We went ashore about six on Sunday evening as we thought we’d go into the local beach bar prior to going to the PAYS BBQ. We purchased a beer and were quickly driven out by the painfully loud Soca music … we are pretty used to it, especially having been to carnival, but this was mad. If you looked hard enough you could see the individual grains of sand on the beach jumping to the beat!!  Exiting left – fast – we wandered the beach to the Purple Turtle which is next to the PAYS structure. Purchased another beer here and then moved onto the BBQ itself. We started on beer deliberately as the BBQ tickets include all you can eat food and drink, but that consists of a lethal rum punch only!   So we were pacing ourselves….

Alexis – our boat boy – was helping with the cooking tonight but he came over for a little while to chat. We were surprised by how many cruisers were in attendance as there didn’t seem to be that many boats in the anchorage ….. so I reckon Eddison and his lads had done a really good selling job. Well – at EC $50 a head (£12.50) – it is pretty reasonable. Tonight Don (the diver) is the dedicated security guy in the anchorage so he has promised – in return for a rum punch – to circle Morphie at least once every ten minutes! It was really nice to hang out with the local boat boys and catch up with them. Amazing that they really do seem to remember us even though they must have thousands of boats go through here in a season….. Anyway dinner of rice / salad / chicken / fish served – and most of us went back for seconds. As much as you could eat was right….. And I had a dog friend who followed me around – who quickly realised that I would be a soft touch for leftovers. He was right of course!

After we had all eaten the tables were moved out and people either moved onto the black sand beach to chat (which was us) or they went inside to dance. This was more ‘Dad’ dancing than anything else, particularly bearing in mind the average age of the people in attendance. By now the rum had started to take its toll. One woman, in particular, was so out of it her husband tried to manhandle her into their dinghy and ended up in the drink himself…. Oh dear – in the end one of the boat boys took pity on them and helped them into his boat and gave them a ride home. Good night had by all and we got back to Morphie safe and sound…

Monday morning and we have nothing planned…. and the heavens opened. It rained on and off all day so we actually did nothing – sleeping, eating, reading and chatting. Lovely!

Tuesday we were up early to get ready to go diving again. When Don came for us Marcus – the photographer – was already on the boat so there was a little inward groan from both of us. But Aon was also on board so he was diving with him and we were diving with Fabian. Result!!!!  The first dive was to a wreck of an old tug boat, lying in about 80-100 feet of water. Loads of little critters around and beautiful corals…. and then we worked our way back towards the reef. Fabian was killing lionfish and managed to catch about six in all…. and we got a moray eel to eat one, but didn’t become the focus of the dive, which was good. Saw quite a lot of the usual suspects but my favourite this time was a spotted eel which was so sleek it looked like a sea snake…. and he had beautiful markings and very kindly stayed put while I had a good look at him. No photos again I’m afraid – way too deep. Second dive of the day was very close to the shoreline…. so it was a shallow reef that dropped off into the depths. It was a pretty damp surface interval as the rain came down again…. Oh well, never mind, we were wet anyway!

We swam out to the rocks and back and were constantly surrounded by these huge schools of fish. The corals were spectacular in colour with amazing large sponges. All very dramatic with cuts and curves, overhangs and gulleys all covered in soft and hard corals with an aquarium full of fish, some so small they were barely visible to the naked eye. It felt like we had stumbled into a fish nursery! During the dive, we came across Marcus – doing his usual photographic thing – who was getting Aon to pose for him. Aon was in the military for 14 years and did say before he went in the water that if anybody had managed to get his photo during that time he wasn’t doing his job properly – so was a pretty reluctant model! Seeing Aon being moved around for photos got Fabian, Richard and me giggling as we went by and I’m sure our dive was at least five minutes shorter as a result of the excess air used. When we surfaced we got our camera passed down to us and managed to get a few shots from just below the surface of our fishy friends.

Back on board for a quiet afternoon after cleaning off all our gear and we went ashore for sundowners at the Blue Bay grill. Met up with Fabian and had a couple of beers while we enjoyed another lovely sunset over the anchorage.

Wednesday morning we spoke to Rachel, Kiera and made noises at Finlay as he is not six months old yet.  Was lovely to do this using Facetime on the iPad – we don’t feel like we’re missing out on these special little ones growing up now.  Around lunchtime we went into Portsmouth and as Richard had “only” had bananas, papaya and mango for breakfast he persuaded me to go to Ray’s roti shack. He managed to eat his way through both a chicken and a vegetable one in very short order – I had an egg roll. After that we walked through the backstreets to find the bakery and came across loads of very very poor housing – basically traditional shacks which look like they could be blown over by the next puff of wind that comes through. And they are living alongside many large substantial concrete structures. I guess you build what you can afford?

Anyway, found the bakery and got some supplies, then off to the supermarket for a few bits – via the computer shop as I’d put together some basic income / expenditure / balance sheets for Fabian to use in his newly-registered diving business and needed to get them printed.

All jobs done and with full bellies we wandered back to the main fishing jetty. One of the boats had just come in and was unloading watched by an attentive audience. They were speaking Creole so couldn’t understand them but it sounded like they were enjoying some good banter. Well…. the fisherman had bags and bags of lobsters which he transferred into a large cage which he then dropped into the sea to keep them alive and fresh. I’m not sure when they actually sell them to the public – clearly not yesterday – but am hopeful to get some before we leave Portsmouth.

Back on board, we did some laundry before having a lazy afternoon and into the Blue Bay for a light fish supper and a couple of beers. While I was explaining to Fabian how to use the book-keeping sheets, Richard was asked by Jeffrey (who heads up the PAYS organisation) to come over and talk to this guy. Turns out to be the Dominican Minister for Tourism – who wanted to hear how they could improve things for cruisers in Portsmouth and Dominica more generally. That was a turn up for the books!  Nice to get a voice for sure.  Eventually back to Morphie for an early night although it was really really rolly again…..but we were so tired doing not much that all it did was rock us off to sleep!

Thursday and we had a late start. We ran the generator to make some water and charged everything up at the same time. After brunch we went snorkelling under the cruise ship dock – this is only for small Windjammer types, not huge ones. This is a great site with loads of brilliant-coloured corals on the poles…. Really enjoyed ourselves and, of course, we managed to get photos this time!

Back on board, cleaned up and we are staying put. Dink is up on his davits and we have just watched the sun go down…. and the moon come up. Lovely…. and planning a quiet night onboard with dinner followed by an early night.

Bye for now

Jan

After our time ashore Monday enjoying our last views of Admiralty Bay….

we went back onboard for the afternoon to get Morphie ready to go to sea…. including getting the outboard off of dink and securely fastened to the rail.  Liferaft; grab bag; food preparation; equipment checks; passage planning all done; and the last thing we did was check our lights as darkness fell – with the help of Dan and Ruth on Evensong who were anchored nearby. All working and we said sad goodbyes on the radio to all of the people we had spent time with in Bequia. We shall miss you all and hope to see you again soon!   Completely ready we went to bed.

Tuesday morning we were up early…. donned lifejackets and picked up our anchor by 5.45 am. We turned into the wind and put up our mainsail – double reefed until we tested what the conditions were like out there – and turned towards Dominica, which lies 150 miles north as the crow flies. The wind wasn’t too bad so we put out most of the genoa although the waves were bigger than forecast at about 9 feet. We were thinking about shaking out the reefs in the main – anticipating a reach all the way – and then we had a significant wind shift and, of course, not in our favour as it had a north element… So now we are in 26 knots and close hauled so put the reefs back in and pulled out the staysail too… In the middle of all this activity we were visited by a large group of dolphins who swam alongside momentarily. Unfortunately we were pretty busy and by the time we had grabbed the camera they had gone. Oh well – it was lovely to see them anyway. We said a sad farewell to Bequia as the sun came up….and we ducked our first cruise ship of the passage!

The wind and waves remained higher than forecast for most of the day and we were screaming along averaging about 7-8 knots – quickly passing St Vincent and then into the passage towards St Lucia….

But the currents were running strongly too at about 2-3 knots and we were getting pushed constantly out to sea to the west. So we tacked towards St Lucia and made a tedious 2 knots against the current to get more east….. But the boat was much flatter so took the opportunity to eat and make tea!   Having crossed our original rhumb line we then tacked back and we took off like a bat out of hell…. And then the wind died down to less than 10 knots. We carried on sailing but had to put the metal sail on in the end as we were making no headway at all in 5 knots of breeze. Then an hour or so later the wind kicked back in and we were off again…. Wow loving this, although it was pretty bouncy! We were taking it in turns to be in charge – on an hourly basis – doing the log and keeping watch etc with both of us in the cockpit.

The sun started setting so we reefed in ready for the night and donned more clothes. And now we moved into three hour shifts with the other one down below asleep in the saloon…. Richard was just about to leave me alone when I spotted another cruise ship – lit up like a Christmas tree and no navigation lights showing. And, of course, they were not broadcasting their AIS signal either…. Grrr…. We couldn’t work out what the hell he was up to so we attempted radio contact – and they didn’t answer that either. So we had to change course – to our detriment – to stay safe. As we finally passed them we realised that they were just drifting around in the current as they had time to spare before docking in the morning. Oh well…..

And the pattern was set for the night – huge winds, large rain squalls (on my watch of course!), no wind, light airs and more cruise ships and freighters to avoid…. I think Richard was a bit worried about me when he felt the boat accelerate sharply in the gusty conditions – but my whooping in the cockpit with excitement must have set his mind at rest because it wasn’t long before I heard him snoring down below again!  This was the most fantastic star studded night you can imagine with the milky way easily visible. Martinique was the busiest in terms of commercial traffic at night as well as the French coastguard cruising along the coast. Watching the sun come up while at sea is one of the must-have experiences to witness in your life!

Wednesday morning came and we are nearing Dominica … and the wind remained fickle and we had to do another tack into the current to get closer…. Then the wind died and the engine came on – then it picked up and we turned it off…. Then we had company with a huge racing yacht coming by…. and finally into Portsmouth to be met by Alexis our boat boy (man really) from last year, who remembered us and welcomed us back to Dominica. We did 172 miles in total over a period of 31 hours – and enjoyed the experience. Felt really pleased with ourselves…..

Dominica is beautiful and the anchorage at Portsmouth is notoriously tricky with loads of grass and last year there were numerous boats dragging…. so we picked up a mooring ball to give us peace of mind when we go exploring. The mooring balls here are provided and maintained by PAYS the local boat boy association who also patrol the anchorage at night for security. Great initiative and really works well.

Alexis took us into customs and we cleared in and out (covering three weeks) for the princely sum of EC $10 – about £2.50. There were a lot of French sailors in the office – usual here as Martinique is to the south and Guadelope to the north – and they were struggling with both the forms and making themselves understood.  We were trying to fill our forms in standing up as all available table space was taken and the customs girl came out from behind the counter and moved some of them on…. Didn’t go down too well – and we were given the evil eye!  Ooops….. that’ll teach ‘em for beating us at rugby. Sorry Florence Hubert, had to be said LOL!!!!

Then onto the Blue Bay grill and bar for a couple of well-deserved cold ones and to let people know we had arrived safely….and then we had an early night and slept through.

Thursday was spent cleaning and tidying the boat and ourselves up followed by happy hour ashore….. and treated to another spectacular sunset.

Friday and we are off diving with Island Dive Operation – which last year had just set up and now have a little dive shack shop on the beach.   Everyone remembered us and we had a good time catching up.  We dived Toucari and Split Rock with Fabian leading us – both dives were too deep (100ft / 80 ft) to take photos without a camera casing, which we haven’t purchased (yet)!!!!  And no buddy Dan with his either – so no photos sorry!

These sights are spectacular with huge sponges, gorgeous swim throughs threading through the sites – and watching bubbles come up like champagne through the coral we had just passed below was pretty special. Very pretty with lots of the usual suspects in attendance with my favourite being a huge crab sitting inside a sponge waiting for a critter to come swimming by!

On the dive we were joined by Marcus from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who was a photographer…. actually he referred to himself as an artist. Well he was a right royal pain in the proverbial!!! Kicking everything in his way as his sole focus was on his subject and not his buoyancy… As a vet he should know better than to damage the marine environment although, having said that, the guy who stole Nemo was a dentist! Marcus also got lost on numerous occasions where we had to stay put while Fabian went looking for him. He also never checked his air gauge the whole time we were down – and came back with less than recommended…. During the dive I had made a less than complimentary internationally-recognised hand signal to Richard about this guy not realising that Fabian had seen me do it – and struggled to keep himself composed!

Everyone was laughing about it later…. when we had a few beers together after Marcus had gone back to his holiday eco-lodge.

Saturday and we finally got dink down and the outboard installed – although it wouldn’t rev higher than idling. We looked at the troubleshooting guide and Richard did the obvious stuff to no avail. So we took a very loooooonnnnnnnggggg slooooooowwww dinghy ride into the nearest dock and went to see Fabian who organised Don to come and have a look at it for us while we were in town.

We wandered into town – it was fresh fruit and veg market day today – and enjoyed the walk…. The people of Dominica are the poorest we have come across, with many of them living in shacks and the houses largely hand-built – and one in particular was very stylised!!! The shops are not exactly stocked full and they sell an amazing variety of stuff… much of it home produced. One particular business sign for a consultancy didn’t really inspire us – with a name like NITS Richard didn’t think they would get any work in the UK!

Despite having very little the people of Dominica are by far the friendliest and, unlike last year, we didn’t encounter any beggars here in Portsmouth. Fresh bread and produce purchased we headed back to the dock and Don had fixed our outboard – salt had seized the throttle – for a very reasonable EC $50, £12.50. Later on we cleaned the rust from Morphie’s foredeck, caused by our anchor chain, and did a bit of polishing. Had a quiet evening on board and early to bed having enjoyed another beautiful Dominican sunset.

Sunday is a day of rest.  I’m sitting out of the rain down below blogging and Richard is reading in the cockpit – having installed our new canvas on the foredeck. We are heading out tonight to the bi-weekly beach BBQ organised by PAYS to support their organisation….. Really looking forward to it.

Bye for now

Jan

Thursday afternoon we headed into the beach as the weather had improved and met up with the others. Us girls bobbed while the boys camped out on the dinghies….

While we were there we spoke with Faye and Paul about the beach party arranged for Friday afternoon – and all systems go, except they are sweating on a beer delivery. Oh well…. fingers crossed. Had a really great afternoon – enjoyed the rainbow that came out, the panoramic views of the bay and finally the moody sunset before returning to Morphie for a quiet night on board.

Friday morning and up really early – Richard is picking up Alick (from the sail / canvas loft) off the dock at 9 am to come on board to make the pattern for our new cover – so I get a lift into town in dink to buy the fresh bread for tonight’s party and ingredients for my side dish. Decided on a chunky red onion and tomato salad with feta cheese, olives and pimentos – but without cucumbers because Dan has a serious issue with them!     Richard got his jobs done and came back to collect me….  Rest of the day we were pretty lazy and headed into the beach around 3.30 ish to set up the party. When we got there – with the rest due to arrive around 4 – we are told there is no beer, the delivery didn’t come!   Soooooo frustrating, as Richard had checked this morning with them and they said all was OK.  So Dan and Richard ended up shifting four crates of empties, dinked over to the brewery – on the opposite side of the bay – and back with the replacements.

In the meantime people were arriving – luckily there were some supplies in the coolers already so they weren’t really aware of the potential beer disaster – and I’m collecting money (to recover the costs we had already paid up front) and organising the table for the buffet of all the side dishes that people have brought with them. Oh yes…. and then a woman (who I have never met before as she was invited by another boat) asks me if there is any plain chicken as she has dietary issues. Said no – sorry – no one told me, all chicken has been marinated overnight in Faye’s homemade BBQ sauce. But there are hot dogs. Oh no, that won’t do either as she is gluten free. And, excuse me, but what is the vegetarian option for my husband?    OMG!!!!    We could have catered for this if anybody had actually thought to tell us – but they didn’t – so I gave her half her money back as a goodwill gesture which unfortunately reduced the tip that I had allocated for Faye and Paul – and hoped that she could find something to eat in the buffet. It was pretty tedious to listen to her questioning everybody about their dishes as she needed to know every single ingredient…. I was pretty fed up at this point – so went bobbing in the sea for a little while!   Finally – about an hour late – the BBQ pit was built and the food was underway.

Everyone was having a good time – and some cruisers brought along their instruments so we had live music. Then Faye is asking me for a dish for the hotdogs… Excuse me? Are you telling me that you haven’t got anything to put the damn stuff on when it’s cooked?????   Luckily I had bought a large foil baking tray for the bread so redistributed that onto paper plates and gave her that….. and Dan kindly went back and collected a large metal bowl for the chicken from Evensong.  Having a good time…. and we started eating…. and then Faye asked for a light as she couldn’t see what she was doing!!! This is starting to feel like some sort of comic sketch – I’m wondering if it could be a “candid camera” set-up or a test for the apprentice to see how I cope with stupid curve balls!?!?! Well… of course, being the girl guide that I once was, I did actually have a very large torch which I supplied to her and then, when she was finished cooking, I hung over the buffet table for the others. Phew…… finally time to relax….. As everyone started to drift away – all laden down with left-over goodies – they all said that they had a great time. Glad about that but I’m not getting roped into organising another one of these – ever…..!!!!   Went onboard Evensong for the final drink of the day and then back to Morphie for the night.

Saturday morning up early – got the stuff ready in the cockpit for Winfield as he should finish Morphie today – and then headed in to go diving.  Finally the sea has flattened and the wind has reduced – so we have different dive site options today. We head out to Moonhole point – where the eco stone lodges nestle into the cliff top – and do a 60 foot dive and into a cavern.

Had a great time but, again, we ended up on a lion fish hunt as they continue to try to eradicate these pests from the Caribbean.   OK – I understand – but it really detracts from the dive for me. Richard even got roped into holding the spear gun with a dead one attached while Jesse dealt with another one… It was nice to do a drift dive though – so no fighting the current to get back to the boat…. Yeah!

We had our surface interval back on land as we had to pick up more divers for the afternoon shallower dive – and Ruth turned up to supply us with pasta salad – tasty…. thanks, much appreciated.  Back on the boat for the afternoon and it was great, because the rest were all doing courses of some description, so it just left Richard, Dan, me and Putan (the dive leader) diving on our own again – and this time to the Moonhole reef. Great colours, diversity of fish, and some amazing families of lobsters lying around under the overhangs. It was really relaxed and we spent another hour in the water exploring. Doesn’t get much better than this!

Back to the dive shop and while we are washing our kit down with fresh water Ruth gets in the beers. What a star!   Had a quick one – and then rushed back to Morphie to see Winfield. When we got there he was very very quiet which is pretty unusual for him – and appeared in a bad mood. After about an hour he just put his hands up and said that he was absolutely shattered and couldn’t physically do any more work today. Damn!   He doesn’t work Sundays and we wanted to leave in the early hours of Monday so looks like that has changed…. Oh well….what can you do????  Another beautiful sunset in the anchorage as we were getting ourselves cleaned up.

Saturday night we met up with Chris and Linda from Troubadour and went out for a pizza – they are heading south shortly so it is very possible that our paths may not cross again. Had a nice evening, said sad farewells, and headed back out to the anchorage – to find we are surrounded by boats again. There is definitely something magnetic about us, I mean, why anchor in a large area when you can squeeze in near Morphie???? Grrrrrr…..

Sunday morning and into the Gingerbread for breakfast with Dan and Ruth – this was planned as it was supposed to be our last day and we would have a lot to do to get ready to go to sea. But, of course, we are not going on Monday now…..   Luckily the weather window is good right through to Thursday so we are planning a very early Tuesday morning departure.  As we are not leaving now – and the morning’s torrential rain had finally cleared – we ended up having another bobbing session on the beach, back on board for a quick clean up, and then into town for SuperBowl and another sunset.

I know….. Superbowl???? Don’t say a word! We are not American football fans – we don’t even understand it – but we were persuaded to go along as apparently the adverts in between quarters are worth watching. Well the food was good, the company was great and the adverts were very entertaining. The gang were amazed that we knew all the words to the songs that accompanied some of the adverts and so were we – we certainly did not expect to hear Slade (from the 70s) and singing along to “happy as you know it, clap your hands”!!!   How bizarre is that????   I’m afraid the football left me a little cold, although Richard enjoyed it more than he thought he would.  Ended up quite a late night….   Back on board and the wind picked up and the rain hammered down – but we slept better, thankfully.  Probably helped that a lot of the boats had moved out during the day…..

This morning and Winfield arrived.   While he was finishing off our woodwork we made some water and did some passage planning….   He finished and we headed into town for our final provisioning run ashore and a visit to customs and immigration to check out for tomorrow…..    Well the customs were at lunch so we did the shopping and ended up having lunch out ourselves.

When we get back to Morphie we need to get ready to go to sea for the 150 mile passage north to Dominica.  We are going straight past St Vincent, St Lucia and Martinique on the way – but will be dropping back south to these islands later on. Sad to leave such fun company but most people are heading north so I’m sure our paths will cross again!    One of the things we want to do this season is to push the boundaries in terms of longer periods at sea. Although we have done loads of sea miles and offshore passages / races we have always been part of a crew… So it is about time we got used to single-handed sailing when the other one is sleeping – if we are serious about going through the Panama Canal into the Pacific in the future then we need to hone these skills. We are both really excited about the prospect and are looking forward to the challenge.

Bye for now

Jan

Friday night and there was a big crowd of us in the Whaleboner for dinner…. before we decamped into safari buses to take us to the concert. Arriving at De Reef I was a bit surprised by all the security and police in attendance – but not going to complain about that! Felt very very safe…. The stage was set when we arrived and we had to buy drinks tickets – no cash over the bar. Went and got a supply and were very pleasantly surprised to find that beer was only EC $5 each… that’s about £1.25!

Well… it was supposed to start at 8.30 pm but being on island time we were not surprised when it was nearer 9.15 pm …and then there were the welcome / opening speeches including Basil (of Basil’s Bar, Mystique fame). Finally – time for the music! The crowd was arriving, although disappointed to see that this was largely made up of cruisers and holidaymakers with very few locals. Perhaps the tickets were a bit expensive at £15 a head???  Anyway there is always an exception or two – and there was one creepy looking rasta man who was trying to pull the oldest white single women he could find… Yuck – and they were falling for it – almost queuing up to dance with him!!!!

The band came on and we were entertained royally – starting slowly and they quickly increased the tempo – and the crowd responded. Everyone was dancing and we all had a really good time. The musicians were fantastically talented and all did a little solo with swapping out of different instruments and singers…. It was an amazing night and certainly one to remember. At midnight our safari bus turned up again to take us back to town, where we recovered our dinghies and went back to our respective boats. As an aside, we weren’t worried about leaving Morphie alone – although there have been issues in this bay before – because the SVG Coastguard have been doing regular patrols throughout the night and we are securely locked down and alarmed up. Anyway – pretty tired and so to bed.

Saturday morning and we had a lazy start – and the wind picked up and the rain came down. Hard!!!  Winfield came by and prepped for the next coat of varnish but, as last year, this got rained off so we had a nice chat with him anyway…. The squalls came through but by lunchtime the weather was much better so we went ashore to the beach with Ruth and Dan.  Arriving at the dinghy dock and this German guy comes out shouting at us because we had locked on in the middle of the pack – and he thought we should have gone at the end as the last arrivals!?!  Never seen that anywhere in the regs!  Anyway….we couldn’t have done that if we had wanted to because his stern anchor meant that it was too shallow to come the other side of him. Well that didn’t appease him – he was absolutely furious and went away muttering.

We were going to leave it but decided that he was so mad he could do damage to our dinghies so we unlocked them, drove off and beached them further down…. Whilst walking the beach there was a cute little crab shuffling around – although not sure I would fancy being nipped by that big claw!

Settling into a bobbing session – the heavens opened – but we were already wet so hey we carried on…. Dan was concerned about the German guy and being much more diplomatic than us, he went to Jack’s bar to find him and buy him a beer so that there were no hard feelings….. and apparently they were best buddies in about five minutes flat!

Couldn’t stay too long as we had arranged to meet Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl – finally! – for sundowners, so got back to Morphie, tidied ourselves us, and went ashore. Had a really nice time catching up with them and meeting their guests….whilst enjoying a stormy sunset and the comical sight of two young lads doing a pizza delivery!

Heading back around 8pm and we spotted another boat had anchored in front of us in our absence – 30 feet in front of our bow to be exact!  And he was way too close to the other boat in front of us as well – certainly not enough swinging room for all of us. So Richard got out the very bright LED torch, sat on the bow, and illuminated the cockpit of the offending boat. The guy got the message….came on deck….looked around and picked up anchor and moved. Phew!  During the night the wind howled and howled…… and we didn’t get a lot of sleep.

Sunday morning up very early looking around as the wind has not let up – and there are a few boats dragging or dancing around madly on their anchors.  Evensong have picked up and moved because a guy got too close to them and we have one sitting right off our bow again – he certainly wasn’t there when we went to sleep. We spoke to him and he said that he knew he was dragging but was waiting for his crew to wake up! Oh well…. we made a pot of tea and sat watching. Then his friends got up and they all sat in the cockpit chatting whilst every gust was bringing them closer… So Richard very politely asked them whether they were picking up their anchor or whether they were just going to watch it all morning!?! They got the message… and were out of there very soon after. This continued throughout the morning but finally, around lunchtime, it looked like everyone was reset and we were confident enough to go out to the music fest afternoon event.

We met Pat, Lucie, Dan and Ruth on the main dock and got another safari bus to the venue. There was a very different vibe to this event – much more a family day out with loads of locals setting up little concessions along the road with BBQs going and it was hard to see through the smoke at times…. Inside the venue there were loads of local people as well as cruisers and holidaymakers including Winfield and his wife and a number of other people that we recognised from town. Oh yes, and the creepy rasta man was there on the prowl again wearing exactly the same as he had on Friday night. Double yuck!

There was a mixed genre of music – from pan to blues to rock to soca to country and western. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves again…. particularly the chicken wings we got from one of the local roadside vendors!  We headed back to Morphie around 7pm and had an early night, not even bothering with any dinner….. Again during the night the wind howled, and howled, and howled. The forecast has changed and it looks like we are going to have this for a while. Not much sleep again…..

Monday morning and it was raining hard…. and the wind was howling up to 35 knots…. and the sea is very rough, with a marine advisory out on the local forecast. Boats are moving every which way and we have had a few more dragging incidents – luckily we are holding really well. Winfield will probably not be here to do that varnishing today!!! We were booked to go diving but really didn’t want to leave Morphie in the conditions so deferred to Tuesday and we are stayed on board most of the day.  Late afternoon it had calmed down a bit so we went ashore for sundowners and there was a big crowd of us in Tommys.  Enjoyed a couple of hours socialising – although disappointed to find out another boat had been broken into in the anchorage during the evening.  There was another spectacular sunset to enjoy being going back aboard for a quiet night. The wind picked up again but we had a better night – but we both would love to be able to sleep through rather than this three hours on/off cycle that we have got ourselves into!

Tuesday morning and we had a leisurely start getting our dive stuff together and then heading in. Dive one was pretty busy with loads of divers – and we buddied up with Dan as Ruth didn’t fancy it. This was a wreck dive and we came across a tug boat in about 60 feet of water, followed by a dead yacht….. and then onto the reef to finish off. Enjoyed it but was a bit disconcerted when the divemaster took Richard and Dan away from me to surface because they were getting low on air leaving me following the diveleader, but no buddy….. Oh well – not the best arrangement and didn’t feel particularly comfortable for some reason. Coming back ashore we met Ruth who had organised us pizza and drinks for the interval – fantastic! Then back out for our second dive and this was back to Devil’s Table……which is a muck dive to start with digging around in the grass and sand to look for little critters – and found the pink frog fish again! – and then onto the reef. Love this site and thoroughly enjoyed it – particularly the octopus and the colourful coral. Made better by the fact that there was only the three of us with a diveleader so loads of room and lots of fun with the camera – Dan does a pretty good job!

After diving we headed into the beach for sundowners as we wanted to see Faye and Paul – the local couple who have set up coolers on the beach – as we are hoping to organise a beach party with BBQ. Mission accomplished and back on board for a quiet night, pretty tired. And again the wind picked up and we had a broken sleep pattern, which is starting to get on my nerves!

Wednesday morning and we had a party planning meeting on Evensong – all sorted, just got to invite the others now – and we buzz around the anchorage to talk to people. Getting back towards Morphie we realise that Blue Pearl – who were anchored behind us – have left. Damn, missed them!   Luckily I’m sure we’ll catch up with them later on.

We then head into town to buy some groceries as Dan and Ruth are dining onboard Mophie this evening.   Back on board we clean up the boat ready to receive and get the food preparation done – an hour or so lazing about and cleaning ourselves up and then they arrive.   Have a really nice evening chatting, laughing, eating and drinking.  The wind died down during the night – although it did rain hard – so we had a better night’s sleep….  At last!

This morning – Thursday – and we are having a leisurely time doing some shopping, breakfast ashore and catching up on the internet at the Fig Tree.  Last year a big storm here in Bequia wrecked the fig tree and this year they have taken down the rest of it and carved some figures into it…..   Really impressive….   Oh yes and we have some pretty big neighbours in the anchorage!!    Probably won’t do much else today…..

Bye for now

Jan

Bye for now

Jan

Jobs done, blog done, and time to relax…. Later that afternoon we had a couple of beers bobbing at Bollheads and enjoyed the water. Quiet night on board.

Saturday morning we went into Aqua for internet – wasn’t working as the power was down. So they started up the generator and we waited…. and waited…. and ate chocolate cake – yum!! – and drank coffee…. and waited…. To no avail – so we had to abandon the idea. It feels quite weird not to have access to anything at all – even 3G on my Kindle doesn’t work! Oh well….never mind.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Patrick and Lucy (Illusions) and Chris and Linda (Troubadour) for a little beach bar pub crawl….. We started at Mr Pleasures where we were entertained by the man himself and Moses – and would have stayed longer but they ran out of beer! Next stop was to Sunset View …. and finally on to Bollheads, where we had left our dinghies. Fun time had by all followed by an early night on board.

Sunday we had a lazy day – really preparing to go to sea on Monday – and then went over to Troubadour for sundowners prior to going to Bollheads for dinner. Mr Pleasures and his merry men turned up to entertain us; great food by Tim as always, who was letting his hair down tonight; and even Chris got into the act by playing a few tunes… We had a good old fashioned sing song. What a fun evening! Sad farewells all round and back on board ready for an early start on Monday.

Monday and the forecast is for brisker winds than we envisaged when deciding to move on – but we are ready to go. So around 8am we poked our noses past the headland and hoisted the sails – heavily reefed – and headed off on the trip straight to Bequia, which is about 30 miles as the crow flies. Of course the wind is coming from the direction we want to go as usual – grrrr…. The seas were big, the currents were strong and the wind was blowing at 27 knots. We had a fantastic sail, making some great speeds, but we got relentlessly pushed away from the island by the waves and the current. Our tacks were pretty useless to get some more easting but we persevered. During our sail Richard shouted at me – look at that plane! It was a private jet coming very low over the sea straight at us – at only about 100 foot above the surface… Stomachs in mouths we watched him continuing to bear down on us at speed, he came behind us and circled around our bow, and then headed off to Mustique. So this was a deliberate buzzing! Phew – wasn’t expecting that…. and working class language was heard in the cockpit of Morphie as a result….. I really thought he was going to hit the top of the mast. Then Richard thought it could be ‘moves like Jagger’ on his way to the music festival???

Anyway, back to the sailing…. and eventually we had to decide what to do if we wanted to make it in before dark…. so ended up motoring the last five miles. Was a great day though and we covered 51 miles in total – were pretty salty by the time we arrived, but hey, who cares?!?!? We stayed aboard and enjoyed our first Bequia sunset before heading to bed very early, pretty shattered.

Tuesday morning we were up early and tuned into the cruisers net and heard that our friends Dan and Ruth, on Evensong, were here! Soooo excited…. we haven’t seen them since Martinique last year. So we quickly made arrangements to meet them on the beach for a bobbing session later in the afternoon while we got ourselves sorted out. Dinghy back in the water; outboard off the rail; stainless and wood washed down; beds changed; laundry done; into town for drinking vouchers and some fresh produce; and then to the beach. Phew! Princess Margaret beach was as beautiful as we remembered it and the water sparkling and blue. Bobbing and catching up was fun – with ‘odd’ rounds for us and ‘even’ rounds for them. We also met up with Ann and Ed from Windswept Dreams. We loved watching the stormy sunset coming through and probably stayed out a bit later on the beach than we should have. Going back to Morphie around 7 and we didn’t have a torch or had left any lights on – so finding her in this very crowded anchorage was a bit of a challenge, not to mention getting the boat unlocked! Lesson learnt…. and so early to bed after a quick dinner.

Wednesday morning and Winfield came by – we had arranged to get our varnishing refreshed whilst here – so we agreed a price and he got the lads to come over to start rubbing down. Went into town for breakfast at Gingerbread – enjoying the views and the local birds who are looking for titbits….. then onto the tourism office to get info on the music festival and decided to buy tickets for Friday night – which is Dana Gillespie and the London Blues Band plus guest artistes from the Mustique Blues Festival.

Also went into the dive shop and organised a shallow dive for Thursday to get us back into the swing of things. Whilst out and about we bumped into Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl – at last! We have been missing them by hours / days ever since we arrived back in Grenada. They were heading out to St Vincent to pick up friends, but are coming back to Bequia so hope to catch up with them properly soon!

Wednesday afternoon we went bobbing again with Dan and Ruth and were met by Patrick and Lucy from Illusions who had pulled in the day before. Was another lovely way to spend the afternoon – followed by a great dinner onboard Evensong, where Ruth was trying out local recipes. Pretty authentic results too!

Thursday morning and Winfield finished the preparation work and got the first coat of varnish on. We are sorting stuff out to go diving and realise that Richard’s computer has a dead battery – now we had a replacement kit but do you think we could find it???? No….. so a quick trip to town and he managed to get a battery so we went through the delicate process of replacing it. This is always a worry as getting it wrong means that it floods and dies on the next dive. Kitted up, went ashore, and joined the boat. Loads of divers on board but most of them were students doing qualification dives so Ruth, Dan, Richard and I were with the divemaster on our own.

Lovely shallow dive starting at 10 feet off the boat and then meandering down a sandy bottom towards the reef which drops down to about 45 feet – Dan and Ruth had some equipment failures but managed anyway…. Great dive – we saw two frogfish which is such a treat, but sadly couldn’t find the seahorse that lives in this area. There were loads of spotted eels, cleaner shrimps, schools of parrots and triggers and the usual assortment of critters – along with spectacular coloured coral and large sponges…. Just beautiful – and we had over an hour underwater which wasn’t bad for the first dive of the season!

Back to shore, organised more diving for Monday, and back quickly to Morphie to clean up before heading into town. We enjoyed a spectacular sunset and sundowners at the Whaleboner with Dan and Ruth followed by dinner at Gingerbread. Pretty tired so we didn’t go next door to the Frangipani which was kicking off the music festival with steel pan band music – not really our favourite thing. So back on board – this time with lights! – and so to bed.

It is Friday now and we are heading into town for the internet. During the night a Windjammer cruise ship has come in along with loads more boats – we have never seen so many boats in an anchorage! Looking forward to tonight and nothing much planned otherwise.

Bye for now.

Jan

Saturday afternoon we returned to Happy Island for my birthday. There was a huge crowd in – who, strangely, had bought their own food and were using Jonti’s BBQ… so I guess they must have paid him a set fee or something for the privilege. Anyway, everyone was in party mood, and we spent some time with a family from Cornwall who are taking a year off to cruise the islands. Again the weather was changeable and the wind was strong – bringing out more and more kitesurfers to entertain us. They always seem to get acrobatic as the sun starts to go down too.

Shortly after sundown Jonti called us over for our meal – and what a spread!  The food just kept coming – garlic potatoes, a huge pork joint accompanied by a variety of vegetables (which are called provisions locally), salad and fruit and an amazing onion sauce. This could have fed a family of four easily!  Anyway… we had our fill and it was delicious. We then realised that the water taxi drivers had been sat there for hours and their guests had not even offered them anything to eat – really shoddy we thought, so we gave them our leftovers. They were amazed and grateful and we were sent some extra beers and I even got a couple of dances in! Phew….about 10 pm we called it a night…and went back on board and straight to bed.

Sunday morning and we headed out to Petit St Vincent. We sailed away from Union under headsail alone and went the long way round outside of the reef to keep the sailing angle. Again the seas were pretty big but not too uncomfortable. On our way we spotted the Royal Clipper on the AIS and then it appeared majestically sailing along behind the reef. What a sight!

Arriving in the anchorage and we were amazed, again, by the colour of the sea. This is, in our opinion, one of the most beautiful anchorages in this area.

We spent the afternoon snorkelling – and were a bit surprised to see that our anchor had completely disappeared in the soft sand – followed by bobbing in our blow-up chairs. Later in the afternoon we cleaned up and headed into Petit St Vincent’s beach bar for sundowners. Enjoyed ourselves and I love the way they utilise driftwood here, although always feel sorry for the lobsters that are on death row! A great way to end the day… A windy night in the anchorage meant a rolly one – so not much sleeping going on unfortunately….

Monday up bright and early and the sky is blue again – hurrah!   Went snorkelling again – not much to see really just the usual suspects but this weird fish lying on the bottom with his wings out! He folded his wings and swam off just after we took this photo and don’t know what he is – definitely not a flying fish though! Oh yes, and while out with the camera, we checked out dink’s new hydrofoil which helps him plane at lower speeds – so faster and more fuel efficient… Doesn’t he look smart???

After snorkelling and more boat jobs, we had a spot of lunch, noting with interest that there were a couple of dinghies on the beach. This is a private island and the public are not allowed outside of certain areas – and, yes, security soon made them leave! In the afternoon, we were going to bob in the chairs again, but the clouds rolled in and it started raining. Oh well – a lazy afternoon on board and a quiet evening.

Tuesday and we moved on again – this time to Chatham Bay, back on Union Island. The wind direction is perfect for us to sail through the gap in the reef and harden up to get around the corner – so the headsail is out and we enjoyed the best sail of our trip so far. Beautiful seas with winds between 15-20 knots and no rain squalls…. Just plain perfect.

All too soon, however, it was over and we had arrived in Chatham Bay. We love this laid back place. Got ourselves anchored and Richard snorkelled it to make sure we have a good set – this is an anchorage notorious for its strong winds so we have a lot of chain out…. Well, the mistake I made was letting him take the camera with him, so while I’m fussing around checking everything is set he’s taking snorkelling selfies and views of Morphie never seen before!

We then went ashore to the Aqua Resort – not really keen on this place but it is the only way we can get the internet and having been offline now since Saturday morning, wanted to just check all was OK. Was nice, because I picked up some more birthday messages….. thanks everyone….. Back on board and we did more jobs before going ashore around 3ish – and straight into Bollheads to see the gang. Although we were hoping for some bobbing time, the weather turned against us again as the rain came down. Oh well…. But Tony, Shauna and Tim were delighted to see us again and we had a great time catching up with them and Tim cooked us some of his most amazing fishcakes as a treat. (Ron and Carolyn please note – they are still delicious!). Enjoyed the sunset and were back on board around 6.30 pm for a quiet night.

During the night the wind howled – as expected – but there were strange noises coming from the anchor chain as we swung around. So a couple of times Richard went out to check everything and all was well – we think it was just snatching so we led out another 40 foot of chain…. It was a gorgeous moonlit night though although the photo really doesn’t do it justice. So another restless night – and we are both pretty tired!

Wednesday morning and we were up bright and early – and did more boat jobs like laundry and making water. Oh yes, Richard had to go back to Aqua to retrieve our dinghy padlock which he had dropped into the sea yesterday!   Didn’t let him have the camera this time…. We eventually went ashore around 4pm and did a beach bar crawl. The first bar – called Mr Pleasures – was very local and near the fisherman’s village. Really friendly people and we enjoyed chatting with them. One of the guys – called Stress – had caught an iguana in the morning and it was bubbling away in the pot. So Richard, getting in practice for “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”, decided that it was worth a taste. No, it doesn’t take like chicken! It was strong and tough as old boots – and I nearly gagged watching him chew on the green lizard skin…. Yuck although the local guys were very impressed that he ate it!   Later on we moved to Sunset Bar and bumped into some cruisers that we had met recently in Carriacou. Had a bit of a laugh and then wandered off on our own to have an early dinner at Bollheads…. Fantastic spread as always – thanks Tim!  Amazing what he can turn out with the very limited facilities that they have behind the scenes.

Another sunset and this time with a cruise ship coming into anchor behind us for the night. Who needs the moon when these guys light up the anchorage for you????

Thursday morning and we have a bit of a lay in…. followed by some boat jobs. I’m keen to clean up the stainless along the guard rail, the rub rail and the deck fittings – so get in dink and manage to get half of it done. The rest can wait until tomorrow as we are supposed to be ashore for 1pm at Bollheads today. They have very kindly invited us to join them for their staff lunch (at no cost). What an honour and pleasure it was – fantastic food too. Really really local – callalou soup (think spinach) which was the base for a stew which contained plaintain, carrots, home-made dumplings, pigs tails and chicken wings… All on the bone of course… so lots of eating with hands followed. We had a really nice time.

After lunch we went off to Aqua again as we want to check the weather forecast in preparation for our next sail direct to Bequia. The weather actually is vastly improved with the odd shower and potentially stronger winds overnight Friday into Saturday – but any other day would be good for passage making…. Coming back to Morphie we spot that Troubadour have just anchored – so we went over to say hi and then went ashore for happy hour and caught up with all the other cruisers, who all knew each other from before. It was great to see Linda and Chris again.

After a great happy hour, we then walked back on our own down the beach to Bollheads for sundowners. We enjoyed another spectacular sunset and then as we were leaving Tim ran out with a huge pot of the callalou stew for us to take back onboard – so guess what we had for dinner on board too?!? Fantastic tasting stuff…. and, with bellies full, we had an early night.

It is Friday now and we have decided to leave for Bequia on Sunday or Monday – providing the forecast sticks. So this morning I have finished the rest of the stainless and Richard has done a couple of other jobs…   We are in Aqua again now to publish this and are hoping for some beach bobbing time real soon!

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday and the weather started to improve with just occasional showers and some blue sky. Hurrah! We spent most of the day doing boat jobs and watching the anchoring shenanigans – so glad we are at the back of the fleet and away from most of them. Even a large motorboat came in and tried to anchor five times before finally giving up and leaving altogether – I assume embarrassment was behind that decision… Oh yes, and we have a Swedish boat anchored alongside us and they do like to get naked!

About 4 pm we went ashore for sundowners at the Lambie Queen. Had a few cold beers and enjoyed the view out to the anchorage and catching up with the owner. The sun was starting to go down as we headed back to Morphie and we were really pleased to be able to get such a great photo of her. We had a quiet evening followed by a rough night as the wind howled and the boat rolled….. Oh well.

Wednesday and more boat jobs accomplished – Richard is working to a regular maintenance schedule now and I spent a few hours washing the salt off all the external woodwork and stainless steel. The weather continues to improve and the sun is now shining so we take some time out to explore the mangrove swamp. Feeling our way through, around and across sandbanks, Richard the intrepid dinghy captain explorer was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Just inside the entrance we came across quite a few dead boats – presumably remnants from previous storms. Dinking around and there is nobody here apart from us and the birds…. and the huge fish that keep swirling close to the surface and one huge one which almost leaped out of the water alongside me, and it really made me jump it was so close! The whole area just kept opening up as we meandered through and was a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours – a real treat.

On the way back we had a look at the new marina they are building – well, actually, they’ve been building this for more than a decade and very little to show for it so far! And all of this goes on alongside the sleepy traditional way of life with fisherman cleaning today’s catch on the beach….

Oh yes, and at the dock, there are a family of cute little fish to welcome you – and here I am with my hands and camera in the water trying to get a good photo – only to be warned by the locals that this particular type of porcupine puffer fish are incredibly toxic and a puncture wound by one of their spines would be fatal…. Not one of my better ideas then!

Wednesday late afternoon we went ashore to the Lazy Turtle which has just reopened under new management. We enjoyed a few sundowners and had a jolly time chatting with some cruisers before going back to Morphie for dinner and to our rolly bed.

Thursday morning we had a lazy start before going ashore to do a tour of the island. Although we have been to Carriacou before a few times this is one island that we haven’t really explored much. And there really isn’t a lot to see apart from some stunning scenery across the Grenadines and down towards Hillsborough…. But interesting nevertheless, particularly hearing about their traditional boat building heritage, which continues to this day with all construction being done by eye, with no plans.

When we got back to Tyrrel Bay we dinked to the new customs and immigration office where we checked out for a Friday departure to Union Island. Job done and back on board, pretty shattered, so after a restorative nap Richard took me back ashore to the Lazy Turtle for dinner. Good food and pleasant evening….followed by an early night.

Up early Friday morning and we are underway by 8.30 am. Weather forecast was a bit iffy again but nothing to concern us. As we headed out towards the Sisters Rocks the wind kicked in – strongly! But no worries, we are reefed down, and then we get a series of squalls with winds around 35 knots. We changed our course to get some shelter from the foaming seas by running inside Sandy Island towards Hillsborough before we headed out into the channel towards Union Island. And we found some superyachts anchored here too……

As we passed through Hillsborough into the channel the torrential rain squalls just kept coming! Boats were struggling to keep control and one charter boat in particular kept broaching and every time he recovered he ended up on a collision course for us. Luckily we had spotted him before the latest whiteout and kept ourselves safe by taking constant evasive action! What is it with these people? Full sails up in really rough conditions with poor visibility?? Grrrr…..

Oh well…. no harm done… and we arrived into Clifton around 11 ish. Got ourselves sorted out – while simultaneously fending off a selection of boat boys who remembered us from previous visits – and then went into town to check in. Customs was open but immigration not manned – so we had to head off to the airport to do this bit. This always happens to us! Back on board with the new flag hoisted and we had a lazy afternoon on board with constant squalls coming through.

Finally it settled down just long enough for us to get to Happy Island to see Jonti. We spent some time chatting to him and some rather inebriated French and Germans whilst watching Morphie hanging onto her anchor for dear life in the squalls…. The conditions drew the kitesurfers out too and we were royally entertained by their acrobatics! Made it back on board by 7pm and had an early night.

Saturday morning and we are up early – and Happy Birthday to me!!!   Thanks for all the messages and cards – much appreciated…..

We came ashore for breakfast at the Anchorage Hotel and to get internet access.     We are planning to go back to Happy Island for the afternoon and to have dinner there…. and may move onto Petit St Vincent tomorrow if this sun and blue sky continues!

Bye for now

Jan

Thursday night and we enjoyed the last views out to Calvigny Island as the sun started to set. It’s been fun but we were ready to move on.

Friday and we are up early and got ourselves ready to go to sea… Took stock of the last views of our anchorage and then moved out through the reef. A following sea and some nice wind meant that we had a fantastic sail – making up to 7 knots – under reefed headsail alone, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Turned at the airport runway – watching out for planes – and moved up the west coast of Grenada to the capital St Georges, having to douse the sails in the end as unfortunately we couldn’t hold the new course. We had made online reservations for Port Louis Marina and radioed in for our slip information – to be informed that we would have to go stern to as there were no alongside slips available. Damn…..really not happy with that!  Anyway, we get all the fenders and lines out ready and realise that we have to drop dink – if we go stern to between two boats dink will be trapped and we need him to get around. So we do this whilst underway and partially in the shipping channel – and guess what? – I forget to take off one of the securing lines so managed to get a nice rope burn around my upper arm. Ouch!!!!

As we mooched around waiting for the marina rib to assist us they then told us that someone had just left so we could go alongside after all….. great news, but now we have to change all the fenders / lines. Oh well…   Rest of the day was spent working hard.

We awoke Saturday morning to another mixed weather day…. but at least we have a different view!  We went in dink to Foodland to get a major shopping trip out of the way – finding some weird soup mix, not sure I fancy that!

Having stored all our provisions we headed into the Carenage to top up our local mobile phone and have a wander around. There was a Windjammer cruise ship in town and the tourists were milling around looking bemused by the fact that most of the shops were closed!  We enjoyed our first rainbow of the day while we were out and about.

Then the heavens opened again – so we took dink over to Sails – a restaurant which is located at the end of the Carenage – and which overlooks the commercial harbour and the marina. Service was slowwwwww – but we enjoyed a couple of cold beers while watching the weather moving through and then another spectacular rainbow. This one finished at the container port – so we wondered whether this meant a pot of gold had been imported???

The rain moved away so we headed back, got cleaned up, and went into the marina for happy hour where we were joined by the crew from Dragon’s Toy who we had last met in St Lucia.  Nice to catch up again.   Richard was blown away by the huge sailing megayacht in town and took some photos – and informed everyone that we were thinking of trading up!  Not sure that even a lottery win would be enough – $50 mn to buy, $5 mn to run per year???!!! Oh well who cares, we have our dream boat in Morphie anyway and we don’t need crew.  He wasn’t so impressed by the huge stinkpot next door though!

Back on board and we enjoyed playing with the star gazing app and realised that the very very bright planet we could see tonight was Jupiter. Simply amazing….

Sunday morning and a day of rest – just as well really – as it rained and rained and rained and rained…. Got pretty fed up even though we did some useful jobs down below and ended up having a lazy day followed by an early night.

Monday morning and the shops are open again – so laundry delivered, drinks delivery sorted, gas bottle filled and chandlery visited along with numerous jobs done… Richard spent a lot of time with his head down a hole sorting out a Y valve and cleaning out (smelly!) calcium build up in some hoses…. I topped up the varnish again and cleaned all the salt off Morphie. And another happy hour and early night.

Tuesday and it is New Year’s Eve – Happy New Year to our friends and family!!!  We miss you all and wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014….

For New Year’s Eve we went a bit mad and decided to party in style!!!!  So we purchased all inclusive VIP tickets to the marina party and the amount of preparation that has been going on looks like it could go on and on and on and on…. It doesn’t even start until 10 pm. We were pretty excited…..

Whilst doing boat jobs down below there was a knock on the hull – Sha Sha are in town.  They have come into the marina to have lunch so have sought us out. Fantastic – had a really nice couple of hours with them in the restaurant – and then said our fond farewells as we probably won’t see them now until later in the season…. Rest of the day was spent lazing around waiting for the party.

We arrived at the New Year’s Eve party promptly at 10.00 pm and there were about three of us! There were huge numbers of security, police and marina staff around too…. Had a wander around and looked at the stage and the setting for the party and were glad to see loads of bars and covered areas in the VIP area cos the rain keeps on coming down…. Even the superyachts were lit up for the occasion.

There was an additional elevated VIP area too but we couldn’t gain access as this was for ‘special’ VIPs only – jokingly we said that this must be for the Prime Minister and his entourage and, guess what, it was!!! So funny…..

Anyway between torrential rain showers we were out and about drinking, eating, dancing and enjoying the show – lots of twerking going on as usual, but not by me!   We also spent some time with our dock neighbours who have just sailed across the Atlantic from Denmark – really fun people – and one of the couples got engaged half way across the ocean. How romantic…

The New Year arrived and was heralded by the usual countdown, firework display, champagne quaffing and more dancing…. Followed by more rain – and most of the VIP guests ended up under cover on top of what is usually the swimming pool – the floor was vibrating with the movement and the bass from the stage and we did wonder whether it would hold at one point!  Anyway…the party continued and we had a blast, getting back on board at 5.45 am today… and the event was still going strong!   Pretty tired but great fun.

Gone to recover now…….  And yes, it’s still raining!  Bye

Jan

After doing laundry and blogging on Sunday we had a lazy afternoon and evening on board… The weather is closing in and we keep having to run around shutting all the hatches when the squalls blow through….

Monday morning and it was a bit brighter – we carried on doing boat jobs in the morning – and then, in the afternoon, took ourselves off into Lower Woburn to have a wander. And of course we ended up visiting the local rum shop Nimrods. We ended up chatting to a gang of ex-pats who live here in Grenada and were obviously a bit worse for wear – a very funny few hours….

Back on board and we decide it is time to visit Clarkes Court Marina. Strange place – full of old boats that really do not look like they have moved for a fair while – and the bar wasn’t particularly friendly. Everyone seemed to know each other but no-one spoke to us… and we got bitten up by bugs. Not sure we’ll hurry back to this place. On the way back to dink we noticed a guy going out sailing in his little dinghy… We had seen this boat the day before in the anchorage and thought it was drifting around with its sails up until we realised that it wasn’t a ghost ship, but rather that the guy lays down in the bottom of it when underway!

To round off the day we had a pretty nice sunset.

Tuesday morning and it’s Christmas Eve!  Hurrah…. So we had mimosas while taking our Christmas crew photo!

Lazy day on board watching the stormy weather coming in….

In the evening we dinked over to Whisper Cove in a dry period for their Italian night.  Shared a table with Jim and Sharon from ShaSha and another cruising couple and we had a really nice time – also enjoyed bumping into other friendly faces like Eric and Pat from Cutter Loose. The Italian buffet was not particularly authentic – baklava for desert!!! – but was very plentiful and tasty. The Italian singer was pretty good too, particularly enjoyed his Nessun Dorma at the end of the show. During the course of the evening the rain had been coming down really hard and we waited it out to get a dry 10 minutes to grab dink and head off out. When we climbed into dink we were amazed to find ourselves ankle deep in rain water!

Back on board on our own we sat in the dark listening to thunder rumbling and watching the occasional lightning flash around us…. and we toasted in Christmas together. Wasn’t so emotional this year because I am less stressed I guess – but still missed you all!   During the night this storm intensified – sheet lightning like we have never ever seen it lighting up the whole of the interior of the boat every few seconds – and certainly didn’t make for a particularly restful night… particularly with the rain sounding like hail hitting the hull.

In the morning – Happy Christmas folks – and it was still raining – hard! The view wasn’t so great this morning!

We opened our Christmas cards and put them up – in lieu of presents – and then had a quiet time on board with the thunder and lightning still rolling around us. Thankfully early afternoon – time to leave for our Christmas lunch at Taffys – and the weather brightened slightly with a very flat sea from the rain but little sign of sun!

Enjoyed our Christmas lunch with a fair bit of wine and had a good time with ShaSha as always. Was amazed that they had never seen nor heard of Christmas crackers before!   We were back on board relatively early – all of us were pretty wiped out by the late night Christmas Eve and the lack of sleep because of the storm, so when we got back on board Morphie we just sat in the cockpit and talked, listening to the wind, the rain and the lapping of the water against the hull.

Boxing Day and the weather is still inclement – so we are doing absolutely nothing today!   Just like Christmas at home without the cooking LOL…. and NO chocolate or  sweets, can you believe it???  We were quite shocked to find out this morning that this horrendous storm had affected most of the island chain and a number of people had been killed.  Sobering thought….

Tomorrow we are going to move on – round to St Georges.  Probably into Port Louis Marina too as we want to completely provision the boat heavily prior to moving north.   Oh yes, and I think another incentive is the beautiful beach at Grande Anse and the New Year’s Eve party which is happening in the marina!

Bye for now

Jan