Antigua

We have had the best sailing yet on Sunflower for most of the Caribbean with the wind on the beam and plenty of it but now we are at the top of the chain and it's all downhill sailing for a while heading west once again. Antigua would be one of my favourite islands. I had always wanted to come and see the mega yachts but thought a day or 2 would be enough of the glitz and glamour but it was nothing like. Yea a lot of seriously bloody serious yachts in Falmouth and English harbours with lots of Perini Navi's 50+m, Old Americas cup J boats and everything  in between plus the disgusting white boats but then where we have been mostly anchored in Deep Bay on the other side of the island there's hardly a one yet a beautiful anchorage. Antigua is blessed with beautiful anchorages all over with protected bays everywhere but then there are also the "Christmas Winds", it's like Fremantle in the summer with a non stop screaming easterly that stirs up the water with a bit of groundswell so snorkelling is out of the question but it's all good;) the people are all very friendly and it's the most English islands we have been to they even have a rasta style English accent and play reggae Xmas tunes such as my favourite "does santa come to the getto", no joke heaps of reggae Xmas songs! 

A couple of days before Xmas our Finnish friends on "Everafter" and "KasteHelmi" and also Luis our Argentinian friend arrived here in Deep Bay and it has been great fun, bit of a rum overdose but great fun! Xmas on the beach with loads of great Finnish food, Ham ect and a Seafood BBQ was a serious feast for sure, good times! Really happy we got to meet up with them to share the day. 

Now that the hangover has almost passed it's time to get Sunflower ready for the 180 mile sail to the BVI's. There is a small island called Jast Van Dyke with normally 200 people on it but they put on a massive 3 day party for New Years that brings a few thousand people, will be crazy for sure. So tomorrow we leave and should arrive on the 29th and then it's just a 30 mile sail to Culebra where I fly back to Australia mid Jan for work. 

Guadaloupe

Our original plan was to miss the French islands but I'm glad we stopped here that's for sure. Completely different vibe, nothing like any of the other islands we have visited. Obviously French, very French and they have made a very good influence. It's the first island we have seen with good organisation with the farming, great crops everywhere of all sorts including massive banana plantations. And the food.... While in the rest of the Caribbean we see massive obesity problems with loads of fried take away places here in Guadaloupe the people are actually skinny! Well maybe not skinny but not massive either :) is a shame though we can't speak French which does make it seriously hard but they are very chilled out bunch.

We stayed up the top of the island on the west in Dashaies, a beautiful little sheltered bay with loads of free really good moorings. We hired a car and took a trip around the island and it's absolutely beautiful and lush, rainforest everywhere and a hikers paridise although we only did a couple of short walks in the national park.

Some tips for cruisers- there's drinking water available from a tap near the showers in harbour for free, supermarkets are really good and although it's in euros seemed no more expensive and our search for cheap beer we found cases for €18,great steaks and awesome cheeses and of course French wine from €3. Check in super easy on a computer at a little shop you can do every day of the week for €4.

The year of the goat

Marie-Galante is a nice little island belonging to France and just off the main island Guadaloupe. We met Sonia and Luis our Argentinian friends there and hired a car for the day tolook around the island. Since Tobago Sonia and Luis have been talking about finding a baby goat to cook Argentinian style on the fire and seeing the many farms here and Julie's birthday coming up we chanced it and pulled into one of the farmers driveways. As luck would have it we couldn't have chosen a better fella to have come to and luckily Luis speaks French otherwise it would have been impossible for sure. This fella only has a couple of acres but has absolutely everything besides the dozen or so goats, chickens, pigeons, fouls, corn avocados, potatoes, every tropical fruit and veg around actually I reckon an absolute little paradise. So after a bit of bargaining, (well trying to the price actually went up) we came to a deal that he would slaughter it and we could pick it up the next day. Very cute little goat we chose I must say. Anyway a long story short we found a near deserted beach in the following days to anchor and it was bloody delicious! Luis cooked it to perfection over the fire and with a bit of Argentinian spice Chimi-churi it couldn't have been better, we had a great day celebrating Julie's birthday..it is a 4 hour process so there is plenty of time to hang out, swim and have a few drinks and the afternoon was a hoot, very good day:)

Dominica

We arrived in Domnica after reading and hearing stories about the boat boys hassling hard for tours and whatever else they can steal and had in our heads it wasn't going to be one of the safer places. As usual all those stories were way over exaggerated. 2 mile from the anchorage though a boat boy did come and meet us for the usual mooring ball?? Tour?? But then smiled and said welcome to Dominica and then another after we dropped anchor. The problem was we actually did want to do tours and thinking this was part of the bargaining we said no to try to get a better deal and then never saw them again for days! So long story short the tour we did want to do to the boiling lake never happened although the 8 hour hike made our bodies ache just thinking about it. So we did a couple of small local tours closer to the town including the Indian River boat trip and seeing were Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was filmed and I tell you what the locals here are for sure the friendliest we have met in the Caribbean so far, very happy bunch.  Even the Saturday morning vege market had a full 5 piece reggae band playing old Jimmy Cliff classics was awesome. Our search though for cheap beer still continues though having to pay $40Aus a case:). But the veges were a lot better than the rest of the islands so far.

Also very easy to get good water with a hose on a mooring in the anchorage you can tie off. We then had a great sail in just 10 knots of wind to Marie-Galante  Guadaloupe, Julie even managed to do the washing!

The Grenadines

Have had a cracker of a sail tonight, we left Bequia yesterday morning for Dominica 160nm and it looks like it is going to take us 26 hours been some very nice sailing although now we are in the lee of Dominica and having to motor the last bit. Anyway the Grenadines.....we've had a great couple of weeks it has been really fun. Met a few new people and also been hanging out with our Argentinian friends we met In Tobago Sonia and Luis. Been catching a few fish, buying a few fish and basically just hanging out cooking fish and drinking a few beers. In Mayreau, Saline Bay we hung out for a good few days and met a really nice couple from Spain/Brazil, they had met our friends earlier also in Brazil so had a lot to talk about and we will hopefully meet them along the way as they have the same rough plans as us for next year also.

We can't see everything in the short time we have in the Eastern Caribbean so we just make the most of what we can staying if we like it a good few days then moving on. So we only saw a few of the Grenadine islands but liked them a lot although there are a lot of Charter boats as to be expected and they reckon December the boat numbers triple! Also the ARC Atlantic Rally brings 230 yachts to St Lucia starting to arrive in 10 days so we figured get the hell out and try and jump ahead;) Bequia is a very nice island, beautiful protected bay with lots of restaurants and little shops and was good fun for a few days having a good party ashore our last night. Now for Dominica, it is the poorest country of the Eastern Caribbean so hopefully we fit right in! Also there are meant to be lots of really good fruit and vegetables  something that is hard to find in most of the islands we have seen so far.

Tobago Cays

The weather sort of cleared last Wednesday and we sailed over to Union Island and anchored off Frigate island for the night then went around to officially check in at Clifton bay just a couple of miles away the next day. Nice town, only 3000 people on the island so not busy at all and easy check in, we were done and back to the boat before lunch and then went over to Tobago Cays just 5 miles away. Our hopes were high as everyone talks it up. Yea it's beautiful terquise water for sure anchoring in sand and the snorkelling is great. It's a national park so NO fishing at all which is good for seeing lots of fish but after we had snorkelled not much else to do as normally in a place like this fishing would take up half of our day. Our young French friends on Gaia we met in Tobago came just when we were about to leave so we stayed a second night and had a great boozy night with them which was lots of fun. Then we decided to go back to Union island around the back to Chatam bay to see if we can get a fish, we had luck and been eating fish aswell as  caught a few lobster so we are laughing:) there are only a couple of other yachts here compared to the masses everywhere else so this is our goal to try to find a few more quiet bays like this on our way up!

On our way

After a few days at the islands chilling and doing a few jobs we headed back to Chagaramas to fix the stern gland that wasn't right and top up our stores, pick up visas and most importantly stock up with duty free liquor available from Cruise Inn Marina. With Sunflower loaded to the gills with wine for the wedding and enough beer for "hopefully" a couple of months we were out of there hopefully for the last time. All was well with the new stern gland packing which was a relief. Once clear of Trinidad we were heading for Carriacou just over 100 miles. True wind of 15-20 knots right on the nose, something we haven't had for a long time but the seas were pretty good and we were doing 6 knots ploughing through with 2 reefs. We could see sheet lightning ahead for most of the night and then just after midnight we found it with lots of squalls, a couple punching just over 30 knots with rain so needless to say it was a long night for me. We had a new Benetau the same size as us right alongside us for the night which made it fun. He would gain and get ahead when the breeze eased and we would gain ours back when the breeze was up once so close I could shine our torch on his sails, Sunflower performed well for sure and we covered 110nm in 19 hours was good fun although a little shitty at the end. We arrived in Tryell Bay at daylight and was shocked to see at least 100 other yachts here! Welcome to the Caribbean :( nice secure bay though as the weather is shit for the next few days. Yesterday lots of excitement with a squall of 40 knots. We anchored on the outside away from the chaos but there were others crammed inside, boats dragging people in dinghys driving them like tugs fending of other yachts in the pooring rain, it was bloody stressful just watching. Our 33kg Rocna held well.

Sunday night we also saw some really nice blues music! Something we haven't been able to watch for a long while. Really good 3 piece playing old blues covers was great fun and ended up a fairly boozy night with a few interesting characters about. 

Now it's just waiting for the weather to settle down and we will head over to check in at Union Island and then head over to Tobago Cays.

Haul out at "Power Boats" Trinidad

After 6 days on the hard at "Power Boats" we were done, knackered but done:) we worked flat out scrubbing and painting the bottom, had the topsides polished, new stern gland, engine fully serviced including exhaust valve clearences adjusted, new anodes, patches on the deck ground and epoxied ready to paint new non skid, small welding job done on mast fitting and an electrician came and checked over a few things. We used Hempil Globic 9000 antifoul, was one of the cheapest ones and the specs look good will see how it goes. Big price difference in Antifouls with the expensive ones up around $400+ US a gallon! With a discount from the yards shop we got 15ltr of the Hempil for $500. The yard was brilliant, couldn't ask for more. All the workers there really friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, great boaters shop with everything you need for painting ect and cheaper than surrounding chandleries, all the contractors you could need for anything at all if needed, great little supermarket with food and beer, lots of clean toilets and showers and free wifi plus fuel, restaurant ect ect, you couldn't ask for more. The first 5 days on the hard are free so it's a good incentive to hurry up. Our total bill for 6 days with everything =haulout/chocks/ pressure wash/electricity/ antifoul, tape,rollers, anodes ect/ case of beers/laundry and some basic food came to $1050US which I thought was really good. It starts adding up though if you are there for a while as each day for us is about 20$ a day. Anyway I would highly recomend  the place for sure. 

We are now anchored in a very quiet bay off Monos Island just 5 miles from the boatyards and it's very nice. We had an interview at the US embassy here on Friday and were both granted a 10 year US visa which opens up a few more doors, we will now be able to head up to Puerto Rico around Xmas for a look and may leave Julie and Sunflower off the island Culebra when I fly back for work in January, that's the plan at this stage anyway :)

Hoooly Dooooly

My 50 hour flight was broken up with a quick pit stop in New York. Was cool, got a taxi to the DHL office to pick up my autopilot that was in for repair. All good, bit of a rough neighbourhood but wasn't until I was waiting for the bus that I noticed I was the only white folk around including the many cars driving past, not even a Mexican! Very friendly people though on the bus I was getting a few strange looks but maybe I was paranoid, but it really looked like the streets from Sesame Street! Was bizarre to be in New York, busy joint that's for sure but I tell you everyone I spoke with asking for directions or whatever was super nice. I got the subway then into Manhattan and walked into Broadway, stuck my head into an Irish bar for a quick pint but I was that tired and just wanted to get back to see Julie I wasn't that enthused so grabbed another bus back to the airport and got on my flight to Trinidad then another onto Tobago getting back to Charlottville by lunchtime, happy days :)

The last week there has just flown by, catching back up with Julie and meeting a few new yachties and locals in the town, swimming, doing a few more boat jobs, having a beer then another swim. Our Finnish friends on "Ever After " and "KasteHelmi" arrived on the weekend and we went to a food festival and another day played a Finnish stick throwing game on the beach which involved a bit of Madagascan rum which was great fun followed by a fish BBQ. And then as quick as that it was the afternoon of the 21st, today and we are on our way to Trinidad to haul out. It has to be done but it's always dreaded. We left at 1400 this afternoon and had nice sailing for a couple of hours and then the wind has died and we are motoring. It's a 85nm trip so easy enough and we will get there tomorrow morning and start organising ourselves with paint ect and haul out the next day, let the games begin!!

For cruisers heading to Tobago-it's a great place! Charlottville especially is a really nice place to be. It's safe, great anchorage, all the basics you need are in the town, customs immigration, beer, veges, fresh water stream on the beach to shower and top up your tanks it's Hollywood. Diesel is also very easy and cheap, you park your dingy on the beach and straight accross from the gas station. I got 330ltrs for 560TT$ or $120aus, bloody bargain. I did filter it though with a Mr Funnel filter and there was a little bit of crud but I think it should be alright.