Wednesday morning we are up before it really is morning!   Prepared sandwiches for our passage and picked up anchor at 5.30 am…. watching the sun come up over the hills of Guadeloupe as we headed out towards Montserrat.

We feel very lucky to be able to visit Montserrat on this occasion – you have to have the right sea / weather conditions as the anchorage can be untenable otherwise combined with little volcanic activity in the area. The conditions are right so we are finally on our way…. This is the first time we will have set foot on the island but we actually flew over Montserrat – on a helicopter trip – shortly after the eruptions and while the volcano was still spitting out ash and rock high into the sky. So this has always been a place we have wanted to visit properly.

Of course, the completely flat weather conditions mean also that we have little or no wind….. We started out sailing – then motor sailing – then just plain old motoring as the wind dropped to nothing!   The passage was not the most comfortable one either as the sea kept on rolling us from side to side….. Oh well never mind – at least the sun is out and the skies are blue! Richard is fishing – again….. He has been dragging this lure around behind us for hundreds of miles but still no luck. I can’t even be bothered to watch for a bite now!

Coming towards Montserrat and the island reaches into the clouds…. and is obviously still generating a cloud of its own. The first signs of the ash flow which devastated Plymouth, the capital, and miles around are easy to see…. as is the steam still coming from the top of the mountain. Clearly it’s not finished blowing its top just yet… years on from the initial eruptions in 1995 and the major devastating eruptions in 1997.

Although we remained outside of the exclusion zone we headed in as close as we were allowed and spot a barge tied to an old dock and clouds of ash moving around. All very odd – it turns out it is trucks filling up the barge with sand and gravel, now the island’s major export.

Further along the coast and we spot some more steam….. huge billows of clouds high into the air…. Wasn’t expecting that there would be volcanic activity away from the mountain peaks so a bit surprised by this….. it turns out it is actually a pipe with scientists and engineers trying to tap into the geo-thermal power of this very active volcano….

Enjoying the sights and marvelling at the power of nature and – we have a bite!!!!!! OMG – Richard is rushing for the line while I slow the boat and get the gaff, the gloves and the rum. Rum???? Yes, really….. Apparently you can kill fish very quickly and easily with alcohol down their gills rather than bashing them over the head – and we have some particularly awful rum we purchased in Grenada that we have been saving for this moment……

The fish is fighting…. so Richard is getting excited…… Oh no… it is a barracuda!  A decent sized one but not something we want to eat so after he has his photo opportunity we let him live to fight another day and release him back into the sea. But at least Richard has broken his duck. Next time we are looking for a tuna or a mahi mahi to fill up the freezer LOL !!!!

Excitement over and we are now pulling into Little Bay our intended anchorage. We make our required VHF call to the Port Authority requesting permission to anchor… He tells us ‘north of the large catamaran’.  So we do as we are told and get ourselves cleaned up. Dropped dink off his davits and we head into the pier to do the formalities…. should be easy as we have done this on-line with the Sail Clear system. Arriving at the pier and we are told by the Port Authority that we need to move Morphie – we are, allegedly, impeding the ferry’s channel. Well – not going to argue with him – but seriously….???   We have anchored where we were told to….and, in our humble opinion, we are not in the way. Not a great welcome to be honest. But we agree – of course! – that we will move – but can we clear in to the country first please? That was agreed so we secure dink to the really dirty pier and head into customs. We loved the welcoming stork though!!!

Oh yes…and guess what…. the Sail Clear system has crashed. So we are given the forms – in triplicate with carbon – to complete manually. Oh well…. never mind!  Forms filled in and the customs girl – who, to be fair was very helpful and charming – said she couldn’t clear us in and out at the same time because we wanted to stay until Saturday, which was beyond their 72 hour limit. Fine – we’ll come back to clear out then….which we’ll do late on Friday.

In the meantime another cruising couple, Phil and Karen, have asked us if we want to go on a tour tomorrow to share the costs – we say yes…but who is it with? They say Joe Phillip – who we have heard about and comes highly recommended – so agree to go for it. So our island tour is fixed for 10.00 am on Thursday. Bidding farewells we rush back to Morphie to pick up anchor…..

Picked up anchor and loads of other boats turn up simultaneously…. it’s all a bit of a bun fight as the anchorage isn’t particularly large but we all fit in eventually. And at least two boats are closer to the channel than we were originally but they don’t get asked to move – so figure that one out?!?

Securely anchored for the second time and we head back into Little Bay to have a wander around. About to leave the Port Authority gates and we get asked – have you filled in this form? What form????? This one???? Er – no – were we supposed to??? Yes apparently. So I take a seat and fill this one in too – luckily we hadn’t unpacked the rucksack so I still had all the boat papers that we needed with us, otherwise it would have been another trip back to Morphie! Filled it in – and then she asked us for the receipt for our clearance. What receipt we asked? For the money you paid she says. Er no….haven’t paid yet….got to pay on departure apparently…. That’s no good she says and rushes off to talk to the customs people. After a frustrating wait she returns and lets us go…..

Phew…..finally we are legal…..and we can go out of the complex. There really isn’t much here – although they are building heavily to attract people into the island with major construction going on along the waterfront. But we found a local bar called Mooses and had a few cold Caribs to smooth out the irritations…. Also got a very slow internet connection but at least we could tell people we were safe and sound.

We chatted to a few ex-pats and locals – including some Montserratians who had moved to the UK when they had lost everything in the original volcanic eruption. This island remains a British territory – rather than an ex-British island as so many of them are around here. And we got talking to a lady – who lives in Nottingham – who had come home for the St George’s school reunion. These people used to live in a village called St George’s in an area called Harris, which remains within the exclusion zone so have all relocated either on the island or to the UK. They were all dressed up in their matching shirts and were in good humour – so had a bit of a giggle and they kindly allowed me to take their photos….

Few more beers later and we head back to Morphie – via the immigration hut to get our passports stamped. This was a voluntary option… Again I’m asked to fill out forms and I wondered why we have volunteered for this????    Anyway….half way through….another immigration officer calls me back and says, tear up the forms, you don’t need them, I’ll just stamp your passport. This is mad!!!!

Montserrat use the Irish Shamrock here for their immigration stamp and call themselves the other Emerald Isle – which links back to the days of Irish settlers who arrived in the 1600s. Many of these Irish settlers were small farmers but as the economy changed with sugar becoming the main crop and the introduction of slaves a lot of them returned to Ireland. But their legacy and names remain…..

Back on board we enjoyed our first Montserrat sunset and had an early night…. We have a busy day ahead tomorrow (Thursday) with the island tour planned and are really looking forward to it.

I realise I’m a bit behind with the blog – because of poor internet speeds on Montserrat – so will update again soon.   Watch out for the next instalment called Joe and the Volcano!

Bye for now

Jan

Saturday morning, to our surprise, we found that the shops were open.   So we did a bit of provisioning – we particularly wanted to get some supplies of pate and cheese before we left the French islands – and spent most of the morning in the internet cafe doing the laundry. They will do it for you – at a price – but we decided to catch up on a few things while we were waiting for it so did it ourselves.    All done and back to Morphie…. But it was mid afternoon by this time….

Whilst ashore I had felt quite land sick – and the rolly conditions in the anchorage didn’t help when we got back either. It was blowing like stink too.  So we decided to stay on board and have a lazy afternoon. I had a couple of hours sleep and Richard sunbathed on the deck. Later on I felt better and we had a light supper…. whilst the catamaran in front of us continued to play music very loudly. In the end we retreated down below and shut the hatches….it was horrendous….and they partied all through the night again…. Grrrrrrrr……

So Sunday morning we were feeling tired and grumpy!   But the sun was up and it looked like a nice day.  So we did a few boat jobs in the morning and headed into the town beach for another bobbing afternoon.

Interestingly a pagoda type structure had been erected on the beach – so we thought something might be going down later… but nothing did, people were just using it to get shade under!   All a bit strange…. But not as strange as the guy with the largest e-cigarette we have ever seen!

We enjoyed our bobbing and people watching.   And the sky was starting to look ominous again….. particularly the clouds building over Guadeloupe in the distance.   Looks like more weather coming.

Back on board and we spent some time watching the frigate birds and the pelicans fighting for scraps as the fishermen cleaned their catch. Later on there was a moody sunset… Definitely looks like more weather on its way.

Monday morning and yes it is pouring. Just a usual UK Bank Holiday Monday then LOL!   We sit out the squalls – and the white-outs – as they come through and head into town for a leisurely lunch in a small restaurant overlooking the anchorage.

And the food was fantastic.

The anchorage had started to clear out as people headed back home to get ready for work I guess…..and thankfully the party boats had gone too!    Hurrah…. Back on board and we had a quiet evening before retiring to bed early.

Tuesday morning and up really early – slipped our mooring ball at 7.00 am with coffee and rolls already made up for the run across the channel and up the coast of Guadeloupe to Deshaies, our next port of call.  Another cloudy and gloomy day but the rain stopped around 8 am…. Said a fond farewell to the Saintes as we headed out.

Had a great sail – with wind behind us and following seas – past the lighthouse and marvelled at how built-up and European looking Guadeloupe is. Which is common amongst the French Caribbean islands… Half way up the coast we had a 120 degree wind shift so, of course, the wind is now on our nose! So we ended up motoring the rest of the way, sadly….

Arrived into Deshaies and it is busy…. We end up having to anchor in 35 feet of water but couldn’t get in any closer. Oh well….. Only staying for one night anyway as we are going to make this a jumping off point to Montserrat.  We missed Montserrat on the way down the island chain last year as the weather conditions were not conducive…. but the forecast for the next few days is looking very favourable. Very excited!

So we went ashore – primarily to check out of customs for the following day. And, of course, the little shop that does this is closed.  Between 12.30 and 4 pm – for lunch! The town is completely closed right now….hard to believe this is just after 2pm on a Tuesday!  Oh well…. We head off to a local hostelry and had some lunch ourselves. What else could we do???  Lovely cod fritters this time. Actually this enforced stop was pretty handy because I picked up their wifi code and they allow us to use it – free of charge – in the anchorage… result!

Found the local bakery – I am really going to miss the daily fresh baguettes! – the pretty church and the supermarket after lunch as well as completed our customs / immigration checkout.   Which in the French islands consists of typing stuff into a computer, printing it off, getting a stamp and paying a fee……   Quite a different approach from the ex-British islands who still do everything in triplicate using carbon papers!

We are now back on board and are planning an early night as we want to be up very early and off in the morning for the nine hour or so passage…   Hopefully this rolly, 360 degree movement, will abate when the sun goes down!

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday morning we did very little but did get around to cleaning Morphie’s hull in the afternoon….. which was surprisingly clean, considering how long we had spent in the marina over the last month. While we were in the water we had noticed that quite a few largish catamarans had come in – all full of young guys and girls, maximum age 18 we reckoned. They had no skippers on board with them and couldn’t even drive straight towards a mooring ball – the guy who collects the fees actually had to tow one of the boats to the ball to get them attached. Scary stuff…..

As the afternoon went on they got louder, shouting at each other across the bay – unfortunately we had two of these boats behind us – and then, thankfully, they went ashore…. Hurrah peace restored.  And then, of course, they came back and carried on whooping and hollering…. Finally we gave up and went to bed but this was a rolly night so sleep was a bit elusive – and the party boats continued to party…. The last time we heard them was at 4.30 am…. We were definitely not amused and felt very grumpy and old!!!!

Wednesday morning and we head in to hire an electric car to explore the island. We arrive just after the day-trip ferry has come in from Guadeloupe… and no cars available as they have to be reserved in advance. Well we did try to do that the other day but virtually got pushed out of the door as the guy was locking up for his two hour lunch while telling us to come back tomorrow!!! Oh well – best laid plans and all that.  So we reserved a two-seater car for Thursday instead.

Not wanting to go straight back to Morphie we decided to walk across the island to visit Grande Anse beach.  We admired first the doctor’s house – which is built into the cliff and shaped like a ship – donated to the island, providing a doctor remains living in it….    Very interesting structure….

Wandering up, down and around the island we enjoyed the beautiful flowers that adorn most hedges; met some local critters; marvelled at what passes for a main road here; admired the serene setting of the island’s cemetery; and finally ended up at Grande Anse.

Grande Anse is beautiful and wild – and very clearly not a swimming beach – as the undertow here is very dangerous.  We wandered around and had some fun in the sand… and came across the end of the runway to the little island airport.  Misjudge that one and you end up in the drink!

Having got a bit hot and bothered we wandered back to the town beach and was looking for a place to sit and have a cold drink while people watching. Having walked about five miles we felt we deserved it!  So we tried half a dozen places – but either no-one around to serve or no drink without food.  We were a bit fed up at this point – especially as we wanted to spend some euros – so we headed back to Morphie, checking out the unusual lamps and signage at a couple of the restaurants along the way.

We packed a cooler with food and drink and returned.  We beached dink and had a really good time bobbing in the sea and enjoying the sun….. The water is spectacular and clear here…. During the afternoon we watched a few planes come in low over the town heading to that tiny airport and enjoyed watching the pelicans hunting for fish too.  And we could keep an eye on Morphie and her large neighbours too.   Life is good!

Back on board and we were relieved that the party boats had left during the day… We had just showered off on the transom – but were still in our swimsuits – and suddenly we had a couple of dolphins visit the stern of Morphie. I jumped in quickly but they scarpered…. Never mind…was quite an exciting moment…. And so to bed.

Thursday morning up early and go to collect our solar-powered car. Oh yes and it is raining….hard!!!   Oh well…. we can’t do anything about that as we have reserved and pre-paid… just have to make the most of it. Finally we get our hands on the car – no driving licence required – and it is a weird looking thing. We couldn’t help but break out into a rendition of Postman Pat as we drove away – all we needed was that black and white cat LOL.

Richard was desperate to try out his racing driver skills and it was pretty scary when he was tearing around at the maximum speed of around 15 miles an hour… Don’t laugh – these roads are barely made for walking, let alone fast buggies!!!

First stop was up to Fort Napoleon which has been well restored and there were stunning views from the ramparts… Shame about the rain and the grey skies though!!!

The museum was pretty interesting and had a great range of naval information but very little in the way of actual historical objects save from a few bits and pieces. But we particularly enjoyed some of the battle scene artwork and the beautifully crafted models of the ships involved in the numerous battles fought in these waters.

Moving on and we drive down to Baie to Pompierre – which is a stunning beach… even in the rain…..

Afterwards we explored the whole island – having to enter many of the coves on foot as the final approach to them was not navigable in our little buggy.  We had a nice time – even though it was still raining.   We particularly enjoyed watching the little goats keeping dry by the stadium and under anything they could find!

We then decided to go to La Papilotte for lunch, which is in a stunning place called Baie du Marigot, and was the highlight of our visit here last year. Got there just in time to get one of the last tables and placed our order. We had fantastic food and wine…. this is a great place and very worthy of its rating. Having finished a leisurely meal we asked for the bill and went to the bar to pay it…. We were treated to a free rum shot – and Richard was given his in a very unusual shot glass!

The sun was now starting to come out so we head back to Baie de Pompierre and enjoyed an afternoon of bobbing. Driving back through the town we marvel at the amount of derelict houses that are just left to rot and wonder about the stories behind them…..

We hand back our car – which we had grown quite fond of during the day – and had a final glass of wine watching the day trippers line up for the ferry back to Guadeloupe. Back to Morphie and we enjoy sitting in the cockpit enjoying the final hours of the evening with some tunes…. No dinner tonight – still full up from lunch!

Friday – and it’s Easter and to make us feel at home it is a rainy squally day…. Happy Easter to all our friends and family. Enjoy your long weekend…..

No chocolate eggs on board but I did manage to get some Smarties and Galaxy the other day so we enjoyed them instead. We did very little apart from a little bit of handwashing and we made water. We didn’t got off the boat at all – and thoroughly enjoyed our lazy day, which was rounded off by the beautiful colour of the sky as the sun prepared to say farewell.

This morning – Saturday – and we plan to head into town and hoping that the rain will go away….. Not sure what will be open or going on… but fingers crossed that the laundry will be open so I can get the heavy stuff done.   After that maybe lunch?  Maybe beach or chair bobbing?  We’ll just have to see how we feel…..

Bye for now

Jan

Friday morning and we were up bright and early…… Headed into Cafe Ole for our final breakfast; went into the marina office to pay our bill; and then into customs and immigration to check out for Saturday. All jobs done….and back to Morphie.

We didn’t have any help on the dock but I managed to reverse Morphie out into the channel without leaving Richard behind on the dock!  Success…. and now we headed to the fuel dock. As we are coming in the dock guys were busy with others…so we shouted at them that we would go around again to give them time to get ready to receive us.  So we are doing a 360 and suddenly a Danish yacht turned up and started to go inside of us. After a few minutes of yelling and pointing he realised what we were up to and gave us room… So now lining up nicely to the dock and suddenly a dinghy appears in front of our bow to tie to the dock, right where we were planning to be….. Richard used some working class language to let them know of his strength of feelings and they decided to move away rather than be run down.  Phew….so stressful all this!    Finally refuelled with both diesel and petrol….. and we head out into the bay.

In the bay we struggled initially to get our anchor set …. so moved to another spot. This time we found sand first time and the anchor set….and then the chain jammed into the windlass. So we couldn’t pick up or drop more… Was a bit worried about the strain on the windlass taking the whole weight of the boat so we managed to manhandle and snub the line while we had a look to see what had happened. Well it was jammed solid…. so we turned the power off to the windlass while we investigated. Finally after some brute strength combined with some pretty ingenious moves in a very small space, Richard had it working again and reassembled. My hero!    So we dropped more chain, backed down, picked some up to check it all worked properly and then finally, happy, we snubbed ready for the night. The time is now getting on and it’s about 2.00 pm…. and we were starting to wonder where Evensong had got to. Well about 3.30 pm we decided they weren’t coming – and I was a bit concerned about them – so tried to hail them on the VHF. They were too far away, as it turned out, so were unable to pick us up. Oh well… no bobbing for us today then as dink and the outboard remain on the rail ready for our passage to the Saintes. Never mind….  we decided to just sit on the transom of Morphie with our feet in the water, cold beer in hand (the first for a few days) and enjoyed the panoramic views of Rodney Bay while watching the sun go down. And so to bed – early.

Saturday morning we have had our breakfast and are getting ready to pick up our anchor when we hear Evensong hailing us on the radio. They were stuck in the Piton anchorage because the driver failed to pick Dan, Andy and Kristin up from their hike up one of the Pitons…. and by the time they got back it was too late to come on round. Phew…at least they were safe!  So we head out as they head in, around 10.15 – and we briefly sailed parallel to shout greetings and farewells…. Felt sad…..

Getting the sails up we moved out fast and shot across the St Lucia to Martinique channel very quickly averaging 7.5 to 8 knots…. although we did experience a 60 degree wind shift when we got to Martinique near Fort de France so the wind that was on our back was now on our nose!  Typical…. but we were able to continue sailing our course. We enjoyed the mountainous views at the top of the island and watching other sailors enjoying the fantastic conditions. Blue seas combined with blue skies, 4-6 feet seas and 15 knots of breeze. And a huge moon came up early too….

Getting close to the Martinique to Dominica channel and the sun is starting to set. And we have dolphins!  Not many, quite small ones, but very very close to our stern and gave us both a real boost….

My solo shift starts at 6pm for three hours so as we head into the channel I’m on my own, with Richard sleeping down below. Great…. the winds pick up to 25 knots sustained, the seas are bigger and more confused and I have a tanker bearing down on me, a cruise ship running alongside, a big motor boat that (thankfully) decides to go behind my stern…. But all hazards were avoided and we were still sailing hard….. Really enjoyed it…and, of course, Richard comes up for his shift and the wind has calmed down back to 18 knots. Typical!!!!

We arrive at Scotts Head – the southerly point of Dominica – by 11pm that night. Ooops… that was a bit earlier than planned, as we wanted to whale watch in day light along the middle to north coast of Dominica, looking out for that pod of sperm whales we know lives there…  So we decided to reduce sail and slow down…. and then, of course, the wind died to 5 knots. But we carried on – even though we were only going 1.5 knots ourselves – and enjoyed the sloooowwwww sail until the wind died completely once we had passed Roseau and we had to put the engine on.   Oh well…. Motor sailing along at around 3 knots we continued with our shift pattern of three hours on / three hours off until sunrise. And guess what?!?   We were entertained by the most beautiful pod of large dolphins under our bow who were playing, looking at us, jumping, and generally swimming along having fun… They stayed with us quite a while so we had some good photo opportunities. What an amazing start to a day. Enjoy the pictures!

Moving past Portsmouth we rounded the top of Dominica and the wind and waves picked up again…. a bit swelly but only 18-20 knots of breeze. Fantastic conditions. Had a wonderful sail and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We pulled into Terre de Haut, Iles des Saintes, at around 10.15 am. So a 24 hour sail in the end – covering 112 miles.

We picked up a mooring ball easily, cleaned up, put up the quarantine flag and retired to our bed for a few hours. During this time we heard someone knocking on the hull but we just turned over!   Later on we went ashore – taking boat papers just in case the clearance place was open – and enjoyed a couple of cold beers before heading back to Morphie. Of course, clearance is not possible in a French island on a Sunday!

Monday morning up early as we were awakened at 7.30 am by the guy who collects the mooring fees! This must have been who had been knocking on our hull the previous afternoon….. We headed into the clearance place and found ourselves in a long queue. Ahead of us was Arnd from Zanshin – who we had last met in the BVI around 2011 when we all went onboard Namaste for sundowners – which was then being chartered by Kristine and Doug. What a small world!   Unfortunately he was only checking in to move north so we were not able to spend any time with him….but great to catch up if only for a short while.

The rest of the morning we wandered around this sleepy place looking at a few shops, enjoying a typical French breakfast, buying a couple of things – particularly cheese, pate and bread! – and enjoyed watching the pelicans waiting for the fishermen, just outside the brand new fish market. This place is absolutely beautiful and we are pleased to be back….

Monday afternoon – having cleaned all the salt off of Morphie from her latest passage – we had an afternoon bobbing session in our chairs and then enjoyed the moody sunset, early dinner and another early night. We were hoping to get up to watch the lunar eclipse at around 3 am but unfortunately it was very cloudy and poured with rain most of the night. Typical – no rain for ages either.

Tuesday (today) we are having a lazy day on board although we have a list of boat jobs to do too……  Tomorrow we are hoping to hire an electric buggy to tour the island – something we didn’t do last year. Looking forward to that.

Bye for now

Jan

Sunday afternoon after Hellfire and Fiona had left we went back to Morphie and chilled. At around 5.30 pm Dan came over to let us know that Kristin and Andy had arrived safely from the US and wanted us to join them for sundowners.   We knew that Dan and Ruth had been eagerly awaiting their daughter’s arrival and were keen for us to meet…. so we went over, expecting to stay for a short while as they had had a long journey and were very tired…   But – as is often the way when we get together! – we had a few drinks and were persuaded to stay for pizzas too… We had a lovely evening together before retiring back to Morphie for “pontoonies” on our own…..

Monday and we are up a bit later than usual and first thing we do is strip beds and collect all the laundry together. Four large bags ready – we radioed Mr Sparkle – and put them on the rail to be collected by him during the day. We then gathered up our computers and headed into Café Ole for breakfast and, primarily, internet access.  We had had little time online while Hellfire and Fiona were on board and had a lot to catch up on…. including getting the blog of their trip published and sorting out American Airlines who had decided to amend our August flights home to a schedule that no longer worked!!!!

Anyway…. we did most of the stuff…. but the bandwidth was causing download / speed problems as more and more people came into this very popular coffee shop.   While we were there Ruth and Kirstin popped in and invited us to go bobbing in the small marina pool later on….   Yes, that sounds good to us, so we accepted the invitation before we moved upstairs to Bosuns and carried on with our internet stuff using their free wifi. It was now getting on for lunchtime so Richard treated me to a toasted sandwich and a soda.   Back on board – Mr Sparkle had already collected the laundry – we chilled for a short while before packing our little cooler and headed off to the pool.

We enjoyed bobbing in the pool with the Evensong gang before we all headed back to our respective boats to get cleaned up for dinner.   This evening Ruth had organised for us all to go out to dinner with Ed and Ann (Windswept Dreams) who were flying home the following day.   So we headed over early evening to the Brig Unicorn for dinner…  Had a little tour of the 1947 Netherland’s built vessel – which was originally designed to  carry sand before being converted to a pirate boat and then used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie….   Had a final group photo – and yes, it was dedicated loud shirt day! – before settling down for dinner.

It was a special pasta night and great value – EC $20 for pasta, garlic bread and a glass of wine. That’s £5 a head!  Amazing…..and all served by the friendliest waiter ever called Junior.  Lovely evening had by all…

Tuesday and we really needed to get our act together.  All this lazing about when Morphie was looking pretty grubby inside and salty outside just will not do!  So up very early and we started – with Richard reorganising our stuff back into the stern cabin – and I started scrubbing and cleaning anything that was static!   Unfortunately the 12 volt vacuum cleaner broke at this point so back to the old fashioned method of dustpan and brush. Oh well…   Once inside was done Richard scrubbed the exterior while I did a bit of cooking – salmon fish cakes – for sundowners, as we’d invited the Evensong gang over so that Kristin and Andy could meet Morphie.

Realising that I was out of one ingredient I popped into the marina supermarket and was delighted to find full-sized cans of Carib beer in stock!     Yippppppeeeee…..  So I bought one slab there and then and sent Richard back for a couple more slabs later in the afternoon. That’s us sorted for a considerable amount of time!

Phew…. all done….. Morphie is looking gorgeous, the food is ready, and the gang arrived ready to tuck into some rum punch and my concoctions. They went down really well!

Dan is on cooking duty tonight so invites us to join them. We say ‘no’ – this is your family time together we can’t impose on another night…. They, however, will not take no for an answer!   So we end up having Dan’s special chicken dish and some Thai green curry on board Evensong.  Lovely time had by all….and great food!  Thanks…. Oh yes and Dan stayed up almost to 9.45 when we left – pretty late for him LOL.

Wednesday and we are up and about going through all the cupboards to find out what provisions we had left in our stores as today is shopping day.   Quite a list to get…..   We really needed a lot of meat / fish for the freezer – and the snack cupboard was completely bare. Was pretty pleased with our provisioning for Hellfire and Fiona’s trip – nearly everything had gone apart from some cans and a few bottles of wine….

Dink is still up on his davits and the outboard is on the rail… which is perfect for when we leave the marina and continue our travels north… so we left it like that and took a taxi round to the shops.  Managed to get most things – including a new 12v vacuum cleaner from the hardware store – and we were back on board around lunchtime.   By this time Evensong had left the marina for the Pitons where they planned to spend a couple of nights.

In the afternoon we had a guy revisit us from the electronics shop. We had previously had a problem with the chart plotters refusing to talk to the VHF radio which is very important for emergency use of the DSC alarms (as it identifies our latitude and longitude at the moment of the button being pressed). This had previously been identified as an installation issue. We were happy it had been resolved but during our recent trip down island we noticed that the AIS was not working properly….  and once we were back in the marina we identified that it was a high speed mode versus NMEA in/out mode on the two ports being used.   AIS worked in high speed mode but VHF didn’t….and vice versa. They both wouldn’t work at the same time so clearly there was a conflict somewhere between the AIS, the VHF and the plotters. So we asked the guy to come back and, yes, it was what we thought and, luckily, he thought he knew how to resolve it.  If you saw the huge amount of wiring that is involved with the two GPS receivers, the two plotters, the radar, the VHF etc you will understand why we didn’t fiddle ourselves!  Thankfully all was finally resolved after some scratching off heads and delving into installation manuals…. Phew relieved about that!

We stayed onboard Wednesday night and had an early night after a curry dinner – which was actually defrosted warmed up leftovers!   But still tasted pretty good…

Thursday and I took the opportunity of having another massage here in the marina. Wandering back feeling a bit tender after the pummelling and I noticed that all the customs / immigration guys were out on the veranda, so wondered whether the air conditioning had broken down???   Amazing how much the marina has cleared out in the past couple of weeks – really quite empty now….    And our favourite marina bar remained firmly closed….

While I was out Richard had been doing routine engine maintenance amongst other things. He had also collected the wine I had ordered from the marina wine merchant…. So we are now fully restocked…. repacked and ready to go. Water tanks are full again too…. We had another lazy afternoon and evening – not even getting off the boat. Lazy but lovely!    We have enjoyed our time here in the marina again but it really is time to get back out on the hook…..

Friday we are planning to check out of the marina, check out of customs and immigration (giving us 24 hours to leave the country), fill up with duty-free diesel and petrol and head out into the bay opposite Mum’s hotel.   Evensong are planning to join us for an afternoon beach bobbing session which will be our last get together in the islands this season.   On Saturday we are leaving St Lucia for the final time, proposing to head north to Iles des Saintes – beautiful French islands off the bottom of Guadeloupe.  We plan – weather permitting – to sail straight past Martinique and Dominica, having already explored them this season. This passage should take us around 21 hours…

So bye for now and will be in touch from France!

Jan

Wednesday and we were up and about early in preparation for the run to Mustique, saying a sad farewell to the beautiful Tobago Cays..

We passed behind Canouan into the Atlantic to get a good sailing angle and the weather was very grey with rougher seas than forecast.  As usual!   Anyway, as we needed to make water, we sailed with the engine ticking over.   Suddenly we had a 20 degree shift in the wind direction so we headed back to the Caribbean side and we had a great sail with Hellfire at the helm into Mustique.

We picked up an obligatory mooring ball and Richard dropped trash off ashore.  Richard, Hellfire and Fiona then took a wander around the small main street while I took the opportunity of an empty boat to do a quick boat wash and brush up…..

After lunch on board we all had a lazy afternoon enjoying the beautiful anchorage and then headed into the infamous Basil’s Bar for sundowners. The local band were setting up for the evening party – the only problem was there were hardly anyone around, although we did spot Basil himself for a short while. After having a couple of expensive beers – which didn’t seem tooooo bad at 12.50 ECD a bottle (about £3) – until we realised that they added 10% service and 15% VAT to the basic price. Oh well, we did get to see the sun go down and had free internet service thrown in!!!  Our server was pretty eager to please too….. We went back on board for a (huge!) steak dinner and I crashed pretty early although I did take some time out to star gaze from the coach roof.

Thursday we enjoyed a smoked salmon and scrambled egg breakfast and a leisurely start to the day.  Around 11 – accompanied by a packed picnic lunch – we met with Michael our taxi driver – who was huge and used to pay professional basketball.  He apologetically told us that Mustique was currently “shut down” so although we could visit Macaroni Beach he was not allowed to leave us there. Damn!!!   This was where we had planned to spend the afternoon….. We were quite fed up – particularly as the beach wasn’t that busy and they really wouldn’t have noticed us….. Oh well, this is a private island after all and the Mustique Company dictate the rules.  So we did the short island tour – with Richard and Hellfire having fun with the sexy tortoise statue…. During the tour we found out that Mick Jagger was on island, so perhaps the “shut down” was related to him getting some privacy while he grieves??   We got over our disappointment quickly when we ended up back on a small beach we were allowed to stay on, and there was no-one around….  so we took ownership of a picnic table and ate our lunch, followed by a very shallow bob at the water’s edge, being entertained by seagulls whilst admiring superyachts in the anchorage….. Great time had by all…..

We were back on board for more drinks and dinner – with Richard being in party mood and feeling a bit rebellious – so we had loads of tunes, rum drinking and singing along before headed off to bed…..

Friday we were up pretty early and were underway just after 9. Got a great sailing angle and sailed pretty much all the way from Mustique to Bequia. Was lovely!  We all went ashore; had a local roti lunch; checked out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and then headed to the beach for another bobbing session and a final farewell to Lucie, Patrick and Linda with a fleeting visit from Chris. Had a great time and enjoyed a very early night after another moody sunset.

Saturday morning and we were up very early before picking up our anchor around 5.50 am. Heading out into the channel to St Vincent and we enjoyed seeing the sun rise….

The weather forecast lied again – why does this surprise me every time? – and we had 18-23 knots of breeze at around a 45 degree angle, with short sharp choppy seas in the channel…. Pushed on and hit glassy seas with lower winds as we ran alongside St Vincent. Then we spotted a pirogue heading out – very fast – to sea crossing our bow.  We then spotted that he had a harpoon gun on the bow. Oh no, this is a traditional whaling boat. We knew that Bequia had taken a whale earlier in the week but hoped that this hunt ended up with the whale winning!

The channel between St Vincent and St Lucia was also rough and challenging….. with Hellfire and Fiona doing really well…. We had a brief dolphin display too but not close enough for photos unfortunately….. Then we came alongside St Lucia and the wind angle changed – again – and then again… Thankfully we managed to get into Rodney Bay Marina before dark having made really good time.

Our last dinner together was ashore at Bosuns and was really nice.   Hellfire and Fiona treated us too which was unexpected and very much appreciated before heading back to sleep off a very long and tiring day. Without the rocking for the first time in a while!

Sunday morning and it is time for them to pack so we all did our own thing and then settled down to a huge brunch around 11.30 am…. Finally, at 2.45 pm we headed into the marina with their bags…. and waited for the taxi to take them to the airport. Hugs all round… can’t believe their holiday is over…. and then suddenly they were gone….

We sailed 217 miles with Fiona and Hellfire on board – which was challenging for them at times. Fiona didn’t really enjoy the sailing part of this trip but, kudos to her, she did tough it out… Hellfire was a complete natural and was great on the helm!    We had a lovely time and I hope that I’ve done their trip justice in the blog!

Bye for now

Jan

Late Tuesday afternoon we headed to the Boardwalk in the marina to await Richard and Fiona’s arrival. They arrived, tired but happy after a long trip from the UK at around 6.30 pm, and we celebrated by having a couple of buckets of beers then went on board Morphie for a quick unpacking session and some snacks before retiring early.

Wednesday morning we were up early; had breakfast ashore; Richard and Fiona met Morphie properly;  we cleared out of customs and got our Pitons permit; paid our marina bill; and slipped quietly out into the bay around 10.30 for the trip downwind to the Pitons on the bottom coast of St Lucia. We enjoyed a leisurely downwind sail – flat seas with light winds – which was actually a perfect introduction to sailing for Richard and Fiona. Considering he was a complete novice, Richard proved to be a natural on the helm.

Nearing the Pitons we made radio contact with both Illusions and Evensong before saying our farewells, picked up a mooring ball – assisted by the usual boat boys – and enjoyed the amazing views of this spectacular and unique anchorage, including looking up at Ladera where we had lunched with Carolyn and Ron the week before.. To celebrate our arrival, we all had a swim and snorkel before having enjoying the final St Lucia sunset, dinner on board followed by an early night, as we were going to be leaving before sunrise in the morning for the long sail down to Bequia.

Thursday we dropped our mooring and left just before six am into slight winds and mirror flat seas, enjoying our last look at the Pitons.

But the wind picked up and so did the seas as we got into the channel between St Lucia and St Vincent.  Fiona felt pretty ill….  although wasn’t actually sick….  but was definitely a bit green round the gills… We arrived into Bequia after a pretty good sail – for us! – around 1.15pm. Having ensured we were anchored securely we left our friends on board and went into clear customs. While we were out we also managed to get some slabs of full-size beers, hurrah!!!   When we got back to Morphie, Fiona, thankfully, had recovered and wanted to get off the boat for a while although Richard was now suffering. We think he was dehydrated rather than sea sick… so we left him on board for some peace and quiet and took Fiona ashore for her first bobbing session. Had a really nice time….. and were back on board for our pork tenderloin dinner after enjoying a beautiful Bequia sunset.

While we were relaxing in the cockpit – Richard was still asleep recovering from the long trip – there was a bush fire on land to entertain us, which was pretty dramatic as it was being spread by the wind.  Eventually we retired to bed after a pretty long and tiring day…..

Friday morning and the two Richards went diving while Fiona and I went shopping. They were delighted to see a number of sea horses and frog fish – fantastic, although sadly no photographs.   In the meantime, we wandered around town enjoying the sights. Fiona bought a new dolphin necklace and I managed to buy some boules for Richard.

In the afternoon having cleaned all the dive gear, we went bobbing on the beach and met Patrick and Lucie (from Illusions) and Linda (from Troubadour). The north swells were kicking in and we ended up surfing some of the time!  We retired to Morphie for sundowners and a fish supper. During the night, the swells continued to come through, so it was pretty rolly…. and wasn’t particular restful for any of us.

Saturday morning we decided to move on rather than stay and suffer from the continued rolly conditions. So we left bound for Chatham Bay, Union Island, enjoying the sun coming up over Bequia as we departed.

We had a really good sail although the conditions were still a bit rough with the north swells running. But thankfully both Richard and Fiona were feeling much better and actually coped really well with the conditions.  During the passage whenever I spoke to Richard both of them turned around and answered me…. so we decided to nickname our guest Richard for ease of communication LOL.  After chatting through options we decided that Hellfire should be his handle!!!   And so he was officially named. Hellfire helmed for part of the way and did a pretty good job.  During the crossing I felt pretty tired from the previous night’s lack of sleep so lay down in the cockpit – on the high side as it was more comfortable for our friends to sit on the low side – and Richard managed to hit a huge wave and I landed very hard on the floor…. Ouch!!!   So I went down to the saloon and settled down on the low-side settee…. and guess what? Richard managed to catch the next huge rogue wave, and I hit the deck again! Double ouch…. I gave up trying to rest at this point!!!!!

Having arrived and anchored in Chatham Bay, Tim (from Bollheads) came by… and warned us that the swells had been pretty bad here too and were forecast to continue through the night….  He advised us that we would be more comfortable in a different spot so we took his expert local advice and re-anchored as suggested.   Having cleaned up after the passage, we enjoyed a swim off the back and then took dink ashore. The surf was now running up the beach again and waves were lapping at all the bars on the beach…. but we managed to get ashore without incident.

In exchange for Passion Fruit Rum – which we had bought for Tim from Dominica as a gift – we got some of his fantastic fish fritters again… Yummmmmmm….. After a few beers and a Chatham Bay sunset we retired to Morphie for dinner and so to bed. Tim’s advice was spot on – and, thankfully, we had a pretty calm night.

Sunday we visited Aqua resort where we bobbed in the salt water infinity pool – which was clean and sparkling for the first time ever!! – and we also enjoyed internet access.  Richard spent quite some time watching hummingbirds buzzing around and was very patient trying to get their pictures!

After a few hours we headed back to Morphie, had a couple of hours of lazing around and then went ashore again to visit with Mr Pleasure. We enjoyed our own personal concert over a few beers, watching local critters, and then wandered down the beach to Bollheads for dinner. There were quite a few people in, enjoying Tim’s wonderful food, and the alcohol-fuelled and chemically-aided Austrians were quite amusing! There was a lot of dancing, laughter and a good time was had by all…..

On Monday the wind wasn’t particularly helpful for the short run north to the Tobago Cays, so we ended up motor sailing.  We spotted Cutter Loose coming in as we were leaving Union Island so had a quick radio exchange with them before turning into the transit past Mayreau Island.   Suddenly we had a boat coming fast out of Saltwhistle Bay…. So we gave him plenty of room to get ahead and pushed on round the point towards to the Cays…. This guy then turns behind us and starts heading in too…strange, but perhaps he was nervous about the route through the reefs?  Oh well…. Then a very large charter catamaran – with full sails out but was definitely motor sailing because of his angle to the wind!!! – turns towards us and ends up on a collision course.  I’m on the helm and slow down to give way and then follow him into the narrow channel between the islands. Suddenly he stops dead…. Errrrr… Excuse me????   Why have you stopped in front of me????    Yep he’s going to anchor in the small channel!!!!  So I had to duck inside of him then meander through the other anchored boats before I finally reached the anchorage alongside the turtle sanctuary near Baradel Island.  We dropped the hook in the most beautiful coloured water it is possible to imagine and Hellfire snorkelled our anchor to check the set for us. Pictures really cannot do this amazing place justice….

We went ashore in dink, parked him on the small sand spit, and went snorkelling…. with turtles, visiting conch and huge huge starfish. A really special day….  Back on board we had a curry dinner – although I managed to lose the jar of mango chutney which, to this day, remains undiscovered!!!! – and enjoyed a fantastic sunset and star display.

Tuesday morning Richard and Hellfire are off diving. Fiona and I stayed on board, did some domestic duties like changing beds, and then went shopping via boat boy resulting in some amazing fresh bread and a really nice t-shirt!  Romeo also came by and sold us fresh lobster – as arranged by Tim – and finally, chores done, we settled into chair bobbing. During all this we had enjoyed the company of a huge turtle who kept surfacing near us and the attentions of a very large southern stingray who was mopping up all the lobster bits that had been discarded over the side when they had been cleaned out for cooking…. This is such a special place…..

The dive boat returned – with Richard and Hellfire on board – and we listened to their tales of fantastic dives. Unfortunately we also learned that Hellfire had dropped his camera when they went out into the blue to be picked up…. and had left his dive mask on board too. So not a great day for him for sure…. but he made the best of it by enjoying some chair bobbing too…..   To finish the day on a more cheerful note we had fresh lobster on the grill accompanied by champagne… and then had a music fest on board with Richard’s party play list accompanied by some pretty out of tune singing….. Lovely end to an (almost) perfect day!

Part two to follow very shortly.

Jan

Saturday we were up early again and hit the shops…. We managed to get pretty much everything apart from the beer!  And we also managed to get some drinks vouchers from the ATM in preparation too…. Oh dear…. The local beer here is Piton and comes in tiny cans with the other readily-available brew being tiny Heinekens!  Really wanted full-sized cans of Carib but to no avail – nobody has them available. Really don’t want to carry too many bottles either. So we compromise and buy just a smallish supply of bottled beer until we run south where we know we can get beer in a reasonable sized can. At noon we said a fond farewell to our little hire car.

Back on board with our huge haul and we struggle to get everything put away – the freezer is now rammed and the fridge is getting there….. Do some sorting out of clothes and moving things around to free up the aft cabin for Richard and Fiona and then head in to the boardwalk for sundowners with Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl. We both have the night free so the first chance we’ve had to properly catch up this season. We had a really nice happy hour followed by a good Thai dinner at Bosuns. Lovely evening and really enjoyed finally catching up.

Sunday morning and we are up early, have some proper coffee in Cafe Ole and then head out with Tracker, our taxi driver, at 9 am towards Castries to meet Carolyn and Ron – who are coming in to St Lucia on P&O Azura today. Really looking forward to seeing them again….   As we neared Castries we realised that we were wise to get a taxi organised – in a hire car we would never have been able to get through the checkpoints and get anywhere near the ship. We wander through the cruiseship terminal – admiring the huge duty-free shops that we didn’t have a clue existed here! – quickly spotting Carolyn and Ron walking around. We sneak up behind them and they are being pestered by taxi drivers wanting to take them on tours. They say they are looking for some people – and we tapped them on the shoulder at that point. The look on their faces was an absolute picture…. we couldn’t have planned that better if we had tried!!!    Huge hugs all round and we head back to the taxi rank to find Tracker. On the way I got them to pose on a nice bench…. Settled into the large 10-seater minibus taxi we head off towards Soufriere…. and get to see how huge their ship is!   Wow…. 

Carolyn and Ron are stunned by the beauty of St Lucia and we cannot believe we are all together again, albeit only for a single day. Shortly after leaving Castries we stopped to meet one of the local inhabitants – a boa constrictor called Patrick. Richard took control and Ron visited…. but Carolyn wasn’t up for touching him for sure!!!

Driving towards Soufriere and we get our first glimpse of the pitons. Amazing sight, and although we have seen them before, you cannot really describe just how special they are….

Having purchased some local tanzanite jewellery – one piece each – we moved on and arrived at the Botanical Gardens. We wandered along the meandering paths admiring the flora and fauna and eventually ended up at the little waterfall at the end of the path…. which delivers hot spring water. We chose not to indulge in the bathing pools and while wandering back we were absolutely amazed to spot a hummingbird just sitting there on a twig. Really unusual to see them static and wow – we got a photo!   We were very very happy. Almost at the exit we spot all the crowds coming in – Tracker had timed this perfectly as we had had the place to ourselves. Carolyn and Ron were completely blown away by this place and we were very happy to have shared it with them.

Moving on and we arrived at the drive-in volcano…. Was pretty smelly – think rotten eggs – and pretty busy too….. We didn’t do the tour bit as you have to wait around for 20+ people to get up and down the stairs – so we amused ourselves wandering around and were surprised by how active it was. The mud was bubbling up and the pools were clearly boiling….with lots of steam rising. This is a pretty amazing place.

Back in the taxi and we drive towards the pitons…. going past the Hotel Chocolat plantation…. and ended up, as planned, at Ladera.  Ladera is a very up-market resort that has a spectacular restaurant Dasheene and lounge right in between the pitons with views down to the anchorage and fancy plantation resort below. They have a buffet on a Sunday and we indulged in our first Piton of the day followed by some pretty good wine and lots to eat. This is an all-you-can eat buffet and you can make as many returns as you like. Needless to say my favourite was the dessert table….. the passion fruit mousse was amazing!

Carolyn and Ron are overwhelmed by the views and this place – and we had a very leisurely lunch catching up, posing for photographs, and listening to a little bit of ‘Plantation music’ being played in the bar. We all decided we’d like to stay here in one of the individual rooms overlooking the pitons which come with their own infinity pool. But I’m afraid that a lottery win is the only way that would be possible for us! Absolutely stunning time…. Words really cannot describe it and photos certainly do not do it justice.

Back in the taxi and we head back towards Castries and the ship. But we have time so decide to stop at a local rum shop and enjoy a couple of cold Pitons admiring the fantastic view of this lush and green island.

Sadly we have to return to the cruise ship terminal and we have about 30 minutes to spare, so we sit down near the security gate and have our last drink of the day, before finally bidding Carolyn and Ron farewell through to the ship. We were pretty emotional and choked to say goodbye. We had had the most wonderful day together. Back to the marina and we say goodbye to Tracker and head back to Morphie for a quiet night on board.

Monday morning and up with the lark – time to clean the boat thoroughly inside and out for Richard and Fiona who arrive Tuesday night. Late Monday night, having worked our fingers to the bone, we went into the marina for a cold beer and a calzone each. Yum…. We were tucked up in bed, exhausted, before 9 pm.

Tuesday and we are up early again…. and into the shops for our fresh produce. Back on board and we have just taken the engine off of dink, dink has been lifted onto the davits, and beds are made, laundry is done, and we are finally ready. Morphie is sparkling!

We have more or less decided upon our routing with Richard and Fiona on board to various islands in St Vincent and the Grenadines – with much of it being an internet-free zone. So I thought I’d better warn you now that I’ll not be updating the blog during their visit and will cover it all at the end.

So bye for now for a couple of weeks!

Jan

Friday afternoon the rain cleared – thankfully as Mum’s bottom lip was definitely quivering there for a while!   So we headed out to the pool and enjoyed a few rays… Richard came along later and regaled us with stories of his dive with Dan at the Pitons. I’m really glad that they had a nice time and it looks like I missed a really good trip judging from the photos they took.

In the evening we headed out to find the Starfish restaurant. This used to be in the marina and relocated last year.   We had previously really enjoyed our meals there so was hoping it hadn’t changed much.  Well, it was a much smaller place with very few covers… But the food was beautifully presented and it tasted real good too…. For a small place the service was excellent and we felt very pampered. Richard is not really a dessert person but even he was tempted by the banana tart. We had a really nice chilled evening.

Saturday and Richard is waiting on someone so he takes me across quickly to the other side of the channel behind Morphie and I walk to Mum’s hotel. Only a ten minute wander and I really enjoyed it having a look at some of the large waterside properties and the abundance of flowers everywhere…. 

Today we are camped on the beach and it is another cruise ship day!    Rammed…. and some pretty good people watching activity – especially the Segway man that goes up and down trying to drum up business.  Richard gets more boat jobs completed and joins us for lunch at the local concession set up…  Great chicken as ever and we enjoy a cheap bucket of beers to boot. We noticed that there were a lot of local children around today and a couple of them were playing hide and seek behind my chair. They seemed to be fascinated by me so Richard told me to teach them ‘round and round the garden…’ Well – they loved it!   Before long I had a queue of them waiting for their turn. The bigger ones then learnt the rhyme and the actions and started to do it to the babies. One very little one… maybe a year old… was too scared so just watched and laughed. I was really surprised when her Rasta dad picked her up and started to do it to her too. A really nice time….

In the evening we headed along the strip to the Spice of India. Mum is choosing where we eat by the way…. This restaurant gets very good write-ups so we were looking forward to it.  Very up-market Indian with great decor but we thought the menu was a little limited.  But we all found something we liked so ordered away and sat back and watched the people around us. Great food – although my Madras curry could have had a bit more sauce for my taste – and pretty good service. Enjoyed ourselves and started the relatively long walk back to mum’s hotel…. stopping at Rehab (the bar) on the way back for a quick one. Richard had a Bob Marley cocktail and it turned up green – yuck!!! I stuck to the wine…

We escorted mum back safely to her room and headed back towards the marina. Walking along F dock towards Morphie we saw that Ruth and Dan were still up and about…. This is very unusual behaviour for Dan – he is usually asleep by 9.16 pm prompt!!!! Turns out they had stayed up specially to see us as on Sunday they have guests arriving and will be heading back out with them…. What a lovely surprise. So we went onboard and had a few nightcaps… Dan made it past midnight! Good job….

Sunday and I went round to see mum as usual while Richard tackled cleaning the hull….. He has been doing a great job while I’ve been having girlie time with mum – thanks!  Mum and I had another pool day and this time we tried out the hot tub – was so hot it was hotter than a bath!!  We didn’t manage to stay in for very long that was for sure. When Richard joined us we went off to the beach to buy some rotis for lunch… Unfortunately they were not very nice. Oh well, you can’t win them all. Early afternoon we loaded mum into the dinghy and took her to visit Morphie for a little while. Then we wandered to the boardwalk for happy hour. We had our bucket of beers and Ruth joined us, while we enjoyed the sunset and the little lizards that run up and down the rail.

Ruth had been in Bogus World – home alone on Evensong – while Dan was waiting at the airport for their guests. Unfortunately the plane was delayed. Dan eventually turned up with Kent and Denny – and we all enjoyed some time chatting before they headed off to Evensong.  We then went to the Bosun restaurant and had a leisurely meal. Lovely….  Later on we put mum in a taxi back to her hotel and went back to Morphie. Walking along the dock and we were hailed by Evensong to join them for a drink.  What, another late night for Dan?  Yep… He managed to stay up past 10 pm again.  Had a good time together as always and we headed off to bed pretty tired.

Monday morning I was up early and over to the hotel again…. another pool day beckoned. Richard stayed busy and managed to get some electronic issues resolved. Great job!  Had a nice lazy morning and then Richard joined us – so we had some pool bobbing time.

In the evening we headed out early for dinner, back to Starfish, and then walked along to Delirus for the St Patrick’s Day party that had been announced on banners along the strip. We were really looking forward to the Irish band and maybe some dancing. We got there and it was as quiet as a grave. Errr, excuse me, but what time does the band start?  The answer was unexpected “oh the St Patrick’s Day party was on Saturday”. What???   But it is today!!!!   Oh no they say, we don’t have parties on a Monday. But they did have an offer on the Guinness. Really really disappointed – so we just had a quick drink, wandered back via Rehab, and we all had an early night.

Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Patrick and Lucie on the radio as they are heading north to Martinique.   We also went to say farewell to Dan and Ruth on Evensong before I went off to see mum. We are back on the beach – soooo hot!   So we spent most of our time hiding in the shade reading or in the sea bobbing.  Richard joined us later and we did more of the same. It really feels like we are on holiday!  While we were on the beach we watched Evensong head off to the Pitons… Bye!   Waved like crazy but I don’t think they saw us…

Later on we went to the St Lucia yacht club – enjoyed another spectacular sunset and then into Spinnakers for dinner.

Spinnakers is really pretty at night with all its fairy lights lit up. I ordered a lamb shank – lamb is pretty rare down in the islands, so was pretty excited to see it on the menu. Well… it turned up…. and it was horrible. So bad that I thought I was actually going to throw up after a few mouthfuls – the sauce was gloopy and way too rich, a bit like something out of a Ragu jar – and I couldn’t eat it. Mum and Richard enjoyed their meal and I just drank water until I felt a bit better. Could have been too much sun as well I suppose but never mind….. These things happen.

Wednesday and I’m up and about early…. and bump into Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl and their guests.   Nice to (briefly) catch up.   When I go over to the hotel mum and I decide to have another blistering hot, blue sky, beach day. Mum and I are really enjoying people watching and all the comings and goings of boats.  Mum is tickled pink by the local fruit and veg man in his boat as he goes around selling coconut water.   We also spotted Cutter Loose leaving too – we had bumped into Eric in the marina a couple of times, but haven’t had a chance to catch up with him or Pat properly… Hopefully we’ll see them again before they haul for the season.

We had another leisurely afternoon and made arrangements to meet mum at 7pm. Tonight was the manager’s weekly cocktail party but she didn’t fancy going this week – but by the time we met her she had actually popped in and had drunk a very strong rum punch!    We went out for our last meal of her trip – and back to the Chinese which is a favourite of all of us. We had a lovely meal and headed back to the hotel. The band was still playing so we settled in for a drink. Some people were dancing and mum had ants in her pants!   Pretty soon she is off dancing and is joined by a mega skinny Aunt Sally look alike who managed to dance just like a zombie extra from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.  Absolutely hysterical to watch. Then mum dragged me up and I did a quick boogie before sitting down again…  Then we were joined by this slightly inebriated woman and her husband who said that mum had done the best ‘Elvis tribute’ dance she had ever ever seen. LOL… And she was serious!!!  Of course mum was pretty smug at being told she was a great dancer… It was a fun end to a great day.

Thursday and it is mum’s last day.  She is leaving at 4.30 pm and we have been trying to get her a late check out – but, unfortunately, her room is already booked for someone coming in on the early afternoon flight. But the lovely head receptionist said to pop back at 11 am to see what she can do. Great…. so Mum and I get her all packed up and ready to go and head off to reception. We are handed a key to a ground floor room with pool access – and so we move her out. What we didn’t realise is that this is a suite – and wow, it’s huge! And complimentary! And it has a bath tub….. Anyway – by now it is getting on for lunchtime and Richard has joined us – so we have a good lunch in her hotel beach-side restaurant. Was really nice… and so was the wine!

After a final bob in the pool together we head off to her room – mum gets cleaned up and dressed for London, while we just make the most of the fantastic shower and unlimited hot water! Time to go… bags to reception… hugs and goodbyes all round to the staff who have made mum’s trip pretty special… and we wait for the minibus. It arrives only 10 minutes late – which is amazing for island time! – and sadly it is time for mum to leave. Oh no…. getting emotional…. was determined not to cry! Well… I failed…. miserably…. So we head back to the marina and I’m feeling a bit washed out. But I was perked up by good conversation with some volunteer youth workers and a bucket of beers. And then we had an early night on board.

This morning we had a lie in… and then hired a car for one day – noon to noon. Tiny little Chevrolet but enough for us… We have Richard and Fiona coming in on Tuesday for two weeks holiday onboard so we have a huge provisioning run to do as we are hoping to head south to the Grenadines so many meals will be on board rather than ashore. Getting shopping is always so much easier with a car in the islands, where you have to visit numerous shops to get what you want. Got about 75% of the list – in two shops – and back on board, found storage places for everything, and have had a lazy afternoon. Richard has just cooked me dinner while I’m typing this and we’re planning another early night as we want to hit the shops again early tomorrow. The other important job for tomorrow is to finalise timings with a taxi driver we have hired for Sunday – Carolyn and Ron are coming to St Lucia on a cruise ship, so we are organising a day out together. Very excited about seeing them!

Bye for now

Jan

Saturday Richard continued doing boat chores while I had a massage in the spa – then worked with him until 3ish as we had arranged to meet Dan, Ruth, Lucie and Patrick for a bobbing session in the marina pool. The pool bar is closed – some of it being renovated for a new Moorings/Sunsail office – so we all bought our own coolers and supplies with us. Had a nice couple of hours and then headed back to Morphie for a quick wash and brush up before going over to Evensong for sundowners, dinner and a round of Mexican Train Dominoes. Had a great evening – with fantastic food – and fun company. Oh yes, and I won the dominoes! Yay… Richard was in a particularly silly mood and looked great in Lucie’s hat LOL….

Sunday we were up and about early having decided to take the day off. So around 11 we headed into the marina’s local bar to watch the rugby – England versus Wales. Quite a few ex-pats around and a diverse group so lots of cheering and banter from both countries. Great match and even better result!   Well done England…..

Back on board Morphie we gave her a quick spruce up as we were hosting the gang for tonight’s dinner. I prepared them a spicy treat with popadom starter – including home-made mint yoghurt and other dips – followed by a chicken curry with sticky rice. After dinner we stayed down below and had a ‘night at the races’ using our greyhound racing DVD – really funny with everyone cheering and shouting for their dogs…. Fake betting only – no real money exchanging hands – and Patrick won by being the boldest of us all! Not sure what the Moorings catamaran next to us would have made of all the noise coming from Morphie. Had a great evening and the food went down well…. so went to bed pretty happy.

Monday and Richard attacked boat jobs with gusto in the morning…… then headed into town to go to mum’s hotel, prior to her arrival on Tuesday, to get permission to use the pool etc while she is a guest. They welcomed us back with open arms and immediately said ‘yes’. Great news…. Went off to the hotel beach bar and enjoyed the peace and quiet before heading back to the marina pool for another bobbing session.

This time we were joined by Lorna and Brian as well as they are in the marina now…. Good time was had by all. Later on we cleaned up and headed into town for a Chinese. Had a great meal – loads of food – and enjoyed a few cocktails…. or at least Dan and Richard did. I think they were a bit shocked by the ‘girlie’ drinks when they arrived…. and were pleading with me not to put the picture in the blog….. But hey, they look so good in their loud Caribbean shirts and pink drinks – can’t let the blog readers down! Sorry guys…. LOL.

Tuesday we are up early and work hard all day on Morphie as mum flies into St Lucia from London this evening. Time is ticking so we get cleaned up and head to her hotel to be there on her arrival from the airport. Plane was slightly delayed and she finally turned up around 6.30 pm. Hugs all round, she’s checked in, admiring the reception flowers along the way, and I help her unpack in her room.

Very impressed by her shower which has jets everywhere – definitely plan to use that later in the week! We headed back down to the bar to reunite with Richard and had a really nice time over a few drinks. Mum was pretty tired and not hungry so we called it a day and headed back to the marina, once we’d checked she was settled in and safe in her room.

Wednesday morning and Richard drops me off by dinghy at the hotel – so mum and I have a nice girly catch up by the pool. Then we headed to the beach for BBQ chicken and a local beer for lunch from one of the local vendors and enjoyed about half an hour chatting to some Rastas who treated mum like royalty! Back in the pool and Richard joined us about 2pm. We did some pool bobbing and mum enjoyed the local brandy…

We then went to her room to clean up – yes the shower was great and met expectations! – heading back to the pool for the manager’s drinks reception which we had blagged an invite to… Had a nice evening fuelled by local rum punch with great food bites… loved the fish fingers! We did think we would stay in the hotel restaurant for dinner but didn’t fancy their buffet offering so walked down the beach to Spinnakers where we had a light supper before we said our farewells and headed back to the marina and so to bed.

Thursday morning and again mum and I are having girlie time – but this time on the beach. Bit busy on the beach because a cruise ship was in – and interesting to watch the locals working the crowd. None of them offered us anything to buy just saying ‘Hi’ to me and mum as we had had lunch with them the day before! Was very grateful as some of them were pretty full on – one particular individual was so bad I’m surprised he didn’t get punched! He suggested – to this 20 something female – that she should go with him to the bathroom for a good time!!!! Unbelievable… Richard came round at lunchtime – having achieved quite a lot on Morphie with reinforced davits for dink; new speakers for the saloon; and proper lifelines in the cockpit etc etc etc… After a baguette lunch we went bobbing with beer – very very hot and sunny today. Richard was horrified by the very very fat lady wearing a bikini…. check out the photo he took!

All of the gang turned up – so dinks were pulled up the beach – and we had a great afternoon. Back to Morphie for a quick wash and brush up and we went back to collect mum for dinner. None of us were really hungry so decided to go to the Chinese – yes, I know, another one! – but great for sharing bits rather than having to have a full-sized meal. Lovely as usual….. so back to the marina suitably full.

Friday and it’s raining – hard – oh dear… This happened last year when mum was with us, so hopefully this is short lived! Richard is off with Dan to dive at the Pitons and I’m sitting in mum’s hotel room watching CNN and playing on the computer, while she makes me cups of tea and reads her book…..

Bye for now

Jan