November 2012

November

Thurs 1^st

Pick up stop cable. Sewing machine should arrive tomorrow. Miss Molly drive by to say they are off to Tobago,hope to see them there. We pull out all our cupboards to fit the stop cable.

Fri 2^nd

Pick up sewing machine, it is a monster. Sailrite LSZ-1; check it out. It can sew through 10 layers of canvas! And weighs a ton.

Sat 3^rd

Spend most of the day assembling the sewing machine and watching the 2 ½ hour video that comes with it. This is needed as shows how to put it together and use it. A second gig with Stan and Cora this time at the Oasis bar in Clarkes Court Bay. Pot luck dinner; you each bring a dish and something to barbecue.

Sun 4^th

One of the local divers, Kirt, is in hospital in St Lucia with the the bends. One other guy died from bends injuries. Today there is a fish and lobster lunch put on by the fishermen and divers all proceeds to go to Kirt's medical fund. It is extremely well attended by locals and cruisers alike.

Mon 5^th

Final bottom clean, customs and immigration check out, fill with water and leave at 17:00 for Trinidad. There are several flashes of lightning during the night, which is always a worry, but none get too close. We see bright lights in the distance and pass three gas rigs only two of which were charted. There were only about ten vessels crossing our path, throughout the night, travelling along the Venezuelan coast. The quarter moon rises about midnight to help visibility through the second half of the night.

Tue 6^th

Overnight sail and motor. The water around Trinidad is brown. We were told to expect rubbish in the water and strong currents through the “Bocas”. There is rubbish, but not that much; and there was only about ½ knot current against us travelling through the first Boca de Monos. We arrive on the customs dock in Chaguaramas Trinidad at 08:02 two minutes after the overtime rate stopped! And a saving of US$50. Back on the boat for a long sleep.

Wed 7^th

Visit Echotec to order and pay for our watermaker then head out to Port of Spain to pay for our US visas. The town is really clean and rubbish free. After reports we have heard this is a big surprise. When we get back to Chaguaramas we dinghy round to find a cash-point and a bar. There are several bars but none are busy. We cannot find any happy hours and between one and three people in each bar. We ask around and everyone says the same.

Thurs 8^th

We have invited Lateral Thinking, Brian and Catherine for supper but have to cancel because weather is so bad. Rain chucking it down and heat and humidity high, and we don't want to spend an evening inside. They have a Fountaine Pajot the next size up from ours and have spent a long time making improvements.

Fri 9^th

Roti for lunch at Power Boats. You turn up and queue sitting down until they have finished cooking, then all stand up and queue again to collect your food. We finally get to invite Brian and Catherine back, it is several months since they barbecued an excellent stake for us in St Lucia. Rick has produced another video of the bays where we anchor south of Grenada island. At the start on the left is Michael, one of our best cricketers. “Lucky” the parrot is also on board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6Vtlk8XZA&feature=em-unknown&list=TL83XureDI57g

Sat 10^th

Up at 5:30 to get the bus to the market, clothes fruit veg, meat, poultry and fish. The biggest market I have ever visited with a fantastic selection. King prawns fresh at £3 per pound. One stall has about 50 small sharks another massive dorado, yet another is carving up a huge tuna. Butchers have pigs head, a bullocks head and all manner of other cuts. We are still looking for soursop juice and passion fruit syrup but can only find soursop fruit. Driver returns with live chicks. We go for an arranged walk though the bamboo cathedral and up to an old radar station, then to the beach for a swim. The Orinoco chucks out loads of mud so water is all a bit murky.

Sun 11^th

Peel the soursop and squeeze the fruit by hand. This produces about 200cc of thin juice; overnight this thickens and can be used as a juice concentrate. A wonderful grown up flavour with a slightly bitter finish.

Mon 12^th

Miss Molly arrive and later invite us for drinks. I spend about 4 hours working on Brian's Big Boy! This is a WiFi booster that is not getting a signal. After various diagnostics it appears the band width of the various providers is such that all signals keep dropping out. As a result of this “work” Brian offers to rebuild our engine covers as he is a carpenter.

Tue 13^th

Divali is a bank holiday in Trinidad and Tobago so all day spent on the yacht fixing and planning. 7pm there is a jam at Coral Cove. John from Out of Africa hosts it Phil from Miss Molly, Terry from Liberty, Samuel and Corinne, a French couple from Ercolousa all on guitars and Rob from Marie Elise, who played a brilliant trumpet. The best jam for ages as we had a variety of music including some Buena Vista with trumpet solos. We all bring our own booze as there is no bar.

Wed 14^th

A hike around chandlers and hardware stores looking for marine ply, 2x2 and 4x2 for our engine covers, plus some LED light strips. Electronic position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) and satellite phone. As a result of hearing about Windigo our friends Steve and Tania we have decided to take safety more seriously. They were recently rescued by the New Zealand services after their 12 metre boat was turned upside down in 20 metre waves. The Pacific cyclone season came a month early this year.

Thur 15^th

Haul out at 8:00 am. Busy day filling out paperwork and tracking down service providers.

Fri 16^th

Call Echotec the watermaker manufacturers and book fitting for Monday. Brian tracks down the wood required for our engine bays.

Sat 17^th

Brian arrives to repay my (failed) attempt to improve his wifi; He puts in 1 ½ days work and enlarges one engine bay and repairs the other. And fits a sewing table for our new machine.

Sun 18^th

Brian completes wood work and we begin tidying up and preparing for the electricians tomorrow. Pulling cupboards out, emptying under seat lockers and lifting floor panels. We will be in a mess again for a couple of weeks.

Mon 19^th

Watermaker engineer and Electrician both turn up to start work; both perform a “survey” that requires teeth sucking end further expertise to be brought in. Electrician requires a different electrician to provide power to units being wired in. Second electrician provides a survey and will get back with a quote. Quote arrives later, I accept at once – work can start tomorrow.

Tue 20^th

We have an appointment at the US embassy to apply for our US visas. 7:00 taxi we arrive at the embassy 7:55 in time for our 8:00 appointment. There are about 50 people in the queue outside the embassy for their 7:30 appointment and another 50 in the 8:00 queue. We get in to the embassy about 9:00, register and are finally the second to last to be interviewed at about 11:30. interview last 45 seconds, visa approved, pay for it to be delivered and collect it later. Too late to get any engineers on the boat so go shopping. Tonight is a special food night “sucking pig” we presume this is suckling pig and have booked. Pig is a metre long! Presumably not still suckling.

Wed 21^st

Watermaker work started Radio fitting stalled as wires will be too long, second electrician called in again. Further survey, will get back with a quote, it arrives later we need an extra battery, I accept immediately; work can start tomorrow. At 2:30 get a call from US embassy, visas are ready for collection, before 3:30 – impossible to do today, they are closed tomorrow so will come Friday.

Thur 22^nd

Thanksgiving – whatever that is! Most workmen have an excuse to take the day off. Also religious holiday for seventh day adventists. Watermaker engineer turns up at 11:00 then goes for lunch. Comes back fits primer pump exactly where I would crouch to service engine and so has to move it.

Fri 23^rd

Trudy collects our US visas from the embassy. Electricians and watermaker staff all arrive by midday and the boat is a shambles with people crawling all over. Winch is dismantled for servicing and is found to b a total write off. The casing has turned to powder to such an extent that a stud has dropped out, the motor housing is brown rust with the windings showing through. So its off to the chandlers for another large bill. I buy a larger winch that needs the deck to be filled and re-drilled; also wiring is not up to scratch so bill gets even bigger.

Sat 24^th

Pull all flooring out again as we need to run a small pipe from the watermaker to the tank. Also our “KISS counterpoise radial system” (a kind of earth for the short wave radio) needs to be hidden under the floor. We book tickets for the cinema on Monday. I am surprised to discover that, being over 55, I get senior citizen's discount! Saturday evening is Shark and Bake night at the “Wheelhouse” and we meet up with Steve and Jodie from “Blue Pelican”, a couple of Aussies who we first met at the cricket in Grenada.

Sun 25^th

Bilge cleaning. We have some sound proofing in the engine bays that is falling apart with age. So it all needs to be removed and replaced. The trouble is that it is partially fibre, filled with diesel and is very irritating. You spend an hour in the bilge and come up black and itching all over.

Mon 26^th

Engineers all arrive between 9 and 10 and by the end of the day we have a watermaker that should work.

Tue 27^th

More boat fixing, nearing completion

Wed 28^th

Swordfish, Ribs and parang night at the wheelhouse. Parang and Parang Soca are types of Christmas music. Lyrics are usually about drink, mostly rum and or food, mostly pork. These being the most important aspects of Christmas.

Thur 29^th

We take a trip to the Asa Wright nature centre. This is a large area of land that was given away in a will provided it remained a nature sanctuary. We see a huge selection of humming birds, 11 species in all. We miss out the scorpions and snakes but see several large lizards and a couple of agouti, a large hamster type thing. The interesting thing was that certain creatures habit specific areas of the rain forest. They are not spread all over; so you need to walk to specific locations to view individual species. This is followed by a visit to the Coroni swamp where we see the roosting of the red ibis and several types of egret. Quite a spectacular splash of colour. We also see a bird that looks like a log and a couple of brown tree boas. Apparently Trinidadians celebrate 100 days of Christmas ending 6^th January, then follow this up with two months of carnival. Celebrating means eating and drinking each other out of house and home. For almost half the year!

Fri 30^th

The electricians turned up yesterday, even though we told them we were out all day. Can't come today so remaining work will not be completed until Monday. Echotec tell us they need to go out on the boat to commission the watermaker and won't deliver filters until we go into the water, so that will hold us up another few days as well. Last day of November and we go to the annual Christmas cook-out. This is type of street party with stalls selling food and drink. We win two prizes in the raffle, a taxi ride to the airport which auctioned for £15 and two ferry tickets to Tobago which we will try and use.

October 2012

October

Mon 1^st

Piereve runs the yoga practice first thing in secret harbour. He and his wife Miray have retired and live on Umido. He has studied kendo, judo, karate, tai chi and yoga. The French don't do cricket at school but martial arts are an option.

Tue 2^nd

I won $100 by drinking Carib but had to take the bottle top to the brewery to collect the award. Tough job.

Wed 3^rd

Best book swap at IWW then guitar practice.

Thur 4^th

Yoga first thing then boat fixing. Our decompression lever has corroded and will not stop the port engine. Not as bad as it sounds, its just inconvenient to have to dive into the hot engine bay and reach down a metre to move the decompresser when we stop.

Fri 5^th

The boules tournament is cancelled so we take the dinghy ashore to give it a scrub underneath. A new top tip, turn it over and let it dry, cover with bleach and let it dry, done. It seems to work so far. Not sure what the fish think. Piereve and Miray teach us Tai Chi on the beach for about an hour first Tai Chi in years and Trudy's first try ever. All good stuff.

Sat 6^th

We go to our second ever Hash House Harriers Hash. We remember why we didn't enjoy it last time. It only lasted a bit more than an hour and a half but we slither about in mud, in and out of streams up and down 45 degree and steeper inclines getting scratched and bruised, just avoiding broken limbs. We discover red ants about 1.5 cms long and get bitten by some so small you can hardly see them. This is followed by an “oil down” (local dish) and a few beers. There is a great following out here among many locals and cruisers and up to 250 hashers do this every week sometimes up to 500. Actually it doesn't sound that bad; perhaps we will go again next year!

Sun 7^th

Peter Bonta from yacht “Too Much Fun” arrived at the jam session and standards rose again.

Mon 8^th

Yoga with Piereeve.

Tue 9^th

Meray and Piereve show us more Tai Chi moves on the beach.

Wed 10^th

We weather watch Invest 98L that is destined to become storm Raphael.

Thur 11^th

Yoga again. More storm watching. Every 2 to three hours we pick up another weather forecast. It seems to be heading straight for us but at last minute heads north towards St Lucia.

Fri 12^th

Start the day with Tai Chi, and. Collect some parts from Island water world and budget marine; Sherri calls to say she will drop some more stuff off at the local bar. We go to cricket, Trudy plays for the first time in her life, we are on opposite sides, it is the same for all couples....she scores as many runs as me....duck....Its the closest match yet. With an equal number of West Indians on each side! Complete with barracking.

Sat 13^th

Storm Raphael passes north but leaves us with a large swell. Too roly and windy to get off the boat. Fitted new fridge pump, a smaller one using less than half the amps of the old one.

Sun 14^th

Jam session again. Rajun Cajun Tony turns up and starts telling everyone off! We have a miserable time and moan into our beer. Many decide they are not coming back.

Mon 15^th

Liming

Tue 16^th

Tai Chi, shopping and a move into the next bay, Clarkes Court, Flat calm; lovely. We discover the windex is not working.

Wed 17^th

We find out our water maker has not been ordered and we need to order and collect it in Trinidad. Good job we were going there.

Thur 18^th

Pick up all remaining parts for out SSB radio kit. All we need to do now is install it; and pass the exam in the UK!

Fri 19^th

Trudy uses our old fridge pump to replace the deck cleaning pump. We get great water pressure for deck cleaning.

Sat 20^th

HHH 750^th Grenada hash in La Sargese, a beautiful beach resort and beers after a two hour walk in the hills. Back to Oasis bar to listen to live sax and trumpet from Gforce.

Sun 21^st

Trudy jerry rigs a stop cable, a bit Heath Robinson but it works.

Mon 22^nd

Our windex is still stuck so there are now two reasons to go up the mast, fix the windex and change the anchor light bulb for an LED that uses a 10^th of the power. Trudy hauls me up on two halyards and I discover the led will not work as the polarity is wrong and the fitting is an off set bayonet. I decide not to bodge it but reverse the polarity below deck instead.

Tue 23^rd

Of to IWW chandlers. The barometer that we bought to use forecasting storms has remained on 1011 millibars for over a month. We are convinced it does not work so exchange it for a more expensive version. As we travel by bus over the hills it changes continuously without tapping, perhaps we now have a good one.

Wed 24^th

All morning spent tracking down a 30' cable to activate the port decompresser and stop the engine. It is now on order and should be with us in 5 days....

Afternoon is spent removing every seat from the saloon and emptying all the under seat lockers in order to track down the junction box for the mast head lights. Polarity changed for the anchor light, Job finally completed, all lockers re filled, so just need to go up the mast again. We need to wait for the winds and waves to subside.

Thur 25^th

Grenada public holiday. Bruce from Serenity comes on board to swap some guitar riffs. Cooking class teaches us how to male plantain in a ginger and orange sauce; they also provide some mahi mahi in passion fruit sauce, calalou au gratin followed by soursop ice cream. All for £3. brilliant. Omega and Ester, the two girls that run the class will be videoed for a British television company on Saturday so you may get to see them on the box. Apparently they are having to use cocoa and nutmeg, two ingredients that come from Grenada. Back to the boat for a sundowner with Serenity and Secret Smile.

Fri 26^th

Grenada day off after public holiday! Tai chi first thing then shopping bus. No cricket this Friday as we are having a Halloween cricket party instead.

Sat 27^th

Trudy goes shopping for Halloween costumes, I practice with guitar. Stan and Cora play keyboard and sax at the local marina bar. The are with two guitarists and one is heading north, Do I want to play with them at Roger's beach bar on Tuesday? YES PLEASE!

Sun 28^th

Trudy spends hours filling in online visa application, Jam session at whisper cove.

Mon 29^th

No stop cable.

Tue 30^th

First thing tai chi, then customs to renew our visas. We are told we need to go to Immigration in town, rumour has it that this will take all day. Bus in, a mile walk, arrive in immigration, queue, register, wait, sent to treasury, queue, back to immigration queue to hand in receipt, wait, 1/2 mile walk as bus reverses to pick us up, back to marina to collect boxes of wine. My turn to spend hours on US visa application. We get to Roger's beach bar at about five and after problems with generators extension cables and adapters I end up playing on battery power. It goes well and I am invited back to play next Saturday. A dream come true.

Wed 31^st

Trudy climbs he mast to change our anchor light from a 3watt halogen to a 0.3 watt led. Then off to Miss Molly to see Phill and Monica. We need all to upload portrait pictures to the US web site to obtain US visas. We will apply for them in Trinidad. Then off to fancy dress cricket. Double runs if you wear a hat! Then a 20^th wedding anniversary party at de big fish with Barracuda and Ilfie doing an acoustic set, back to the Oasis bar for Kung Fu, an amazing 60 plus drummer, making quite a busy day! No stop cable no sewing machine.

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.