Jan. 23, 2010 - Allovernow

May. 1, 2009 - Disembarked, Dismasted, Discombobulated, and (Drizzled on)

And you try saying that after a few rums!!!

So there we are on the hard ready for the hurricanes and more importantly insured - hence no mast.  We  moved into a local 3 star hotel as there is no water or electricity in the the yard as they are still building it , but their rates are really good we can live with that.  How do you cope with a bed that doesn't move around and a shower where you can leave the water running as long as you like?  It looks like I might even be able to stop getting up at 0200 and walking around in the buff  to check the anchor hasn't dragged (don't think anyone noticed last night!!!!!)    The weather clearly has decided to get us ready for the UK as we've hardly seen the sun for several days and its drizzled all day today.

As you can see all has been crossed of 'the list'  (its taken a week), bar getting customs on board tomorrow to do a temporary importation of the boat - a completely meaningless activity which keeps loads of custom guys in a job - hey its the Caribbean.

Flight out on Sunday and then back to reality - I'm hoping that Fi doesn't break her arm this time.  After that - who knows. 

Apr. 24, 2009 - So long and thanks for all the fish

So we headed back to Bequia for a couple of days and then set off North to St Lucia.  An absolutely glorious sail, despite the wind being only just free.  Capped by yet another sodding great Wahoo that got away – top right of first photos.  It took about 15 minutes to fight it up to the boat and then only a few seconds for the wire trace to snap, at least we got a photo this time rather than pinching one of the interweb.  A quite night in Marigot bay and a final ‘sail’ up the marina in Rodney bay – notice the top left photo with me in full foulies as it poured down.

I’ve taken a random set of photos of this season just to try and sum up the whole trip.  It was very different to last year as we were not exploring new places, rather picking the best ones we knew to go back to.  We met many old friends and made quite few new ones, raced the boat and finished in the top ten (OK so there were only ten in the class) caught and lost loads of fish,  ate those we caught, drank rum,gin,beer and wine, plus whatever our friends brought out with them (thanks, Robbie, Peter, Matt, Penny, Dai and Loraine) watched many fantastic sunsets, and saw several green flashes, only ran aground once, never dragged our anchor and only felt like murdering charter/French boats on a few occasions.  The sun shone, often the rain fell (but it was warm), the wind varied from calm to bloody windy, but not once between November to May did it snow, hail or coldly drizzle.

Back to Blighty in 10 days………………..

Apr. 20, 2009 - The Cays and strange weather phenomenananana

All experienced yachtsmen need to understand the weather and one of the most important weather situations leads to a feature technically described as ‘hammocky’.  Normally in the Tobago Cays its too bloody windy as there is nothing between us and Africa but a reef so trying to get into a ‘hammock situation’ results in lots of flapping and cursing but little relaxation.  The photograph therefore shows a very rare meteorological phenomenon and is not at all a picture a lazy slob drinking beer in the sunshine.  Er - well actually it is and it was so nice to get here and find the wind a mere zephyr with the sun shining. By the way the uninhabited island in the background was the other film set for the Pirates of the Caribbean films – we are going to dinghy around to it today and see if Jonny Depp did actually bury any treasure there. We seem to be surrounded by turtles and when I snorkeled the anchor we saw, squids’s, an Eagle ray, more turtles and loads of small fry.  I managed a dive on the reef yesterday and it’s by far the best in the Caribbean, I took Fi there in the dinghy in the afternoon and it was almost as good, just snorkeling.

There are several traveling companions with us –  Appleseeds our Canadian friends, Troutbridge and a few more, so we all met up on the beach last night for a few beers and to watch the sun go down. Thedevice on the dinghy is now in the category of ‘the most wanted thingy what we never thought of’ – It’s a hand operated blender and makes very good rum punches amongst other things.  What a special way to spend the evening – followed by ‘find the yacht’ as there was no moon and my ‘automatic’ anchor light had not come on.

Started on ‘the list’ today ie the list of things we need to do before hauling out. If it’s like last year, all we will do is add things to it and it never gets shorter. So it’s back up to Bequia tomorrow and St Lucia towards the end of the week. 

We are actually really looking forward to getting home now.  Two seasons in the Caribbean is enough, it’s too crowded and you can actually have enough of a good thing. Fi and I are really looking forward to living in our own house again – after we buy one that is!  What do we do next – no idea, if we come out again next year we may head up to Cuba, the Bahamas and then the East Coast of the US.  However if someone wants to buy the boat we may well be open to a sensible offer. Or none of the above and something else.

Apr. 16, 2009 - Almost the Cays

We finally got  fed up with Bequia and headed south to Union Island.  The photo shows where we are going next which is the Tobago Cays which are snuggled around the little islands in the distance.  Its not too bad here as we are tucked up behind the reef  you can see, that extends out of the harbour.  Its quite breezy but that keeps the wind generator busy and the batteries full.  Hopefully the wind will drop over the weekend - thats me trusting a Caribbean forecast again!!  We're just enjoying doing nothing for a change although we might go for a walk this afternoon and go and look at the sharks - no we're not going mad they actually have a couple of shark pens on the sea front here,.  Gonna be off line for a few days as the Cays are properly remote ie no wifi. so will post agin mid week next week.

Apr. 12, 2009 - Happy Easter

 Had a great couple of days racing the boat - not Cowes week but thats not a bad thing.  Our first race started well as we crossed the line first and then went progressively backwards - finished 7th.  Our second race we started last as I completely cocked it up (and almost got rammed!!!) and guess what - we finished 7th,  slow but consistent!  I could complain about the unfair handicap we were given and my useless crew  (wife and troutbridge plus Nick a local lad yesterday) or the badly setting sails but probably the nut holding the steering wheel was the biggest problem - who cares the weather is great and the free parties in the evening are what its all about.   Its now Sunday and a day off racing - theres lots going on ashore,  Fi wants to go to a 'fashion show' at Jacks beach bar this afternoon.  Not my initial idea of fun but when I saw it included girls in beachwear and we have a load of free drinks tickets - for some reason I changed my mind.

Only 3 weeks and we are booked to fly home - where did the time go.  We will probably mosey down to the Cays and Carraicou over the next week or so and aim to be back in St Lucia the last week in April to get ready for haul out on the 1 May.

Apr. 5, 2009 - The one that got away (again!!!!!!!)

Yup - happened again on the way down past St Vincent.  Nice big bite and about 15 minutes hauling and then losing line, eventually we got this bl**dy great Wahoo alongside, Fi started to squirt rum at him to quiet him down, I put my sailing gloves on and got the gaff out to haul him in and the line, which was draped over the guard rails, snapped.  So the photo is a fake, but I just wanted some record of the biggest fish that I would actually have wanted on board - they tast absolutely great.  I wonder if any following boats found a drunken fish swimming around with my lure in its mouth!!  We caught a consolation Tuna later on but nothing to compare with what we lost. 

Still we are in Bequia now and the weather is absolutely great, getting ready for the regatta next weekend which starts with first race on Friday.  We're going to do a bit of sailing around the Ilsand, to try and sus out the tides etc before the races and I am absolutely sure I will have my fishing lines out! 

After Easter we are going to nip down to the Cays and maybe Cariacou before heading back up to St  Lucia for haul out on the 1 May.  Probably back in the UK on 4 May.

Mar. 31, 2009 - Norra lot going on

We've met up with Troutbridge now (hence the sore head) and are swinging around the anchor in Rodney Bay.  I've already posted lots of photos of the bay so can't be bothered to do another one and as nothing much else has happened can't  think of reason for posting anything else!!   That said - its gonna be fun in the next few weeks, as previoulsy mentioned, we are off to do a  bit of racing/drinking/partying at Bequia over Easter weekend so will be setting off in the next few days.  We are also hopefull of lots more 'edible monsters of the deep', as once you get South of St Vincent the fishies start to bite.  I will post something more interesting when it happens.

Mar. 28, 2009 - Waiting for Trouto

So more guests have left us and we are now in Rodney Bay marina, dodging some swells, cleaning the boat and generally loafing around.  We had a really great time with Dai and Loraine, some fairly hard sailing, some great weather and variety and  including the famous 'snorkelling incident' (see photo) - took them in the dinghy to a good spot, they had a good swim, bounced back in the dinghy and then immediately fell out the other side.  I thought Loraine was drowning, but apparently the symptoms of drowning and hysterical laughter are the same!!!  No more guests now until we come home.  So we are meeting up with Troutbridge this week and then heading off to Bequia and the Grenadines, the aim to be in Bequia on the 8th (Easter weekend) to take part in the regatta - I've even got my insurance company to agree to cover me for racing which is great.  Apparenlty the racing is good but the parties are even better. Hopefully our Canadian chums in Appleseeds will also be there as we have a little bet on from last year - we will see.

Oh - decided on a change of Blog style as they've just updated the system.

Mar. 22, 2009 - Drama

We are going to have to invite Dai and Loraine again, not only has the weather finally perked up but we’ve been having adventures.  On the way to Guadaloupe we were treated to a leaping whale – in this case a juvenile Sperm whale – we also think we saw mum next to him, probably telling him not to show off.  Then on the way to Dominica we had a pod of Dolphins who also wanted to show off their jumping skills as well as playing in our bow wave, followed by a nice supper, oops Barracuda.  We checked with the locals as to whether it was safe to eat and they all agreed they were fine, so he got the barbecue treatment.  However on leaving Dominica, I put two trolling lines out and about 5 miles South of the Island a large fish hit one of them.  It was clearly a very large Marlin – ‘cos  we saw him doing the ‘Ernest Hemingway’ leaping out of the water thing.  Now I know some of you won’t believe me (Ablett) but I reckon he was at least 100 pounds as after half a dozen leaps he simply snapped my 80lb line.  We definitely didn’t want him on board but it would have been nice to get him closer for a photo.  During this entertainment I asked Dai to get the other line in but he couldn’t get the reel to move.  When I checked the reason was simple – there was another very large fish on it.  This one did not want to come to the surface, it did the exact opposite and headed for the bottom.  We slowed the boat down but I could barely get some line in before he took it all off again, consequently I made the error of stopping the boat and he immediately went underneath and snapped the line, at one point the rod was bent almost double.   Not sure what this was – possibly a large Tuna as they can behave like this, either way even if we could have got him up I doubt we could have landed him.  So, two good lures lost but great fun nevertheless.  We then had a great sail to Martinique where we are planning a lazy Sunday to get over all the excitement.

The photo is of our chum Troutbridge heading North from Roseau, as we sailed down South to meet him there!!  Better luck next time Peter – see you in Bequia at Easter.

Mar. 14, 2009 - So what did you do on your holiday (silly question really - see photo)

I don't know - you just train up some visiting flunkies as competent crew and they leave after a coupe of weeks - was it something we said? Anyway so long to Matt and Penny and hello to recovering livers.  We ended up in Nelson dockyard for the last couple of days did some diving and popped into the really good French restaurant for a final dins.  Tomorrow the French owner is going to screen the England France, 6 nations rugby game which should be interesting especially of they lose!  Hopefully Dai and Lorraine will arrive on time on Sunday and then its off down Island to St Lucia which should be fine now that the French islands appear to have got back to normal.

PS - Matt and Penny many thanks for the surprise in your cabin it was really appreciated - sharks are always welcome - that'll get other readers guessing!!!

Larry and Fi

Mar. 12, 2009 - Lifes a beach (actually quite a few)

We bailed out of Falmouth and finally made it around to the South East part of the Island, which is normally a rather hard into wind slog but for once was quite pleasant.  We anchored behind Green Island for a couple of days which was delightful (apart from the lunchtime 'party cat' of tourists).  Unfortunately my propellor started vibrating and on examination a bit that 'never falls out' - er, fell out.  Luckily I was able to use our satphone to order some spares and Dai will be bringing them on Sunday.  A temporary bodge was in order but I didn't have the right size bolt.  Luckily Maltese Falcoln did - the little one (see earlier entry) not the superyacht and that resulted in a few beers and new friends.  Note: they are really from Malta and they had the name first !!

Nice trip back resulted in a really good Barracuda which I had to throw back as this far North in the Islands there is too much risk of ciguaterra a rather nasty toxin which many of the fish have.  You really don't want to get it and so a potential supper was released to fight another day.

We are now in Mamora bay which is another beach but rather more developed - (see photo).  It is actually rather a nice resort hotel, not sure about being hit twice in a few seconds by a kid in a Hoby Cat, who clearlt didn't know how to sail!  Luckily there was no damage.  On to English harbour or even nelson Dockyard this afternoon depending on how crowded the anchorage is.  We have a date with some Dutch friends for a few beers tonight and then 'crew changeover' at the weekend, before setting off to St lucia again via the French islands, which apparrently are no longer on strike.   Wonder how long it will take to get food back in the shops!!

Mar. 8, 2009 - And back again

After a few great days in St Kitts we decided to take advantage of the slightly weird weather and use the Northerly wind to allow us to sail back to Antigua, something that cannot normally be done here as the wind should be from the East.  However it did make leaving the marina berth interesting as we had a screaming crosswind and very little room.  By judicial use of our lines we were able to warp ourselves nearly out and then it was a case of let go fast and full throttle astern - and it worked , no bumps, lines around the prop or serious screaming!!  A rather long and lumpy sail was fine although Penny reverted to 'non conversational' mode once the seasick pills wore off.  We are now back in Falmouth harbour Antigua and about to go in and clear customs and maybe a long lunch - but when is this bloody weather going to settle down!  The wind and waves are Northerly so it was actually cold last night, its meant to have calmed down and it hasn't. 

Dai and Lorraine - we are booked into Nelsons Dockyard marina for the weekend so unless you hear otherwise just tell the taxi driver that and we will be on the dock somewhere - its not that big.

Mar. 6, 2009 - Nursey Nursey

We’ve just had a great couple of days in St Kitts.  Hired a car and drove all the way around the island, quaffed a few beers and ate out in some seriously good restaurants.  Diving this morning was also good, although the Nurse shark in the photo was seriously uninterested in us.  We were planning to leave the marina this afternoon and anchor off the bottom of the island overnight for a quick getaway back to Antigua tomorrow.  However as it is tipping it down at the moment and the forecast 20 knots of wind has arrived 16 hours early we’ve decided to stay overnight in the snuggliness of our berth and get up early tomorrow – that’s assuming the ‘Short’ influence does not result (again) in serious getting up problems. 

Mar. 4, 2009 - Where have all the peeps gone???

So since the last entry we got really lazy and spent several days in several places doing absolutely nothing (including taking any photos) and then Matt and Penny arrived.  We were initially in Jolly Harbour and then quickly headed over to Montserrat as I’ve always wanted to see the volcano and the damage it caused in 96.  As the photo shows its not as inhabited as some other islands! As big as Guadeloupe with only 4800 inhabitants. We had a great sail over in great weather and well off the wind, even caught the obligatory ‘just the right size for supper’ Yellow Fin Tuna. Just a shame that Penny quickly became a fetching shade of green and lost all her conversational skills.  That night the weather blew up and we rolled a lot at anchor and consequently could not face another night in the same place.  Decision was taken to head up to St Kitts a day early, luckily I rang ahead and booked us in to the local marina as when we arrived there was a horrid swell running and by hiding inside we had a great night and managed to catch up on some sleep.  Several other boats were turned away as the place was full so we were fairly lucky. 

 Strangely Penny then lost her shade of green and turned in to ‘lobster girl’ as the photo shows, must be something to do with the sun around here.  Must tell her that hiding behind a large beer is not the best way to avoid sunburn.

We’re hiring a car tomorrow for a looksee, then diving on Friday before heading back to Antigua on Saturday as the weather is unusually forecast to blow from the North which is great for the trip.  Tuff  life.

Feb. 22, 2009 - A close shave

As the photo shows – we made it to Antigua but with NO BEER!!!  Talk about a close call.  The trip over was probably the roughest we have ever made.  The wind was not that bad only 20-25 Knots but the seas were really large and very confused as a mixture of the old northerly swell mixed up with the new one from the east.  Luckily its only 40 miles and we were snug in Falmouth harbour Antigua just after lunchtime. 

First call was obviously the supermarket for a case of tins and thence to Customs and immigration.  Only in the Caribbean would the customs guy go out for lunch at three in the afternoon and not return until four.  Still we’ve also met up with some of our friends from previous anchorages so it’s a ‘pot luck’ supper on one of the boats tonight.

Last time we were here it was quite quiet but the photo shows the enormous number of superyachts tied up in the marina.  Makes one wonder if it’s a symptom of the economic times, all those rich people unable to play with their toys – I feel so sorry for them – not.

Gonna stay here for a few days,  might then pop around to some of the other anchorages but aim to be in Jolly harbour marina at the end of the month to pick up Matt and Penny – so guys that is what you tell the taxi driver at the airport!

Feb. 22, 2009 - The French are revolting

Literally – We’ve not found anyone who really understands why but for some reason, two weeks ago Guadeloupe went on strike over their ‘standard of living’ and then Martinique followed suit.  I can’t get my mind around who they are striking against, unless it’s the French Government who is not giving them enough subsidies (ie the UK as it will be EU money!!).   It’s got quite silly now and we heard of some shootings and house burnings in Guadeloupe – just as we arrived.  We have just stayed a couple of days in the Saintes which are a group of Islands south of the main Island which are apparently too laid back to care.  Unfortunately it meant no money in the cash points, no food in he supermarkets and no customs officers on duty.

Anyway we were hiding there to keep out of the forecast North swells which if they appeared were actually pretty small.  Woke up this morning in the little anchorage we had been in for several days and decided b***er it lets go somewhere else – so we did.  I am currently writing this from Deshaise in the North of Guadeloupe and its our intention to get up early and bounce our way to Antigua tomorrow – the forecast being for 25 Knots or so. Once there we will actually be able to do some shopping, and as we are down to our last two cans of beer this is a serious situation!!!

The photo shows where the dinghy dock used to be – right underneath the smashed up boat that is parked on top! This is yet another result of last year’s hurricane Omar when massive westerly swells did a lot of damage to the Islands – mind you it was last October, you would really think that someone might get a chain saw and cart it away – ‘hey man its de Caribbean’ would be the answer if you bothered to ask.

Feb. 17, 2009 - The Great Leap North

We finally got fed up with Rodney bay and St Lucia – you can only have so much of a good thing and to celebrate my twiddlyumpty sixth birthday, headed North to Antigua.  As internet is going to be iffy I am doing a daily diary and will post when I can.  One problem is that to avoid having to check into every island and then out again we will keep our yellow customs flag up and not actually go ashore  – its called exercising your right to free passage, just hope the customs chap in Antigua has read the same rules as me.  This means that internet may be hard to come by.

Anyway – Day one.  An early ish start with a slightly sore head as Troutbridge came over last night and helped me finish off my last bottle of ‘Jack Iron’ 70% rum.  The weather was cr*p, raining all night and quite blowy, this despite all the forecasts that Monday was going to be light winds and sunny.  We sailed clear of St Lucia on the way to St Pierre at the top of Martinique and the weather perked up a bit, ie it stopped raining, the wind stayed at 20 knots.  Not a bad sail but for the first time we saw no whales nor caught no fishies – despite using my mate Peter’s ‘absolutely guaranteed to catch fish’ lure, harrumph.  I am writing this entry snugly anchored quite close to the beach waiting for the drizzle to stop.  Tomorrow should be better but we are warned of some nasty northerly swells due to set in on Wednesday.  Our current plan of cunningness is to get to Guadeloupe by then and hide in a secure anchorage what we know about, until they have gone.

Thought I’d put the photo of the most outrageous superyacht we’ve seen so far on as well – the boat on the deck is a 55 foot yacht – there is a 55 foot power boat the other side. Not fair I want one.

The photo of the volcano above is the one that killed 30,000 people in  1908  in St Pierre where we stayed the night, when despite all the warnings no-one was prepared to leave.  Its very rare to see it free of cloud which was a good omen for the next leg North.

Day Two – aarrrgh and still no sign of land – we’ll be at the drinking our own …   - no hang on that’s a Black Adder script.  In fact we’ve had a great days sail and are currently in Portsmouth Bay in Dominica.  The big question now is do we stay here for a few days or nip up to Guadaloupe tomorrow as we need somewhere to hide from the big Northerly swells.  On the plus side there’s good interweb here and a great beach bar, on the negative side they play loud music all night on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  On the other hand we could be stuck in a rather boring but much more sheltered bay just to the North of here, decisions decisions.

Thanks to all who sent Birthday greetings, e-cards etc both to me and Fi last week.  In fact we have now reached the ‘level of maturity’ which means we don’t like to be reminded!!

Feb. 12, 2009 - Oooh Aaarr Jim lad

We came back up from St Vincent after staying the night in Wallilabou - which was the main set for the Pirates of the Caribbean films and much of which still remains. The photo shows some very realistic fibre glass houses. It was fun to sit on the boat and watch one of the films in the place where it was made, just a shame that the locals still haven't worked out that swamping you with boat boys selling mainly rubbish, is actually counterproductive - not sure we will got there again.

The resultant sail up to St Lucia can only be described as 'soggy'.  The pilot books tell you that the North point of the Island can generate some quite gusty winds and rough seas, unfortunately for us, it stayed like that all the way across to Rodney Bay.  As of writing we have gone back into the marina to get ready to drop of Peter our guest and then prepare the boat for heading up to Antigua early next week.  The forecasters are promising a change to the weather patterns and much lighter winds over the next few days so hopefully the  minor gale blowing over my head at the mo will GO AWAY!!!!

Finaly met up with Troutbridge in the bay yesterday, and we may end up heading North together, that is if either of us can get around to doing any serious planning.

Feb. 8, 2009 - What lurks below

Just a quickie - we had a nice but breezy trip to the Tobago Cays and are now back in Bequia.  Once again we caught a few denizens of the deep and I deliberately cleaned them over the stern in the Cays and was duly rewarded with the above very large Stingray, who stayed below us for several hours. 

Back off to St Lucia on Tuesday.

For Mat and Penny - looks like we will be able to pick you up in Antigua when you arrive as we will head up that way the week after next.