The Adventures of the Peeps on Andromeda of Plymouth

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Swans to the left of me, Oysters to the right...........

Swans to the left of me..... Oysters to the right ....Beneteaus stuck in the middle with .........
(courtesy of Gerry Raffety).

We have missions to follow, and, yes, the world is a little more orange!

So with the auto-pilot installed and the alternator fixed, we planned to head off to the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands before heading north once more. We had eventually set off from Trinidad with the idea that we would spend at least a month in the Virgin Islands, 4 weeks cruising then at least a week in Tortola before leaving for Bermuda, in the meantime we had spent 3 weeks in St. Martin....... However we also hadn’t planned on lunch – well, several actually. We set off for a provisioning shop and ended up having a delicious and enormous smoked salmon salad with Chris and Sharon – that took out the rest of the day! Three of us had the Norwegian salmon and each was presented differently, a very nice touch, but much, much bigger than anticipated – this was in Mark’s Place on the way to Phillipsburg. Ok, next day we’ll try again, and less on the lunch.

On a final raid on the chandlers we saw two very nice orange chairs for the cockpit that had just arrived in Budget Marine – they must have known we’d be around.

Then strong winds combined with a large northerly swell were forecast, well we have things to do...... ok, we’ll try tomorrow. Next day called by Chris and Sharon who said that as we actually hadn’t gone yet why not join them for lunch in Marigot on the French side of the island – ok, sounds good. Second call, Piano (Sue and Malcolm) are here and they are coming too. Buses were caught, radios used and we all met up-it was good to be together again. Malcolm and Sue were here for some batteries and had just sailed up from St. Lucia. With winds still high and swell fairly steep, we decided to wait until Monday, when after another lunch, (we are now “cruisers wot do lunch”!) (), we cleared out, paid our dues and with the excellent assistance of the dock crew left our B15 berth in a bit of a stiff wind. We pottered around the lagoon for a short while before leading the charge through the 4 o’clock bridge, out of the lagoon, off into the sunset and the Virgin Islands.

Chris and Sharon are meeting friends in St. Croix, the southern most of the US Virgin Islands, Malcolm and Sue head back to St. Lucia to meet their third guest of this season, while we planned to head overnight for St. John, reputed to be the most scenic of the islands and mostly a nature reserve. We hope to meet Quicksilver once again before our early May departure from Nanny Cay on Tortola.

The trip to the Virgin Islands began quite smoothly but before long the sea was rolly again, we had the genoa out and the mizzen up and were making steady progress. It was a much busier night too, there were vessels passing us in all directions, it felt a bit like Piccadilly Circus. During the night a bird (we think it was a booby) attempted to land on the boom several times. It came and went and came and went several times and then things quietened down. That it was a bird we were quite sure about but the colour was difficult to determine. Anyway on we sailed and thought no more about it. Then, just off Virgin Gorda (at dawn) our passenger decided to leave us – it had been roosting on the boom, but we could not see it. The cheek of it – all the way from St. Maarten to the Virgin Islands and not a word of thanks nor payment for the passage – just a bit of poo on the deck! Outrageous! We shall be writing to our MP about this as long as Susan doesn’t delete the response, again! Wrote to Mr Sharma a while ago only to find that Susan, in a fit of house-keeping (mail wise) had deleted his response!

We made for the Round Rock passage into the Drake Channel and calmer waters, a relief after the rolling, with the added advantage that we would see quite a few of the islands as we headed down to St. John. We passed Ginger, Cooper, Salt, Peter and Norman Islands on our port side with Tortola on our Starboard. Sailing along the north coast of St. John we could see Great Thatch, Little Thatch with Jost Van Dyke behind and in the distance were Great Tobago, Little Tobago, Hans Lollik and Little Hans Lolllik and of course St. Thomas. We arrived before mid-day in Cruz Bay.

The anchorage in Cruz Bay was full and we needed to clear in – bit of a problem. After several circuits of the bay we decided to head out and pick up a mooring in the previous bay (Caneel) , after asking some very friendly National Parks officers, who said this was ok and we could legally do! Excellent – nothing in the pilot books about this! We snagged a buoy first time again, this time without the benefit of an audience and in no time at all had the canopy up, the dinghy launched, the outboard ready to go and we were off to clear in. The customs and immigration folks were really friendly as well and after having our fingerprints scrutinised and our passports inspected, with the comment that is was a very good thing that we had our American Visas, we were welcomed. Lunch now beckoned and we found a restaurant overlooking the dinghy docks and enjoyed a snack whilst engaging in the very pleasant pastime of people and boat watching. It was then back to Andromeda to relax on the very nice NPS mooring - $15 per night, and recover from our trip up.

Caneel Bay is quite large and has several different white sandy beaches, we were opposite the middle one and our buoy was on its own well away from any others. We had a very nice peaceful evening and night was with the occasional roll about but generally being very stable and flat, no untoward bangs or sliding sounds as something escaped below. We were also treated to a lovely moon and bright stars for company.

Wednesday morning Andrew did some hull and prop cleaning – barnacles are persistent little beasts – and the conditions in the lagoon in St. Maarten were ideal for them – three weeks there giving them time to latch on despite all we spend on anti-fouling. Once out of the water it was obvious that he had scraped his legs, yet again, barnacles do fight back you know and he was greeted by “stop bleeding on the deck” – not it should be pointed out by unguents, lotions and bandages and a concerned partner, so was left to figure out where to go and what to do – blood, water, ah sharks (not that we have seen anyway, but then once you get a picture in your mind............) or a verbal telling off – hhhmmmmm, difficult one this one. (and don’t believe a word of it- well the bleeding yes). Anyway he eventually stopped bleeding and so we headed back to Cruz Bay to explore the place and chill a little. We had a nice wander round and what do you know it was time for lunch again, this time in a restaurant that we particularly liked the music in.

We are enjoying the longer days this far north but find ourselves starting our days earlier and earlier as we get up when the sun rises, well before 6 now, then it doesn’t get dark till after 7. A consequence of this is that by 9 o’clock in the morning we are already thinking about lunch.

Thursday morning we left buoy no 205 and headed down the Pillsbury Sound towards St. Thomas and Charlotte Amalie and by 12 o’clock had our brand new anchor down for the very first time, carefully checking she was dug in. The rocna was doing its job well yipeee!

Charlotte Amalie is the capital of the US Virgin Islands and is a busy place. There were 3 huge cruise liners on the dock with boats going to and fro. The anchorage itself is lovely and spacious no worries about bumping into anyone else or them into us. We had great views of the seaplane taking off and landing as well and the sights of lots of other water traffic.

We have bought guides to all the places we have visited so far and usually find them very informative and helpful – especially the Leeward, Windward and Trinidad guides written by Chris Doyle. The Virgin Islands have been covered by other people and just do not have the detail in them. No information on dinghy docks, serious provisioning or wifi availability and as for the order the coasts are covered – it’s baffling. As a result of this we were carefully watching the dinghies heading into shore to work out where we should go.

Friday morning we headed in for a look round. Charlotte Amalie has the most traffic we have seen outside of Trinidad. They also drive on left in the US Virgin Islands, curiously, in part due to the Danish heritage no doubt, but the vehicles are all left hand drive, including huge monster trucks, so it’s quite an odd sort of place. We didn’t see any fast food outlets either! It has a European feeling but is not necessarily a place we would want to return to. Wandering around the small streets we found myriad places selling much the same stuff – jewellery, perfume, electronics etc. So many that you wonder how any of them make a living but the sometimes there are 5 cruise ships in at the same time – so the potential for thousands of customers heading their way. We just had a little mooch until Andrew spotted a lovely ORANGE hoodie for Susan, just the thing for the colder climes we are heading to (we must be mad!) Then at the market Susan just stopped stock still. Bag stores were all over the place, not only that, they were all sporting a selection of orange bags in different shapes and sizes. We sensibly stumbled on and across the road found “Jen’s Place” with conch chowder on the menu.....the best we have ever tasted, yet another lunch was had! Afterwards Andrew steered Susan back to the market to choose a bag as we couldn’t really leave without one, could we.

We met Walter from Portugal at the dinghy dock who was really friendly – he is heading down to Trinidad and Peakes for the hurricane season for the first time so we gave him all the info he may need. He is sailing a very fast MacGregor 65 – wow, he’ll be there in no time.

Saturday morning it was time to leave St. Thomas and we went to fuel up at Crown Bay Marina. A bit of fun was had getting on the dock and with a last minute change of approach, Susan was racing up and down the deck repositioning fenders and lines but we were soon tied up securely. We have been led to believe from a few people that this was the place up here to get fuel, the price was good, well just to let you know, on extensive investigations we have found the price of fuel to be very much of a muchness throughout the islands, certainly we have paid between 75 – 77pence a litre wherever we have got fuel, the difference mostly being what the exchange rate is doing and I think it will be similar here. The only really cheap fuel we have seen is in Trinidad where the locals pay the equivalent of 15p per litre but for cruisers it is around 77p. We now have full tanks and all our Gerry cans are filled too so one less job for when we get to Nanny Cay.

Heading up towards St. John, Andrew asked “How is it wherever you would like to go, the wind always is on the nose?”, it’s a real mystery to us but very true, we might set off in great conditions but a lot of the time the wind swings round and is on the nose yet again.

It took us two hours to motor up to Christmas Cove – a distance – let’s be generous here – of about 7 miles – but it’s a gorgeous little bay and it had a buoy just waiting for us. After getting settled we took our new seats on deck and had a delightful lunch with a beautiful view followed by some great snorkelling and a swim.

And now to the missions! Well, we have two actually. One is ARC Europe, naturally; the second is the recipe for the Andromeda cocktail. Yes – Crews Inn down in sunny Chaguaramas, Trinidad have created a cocktail called Andromeda and its “orange” – check out the picture. Marilyn and Martin from Rocking Horse have the recipe and we are in hot pursuit! They are having the boat shipped to the UK from the Virgin Islands, so we have to meet them before too long – apparently the cocktail is yummeeeeee! We may or may not share the recipe but are very much looking forward to trying one, or two, or..........!

Cruising up to Nanny Cays and the beginning of another adventure

Christmas Cove was recommended by several of our boaty friends and a good recommendation it was too, we really enjoyed the small un-crowded bay but then of course we have to keep moving. Having watched the tide for a couple of days we worked out that it would be good to head back up to St. John quite early before there was 4 knots against us and so that is what we did. We moored in Caneel bay again, but this time at the other end and thinking we had to clear out of the US islands we decided we would make a day out of it and caught a ferry across to Red Hook to spend another enjoyable day ashore. It was nice to arrive on a big boat for a change and after wandering around we went to lunch in Senor Frogs, where the lobster bisque was superb and the Pina Colada very tasty, it’s a good job Susan had only the one. Arriving back in Cruz we walked to the Immigrations office only to be told there was no need to clear out, we could just go when we liked......good news for us as there were several other bays we liked the look of but we didn’t have the time to go and come back again.

Water Melon bay was our final stop in the US islands and another delightful place, the buoys are well spread out and we enjoyed some snorkelling in the crystal waters as well as watching all the folk coming and going. You can only get to the bay via the water or a longish walk, but that didn’t put people off and there was a constant stream of people going along the shore to enjoy the sea.

Now for the British Virgin Islands, our original plan was to head to Soper’s Hole but a wind shift decided for us and instead we motored up to St. Thomas Bay on Virgin Gorda to clear into the islands, and thankfully we didn’t need any clearance papers from the US ones. It was rather nerve racking watching Andrew go off to the authorities wondering whether he would be castigated for not having cleared out, but apart from a wry smile there was no other comment and so a big sigh of relief was had by us both. We had a bit of an interesting night though as due to a wind shift we ended up much nearer one of the channel markers than we would have liked and were glad when first light arrived so we could set off for North Sound and Bitter End where we were hoping to catch up with some friends.

Bitter End is a very popular anchorage crowded with many moorings packed close together and at first we thought we were too early to find a vacant one, then after going back and forth we spotted one, just as our friends came out on the deck of their boat, on the very next buoy, and so we moored right next to Rocking Horse. Marilyn and Martin (the guys who have the Andromeda recipe) had arrived late the previous day and were going to provision and then move further up the bay, we settled down for a couple of hours sleep after our buoy watching the previous night and then moved up the bay too, and amazingly managed to get a buoy right next to Rocking Horse again. That first day the anchorage was completely full, then with it being near the weekend and change-over day it emptied out quite nicely. We had sundowners on Saba Rock with Marilyn and Martin both evenings and we were given that all important recipe for the Andromeda cocktail. We also saw the tarpon fish that live off the dock being fed, these fish were huge, the biggest we have seen anywhere so far, and no wonder with the amount of food they were given. We had a long walk round the bay to explore Birras Creek and take refreshment at the Fat Virgin Cafe, before heading over to Saba Rock and those sundowners again – pain killers are their speciality.
Saying goodbye to Marilyn and Martin the following morning, we headed down the sound to Leverick Bay for laundry and provisions. We really liked Leverick Bay, though once again we had 30 knots of wind when we were catching the buoy. Laundry and food shopping done we enjoyed a delightful lunch and a dip in the sea before heading back on board for another windy night. Leverick is a very pretty place with its own red telephone box (minus door and phone) on the main dock – a little bit of England.

The sail to Trellis Bay at the north end of Tortola took a couple of hours and we were back once again into a much more crowded mooring field. Going ashore was a real treat though with all the craft workshops to visit, there were many lovely things to tempt people with a house, probably a good job that we don’t have one. Walking along the gorgeous beach we saw several conch and bright red starfish, and had a really quiet evening for a welcome change.

Our time in the Caribbean is drawing to a close now and we had two more stops to make, first of all a lovely sail across to Cooper Island for a couple of nights in this little anchorage, swimming and snorkelling and enjoying the shore-side shops where for the first time we were tempted into buying a piece of art. Postcards were written and deposited in the little English red mail box, not sure when they will arrive though.

And so now to Great Harbour, Peter Island where as it happened we enjoyed the best snorkelling we have had anywhere so far in the Caribbean. Wednesday we thought things couldn’t get any better after the lovely sight of so many fish on the coral including an enormous shoal of small fish, there must have been several millions of them, swimming over the reef and around us but on our last full day after had we moved to different mooring (and in hardly any wind at all) we went out again and were treated to the sight of a hawksbill turtle swimming slowly below us, sedately grazing as he went. Brilliant!

Friday morning we set off for Nanny Cay and taking a roundabout route so we could have a play with our big ORANGE (well it had to be...thank you Clint) sail, great fun and we are hoping to use it again very soon. But all too soon it was time to head into the marina and the hustle and bustle of getting ready for our next big adventure.

Photos are from US Virgin Islands.

Friday 4 April 2014

Continuing North and a little bit West - this time.......

Now it’s time to start making sure we are prepared for ARC Europe, getting ourselves ready in terms of safety, provisioning and of course mentally. We will be two up for this trip so it’s going to be a little tougher than the crossing west in 2010. We did several long passages two up before we left on the ARC, so we should be ok, but the conditions will be different in terms of the weather and sea, therefore we will be taking all the advice we can get. Of course it will be getting colder not warmer as well, however the days should get longer as we travel north and that will be a bonus after the 12- 12 ½ hour days we have out here all year round.

We enjoyed our few days in Jolly Harbour, visiting the chandlers, the wonderful Epicurean (though no pork pies or proper back bacon to be had this time – outrageous or what, but the sausages were great!) and we patronised the new Greek restaurant located in the marina complex. Wow, we have not had such good hummus and tzaziki since we were last in Greece. It was really wonderful and worth a visit if you happen to be in Jolly Harbour! We caught up with various folk in the marina, Jeanie from Island Time and Patti and Gary from Native Dancer and enjoyed a Sunday afternoon game of...yes, you guessed it, Mexican Train Dominoes. We managed to fit in one trip to the gorgeous beach about a 15 minute walk away and Susan enjoyed a brief dip in the water before we headed back to get on with various chores.

Our intention was to sail our next passage overnight so on Tuesday 18th March we treated ourselves to lunch in the Greek Restaurant and full of pork and mint burgers (yum!) we headed off towards St Bart’s and St. Maarten late in the afternoon. Conditions were good to start with, but with a wind shift, we dropped the main and continued under genoa and mizzen. The wind was good and the sail plan was good, but the swell was horrible. Essentially we cork-screwed the whole way, just under 100 miles, the swell being on the starboard quarter – not what was forecast it must be said and not our best sail by any means, hard on the muscles and the spirit! Passing St. Bart’s at dawn we decided to press on to St. Maarten to get the alternator and auto-pilot sorted and were rewarded by a small pod of dolphins swimming alongside for a while as we approached the island – that was brilliant.

Heading towards the cut to take the 11:30am bridge lift into the Dutch side, we were hailed by a huge “gin palace” who asked us to make sure we went straight ahead and not dawdle, as they needed lots of room to have enough way on to go through the bridge – well I said, you’ll just have to be patient as I don’t have a lot of room either and we don’t go very fast under motor – the cheek of it. Anyway we made it through without being run down by the big beastie and tied up in Simpson Bay Marina with another warm and friendly welcome. We were staying in the marina as Electec, the best electrical guys on the island, don’t visit anchored yachts, and any Raymarine autopilot installation recommends being securely alongside!

Andrew cleared us in with the authorities whilst Susan put Andromeda to rights before we had a little siesta waking up in time to hear a knock on the hull. It was Steve and Ann from Receta, they had heard us talking to the marina on the radio and came over to say Hi. It was so great to see them and we arranged to meet up later in the week.

An early meal was followed by an early bedtime too, then bright and breezy on Thursday morning we went to talk with Bert at Electec, to be informed that it would be early the following week for the alternator fix. Checking with Budget Marine about the cabling for the auto-pilot replacement we were sent to Atlantis Marine – they were closed. Friday we managed to catch up with them, and none too helpful they were too, so back to Budget we headed to order a unit. There we got the news that it would be another week or two or so before they had a delivery, however we could go and check on Tuesday. Getting on with a few bits and pieces we waited for Tuesday and returned only to be told by someone different ‘Ah, if you want one quickly we can get it Fedexed in 3 days’. Great, let’s do that as we are on a tight schedule. 5 hours later the phone rang – ‘Ah, it might be a week or two before we can get one, Raymarine have them on back order’. Ho hum. Such is cruising.

Just in case they had any units in stock we checked with other Budget Marine stores in the US and British Virgin Islands, but the costs were significantly greater than the quote we had in St. Maarten, so we decided to wait patiently.

Meanwhile the alternator had been tested, removed and returned with new rectifiers and was working! Hurrah! Thank you Brian, though it did take quite a few hours to re-install.

In the meantime we met up with lots of different boaty folk. Chris and Sharon on Quicksilver came over from Marigot Bay (the French side) and we had a nice lunch (twice), Barb and Chuck on Tusen Tak II, popped by and left a wonderful orange necklace for Susan– a really kind thought and it goes so nicely with lots of her outfits. Nancy and Dave from Fawkes spent Friday afternoon aboard and we caught up with Trini and cruising news. Saturday lfternoon we had a game of Mexican Train Dominoes at Lagoonies with Robyn from Heidi, Taryna from Heymede, and some other cruisers we hadn’t met before. Later we had a really, really great evening with Steve and Ann (Receta) at the local yacht club – the tapas style snacks were wonderful as was the company. A similar sense of humour and great stories were shared with much laughter. Steve had the script printed out to the ‘Life of Brian’, though Ann thought she may have thrown it out earlier this year, Steve however is sure he saved it from the discard pile! Great fun.

And as we are in St. Maarten, and it’s all duty free, the chandlers were stormed again and again as we sourced replacement flares and man overboard kit, (both ARC Europe requirements,) winch handle pockets, a couple of new dock-lines, a replacement bilge pump, a new Rocna anchor (yes, we have succumbed and Budget Marine gave us a mini one that doubles as a bottle opener-very handy and a good talking point!), oil for the engine and a wifi booster. Reliance and availability of wifi is becoming a real need in order to both stay in touch, through e-mail and Face Book, and also get anything done in terms of ordering kit, arranging engineers, etc. etc. not forgetting trying to keep track of funds. So we have a Bad Boy unit – and our very own hot spot and very good it is too! (PS Nick, Chris, Phill and Jen – it was a Mother’s day gift, Dad will be seeing you later)

Friday afternoon we got a surprise call from Budget to say that the auto-pilot had arrived! And only four days after ordering it! Amazing – they did have one in stock after all!

Saturday morning after much studying of the manuals (yes we do read them sometimes) Andrew started the work to replace the defunct autopilot. Installing the major units and cabling took all morning followed by a break with a trip to Lagoonies for dominoes – it’s hot down below!

Ginny from Wind Shepherd was at the game this time and it was great to catch up with her, she also gave us some useful tips on where to go in the US Virgin Islands. The big surprise of the afternoon though was Susan’s score 180 – not quite the record (69) achieved by Maggie from Jezebel in Trinidad but Susan did score 0 on the last 6 rounds........

After the game we went to meet Lee and Sharon from Allegro before they headed off south to Antigua and Classic week, where they help out each year - moving yachts about and serving at the bars and parties. They had just arrived from the US Virgin Islands as well so we were keen to get updates on places to go and see. Lee was a font of really useful information concerning St. Thomas and St. Johns, provisioning, fuel etc. Lee and Sharon had also arranged to meet other friends of theirs for dinner after our drinks and they turned up at the Yacht Club and joined us. After introductions – Steve and Maria (Aspen) - noticed Andrew’s Andromeda polo shirt and commented that they knew some people from the Midlands who had a boat called Andromeda. That turned out to be Sandy and Dave (Andromeda’s previous owners) who they met in Trinidad 2005/6 during Andromeda’s first trip to the Caribbean. Not only that they were also on the Blue Water Rally 2009/2010/2011 and are great friends of Glenda and Ian from Lucy Alice – amazing! A very nice couple of hours indeed exchanging stories.

Anyway, back to the autopilot – Sunday morning after further checks etc Andrew switched it on and it worked; well, all the shore side checks are fine, so it’s now down to our first trip at sea with the new unit – it looks very nice, though. Sunday was also Mother’s Day in the UK and Susan had a great time skyping with the family, the little ones are growing up so fast now.

Sunday afternoon whilst relaxing in the cockpit we noticed a large aluminium yacht with a Maltese flag approaching the marina. It was Patricia and Patrick from Rhi Malti, who had just come up from St. Bart’s where their boat designer was racing – we do know some interesting folks! Rhi Malti is a custom designed, aluminium 50+ft yacht built some three years ago. Anyway, they came here because Patricia has to return to Europe for family reasons, but we hosted them for sun-downers and nibbles – a nice evening under sad circumstances, with the gin bottle taking a significant hit.

Monday (31st) morning arrived and Chris and Sharon hailed us on the radio and we arranged to go into Philipsburg for the day. We managed to pick a very good day, the weather was fab, there were no cruise liners in, (there were 5 due in the next day) so the beaches and streets were empty. It was very pleasant to wander around the shops, stopping to have elevenses and lunch before heading off to the equivalent of Price Smart/CostCo and then Grande Marche for some shopping, where a few bargains were picked up.

Tuesday we met Chris and Sharon again and after another lovely lunch took a bus down to Maho beach, where as you will see from some of the photos, you get a very close view of planes landing and taking off. It was quite busy as well because of those cruise liners. We walked down to Mullet Beach, an altogether much quieter place by the golf club though sitting on the chairs in the sand was interesting.

So with about 4 or so weeks to go before the start of ARC Europe we are getting ourselves sorted; well, we plan to. In the next couple of days we shall do a bit of provisioning and should head out to sea on Friday. Today (Thursday) we went on the bus to the big Grande Marche and filled our bags with some treats and essentials. We were with Chris and Sharon again and Chris spotted a nice little restaurant nearby – Mark’s Place – where we had a really superb meal. Susan, Andrew and Chris opted for the Norwegian smoked salmon salad which was so big but presented so beautifully, each of our plates decorated differently – Susan thought hers was the best as her salmon was styled into roses. The meal tasted as good as it looked and set us up for the rest of the day. Tomorrow there will be the last foray to the chandlers as we now know things will be much more expensive in the Virgins and then it will be getting ready for sea again, all that stuff we have managed to get out will now have to be stowed back in its proper home ready for the trip.

We hope to enjoy a little of the Virgin Islands on our way north and west.......and then on to Bermuda and points east.............

Thursday 27 March 2014

Nosing Northwards continued......

Nosing Northwards continued………..

Our passage to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia was a lot better than last year’s but still could have been nicer and once in the lee of St. Lucia on went the iron sail and we made directly for Rodney Bay, arriving about 7am, just time to put the anchor down, get ourselves sorted out, have some breakfast and be ready to go to a berth in the marina. We were going into the dock as we wanted to do a bit of provisioning and were going to keep our water and new fuel tank topped up but we also wondered whether we had an engine charging (alternator) problem.

It is so nice to go back to places where people remember you and walking into the Marina Office we were greeted and welcomed back by Natalie, we wonder if it is the orange? Formalities done, it was time to catch a few ZZZZZZZ’s before deciding what to do first. Later that afternoon we were just boat watching when we noticed a familiar vessel arriving just a few berths away from us. It was our friends on Piano coming into drop off one guest and pick up some more. A quick greeting later and we were invited for sundowners at 5.30….and there was enough time to hit the showers. We met Rhienhart, Sue and Malcolm’s guest from Germany, and swopped stories of our various adventures. Rheinhart had just spent 3 weeks with Sue and Malcolm going up and down the islands covering quite a few hundred miles.

It was Wednesday the following day and traditionally the day for lady cruisers to meet up at a local hotel for a leisurely lunch, followed by a dip in the pool and Jacuzzi, with the opportunity for a swim in the sea too. Susan hadn’t managed to get to one of these events yet but Sue from Piano was a regular whenever she was in St. Lucia. Malcolm very kindly agreed to ferry them both to the appropriate dinghy dock and so at 11.30 off they went.

The Bay Gardens Resort comprises several hotels in various localities and we were going to the ‘prime’ one. It was certainly a lovely place with a very pretty pool and restaurant area. There were around 14 of us this time and a table had been beautifully laid and even the seats had been covered (it felt like we were at going a wedding). After an aperitif we all sat and chose our lunch. The dishes all looked wonderful and every one enjoyed their choices. There was a lot of chat and introductions as we got to know each other and exchanged tales. Once lunch was over we congregated round the pool, enjoying the cool water and the contrasting very hot Jacuzzi. All Susan needed was some bubbles, a cup of tea and a book and she would have been in heaven. Susan managed to check out the beach on the other side too, where the water was about the same temperature as the pool. All in all a great lunch time treat.

Meanwhile back at the marina Andrew had all the good jobs, you know, checking the bilges, checking the oil and engine, getting the mizzen ready to use and redoing the fishing lines……

We were intending to head off to Martinique and St. Ann’s and Marin, another place we had been trying to visit each time we came up and down island. This was also the weekend before the Mardi Gras carnivals would be on and we had heard that Martinique had quite a few parades to watch too.

So having been to the chandlers to get a few more bits, and several visits to the hardware store trying to get a regulator to fit one of our gas tanks, we managed to go and do some provisioning. The interesting thing about provisioning in the Caribbean Islands is the way the supermarkets change as you go north. Everything becomes more American/European/English as you go further north and it’s really noticeable in St. Lucia. A lot of folk from Europe holiday here and the goods on offer reflect that, so it is very enjoyable to go and get some different things to eat for a change. St Lucia also offers some duty free shoppin,g so again it’s a change to be a bit of a tourist.

Our flat is being rented out once again and now we had to be able to electronically sign various documents so of course this is where things went a bit pear-shaped. Thursday evening Susan did some research on her computer and then left it to finish updating over night, closing the lid when it had shut down. Friday morning she went to check something and found a bit of moisture but didn’t really take it in and then her computer wouldn’t start, wouldn’t charge, didn’t react at all. It had rained over night and her computer had been on the chart table and there hadn’t previously been a problem with the windows leaking before. In the meantime Andrew’s computer had been playing up with the internet not working and none of the USB ports responding. Panic……..a trip to the office to ask about computer repairs resulted in us being put in touch with the guy who looked after the marina machines and Susan’s netbook was picked up to be investigated. Andrew had eventually found out that his machine had turned off the wireless card and so at least we could (if we went to a bar) get on line, so eventually the documents were signed and sent back.

Late afternoon we caught up with Danlay who said the problem was caused by water getting into the machine frying some of the components, but he was hopeful that he could get it working by…. the following morning(Sat), that afternoon, Sunday…….you get the picture. We finally met up with him on Monday to learn that although there had only been the one very slight ingress of water, it had caused quite a bit of damage and the real answer was to get a new mother board. We were anxious to leave St. Lucia so didn’t want wait for a new motherboard to arrive, plus to get one sent out here wouldn’t be cost effective therefore we had the hard drive from the machine put it in a case so we can access all the data on it.

A trip to the Mall was called for and with no net books available we bought a lovely Vaio laptop from, of all places, the local furniture store. Susan now had to try and get used to a new Windows 8 operating system, trying to do all the necessary registration and on-line stuff before we left for Martinique……no pressure then.

Over the weekend we had caught up with Adrian (thanks for the offer of a loan of a laptop) and Clare from Flying Low and Christine and Adrian from Quadrille II for sundowners with a few other boaterswho were around as well.

Tuesday morning we left St. Lucia after filling up with water and topping up the fuel tank and we headed out of the bay to see what conditions were like, and if it was going to be possible to lay a course to St. Ann’s. Well the short answer was no, if we really wanted to get there it would be a hard beat to windward so discretion took over and we headed for Grand Anse and the lovely buoys they had put in place there.

The trip across was fairly bouncy and we headed into the bay ready to capture a mooring buoy. Susan had got everything ready to go but as we approached the buoy realized the lines were too thick to be pulled though with a knot in them, so was rushing up and down the deck retrieving a thinner line, tying the bowlines, putting it through the fairlead and was ready just as we got to the buoy. She leant over the side and snagged it first time resulting in a round of applause and cheers from the folk on a nearby boat that had watched the whole thing. Susan was really chuffed and reflected that the people had seen a few misses and indeed later in the day Andrew watched as a catamaran lost 2 boat hooks overboard and eventually got tied on when a crew member leapt into the water to do it…….just this once we were being watched (though not aware of it) and we got it right.

Grande Anse is a sleepy little French resort and we knew we didn’t have to race ashore and so we settled down for the night, and oh what a night, it was so rolly, we were being bounced all over the place and it was hard to stay in our bunks, so not a lot of sleep was had by either of us. In the morning we went ashore to clear in to find out that you now have to go to the previous bay to do so. Trying to pay for our mooring we were given the good news that there was no charge and after a walk round we went back to Andromeda. By now we were rolling even more so decided to leave Grande Anse and make our way round to Fort de France, Martinique’s capital, and do our clearing in there.

We had a beautiful sail that Wednesday to Fort de France, blue sky, sun shining, wind blowing, no waves to speak of, it was glorious and ended all too soon as we only had to sail 8 or 9 miles. We anchored first time and made sure it was secure then had lunch before we were to head for the dock. At this point we realized there seemed to be a lot of people ashore, and a lot of noise, and it turned out there was a parade going on. We had a bit of view from Andromeda and decided to stay on board as the chandlers where we were to clear in would obviously not be open. Talking to the guys off Just Imagine the next day we were glad we didn’t go ashore as it was all a bit shambolic with very long waits between the various floats and bands and to be honest it was quite loud enough out in the anchorage. The proceedings were closed by a really big bonfire around 8pm and everyone went home so a peaceful night was had.

Thursday morning we popped round to see Robin and Cheryl Wilson on their catamaran ‘Just Imagine’ having missed catching up with them in several other anchorages. After a cup of tea and a chat we eventually made it ashore to clear in. At the chandlers there was a big of a queue for the computer terminal and we waited patiently whilst 3 other boaters filled in their forms. It’s fairly straight forward and every form is identical on every French island but the folk before us had real trouble, even though they had the paperwork from clearing in/out before, with all the information that they needed to input, it took them 20 minutes to sort themselves out…..Andrew was next and was done in 5 including printing the form out.

We were now free to have a look round and headed for the nearest supermarket to stock up with a few essentials and stuff we couldn’t get elsewhere…..they even had some wine boxes, so much easier to stow on board. Lunch was had at KFC because wifi was available there, then it was back on board for a lazy afternoon. We had been hoping to be able to spend more time in Martinique but once again events took over and with the weather forecast we decided to head up to St. Pierre the following morning. We had sundowners and snacks aboard Just Imagine along with 10 other folk they had invited over, swapping all our different adventures to date.

Another short but great sail was had up the coast to St. Pierre the following morning and was highlighted by the huge pod of dolphins we saw as we approached the headland just before the anchorage. We had been watching boats ahead of us appearing to congregate for some reason and realized they were dolphin/whale watching vessels and were glad we got there before the dolphins headed off. We saw them leaping and splashing before anchoring in the bay well before the late afternoon rush and it was just as well as the wind kept dropping whereupon all the boats would react differently to the currents that then took over. Susan went ashore for a couple of hours to get some postcards and do some interneting and then after tea we started our anchor watch, mainly because by this time other boats were anchored close by and we wanted to avoid any bumps etc.

Departing early morning, this time to Dominica, and with reasonable winds we sailed north, arriving mid afternoon to pick up a buoy for the night. The buoy at 25EC (about 5pounds )is the cheapest in the Caribbean. We were stopping in Dominica to say Hi and Goodbye to any other OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) members as several days later there were going to be some celebrations to mark the club’s 60^th Anniversary. Unfortunately we didn’t feel we could spare the time to attend, taking into account our desire to be north coupled with the weather conditions. So Hi and Bye it was and we left the following morning for one of our favourite places, the Saintes.

We have been so lucky this year to have some wonderful sails on the passages between the islands and this one was just as good, such a change from beating into the wind and waves though our arrival to pick up a buoy just as a squall was going through was fun. Two attempts needed this time as the gadget that Susan uses came apart at the first try and had to be put back together again for success. Ahh its so nice to be on a secure buoy, no sitting waiting to see if you are dragging, no worries about bumping into anyone or them bumping into you, unless of course the buoys are not maintained, then it is a different kettle of fish altogether.

A lazy Sunday ensured as the weather brightened up and the sun came out and when the guys came out to take payment for the mooring we were able to order croissants, pain au raisin and a baguette for delivery early next morning…….

As we have said before the Saints is a gorgeous little place, but such a lot goes on, and buoy number 35 gave us great views of it all. We stayed until Wednesday morning and saw several behemouths coming and going, lots of different styles of how to and how not to pick up a mooring and then there were the ferries bringing people on day trips and holidays from the main island of Guadaloupe. We enjoyed a real chance to unwind a bit and contemplate our onward journey also getting a few jobs done, Susan was busy repairing the mizzen staysail pak. By now we were convinced that the alternator needed looking at again and decided that St. Martin would be the best place for it to be done. In the meantime there were crepes to be enjoyed.

Deshaies was our next destination after having our delivery of croissants etc and we were treated to a great view of the Wind Surf arriving just as we were leaving. The Wind Surf is the boat that Tamsin served on and we have seen her a few times over the last couple of years, we waved as they went pass then carried on up the coast of Guadaloupe with of all things a westerly wind, we haven’t had one of those to sail in for years. Dropping the hook for an overnight stay in Deshaies we settled down for the night having first anchor watched, and checking transit points for over 3 hours (we don’t normally check for quite so long but Deshaies is renowned for its winds, so we were playing it safe). Everything looked fine until just before midnight when we noticed that instead of being in 12 metres of water we now had 18 metres under the keel, yep we were moving again……

It was a very easy decision to take the anchor up there and then and set sail for Antigua, re-anchoring would have meant staying awake to make sure we weren’t drifting again, at least if we were sailing we would still be awake but at least getting somewhere and we had intended to move in the morning anyway.

We were so pleased with the decision we made, we had a gorgeous night sail. The sky looked wonderful with myriad stars twinkling away and for a lot of the night we had a beautiful yellow moon giving us good vision over the sea. The wind was blowing just right and so Andromeda romped over the water………

Jolly Harbour was our next port of call and we were approaching Antigua as the sun came up heading into the marina about 8.30am to tie up on B dock with help from the friendly marina guy. After securing our lines Andrew went off to clear in whilst Susan got Andromeda ship shaped. Then it was off to the office and a very warm welcome from the staff, with the dock master telling the new ladies that we had been there many times and all the paperwork was done.

Nosing Northwards and a little bit to the east!

Nosing northward..........and a little bit to the east!

So having finally left our berth we headed off to Scotland Bay for the night and an early morning departure for Grenada. We were due to head north with two other yachts but they were nowhere to be seen so we got some sleep in a very calm and still anchorage. 3:30am saw us heading out through the Boca.

Letting out the genoa a short while later revealed a problem – the halyard holding the genoa up started to slip down through the clutch, Susan noted this and said the sail didn’t look right! Having got the sail back up the forestay and the halyard secured again the winch that we use to trim the genoa with started to slip – great!. Anyway sorted out a work-around, and put it on the job list for Grenada. We also realised that when re-running the furling line we forgot to put it through the brake...duh, but that was easily remedied once the genoa was all the way out. We figured we could now slightly relax as that was the mystic 3 things that had gone wrong.

For once we were able to lay a good course for Grenada and had a really fast sail, making the 80 or so miles in about 13 hours, so the tuned up rig was giving us better performance than usual. We waved to Hibiscus (the gas platform) as we passed! (Well Andrew did – Susan at this point was dossing and didn’t see it). We did enjoy sailing this passage in the daylight this time, we have always crossed at night before, and though it was an early start, a full moon gave us plenty of light and made keeping watch easier.

We anchored in Prickly Bay late afternoon and just in time for tea before settling down for a somewhat rolly night. Welcome to the joys of anchoring. First thing in the morning we were hailed by Patrick and Patricia on Rih Malti, who were anchored to our Port side and a little bit further back and a noodle session was promptly arranged between Susan and Patricia.

After servicing the winch and replacing the broken pawl causing the problem it was time for Andrew, as skipper, to clear in and be warmly welcomed back to Grenada. The rest of the day was spent with general boat keeping stuff and we were enjoying having got on our way at long last.

We met up with Chris and Sharon from Quicksilver the next day for a very nice lunch in the revamped Tiki bar in Prickly bay marina. They had been in Grenada for a while since leaving Trinidad in early January and have finally manage to sell their house, so more time in the Caribbean for them. We really enjoyed catching up with them and hope to do so again a bit further up island before we head back.

Early the next morning after another rolly night, we raised our anchor and headed for Carriacou. Carriacou is the other main island that makes up Grenada, and is to the NE of Grenada itself. For one reason or another we had not managed to get to Carriacou before and were really keen to do so if the wind was ok. It was a hard sail on the wind but we finally arrived and dropped our hook in Tyrell Bay. On the way we caught a fish, but all Andrew managed to land was the head, something even bigger got the rest – we were a bit slow realising we had caught something but it was a good size and looked like a Dorado. Ho hum – at least we saw it this time! Next time we must do better and get photos.

Carriaucou is a pretty island and fairly laid back in nature. We spent the rest of our first day making sure we were securely anchored and enjoying the different view. Tyrell Bay is getting busier now as they have recently opened a Customs and Immigration office here which makes it more convenient for clearing in and out, particularly for those going to or from the Tobago Cays. We revelled in the more gentle conditions, lovely not to be nearly thrown out of bed every few minutes. We went ashore and pottered round Tyrell Bay and caught up with e-mails over lunch, then it was back for another blissful afternoon lolling about......(we will do some for you on request too- just let us know how long you want us to loll for....). After a good night’s sleep we re-anchored in the morning as the bay emptied out and we could get a little closer to the dinghy jetties. Late afternoon Rih Malti arrived and invited us to join them for sundowners, a nice end to another relaxing day.

After the radio net next morning we liaised with Patricia and Patrick who were joining us for a tour of the island. We picked them up in our dinghy as they hadn’t launched theirs yet. We arrived on shore just as the heavens opened and soaked us so we leapt in the first available bus heading for the capital. We were going to have a coffee etc in the bar that over-looked the dinghy dock but the rain put paid to that. Our driver was very friendly and before long we had agreed a price for a tour. Our tour round Carricacou will long be remembered for the very sedate pace we went (and it really had nothing to do with the road conditions) giving us plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and request photo stops. It is amusing how, on any island, whatever the size, you can get to see most of it in a half day tour...all that seems to vary, apart from the obvious differences, is the speed you are going.

Carriacou memories for us will include the spectacular views of its coastline, with the brilliant green blue sea and gorgeous sandy beaches that are such a treat for the eyes. Sited at the highest point of the island is the hospital with such stunning views that you are bound to feel a bit better or at least enjoy getting that way a bit more. We saw a traditional sloop being constructed on the beach. It was fascinating to watch the master builder eye up the space for the next strut, cut and shape it, then gently fit it perfectly into place, real skill. Not sure how long it will take to finish but it will be a lovely seaworthy vessel. We were all now getting quite hungry and were delighted when we stopped for lunch in Hillsborough. The Jerk Centre was recommended by our driver (and he got his lunch free) so there we went and a very good decision it was too, we all enjoyed our tasty meals. After a wander through Hillsborough we headed back to end our tour where we started in Tyrell Bay, asking to be dropped off by the Yacht Club so we could clear out ready for an early departure the next morning.

Once we had done the formalities we headed down to the beach to walk along to where our dinghy was tied up. Funny we thought, Andromeda seems a little further out than we remembered but then a lot of boats had left and others had come in so it was difficult to tell but as we made our way round the bay we realised she had moved! Or even worse was still moving!

Trying not to panic we raced along the beach and into the dinghy anxiously watching Andromeda . As we made our way through the anchorage and approached Andromeda a Canadian guy told us what had happened. Only half an hour after we left on the tour, Andromeda had dragged her anchor and was going backwards past him quite quickly and then narrowly missed a catamaran. He and a Frenchman managed to get aboard and start the engine and reset the anchor as well as putting our kedge anchor out for extra security! Wow! This was heart stopping and gut wrenching stuff – directly west of Grenada is a lot of Caribbean Sea and then Costa Rica and Panama etc. Patrick and Patricia helped us sort out Andromeda and relay our anchor further in the bay then Andrew took them back to Rih Malti as they were to meet other friends. Andrew also spoke to the Canadian again and gave him a bottle of wine for his quick thinking and saving Andromeda – it was the least we could do. We then had a tiring and anxious night on anchor watch and were glad when the sun came up and we got on our way again.

Thinking about the incident later we reflected that after we had re-anchored the day before a French boat anchored very close ahead of us and practically on top of our anchor we felt. Andrew informed him what he had done and he said he was leaving the following day. We were securely anchored and had done all the usual checks. However, something caused the anchor to lift and we can only suspect that the French boat, when lifting their anchor to depart, disturbed ours too. We will never know though.

We were headed north east once again – Susan wanted to call up Kari-Ann on Blue, who was in Bequia, so another hard beat was in order. We had a couple of very big squalls come through with rain and 30kt winds, but made it before dark and picked up a mooring buoy. Initially we were simply going to sail past and call on the VHF, but the weather was poor and Bequia is a very pleasant place, so in we went. After we had cleared in the following morning Kari-Ann and Per dropped by for a chat. We also caught up with Christine from Quadrille II and Mexican Train Domino’s was arranged for Sunday – whenever there’s a chance for a game! Jeannie from Island Time and Patti from Native Dancer joined us (Andrew, Susan, Kari-Ann and Christine) at the Whaleboner bar and we had a fun and entertaining game with much laughter, though they actually ran out of beer (!). Afterwards we were invited for sundowners with Kari-Ann and Per aboard Blue. They are heading south now so we said a sad goodbye. However there is Facebook! And we had an invitation if we are ever in Norway we can go and visit....

Clearing out the next morning our dinghy wakes and paths crossed with Kari-Ann and Per yet again so we had lunch together before we headed back to Andromeda and set off north once again for an overnight sail to St. Lucia and Rodney Bay – the passage from the northern tip of St. Vincent to St. Lucia is notorious for very strong winds and a nasty sea, both of which we got of course!