Over due for an update

We have been busy here in Tyrell Bay Carriacou since our arrival on Dec 10. After Cat Tales and Aspen arrived the sightseeing and exploring began in earnest. I will just lay out a lot of pictures and hope you enjoy.

After Doug and Vicki left we returned to the anchorage and dropped the anchor. Although it appeared to be in a sandy spot the anchor just wouldn't catch. Brian pulled it up and discovered why! A large chunk of coral was caught on the tip of the Manson Supreme. Fortunately at that moment a friend Jimmy ( the Mayor he is affectionately known as) came by in his dinghy and Brian passed him a hammer and he beat it off. Worked just fine after that!

These are a few shots of the Pitons as we approached on our sail down to Bequia. Just like the Rockies in Canada these mountains never cease to amaze me. As you can also see not much in wind or waves at that early hour. We were motoring along. 

We are loving the new auto pilot. Sailing along now at a slight heel and no one at the wheel except Auto.

Perhaps a bit hard to see but it was pouring rain at this point. Not my most comfortable day on the water! It did stop and the sun came out and we dried out before the next squall hit. 

A beautiful sunset to welcome us to our new home for a few weeks. 

Some of the sights in Hillsboro. It is a 20 min. bus ride from Tyrell Bay and always an interesting ride for 3.50 EC. As 8 of us caught the bus the other day for a ride to Hillsboro the bus that should have held about 12 people was stretched to hold about 15. In this heat and the roads and lack of shocks it is not a pleasant experience. But Malcolm our entrepreneurial driver turned our bus trip into a tour bus with a guide for a reasonable price. We toured the Windward area of the island and saw two sites where local  ships are being built of wood in the old styles. 

We had a great beach day the day before on Paradise Beach looking out onto Sandy Island. The Santa hats came out of Dawns bag and a photo shot broke out. Suesea from Moody Blues worked hard at trying to set up the shots. 

Steve and Maria of Aspen 

Dawn and Laurie of Cat Tales 

Suesea and Gene of Moody Blues.

A shady spot for three old girls!

Plans for Christmas are in the works with Christmas Eve on Moody Blues and a pot luck dinner on Cat Tales. The only catamaran gets the big meal. Maria has a 10 lb. turkey in her freezer for the occasion. I really need to see her freezer! 

The view of the bay from the road into town. We are in there somewhere. 

The weather has been very wild and windy the past week. We won't move onto Grenada until after Christmas and possibly later. The rains when they hit are torrential. I can't even leave my rain catcher out to take advantage of the rains because the winds are so strong I fear it will be torn and the rain would just be bounced out of it. I know the " hell here never ends"  We have friends who have just started their cruising life from Bayfield,Ont. and have been sailing from southern Florida to the British Virgin Islands this past week. I know it has not been a gentle sail to put it mildly and am anxiously awaiting word of their arrival. 

Merry Christmas to all and a blessed New Year from Peace and Plenty. 

So much happening in a week

We bid a teary farewell to Doug and Vicki at the fuel dock where they found Trevor their ride to the airport. We went back to the anchorage to regroup before the next adventure. We were waiting for a weather window to make our trek south to meet Cat Tales ( my sister Dawn and Laurie). Denis our weather man recommended to not to move before Tuesday. We were happy to just sit for a few days. We had some chores to catch up on and provisioning to attend to. The ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers)was arriving in gusto now about 30 boats in a 24 hour period. The stores and services in the marina were busy. We managed to fit a few more social events into our relaxed schedule. No sense in cleaning if you're going sailing. Brian did stem the leaks in the seal on the new window we had replaced over the summer. Rain coming in is one thing but not salt. When D&V were here we had much laughter over my laundry bucket. It was breaking down pretty fast. Well when you drop a full 5 gallon water jug on it it didn't stand a chance. So we went out searching for a new washing machine. So when we found a 20 litre bucket for only 12 EC at the paint store,we bought two. I'm pretty happy! (Merry Christmas Eh!)

These two pics are from Martinique when we had trouble downloading. The colourful doors are the entrance to the mall in Fort de France.

We started off on Tuesday to sail south to Caneries to stage ourselves for a jump off to Bequia. We anchored in Caneries in a lovely quiet calm bay all by ourselves. That was a first for us.

 The first thing we noticed and didn't miss was the lack of noise. We love Rodney Bay but it so noisy with beach bar racket that goes on half the night. I do mean half the night often until 2-3 am. But this bay was perfect. We were ready for a early start. We had winds from the south from 6 knots to 22 knots in the passage between St L and St Vincent. As always that is a wild passage but we managed with nothing breaking. The passage between St V and Bequia is much shorter and still a bit wild but fine. Nice beam reach, small jib and triple reefer main, we were doing 6-7 knots! We anchored at about 4:30, put up the yellow Q flag and left early the next morning for Carricou. Carricou is one of the small islands that make up the country of Grenada. We left in a squall (22-24 knots of wind, reduced jib, boat speed 6-8 knots) and were pretty wet (fresh water) for quite awhile. We had very little visibility so we kept a very close watch for oncoming boats. The winds for both days were up and down and we sailed and motor sailed. Just before we left Canada we bought a new auto pilot which Brian installed in Rodney Bay. We put it to the test on this journey and it preformed beautifully. We arrived in Tyrell Bay about 2:30 on Thursday. Brian went off in the dinghy to check into customs. It started raining really hard shortly after and I quickly tried to get the rain shields attached. While I was so focused on getting that job done to keep the cockpit dry. Where was Vicki to yell "squirrel" and I would have run inside to close the hatches that were wide open over our bed and the livingroom. What a mess inside but the cockpit was dry. "Squirrel", is what jwe say when you are doing one job but spy another thing to do and run off in that direction. It seems to happen all the time onboard. We spent yesterday snooping and shopping around Tyrell Bay and Hillsboro. It seems like a very small quaint island so far. There are a very large number of Canadian boats around us. Often we are asked why there are so many Canadians down here.......we reply "do you know how cold it is in Canada right now?" Although we do see it is quite mild in SW Ontario and the east at the moment.

We will now wait for Dawn and Laurie and another boat Aspen, Steve and Maria, to join us. This is probably where we will all spend Christmas together. At that time Cat Tales and us will head south to Grenada and Aspen will head north. This is our next door neighbour and yes someone is living aboard. And I worry about cleaning and polishing! 

Hope you are all having fun running around the malls,baking your goodies,wrapping and generally enjoying the Christmas frenzy. My friend Sue gave me a Christmas magazine and the recipes and decorations did make me miss it all, a bit. 

Just another day slumming it out here in The Bay....

Well, here we sit in the cockpit, sipping our morning coffee, enjoying the view on our last morning here in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. We have just received our pains chocolat delivered to us I tell you, the Hell here never ends! A service that just started this week maybe in our honour.  We've had such an amazing two weeks, met so many new friends, ate an abundance of delicious food, drank copious amounts of vino rouge, and had so many laughs!

Tuesday we went to the Bread Basket to have a chicken roti, it was so filling, so good. In the evening, we were invited to have dinner aboard Saltscar, John & Sue were wonderful hosts, we had a very tasty soup, great conversation, and had Simon's famous pumpkin pie.

Wednesday was another fun filled day, Lorna & I attended the Ladies Luncheon at Bay Gardens Resort what a gorgeous place! Eight ladies attended for lunch, swim & hot tubbing....Vanessa, Kim, Marie, Sue, Marsha, Eunice, Lorna & myself. There is to be no mention of Amps or Volts at these luncheons.

In the evening, Brian, Lorna, Doug & I went to happy hour on the Boardwalk, then we went to Zaifia (The Taste) restaurant for Indian food, very flavourful. It is a new restaurant just opened this week also in our honour. Got back to the boat & enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck watching the stars.

We are anchored near the ARC finish line and watching the boats arriving from their 2700 nautical miles from Grand Canary Island to Rodney Bay. 

Thank you Brian & Lorna for everything, we've truly enjoyed our vacation here in the Windward Islands.

Love, Vicki & Doug

Doug here!

First I want to thank Brian,Lorna and the good ship Peace & Plenty for their gracious hospitality. Besides the great weather, sailing, hiking, snorkelling, food & Bare Breasted Beauties on the beach I have been looking at all the different boats. I have been looking at what works and what doesn't work on the boats down here. I have come up with a short list for our boat, Zingara, which is sitting on the hard back in Canada. The time is now at hand to finish all the projects and throw off the dock lines!

Once again thanks to Brian & Lorna for a great two weeks.

Cheers!

A busy fun week

We have had such a busy and fun week with Doug and Vicki. We left St Lucia and had a lovely sail as Vicki has already blogged on. It is so much fun to show people who have never been on these islands the sights and sounds and of course the food. It is terrible as the days of their visit count down and we still have wonderful places to take them and food to try. They still haven't tried a roti at the Bread Basket which we feel are the best with our limited exposure. The fridge is full of good French cheeses and we still had to have lunch out at the market in Fort de France.  We took the ferry from Anse Mitan to Fort de France the capital city. We walked around the town and picked up more good food. They were so impressed with the old world charm and flavour. But we were surprised as the town seemed to shut down around 2:00 pm. on a Sat. Most stores close for lunch everyday ...a long relaxed lunch but today the stores and restaurants were closed and no people were around. The mall was well decked out with Christmas finery and very busy. 

To back track we left St Anne on Friday morning and travelled along the southern coast to Anse Chaudier where we were only one of six boats in the anchorage. It is a great spot to snorkel and we saw a wonderful array of sea life. The purple and yellow coral was abundant and beautiful. Unfortunately I did see one lion fish .... a fish that is very invasive to the reef. Doug and Vicki were very happy to spend an hour swimming in the calm warm waters. The colour of the water in that bay is amazing. Such a dark crystal blue water. You can see to the bottom in 20 feet. We had met up with a boat Terentella from Halifax who we had walked with the day before to the Saline Ponds and then had been entertained on their boat. We invited Al and Michelle over for pizza and  Vicki and I had a fun time making three gourmet pizzas. Each one was different and with only pizza pan it was a challenge to get them cooked in the tiny boat oven. But we managed and a great time and lots of laughs. No one burned a finger! 

Back to Anse Mitan where we hoped to check out for a Monday sail back to Rodney Bay but that customs office was closed on Sun. The guide book told us to check out at Grand Anse D'Arlet but that office moved last year to Petit Anse D'Arlet. So we motored around to the next bay and picked up a mooring ball and Brian scooted into town for check out. We were legal and on our way at 9:45. The sail back was lovely and showers skirted around us but we managed to avoid them. We arrived at 2:00 pm and enjoyed the traditional anchor down beer. We have many French care packages to deliver to friends who placed shopping lists. 

We have a lot planned for the next two days and will be sorry to have great company leave. Sorry we have so few pics but internet is not allowing us to download. 

Just another Day in Paradise

I don't even know what day it is, what time it is, or what planet we are on, BUT.......I do know that we are in Paradise!  We've been enjoying & experiencing so much of the Cruising Lifestyle here with Our great friends, Brian & Lorna, aboard Peace & Plenty.

We set sail Monday from Rodney Bay, St. Lucia to St. Anne, Martinique. It was the shake down sail & we had an East wind of 17-20 knots with speeds of 5.5 - 7.2 knots, waves were close to 10 feet & we sailed along really great. The new Mr. Auto got a great workout & performed flawlessly. 

We saw flying fish, booby birds & the Customs helicopter, which took our picture & hovered off, we waved & I took their picture as well. We practiced our heaving too & enjoyed a cold Piton beer.

Carried on & arrived, anchored in Martinique by 4pm, what a wonderful day.

While we were anchoring, we saw the biggest sea turtle we've ever seen, just gorgeous.

Back to our experiences, we saw the Green Flash, actually (I, Vicki, saw it twice, once onboard & once while I was swimming in the water! Great to experience that)!!

We all sat on the foredeck with a glass of vin rouge & watched the stars, what could be better than that, lights on the hills, peaceful, anchoring lights coming on, oh, just beautiful!

We awoke Tuesday morning to the aroma of Brian's coffee.....Nectar of the Gods, I must say!

We ventured into Town with the Mothership to get some provisions, copious amounts of vin, Biere & Fromage.  The prices were fairer here than in St Lucia. Had a French lunch at The Sextaint, Doug ordered kangaroo, & we are not even in Australia, which we all tried a bit & it tasted similar to Roast beef, we all enjoyed our lunch. 

Than it was back to the anchorage in St Anne, where we swam, snorkelled & had a delicious steak dinner aboard Peace & Plenty. THE HELL HERE NEVER ENDS!

Tomorrow morning we are dingying over to Town to have a coffe & croissant to have Internet to post this blog. After that, we are going on a hike along with Tarentala, Al & Michelle, to Saline Ponds.

We have met so many Friends of Brian & Lorna, which only emphasizes the fact that Cruisers are great, friendly, helpful people.

Stay tuned....Peace & Plenty back to 68....

Doug & Vicki

Company has arrived

I went to the airport on Thursday afternoon with Trevor to meet Doug and Vicki MacDonald from London Ont. They  arrived a bit early and had a great flight on a brand new West Jet plane from Toronto. Doug is over 6 ft and said he had leg room. 

We stayed a board at the marina on the first night, had a light supper a few drinks and caught up. On Friday we took the dinghy into the lagoon shopped for provisions. Sticker shock hit them as our dollar is equal to 2 EC dollars and prices are very high here. A 6 roll pack of paper towels was over $30.00 EC and Vicki just about flipped. We had lunch at the mall at the food court. One of our favourite spots. We bought a large chicken dinner for two and shared and still had too big of a lunch, $28.00 EC for a lunch for two with two beers. It was so hot. And still that we allowed them to aclimatize by sitting around the pool and drinking appropriate beverages! Nearby in Gros Islet is a famous Jump Up (street party) with food and drinks and music LOUD music! We walked to that early and had a fun dinner at a beach BBQ fish bar (we had marlin, D&V had snapper, all soooo good). We met a few friends there and had a lot of laughs. Doug and Vicki are loving the life so far. We took a dock for two nights when they arrived and made it easier for settling in and getting to the jump up. On Sat morning the skies opened and it rained hard all day. We chased leaks ....ones that didn't show up in the first heavy rain. We had done a bit of laundry early in the day when we had access to lots of water on the dock and waited to hang it on the life lines. Vicki laughed at the whole procedure with the extra rinse cycle we called it. The showers just kept on going all day long. We moved out into the anchorage about noon and it just kept on raining. We spent a lovely afternoon playing dominoes. This morning we have everything on the life lines trying to dry out. 

Today's plans are to walk Pidgeon Island and do some snorkelling. Tomorrow Monday we will head off to Martinique. 

Breezy days in the bay.

It has been lovely and breezy since coming out into the anchorage and not crowded yet. The large rental catamarans with 10-12 people come in to anchor and swim then leave before sunset. Then we are all alone again. The boats will start to arrive by the first part of Dec. we have been working on our individual lists and tasks and doing well. Lists are getting shorter. Today Brian has the big winches apart and cleaning and greasing. 

Yesterday we has the pleasure of meeting friends at the resort Windjammer on the coast just south of us. They have a boat but a time share also and took a week off to relax! They invited us to come have lunch and enjoy the facilities. We took a taxi with another couple and met for a lovely (expensive) lunch with 9 EC beers. Normally we pay 6. But a lovely treat. We took a shuttle bus up the hill to their suite. It was beautiful perched on the side of the cliff on two floors and their own plunge pool. We stayed the rest of the afternoon and swam and had drinks on their balcony overlooking the ocean. It is a resort that the London,Ont builder EllisDon built many years ago. Quite a lovely day for sure.

Each day in the anchorage a couple small power boats go around selling fruit. We don't usually take advantage of their services as the fruit is expensive and sometimes not very good compared to town but then convience is worth something.  Today Gregory came by and as we were out of bananas I called him over. He had a mishap last week in the huge rainstorm to have his boat overturn and he lost everything. Usually his roof is adorned with tattered flags from all over. Today his fruit was wonderful and as you see the size of the mangoes and oranges well worth it. I put the tape measure of 16 inches on the top of the fridge so you could see. Bananas,mangoes,avocado,oranges,limes,a green pepper for 40 EC about 20 CA dollars. So yes expensive but really good looking. 

All for now .....until I find a spot to post. We have bought a data plan this season for our new phone and can tether the phone to the iPad but it really sucks up the data to post and to FaceTime.