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 :)