End of our 2nd journey south!

Following 2 fabulous restful days in Bonaire, snorkeling around some of the worlds best dive sites, we are finally back in Curacao, where we are preparing to put Daisy to bed for three months.

We're all very tired, but have throughly enjoyed our recent adventures. Over the next three months we will be traveling throughout Europe, England, Paris, Geneva and Tuscany then back to Ohio before returning to Daisy mid November.

Our next journey may possibly take us to Columbia and beyond, or back to the BVI's, we have yet to make that decision.

Thank you all so much for following my blog, I really appreciate your support, please check back in late November for more of our Caribbean travel adventures.

Ciao
Heather & Bob, aboard Crazy Daisy

Just Beautiful

How incredible is this water!

Cayo De Agua fun in the waves

I love these little islands


















Edi showing us how deep it is if we step right!

Dominica, Market

Shopping in the market at Roseau, Dominica

With love from Venezuela, Heather, Bob & Edi

Watching Out for Mum!

Wednesday 21st July

Location: On route from Cayo De Agua, Los Roques, to Bonaire

(Edi always sleeps up on deck when I am on watch, just so I'm not alone, I love my son)

We were underway by 4:15am, on our way to beautiful Bonaire. Once again there was no wind, so we were motoring. Bob went to bed, and Edi came up on deck to sleep. It was a clear, but moonless night with calm seas. At daybreak we had picked up a little wind, Bob tried to set the jib, it wasn’t very successful so he rigged up the pole, which holds the jib out preventing it collapsing when the wind drops. We set the staysail on the starboard side, and turned off the engine, our speed dropped from 8 knots to 5, but it was so peaceful without the engine chugging away, we decided it was worth losing a little time to enjoy a couple of hours of quiet sailing.
We arrived at Bonaire around 3pm, we hadn’t seen any whales or dolphins unfortunately, just lots of flying fish, gulls and brown booby’s. There were no moorings available so we had to go alongside in the Village Harbour Marina. Once the boat was settled, we showered changed and went over to La Balandra for dinner, where we enjoyed watching the amazing fish swimming around the deck and an incredible sunset.
I can’t wait till tomorrow to go snorkeling.

Cayo De Agua to Bonaire

Wednesday 21st July

Location: On route from Cayo De Agua, Los Roques, to Bonaire

Daisy at anchor

Tuesday 20th July

Location: Los Roques, Venezuela.

This truly has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world, even in the Maldives I have never seen water this color. Although, it has to be said, the shallow depths make it quite treacherous for navigating a boat through.
We left Daisy on the anchorage and took the dinghy close to shore to snorkel around the rocky coral areas. As before I was not impressed with what we saw, admittedly the water is incredible, but it’s absolutely teeming with jellyfish. We’re heading over to one of the other islands this afternoon to see if we can find some better snorkeling.
We weighed anchor at 1pm and headed over to Sarqui. I went below to prepare lunch while we motored over. The weather was absolutely perfect, the sea was completely flat, and there was a lovely cooling, soft wind blowing. I served lunch on deck while we were underway. A platter of Italian meats, a selection of delicious French cheeses, deviled eggs with caviar, fresh baked French bread, chopped vegetables with a creamy garlic and herb dip, sweet chutney, black olives and a great bottle of French wine. A group of noisy gulls hovered expectantly around us, as we ate, but we were not sharing any of our lunch with them today.
We dropped anchor mid afternoon at Cayo De Agua, where we were fortunate to be the only boat in the anchorage. Cayo De Agua and West Cay, are two tiny islands joined by a sandy spit, they have tall sand dunes, mangrove trees, lagoons and water holes (which to me means “mosquitoes”.) Cayo De Agua was given the name because of the abundant fresh water easily found just a few feet down.
This is a great place for bird watching. There is a pretty red and white lighthouse on West Cay, but it didn’t appear to be working while we were there. We explored the islands, and swam off the beaches, which was lovely as the water was perfect bath temperature, and once again as clear as crystal.
Our plan is to head out to Bonaire at 4am. Bob had already plotted the waypoint, as it will be totally dark when we leave here tomorrow.

Colors of the Caribbean

Monday 19th July

Location: On route to Los Roques, Venezuela
We left La Blanquila at 10pm last night and had to motor again, as there was still no wind. I went back to bed and left Edi and Bob on watch.
At 4am I took over the watch and Bob and Edi managed to get some sleep. The sea was still relatively flat making it a smooth passage. We did manage to raise the sails for a couple of hours, but the progress was slow, when bringing the sails in we had problems with the in mast furling once again.
We arrived at Los Roques at 3:15pm. These islands would be without a doubt; one of the most incredibly beautiful places on earth, were it not for man! The beauty of these islands is almost indescribable; with colors you could never imagine possible. Remarkably the clouds reflect the colors of the water and the sand. The water is bright aquamarine, and the sand a magnificent pearly pink, the clouds that collect over the islands reflect exactly the same colors as if on a painter’s canvas, I have never in all my years of traveling seen anything like this.
As we approached the anchorage of the little village, we were invaded by hundreds of flies, even paradise it seems, has it’s nemesis.
After check in we motored carefully (it’s very shallow) around to Crasqui and dropped anchor in the sandy bottom. Edi swam off the boat to check our anchor setting, we had a bad experience here 2 years ago when an unexpected southwesterly wind blew up in the night, and we found ourselves almost on the beach.
Motorboats are everywhere here; Crasqui is a very popular anchorage with Venezuelans, especially on weekends, and the place is way too crowded for my liking. The remains of a couple of tumble down buildings are visible just inland, a few feet from the shore that had previously been a hotel and restaurant, but the Inparques shut it down in an attempt to preserve the natural state of the island, unfortunately all that succeeded in doing was to make beach look run down and neglected, creating quite an eye sore.
We had to quickly close up the boat once we had our anchor set, as the millions of mosquitoes that inhabit these islands had noticed our arrival, and were descending upon us in swarms. Shut safely inside the boat we put the air conditioning on and watched a movie while we ate dinner.

On route to Los Testigos

Friday 16th July

Location: On route to Los Testigos, Eastern Venezuela

We left Bequia at 7pm last night to set sail for Los Testigos, 140 miles southwest, it would be a long sail but the weather looked favorable, and it would mean we could make up for the time we had lost.
Thankfully we had quiet seas, and an average 15 knots of wind making the sail very pleasant. 25 miles from Los Testigos we got our first glimpse of the islands ahead, and the coastline of Venezuela off the port side.
The closer you get to the islands the more prevalent the birds become, particularly the frigate birds who have a colony on Isle Noreste, one of Los Testigos small outer islands. The frigates swarm around the island like bees around a hive, thousands of them; it’s an incredible sight.
The leg from Bequia had taken us 19 hours; we dropped anchor at Isla Iguana at 2pm, and Bob and Edi went across to the coast guard, there are no customs on Los Testigos, but you are expected to advise them of your arrival. Isla Iguana has a small, picturesque little village with fishing boats pulled up all along the beach. I watch the fishermen pull into the bay with their morning’s catch closely followed overhead by a flock of frigate birds, swarming around the little boat. After lunch we moved the boat around to Playa Real (Royal Beach) on the northwestern tip of Testigo Grande, dropped anchor and went ashore.
There are just two inhabited little ramshackle buildings in this bay, with a couple of small fishing boats pulled up on the beach in front of them. The beach is very pretty, but often busy with Venezuelan fishing boats. We swam in the clear warm water and walked along the beautiful beach before returning to Daisy for cocktails and dinner, we were all so tired after such a long sail, but we are finally back on track with our schedule, all we need now is for the weather to hold. Already I feel how much warmer it is here, and will get warmer still as we progress across the island chain. I love these beautiful islands, I really wish we could stay a few days and just relax, OH well, it is what it is!

Up the Dunes again!

Saturday 17th July

Location: Los Testigos, Venezuela

Today after a full English breakfast, we took the dinghy and anchored it in Balandra Bay, then made our way to the fabulous Playa Gozman beach, on the eastern side of Testigo Grande Island. The steep climb up the sand dunes really tests your fitness level; and I couldn’t help thinking of Julie, who would absolutely relish this challenge. Edi ran up the dunes while Bob and I made our way panting, and puffing behind, stopping for breath every 10 steps. It’s not a long climb just a very steep one, the sand is like talcum powder, so with each step your foot sinks deeply into the sand and slips back, making you work twice as hard. Fortunately there were a couple of clouds around today, so the sand was not as hot as it was when we were here 2 years ago with Danni.
We swam in the crystal clear surf, and climbed the rocks, admiring the view clear across to Venezuela. The only sad thing about this beautiful beach is all the trash; there are plastic bottles, cans, and other garbage that has either been washed up on the shore or dumped by people visiting the beach. However, we thoroughly enjoyed our swim in the ocean, the water was wonderful.
Late afternoon back on Daisy after a cocktail or two, I cooked beer battered fish and chips for dinner, as a special treat, using the mahi- mahi I bought in the market in Guadeloupe. I didn’t feel too guilty about what we were eating as I think we may well have worked off a few calories today climbing the sand dunes.

Sunday 18th July

Location: Los Testigos to La Blanquilla

We weighed anchor at 4:15am, and set off in total darkness. There was zero wind, giving us no option other than to continue under motor. The sea was totally flat, and Bob was praying for wind so we could sail, but I was thoroughly enjoying the peace (aside from the engine noise) and gentle movement of the boat. The shooting stars were absolutely spectacular, I saw one that was quite the most incredible I have ever seen, it was huge, about 50 times larger than the usual stars you see, and it had a long thick trail of stardust behind it.
At 9am we encountered a group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, (Stenella frontalis), about 30 or 40 of them, they swam in front, alongside, and behind us for about 10 minutes. I grabbed my camera, but as always when trying to take photographs of the dolphins I seemed to be always pointing the camera in the wrong place, and only got a few photographs. Because they were swimming so close to Daisy it was very easy to identify the species.
A couple of hours later we came across another group, this time I identified them as Clymene Dolphins, (Stenella clymene). Bob and I were on the fore deck leaning over the pulpit watching them swim in front and alongside Daisy, again I took photographs. They didn’t swim with us for long they were obviously busy fishing, and enjoyed swimming in our wake for fun, but were unwilling to leave their fishing activities for long.
Midday, and still no wind, I’m sitting on deck working on my computer, sipping a beer, and listening to music, there’s absolutely no rolling, as the sea is still totally flat, but we’re continuing to make a consistent 10+ knots as we have the current with us.
As we approached the Los Hermanos rocks, a squadron of brown booby’s flew out to escort us past the islands. They circled Daisy flying in all directions swooping low to look inside the cockpit as they passed. Gradually the squadron dispersed leaving a single Booby circling the boat like a sentry left to ensure our departure.
La Blanquilla is just visible on the horizon as you pass Los Hermanos. About 5 miles from the island, 3 Bottlenose Dolphins swam alongside, but only for a couple of minutes. We dropped anchor at 2:30pm at Playa Yaque, possibly the most un-spoilt beach in the Caribbean. Beautiful powdery soft sand, littered only with sea- shells and crystal clear water. We immediately dropped the dinghy and went ashore to snorkel around the coral and rocks off the beach. I took my camera and took dozens of photographs; this is such an amazingly beautiful beach, totally un-spoilt by man and not an item of trash anywhere. The swim was lovely, really refreshing after our long sail. Back on board, showered, rested and relaxed we sipped cocktails while we watched the sunset, then an early dinner as we plan to head out at 10pm tonight for Los Roques, another all night sail, ugh!

Caya De Agua

This has to be, without a doubt one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Pictures from Paradise

Mainsail

Edi and Bob taking the mainsail ashore for repair!

Bequia to Hell, and back to Bequia

Wednesday 14th July

Location: Bequia to Bequia ???

Jumped out of bed at 6am and immediately weighed anchor. “We’ll have breakfast when we get to the Cays in a couple of hours” Bob said. The weather was absolutely perfect as we pulled out of Admiralty Bay, Port Elizabeth. We had a wonderful 16 knots of wind as we raised the sails, and enjoyed a perfect sail. A couple of hours later as we were just off the island of Canouan, we noticed there was a squall ahead of us, and rather than get drenched Bob decided to bring the sails in. We had planned to stop at Canouan for breakfast anyway.

This is where our nightmare began!

We brought the jib in first, but when we tried to bring in the mainsail it only furled in a few inches then stuck. After making several unsuccessful attempts to furl in we headed back out to sea to try and avoid the worst of the squall, and give ourselves time to sort out the problem. This wasn’t the first time this trip that the mainsail had been problematic.
Edi took the helm while Bob went on the foredeck to look at the mast, I was at the controls. We both followed Bob’s instructions, but still the mainsail wouldn’t budge, it came out a few inches, and went in a few inches, but that was it. By now the squall had caught up with us and the wind was howling around us gusting to 32 knots, the boat was rocking violently as the waves built, and I was concerned for Bob’s safety on the deck, he was yelling instructions at me over the wind, but I couldn’t hear, and I was fast becoming more and more unglued… After struggling for about 30 minutes, when it was obvious that nothing was working and the main was not moving, tempers started to fray, and I had a melt down and ran below deck (productive as always during stressful situations on board)!
With me below having a major anxiety attack, Bob and Edi motored into Charlestown Bay, Canouan, to try and drop anchor. With the mainsail up and the wind still blowing strong, Edi was unable to get the anchor to set, and then another problem (forgive my lack of knowledge for correct terminology here) the stainless steel swivel thing that connects the anchor chain to the anchor broke! This is where you want to start singing “A life on the ocean waves”!
Having just about pulled myself together, I ventured back up on deck to find that Edi was not at all happy with me, having run out when they needed help, and poor Bob was nursing his thumb, which he had almost torn the nail off. The situation was not a happy one, and we still had the mainsail fully up. It turns out that there was a tear in the top of the sail that was snagging, preventing it from furling. The only solution was to take the sail down, but the wind was still blowing around 15 – 20 knots. I took the helm and motored around the bay while Bob and Edi waited for a lull in the wind enough to drop the sail. Each time they attempted it the wind picked up, again and again and again, it was now almost 2pm. I said a quiet prayer, to please drop the wind just for a couple of minutes, and God must have been listening, because for a brief 2 minutes he did. With the sail down, the next task was to fold it and get it into the bag. That sound’s easy doesn’t it? WRONG!
Daisy’s mainsail is huge, last year in Aruba Bob and I folded it on the hotels lawn, and it wasn’t easy, and now we had to do it in the limited space of the foredeck between all the lines, with the wind blowing. It took over an hour to get the sail into the sail bag, and just as Bob and Edi were struggling to get the last of it in another squall hit us, torrential rain and 30-knot winds. They tied the bag to the granny bars and hurried back into the cockpit, both of them drenched, exhausted and badly sun burnt, OH, and starving too, having still not eaten either breakfast or lunch “OH the joys of boat life”! Trips like this only serve to reinforce the balance between contentment and catastrophe when living this close with nature.
We had previously noticed a sail maker on Bequia, so we turned around and headed back. We arrived back in Admiralty Bay, Bequia at 6pm, a full 12 hours after we left.
I fell in love with this island, but had no idea that I would be returning so soon. I really hope that the sail maker will be able to do a fast repair for us, as we have now lost another day, and our chances of getting to Curacao without it becoming a route march are getting slim…

Beautiful Bequia

Tuesday 13th July
Location: Admiralty Bay, Port Elizabeth, Bequia.

Another a beautiful morning! It’s wonderful getting up early because you want to, not because you have to. Mornings such as this, when I actually have the option to sleep in, I still find myself waking early with a desire to get up and just enjoy the peace and tranquility surrounding me. As I sit here quietly in this beautiful bay watching the morning sun rise slowly over the mountains of Bequia, casting iridescent colors of sparkling light over the ocean, and gradually filling the sky with crimson, I feel truly blessed. All the fishermen are heading out to sea in their brightly painted little wooden boats. While the fishermen of the air; the Booby’s, and gulls swoop low over the water scooping fish from the surface. The pelicans drop out of the sky suddenly as if shot, and dive under the water popping back up seconds later with their catch wriggling in their beaks, with one swift movement the pelican tips back it’s head, opens its enormous beak and swallows it’s catch whole. I listen to the gentle lapping of the waves slapping against Daisy’s hull, and feel the soft, salty, early morning breeze on my face. At this moment I can forget all my terrors of sailing, but realize that without them I would never have this.
There is balance in all things, if you have high’s you must have low’s, the higher the high’s the lower the low’s, and I have had a few terrorizing moments on a couple of legs of this trip so far, so I’m feeling as though I have earned a few high’s.

We have done a lot of sailing since we arrived back on Daisy in June, with progressively less and less time between stops, and I’m really quite tired, but until we get to Bonaire there will only be hours instead of days between our ports of call. Even when we reach Bonaire we will only be there for 2 days, before we set sail for Curacao, and that’s only if we keep to our schedule.

Who ever said boat life is relaxing, obviously never lived on a boat! If anyone was to ask me, I would repeat something I heard a few months ago, “boat life is simply maintenance in exotic places!”

About 9am we went ashore, and Edi and I strolled along the main street overlooking the bay, and shopped in the local fruit and vegetable market, while Bob did the customs check in.
Bequia has a feeling of quiet, understated civility about it. Everyone you meet is warm and friendly in a very genuine way. The stores have a modern feel about them, and they have the best Internet since we left Tortola. One of the local artist’s sits outside his shop carving another model sail boat. His little shop is full of them, varnished and painted to perfection, I wish I could afford to buy one, but then where would I put it? I see a sign down one of the side streets that reads “Art Show”, and I make a mental note to go back later and take a look. There appears to be an equal mix of black and white, and I already feel as though I could belong here, corny as that sounds. I’ve visited most of the islands from Puerto Rico as far down as Grenada, and over to Aruba, but not on one of them did I feel as though I could live there. Bequia is different, so different, It doesn’t have the lush rainforests and waterfalls of Dominica, or the bustling city feel of Guadeloupe, the huge spice markets of Grenada, the fabulous shops on St.Barths, or the millionaire lifestyle feel of Mustique, I didn’t even see fabulous beaches, yet somehow none of that mattered. I’m already in love with it, and would buy a house here in a heart beat, I wish I could just stay here forever.

Well we did something different today, we filled our diesel tanks without leaving our anchorage, the diesel boat pulled alongside us, how easy was that! While we were filling the tanks a fishing boat came alongside offering freshly caught yellow fin tuna for sale, I bought one, and the fisherman filleted it for me. Yum, fresh tuna for dinner tonight.
Off to the Tobago Cays tomorrow, (for a few hours) and then destination Los Tostigos. We’re planning to leave around 2am Thursday morning so we can make the 16 hour trip and arrive in Los Testigos before nightfall.

Whales & Dolphins

Monday 12th July

Location: Grande Anse D’Arlet, Martinique.

We were up at 5.45, and weighing anchor by 6am. In order to stay on track with our travel plan that allows us days on our chosen islands, we absolutely have to get to Bequia today. The weather was clear, but there was little wind so we had to motor until we cleared the island. Once out in open water we were able to raise the sails and have a great sail past St. Lucia, and St.Vincent. Just about 2 miles off shore from St.Vincent we spotted some dolphins, they were just laying on the water, basking, we tried to get closer but they dived before we got too close, so we sailed on again. Within minutes we spotted a pod of whales, unfortunately they were also too far away for us to identify the breed. As we approached the northern tip of Martinique we came across some more dolphins, flying fish were everywhere, and Edi spotted a marlin leaping out of the water and another whale, there seemed to be life in the water wherever we looked.
Not being a die hard sailor like Bob I often find these long legs quite boring, unless there is something to see, so we often play audio books as we sail. This leg we listened to Stephen King’s “Cell”. Possibly the most horrific story I have ever read or rather listened to, but it was addictive, very well read, and certainly took my mind off the sailing. This leg we have been very fortunate in our sightings, and between listening to the book and watching all the sea life the journey seemed to pass quickly.
We arrived at Admiralty Bay, Port Elizabeth, Bequia at 6:15pm. The leg had taken us 12 hours 15 minutes; we were all a little tired, but happy to have made our destination on time and without any mishaps.
I can’t wait to explore Bequia, I have been dreaming about visiting this island for a long time.

Dominica to St.Lucia

Sunday 11th July

Location: Portsmouth Bay, Dominica, on route to St. Lucia. Leaving the Leeward Islands, and entering the Windward Islands.

We have 102 miles to travel today to reach our next port of call in St. Lucia, and I’m praying for some gentle, calm sailing. As we weighed anchor at 7am, in the midst of a storm, another weather front was already heading our way, and it didn’t look pleasant; the sky was dark and heavy with cloud, thunder was rumbled angrily in the distance, and I caught sight of the odd bolt of lightening. With wave after wave of rain moving towards us Bob changed course to try and maneuver around the storm. We have been lucky so far, as all the predicted bad weather fronts turned into nothing other than a little light rain, and I was hoping we would get lucky again. As we motored away from the island, a thick blanket of fog moved in behind us engulfing the mountains and coastline, creating an eerie effect, it reminded me of a scary movie, you could almost imagine the ghost ships appearing out of the fog. I imagine there to be a lot of ghost ships around Dominica, as I have never seen so many vessels washed up on one shoreline, all lying rusty, broken and forgotten. It’s a shame they can’t be hauled out to sea and sunk where they could become home for coral and fish.
It wasn’t a great sail across, the wind was cantankerous, changing frequently, and blowing up to 28 knots. We were constantly reefing in and letting out the sails, it was quite exhausting. We also had a problem with the main sail which took us about 45 minutes to sort out, followed by a hour long nap for Edi and me while the boat was only doing 4 knots, consequently we were well behind and stood no chance of making St.Lucia before nightfall. As we approached Martinique we came across a pod of whales about a mile off our port side, they were just a little too far away for us to see them clearly so we sailed on. A few minutes later we came across two very large Sperm whales and a calf that were swimming just a hundred yards off our port side. We turned the boat around to get a closer look, and once again were fortunate enough to get very close. The two whales were swimming side by side, and the calf was swimming and playing around them leaping out of the water, we watched for a few minutes while I took more photographs, until they eventually dived, we had obviously gotten too close for comfort. What a thrill it is to see these spectacular creatures. Strangely we haven’t seen any dolphins so far, the last time we did this trip we literally saw them every day. However, I’m excited to have seen so many whales, and we still have two weeks of our trip left so there is still plenty of time.
We decided to drop anchor for the night in Grande Anse D’Arlet, Martinique. A picturesque little village set in a quiet bay, it was beautiful as we sailed in at sunset, and a relief for me to be in calm water again, we relaxed enjoying a cocktail on deck as we watched the beautiful sunset.
We will have to head out at dawn tomorrow and sail to Bequia (pronounced Beck Way) to make up for the time we lost today, we do seem to be doing a route march again!

Dominica, Hiking to the Falls

Saturday 10th July

Location: Portsmouth Bay, Dominica.

Stevenson arrived at 8:30 to ferry us ashore. We picked up the car at the hotel, and headed out along the coast road towards Roseau, the capital of Dominica, where I planned to do my vegetable provisioning for the trip. The weather was lovely, and despite the terrible roads, the drive was otherwise very pleasant, with some truly fabulous views. Everyone on this island drives as though they are blind drunk, swerving violently all over the road in an attempt to avoid holes and craters. Driving here really is a nerve racking, exhausting experience. We rattled, swerved and bounced our way through the pretty little villages, attempting to avoid the craters and other swerving vehicles.
Due to the heavy rainfall on this island, there’s a lot of erosion, and some of the roads have quite scary sheer drops where the sides of the road have eroded away over the years.
Roseau was a pretty, bustling, little Creole style town, full of bright colors and beautiful old buildings with gingerbread trim, balconies and flowers everywhere. Stevenson led us to the busy local market square where I was able to buy fresh homegrown vegetables. It wasn’t cheap, and I’m pretty sure I was paying 2 or 3 times what the locals were being charged, so I started bartering, and easily managed to get much better prices.
After the market we headed inland to Trafalgar Falls. Once again the drive was breathtakingly beautiful, with incredible views. Dominica really is the prettiest of all the islands, with its mountainous interior, waterfalls, rivers and magnificent trees and flowers.
Trafalgar falls were very easy to reach, with only about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot. Once there we had to climb over huge boulders to reach the actual pools, it reminded me of the Baths at Virgin Gorda. It wasn’t easy for me, and some of the rocks and boulders were quite slippery, but I managed it without incident. Edi was in the water swimming before I could blink, and Bob wasn’t far behind. The water was clear clean and quite cold, but very refreshing, I got in up to chest height but couldn’t bring myself to actually swim, it was just too cold, for me, I have been spoilt by the usually wonderfuly warm Caribbean water. The force of the water from the falls was very strong and it was very easy to get either pulled under or washed down stream. We stayed for about an hour, moving from one pool to the next, splashing around and swimming. On the way out we paddled in the hot spring in the forest.
Unfortunately we had once again run out of time, as we had to get our rental car back by 5pm so we needed to get going. There are so many wonderful places to visit and see on Dominica, we really needed a

Rainforest Pools

Friday 9th July
Location: Portsmouth Bay, Dominica.

As we were getting ready to go shore, Stevenson, one of the local tour guides came over to enquire whether we would be interested in taking a tour with him. Bob explained that we already had a car booked, and planned to just do some driving around the island by ourselves today, but maybe tomorrow he could act as our guide. He took us ashore, and we arranged to call him to collect us and bring us back to Daisy later today. Bob was happier leaving the dinghy chained to the boat in the bay, there is quite a bit of theft here and it’s necessary to be careful and take extra precautions.
Alan from the car rental company Silver Lining, collected us and drove us to the police station to get our driving permits, which took way longer than it should. Eventually Alan drove us to the rental office where we collected our “off road” vehicle, or boneshaker, as I would prefer to call it. We drove to the customs and immigration to check in, where they told us that they could have issued our driving permits. The officers were extremely helpful and friendly, and the check in took no time at all. We made a mental note to ourselves, next visit here avoid the police station, and go straight to customs.
We drove the short distance out to Cabrits National Park, and Fort Shirley. The fort is currently being reconstructed, and they’re doing an excellent job rebuilding using the original methods and stone. We explored the fort took lots of photographs and signed the visitor’s book. The fort is well worth a visit, and I look forward to returning in a year or so and seeing how much more has been done.
From the fort we drove inland and up to Chaudiere Pool, which is a 2684-foot climb down to a group of pools in the rainforest. The drive up was pretty uncomfortable; the roads here in Dominica are about as bad as the roads in Guadeloupe are good. There are so many huge craters in the road it’s impossible to avoid them, and sitting in the back of the car I felt as if I was in a blender.
We eventually reached the top, and I breathed a sigh of relief when we had to get out and walk. The climb down wasn’t difficult, but it was very slippery and I was grateful for Edi’s help.
When we arrived at the pool, there was a small group of young people swimming and jumping off the high rocks into the deep pool beneath. We all got in to cool off after our long rather sweaty walk. The water was clear and cold, but felt great once you were in. Both Edi and Bob jumped from the rock shelf into the pool, but I was not tempted. We stayed and swam for about an hour before heading back. The climb back up was much easier, but by the time we arrived back at the car we could all have done with another dip in the pool.
We drove on to the Morne Diablotins National Park, but unfortunately they were closed, however it was a lovely drive, with some magnificent views.
On our way back to the coast we stopped to pick starfruit, limes, and mangos that were growing at the side of the road.

Guadeloupe

Thursday 8th July

Location: Port De Plaisance, Marina Bas Du Fort, Pointe A Pitre, Guadeloupe.
On Route To: Dominica
Up at daybreak, we had a busy morning getting the boat ready to leave. We were on a mooring ball at the front of the boat, and stern to the dock. It was too early for the marina staff to help us so Edi used the dinghy to cast us off from the ball, and we had a little help from our boat neighbors casting off the stern lines. We bobbed around in the harbor while Edi brought the dinghy up on the davits, this was not an easy task as he was getting horrible electric shocks each time he caught hold of anything metal. Eventually using rubber gloves he was able to get the dinghy safely up on the davits and secure, but was then feeling quite ill from all the shocks. We headed out of the bay at 8:30am.
The sail across to Dominica was lovely (even for me) we had great 20 – 25 knot winds and were flying along under full sail at a consistent 8-9 knots. Once again I had made our lunch before we left the harbor, so we were able to eat while underway.
Dominica has become known as the “whale watching capital of the Caribbean”. The unique offshore terrain and deep water around the island provides perfect conditions for whales to breed, feed and play. Among the most commonly sighted are, humpback, sperm, pigmy and pilot whales. Spotted and spinner dolphins are also regularly seen in these waters. Unfortunately we were not lucky this leg, despite keeping a constant lookout. I’m hopeful we will see some when we leave on Sunday.
We arrived in the bay at Portsmouth around 2pm, and dropped anchor over by the Coconut beach hotel. Late afternoon, Bob and Edi went ashore to try to check in and rent a car. Tomorrow we head out exploring again…

Photo's to follow

I'm posting my blogs, but the Internet connection here on the island is so incredibly slow, if I was to try and download all my photographs, it would possibly take all night, so I'll post all the photos when I get to Curacao in 2 weeks.

Dominica, Hiking to the Falls

Friday 9th July
Location: Portsmouth Bay, Dominica.

As we were getting ready to go shore, Stevenson, one of the local tour guides came over to enquire whether we would be interested in taking a tour with him. Bob explained that we already had a car booked, and planned to just do some driving around the island by ourselves today, but maybe tomorrow he could act as our guide. He took us ashore, and we arranged to call him to collect us and bring us back to Daisy later today. Bob was happier leaving the dinghy chained to the boat in the bay, there is quite a bit of theft here and you need to be very careful.
Allan from the car rental company Silver Lining, collected us and drove us to the police station to get our driving permits, which took way longer than it should. Eventually Allan drove us to the rental office where we collected our “off road” vehicle, or boneshaker, as I would prefer to call it. We drove to the customs and immigration to check in, where they said they could have also issued our driving permits. The officers were extremely helpful and friendly, and the check in took no time at all. We made a mental note to ourselves, next visit here avoid the police station, and go straight to customs.
We drove the short distance out to Cabrits National Park, and Fort Shirley. The fort is currently being reconstructed, and they appear to be doing an excellent job, rebuilding using the original methods and stone. We walked around taking photographs and signed the visitor’s book. The fort is well worth a visit, and I look forward to returning in a year or so and seeing how much more has been done.
From the fort we drove to Chaudiere Pool, which is a 2684-foot climb down to a group of pools in the rainforest. The drive up was pretty uncomfortable; the roads here in Dominica are about as bad as the roads in Guadeloupe are good. There are so many huge craters in the road it’s impossible to avoid them, and sitting in the back of the car I felt as though I was in a blender.
We eventually reached the top, and I breathed a sigh of relief when we had to get out and walk. The climb down wasn’t difficult, but it was very slippery and I was grateful for Edi’s help.
When we arrived at the pool, there was a small group of young people swimming and jumping off the high rocks into the deep pool beneath. We all got in to cool off after our long rather sweaty walk. The water was clear and cold, but felt great once you were in. Both Edi and Bob jumped from the rock shelf into the pool, but I was not tempted. We stayed and swam for about an hour before heading back. The climb back up was much easier, but by the time we arrived back at the car we could all have done with another dip in the pool.
We drove on to the Morne Diablotins National Park, but unfortunately they were closed, however it was a lovely drive, with some magnificent views.
Driving back we stopped to pick starfruit, limes, and mangos that were growing at the side of the road. We had dinner over at the bar on the beach tonight.

On Route to Dominica

Thursday 8th July

Location: Port De Plaisance, Marina Bas Du Fort, Pointe A Pitre, Guadeloupe.
On Route To: Dominica
Up at daybreak, we had a busy morning getting the boat ready to leave. We were on a mooring ball at the front of the boat, and stern to the dock. It was too early for the marina staff to help us so Edi used the dinghy to cast us off from the ball, and we had a little help from our boat neighbors casting off the stern lines. We bobbed around in the harbor while Edi brought the dinghy up on the davits, this was not an easy task as he was getting horrible electric shocks each time he caught hold of anything metal. Eventually using rubber gloves he was able to get the dinghy safely up on the davits and secure, but was then feeling quite ill from all the shocks. We headed out of the bay at 8:30am.
The sail across to Dominica was lovely (even for me) we had great 20 – 25 knot winds and were flying along under full sail at a consistent 8-9 knots. Once again I had made our lunch before we left the harbor, so we were able to eat while underway.
Dominica has become known as the “whale watching capital of the Caribbean”. The unique offshore terrain and deep water around the island provides perfect conditions for whales to breed, feed and play. Among the most commonly sighted are, humpback, sperm, pigmy and pilot whales. Spotted and spinner dolphins are also regularly seen in these waters. Unfortunately we were not lucky this trip, despite keeping a constant lookout. I am hopeful we will see some when we leave on Sunday.
We arrived in the bay at Portsmouth around 2pm, and dropped anchor over by the Coconut beach hotel. Late afternoon, Bob and Edi went ashore to try to check in and rent a car. Tomorrow we head out exploring again…

On Route to Dominica

Thursday 8th July

Location: Port De Plaisance, Marina Bas Du Fort, Pointe A Pitre, Guadeloupe.
On Route To: Dominica
Up at daybreak, we had a busy morning getting the boat ready to leave. We were on a mooring ball at the front of the boat, and stern to the dock. It was too early for the marina staff to help us so Edi used the dinghy to cast us off from the ball, and we had a little help from our boat neighbors casting off the stern lines. We bobbed around in the harbor while Edi brought the dinghy up on the davits, this was not an easy task as he was getting horrible electric shocks each time he caught hold of anything metal. Eventually using rubber gloves he was able to get the dinghy safely up on the davits and secure, but was then feeling quite ill from all the shocks. We headed out of the bay at 8:30am.
The sail across to Dominica was lovely (even for me) we had great 20 – 25 knot winds and were flying along under full sail at a consistent 8-9 knots. Once again I had made our lunch before we left the harbor, so we were able to eat while underway.
Dominica has become known as the “whale watching capital of the Caribbean”. The unique offshore terrain and deep water around the island provides perfect conditions for whales to breed, feed and play. Among the most commonly sighted are, humpback, sperm, pigmy and pilot whales. Spotted and spinner dolphins are also regularly seen in these waters. Unfortunately we were not lucky this trip, despite keeping a constant lookout. I am hopeful we will see some when we leave on Sunday.
We arrived in the bay at Portsmouth around 2pm, and dropped anchor over by the Coconut beach hotel. Late afternoon, Bob and Edi went ashore to try to check in and rent a car. Tomorrow we head out exploring again…

Waterfalls

Wednesday 7th July

Location: Port De Plaisance, Marina Bas Du Fort, Guadeloupe

We were all very keen to continue our exploration of the island today, and couldn’t wait to get going. At 11am after laundry, and other essential boat chores, we headed back out to the rainforest again, in our trusty little Aveo. The roads here in Guadeloupe really are so good, they’re better than most American roads, although in my opinion, the attention paid to the homes and gardens is sadly lacking.
There are street vendors everywhere, and much to Edi’s annoyance people simply stop randomly in the middle of the road to make purchases, while everyone behind just has to sit and wait, this practice causes long traffic jams, and made Edi quite angry.
We turned off the main highway and headed inland, up into the rainforest towards Carbet falls, one of the most popular tourist attractions on Guadeloupe. Carbet Falls are a series of three spectacular waterfalls that attract over 400,000 visitors a year. The drive through the rainforest was quite steep, however our little Aveo handled it all very well. The vegetation in the forest was absolutely amazing, there were massive bamboo canopies over the road about 100 feet + high. Occasionally we caught a glimpse through the trees to the views beyond which were breathtaking. We saw Mongoose running along the side of the road, and heard lots of frog and bird song, but we didn’t manage to catch sight of any. The jungle appeared like we were driving through a scene from Jurassic Park, fortunately we didn’t come across any prehistoric monsters!
Eventually we reached the parking area and made our way to the start of the waterfall trails. There are guides and attendants available to help you, it cost 1 euro per person. The first walk is only about 30 minutes, along a very well laid out path, which brings you to the base of a spectacular waterfall. There are other trails that will take you to the higher waterfalls, but they are at least 90 minutes and longer, and we needed to pick up more water and a few other provisions and get the car back by 4pm so unfortunately we didn’t have the time. Maybe another trip.

Adventure in the Aveo

Tuesday 6th July

Location: Port De Plaisance, Marina Bas Du Fort, Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe.

Bob rented a luxury car for us last night, actually I’m just kidding about the luxury, it was a little Chevrolet Aveo. I don’t really know why I’m laughing, as I was the one squeezed like a sardine into the back with no doors, no window’s to open, and absolutely no legroom.
We drove out looking for adventure! Edi was at the wheel; his nerves can’t quite cope with either Bob’s or especially my driving. It was a beautiful sunny morning as we sped along the wonderful Guadeloupe highways, at quite possibly the greatest speed ever experienced by the little Aveo. Edi was determined to put it through its paces, and test it to the limit, he did! We climbed mountains, traversed ditches, drove through deep running water, and loaded it to full capacity with provisions and alcohol. At the end of the day we were all suitably impressed with the performance of the little car.
In the morning we drove into the rainforest, just as we had done on our previous visit to this beautiful island. We were all entranced by the beauty of the jungly vegetation with the lush trees, flowers and foliage. Anything would grow here, and seemingly does; the conditions are absolutely perfect for propagation. The flowers are larger than I have seen on any other island, and the fruit more prolific, mangos litter the roadside; the massive tree branches are bending over under the weight of them. We followed signs that lead to a racing circuit, but decided against putting the little Aveo on the track.
A road leading into another area of rainforest plunged and climbed so steeply, it thoroughly tested the little Aveo’s capabilities, as well as my nerves! At one point we had to drive through a river, Edi stopped the car and we all got out and paddled in the cool water. The noise in the forest from the insects, frogs and birds was quite deafening.
From the rainforest we drove back along the coast road, stopping for lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the bay, where we enjoyed some interesting local dishes, and wonderful views.
Our next stop was high up in the mountains where local farmers were hard at work, carefully tending their neat rows of vegetables. Each individual vegetable plot was attractively surrounded by perimeter bushes of beautiful bright red flowers.
The view from the mountain into the valley below, and the ocean beyond was quite breathtaking. The tip of the mountains were blanketed in thick cloud, and the wind was quite strong, but it was comfortably cool compared to the blistering heat back down on the coast.
We drove back down the mountain and out to see the little lighthouse we had spotted when we sailed past previously. Local people were diving off the rocks around the base of the lighthouse, and some were snorkeling. There were people having picnic’s and flying kites with their children, it was obviously a very popular place.
Our fun day out finished with a stop at one of the local supermarkets to provision for the next three weeks of our trip, we plan to buy fruit and vegetables on Dominica as there really won’t be anywhere else to shop affordably until we get to Bonaire.

Monday 5th July

Location: Alongside at Pointe a Pitre.

Having brought Daisy alongside, we then had an hour of sorting out lines, adjusting her position and making her secure, in preparation for the bad weather. Then there is the fixing of the pasarelle, attaching the electric line and so on... I’m now totally exhausted, it completely wears me out, unless you have done it, you will have no idea of the physical needs involved in this, and the stress, thank God Edi is with us.
The weather is foul, black heavy skies, rain, and mosquitoes… Heaven only knows what the weather is going to do over the next couple of days.
Ciao

Sunday 4th July

Location: Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and went up on deck with a cup of tea to watch the sunrise. It was a quiet, calm, beautiful morning, and the bay looked so pretty. This is a side of boating life that I really love, the peace, and the extraordinary beauty surrounding me in all the fabulous places we visit.
As soon as Bob and Edi were up, we went ashore for great French coffee and chocolate croissants at the local café in town. I took my computer with me and luckily they had Internet at the café, so I was able to post my blog for the last week and Bob and Edi were able to look at weather and check e-mail.
As soon as we got back to Daisy we weighed anchor and set sail for Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe’s largest city, and harbor. The harbor offers 2 very well-protected hurricane holes for yachts. We were now working on plan B, plan A being sail to Dominica, but after Bob checked the weather this morning and saw another couple of tropical waves coming through, he changed our plans. The wave expected to hit us on Tuesday looks as though it could be quite bad. He decided we would go alongside in the marina where we would be protected and safe, but also give us more time for exploring Guadeloupe, an island we all love.
We headed out of Deshaies at 11:30 and sailed down along the west coast, we had between 18 and 24 knots of wind across the beam, but with calmer seas it was a very pleasant sail. We stayed close to shore so we could enjoy the beautiful mountainous scenery and pretty coastal villages. As we moved further down island we started getting strong 30 knot wind gust’s, so we reefed in the sails a little and continued on at a steady 7-8 knots. After we passed Pigeon island the wind dropped off and we had to start the motor. To get to Pointe a Pitre we had to sail around the southern end of the island and then back up the eastern side, dodging fishing pots the entire way. We arrived at 6:30pm and dropped anchor in the first bay. Despite this being a safe hurricane hole, I was dismayed to see one boat on it’s side in the bay, and not far away a mast sticking up out of the water! Once we had the anchor secure, we retreated inside, locked up the boat and put the air conditioning on, as swarms of mosquitoes were invading. Tomorrow we plan to take Daisy alongside for a few days, and hire a car. I’m so excited about exploring Guadeloupe again.

ABJECT TERROR

Saturday 3rd July

Location: Monsterrat to Guadeloupe.

OK, so up at 4:45am thanks to the obnoxiously loud music from the bar, coupled with the rocking and rolling in the bay, it was not a great night! I couldn't wait to leave the bay. I crashed and banged around in the galley while clearing up, making as much noise as possible hoping to raise Bob and Edi. It turns out Edi didn’t sleep well either, but nether the less he stayed in bed while Bob and I weighed anchor at 6:30 and headed back out into the open ocean.
Our planned route to Guadeloupe involved sailing down the East side of Monsterrat. OH if only I had known what was in store! As we headed out around the north tip of the island we encountered 20-foot seas, and 20 – 25 knots of wind. Daisy crashed through the waves, up and down like a fairground ride with a wheel missing. I sat drenched, shaking and frozen with fear, curled up under the dodger squeezing the life out of the cushion, as the huge wave’s covered the entire 56 feet of the boat filling the cockpit with water. I was seriously wondering if this was the day I was going to meet my maker. There are no words to describe my fear and panic. Never having professed to being a sailor, I would have paid almost any price to be air lifted off Daisy. I will never understand people who do this for fun? I can only assume them to be quite mad.
Everyone I know tells me I will get used to it, and even learn to enjoy it, but I’m almost 4 years into this yachting life style and I’m as terrified today as I ever was. I wonder all the time when and if it will it ever change?
I do love it when we’re at anchor, or on a mooring, I love seeing all these incredible places, I know I’m privileged to experience all these wonderful things that most people can only dream about, but the price I’m paying to do it has to be questioned!
Meanwhile I have a couple of days respite as we’re in beautiful Guadeloupe. After lunch Edi and I played Yahtzee then took a lazy nap. Now we’re about to head ashore for the evening, to have dinner out, giving me an evening off… I'm having lobster for dinner tonight!

Whale's ahoy

Friday 2nd July

Location: On route to Monsterrat

Having checked out of St.Barths yesterday, and spent the afternoon and evening back in Columbia Bay, we set sail at 6:30 this morning. The plan was to sail to Nevis, but if the wind was good we would sail on as far as Monsterrat. I made a bunch of salad wraps for the trip, knowing I would be unable to prepare food below while underway. It was a good job I did, as the trip (for me) was grueling. We had between 24 – 30 knot winds, and rough seas. I spent the first part of the trip below rolling around the bed trying to sleep, eventually the heat got the better of me and I ventured up on deck where I slept on and off for the better part of the 12 hours it took us to reach Monsterrat.
As we approached the island Edi spotted a whale, it was basking just off our starboard side, it was possible that if Edi hadn’t spotted it we may well have run into it. We passed by so close we could almost have reached over and touched it. Startled by us the whale turned and swam away, Bob turned the boat to follow it and I grabbed my camera. We followed it for about 10 minutes, then Edi spotted 2 more whales. It was almost 6pm and we needed to anchor before dark so we turned and headed back to the island and dropped anchor in Little Bay. I cooked pork tenderloin for dinner and we watched the program ‘Life’ on tv before going to bed.
It was a terrible night, the boat rocked violently, so I spent all night just trying not to roll out of bed, and to add insult to injury there was a bar in the bay playing very, loud very bad music, all night long, I got no sleep at all, and eventually got up at 4:45.

Wednesday 30th June

Location: Columbia Bay, St.Barths.

It was one of those wonderfully idyllic mornings in the Caribbean. Absolutely perfect weather, just enough clouds in the sky to offer occasional protection from the blistering sun, and a welcome cooling breeze. A fabulous brown Booby seems to have taken a liking to Daisy, and has been fishing off the pulpit since we arrived yesterday. I was able to approach close enough to touch before she took off, but I received a definite look of displeasure for disturbing her.
I made basil & cheese omelets for breakfast, which I served with fresh baked biscuits. We ate on deck while watching all the turtles surfacing around us. There are so many in this bay you don’t even need to look for them, they’re everywhere. We spent the early part of the morning, just tinkering around with little jobs on the boat. Then around eleven we all went snorkeling.
As usual the turtles were plentiful, swimming and grazing on the grassy ocean beds. We also saw dozens of stingrays, and many cushion starfish. We saw possibly the largest adult French Angelfish I have ever seen, it must have been about 14”. Yesterday I spotted a juvenile one, recognized by its black body with vibrant yellow body bands; the Angelfish change color and pattern as they mature.
To our great delight Edi sighted an enormous Spotted Eagle Ray. We swam with it for about 10 minutes, before it turned and swam circles around us, seemingly as curious about us as we were about it. We estimated its width to be around 5 feet, with a tail that was at least 10 feet in length. The Spotted Eagle Ray can grow as large as 11 feet in width. They are reputed to be wary and shy of divers, but this one was totally unconcerned about our presence in the water, and made no attempt to get away, giving us plenty of time to observe it. What a privilege it is to get so close to these amazing creatures and observe them in their natural environment, we are truly blessed. I enjoyed a lazy afternoon, relaxing on deck sipping Corona, listening to Jack Johnson, and watching the turtles, with Daisy bobbing gently around in the bay. Bob and Edi were doing jobs around the boat, there’s always something to do. Our list of must do jobs is endless, but occasionally I like to take some time off and just relax.
I made my quick chocolate mousse, as a decadent treat for desert, and my sweet mustard crusted lamb lollypops for main course, with caramelized onions, steamed broccoli, and yucca fries.
I love French fries, but Bob won’t eat potatoes, so I’ve started using yucca instead, it’s delicious. The yucca looks like a tree root. I cut it into 3” lengths, peel it, then cut it into ½” thick slices, soak it in salted water for an hour, bring it to a boil for about
1 - 2 minutes then drain, and fry in hot oil, sprinkle with salt and serve. Try it, and let me know what you think! Enjoy ☺

Tuesday 29th June

Location: Simpson Lagoon St.Maarten, to Columbia Bay, St.Barths

We finally left the Lagoon this morning, as per normal, Morgan style; we were running a little behind with all our leaving preparations in order to make the 9:30am bridge opening. The first problem with only 5 minutes to go, was that the anchor was stuck and I couldn’t bring it up, the hydraulics were working overtime but the anchor refused to budge and was steadily pulling out more chain. Eventually with a little rocking back and forth the anchor came lose and we were off. Then we faced the next problem, the instruments started beeping, (and please forgive me here, I’m not at all technologically minded) we had no instrument readings, but we had to get through the bridge so we just went for it. We just made it in time, and then dropped anchor in Simpson Bay so Bob could locate the problem, which turned out to be water in the electronics.
Meanwhile, Edi and I were up on deck having kittens because we were swinging close to, and over the top of a mooring, Edi was concerned about the lines getting entangled in our prop. We brought chain in, and then let it out again as Daisy swung to and fro in the wind, but luck was with us and we cleverly averted disaster. Bob managed a quick temporary fix on the electronics, and within minutes we were quickly underway again.
The weather was glorious, lots of sun and 20+ knots of wind, so we were able to raise the sails and head over to St.Barths with a great wind, true to form as soon as the sails were set, I fell asleep.
90 minutes later we were dropping anchor in Gustavia. Bob went ashore to customs to do the check in, while Edi and I stayed on the boat.
I prepared lunch, a mixed vegetable salad with peppered smoked mackerel, I opened a lovely bottle of Rose wine, and as soon as Bob returned we motored around to Columbia Bay, my favorite Bay in the Caribbean. We put the bimini back up to protect us from the sun, which was blisteringly hot, and then sat and enjoyed our lunch. Turtles were surfacing all around us and we couldn’t wait to get in the water. I couldn’t even wait for my lunch to go down, I was in the water swimming with the turtles the minute I finished eating, eventually Bob and Edi joined me and we snorkeled around the bay for about 30 minutes. It was wonderful to swim with the turtles again, they’re so used to people here they’re quite tame, and you can easily swim next to them.
Late afternoon Bob fixed the problem with the instruments, and we put the water-maker on, as we had totally run the tank dry. Then just all sat back drinking beer and nursing our sunburn. Without the protection of the bimini we had all got really badly burnt, even with all the lotion we were applying. Edi’s face and my back were bright scarlet. Glowing…
Barbeque tonight, and a relaxing day tomorrow, wonderful.

Sunday 27th June

Location: Simpson Bay Lagoon, St.Maarten.

Today it’s supposed to rain heavily all day, and with all the heavy cloud, around it looks as though it’s going to do just that. I’m quite fed up with the weather; we haven’t had a day without rain since we arrived. We have had one or two spells of sunshine, but we’re just getting one wave after another of bad weather, its yucky! Poor Edi he’s been with us for 10 days today, and so far aside from one quick snorkel at Peter Island, we haven’t done anything resembling a vacation. As per normal we seem to spend most of our time repairing, and fixing things. Today the job on the agenda is to repair the guest head (loo), OH joy, poor Bob.
With yet another possible day of rain ahead, we will probably stay inside, all day and get the rest of the jobs done, with a hope of leaving for St.Barths tomorrow. I’m really hoping the weather will improve so we can snorkel in Columbia Bay for a couple of days.
Bob picked up his new satellite phone from the fed ex office the day we arrived here, but he needs another part, hopefully that will arrive tomorrow.

Well it turns out that the weather was lovely today, we had some thunder rumbling in the distance, but the sun has shone all day. We got lots of little jobs done before coming over to Jimbo’s to use the Internet. Now we are about to head over to Rene & Cheryl’s boat for cocktails. Then tonight we’re cooking steaks on the barbeque. Starting to sort of feel like a vacation…