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Saturday 1st December 2007

I was awake early today (as usual) so waved Robbie and Mel off as they set off in the dinghy to catch the 6.30 ferry. Cup of tea, read a book, chill out for a bit, then go for a swim! Pretty normal morning, except don't wave to people every day!!

There were a few things need doing aboard, but mostly minor tasks! Fix the stb toilet, as I had bought a new pump in Grenada and fitted it, but the new hose was too thin and shrinks flat every time you pump! That job took a trip to the chandlery, 2 ft of 1" hose and 2 jubilee clips to complete! That's enough work for one day :-)

Brad had prepaired a website to sell his boat, but he was relying on a friend to convert it from word docs to a proper site. I had taken a copy in Tobago Cays and gradually converted the pages! Today was the day to show Brad how Dreamweaver works and get his site uploaded! We spent about an hour going through the software, then went ashore to upload it! This is where the problems began!!! Brad had an account for hosting, but he had used their own software before and failed to produce anything! This meant that he had to use the control panel to make changes and each change needed 24hrs before he could make the next one! We worked out what was needed and Brad would have to fix it from another island another day! I had done all I could for now, the site was ready, but the server wouldn't accept it yet!

Brad had collected his repaired trampoline yesterday, so we sat aboard Web of Lies, with him lacing them up, whilst I just chatted and kept him company! Hard work, but it earnt a beer :-)

Elisa went ashore and sorted out some provisions and their customs paperwork as they were leaving next day for St Lucia, then Dominica to meet friends.

Overall, we had a quiet day, got a few things done, then had dinner aboard Web of Lies as a sort of farewell meal. We planned to meet again, but not 100% sure if we would be able to!

Sunday 2nd December 2007

I awoke to find Web of Lies had gone! They had hopefully set off at 4am as planned, so they would easily get to Rodney Bay St Lucia before dark! About 60 miles I think, so a reasonable trek into the wind! That would be if there was any of course!! Meanwhile, I just chilled out all day, took measurements of my Bimini, hatches and trampolines, then spent an hour or so drawing them up on the laptop so I could get the final quotes tomorrow.

The Trampolines	The window covers	The Bimini

I think that was about all i achieved today, but then again, it was about all I had to do!!

Monday 3rd December 2007

OK, the day to get quotes! I have printed off 4 sets of the drawings (yes my printer I bought in spain is still working! The choice to buy a small black and white laserjet, instead of a colour inkjet was obviously a good one!). The plan is to get 3 quotes, from Grenadine Sails, Doyle Sails and Bequia Canvas.

First visit to Bequia canvas and they do make bimini's, but are fully booked to christmas!

Grenadine sails were expecting me and the measurements, no problem, come back at 12 for the quote!

Doyle sails took the paper, but the boss was out, come back after 10 to explain drawings! I did that and he said to return at 4 for the quote!

Time for a stroll round town, bit of shopping, then back to the boat again!

Returned at 4, went to Grenadine sails first, who had quoted 6650EC$ which is about £1200 for all the work. This was awesome, as I was quoted £1500 per trampoline in Barbados 2 years ago! A good start!

Next over to Doyle sails (they are almost opposite!) where the quote is still untouched and they have decided not to provide a quote as they want to be judged on quality not just price! I pointed out that I would be doing that, but without a quote how could I offer them work! Time to walk out and return to Grenadine Sails who had won my business!!!

They had a couple of jobs to complete, but if I brought in the bimini frame and old canvas, they would make me the bimini this week and come aboard thursday or friday to take templates for the windows and check my measurements for the trampolines. Ok tomorrow I would bring in the bimini and a deposit for the work!

Tuesday 4th December 2007

The main job for today is the bimini, shouldn't be too hard, it's just four stainless tubes, with a couple of bends in each of them and joined to make a frame! You can fold it flat and bind it together, so now it acts like one piece! The only problem is that this one piece is 3.5m long by 2m tall forming a very wide arch shape! I had never removed it before and was a bit surprised by the total weight of the frame! This was going to be fun!!!!

I could release all the clips easily without moving the frame, then just stood in the middle and lifted it above my head! With arms straight up I could just get the base off the deck of the boat and walk it slowly out to the side. I decided to lower it over the side of the boat, then walk it to the stern where the dinghy was and just hang it over both sides of the dinghy! Anyone watching would have thought i was mad as I made my way ashore with this huge frame hanging off my small dinghy, but i got there!

Next problem was getting the frame off the dinghy and onto the jetty! It's best to describe this as a struggle, which took 3 different attempts before the frame was on the jetty! Just as I got it ashore and was about to start walking, along came the guys from Grenadine sails, as they were about to go to another boat and fit a sail! I grabbed help to deliver the frame the last 200m to their shop, then returned and dumped the rotten canvas from the old bimini as a template.

Should be done by Friday was the guide, come in on Thursday and see how we're getting on!

Back to the boat, more chilling out, I think i finished another book today Tania Aebi's "Maiden Voyage" about her round the world trip, started when she was 18, onboard a 28ft yacht! A good read, which had lasted 3 days of light reading!

Wednesday 5th December 2007

This was one of those days when I really didn't do much!!! I know that may sound surprising, but my only real task was waiting for the canvas, which would be friday! I decided to tidy the boat and get it ready for guests, even though I had none planned until Silke in a couple of weeks!

It was quite enjoyable, filling the rubbish bag and tidying up. Putting things away and finding things I had left in lockers 2 years ago! As it turned out this was actually a pretty productive day!

I even pumped up the tyres on my bike as I found the pump during the tidying exercise! Might even ride it later? Or maybe not!!

Thursday 6th December 2007

I popped over to see Grenadine Sails and there in their sail loft was my bimini frame with the cover on it, looking pretty good! It was huge in there! It looked so much bigger inside a building than sat on my boat! They had been shocked at the size as they had forgotten I had a catamaran! There was plenty of work still to be finished, but the basic shape was complete! It would be done by tonight, come in tomorrow at 0830 and we'll take it to the boat and fit it! They had delivered on their promise and I was looking forward to seeeing it fitted!

I decided it was time to check out all the scuba gear, as it hadn't been used for 2 years! I hauled out one bottle and all the kit and methodically worked through testing them and then doing a short dive under the boat to be sure. I had one completely good octopus and 2 that needed servicing! I took them to Bequia Dive Adventures, who had serviced them 2 years ago and left them to be collected tomorrow!

Friday 7th December 2007

I was up on time and over at Grenadine sails at exactly 0830 as requested. The Bimini was there and ready, they were just adjusting it on the frame to show me. I explained that my dinghy was only small and we should take the frame seperately, so 2 of us set off to Blue Dolphin with the frame again stretchout out over the dinghy!

It was much easier getting the frame back onboard with 2 of us! I climbed aboard Blue Dolphin and between us, it was on the boat and fitted within 5 minutes! Back to the shop to collect the new cover and to bring out the owner who would make the templates for the window!

Back onboard and the bimini cover fitted really well and looked so much better than the old tatty thing that I had given up on in Mallorca!

We used the old window at the front of the bimini to make a template for the new window, more measurements and sketches, then onto the windows!

Stretching clear polythene over the windows showed it would work, so they applied double sided tape around the border of the windows, then just laid the polythene down smoothly. Stick it all round and nice and smooth, then cut off the outer surplus! Write all over it with notes, draw on the poppers etc and window template done, nice and easily!

Lastly, they double checked my measurements for the trampolines and all finished, back to shore for them!

The window covers could be done by next Wednesday and maybe one of the trampolines. The other would depend on when the material arrived, which should be in about 3 weeks, in other words Christmas time! I decided not to hang around here for the covers, but agreed to come back in a couple of weeks when Silke was out here. I wanted to show her Bequia anyway, so now we had a good excuse to be here for christmas!

I came back to Blue Dolphin and tied out the bimini cover, so it could be used properly for the first time, It does give a lot of good shade and will be used much more often now than it ever was in it's old condition! This was £300 well spent!

Over to the dive shop, to discover that they were still soaking my regulators, come back just before 5, or tomorrow! It would be tomorrow!

Saturday 8th December 2007

This morning I decided to update the website and get it sorted, so here I am on Saturday 8th, actually typing Saturday 8th! I've just spent an hour or so getting it up to date, so next upload it, then collect the scuba gear, check out at customs, then off to Walilabou bay! Or at least that is the plan!

.....

Back onboard again, Scuba gear is all serviced and ready for use! Wallet a bit lighter :-(

Customs and immigration was easy and quick, so back onboard and hoist the dinghy back onto the deck now. I'm never putting it on the trampolines again!!!

Bimini folded back, Sailcover removed, engines started, anchor up, I'm off! Destination Walilabou bay, St Vincent about 15 miles North. Not a long trip, but I like Walilabou and it knocks a few hours off the journey to St Lucia!

A few pics of Bequia before I leave:

And a few of the yachts that visit!

And maybe the odd sunset?

During the trip, nothing exciting happened, 15 knots of wind and I could head straight for Walilabou on a single tack. I had my new lure out, trailing a long way behind the boat, but caught nothing! The wind dropped as I approached, under the lee of the island, so port engine on, and mainsail down, motor the last mile or two!

As you approach Walilabou, you are guaranteed to get the boat boys approaching you. I only had a couple come out, offering me moorings, but I told them I would anchor! No problem, did I want them to take my line ashore? Yes Please! In Walilabou, you can get a bit of a swell and the bottom shelves quite steeply, so you normally anchor off, then reverse towards the shore and run a line from the stern to the trees on the shore. Well worth paying the boat boys to help with the line, especially when you are singlehanded!

Next the plague starts! Hi Captain, how are you? Do you need anything captain? Can I sell you this captain? Can I get you any bread? Ice, Fruit? Let me show you this stuff i've made! Nigel had helped me with my lines when I came in, so I bought bread and ice from him! Kenny on his red surfboard agreed to go and get me some fruit! The others all got the Sorry, Nigel and Kenny are getting my stuff for me story, maybe next time if you get to me first!

A few other boats came in, but plenty of space here, so a quiet evening was to be had, I decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean "At Worlds End" as the set from the original Pirates of the Caribbean is still here and gradually decaying in Walilabou!

Off to bed and a bit of sleep before an early departure in the morning!

Sunday 9th December 2007

I had every intention of leaving at first light, but when I awoke at 4am, it was still very dark! I looked ashore and couldn't even see the tree the rope was tied to, so decided to give it half hour or so! Half hour later and still couldn't see shore, but I was just sitting here doing nothing, so might as well go! Quick swim ashore, following the line, I found the tree and untied it in the dark! Back to the boat, haul the line aboard and start the engines! Sorry neighbours, but it is 4.30am! Up Anchor, now that is guaranteed to wake them! Anchor chains are not renowned for being silent :-)

I motored out of Walilabou in the dark, got clear of the exit, then went inside to set the destination of Rodney Bay, St Lucia into the GPS! With that done, I turned round and noticed smoke coming form my cabin! Oh Shit!!!! Turned off the starboard engine, ran down and disconnected the battery (Turned the big switch!) This smelt badly of an electrical fire, but I cleared my mattress off the bed and opened up the engine, lots of smoke, but no flames! Pheww!! This was not good!

My brain kicked through a number of options,

Return to Walilabou and look at it when the light comes up?

Return to Bequia where there are friendly mechanics?

Carry on for St Lucia, where there are more mechanics, plus better supplies!

The fact that it was pitch black outside helped cross out the option of just anchoring again in Walilabou! I'm also on a sailboat, so only use the engines for final mooring in and out of the anchorages. Plus, being on a catamaran, I still had another engine anyway! I decided the best one was to just carry on for Rodney Bay, so at 5am, I was hoisting sails, just off Walilabou and making my way in the dark, the 50 miles towards Rodney Bay.

I decided I had earnt a drink, so down to the freezer for a can of cold coke! I had been drinking mostly flavoured water, but my water supply has started tasting funny, so I need to flush the tanks out and fit a charcoal filter. I took the coke up to the helm and started drinking it, but this also tasted bad! I'd only had a couple of mouthfulls, but it wasn't right! Maybe my water was fine, but somehow my tastebuds have gone funny???? Next I tried a glass of water scooped out of the ice I had bought from Nigel the boat boy! This tasted ok, so iced water it would be!

As the sun rose, I had made about 5 miles and was now a couple of miles offshore from St Vincent. I had a steady 15 knots and was making 7 knots towards St Lucia. Not quite direct, but only about 10 degrees off, so a pretty good run! I'd been catching up with a schooner gradually and all was going well, when the wind suddenly died and span round to a Northerly so bang on the nose! Both of us furled the foreails and started engines. I just ran the port one as the starboard engine was a no go after the fire! That needs checking properly before trying to start it!!

The wind shifted gusted, dropped, then started going round in circles!!! At about this point, my Port engine cut out????? This was strange as I've had no engine problems at all over the past few years, now suddenly problems with both of them on the same day!!! Engine temperature was normal, checked the oil and all ok, pressed the starter and straight back on again, running happily???

5 minutes later and the engine cut out again! I was watching it this time and the revs dropped from 2500 to 2200, held for a few seconds, then 2000, then nothing, engine stalled!!! Quick thoughts through my head were water or dirt in the diesel, so off down below whilst the engine drifted, drained a little fluid from the diesel filter, but into a can, so I couldn't see if it had anything in it!! Restarted the engine and all running happily for another 10 minutes or so!!!

At this point, I was not amused, as I had done 30 miles, but still had 20 or so to go and the wind was not fit for sailing! Leave the engine a couple of minutes, then restart it and all ok again! See how it progresses, then another job for when I'm anchored in Rodney Bay!!!

The wind started to pick up again, still from the North, but decent strength, so I'm back sailing again and making 7 knots easily. Not in the right direction, but at least I'm moving! It will be a hard beat to make those last 15 miles or so, but better than just motoring into it, especially if my only working motor has problems??

A few friendly windshifts and I managed a long tack almost parallel to the coast, which took me up towards Rodney Bay at good speed, touching 8-9 knots at times. I was within 2 miles from the GPS waypoint when the wind dropped again, down to 5 knots of wind on the nose, which is almost unsailable, so engine on again!

This time the engine ran smoothly, no missfires all teh way into the anchorage, Yes!! Hopefully whatever the intermittent problem was had cleared, or maybe it will return another day???

I anchored just off the beach, South of the entrance to Rodney Bay lagoon in almost the same spot we had anchored 2 years ago! The anchor dragged first time when I tested it by powering full reverse, so up anchor, move a little, then drop it again. This time it dug in and held firm, so engines off, sailcover on, Steve over the side for a swim!!!!

After a bit of a rest, I untied the tender and started winching it up, ready to launch over the side. This is a task that's much easier with 2 people, but at leat it wasn't windy! I had the nose of the tender lifted about 6 feet and was ready to lift the stern over the side, when I decided to remove the bung from the hull and see if there was any water in it? The bung was not tight, and when I removed it, water poured out for nearly 5 minutes!!!! This might explain why my dinghy was slower than Brad's, even though they are the same and I have a 15hp engine to his 10hp! The water eventually slowed to a dribble, so I lifted each side to empty the last bits, then replaced the bung and tightened it!!! (I should stress that I had not inserted the bung the first time, the guy at the shop had done it and I watched him and assumed all ok!!)

Dinghy manhandled over the side and lowered into the water. Engine lugged up and into the boat! This 15hp Mercury is very different from the 4hp Yamaha I used to have to carry!!!! Not an easy task again would be better with help!!! All on the dinghy, added the fuel tank, fed the wires fro the padlocks through everything and quick test run! Oh how that had changed things! The boat came up on the plane so much faster and was definitely running faster across the water! Oh if only Brad was still around, I was now ready to race him with an easy win :-)

Officially I should be going to customs and immigration now, but it's 4pm on a sunday, which means that you pay extra for the overtime! Alternatively I can stay on the boat and not go ashore, then do customs in the morning and save a bit of money! I chose a middle option, which was to go ashore anyway, visit Scuttlebutts, where they have free internet access and also have a nice steak and chips with a pint of lager in a pint glass! Now this was a first for my time in the Caribbean this year! (obviously any customs officers reading this, I made this up and did not go ashore until the morning, honest!!!)

Whilst checking emails, I mailed Silke to tell her I was here and safe, also checked an email from Jo, who was gfoing to be staying onboard for a few days here, but she wasn't due to arrive until Monday lunchtime! Then back to the boat, for a relatively early night!

Monday 10th December 2007

I woke up with my busy head on! Lots to do and really must go and check in with customs first thing!

I had a quick swim round the boat, then started a few jobs I had promised myself I would get on with! A bit of tidying up and cleaning the boat, basically making everything shipshape after the journey up from Walilabou.

When checking the port Aft locker, it had partly filled with water! A good 6 inches had collected in the bottom, surrounding my dive tanks. This was something i had been expecting and just the rudder shaft needs repacking with grease. Not a major task, but another job on the list!!

The toilet pump in the port head had been a bit dubious, not always pumping, but I suspected the O ring on the plunger just needed replacing. 5 minutes and tested with the plunger from the starboard toilet and worked perfectly, so a new O ring was added to the shopping list! Then remembered the old pump I had removed from the starboard head last week. Tried the plunger from this and all worked perfectly, I had 2 good working heads again (On a boat the toilet is referred to as the head, don't ask me why, I don't know!!! Then again, a quick check on Google brought the following:

"Why Is A Ship Toilet Called The Head?

The reason that a ship's lavatory is called a head is because in olden days when a member of a sailing crew needed to relieve themselves they would go to the front of the boat or ship. The nautical name for the front of the ship is the bow. At the bow was traditionally placed a figurehead which would bring luck to the crew. A common figurehead was beautiful women. It is thought that the term head or heads came from this.

The Captain of the ship would be above such common practice and had his own private toilet beside his cabin. This was usually below the poop deck which was the name for the raised section at the stern of old ships."

Shopping list written, time for the trip ashore to customs, then into the chandlery for the shopping!

Customs was easy, but quite formal. They even scanned my passport and kept a copy for the records. Very advanced here compared to most islands!!

Into the chandlery and bought what I needed, plus found a charcoal water filter, which would remove the flavour from my water tanks! Back to the boat, to finish things and see what else i needed to fit the filter!

Turned off the water and dismantled the pipe to the main galley tap (Galley = boat kitchen). took all the bits I needed and went back to the chandlery to get the connectors! Jo was due in about half an hour, so time for shopping, then meet her at Scuttlebutts. I tied up the dinghy, walked around the corner and there she was just getting out of a taxi! Quick chat, she will wait by the dinghy and I went to buy the connectors! All sorted and we headed back out to Blue Dolphin!

We dumped her bags in her cabin, then had a beer to welcome Jo aboard. Lots of chatting, then I started to fit the connectors. In my rush, I had bought all the right connectors, but to fit the filter the wrong way round! Another trip to the chandlery was going to be needed!!!

This time I double checked and definitely had the right bits! Back to the boat, fitted everything, but the hoses were really tight, everything was under pressure, this was not a good fit! Tried it anyway, water on and yep, it spurted out! No way it could be tightened, so turn off the water pump and think again!

Another trip ashore and with ten minutes till the chandlery closed, I rushed in, bout some long plastic pipe, which would bend and let me take the stress out of the joints. Some more connectors and back to the boat! This looked good, I laid it out, had a good fit for the feeds into the filter and would be able to remove all the stress that had caused a problem earlier! Started to fit it and realised that I needed to add one connector that I hadn't bought! This was starting to piss me off now and as the chandlery was shut, would now be a job for tomorrow! One simple filter, two connections, had taken 3-4 hrs and wasn't finished! Jobs on boats often seem to work this way!!!

Meanwhile, Jo had asked if there was any wifi here at anchor. I said almost certainly not, but hadn't checked. I came up on deck after cursing the water filter and there she was, happily surfing on a free connection from the local holiday resort! Hurrah! Wi fi at anchor changes our lives so much! I would be able to chat to Silke without visiting the expensive bars! I could even update the website and upload it whilst anchored out in nice clear waters off a sandy beach! Thank you Bay Gardens, for providing free wifi :-)

A quick swim round the boat, then I was back onboard and powering up my laptop and sure enough instant connection, only 1 bar, but it was solid and only dropped out once in an hour and a half online! Silke was online when I connected, so we had a good chat, then said goodnight! In a week, I would be collecting her from the airport for her 3 weeks aboard, that is something I am looking forward to :-)

Jo and I sat chatting till really late, almost 10pm, which is way past my normal bedtime out here! Another day over, more unfinished jobs to complete!

Tuesday 11th December 2007

I took Jo ashore and left her to socialize, whilst I visited Island Water World again for more connectors to try and fit the water filter!!! This was a typical 5 minute job on a boat, which was now on day 2!!! The problem I had was that some of the connectors were imperial and some metric. Also some were imperial with a taper! Then the pipe I bought which was identical to the pipe on the boat, turned out to be not quite identical! On several occasions I came close to giving up on what should have been so simple!!!

Eventually I returned to Island Water World and spoke with Ian, the owner, who knew immediately what the problem was as he has that all the time!!! I gave him one of the parts and he took it home to cut a new thread, so we now had a piece with imperial one side and metric the other, it would now fit!!!! Unfortunately it would be tomorrow to collect the part!

I went to find Jo, and she was at Scuttlebutts, having been adopted by a Polish crew from a Lagoon catamaran called "Dada". I was introduced to Ziggy, Adam and Bonjourno (Not quite his name, but how he said we would remember it!) who insisted on buying us drinks, I managed only one round, then we all went for a meal, in one of the other restaurants, which again they insisted on buying! They were really nice guys and we agreed it was our round next time!!

Wednesday 12th December 2007

I collected the newly threaded part from Ian at Water World and returned to Blue Dolphin to fit it and finally get running water again! All fitted really well, except the new pipe into the old fittings on the boat! It was just too loose and when measured, it was just a fraction smaller! The only option was to wrap it with tape and try again, and luckily this worked! Water on, no drips, all was ok!

About an hour later, Jo was in the kitchen and shouted for me to turn the water off! The pipe had come free from the tape and water was gushing out!!!

At this point I decided there was no option but to remove the filter and go back to the original plumbing!!! 5 minutes later we had full water again, just no extra filter!!!

Removed the Stbd starter motor and took it to Island Water World to ask where I could get parts. They suggested Brian's Auto Electrics in Castries and gave me his phone number and the location. I was going to take it in, but Brian didn't answer his phone, I tried several times, so ended up just planning to take it there on friday!

Jo managed to do some networking, met some more boats and had a pretty good day generally around the marina!

Thursday 13th December 2007

Today was a day for not doing much!!! Shops were closed, so swimming, reading and sunbathing were the order of the day!

Friday 14th December 2007

We went into Castries on the bus, half an hour or so ride for 2.50$EC which is about 50p.

Found Brian's Auto Electrics, but they were shut and neighbours said he was closed until Monday!

Walked round the town, had a chicken roti and frozen coke.

Bought a few gifts for Silke for xmas.

Then we returned to the bus station and caught the bus back to Rodney Bay.

I left Jo at the Marina and went back to the boat with shopping, on the way I noticed that there was finally someone at the Avon Inflatables office, so I stopped to say hi and see if they were interested. The young lad there phoned the owner (his dad) who said he was interested and would be there within the hour. We agreed he would come out and visit me on the boat to see it, so I returned to the boat to give it a quick check over!

When he turned up, he had a quick look and said, oh it's one of those! Not interested, I always tell people to avoid them! Could he suggest anyone who might be interested? He said to try Earl, who runs the jetskis on the beach and is based next door to his shop!

I tidied up a couple of things, then went to find Earl! He was at his jetty, working on a tow boat for the inflatables. I mentioned my jet rib and he was definitely interested. I took him out to Blue Dolphin and when he saw the rib, he was smiling and really keen. I showed him the engine and he knew it well. The same as they had on their older jetskis. We discussed the problems and he knew what to do and agreed they were not big problems. He was definitely interested and wanted to see the boat at his workshop to check the engine over. We put in the bungs, then lowered it down and she was afloat again for the first time in 2 years! I towed him back to the workshop and we agreed to meet up next day to talk it over.

I mentioned my starter motor problem to Ealr and he told me to bring it in, he would sort it for me, so I dropped it over later in the afternoon!

Whilst back on the boat and reading, Jo spotted a yacht which had finished the ARC, dropped sails and was now reverisng around the bay! They clearly had manouverability, but only in reverse. They would reverse back, go round anchored boats, then when in the clear, they would stop and drift for a while, before going in reverse again! We could only assume gearbox problems and eventually they anchored in the bay not too far from us.

After a couple of hours, the reversing yacht upped anchor and were able to motor forwards again into the channel and headed for their berth in the marina.

Next we had a call on the VHF to say one of the beach jetskis was near the freight ship out at sea and the rider had jumped off and was swimming for shore!!!! The coastguard was called out and sent their RIB to go looking for him!! He had already been rescued by the time the coastguard got there, but he was well over a mile offshore when it happened!

After the last trip ashore, I checked in at the fuel dock to ask when they shut at night and if I could bring my boat alongside so I could fuel up early in the morning and leave. The real reason was we wanted water and lots of it, to flush the tanks through and fill them up again! With only one engine I wanted to do this whilst they were not busy! We were told it would be ok, as long as we came in after the Unicorn, which we thought he said was one of the party catamarans! This would be after 6.30.

We watched a party cat leave about 6.45, so we started the engine and upped anchor. The alternator light came on, which was a bad sign as we only had one engine and now that wasn't charging!! I just motored in anyway as we could check it whilst alongside! We prepared fenders and lines and came in nice and smoothly, then tied up. Within 5 minutes someone came down to the jetty to warn us that the Unicorn (which turned out to be a pirate ship) was just coming in and we would have to leave! We fired up and motored out, then just pottered around the lagoon, whilst they unloaded and eventually moved on to their berth. We came in again and tied up, then the security guard came along and told us we had to leave. We explained that we had engine problems and that we would try and leave in an hour. I then visited him after 40 minutes and said we would not be able to leave until morning! We could have done, but we wanted that water to sort out our tanks!

After getting permission to spend the night, we went into the boatyard bar and met some Canadians, John, Claude and Jim. They all had yachts in the boatyard and spend several months here in their winter enjoying the nicer weather. They were friendly guys and I'm sure have many tales to tell between them over a few beers!

Tonight was the "jump up" or party night in Gros Islet, the town on the Northern side of Rodney Bay and about a 5 minute walk from the boatyard! We headed down there and were met by one hell of a good party! There were 2 main streets with stalls out selling beer, rum or cooked chicken and fish. At the crossroads, the DJ had set up huge speakers and the jump up was happening! Locals were dancing with yachties and passengers from cruise liners or hotel guests! This was the place to be on a friday!!

Saturday 15th December 2007

I woke up to find another boat tied up behind us! We must have moved, as there wasn't space when we went to bed, so I got up, checked the boat and we had been moved forwadr about 8 feet, so we stuck out off the front of the jetty. No problem, I checked the lines and all ok, so I sat onboard reading to see what happened next!

Finn from the ARC team came over to help another boat come alongside the Irish one behind us. It was Grapolite, which was a boat Jo had been emailing regarding the World Arc. They had a few problems on the crossing, but were generally good and glad to be on land again after nearly 3 weeks!

Next was the arrival of a Swiss boat, which moored alongside us. Marcel told us they had a rough crossing, his skipper had fallen in the cabin and possibly broken his ribs. There were only the two of them onboard and the autopilot failed, so Marcel had to hand steer for 2 days solid! The skipper was unable to help due to lack of strength after his fall. Luckily the autopilot could be made to hold a course, but way too far South, so Marcel could get some sleep, then had to over compensate North when helming to try to maintain a better course overall. After 2 days of this, they managed to fix the autopilot and life became a bit easier for them, but still hard work!

Jo Made pancakes for the three other boats as a welcome breakfast and they were definitely much appreciated!

Marcel was crewing the ARC on this boat, but looking for boats to join for the world ARC, so Jo gave him the benefit of the contacts she had made already and agreed they would work together to get things sorted.

As Marcel and his skipper set off for hospital, it became clear we weren't going anywhere soon, so I set about testing my alternator, which entailed removing it, checking it, cleaning connections and putting it back on again! As this is always hard on a boat, it took me an hour or so to get it off, eventually only achieving it when I found that I could remove a bracket to get access to a nut, which was not possible to even see otherwise! After finding this, the removal became a very easy job! I have the service manual, but of course, that didn't mention this!!! Having checked evrything I could, the alternator went back on, belt tensioned and engine restarted! Still no charge!!! This is not good news!! I now have one engine with no starter motor and one with no charge from the alternator!!! I checked the wiring again and all was correct, so left it alone to revisit later!!!

A big steel hulled yacht approximately 50ft, which had just finished the ARC was motoring around the marina, and started causing chaos, hitting three yachts on moorings and knocking one completely free, snapping its mooring line! We jumped in the tender to see if we could help, but another boat had saved the yacht which was cut free and were tying it back up safely. The Steel yacht said they had problems but we couldn't help, so we let them carry on, and luckily they managed to get out of the channel and back into the bay! I still don't know what went wrong, but they had some major manouvering problems!!

Next we had a 70ft Swan moored alongside our 4 boats, causing my fenders to be crushed against the jetty and my mooring lines to be pulled so tight I was concerned that they would rip the cleats off the deck. This was probably the closest I've been to stressed since arriving here! We had some squalls hit whilst they were tied up and my boat was being pushed hard into the rubber strips on the edge of the concrete jetty. At an estimate, with the weight of the two boats hanging off me, I reckon my ropes were holding about 100 tons from blowing away as 30 knots of wind hit the outer yacht! I was somewhat releived when they left and there had been no actual problems! Immediately I adjusted my mooring lines and relocated some fenders, now I could finally get them to move!

The crew of the Swiss boat next to us returned, and the diagnosis was not broken ribs, but badly bruised, just rest them for a few weeks and they will be ok! We celebrated that fact and after a short time, they were ready to head over to the marina and their booked berth. As soon as they left, we started the port engine, which now was charging, hurrah! I must have fixed it after all?? We released the lines and motored out of the lagoon and back to our mooring spot near the beach. Anchor down, engine left on for a bit, as it was now charging and chilling the freezer.

Next we were asked if we could move, as there was a dinghy race the next morning and they wanted to put the start line where we were. I explained we were trying to charge batteries and didn't want to run the windlass to pull up the anchor yet, but could we move in the morning? They agreed, then said that we might be ok as the race may be somewhere different???

We then had a large Privilege 50 cat "Mojour" come in near to us and anchor just ahead, pretty close to the beach. It turned out that this cat had John onboard as crew, who Jo had previously been emailing regarding possibly joining for a world trip. She had turned him down in favour of doing the World ARC!

We were invited over to Mojour for a few Sundowners, which turned into a singalong when Matt and John got their fiddle and guitars out! They were quite good, except for their rendition of "I know a song which will get on your nerves" Which was a bit much!!

The ARC event tonight was the fancy dress beach party on Pigeon Island, Jo had a Pirate outfit and I ripped up some old jeans and a shirt to make mine! Skull bandana was already onboard, so I was sorted!

We raced across the bay in almost pitch darkness, but with just enough visibility to see other boats, the return later would be interesting!

Finding the beach party was easy, but finding somewhere to parfk the dinghy was a bit harder! We considered the beach right by the party, but there were no other dinghies there, so probably best not to! After 2 trips each way along the waters edge, we gave up on the rotten jetty and chose the beach inside the nature reserve, then walk back to the party. It was almost certainly forbidden to beach the dinghy there, but as it was night, we were confident it would be ok!

We met a few friends at the party, The Irish guys who had moored behind us this morning, Martin and his crew from "Helen Mcgee" and the Canadians from the boatyard. The music was pretty good, with the bongo band walking through the crowd playing, followed by a great Steel Drum band, Local dancers, who also did fire eating, snake charming and limbo dancing under the bar, whilst it was alight and with 2 burning bottles underneath them, so they had to get between flames above and below!!

The evening finished for us with another band playing, who were really good, doing some old Marley and other reggae classics. It had been a great night, only marred by the bars running out of beer, rum, coke and serving scotch and lemonade regardless of what you asked for!

We raced back across the bay and found Blue Dolphin immediately! Might have been a lucky guess, or maybe my sense of direction was just good enough!

Sunday 16th December 2007

Another day off, just spent leisurely around the boat, reading, swimming and relaxing :-)

Jo had gone networking again and ended up in Spinnakers bar on the beach, looking straight out at the yacht. She sent over a couple of the irish guys who had moored behind us and they swam out to invite me to join them in the bar! I finished chatting to Silke on Skype, then took the tender ashore to meet up with them!

When everyone left, I had a bit of a moment when looking for the dinghy! It wasn't there !!!!! It had just gone dark but the boat was clearly not on the beach! I scanned the horizon and there it was, just drifting out to sea about 100m away! I dumped my clothes and started swimming after it! I got there and motored back to the beach, to a big cheer from a group in front of Spinnakers! It was my own fault, I had pulled it up the beach some way, but not expected to be in the bar so long and the tide had come in! Another lesson learnt and a close one! 5 minutes later and I would not even have seen the boat never mind been able to get to it!

I had a quick shower onboard, changed clothes, then we went ashore for food!

Monday 17th December 2007

Silke arrives today! Hurrah!!!! I check my emails and get all her flight details so I can see when she lands on each leg. She has an awful route, from Heathrow to New York, to San Juan, to St Lucia. I am so glad I checked as I knew in my head that she was arriving in Hewanarra airport in the South of St Lucia, not the one at Castries, which is only 20 minutes from me! I checked and I was wrong, she will be at Castries, so it will be much easier for me to meet her, but I can imagine if I hadn't checked it would have been a disaster!!!

Jo leaves today, she has been good company this week and I hope we meet again before she sets off round the world! I will definitely be following her travels and looking forward to emails as she gets to some of those exotic places!

I have a car booked for 12:00 lots of time to get Jo to the airport for her 3pm flight to Antigua and then some shopping and meet Silke tonight at 11pm. The only problem is that when I go to collect it, the previous hirers have extended their hire, so there are no cars available!!!!! I point out that I have booked the car and need to take someone to the airport in an hour, plus more importantly need to collect someone at 11pm tonight! She will see what she can do and starts phoning other car hire companies for me. I go for some food and tell her I will return in 30-40 mins.

She has found me a car :-) It will be here in 10 minutes, so all will be well again!!!! It is a small gold Nissan, with an sautomatic gearbox, but I don't care, Anything which can be driven is fine! We load up Jo's gear and set off for the airport. It's only 20-25 mins to get there, so Jo is dropped at departures and I head off to go shopping.

I had spotted a couple of car accessory shops, so visited them looking for tools and useful bits for the boat. I bought a new socket set as my old one had suffered from too long on the boat. Also some contact cleaner to try and sort out some of my dodgy connections I have found at times with the wiring.

Into the Supermarket and filled a trolley with drinks, fruit juice, water, coke, lemonade, everything heavy that I wanted to bring back to the boat by car. Loaded up the car, then went back in for another trolley load! I was going to make the most of this hire car and stock up for a while.

Back at the marina and I discovered that 20 * 1.5l bottles of water and 5 * 2 litre bottles of coke = a heavy bag!!!! The bag was straining with 40kg inside, but made it to the dinghy! Back for as many carrier bags as I could manage, then deliver the first load to the boat. Next, empty the bags onboard, and back to the car for the next load! On the way I met Cieran and Tim from Fizz who insisted on me stopping for a beer on their boat! It would have been rude for me to say no, so I forced myself to down a beer whilst we chatted about life! Then finished the delivery back to Blue Dolphin and tried to work out where I would put everything!!

I made the cabin ready for Silke and did some more tidying, then got a text from her to say she had lost her luggage between New York and San Juan!! I sent her a text to say just get here and don't worry, but somehow I think this may not have been enought to calm her! Then another text saying it might be ok, but she would not know till she arrived here?

I set off for the airport way too early, so was there almost an hour before she would land, then actually had a bit of a sleep, but with the alarm clock set so I would be there to meet her at arrivals on time.

The plane landed, time passed, then the crew came out. About 10 minutes later, Silke was the third passenger through arrivals and we hugged for the first time in over a month! I was glad she had made it here safely and she also had all her luggage!

We headed back to Rodney Bay and after a short ride in the dark, Silke was onboard Blue Dolphin for the first time :-)

It was gone midnight by now, so we chatted and then just crashed as Silke had really had a long day! 24hrs travelling and she was ready to sleep.

Tuesday 18th December 2007

We were both tired, so had a lie in and didn't get up until nearly 10am. This is unheard of out here as it is quite common to fall asleep between 8 and 9pm then wake up between 6 and 7am! So We definitely had a leisurely start to the day, cup of tea and just chilled!

There were no major plans for today, except relaxing on the boat and going ashore when we were ready, which turned out to be when Silke got hungry! Ao I took her to experience her first "Roti". Now a Roti is basically a wrap, almost like a pancake, with either Fish, chicken or beef mixed with potatoe and a curry sauce, then folded up to make a square wrap. They taste great and I may have had a few of them since arriving here! We ordered 2 chicken roti's, one beer and one coke, but they didn't have any chicken ready, so we had 2 fish ones instead. They brought them out and handed me the beer, Silke the coke, wrong!!! She had wanted her first holiday beer, so we swapped!!

Silke was impressed with her first Roti and agreed we would be having a few more (like every day whilst we are here!)

Next came the saga of the return of the hire car! Now we had all realised by now how hard it was to get a hire car, so when Cieran and Tim had heard that I had a car, we had called the company yesterday to say that I would be handing the car over to them. This was fine with the hire company, we would all meet at 12 in the Marina car park to sort out the handover! So there I was with Silke, Cieran and Tim at 12, but nobody from the hire company! We phoned them and they gave Cieran directions to their office, but he couldn't understand them, so gave the phone to me. I thought I understood, but she hadn't made a lot of sense, so we set off anyway! At this point, we discovered how many peach coloured buildings there are within a mile of Rodney Bay Marina and not one of them was the right one! Into a garage, they didn't know of the place, but we phoned again and the guy in the garage took the directions. He knew where we had to go and directed us easily to the hire company. It was almost opposite the marina, but you had to go half a mile to a roundabout, then come back along a road parallel to the main road to get to this particular peach building! Ten minutes later and now Cieran has the hire car and gives us a lift back to the marina!

We returned to the boat and just spent the rest of the day chilling out!

Silke helped me by giving me a haircut on the boat, clippers were charged up and grade 4 on top, then 2 on the sides! much better and lots of hair dumped overboard!

The evening finished with us watching a film, drinking rum punch for the end of a nice relaxing day! Then off to bed at a more normal time (about 8pm!)

Wednesday 19th December 2007

I was up a bit earlier today, nmore like 7am this time, so snuck out and sat upstairs reading whilst Silke slept on for maybe half an hour! We went to the same restaurant "The Bread Basket" in Rodney Bay marina and had another roti, but today the chicken was ready, so 2 chicken roti's 1 beer, 1 coke and again they gave me the beer, wrong again!!

We came back to the boat and dumped some shopping, then went ashore on the beach and walked to the shops which service all the hotels around here. We picked up a few things and eventually ended up in the shopping mall where the supermarket is. Silke liked the mall and managed to get a new bikini and a few other bits.

On the way back, Silke stopped to get her hair braided, but this was going to take a few hours, so I carried on back to the boat and agreed to keep an eye out for her when she got back to the beach. We were pretty close to shore so I would easily see or hear her.

Several hours later, she eventually returned and sure enough the hair was well and truly braided! We decided to just pull the dinghy up and head for a curry onshore before returning to the boat.

The Razmataz is one of the few curry houses on the island and is strongly recommended. It is owned by an English couple, run mostly by St Lucians, but has 2 chefs from Nepal running the kitchen! The food is awesome and would be popular in any town in the UK, which is quite an accolade! Silke had a lamb dish in a garlic and onion sauce which tasted great. I went for a lamb Madras and mushroom rice, which I must admit I struggled to finish due to the quantity! I suspect I will be visiting there again before I return to the UK.

Back to the boat and in bed by 9pm tonight!

Thursday 20th December 2007

Silke had an idea yesterday whilst looking through brochures, so today we were booked on a helicopter ride around the Island. It was only after she suggested it and I had booked it, that she mentioned she gets sick in helicopters!!!!!!

We went ashore with loads of time and caught a minibus towards Castries. I misjudged the stop slightly so we got off a couple earlier than planned, giving us a lengthy walk to the helicopter hangar, but we were still there really early so no problems.

The flight took us up above Castries, South over Marigot bay and on to Souffriere, then around the Pitons, where we waved at the poor walkers who had spent 3 hours getting to the top of Grand Piton (we took about 3 minutes!). The pilot warned us about turbulence as we passed various mountains and he wasn't wrong, but as we knew about it, it was ok! Then we headed across the rain forest, flying low through valleys and over tree tops and up the East coast, then to the North, over Pigeon Island, Rodney bay and back to Castries.

It was only a half hour flight, but well worth the money and a great way to see St Lucia from a different view! We both really enjoyed it and caught a lift from an American couple's taxi back to the main road, where we then caught our bus back to Rodney Bay!

Silke insisted on her daily Roti and beer, but this time we told the waiter that the beer was for her and the coke for me! Will he remember tomorrow, somehow I doubt it!!

Back on the boat and some hard reading and sunbathing, then Silke had a sleep for an hour or so.

Around 4pm, Earl came over with Vincent the mechanic and returned my starter motor with a shiny new solenoid on it. I fitted the motor and all started up straight away and no smoke or burning anywhere! We had found an exposed wire and taped it up, so are pretty sure the smoke was a combination of the shorted wire and the started motor sticking on and overheating! All now sorted, and the engine ran happily for an hour with no problems.

Vincent refused to take any money, even for the parts, as he said Earl had sorted it! He also said Earl was unlikely to take any money, but I will see him tomorrow and try to pay! It seems Earl is really happy with the price I am selling the Jet rib to him for and was happy to do this as I have been good to him on the boat. He really is a nice genuine guy!

Friday 21st December 2007

Tonight is the "Jump Up" in Gros Islet, so we are having a quiet day on the boat and will have a sleep later before hitting the town tonight. at least, that is the plan!!

We spend the morning pottering about on the boat. I check the port toilet pump as it has stopped pumping again and it will need a new gasket. I also added some extra starter buttons to the generator. They are right on the generator box, with wires only about 12" long. I have had intermittent problems starting the generator ever since I owned the boat, only when the power is low and the normal wires have too much resistance to start the motor. Then again, that is when you need the generator to charge the batteries!! Anyway, wires fitted, buttons installed, not working!! After a bit of testing, I discovered one of my old push buttons didn't work, so a replacement needed!

Silke had been sunbathing and reading, so was ready for her daily roti, so we set off ashore to visit the bread basket! First problem encountered was that they didn't have any chicken roti's ready, so we ordered fish roti's instead. Yet again, I was handed the beer and Silke the coke, so we swapped again!!!

Fully replenished, I went to the chandlery, whilst Silke went shopping for T shirts. I picked up the new button and toilet spares kit, plus a halogen strip light to fit outside under the bimini.

Back to the boat and I fitted the new button, the generator fired straight up and was charging the batteries and chilling the freezer, with plenty of power to spare! This would make a big difference to life aboard!

Next the toilet and after fitting the new gasket, all working great! That's 2 jobs finished, which makes for a succesful day!

In the afternoon, Silke went down for a half hour nap and emerged 4 hours later! During this time, I spent some time chatting with Earl, checked out at Customs, ready for departure on Saturday and did some more shopping!

When Silke eventually emerged, we had some of our pumpkin soup, then I went down for an hour, and actually had an hour's sleep!

About 8pm we headed over to Gros Islet for the Jump Up, only to discover we were a bit early! Maybe 10pm would have been a better time to arrive! We had some chicken, noodles and rice, and a few beers, but I was getting pretty tired, so we ended up heading back to the boat probably just before things started to get lively!

Saturday 22nd December 2007

This morning the plan was to get up and leave really early, but we decided to go to the supermarket first, stock up for xmas and get a turkey for xmas day!

I thought there might be a dinghy dock near the supermarket, but was not sure, so we went through the lagonn and had a look. Sure enough, there was a new dinghy dock, provided specially for yachties to get to the supermarket and the rest of the shopping mall. This would save us a good walk in both directions and help keep the turkey frozen!

We weren't going to get our daily roti today, so we opted for a KFC, but they were closed, Burger King, also closed, Subway Open and served us a lovely chicken and bacon roll.

After the shopping we took it back to the boat, then engines on, anchor up and we were off heading south towards Anse Cochon. We set off under engines as there was little wind, then it picked up after only ten minutes or so, so we hoisted the sails.

The wind picked up to 18 knots or so, and we managed to cruise between 7 and 9 knots all the way down. Anse Cochon is only about 10 miles from Rodney Bay, so we were moored up there in less than 2 hours, and ready for snorkelling. Silke was suffering slightly, not from the anticipated sea sickness, but from a sunburnt head! She had not considered this when getting her hair braided, but those criss crosses on her head were going a lovely shade of pink!!! I had warned her to cover up, but she knew best!!!

Anse Cochon is a lovely bay, with crystal clear water, perfect for snorkelling. There's a new hotel above the bay Ti Kaye, and a dive shop on the beach. You're not allowed to anchor and there are only 4 mooring buoys so it will always be quiet at night. If it weren't for all the day trip catamarans, this place could be perfect!

We had a good snorkel round the bay, then Silke had a sleep for a change, whilst I pottered about and did some reading and used the free wifi from the Ti Kaye hotel to update the website. At 5pm Silke awoke, so I started cooking the dinner, spaghetti bolognese!

Tonight, we are having a quiet one onboard, watching a movie, then another early night for a change!

Sunday 23rd December 2007

Today is the big test for Silke, we are sailing from St Lucia to St Vincent, a total of 40 miles, and I really hope She will be ok? I guess we'll find out ???

We planned to set off early, with the intention of arriving in St Vincent around lunchtime if possible, but definitely in daylight. I awoke at about 6.15am, so we were straight up and preparing to leave. I had the mainsail hoisted as there was no wind in the shelter of the bay, engines running, then untied the mooring line at 6.25. All was going well for about 10m (metres not miles) then the port engine cut out and we had a problem!!!I had focused on turning clear of the edge of the bay and forgot about the mooring we had been tied to! It was now wrapped around the prop, so time for a swim!!! Mask on, and in for a dip, luckily it is much easier to remove a rope when you have folding props, as the line, which was over an inch thick could just be slipped back over the end of the prop. I cleared it in a couple of minutes and was back onboard again, we were on our way!

With light winds for the first half hour, we motored out, but with mainsail up ready for when the wind arrived! We had some nice views of sunrise over the pitons, and gradually made our way South at about 7 knots, with the engines being shut off just after 7.

The wind picked up to a steady 15-18 knots ENE and we were sailing on a broad reach at 7-9 knots all the way to St Vincent. Silke stayed mostly at the helm, keeping a lookout whilst I read a book. We had the fishing lines out, trawling for 40 miles had to catch something??

At 7.45 Silke spotted loads of activity in the water of the port bow. It looked like thousands of fish having a feeding frenzy, the water was really turbulent but just too far away to see what it was! We altered course, then as we came closer, we could see it was dolphins! There were probably about 100 of them all making their way North along the coast as we headed South. A few of them came over to say hello, but didn't stay with us long and the few photos I took weren't worth showing!

A little later, I was happily reading my book, when Silke threw a mop at me!!! She claims it just fell over, but it landed straight on my forehead as I was reading and she burst out laughing, so I'm sure it was her????

We had no other incidents and a really fast crossing, mostly at about 8 knots and Silke was even good enough to use the heads whilst we were sailing! I really think she is getting settled onboard and less vulnerable to sea sickness now!

As we arrived in the lee of St Vincent, the wind died completely, so engines on, sails down and we brought in the fishing lines, lures intact and no fish onboard! So much for the expensive lure I bought in Bequia!

At 13:00 we arrived in Wallilabou, dropped anchor and Davis, the boat boy on "Hard Life" took our line ashore and got us some ice for the freezer.

I went to deal with customs, but they wouldn't be there until 4.30, so we headed ashore, took a few pictures and went for a walk up to Wallilabou falls.

On the way up there we spotted loads of bananas at a height which was just out of reach, so Silke climbed up me and grabbed a couple for us! We had never tried them this fresh before and they looked like they weren't quite ready! The skins were so sticky, it was like peeling glue, which then got all over our hands! I bit my banana and asked Silke to try hers! They were so dry, they sucked all the moisture from our mouths! Luckily I had brought a bottle of water, so we rinsed our mouths and tried to clean the glue off our hands! Lesson learnt, don't eat bananas till they are ready!!

We had a swim at the fallsand stopped off at the craft shop on the way back.

The customs office wasn't open yet, so a beer and Creole Chicken and rice at the hotel, whilst we waited for him to arrive.

Eventually customs arrived, so we checked in and paid our fees, then returned to the boat. Another movie and another early night!

Monday 24th December 2007

We woke up at the normal sort of time (when our eyes opened!) and had a relaxing start to the day, run the generator for an hour or so to charge the batteries, cup of tea and pancakes, followed by a bit of reading. We aren't in a rush today, so chill out!

by 09:30 we have been up a few hours and are ready to leave, so I Swim ashore and untie the shore line, then we up anchor and set off for Bequia. There is absolutely no wind at all, and I mean less than 3 knots, so we leave the sails down and just motor out of Wallilabou and set course for Bequia. It isn't far, less than 10 miles, so I expect to motor all the way.

We clear the island (St Vincent) and are a couple of miles out into the channel towards Bequia when the wind picks up from nothing to 18-20 knots. Another catamaran that was motoring with their sails up now has the edge over us and whilst we were pulling away earlier, the wind helps take them past us and ahead. I couldn't be bothered to hoist the mainsail as I had put the cover on and that takes a bit of time and effort, so we unfurled the jib and just carried on motoring.

We were anchored up in Bequia before 12, and that includes dropping anchor in one spot and lifting it again as it was just too deep, on the edge of the ferry channel.

We finished off the last of our pumpkin soup, tidied up, then headed ashore to see if North Sails were open and if they had finished my trampolines, window covers and Bimini front window. They were open, but we had to wait for Avell (the owner), so had a Chicken roti at the bar next door :-) Silke had missed them, not having had one for 2 days now!!

When Avell returned, he informed me that the window covers were done, and the Bimini window, but the trampoline material still hadn't arrived! It would be sometime in January, possibly a few more weeks, so I wasn't going to get them until February now, when my next guests come out! This is because I am planning to head North when Silke leaves, so won't be back in Bequia until february now.

Silke went for a walk around town and to do some shopping, whilst I took Avell out to Blue Dolphin with the window covers and Bimini front, to check them and start fitting the covers. First we tried the Bimini window and to be honest it was a pretty poor fit. Not bad, but just loose all round, so Avell agreed it wasn't good enough. He marked it in a few places and took it back to adjust the zip in the workshop. It wasn't so bad considering how they had made the template, but I was pleased that he offered to adjust it, without me needing to ask

We started fitting the first window cover, which basically means drilling lots of holes and fitting the poppers to the boat, whilst stretching the covers tight. Avell demonstrated on the corners of the biggest window and we had it looking good and tight, then I took him and the Bimini window back to shore, so I could finish the rest.

Silke had just returned from shopping when I was ashore, so we went back to the boat and she relaxed whilst I finished the first window. That was enough work for one day!!!!

We had agreed with Dave and Diane that we would be online to chat with them in Swansea at 9pm UK time, so we logged in 10 minutes early, checked our accounts and they weren't online. by 5 past we were sending emails to remind them, then Silke ended up texting to no avail! She phoned them and they were so busy with family unwrapping presents they had forgotten us!!!!! They loggedin shortly after and Dave immediately called us something not very polite!!! Ok, so maybe we were part of the group (everyone) who knew that he was getting a flight to the Caribbean to visit me in February, when he didn't know anything about it! The whole family had chipped in to send him out on his birthday, as he had talked about it and said how cool it would be to come out here, but never actually dreamed he would do it!!! We left them to carry on with the Family Xmas and we started to think about our dinner for the evening!

We had some left over bolognese sauce mix from Saturday, so boiled up some potatoes and made a sort of shepherds pie! Typical yachtie food, of leftovers and something to make it different!

As it was xmas eve, we considered going ashore, but were both tired and were happy to sit onboard playing cards, which proved a challenge as we were outside, with quite a breeze blowing and trying to look at our cards under the beam of a small torch!!

Tuesday 25th December 2007 ------- Christmas Day !!!!!

Xmas Day!!!! We woke up to the sound of a caribbean procession marching along the beach road! There was a pickup with speakers blaring and about 20 people singing and dancing along behind!!!! I checked the clock and wondered what the hell they were doing at 06:30??????

As we were awake, we got up and had tea and pancakes for breakfast, then worked our way through the presents that had filled Silke's suitcase when she flew out! It was a lovely way to start the day onboard. We both dressed in our xmas clothes (Thanks Jayne and co!) and spent the rest of the day in our new t shirts and shorts!

We decided to do some work next! Yes I know it's xmas day, but it seems jobs still need to be done! We fitted the next big window cover and celebrated with a morning beer! It was 09:15 and definitely my earliest beer here, but it was xmas day :-) We fitted the rest of the window covers and both agreed the boat looked so much smarter with them on, so really happy there!

Next job was as a result of the card game last night. It was so hard to see the cards, yet I had bought a 12v flourescent light in Rodney Bay, so time to fit that. The wiring was easy, but made slightly harder by poor contacts in my outside plug socket, so with a bit of help from contact cleaner, that was solved and the light fitted up into the bimini cover, to be tested tonight when it comes dark!

Before we knew it, it was gone 11:00. We logged on to the internet and checked our emails, replying to some and sending others to wish everyone a merry Xmas! Our families would have eaten their xmas dinner by now and we hadn't even started cooking the turkey! Then again we weren't exactly hungry either!

At about 12, we put the turkey in the oven, potatoes were all peeled and chopped, ready to boil as were the carrots and Broccoli (thanks Silke). We sat playing cards, whilst the smell of the turkey reminded us that we were actually hungry and both of us were really looking forward to a turkey roast mmmmm.

The roast turkey was definitely a success, we filled our plates and couldn't even bear to think of doing the xmas pudding, so must have had enough! In England on Xmas day, I would probably have had another portion of the same again, but you just don't feel like eating so much in this weather!

We went online again and Silke managed to chat to Jayne on MSN, so they wished each other merry Xmas's and had a good laugh! Then we finished the evening off watching a film, which Silke insisted should be "Happy Feet" about a dancing penguin!!!!

This was our first Xmas day together onboard Blue Dolphin (my third!) and we had been pretty chilled all day! We didn't leave the boat, but to be hionest felt no need to do so! Hopefully we will have a few more like this in the future?.

Wednesday 26th December 2007

Ok, it's Boxing Day and we need to move, just time up in this spot, so we have a few options! We can just go to the other side of Admiralty Bay, much nicer, with clear water and sandy beaches, but no internet!! We can set off for Tobago Cays, absolutely gorgeous and we are definitely going there, the only question is when, maybe today? We could set off for Mustique, I've never been there, and it gets mixed reviews from other sailors, varying from great place, you have to go there, to nothing special and all overpriced! We go through the options and decide on a fourth one, we will sail around Bequia to Friendship Bay on the other side of the island. It is only about 6 miles, but is a much better place to set off for Mustique from.

Plans are made, so we do a trip ashore to dispose of rubbish and pick up some shopping. I wasn't expecting much open as it is Boxing day, but pretty much everything is open as usual! I bought some maps of the Caribbean and the world, ready to frame and actually mount on the wall when I get home! Silke will help here as I have a lot of pictures I have bought and never actually hung on the walls!!!

We set off for Friendship Bay, just under engines as it is going to be either in the lee of the island, or directly into the wind to get there, we'll find out when we round the corner! Worst option and we are directly into 20 knots of wind and some lumpy seas! Luckily it is only about 3 miles into the weather, so doesn't take too long!

As we approach Friendship Bay, we go between 2 rocks and the sea gets even more lumpy as it is forced the other way through the gap! We power through, then head into the bay, for some shelter and flat water! We decide to anchor in the nicest spot, right level with the Friendship hotel and maybe 100m off the beach.

There is a reef near the beach, so we dig out our masks and snorkels and go exploring. The water was pretty disturbed by the seas outside, with lots of bubbles making it cloudy, but you could see ok when near the reef. I spotted a crayfish tentacle sticking out from under a rock and pointed it out to Silke, who promptly spotted more under other rocks! Did she fancy lobster for tea? Ok, I'll try and catch one or two for us! Now this is where it didn't quite go to plan! I know how to catch and hold a lobster, but I didn't know how to get it out from under the ledge, when it has a black spiny thing all around it! I can't put my hand in and struggled a few times before failing to get them out! Then I had the brainwave of using my snorkel as a stick to prod them out, but when I finally got one free, it was so small I felt sorry for it and it just wouldn't have been worth trying to eat, so I left it there! Maybe we would eat something else tonight!!

Back on the boat and we decided that we should check for internet here, I predicted none, but the Friendship hotel was transmitting free unsecured interent and we had 1 bar at our spot just outside them! I am now learning that anchoring off nice hotels can lead to free internet :-)

After a while, we decided that our lovely spot for anchoring was the best in the bay, but was a bit rolly as we were still a bit exposed to the sea from the East. We raised anchor and moved further into the North East corner of the bay, which would be the most comfortable overnight. Much flatter and Silke had no problems sleeping overnight, but outside of the range of the free internet!!.

Thursday 27th December 2007

Our plan for today is to set off for Mustique, no rush, just whenever we are ready! It is less than 7 miles and it looks like being another windy day, so we should have a pretty quick, but maybe rough run across!

We had our usual pancakes for breakfast, then at 10.20 started the engines, hoisted the mainsail and pulled up the anchor, we were off, heading for Mustique! As we cleared the entrance to Friendship Bay, the 15 knots we had been seeing at the top of the mast became 20 knots, across the Port side (left) and we had a beam reach towards Mustique. These are perfect sailing conditions, apart from the water, which had some wide rolling waves, about 15-20m apart with little lumpy ones running across them. Not the smoothest water we've had, but Silke was ok and I think knowing that we only had 6 miles to go and were doing 9 knots, may have helped! It was a fast crossing and we were tied to a mooring with the mainsail down and stowed by 11.30. Just over an hour and we were moored near another lovely beach and by an island that really looks gorgeous from the boat. We will have to go ashore and investigate! First though, we had a swim in the crystal clear and warm waters, this was another place I was really glad we had come to!

Silke tried on her xmas caribbean wrap, but whilst it looked good on her, she struggled to get it comfortable enough for walking round the island, so back to normal clothes again!

We let the tender down into the water, topped up the fuel tank and headed for the dinghy dock. A few photos on the way, of Blue Dolphin and also another cat, with Red Dolphins on it! And as we were here, we had to get a picture of Basil's Bar as it is famous across the Caribbean!

We visited a few shops, most of which were closing just as we arrived! It turns out they open 9-12 and 3-6 here and we arrived just after 12!!! So we were forced to go to Basil's for a drink! Then having seen some of the food being served, we were then forced to have a couple of burgers, which you know will be good when they ask how we would like them cooked!! They tasted great, real beef and even better than Burger King!!!!

Note the sign over the door of the purple house and the one on it!!!

Back to the boat and Silke had a bit of a sleep, whilst I sat upstairs reading! She eventually awoke around 5pm, so I made her cook the mince we had to use up from the freezer and she made a chilli. Neither of us were hungry, so we didn't eat it, but at least it was cooked now and would be ok for tomorrow!

We sat outside reading until it went dark, then I got out the Tantrix! It is a simple game where you just place the tiles down and join up the colours to make a snake as long as possible and longer than your opposition! Sounds simple, but in reality it is actually a lot harder! We had a couple of games, but Silke wasn't too impressed, so we decided to watch a film instead, then off to bed!

Friday 28th December 2007

Today, we are going exploring! This morning we will dinghy over to the lagoon end of the bay, then this afternoon, we are planning to do a tour of the island. We have a snorkel round the nearby reef, which is full of fish and water so clear, then it's my turn to cook the pancakes!

We set off in the dinghy to find the lagoon, only to discover that the beach is heavily protected by rocks, making a landing difficult! We test a few little bays, but no chance, then on the third attempt, we go in and raise the engine and just wade the last bit ashore, pulling the dinghy between the gaps. We haul the dinghy up the sand and tie it to a tree, then set off to explore the beach. You can see the lagoon is just behind some trees, but it took a while to get anywhere where we could actually see it! There is a small hutch set up for viewing the wild birds and from there, you have a good view of the brown water and not very exciting lagoon! I didn't even think to take any pictures as it just didn't look worth it!

The beach here was a different story though! White coral sand, protected from the waves by the rocky outcrops every 40-50m along the beach. Nobody else there, we had this beach to ourselves for a couple of hours!!!

Silke found this large rock, we we assume is some sort of huge coral growth, but don't really know what it is made of?

By about 13:00 we returned to the boat for some shade as we had both caught the sun well on the beach this morning!

The afternoon didn't quite go to plan as some grey clouds came over and we had some intermittent showery rain! I sat reading, whilst Silke went down for half an hours sleep! Yet again I woke her several hours later (about 5pm) and told her she really should get up!!!

We decided to go ashore for the evening and eat at Basil's Bar again as a treat. So about 7pm, we headed towards the dinghy dock and found a free table at Basil's. Silke chose Tuna, which was absolutely huge, whilst I went for a Steak, which I must admit tasted really good! I have had very little red meat for the past 2 months, so that lump of steak went down really well. To be honest though, Silke's Tuna was probably the best choice of the two and luckily she couldn't eat it all :-)

Back to the boat and I think it was a late one by our standards, nearly 9pm when we went to bed!!

Saturday 29th December 2007

Time to leave Mustique and head off for Tobago Cays today, but not too early! First we have to have another swim, potter around the boat and remove all the beads from Silke's hair, as they have started to come loose and she wants them all gone now! Sounds simple enough, but it must've taken a good hour to remove the elastic bands and fill the pot with beads! Then we had to unpick the plaits before we set off, which I agreed to help with, until I realised how boring a job it was!!!

We agreed to set off about 10:00 with all beads removed and maybe a third of the plaits unwound! Sails up, mooring released and we were off towards Tobago Cays.

It was an easy run across, with 18-20 knots as usual, Broad reaching at between 7 and 9 knots towards the Cays, with fishing lines trailed each side. We were just North of Canouan when the fishing rod bent double, reel clicking like mad, we had our first fish! I started reeling it in, but was struggling, with the boat still sailing at over 8 knots! I managed to bring the fish half way to the boat, before the line went slack and it had escaped! So much for our new found plans for fresh fish for dinner! There was still time to catch another, but it wasn't destined to happen!

It took just over 3 hours to do the 20 miles from Mustique to our anchorage in the Cays, we motored through the moored yachts and saw a racing yacht and one of the biggest catamarans I have ever seen! I think it's a Fountaine Pajot, but not sure?

We dropped anchor at 13:15 in a lovely quiet spot, all on our own, just to the East of Baradal island (The NE island of the Cays)!

The afternoon was passed watching some kite surfers enjoying the strong winds and flat waters of the Cays. Most of them were pretty good, pulling off some big jumps and tricks, but one of them maybe needed a bit more practice before playing amongst the boats!

We had been anchored for a few hours when I heard some noise, looked up to find a french charter cat had dropped anchor immediately above us and was about 20ft from our bow and straight over our anchor! Their music was blasting and our peace ruined!!! I was muttering to Silke about moving, when another french cat turns up, they put fenders out and drop anchor right next to the other and tie alongside! It's fair to say at this point I am cursing and gesticulating at them, but decide that they aren't going to move, so I will! I fire up the engines and start pulling in the anchor chain, hauling us closer and closer to the french! When the anchor came up, I was less than 6ft from hitting them and explained to their captain that we had come to this nature reserve for peace, not a nightclub!!! We motored round them and up above, far enough to not hear them, but hopefully close enough upwind that our wind generator would be whistling to them all night! Somehow I doubt they heard it!!

Silke took this sunset shot over the Cays, then managed to break all records and went to bed at 18:15, leaving me upstairs to watch a movie!

Sunday 30th December 2007

We woke up to a lot of wind blowing and even some small waves across the Cays! It had rained during the night and I vaguely remember Silke waking me to shut the window beside me! This wasn't what we came to the Caribbean for!!!!

We decided to go exploring on the islands here, so we started with Baradal as it was nearest, spotting some wildlife near the top, and some great views over the Cays.

Next we headed to Jamesby island and climbed up to try and find the lizards I knew lived there. We failed and were on our way down, when Silke spotted one in amongst the bushes.

Jamesby is yet another beautiful island with a great beach and excellent views from the top, well worth the climb up through the bushes!

We went for a snorkel around the reef, tied the dinghy to a buoy and set off to see a fair few fish, but we had been gone less than 10 minutes when the sky darkened, heavens opened and total downpour began! We could see the dinghy, but not Blue Dolphin, so decided to head back! By the time we were back at Blue Dolphin, it had cleared again, another typical Caribbean rainstorm, lasting less than 6 minutes, but blocking out all visibility when it was here!

I was restless back onboard and considered pulling out the windsurfer, but chose to finish reading a book instead! Must get the board out soon!!

The weather kept changing and we spent the rest of the afternoon onboard, I caught up with the website, then our plans are to watch another film, then off to bed! Maybe some more xmas pudding and custard first :-)

Monday 31st December 2007

New Years eve and we are anchored in Tobago Cays, life is ok out her I guess :-)

We left the Cays fairly early about 8.45 and set off back towards Bequia. As we passed Petit Rameau, we discovered that the big yachts we had seen so far, were toys, compared to this one!!!

The Maltese Falcon is an 88m superyacht owned by an American Billionaire Tom Perkins and cost £50million to build. But you can charter this boat for £200k per week if interested! With a crew of 16, it can sleep 12 guests!!! That's 4 more than I can get comfortably on Blue Dolphin!!! If you want more info, check out these links: http://www.symaltesefalcon.com or http://www.elmarine.com/maltese-falcon-yacht-charter.html

Ok back to reality, and Blue Dolphin set off close hauled through a gap in the reef and off towards Canouan, which we passed just to the West of and continued on the same tack towards Bequia. It was a relatively uneventful journey, making about 7 knots in about 16 knots of wind, which was pretty good into the wind.

On our way, we saw Frienship Rose, a classic sailing ship from Bequia under full sail with a crew of passengers heading for the Cays.

We were about 8m from Bequia when the rod bent over and the reel clicked like mad again! I jumped out and grabbed the rod, this was a big one!! I couldn't get the rod out of it's holder without freeing the line and letting this big fish run! Once I had the rod in my hand, I still couldn't reel iot in, so we luffed up into the wind and brought the boat down to 1-2 knots whilst I fought the monster!! It was a battle, i could only reel in maybe a foot at a time and this fish wasn't tiring quickly! I fought it for about 5 minutes, but they were really long minutes to me, then got it within 30ft of the boat, but still diving deep down, so my line was at about 45' down. Then suddenly the worst thing possible happened........ The line went slack and he was free! I reeled in and no fish, no lure, no swivel! My knot in the line had come undone and we had lost a fish that would have fed us for at least a week!!! All my fault as the line hadn't snapped, the end was twisted where my knot had slipped through and come free!! No excuses!

We played some games of duck the wave! As the spray of some of the big ones was flying over the deck and if you missed it, you were soaked! Silke was absolutely fine in these conditions, even though we were into the wind with 18-20 knots of wind and some choppy seas. She admitted that she didn't want to go below, but was good up here.

As we closed in on Bequia, I tried to turn up into the wind a bit more, but we had no steerage to starboard! Something was jamming and I couldn't easily get to it in this sea, so we carried on straight until more in the lee of the island, then fired up the engines and used the twin motors to steer and get us into Admiralty bay. I had furled the jib, but didn't want to drop the mainsail as I would struggle to get the sail ties on in this weather (it was pretty choppy) so decided to leave the mainsail up until well into the bay.

Next disaster was the wind generator blades hitting a reefing line and snapping a blade! Lots of vibration and noise as it tried to shake itself apart, but nothing we could do until we were at anchor!

As we entered the bay, I dropped the mainsail, tied it up quickly, then jumped down into the rear locker to check on the steering problem. It looked like the rudder had dropped down, as had happened a couple of years ago when I went aground and snapped it, so I just decided I couldn't do anything until we were at anchor! I was definitely not in a good mood as Silke will confirm!!

We had pretty good steerage with the twin engines, so kept the rudder straight and manouvered through the anchorage with the props. Anchor down, almost finished, then a huge squall hit!! Forget everything, this was solid water from a pressure washer blasting straight at us! I was stood out in it for maybe a minute and Silke thought the result deserved a photo?

We abandoned the anchor, which was actually well down and hid under the bimini, which didn't protect enough, so into the salon. 3 minutes later and we were back outside, rain had finished and we could get the anchor bridle on and lock it in.

I was still wound up about the rudder, so went down to check it and to my relief, I had been a bit rash when i looked earlier and the rudder was all fine, but the autopilot has a screw cap which had unwound and was locking the rudder! 5 minutes with a pair of water grips and the cap was back on again and everything working fine! Had I spotted that at sea, it would have been an easy fix, but things look very different when you are bouncing on waves!

After chilling out a bit (drinking a cold beer) we went ashore for a much needed Chicken Roti at the Green Boley on the south side of the bay. Feeling more replenished, we then dumped the rubbish at the skips near the dinghy dock and headed to Grenadine Sails to collect the window for the front of the Bimini. Silke sat at the Sailors Bar checking emails, whilst I collected the bimini window and agreed to return in february to collect the new trampolines! I had hoped to be collecting them now, but still no trampoline material!

I popped in to the chandlery and picked up a replacement lure. £10 for a lure, which had caught 2 fish, but both had escaped, maybe better luck this time and stronger knots!

Back to the boat and we chilled out a bit. I did a temporary rewire on the wind generator so that it wouldn't be spinning and vibrating all night, then tried to get an hour or so of sleep before the evening! It didn't work, Silke had a rest, but I couldn't, so eventually we just came upstairs, finished off our curried soup and then headed ashore to join the festivities.

We tied up the dinghy alongside the Whaleboner inn, which had a dj playing tunes, but went instead next door to the Frangipini, where they had a steel band playing. Bought 2 beers, then found some free seats with a view and sat people watching and chatting as the crowd arrived. We had done well to get seats as they became saught after items in very little time. A German group joined us, with the skipper struggling to speak English, and One of his guests Cai, translating for him, then the look of relief on his face when Silke just spoke to him in fluent German! We now had conversations with me talking to Cai in English and him translating to his skipper, and Silke talking to the skipper in german and then translating to me in English!

The evening progressed, with the guests eating from a buffet in Frangipini's and us just enjoying the atmosphere, periodically changed to mad panic when the rain hit and everyone dived for cover! Then the fight to reclaim wet seats, which we easily won as we didn't really care about getting wet!

We finally gave in to tiredness and headed back to the boat at 11:30 deciding to watch the fireworks from the boat and then head for bed.

At 11:45 I thought a neighbour was shouting and swearing at us, telling us our boat was dragging, then I realised that he was shouting at another yacht, which had dragged from higher up and was hitting his boat! after a few shouts, one of the boat boys arrived in his water taxi to help and I jumped in my dinghy to also try and help. The owners were presumably ashore enjoying themselves and their 30ft yacht was dragging through the bay bouncing off other yachts! We managed to move it clear of 2 boats, then tried to get more anchor chain down, but the windlass wouldn't function and we couldn't bypass it to let any chain out! We now had another water taxi helping, trying to hold the boat clear of other yachts and by now had drifted 100m from where I had first seen the boat. I asked if anyone had tried starting the engine and they said no, so I jumped aboard and searched for the engine controls. No power, so climbed inside the boat and i found their battery kill switches, all off. Turned them on, started the engine and now we could operate the windlass. We let out all chain they had, plus most of the rope, so there was plenty down, then locked it in revers and the anchor dug in and held. After a chat with the boat boys and a search of the boat, we couldn't find a second anchor, so decided it was safe and locked in now, so best to leave it. I shut off the engine and returned the battery switches to how they had been left, then we abandoned the boat. How the owner would find it was going to be intersting as it was a long way from wherever it had been, in a pitch black bay and they would probably be pissed! Maybe the last bit might help them to find it??

Back on Blue Dolphin and I sat up for a bit, watching the rest of the fireworks and then we went to bed. The rest of the night is continued in January 08, It wasn't a quiet one!!

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