caribbean? Thomas comes to see us, Do we want to buy some wine? He has taken over from his brother, Simon, and now gets the bin ends from the super-yachts and cruise ships. Rothschild Merlot at £5-95 a bottle, can't be bad. 10% discount for over 6 bottles? Yes no problem...

Mon 13^th

It is another bank holiday but we decide on a trip to paradise beach to pick up a bracelet for Trudy. They are closed, we go into town, It is closed! Back to the bay and a lazy day on board.

Tue 14^th

Bank holiday again, this is Grenada Carnival day, so a boat cleaning day for us.

Wed 15^thTo Sun 19^th

Sitting in Tyrell Bay watching weather as a tropical storm approaches. Chatting about the weather in various bars!

Mon 20^th

Low “Invest 94L” is heading for Guadeloupe so we take a view and set off for St Georges Grenada Full sails and a small breeze. We arrive in good time after a pleasant 8 knot cruise. Very poor holding in the bay so only try to anchor once then take a mooring - £7, cheap at the price!

There is another low coming through in a couple of days; this is a constant concern throughout the rest of the hurricane season, we might have to travel back to Tyrell bay if there is no room in the hurricane holes in Grenada. First stop will be the marina in St Georges.

Tues 21^st

We go and spend some bucks on the boat and get all that is required to go into a hurricane hole. Arrange to go into the marina, and angle grind both our anchors off their chains. Reattach with new shackles and we are good to go.

Wed 22^nd

Head in to Port Louis marina for my birthday dinner. We go to Belle Creole restaurant in Blue Horizon beach resort we book for 7 as they eat early here. When we get there the manager has gone for his tea so we need to wait as he has shut the bar! We have a very disappointing meal and end up back in the marina bar and spend the evening on shots with a young crew from one of the larger charter yachts Helios. Can't remember any names though.

Thur 23^rd

Liming.

Fri 24^th

We hear that there is a sale on at the chandlers so we get up early to check out the bargains. Later the bakery is selling build yourself a burger deals for 10 ec, so we have to try them.

Sat 25^th

Off to see Barracuda with his acoustic set, he now has a young girl doing backing vocals and our friend Nina from Bequia dancing and percussion. He finishes a long set with only three strings left on his guitar, a brilliant night.

Sun 26^th

Head off to Clarks court bay for a jam session in whisper cove marina. It is 12 miles all against the wind and strong current, we make about 4 knots through the water under power only.

Jam session is a hoot, but a bit crowded; 8 guitars, a banjo, sax and clarinet, 2 blues harps, and a mandolin, various percussion and 2 singers and a penny whistle. We all get 3 free drinks and go home happy. The bay we are anchored in is very peaceful even though there are a large number of yachts here. We are in between two marinas and five bars, four restaurants, all are about 200 metres away.

Mon 27^th

Jobs day, planning what parts we need searching, sourcing, measuring, cleaning ropes etc. We are still not satisfied with our water collection system and need to get hold of a wind generator to make up power deficit. We collect a set of duplicate keys from Nigel Ned and whilst ashore discover Nimrod Rum Shop near the bus stop, rotis twice a week, excellent! Dinghy to next bay East to visit the sail-maker for advice on the water collection system. They will do the work starting next week.

Tue 28^th

Try a roti at Nimrods rum shop. It is the biggest so far, but for taste, only second best to Mrs Taylor's in Bequia. We then set out for a spree in the chandlers and buy loads of goodies including barbecue and wind generator to be delivered tomorrow. We track down a welder and an electrician who can install the generator in the next couple of weeks. Francis, the welder comes to the boat to do the measuring for the stainless steel this evening. He orders the steel from Trinidad to be delivered Friday. We (Trudy) decide to get a double helm seat made at the same time.

Wed 29^th

We dinghy round to the next bay West to attend the Seven Seas Cruising Association seminar in Secret Harbour about blue water cruising around the world. We meet several cruisers from around the world including Seat and Jen from Woka irie who intend crossing the Pacific on their 32 ft with only a 30 gallon water tank! This is very inspirational and gets us thinking.

Thur 30^th

Liming and chores on board.

Fri 31st

Just missed the fortnightly cricket match as we had to do some victualling. This is played with a beer in one hand, and a tennis ball covered with gaffer tape. (No pads and many LBWs)

The highlight of the day was the dinghy concert. Dinghies from all the local bays surround two pontoons that have been towed into the middle of the bay. One pontoon is a bar, the other a stage; and for a couple of hours until sunset we listen to the band whilst rolling about on the sea. http://youtu.be/9uQwIXeq8sg Next we go to Roger's beach bar for a blue moon (second moon in a month) party. This finishes late! Next blue moon 2015. Meet Sally and Dylan from Yacht Orion, Sally persuades me to try google blog.

June and July 2012

June

Fri 1^st

Check out Moana Roa with Dominique. She is a beautifully presented Bahia; a metre longer than Manureva but with all the kit for ocean sailing. Radar, AIS, water maker, diesel generator, wind generator huge inverter, washing machine and upgraded sail plan. She would be ideal if we could get a quick sale on our boat. Seems unlikely. The fact that we are considering this suggests we have already made our minds up to carry on sailing further a field.

Sat 2^nd

The students have finished their courses and are celebration. The music is loud and lasts all night until ----

Sun 3^rd

10.am a precession of yachts files out of the bay each one competing for the loudest sound system. Some have loaded extra large generators to provide the decibels.

We plan to come home to get my teeth implants fitted change credit cards and catch up. There are no moorings available but we meet Gerhardt who suggests a quiet place to anchor where he is happy to guard our boat. It seems that all sailors look out for each other.

Mon 4^th

Another bank holiday and we watch the hobie cats and optimists racing round the bay.

Tue 5^th

We meet Emanuel the guy who sold us the boat a year ago. We chat about the boat and he suggests we look at another boat tomorrow. We book tickets back home to arrive 15^th of this month.

Wed 6^th

View a Privilege 465. Loads of kit but far too expensive.

Thur 7^th

Wind up to 30 knots so stay on boat.

Travel to UK and Back

July

UK for the first few days

Thu 5th

Hans picked us up from the airport, he is a German guy who moved to Martinique about 5 years ago and has just relaxed into the Caribbean way of life. He does between 5 and 10 airport pick ups each week depending on the season. Gerhard was in the supermarket car park waiting to dinghy us to Manureva. Back on the boat; she is still exactly where we left her and we have just finished unpacking.

Fri 6th

Shopping day, with torrential rain.

Sat 7th

We take a trip to get our boat keys back from the broker, however the are closed whilst delivering yachts up north. We will need to stay put until their return.

Sun 8th

Whilst in England we had several roast dinners and in memory we try cooking one on board. Vegetables cook well but yorkshires turn into a thick flat pancake, corned beef is rubbish and tinned sprouts taste like tin!

Mon 9th

Gerhard from Blue Lagoon has invited us to join him and Marion for a game of “Mexican Train Dominoes”. They are a German couple in their 60s who have been living on their yacht for 6 years. It has been under repair for that entire time. We have heard of “Mexican Train Dominoes” a lot as in some cruising areas there are regular sessions each week. I assumed this to be just another name for the dominoes we have all played with double blank to double six dots on each domino. However this is a recent fashion in America. The “tiles” have double blank to double 12 “points”, and the game is played in two parts, After the usual selection of the descending double each player created their own “train” starting with the double and trying to get rid of all their “tiles”. You need to check out the rules on line and I expect there will be a few sets bought by next Christmas!....or maybe not..

It took 3 hours to complete one game and reviewing the rules on line I am not sure that we followed them correctly; still it was not difficult to drink Languedoc rose and concentrate on play at the same time!

Tues 10^th

Chucking it down again – off and on all day. We want to go ashore to check out but will wait for good wind and weather. Spent most of the day trying to send photos to you all without repetition. Picasa from Google is being tricky.

Wed 11^th

Whilst shopping we come across a new fruit, Abricot pay. About 130 cms in diameter and light brown in colour. You peel off the outer pith and eat the flesh around 1 to 4 huge stones. We bought one to try that had 4 stones and hardly any flesh, I guess that's the luck of the draw, it tastes a bit like an apricot!

Thur 12th

Meet Dominique and Fred at A&C Yacht Brokers, they have a couple of yachts in the pipeline, but cannot sell our yacht. So we will carry on cruising. We check out early and motor sail to Rodney Bay St Lucia. We arrive after 15:30 so it is too late to check in and we must remain on the yacht. We have an interrupted sleep; This week until next Tuesday it is Carnival so music has been turned up and last until ???? We think it was after 4 am when the dogs start barking to keep us awake longer.

Fri 13^th

Check in to customs and see Ian Cowan for advice on who and how we can fix a rigging problem. It appears we are back to manufacturing our own parts again.

Mon 16^th

Head for Carnival; On the bus on the way to Castries one of the passengers comments that in her day Carnival started late and finished at 2 am. It seems they now start at 9am and try to get the roads open by 6pm. Anyway its the usual mix of dancing, bikinis, feathers and major costumes, one girl comes as a pyramid, about 4 metres square, and there are loads of people on stilts more than 2 metres long, I didn't see anyone getting off them but it must be tricky.

Tue 17^th

What a night, more noise and the dogs wake us up at 5 am. We visit Ian Cowan regarding new sheaves and as he only has one we decide to head south. We do the usual checks and after sailing for about 2 hours decide that we should probably get the rigging sorted in Rodney bay as we trust the guys and the next chance we get will be in Grenada. A lot could happen between now and then. It has been a difficult decision as we really need to head south to avoid any hurricane activity but cannot push it as the rig is not up to scratch; or we could end up stuck in Rodney bay with the boom off, unable to sail, when a hurricane comes through. We decide to turn back and will have to visit “Chinaman” tomorrow as he is the best guy for the job.

Wed 18^th

Chinaman can do the work whenever we get the parts. Ian says they are on their way and may be available by Friday.

Thur 19^th

Parts arrive no duty to pay! Fedex costs will be the only extra. Chinaman booked for tomorrow first thing. On our way home we meet Steve and Laurie who has just bought the boat we wanted and are invited for tea on “Lateral thinking” with Brian and Catherine. Laurie is brining his family out and they will all travel back to Aus together. We discuss Moana Roa. They will probably have to spend US$30k on refit and rigging so we avoided a near disaster by not buying her. The rigging alone is US$10k and is an insurance requirement.

Fri 20^th

We get up early to prepare the boat and head into the fuel dock. 9.30 Chinaman called to sort an emergency yacht collision will be with us later. 12:30 we get a visit to say he will be with us shortly. He arrives and we find the parts do not fit. He needs to machine them down. No surprise there then. We notice 4 rivets missing (out of seven) on the boom and get them replaced. (pop rivets aircraft grade $10 each) He finally finishes and we head out to the bay; Have just enough time to shower and change ready for “Tea”. This turns out to be sirloin steak and jackets. A real treat as Brian has definitely got the knack for barbecuing steak. Catherine is a nurse, Brian has retired and they are heading south as we are, but will travel back to Aus through the Panama Canal next season. When they get home they intend to live on the yacht in the north of Australia and Catherine will go back to work. She misses her dog and is looking forward to getting home.

Sat 21^st

We put back the rig following the fixes yesterday and prepare the boat to go.

Sun 22^nd

Liming again.

Mon 23^rd

Wind a bit high so decide to stay in Rodney Bay for another day.

Tues 24^th

Set off to Soufriere Bay, we motor and sail alternately due to lack of wind and arrive about 3.pm. We stay on board as there is so much hassle in this bay. Mooring is compulsory at $25 for two nights. The boat boys offer to clean the hulls for XCD 100 or about £22 so we um and ahh and get persuaded into this. 3 hours later our hulls are clean again. This was a job we had planned to do on Wednesday before setting off early on Thursday morning. We go to the Humming bird for happy hour and meet Joyce Stowe from the Hummingbird who received an OBE for services to tourism in St Lucia.

Wed 25^th

Trudy checks out Hotel Chocolate restaurant and rooms, then checks out for customs and immigration. No telling off this time.

Thurs 26^th

5 am. And we are up preparing the boat, we get off the mooring at 5:30 and it is still dark. Past sunrise but we are sheltered by the Pitons. It is flat calm so we motor for a couple of hours with full main up. The wind starts to rise and we have a fantastic sail for about 80 miles with winds from 6 up to 27 knots, reefs in and out but not too busy, no rain but a little haze to keep the sun off. We arrive in Bequia at 15:30 and decide to stay aboard and check in tomorrow.

Fri 27^th

We get a bollocking for not checking in yesterday. “The rules say you have 24 hours to find a port of entry, and once arrived should check in immediately (if customs are open)” “When were you last here?” “Then you should know what time customs is open” We did know because it is in the pilot, however it also says we get charged overtime if we check in after 4pm. I have a sneaking suspicion that he charged us overtime anyway. Back on the boat it has dragged a metre or so, so we re-drop the anchor in about 2.2 metres of water.

We meet the usual suspects and arrange for an engine service. We watch a bit of the Olympics opening ceremony and head off to the New York bar. Maria's restaurant for Merlot and steak and chips then back to the boat.

Sat 28^th

Invited for sundowners on Tjeldøy so its off to the shops to buy rum, coke, beer, (and a few other bits). An old lady sells Trudy her mangoes that are delicious, very strong flavour. Sugar apples and avocados are also in season again we have been waiting ages for these.

2 hours turns to 4 and we are late home again...I get another laptop to fix, an Acer with a black screen.

A couple of hours on the net before bed and I haven't a clue.

Sun 29^th

Next appointment is De reef at 4pm sundowners again. I spend another hour on the net and get a fix for the Acer. Pull out ram, clean and replace. It works. So drop it off at Robin's.

Robin and the girls have been preparing “No Fear” for the racing next Friday. This is the boat that broke its mooring, ran aground and sank over Christmas when we were last here. Hull and rudder are repaired, but engine, keel, rudder, mast and hull are still in separate places! If this is ready to race in a week I will be very surprised.

We look at weather and “Wind Guru” is predicting 42 knots by next Saturday, race day. This has a 20% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone or worse. We need a plan to avoid this by heading north or south to avoid the worst. At the moment it looks like north is the best bet. 4Pm and we set of to De Reef. A dinghy ride, bus up and walk down very steep hills. We meet Sean and Ali again and discuss fontaine pajot yachts. They are a couple in their early 40s who charter their yacht for most of the year. He teaches diving and drives the speedboat for skiing etc.,she prepares 3 gourmet meals per day for guests. The last charter (5 guests) got through 18 cases of beer and 15 (5 kilo) bags of ice in six days. Plus spirits and mixers! They work very hard.

Mon 30^th

Weather changes and south now looks the better option but still over 40 knots forecast for Bequia. Sean from “Imagination” is looking at doubling up on his anchor; we could also do this as we have the parts. We are waiting to get our Stb engine serviced by Robin but it looks like he will be busy. The other reliable engineer in Bequia “Kerry” is on holiday in Carriacou so we must decide to wait for Robin or move south and postpone the service. Source and buy oil and filters for service. On our way back we stop at “Gingerbread” for home made ice cream.

Tue 31st

We move the boat into deeper water after a brief tour of the bay. We were in 2.2 metres and if we get a large swell, as forecast, we will be bashed on the bottom. We drop anchor in 3.6m and end up in 4.4m so we will be Ok in up to 3m swell. We are also experimenting with deploying a second anchor which has 15m of chain and 25m rope (rode). This requires an hour of snorkelling to adjust chain and rode to prevent chafe.

May 2012

May

Tues 1st

Early start, leave Falmouth for Deshaies Guadeloupe. The sail

is brisk to start and tails off as we get to the north of

Guadeloupe where we just miss a succession of tropical

storms and finally catch one full on. Visibility is down to 50m

again for about an hour before we arrive in Deshaies bay. We

arrive too late to check in so must stay on the boat overnight.

Wed 2nd

Check in, have a walk around the town and head for the

botanical Gardens by bus. 80 cent for two of us, but 31€ for 2

entry fees. The place is huge with a cemented path around

the flora. Flamingos, macaws and parakeets, koi, and vast

quantities of flora from around the world all growing prolifically.

They have the weather for it! We then go by bus to St Pietre.

It is a dump and a complete waste of time as the bus drops

us at a terminal outside the town; so we get on and go back to

Deshaies. Still at least we have seen part of the island. It is

just like many parts of France with the architecture, road signs,

street lights etc. looking familiar. Just as the previous

occasion anchored in Deshaies the wind drops and we all

spin round in the bay. The anchor watch alarm is constantly

going off and late at night we end up re-anchoring in the

middle of the night. Finally get some rest.

Thur 3rd

Sail to Pigeon Island bay. Only 10 miles so it is quite relaxing.

Anchor, go ashore to check out Pigeon. Just a couple of

beaches with black sand and a load of tourists from France.

Several shacks with dive shops souvenirs and a bar. It is

possible to go on a glass bottom boat or hire kayaks. So quite

a busy little place. The main road is just behind the beach with

buses to the north and south of the island. The highlight for us

being that there is a good French supermarket about 2 Km

away.

Fri 4th

Trudy dives off the boat to discover a huge barracuda lurking

between our hulls. He seems to have decided this is a good

place to stay.....all day. It rains and we get chance to test our

new rain catching system and in about a half hour we have

collected 40 litres. Enough for nearly three days! We decide

to stay in Pigeon for another day as we expect southerly

winds followed by no wind during the next week. If we head

south too early we will have to pay 13€ per day to sit out the

lull in Isle de Sainte as anchoring is not allowed there and we

will need to check out from Guadeloupe before heading

further south.

Sat 5th

We set off for Anse de la Barque as the pilot says it is easy to

get in and well sheltered from the roll. When we arrive there

are 6 yachts there and it is full! We could only anchor in more

than 12 metres; so we set off again to look at Basse Terre. It

is a wide open bay which does not look sheltered but would

do. However we have a 2 knot current running with us so

decide to go on to Isle de Saintes. When we get there the

place is quite empty; there are over 50 moorings and about

ten yachts moored. For a Saturday night it is very quiet.

Sun 6th

We wake up to drizzle and 100% cloud cover, we have a

good internet connection so download a “grib” (weather) file.

We will have little or no wind, in the wrong direction for at least

a week. If you go to the UGRIB web site you can download

weather information, from around the world, in the

professional format with isobars, wind arrows and an estimate

of rainfall. Very useful. There is a lagoon cat moored beside

us called Pussy Cat, perhaps Pussy Catcher would have

been a better name! We walk around the bay checking out all

the bars and restaurants, most are closed.

Mon 7th

We head for Trudy's preferred restaurant, we are the only

couple having lunch, that is apart from the eight Firemen!

Trudy has trouble concentrating but reminds me of the bar

near St Martin airport runway. Where a girl walks in with such a

brief bikini that it looks like she is naked from behind, with her

bum covered in sand, and from the front it is only a couple of

square inches different. Weather looks to be changing so we

should get some wind tomorrow, so we check out for 1€ plus

33€ for three nights mooring.

Tue 8th

Throughout the night we get horrendous thunderstorms and

torrential rain but when we wake up the wind is moderate and

in the right direction. So we dodge between the rocks and

islands of Isle de Saintes and head south for Portsmouth

Dominica. We have a brisk sail close hauled with a moderate

sea. This allows us to explore the best angle on the wind to

maximise our VMG (velocity made good) or the best angle to

close on Portsmouth bay. When we arrive we are debating

whether we should use Eddison and his team again or use the

first boat boy to see us in to the bay. In the end we meet

Alexis from SeaBird a mile off shore and he takes to the best

mooring, i.e. the closes to Big Papas bar. His first words are

“welcome to paradise” which is a bit corny but reminds us

what a laid back island this is. We clear in by dinghy about 2

miles away. Everyone is gorging on mangoes that are back in

season. We meet “Crosna” who reminds us that the buses

here are more comfortable, quieter and safer than other

islands.

Wed 9th

Late start as we are putting off cleaning the bottom, I squeeze

into my wetsuit get in and start scraping. Out rudders are still

pristine with no growth at all. The rest of the hull is a mass of

weed and barnacles. I only stay in for an hour but Trudy

carries on for two.

Sat 12th

Take a bus to Calibishie, a resort village on the north of the

island, somewhere we had missed on our last visit.

Sun 13th

Barbecue night where the boat boys serve food and rum, we

meet Olivier and Vivien from Maryanne and Wili and Mark

from Liahone, and Chuck and Barbara from a Trawler. They all

agree that seeing the hurricane season out in Trinidad is the

best option.

Mon 14th

Mark and Wili invite us to a hog roast on June 9th at Black boy

and Debbie’s in Saltwhistle bay Mayreau.

Tue 15th

Head south to Roseau, meet Desmond a boat boy we have

met before and get a mooring outside the "Drop Anchor" a

new restaurant, closed Monday and Tuesday!

Wed 16th

We get a tour to Trafalgar Falls, Titou Gorge, Botanical

Gardens and Sulphur Springs. Craig is our guide and is very

helpful, He swims with us through the Titou gorge to show the

two waterfalls up river. This gorge is very narrow, between

11/2 and 3 meters wide, covered by rain forest and is almost

completely dark until you get site of the waterfalls. A totally

awesome experience. He also takes us over man sized

boulders to swim under the Trafalgar falls.

Thur 17th

anchor up and try to check in at St Pierre but they are closed,

4 hours early! It s another bank holiday. We get asked to

move as the ferry is coming in and we get a god place miles

from anyone; that night a yacht rides forward on its anchor by

about 100m, so he must have at least 50m of rode out, far too

much. When we wake him he tells us we should move as we

were too close and he had done 7 Atlantic crossings! Trudy

says NO. I guess he didn't realise how far he had moved as

he spent the next hour dropping a second anchor and ended

up back where he started about 100m from us, hardly close!

Fri 18th

Try to check in at St Pierre but the electricity is off, we are

sent to Fort de France down the coast, luckily we were going

there anyway! We have a tough sail and hold the full lot up

until seas get large in 27 knots, We have never before reefed

this late so she obviously copes with more canvas than we

first thought. 2nd reef goes in at 30 knots, and third shortly

after as seas are getting biger and we are getting gusts to

35kts. We end up having to motor directly into the wind whilst

avoiding a tug with a 400m tow; a huge rubbish container

destined to be emptied at sea I fear. We arrive under the fort

and anchor up. we are a short walk from the centre of town,

quite handy! Also there is a park in full view of the boat where

concerts are held. Check in at SeaServices, it is free!

Throughout the evening we listen to the band that sounds

much like Michel Jarre.

Sat 19th

Walk around the markets, they are the best we have seen

since Grenada. Music from the stage is Latin American /

Creole mix with a female vocalist.

Sun 20th

Techno music in the bay.

Mon 21st

Take ferry to Pointe de Bout have a wander and visit

"Manureva" restaurant, an expensive place so we just have a

beer. Today is another bank holiday as Martinique is

celebrating the abolition of slavery this day in 1848.

Tue 22^nd

Set off to Grand Anse D’rlet.

This is a small resort bay with a couple of restaurants, shops and bars. We are in no rush so stay a couple of days. We had planned to leave here, check out and head directly south to St Lucia, but change our minds as Trudy has found a yacht for sale in Le Marin that would suit us well. There is a small café “Le P’ti Bateau” that is licensed to check yachts in and out. This system is on all the French islands and is very convenient.

Fri 25^th

Leave late under sail but end up motoring due to lack of wind and arrive in Le Marin and park up in a no anchor zone. (along with all the French) about 2 pm. This is a very busy bay with 600 slips all filled and a further 80 moorings all taken.

Sat 26^th

Martinique is a good place for all things French so we stock up on pates, cheese and wine. It is also a good place to buy and sell catamarans and we have found a new cat that looks very interesting.

Sun 27^{th to}  31^st