Talk about making a grand entrance…..having sailed 6 days from the Bahamas and torn both our Genoa (not the rich fruit cake – the sail) AND Mainsail, we had to motor which was fine until we were about 2 miles out from Bermuda when we ran out of fuel…..took us a while to figure this out…!....oh well, they always came in under sail in the olden days anyway…..we looked battle weary what with a tattered sail….style.

We LOVE Bermuda…..it’s just so English and friendly. It has all the facilities of many larger places but with people who are still interested in you as a person. On the other hand, you should try the bus rides, we saw a T shirt “I survived the Bermuda bus ride” accurate shirt!

Whilst in Bermuda we did a few jobs i.e. Sam was sent to the top of the mast and we had our sails stitched. We saw the annual dinghy race and although the boats were similar, the style was completely different to that we’d witnessed in the Bahamas. I think those 15ft dinghies carry almost as much sail as our 44ft yacht…no kidding.

When we sailed in through Town Cut we thought it was tight, but look at the photos to see what can get through and they had a Pilot boat beside them….takes some nerve.

Having waited around for post to arrive we learnt it wasn’t going to happen (Garmin were not dispatching our chip, because they didn’t have the correct packaging – brilliant) so we had to leave or run the chance of missing our ‘weather window’ for the trip to the Azores.

What an adventure, second day in and we drew up alongside a pod of Whales…..at first Sam thought it was a mini sub, it was only when we were 6ft from it and it flipped it enormous tail and slunk off were we sure it was Moby…..in fact as it moved away and we looked into inky blackness that we saw yet another whale below where it had been…..talk about heart stopping, I wouldn’t like to do our laundry for that day…!....later we realised that there were about 6-8 whales near to us from the blow holes we could see…..WOW.

Later that day as we were drifting (it was calm) we were overtaken by a green turtle swimming on the surface, no tow was offered.

Two days later it was different kind of day. Some strange sound alerted us to go on deck at 6am, turned out to be the flapping, torn mainsail…..whoops.

Luckily we had a spare and it was calm enough to swap them. All tolled this took us 3-4 hours and if it had happened at any other time of the journey it wouldn’t have been possible….meaning the wind ‘got up’. The rest of the trip was uneventful but wearing when we had 36hrs of 25 knot winds but we didn’t half make some progress. We were joined about 10 times by dolphins (they are two tone in this part of the Atlantic) who played around the boat again and splashed nearby, they were poetry to watch.

Once again we managed to arrive at night so we could have the fun of entering a strange port without the benefit of visibility. However, it is a wonderful feeling after bouncing around for 1800 miles to test the anchor and find that it is holding. This means the prospect of a really good nights sleep, which we did.

Strange to say today was a Public Holiday and all the shops were closed, we always seem to arrive when places are shut. We walked up the road looking for Customs but we were hailed by a passing Policeman who stopped his 4X4 because he was searching for itinerant yachtsmen. We cleared Customs and Immigration in broken English, Spanish, and French and of course Portugese on the roadside – brilliant and friendly.

So far, what little we’ve seen of Flores is very inviting and we know we’re going to like it, the name Flores means ‘flowers’ (hydrangeas Jill).

Photos

This shows the huge difference in depth of water as you approach the Caicos Bank - known as the Wall on any reef.














This depicts one of the many spectacular Sunsets that we're often priviledged to witness

















Seaman Staines at the helm!















The next two are a bit out of order, saw this lovely schooner leaving Nevis, and Big Sand Cay.

Bahamas - at long last!

Hi guys, sorry for the long break between this and the last blog but that's mainly due to lack of signal and not, as you might think, to too many rum punches...

Antigua we left on March 15th heading in the direction of the island Nevis (pronounced Neevis) which is close to St Kitts. On route we spotted a Whale spout at about 2 miles from us, pretty close enough all things considered. Another friendly island but smaller. Whilst there we did the tour thing and were shown a couple of defunct sugar plantations and a lifesize model of a typical Carribean village. The average house was restricted by the plantation owners so they weren't much bigger than a Gipsy caravan - a whole family living in a single room. They were restricted in size so the landowner could demand that they literally moved house taking it off his land.

18th March saw us heading to Virgin Gorda which involved an overnight sail including the elusive 'green flash' at sunset - yes it really does happen sometimes. Second day at Virgin Gorda we took a slip in the marina and the unbridled luxury of being able to push the supermarket trolley to the boat, unashamed luxury!

Mothers Day found us on top of a cliff after a fitful nights sleep. The reason being the bleating baby goats that were stuck on ledge just below the top. Believe me, they managed to bleat all night. Sam lowered Tim down on a rope where we were able to grab the offending articles i.e. baby goats and reunite them with there Mother.....just what you should be doing on Mothers Day.

After our exertions we treated ourselves to a mega fried breakfast mmmmmm. We then set off on the next leg of our voyage where the destination changed en route, and we arrived 24th March off the Dominican Republic where a bit of sail stitching was required before setting off for Grand Turk. On the way we dropped anchor for an overnight rest at Big Sand Cay. We found ourselves on a completely deserted beach of brilliant white sand so we got our kit off and ran around butt naked safe in the knowledge that the reflection from white bums wouldn't dazzle anyone ;-)

Grand Turk turned out to be the friendliest island we have been to so far, they were flattened by hurricane Ike in September 2008, losing 80% of the houses, it doesn't seem to have flattened their spirits. Apart from doing the tourist thing and visiting the museum we went for a snorkel. The sea bottom between Grand Turk and Caicos is not unlike the Grand Canyon except a bit wetter. In the twenty miles between the two islands the depth gets down to 7,000 feet. We snorkelled where the drop justs starts and it was akin to skydiving - one minute you're looking at the seabed and the next it's gone - it feels like you are suspended and it's quite eery.

South Caicos was our next stop and it was the clearest water we've ever seen, but we were on the caicos bank which was shallow, ranging between 3 - 5 metres deep and this stretched for 300 square miles or more. We saw a picture taken from space highlighting the topography and it was fascinating.

Left Turks and Caicos from Provo and headed for a couple of nights at Acklins Island. Found a superb natural harbour at Attwood Bay where we had a regular visitor in the form of a 4ft Nurse Shark, apparently not dangerous except at feeding time - he didn't tell us when feeding time was so we didn't risk a swim. Walking on another of those deserted beaches we were paddling only to come within 3ft of a big, black Ray. We don't believe he was interested in our toes but again didn't enquire too closely!.

Had a reasonable overnight sail, arriving at our current location of Great Exuma. Had a spot of bother dropping the anchor because of mother and bay dolphin who were playing under our boat as we tried to take up position. We've now rendevous with friends who are going to help us with our wind generator.

Antigua - for quite a while...

Dear All

Hi-dee-hi, and all that - yeah Mon.

We find ourselves back in English Harbour Antigua, where apparently Nelson liked his fishcakes done well. There is a museum with a rusty shackle to prove it. However, after Waterloo the dockyard was used a lot less, but it still took us Brits another hundred years or so, to hand it back to the locals. The photo of the bay shows English Harbour in the foreground with Falmouth behind - nasty complaint!

The picture is the Pillars of Hercules, which is just outside English Harbour, I believe they look even better after a hard sail - something to do with relief, I suppose.

The Antiguans have just voted, and re-elected UPP - 5 more years - it was close, but great to see so many people enthusiastic to vote. Just to make sure they weren't legless, no alcohol could be sold in bars until the polls closed - not even to non-registered folk - we tried!! We got chatting to one of the locals, who reckons that the new government will face a tough time as the global recession starts to bite a bit more here. We got a pretty good analysis of the situation, and lots of radios have been tuned to the election, which is unusual - it's normally cricket.

We are back to just two on board again, and we will soon be heading off towards the Bahamas, stopping at various islands on the way. First stop will be Nevis or St Kitts, or both, then on to BVI.

We managed to get a couple of things fixed, maintenance continues apace!! There always seems to be more available to do. The latest fix has now also restored the ability to see the water temperature, we are wondering how we managed without it - 27 C for the curious. What it has actually given us back is the water speed, which when you know the Speed Over Ground, tells you what the current is doing - you at the back - please stop yawning!

The replacement dink is settling in to its new life. Weighing at several more pounds than the old contender, she has gained the name "Bernard" (for those who are confused - watch the movie "Stardust".

The sunset is at Davis Bay on Long Island. There is a resort undergoing major re-construction, Jumby Bay. Apparently jumby means "ghost", unusual spin on the marketing, I guess. Whilst there, Sam saw a ray jump out of the water about 8 feet into the air, she thought it was a bird (cardinal) at first, but when it stayed underwater a long time, she twigged it couldn't be. We both saw the second jump, only 4 feet, must have been running out of battery.

Some Photos at last!! Of course, not necessarily in the right order! The sulphur pool is in Dominica. My tattoo is for Valentine's day - it's a grapefruit getting inside me!



The sunsets are also in Dominica, Turner would have peed his pants! The next view is Fort de France in Martinique - actually, that was the best thing about Martinique!

The White Winds Crew - self portrait by the (pi**) artist










A hawksbill turtle in Hospital in Bequia and the Canadian yacht owned by Fi and Don who were with us in Saltwhistle Bay in Mayreux. Also a map on the church wall with a native guide "we are here"

Swinging through the trees in St Lucia, and two of the local lads from Laborie, who helped us when we found the reef - the hard way - but it was uncharted!

I went to Martinique, but it was closed!

.....by a strike

we thought at first it was half-day closing, but it was more serious. At least Customs was painless.


The most painful thing was the holes (20 or so) made in the dinghy by some mindless idiots. The fact that they threw things at myself and André was just a courtesy detail. Difficult to navigate a dinghy with 2 out of 3 chambers flat! Much glue later, it still leaks. Do I feel a new dink coming on?

The island is very French, none of the patois of the other islands, just plain French. It is also a baguette each day arrangement, where if you don't eat it on the day, you can use the baton for hand-to-hand combat!

There is a problem now with food and water supply, so we will head off tomorrow for Dominica.

Must remember to bring the camera in to add some photos.....


Had a query about what happened - Andrew asked what had gone on, so we figured that a bit more of an explanantion was needed.

this is what we emailed to Andrew.hope it made sense...
We went for a meal, leaving the dink moored at the purpose built dinghy dock. The only thing we did this time that was different was to lock it with a chain....came back from a restaurant to find that in our absence two out of three chambers had been stabbed, the front 20+ times, one of the rear had a 7 inch gash.

Amazingly it still floated, but I had to steer backwards to stop the water washing over. Anyway, Sam and I got back safely, so I left her on the boat while I went back for Andre. It was when I was 30 yards from him on shore that the throwing started.

Luckily I know the French for "W*nker", but I guess if I had been able to get onto the dock I would have done something stupid, so just as well I couldn't!!

Tried sticking it with what we could get, but no good....new dink required - sod it!

hope it made sense!

Random thoughts

Hi to All

We are back in Bequia. One of the nice features of Port Elizabeth is a service delivering diesel and water to your boat - neat!

There are also laundry boats - I just wonder - if they pass too close and too fast, do they create a wash?!!

On the islands, we often hear goats. Usually they are tethered, but there are the odd scapegoats (or do I mean "escaped goats"). What puzzles me is this. If goats eat anything, why don't they eat the tether?

Back to more ordinary matters, we will probably leave here tomorrow heading North. It will either be Antigua or Martinique - guess we'd better decide before too much longer.....