BVI Spring Regatta / charter 22nd April to 7th May

After much planning and a lot of preparation we are in the BVIs (British Virgin Islands) for the BVI Spring Regatta.

17 days of: charter for two then regatta for 15 followed by charter for 4.... Confused and complicated? Yes!

We arrived in the BVIs with the boat half in cruising mode half racing

Racing: stantions and rails, sails on board, everything removed that is not too necessary e.g. Coffee tables and loose saloon chairs

Cruising: well, everything else, considering at least half the time was to be spent cruising we couldn't make it too uncomfortable - cruising sails still on, all alcohol still on

But it's just the owner and wife for the first few days so no stress right...

Right

We spent the time cruising from anchorage to anchorage after late starts and long breakfasts (by the time we set sail the captain and I were having lunch snacks)

Coral and conchs taking over the strewn metal wreckage

And we were taken diving!!!!

We dived the wreck of the Rhone.

The following story is not for sensitive viewers. The tale of the wrecking of the Rhone is a tragic one. Sensitive viewers have been warned.

The wreck of the Rhone

The Rhone was a formidable 94m long postal ship which was anchored off Peter Island (one of the BVIs) in October 1867 next to the passenger ship RMS Conway, to refuel. When the barometer started dropping the captain of the Rhone got worried, as it was however October he thought it was too late for a hurricane. But a hurricane it was. Both ships survived the first wall of hurricane San Narciso but had dragged anchor. As a result they decided to up anchor. The Rhone was considered... unsinkable... As a result the passengers of Conway were transferred to Rhone adding to her 146 passengers already on board.

No unwatered Greek temple, this is the Rhone

The plan was that Conway would head for Road Harbour in Tortola (another one of the BVIs, they are REALLY close to each other) and Rhone would head out for open sea. Conway left first but was struck by the back end of the storm and sunk before reaching safety. After having worried about her dragging anchor Rhone could not get her anchor up and just before the second part of the storm hit the captain called for the anchor to be cut free and they high tailed it the shortest route to open ocean, between Salt island and Dead Chest Island. Due to a submerged rock between them the captain made the call to stick closer to Salt Island but less than 230m from the safety of the open ocean the reverse winds hit, blowing the helpless leviathan onto Black Rock Point. As the vessel was ripped open by the coral the cool sea water rushing in came into contact with the boilers operating on full steam. As you can imagine Dad, the result was a catastrophic explosion that ripped the boat in two with her bow sinking in 80 feet of water and her stern a mere 30 feet. Only 23 people survived, 22 crew and 1 passenger (an Italian of course) why did more passengers not make it? Back in the day, due to most passengers not being able to swim and not being considered particularly helpful in an emergency, they were tied to their bunks...

She is now considered one of the best wreck dives in the world



We eased into this event in stages, first with just the owner and his wife. Followed on the Monday by the rest of the crew...totalling 14... We hired Villa Tortola to house the spillover of the crew and since we obviously hadn't been able to view it before hand, I had inquired as to the distance between the Villa and Nanny Cay Marina where we were moored. The answer, in writing, was a definite 5 minutes, 10 if you're really slow.

Balcony of the middle tier complete with swimming pool

The day the crew were flying in, while the Captain swapped the sails over and offloaded the alcohol etc, the owner and I went to pick up the rental cars from Jerry, meet our Villa on island contact and see this Villa. After driving for ten minutes we reached the car rental, sorted that out and trustingly followed our guide. Another 10 minutes and we were in the mountains weaving our way along not just mud but clay tracks, crawling across the trenches some farmers would recognise as rain drains and seeing nothing but trees with more unmarked tracks fingering off in impossible directions. 50min later we were there and I was um shall we say, put out.

View from the middle tier balcony, fresh and salt water views...where would you rather swim?

The villa itself is stunning! A massive, open 3 tiered structure overlooking the ocean and the lake, complete with swimming pool on the deck, open air showers (who wouldn't want the view and if it rains, well free rinse) and heaven: a gigantic kitchen with a double door fridge any American would be proud of, a massive centre island, double sinks big enough to wash not just a puppy but full size Rottweiler and glory be... An oven you could crawl into in the event of an unexpected ice age! All very important features I assure you, when you are expected to provide 3 meals daily for 15 people!

Our on island man redeemed himself when he revealed that there was a second route to scale the mountain to reach the palace atop. It is a LOT shorter and about 90% tarred with the rest being gravel. Ok so the switchbacks are so sharp that you go forwards up one and reverse up the next and it is still a far cry from 5 minutes from the marina but at least visions of crew pushing a 4x4 up a clay slope slowly began to fade.

Yet another advantage of being ahead of the fleet on a downwind leg...looking back at all the kites

What a manic day. 1 day to change the boat over. We got the crates of alcohol, bags of preprepared food (a result of slaving over the stove the week before), cruising sails etc etc and more etc and carted them all along with the owners wife up to the villa (an exercise in time management: I'm not saying it was a case of getting certain people out of the way but it is slightly more efficient to just do a job in 5min than to take 20min showing someone how to do it)



Ok this is turning into an epic saga. So how's this, I'll summarise the next few days' events in bullet points

• Crew arrived at usual Caribbean speed - 2 hours late
  
• The regatta was two parts A race to and from Virgin Gorda (another of the BVIs) with a day off in between. And 3 Days of day racing
  
• We were going to do the Virgin Gorda race as a practise but as the crew arrived the night before we pulled out of the race there. As it turned out the race was called on account of a lack of wind

Our spinnikar as it breaks free of its wool constraints

Virgin Gorda race

Thus our first race was from Virgin Gorda back to Tortola and it was the first with...our Frenchman. We had to leave Nanny Cay at 5am ish to get there in time for the race. Charactor explaination: he was a professional sailor...as a grinder, and entertained us with horror stories of being in an Americas Cup race crew in the 70's - cocaine prescribed by team doctors as a legal sport stimulant etc But once we were racing he thought he should instruct us...

Three of us girls usually packed the kite but on this occasion the guys finished it off so we could grab some lunch...despite what it looks like, it's not just shoved in...

This was a problem for several reasons, predominantly though because his instructions were shouted, wrong and while delivering them he neglected to do his designated job resulting in him burning the owner's wife's legs with the spinnikar sheet...

When it became clear that he was not going to calm down and fit in the captain skilfully removed him from his position without ruffling feathers and to everyone's great relief.

Overtaking the class ahead

The day racing

• We came first over the water every day
• Once handicap was factored in we came 6th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd which resulted in a 5th overall (Considering, for example, one race we came in more than 20min ahead of the boat that won on handicap, in a 50min race, methinks we need to have a chat with the chap that dols out the ratings)
• It was loads of fun!

Post race diving along Wreck Alley

• We had two local crew racing with us - marketing manager and general manager of Bitter End Yacht Club. Great chaps, fun and very useful-tactition and grinder
• Getting in and out of the marina was a nightmare! We draw 3.5m, the charts say that the marina entrance is 3m deep, the marina manager says that there is an unofficial channel that is deep enough for us... Um maybe at high tide (tides here are only a couple of cm but every mm counted here) which wasn't obliging us by being in the mornings. So most of the time we had the crew on one side of the boat, navigated through at snails pace and still ran aground albeit as the gentle caress of a butterfly...

Famous Pussers Rum, a BVI original

• Feeding the hungry sailors turned into a diplomatic act of mediation. Information gathered and relayed on beforehand informed us all that local restaurants would put up food tents in the marina selling food at the post race party every evening. I had been instructed to cook anyway as there was 'the feeling' that the crew would prefer to be at the villa rather than the party...as it happened the majority of them, 13 to be precise, preferred to well, join in the party. So some nights some crew had drinks beforehand then headed up to the villa, other nights everyone simply came to the villa and the remaining nights I cooked for some at the villa then joined the rest at the party... You can imagine how it went: "we'll eat here tonight", followed 15min later with "no, it seems like people want to go down so we'll all go down", amended 10min later (in one case, as we were walking out the door) with "actually I really don't feel like getting out of my bikini so can you make something for us here. I'm sure X and Y also want to stay", resulting in me quickly throwing a 3 course meal together (thanks to the prepreparing it took 10 min) and the unfortunate X and Y having to politely wave the rest of us goodbye

Post race dingy sailing courtesy of our Bitter End Yacht Club crew members

• Days went like this: in the morning the captain would cook breakfast for the crew on the boat while I cooked for the crew in the house and made the sandwiches with the invaluable help of two teammates. Then I would rush to the boat with the first load of crew while the later risers ate and got themselves ready. We got the boat ready following which the rest of the crew arrived from the house (one morning I received a phonecall 15min before we were due to cast off informing me that the rest of the crew were stuck at the villa with a flat tyre. I made the 20minutes-one-way trip in 20min flat, including the time it took for them to lock up the villa and get in the car...it was safe, but I won't claim comfortable for those in the back and there was more than 1 pale face on arrival) Racing, I was the pit person in charge of the halyards so quite physical tailing for the men pulling the spinnikar up; while the captain was skipper, crewboss, peacekeeper and general spot-any-silly-moves-before-they-cause-a-problem um person. No small feat. Following races, I would make my way up to the villa with the first load of crew to prepare dinner and get going on sanwhich fillers for the next day. Then it would be serving drinks and food to 15 or trips down and up the hill for drinks, dinner and perhaps even dancing in the sand to a live band.

Scuba diving with weird moving, feeling, looking starfish

Post racing the crew left in dribs and drabs, we got the boat back into cruising mode and moved out of the villa. There were still 5 crew on board who, now in cruising mode, had morphed into guests.

So we sailed around once more exploring new anchorages, being treated to more diving, dingy sailing and even a few dinners ashore!

Dropping the guests off at the airport in the dingy proved a novel experience following which the captain and I collapsed into deep sleep in a state of satisfied exhaustion.

The dessert menu ingeniously presented pictorially in a child's toy turned out to be irrisitable

 

Posted with Blogsy

2012 Jan - Mar Bobbing about in Antigua

After our first long charter the season kinda slowed down...to a grinding halt. We sat on the dock from January until the end of March. What fun! 

Some of the things we got up to follow below.

Our Biltong drying room ->1x forepeak + 1x fan + 1x freezer basket  

Having procured the worlds best biltong recipe courtesy of a certain Aunt and Uncle down south, we proceeded to mangle it. Apparently where biltong takes two weeks to dry in the karoo, in the 80% humidity of the Caribbean we can get it bone dry within 3 days with the aid of:
a) the Caribbean Sun through a 1m squared hatch
b) 24hr fan directly at said meat

Unfortunately trial 1 went wrong when we neglected to remove the salt after salting it. So instead of a scrummy meaty treat we had turbolax that tasted like the inside of a full salt cellar.
Trial 2 ended with the obvious error of over compensation for error 1...tasteless...
Trial 3 pending

 Monks hill Fort

After work and weekends were for exploring. When it wasnt too too hot we hiked around the old, forgotten forts. At the top of Monk's Hill is a fort that most people seem to have forgotten about. A lot of it is still standing despite the growth, like this guard house at its entryway. Theories on why a fort in such relatively good condition is not advertised as a tourist site:
a) Then money would have to be spent maintaining it
b) It is on prime land overlooking the entire Falmouth Harbour AND 10m in the other direction and you can see Green Island. So if everyone forgets about the fort one day it can be developed
c) The communications tower is up there and they dont want people messing with it
You choose.

On these excursions we would search for treasure.
Treasure [tre-shure] noun: The rubbish left behind by Nelson and his troops including broken bits of pottery, smoking pipes (the equivalent of the modern cigarette butt); musket balls; buttons; broken rum bottles; misc clay jars etc.

 Clams

Then there was the random food that wandered up the dock, in the hands of entrepreneurial locals. We were slightly suspect of the clams that were apparently harvested in the bay next to the airport as we did not know the vendor but if you dont try... We were the only willing customers on the dock but our risk taking was well rewarded with two delicious dinners and no nasty consequences. 

Building a WC....that is Wobbly Cup boat

The WC tradition has been revived thanks to Newport Shipyard and ABSAR (Antigua and Barbuda Search and Rescue). Teams are given 2 sheets of 8 x 4 and 4 hours to build a boat that has to take a member of the team from the beach on one side of the Catamaran Club Dock to the other side, picking up a mermaid along the way.
This is no casual, rock-up-on-the-day, build-whatever-design, kind of race. Nope, weeks of planning and designing go into this and some teams arrive with generators and powertools. Welcome to the yachting world, we're not competitive at all...

UShaka was built with muscle power and fast curing apoxy (it cured so fast that it was smoking). The building muscle work being done by our Captains and the artwork and paddling by the Stewies.

UShaka, The winninf vessel

Some teams simply strapped their 8 x 4 onto large fenders that hosted garden chairs and even a table; others built box shaped tubs; but we built the super canoe UShaka with her pointy bow and rockered hull she was powered by our professional paddler and unbeatable. By the time UShaka had paddled round the course, picked up the mermaid (yes, me of course) and finished to startled applause, the majority of the fleet were approaching the first corner.

The victorious UShaka was loaded onto the roof of our team mates' rangerover and ridden through Falmouth chariot style by our singing paddler and her daughter.

Sunset View from the Catamaran Dock 

view from our 'back door' for 3 months

New Carbon Fibre Main Sail 

It wasnt all hiking and WCs, there was some work included in our Antigua stay (8-5, Monday to Friday) and one of the more fun jobs was getting and trying the new mainsail. Shipped in from Peter Kay at One Sails it is incredible! It is all carbon fibres held together with sunprotection (simply put) It has incredible shape and allows us to sail 7.5knots at 30 degrees apparent in about 9 knots of wind :)

We had fun putting it up for the first time (to check it and mark where the spreader patches had to go) as we took fellow crew from the 100ft Swan Virago along with us. Their boat is big and you push buttons to get lines in and out so we had them on our coffee grinder and pulling the main halyard etc. They also mentioned that it was novel being able to feel the seastate (on a 100footer you sort of well, plough through most waves)

 Just another full moon between the rig and across the bay

Racing the Super Yacht Challenge

On a 100ft Swan 

What better to do when you dont have charters than go racing on other people's yachts? 

We started out on  J122 which was cute and fun.. The couple owning it are in their 70s with him on the helm and her performing gymnastic feats on the bow at top volume. It was my first experience of a shouty boat but at least at the end there were handshakes all round and everyone was friends again.

Then we were invited to do the Nelson's Persuit Race on a 100ft Swan. Wow. I was just rail meat. Captain was a trimmer and obviously did such a sterling job that we were invited back for the Round Antigua Race and Super Yacht Challenge. There is nothing quite like being the second to smallest boat in a race while standing on the decks of a 100 footer... Downwind with all those rugby field spinnakars up is quite something else. Then there are the Super Yacht Rules. They are slightly different due to the size of these splendid Leviathans. 

The yachts have to keep ____feet apart at all times

If yacht A is approaching yacht B to overtake, yacht B is considered overtaken when yacht A is within ____ feet of yacht B

They are ever so polite to each other over the VHF: Yacht A yacht A this is yacht B yacht B, We are preparing to tack, what are your intentions?

Distant Spinnakars

I unfortunately did not get to do the Around Antigua Race as we had guests that did not want to go sailing and were staying in a hotel so we decided we had to do something for them with the result that I took them on a tour of the Southern end of Antigua. Which turned out to be great anyway.
But the Super Yacht Challenge was tons of FUN!
It all came down to the last race where we had to win the race to win the regatta.
As we were the smallest yacht we were the only one that could pack our spinnakar in time to fly it on the final leg. We were well in the lead and approaching the final leg where the captain called for the spinnakar to go forward in case we needed the extra speed across the line.
Having just reached the rail after packing said spinnakar we were watching the bow crew drag the kite bag forward when our luck was blown away.

Substantially more people fit on a 100footer's rail

There was a call from the bow, "Steve has broken his ankle, we are bringing him back."
Followed immediately by a call from the aft cockpit, "Ready to Tack"
Suddenly us kite-packing-rail-meat realised that the Aft crew (Helmsman, tactition, trimmers, skipper etc) had no idea there was a situation on the bow. They were 100ft apart and couldnt hear each other. So KPRMs shouted back, "no no no no" mixed in with "we're not ready to tack"
Not understanding why they were suddenly getting instructions from the KPRMs, the Aft crew shouted slightly louder "ok, we're ready to tack" followed by a slightly more coherent "No, there, no, is, no, an, injury, no, on the, no, bow"
Finally we got through to them when they saw a man being dragged along the side deck.
After the first mate/exnurse had had a look, the skipper to a hard look at the final rounding mark and called the race and ABSAR.

We heard later at the prizegiving (where we took 3rd place overall anyway) from people who had being watching the race from the lofty Shirley's Heights that we had our competition in the bag and there would have been no way they could have caught us. Ah well, good to know that we would have won and that an entire race short, we still came 3rd.

Oh and Steve had his ankle operated on in Antigua following which he was flown back home to the USA where we hear he is recovering well.
 

This year's birthday beach

Rendevous

 For my birthday this year The Captain took me to Rendesvouz for a braai. Stunning beach, caribbean blue seas, yummy food and fun company. Entertainment was provided right on our beachmat as a crab kept tentatively poking out of his hole but dashing back the moment he remembered us there. That is, until we figured out he liked sausage and would come all the way out of his hole for cooked duck fat...

Nothing like Strawberries and Champs on a secluded beach to log in another year

We returned to the Catamaran Club for a dinner at the dock Italian Restuarant - Cambusa - with all our yachtie friends.

Snorkeling at Windward

Everyday, when we finished early enough and it wasnt too windy, we took the dingy round to our favourite snorkelling spot. Dont tell anyone, it's just windward beach. Bizarrely, despite it being literally just around the corner and having some of the best coral in Antigua, we very rarely see another boat there. So we claim it as Our Snorkelling spot.

 Another Underwater World shot. 

The fish are too quick for my disturbingly slow camera

Everytime we swim here we see some new, slightly different thing.

Moray eel; Giant Spotted Ray; school of cuttlefish; lionfish; baracuda; octopus and so on

Preparations begin

pork sosaties that are to be frozen then braaied when required

But alas, despite what many of you might think (or the fact that I only display the highlights in this blog) we do actually work and one of the things that all this time we were preparing for was the BVI Spring Regatta.
This entails prepping the boat for racing followed by sailing it to the BVIs. There the owner and his wife arrive for a cruising charter following which there is a day to change the boat from cruising to racing with the arrival of our 15 or so crew, the organising of the prebooked villa and rental cars, and all the cleaning and cooking that is involved with 15 people for 10 days. So here is the head start on cooking...

Dec 2011 St Lucia to Antigua

Long time no blog, I know.

So here's some back blogging.

When the guests finally left us in St Lucia we took a few days to relax and indulge in some retail therapy. With some lucky timing we were there for the end of the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) so although we hadn't just crossed the Atlantic we still got to join in some of the festivities.

Fire Limbo Dancer at an ARC party

Ready to start some two-man-sailing, we set sail for Martinique...time for some French food!

Once again a Dolphin Escort

After a long hot search we finally located the illusive "La Cave a Vins". My oh my was it worth the search! It really is just a hole in the wall. You know, one of those places you always hear about people

finding; off the tourist roads, nothing to note from the street, and even when you walk in the 'reception area' really does just look like a cave...

Pokey entrance to the Wine Cave - Literally a cave like space walled with wine

124 rue Victor-Hugo 97200 Fort-de-France Tel 05 96 70 33 02 lacaveavins@wanadoo.fr

There you go, now we can always find it again.

They are not simply a restaurant but a wine cellar/merchant, The wine menu is more akin to a novel and your server is no mere waitress but a sommelier.

We were shown to a table on a balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Again, all quaint and difficult to tell whether you are actually inside or

out given the size where three tables full the balcony and another five or so the courtyard.

And then the food

Having chosen the wine through a process of elimination (white, red or rose? red. ok thats two thirds of the novel we no longer need to read...etc but of course once the wine is chosen the menu can be read simply for pleasure) we moved on to the food menu. *sigh* lets just say 3 hours later we floated out of the Cave having appre

ciatively dined our way through several courses of foie gras; duck breast; salads and of course desserts. Not a good day for our feathered friends but never was their sacrifice more appreciated. After months of fresh Grenadan food (no complaints!) our palates welcomed the rich, creamy, saucy inspiration the French call Food.

Sailing Martinique to Dominica

Having stocked up on French bread, cheese, wine, sausages and pate we bid Caribbean France Au Revoir and sail onward to the other end of the Caribbean experience, the undeveloped jungle paradise that is Dominica.

The fish fare of Dominica

No more French cuisine but who would complain when sitting in an open wooden restaurant, surrounded by jungle, overlooking the half-built dingy dock which linked you to your bed on a yacht set in a starlit bay, all while sipping a Caribbean cocktail and nibbling fresh seafood?

Due to our limited time on the island we could not book a dive but went snorkeling in the reserve instead. wowsa! Dominica deserves its reputation for sea life. Shivering and blue we had to be dragged out of the water and away from the literal walls of sealife! In the area we snorkeled it was a cliff face below the waterline, with each kick downwards opening up a new world of colour.

Christmas Antigua Style

We made it to Antigua in time for Christmas, just. So with no time for planning we did what most do - Nelson's Dockyard for daytime champagne (ok, Spumante) and live music. After which we zigzagged our way across the harbour in our dingy only to discover that a boat we know was drifting free of its mooring. So Christmas day rescue it was with me jumping onto the bow to attach a tow line and the Captain towing the 54ft sailyacht with our dingy. Having very securely attached them to the nearest available bouy our Christmas good deed was done.

Antiguan New Year - espresso martinis: The Beginning

What follows Christmas but New Year.

By then we had met a crew of Kiwis delivering a yacht from the Med to Kiwiland and another boatload of Italians stuck in Antigua while fixing the damage on their 104ft 100ton yacht from their eventful crossing of the Atlantic. The evening started with espresso martinis and ended with tiaras, pink top hats, fireworks and live music

First Charter of the Season. Grenada to St Lucia

12 Days, 5 people, 7 islands and lots of food and drink!

Day 1 Grenada: Port Louis Marina

Starter: Portobello mushrooms topped with Callaloo and crisped parmesan

Main: 4Cs Chicken (Caribbean Coconut Chutney Chicken), with breadfruit mashed in coconut milk, Christophenes and Carrots

Dessert: Gingeroll (Like a Swiss Roll but with all the Grenadian spices and ginger in the cream)

After Grenada Marine had let us down so badly, we had a mad rush to get everything ready on time. But on time we were. The first 3 of the guests (owner, wife and neighbour) arrived in the evening ready for dinner and bed.

Preparing food for charter. In pots from right to left: Breadfruit, eggplant, carrots, boiled and pureed callaloo

Day 2 Grenada: Clarks Court Bay off Hogg Island
Lunch: Chicken mayo salad in a pita

Starter: Sliced fresh avocado with edible garnishing

Main: 5 hour Slow Roast Lamb with all the trimmings

Dessert: Banana Cake w cream cheese icing

After a relatively early start and much discussion on what the various parties would like from the first few days, we set sail for Clarks Court Bay just around the corner. It turned out to be a lovely gentle sail averaging 7knots. Just the way to break back into it.

This was our first real sail since coming out of the yard and so we received yet another 'present' from the yard.

Our hydraulic panel had gone in to be serviced. The riggers had removed it, serviced it and put it back in. As soon as we tried to pump up the pressure on the vang (pulls the boom down) the gauge started spewing hydraulic oil all over the teak decks. Lovely.

So we anchored and the Cpt got to fixing this, taking the offending gauge out and trying to get it back in without it leaking. Eventually my small hands got involved in the undoing and redoing of grub screws in hard to reach places with the owner holding a torch and helping minimise the spread of the oil slick...he had a vested interest in this as the panel is located above the main cabin bed...

Finally the problem was solved by rotating the gauge (so it is now skew to look at) so that the bit that the yard had damaged by incorrect installation, couldnt leak anymore.

Then it was on to the other projects...the brand new aircon had stopped working (simple solution of reset) and horrors of horrors the fridges had stopped working.

Thank goodness for a capable Cpt!!!!!

An Island in Clarks Court Bay. With a very exclusive soon to be opening hotel on it

Day 3 Grenada: St Georges Port Loius

Lunch: Lamb leftover sandwiches

Starter: Capunata on malba toast (Sicilian dish with lots eggplant, tomato, capers etc)

Main: Mmmmm Chicken w roast potato broccoli and Yum Butternut

Dessert: Eve's Pudding

After a little "jolly" in the dingy to gawk at the new hotel and skim over reefs we motor-sailed back to Port Louis. I had the GoPro attached to my head, videoing while the neighbour pulled the mainsail up and i tailed on the winch. He was quite impressive, pulling the heavy mainsail up past the top spreader.

Once back in the Marina, the guests went to the pool until it was time to pick up the remaining 2 guests from the airport.

All aboard, fed and bed.

Day 4 Grenada: St Georges Port Louis Marina

Lunch: Ham sandwiches on bread fresh from the South African baker down the road

Starter: Pea and mint soup

Main: Orange Tamarind Roast Beef w Christofenes, baby carrots and rice

Dessert: Tiramisu

Having heard that the bay to the North where we were planning on stopping next (Halifax) is home to Grenada's dump and thus swarming with flies and bad smells, a decision was taken that perhaps another night in Port Louis was not such a bad idea.

The guests took the opportunity to visit a few waterfalls and we had a visit from Martin, the diver who cleaned the bottom of the boat. Martin had very generously brought us bags and bags of fruit from his garden: paw paws, bananas, mangoes, grapefruit, avocados etc etc How very generous!

Then the stove broke.

Cooking a 3 course meal on a stove where the main hob turns itself off...fun

Well it led to the discovery that I can actually reach everywhere in the galley with one hand holding the mischievous hob button in. Alas, cutting garlic requires two hands. No probs, a toe for the hob and two hands for the garlic, It's a good thing a swaying boat is good balance training for standing on 1 leg for 5min.

Day 5 Grenada to Carriacou

Lunch: Beef Sandwiches

Dinner: Out. Slipway restaurant

Variable wind conditions resulted in Motor - Sail - Motor from Grenada to Carriacou which is one country with Grenada but an island to its North.

Farewell to the Grenadian town of St Georges

Along the way we were joined by a pod of very large dolphins. They didnt stay with us for long but their appearance was a welcome intrusion into the journey.

Once anchored in the bay we 'had' to check the anchor. So snorkelling without a snorkel it was. Then the Cpt and I unintentionally entertained the guests by climbing up the anchor chain, he a lot quicker and smoother than I.

An evening on anchor is another evening perfect for cocktails. Something fruity, was the request. So another invention was required.

Ceres Mango Juice + Grenadian Rum + lots and lots of freshly grated ginger

Presenting this fruity delight on deck, the guests asked what it was called and while I was umming and aaahing I noticed that the spectacular sun setting behind the expectant guests' heads was exactly the same colour as my concoction...thus the Carriacou Sunset Cocktail was born.

Dinner was in the Slipway restaurant in the bay next door. So we were treated to a moonlit dingy ride through the wind rippled seas. It was such a clear night that the stars danced like diamonds on each rippling wave.

Dinner was delicious!

Tuna cooked to perfection, ie just the outside seared, followed by mango and shortbread smothered in cream and granadilla.

Day 6 Carriacou to Union Island

Lunch: Set out lunch - avo, ham cheese, tapernade, copper penny sld, capunata, cherry tomatoes, olives, pate, assorted sausages, crackers and breads etc

Starter: Callaloo Soup (it's a bit like spinach but has to be cooked for at least 20min so that it's not akin to eating fibreglass)

Main: Fish done in olive oil, parsley and lemon. Side sld

Dessert: Creme Caramels

An early morning fisherman brought an irresistibly fresh rainbow runner for our purchasing, then dinning, pleasure.

Our Carriacou Rainbow Runner

Somewhere along the line i've been unofficially 'premoted' to first mate. This meant that I could legally accompany the Cpt ashore in Carriacou to check out of Grenada. We were waiting for the official to finish his lunch but still it took an additional 40min as he felt the need to process the people who came in behind us's paperwork first, putting on a display of his authority, apparently for our benefit. The unlucky sailor had had to drop anchor a bay early and catch a taxi round as he had run out of fuel and there was no wind. This meant that his boat was not in the required bay for check in. He explained this to the official who then told him that by doing this he was breaking the law to which the luckless seaman replied he had had no choice as he had no means of propelling his vessel to the correct bay. The official said this didnt mean anything to the law which he was still considered to be breaking, going on to threaten the unhappy tourist with jail-time, appearances before a judge, boat impounding and such like while the poor chap continuously cried out "well what was i supposed to do?". The official conducted the entire interview with a smug smile on his face, frequently glancing across at us. Finally he told the man to redo his paperwork while thinking of what he could say to the official to make him change his mind. To the rest of us in the office it was obvious that the power-mad official simply required a grovelling apology and plea for mercy from the blank foreigner. After many wasted and uncomfortable minutes, the official still wasnt getting his apology, so he gave up telling the relieved traveller not to do it again and that there was a church down the road where it would be advisable if he made a sizeable donation...

Finally cleared out of Grenada/Carriacou we motored our way to Union Island which is the first island in the country of islands known as St Vincent and the Grenadians (or SVG for short)

While the Cpt checked us into this new country, I set out a massive spread for lunch following which all, except the owners wife, had a brief tour around the island. The guests, except the owner's wife, then had drinks on Happy Island (an optimistically named sandbank with a bar on it) while I prepared dinner, and served drinks to the owner's wife.

Day 7 Union Island to Bequia via the Tobago Cays

Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwiches with cheese platter and various spreads (tapenade, cream cheese w truffle)

Starter: Prawn Cocktail

Main: Lamb Cutlets marinaded overnight in lemon, olive oil, garlic etc

Dessert: Skipper's Banana Flambe

We had a great sail, tacking our way from Union Island to the Tobago Cays.

My flippers waving hello from the Tobago Cays

Once again the Cays lived up to expectations: sandy mounds covered in nothing but palm trees surrounded by crystal clear seas and reefs. Wow. The guests went off and we went snorkelling.

Some baby big fish swimming under our rudder

The sting rays were still there, accompanied by a few trunkfish and schools of baby big fish. This is the kind of place where you can be pruned and cold and still have to be dragged out of the sea.

Just another 'island' in the Tobago Cays

We finally tore ourselves away from the Tobago Cays sadly bidding them farewell. Apparently we couldnt spend more than an afternoon in this exclusive slice of paradise (accessible only by boat) as we had to spend 3 whole days on the touristy development known as St Lucia (with almost daily flights directly from the UK and USA)

A Sunset Farewell to the Cays

Despite what the temperatures might think, it is winter here now, and the sun, well knowing this, disappears around 5.30pm. On this evening however, the sun seemed reluctant to set, providing us with a spectacular display in the red to yellow part of the spectrum.

Very little beats night sailing

Where to begin describing night sailing?

It is always something special but when there is decent wind, a near full moon and your sailing a boat designed for comfort but speed...ah...

After ensuring the guests had all they required, I left them in the aft section of the boat and went forward to the bow. Sitting on the pulpit chair, the moon laid out a shimmering carpet of silver before me reaching up to my dangling feet, and with the propelling wind rushing across my face, muffling my ears before powering into the giant genoa behind me, I finally had a moments pure solitude.

A little beach on another Tobago Cays island

The heel of the boat.

I am actually standing upright, it is the floor that is at the precarious angle.

(note the stainless peg holding the chair onto the floor)

The trick to walking through a boat that is so heeled over is simple: lean so that your body is vertical. If you get it right it should just feel like youre walking around a rather steep hill with a very strong wind propping you up. This may sound simple but is actually quite counter-intuitive as it is not only the floor that is at the wrong angle but the walls and furniture too...

See Mom and Dad, we do wear lifejackets! (After dark or above 25knots windspeed)

This evening's starters

and a very welcome glass of red

It was well worth having to prepare the bits and bobs for dinner underway as it meant having the extra time visiting the reeflife of the Cays. But by the time we anchored all that needed to be done was for the prawn cocktails to be arranged in their glasses and the well marinaded giant lamb cutlets to be tossed on the cast iron griddle. (The Caribbean butchers seem to have a different idea of how to cut a cutlet than what I know...theirs are about 5cm thick...)

Day 8 Bequia to St Vincent: Walliabou

Lunch: Ham Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches

Dinner: ashore

This morning was a very busy morning. The linen needed changing, all the usual cleaning, baking the cake for dessert and preparing the chicken which takes ages but is well worth it (its stuffed under the skin with grated veg, a mix of cheeses and egg which needs to 'marinade' for 1 to 24hrs). While this was going on the guest went exploring ashore, coming back claiming Bequia is the best island theyve seen so far.

Sour Sop

Foreign food is part of the travel experience. Sour Sop is mooshy. The firm green skin is removed and the pulp smooshed, popping the black seeds out of their soft pulpy sacks. Generally it is drunk blended with milk and ice but tastes great on its own or as a topping for fruit salad. It has a creamy sweet and sour taste with the sweet being more rich than sugary. Very yum.

Walliabou bathed in moonlight

We sailed off the anchor and to St Vincent. Wallilabou is where the main set for the Pirates of the Caribbean was. On arrival every boat is meet by a shoal of boats...local fishing type boats, all bearing helpful hands for mooring lines, trinkets and fruit and veg for sail... It takes some skill with a smile on your face to get them to stop hanging onto your boat and trying to ply their wares to your guests, but we managed without making anyone grumpy.

Recognise any of this from the movie?

We had a yummy dinner ashore in the restaurant next to the set, that is decorated with signed posters and pictures from the movie. Their rum punches are really really pockey. 1 is definitely enough!

Remember that rock? Picture it with a few dangling bodies beneath it and Cpt Jack removing his hat...

Day 9 St Vincent: Walliabou to St Lucia: Soufriere

Lunch: Ham, tomato and avo salad filled pitas

Starter: Tomato Soup

Main: Country Roast Chicken w lemon sesame carrots and broccoli

Dessert: Banana Carrot Walnut Cake (delicious, moist, and made in 10min with no more utensils than a fork)

Sailing to The Pitons

oooh oooh ooh too many rum punches. Definitely a mistake.

Luckily the stuffing for the chicken and the dessert were made last night and the tomato soup was preprepared and frozen before the charter even began. So all there was to do was sail the entire day away. Luckily it seems the combination of a seasick tablet and a headache pill are a relatively good hangover cure.

But the oven was playing up again and wouldnt reach the required temperature resulting in the chicken taking 2 hours to cook. Ah well, after anchoring it was a simple matter of keeping the guests happy with snacks and drink until dinner was cooked.

Day 10 St Lucia: Soufriere to Rodney Bay

Lunch: Bacon and Avocado filled pitas

Dinner: Ashore at Spinnakars Restaurant

What a stunning morning! We woke up in the shadow of the big Piton with the deep, clear water beneath us a shocking sapphire blue. It was so clear that glancing over the side I could see a school of big fish swimming more than 10m below the surface.

Oh dear some people simply seem to bumble from one mistake to the next. The latest with our guest couple was them discovering that they'd managed to fill the shower sump with sand (the poor poor sump pump) which apparently surprised them no end where as we were expecting some such problem when we saw them come back from the beach with half the sand still attached to their faces. Thinking they would help solve the issue, the husband decided to clean the sump out using toilet paper which he flushed down the loo. Unfortunately on a boat not even loo flushing magically whisks things away to another dimension and his actions thus filled the toilet holding tanks which then stops the forward heads from being able to flush. As a result no one could use the toilets for the rest of the morning (and we are yet waiting for the consequences of forcing the toilet pump to pump sand...)

Ah the life at sea.

We merrily sailed our way North to Rodney Bay where the remainder of the ARC fleet (crossing the Atlantic) were making their way in. And since dinner was to be ashore I was able to join the owner in a spectacular water ski in the Bay. Wow was it a great setting with perfect skiing conditions. Fun!

After a scrumptious dinner ashore we finally made it to bed at 3.30am dreading the 6.30 alarm.

Day 11 St Lucia: Rodney Bay to Marigot Bay

Lunch: Chicken salad filled pitas

Starter: Caprese Salad

Main: Pork Chops marinaded in pineapple juice w ginger rice, roast butternut and christofenes

Dessert: Creme Catalana

Just another Caribbean Sunset

Just as I have finished clearing up all the breakfast things from everyone else's first meal of the day, her majesty's husband politely asks that if it is no trouble could I please prepare a cooked breakfast for her

highness. I was planning a massive breakfast for everyone the next day it being their last day and one of the guests birthday, but as the princess wishes so she gets. 2 fried eggs, soft inside but cooked without, bacon and toast fried in the bacon fat...and there she sat on deck eating it with everyone else sitting watching...

The owner was keen for another ski and i thought i'd give it a go again. oooh not such a good idea. The result: fun, but very wet stiff and tired.

The Palm covered spit sheltering Marigot Bay from its entrance to the sea

(and the British fleet from the French)

Marigot Bay is the one mentioned last season were an English Admiral hid his fleet from the French by covering the rigging with palm leaves and anchoring behind the palm covered spit that divides the bay in two. Its absolutely stunning

The final dinner's table setting

After everything was prepared for dinner i joined the guests on a dingy ride around the corner to a beach for a swim. As we anchored a man from the beach started waving and shouting. We couldnt really hear him but kept catching snatches about the pipe that goes into the sea being for molasses and we didnt know if he was trying to tell us not to swim there or what. The owner bravely jumped in anyway and the local started

swimming out to him, so i figured it must be fine. 2 of the guests wouldnt get into the water but the rest of us swam ashore. It turns out the chap was simply trying to give us a lesson about the area: there was an old rum factory there and they anchor the molasses boats offshore, connect the pipe to the hold and pump the molasses ashore. We then got invited to join them for their poitjie on the beach and got the tour of the fishermen's hut. We declined the meal on the basis that there were two people waiting on the dingy for us but i guess it may have been partially due to the discovery that the floating bits were the remains of a cows scull.

After dinner it was off to the bar to listen to a reggae band and sing in the guest's birthday.

The drinks menu in Marigot Bay

Pic taken for the "Bartenders Surprise"

Day 12 St Lucia: Marigot Bay

Breakfast: 30 slices of Bacon, 8 Fried Eggs, 15 sausages, 10 slices Fried Toast, 4 'grilled' tomatoes

Tea: Birthday Chocolate Brownie Cake

Lunch: An assortment all set out

Departure day.

A big breakfast for everyone as 3 were leaving before lunch.

Then the guests went off on one last "jolly" coming back for tea on deck with a birthday cake with candles and everything.

Then we dropped off the 3 due to leave and the last two read and chatted, lunched and finally left.

ooh ooh ooh we got presents!

The one guest gave us a bottle of really nice Port as I had had some for the first time on charter with them and found it rather enjoyable, and and and a box of scrummy chocolates.

The couple gave the Cpt some nice smelling boy shower gel and deo and me...2 sets of rather kinky underwear...

Oh and the owner and his wife, well they told us they would fly us to the UK to be with the Cpt's family for Christmas, If we could still find flights (there were less than 10 days left) and if we wouldnt mind assisting the wife at their New Year's Eve do...needless to say we were unable to find flights...

So bye bye guests and back to the bar for celebratory margaritas and G&Ts

Day all the rest St Lucia: Marigot Bay

Freedom Breakfast

Our first day of freedom began with a cooked breakfast ashore and a stroll around the shops followed by more coffee and strolling.

My new toy

Finally we sailed back north to Rodney Bay where we anchored in the bay before having to go into the marina so we could fix the generator bit that had fried as the yard's last present was not attaching a connection properly...

I bought a steel drum and have started learning to play it. Poor Cpt sitting through my fitful renditions of Christmas Carols.

Port and celebratory Monte Christo Cigar

Before the charter began I found some Monte Christo cigars in Grenada.

As a final celebration we ended the trip sipping gifted port and puffing a cigar (ok well the first few puffs of it anyway)