Author: Paul and Claire

After three days in the lagoon Electec have done a deep dive on the generator and the headsail furler has disappeared into the sheds for a rebuild. That kind of progress was impossible to achieve  down south and the skills simply weren’t available. We are waiting for the results regarding both units….and time is pressing as we need to be out of the hurricane zone, way east of Bermuda, in reality in the Azores by July 1st. The headsail was cranked on the staysail halyard and lowered into the tender this morning. From there it went across the bay, through

So it is with Karl’s boat anchored behind a 76ft cat. Karl single handed his 25ft boat across the Atlantic and keeps catching up with us as we head north. He was great fun to meet but we first spotted him about 200 miles ago in the Iles des Saintes where he stood outdue to the seriously small dimensions of his rig. We finally met at St Kitts and had a good laugh about his adventures.                          

We sailed up to Montserrat but the 18kn ESE wind rounding the shoals in the north still kicked up a nasty swell round the leeward side so we couldn’t stay. Passing the 2 mile exclusion zone around the hot steaming volcano and crossing the edge of the larva flow was a sight. Hot gases at 1000 deg C can roll down the mountainside at any time we are told. The last photo is of the old airport and you just see a single building still standing and that’s all. Some of the boulders are larger than that.

Where yachts disappear during your lunch hour! A couple of fisherman dragged in a yacht that we thought had set sail a few hours ago. There was no sign of any crew onboard even as it entered shallow water. We had seen the two older gentleman owners earlier and thought that perhaps they had had a serious piracy issue. The yacht was towed up to the shoreline and out of our view. We were concerned at the mystery and things didn’t look right.               The mystery revealed itself when a cat appeared about 100m

I’ll take it as it is and bung it in the inflatable….

It was only a matter of time….

We read that the gardens were well worth a visit but you can’t be sure? Deshaies Botanical Gardens involves a steep climb up a winding and heavily cambered road, dodging runaway camions on the way (if you were on the inside of a couple of the blind corners then a front grill would be the last thing you would see), and a costly entry fee but it’s all for access to a very well maintained and presented collection of plants. The snack bar is good value and the views from the hillside are pleasant enough.  

Anchored on set in Deshaies the filming location for Death in Paradise. We went for dinner on the seafront at the restaurant to the left of the dinghy dock at L’Amer. After the tasteless ‘appetizer’ we declined to continue with the meal and headed to Kaz’s which was great. The in thing was crayfish. The crayfish soup in particular looked like a real winner but we opted for the skewered version. Some say Kaz’s is the Death in Paradise beach bar film set which we can safely say is wrong because it is inland! The church   The Police Station