Paul and Claire

Happy Birthday

Cruising

It was Claire’s birthday so we made up ‘Happy Birthday’ in flags and flew it from the bow. The day started with breakfast at Frangipani’s followed by a beach barbeque. Organised by a cruising couple and cooked by Paul & Faith who run the beach bar (an umbrella on the beach!) this was attended by numerous yachts. We had not pre-ordered our lobster so Donal & Sarah from Millport II kindly gave up theirs for the birthday girl; how kind is that. Snorkelling around the Bequia anchorage is the best we have experienced so far. A couple of days later

Paul and Claire

Bequia – yachting heaven!

Cruising

It was rough during the night between St Lucia and St Vincent with about 22kn blowing in from the Atlantic. In the lee of St Vincent we motored in the calm before rounding the bottom of the island. We rolled into Bequia on a close reach in 26kn with waves crashing over the bow. The anchorage is huge in Admiralty Bay and we headed per the guide to anchor off Frangipani Hotel at the head of the bay. But we found the whole area dominated by buoys so we eventually found a spot to anchor about 1/4 mile out of

Paul and Claire

St Vincent, a no-go island

Cruising

We departed Soufriere at midnight to make our way down to Bequia. On the way, like most cruisers, we by-passed St Vincent which has a well documented history of crime against cruisers. At this time Walliablou Bay is said to have a problem and it is advised not to anchor off Kingston. Passing the island as the sun rose we could see that the north is very rugged with tall sharp ridges and near vertical faces.

Paul and Claire

Soufriere, St Lucia

Cruising

We found St Lucia to be very unsafe and crime against cruisers is rife. We have heard of so many incidents and we have only been on the island for a month. We were at this point very keen to leave the island. Sadly whilst anchored at Soufriere we learnt of the tragic murder of a cruiser in Vieux Fort, the next stop and last customs clearance place on the island. Vieux Fort had a bad reputation for theft so we had intended to give it a miss. Soufriere wasn’t great. It was a hassle as St Lucia always is

Claire

College Blues

Cruising

The blue of the sea that is! College has started for Sophie. Each morning she takes over the doghouse and studies. She is studying for Geography, English Language and English Literature. We are using the Cambridge International exams and will register as a private candidate with a college in New Zealand for her AS exams and South Africa for her A2s. We are still in Marigot Bay. We wanted to establish a studying routine after 6 months off. Study and boat maintenance/admin in the morning, snorkle before lunch! We are getting used to it. We think we are finally getting

Claire

Marigot Bay

Cruising

Arrived in Marigot Bay and had a leisurely lunch followed by sundowners with ARC friends who were also here. Then we all had a long dinner at Doolittles. No need to eat today! It feels good to be somewhere other than Rodney Bay. No boat boy hassle here which makes for a relaxing anchorage. Food’s not great at Doolittles. Worst of all the place is infested with no-see-ums that chew your ankles to bits. And Happy Hour is a bit of a con with the apparent standard EC$ type prices for drinks actually turning out to be in USD! So

Claire

Finally at anchor

Cruising

We moved out of the marina yesterday to anchor in Rodney Bay. Despite the unseasonal weather in the photo (upside down and I cant fix it!) we did manage to anchor the dinghy and snorkel around the rocks on Pigeon Island. It feels good to be free of a marina for the first time in 3 months (not including the Atlantic)! Because of our varying problems we have had to be attached to land and our last anchorage was Portimao in the Algarve. We ate well last night, some steaks with plantain and baked potato. Our first attempt at cooking

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