The little island of Bequia tops our list of favourite islands. We spent 3 weeks in Bequia and were sad to leave. Not until we left and arrived in St. Lucia, did I fully appreciate how much I loved it there. We have to return to Bequia to pick up some teak we have purchased to replace the transom, and I can hardly wait to return.
We were fortunate enough to catch a couple of days of the Jazz festival being held on the island. We made our way over to Frangapini(a local restaurant/bar and hotel) along with our friends Kevin and Amanda from Solstice, the first night to enjoy the soothing sounds of the steel drums. There were a couple of different steel drum bands who played, but the one that sticks out was a 12 piece drum band that littered the night with their gentle sound. We also attended the Sunday afternoon event which was held at Lower Bay beach and the atmosphere reeked of party and as the sun shone and the people mingled we were accompanied with a jazz band mostly led by a saxophonist followed by a reggae/rock/hip-hop type of band from Barbados who were really really fantastic. They closed the jazz festival in style and had everyone on the dance floor dancing and grooving to their unique sound. A good festival, good company and good times.
Our friends Liz and Allan have purchased property on the island and we wanted to check it out so on a beautiful sunny, windy day we made our way over to the windward side to have a look. Along the way we stumbled into an old refinery transformed into a pottery studio and store. We wandered amongst the fabulous pottery and through the studio as we made our way to the beach. After checking out the property, we chilled out at the beach bar and watched Allan kite board off the beach and amongst the reefs.This beach on the windward side has to be one of the most perfect beaches we’ve come across and we were the only people enjoying it that day. A lazy but perfect day.
Unfortunately the weather window was upon us and it was time to leave Bequia. We up anchor at 3:30am and headed north to St. Lucia. We had an uneventful light sail to St. Lucia and were able to skirt the north coast of St. Vincent and get a good view of the plantation farms along the mountainside. The “farms” that litter the mountainside are ALL ganga (aka: weed, marijuana, pot etc..) and are found in abundance. It is known amongst the cruisers that if you visit St. Vincent the north part of the island is OFF LIMITS! When you look at the north part, there are no cars, no roads, no houses. The only thing you see are little tiny wee shacks scattered about the mountainside.
We arrived in Marigot Bay and had a chance to catch up with our friends Gary and Saba (2 local rastas who have become very good friends of ours) and Jeff and Jan (2 British who have moved from England to St. Lucia permanently). While anchored in Marigot we got a freaky west wind that not only brought west winds, but a west of north swell into the anchorage. This isn’t good as the anchorage is exposed to the west. Thankfully we were on board as the wind blew Meggie almost on to the beach. We up anchor quickly and took a mooring in the inner lagoon which is completely protected. We moved up to Rodney Bay and anchored at Pigeon island and waited for 2 weeks for weather. The wind blew 25 knots gusting into the 30’s for almost 2 weeks straight. We tried to leave at the beginning of the windy forecast as we thought we would be ahead of the building seas, but once we rounded Pigeon island we were exposed to 25 knots of wind and big waves...how big ??? but big. Meggie‘s decks were awash with spray covering the entire boat….hmmm….not exactly what we had in mind. The wind and waves were NE and we were headed N, so Meggie was bashing her little heart out until finally we made the call to tuck our tail and turn around. Meggie sailed comfortably down wind back to the anchorage at Pigeon island, and we got our spot back and hunkered down for the remainder of our stay. While in St. Lucia we mostly worked on Meggie and couldn’t wait to get the next window to move on. Finally after far too long we got a window and decided to head to Portsmouth, Dominica. We left St. Lucia and headed to St. Pierre in Martinique with a north of east wind at about 18-20 knots and about 8 foot seas. We had a quick sail to St. Pierre and were able to sail the lee side as well. Although we love Martinique, we wanted to spend some time in Dominica so the next morning we up anchor and had a beam reach for the total 55 miles to Portsmouth, Dominica. We again had about 18 knots out of the east in the morning with 8 foot seas out of the east as well, which built to 22 knots with the odd 26-28 knot gust and 10 foot waves. Meggie rode the waves beautifully as they were on our beam and with 1 reef in the mizzen, 2 reefs in the main and our small jib sail up, we cruised along at an easy 6.5 knots and were anchored in the beautiful Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth well before sunset. Dominica’s beauty is found in it’s simplicity and of course the lushness of the forests. The mountains are reams and reams of green that seem to go on forever. The towns are made up of simple box construction houses painted an array of pinks, aqua’s, blues and yellows where chickens, roosters and dogs roam freely. We left Portsmouth and headed to the capital Rosseau by bus, with the intention of hiking some trails in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Because there are only 2 buses that run up to the town of Laudat (where the trails all start) and we were in between buses we hired Fitz to take us up to the Middleham falls hike.. Once on the road we realized quickly why there was only 2 buses that drove this route. The climb itself is impressive, but to top if off the road is barely wide enough for 1 vehicle let alone 2 and before turning any corners Fitz would lay on the horn to announce we were coming through. We hiked to the falls though the dense forest and enjoyed the quiet amongst the trees. The water fall at the end was beautiful but a little disappointing as we compared it to it’s neighbour’s waterfalls in Guadeloupe. Just to be back in the wilderness was enough to make me happy and the local fauna is outstanding in itself.
We finished the afternoon off by wandering the streets of Rosseau chatting with the locals and finally boarded the small local bus for the 45 minute ride back home.
Saturdays bring a bustle in the little villages in Dominica. Like most islands Saturday means market day. From Meggie we can see the numerous colour umbrellas that clutter the streets, and the hustle and bustle market day brings. Once in the market you’re surrounded by all local produce and smells of accra salt fish, fritters and a bunch of deep fried “surprises“ cooking in the streets. Women and men pack their baskets full of fruit and vegetable for the week as they chit chat about the weeks events.
We poked through the market but always end up at our favourite fruit and veg lady down the street. Just to give you an idea how much we pay for local produce, we got: 1 papaya, a bunch of carrots, 3 green pepper, seasoning peppers, 1 cabbage, 2 cucumbers, cristophenes, 12 tomatoes, 3 mangoes, sugar cane, 6 passion fruit, bunch of bananas all for about $30.00 EC which is about $11.00 CDN. Not too bad huh!
From here we will sail to Les Saintes tomorrow and then carry on to another one of our favourites, Guadeloupe. The future “trend” for weather (so our weather forecaster says) is moderating trade winds and seas, beautiful perfect sailing conditions….so we’re holding him to that!
We’re enjoying being on the move again and enjoying the Caribbean sailing because once in Antigua it will be go time once again, all our attention focused on Meggie (but wait…isn’t that all the time anyway?).
Well I guess that’s all for now….hopefully March brings an early spring for everyone back home.
Ciao for now.
Kylie and Mike

The Great Grenadines

It seems like it’s been awhile, and I do think it has been . We are anchored in the lovely Bequia island in The Grenadines. We have been here since the 10th of January after visiting the Tobago Keys. This place called “The Grenadines” is in my opinion the gem of the Caribbean. Likes stones tossed from above, the islands are separated by 5-20 miles and are yours to discover. The Tobago Keys host crystal clear water that is protected from the pounding Atlantic ocean with a fetch built up all the way from Africa, by a horseshoe reef. When you’re anchored behind the reef you feel as though you’re looking out at the end of the earth. The surrounding islands are mostly uninhabited with beautiful white sand beaches lines with perfect palm trees. The difficulty of “getting there” makes this wonderful part of the world less busy, well other than charter boats that it. Aside for the above, the snorkelling is fantastic with numerous under water life to look at. We were fortunate enough to swim with a HUGE sea turtle whom I found feasting on some sea grass near our boat. Both Mike and I swam with her for what seemed like forever, and she couldn’t have cared less. Her motions under the water seemed effortless, which seemed amazing for her size and the weight of her shell.
The Tobago Keys are a protected national marine park, so no hunting or fishing aloud which makes the sea life very abundant.
From the Tobago Keys we headed north about 20 miles to one of our favourite islands of Bequia, where we now sit.By taking a long walk this island (like our other favourite island of Carriacou) has the most beautiful views of surrounding reefs and islands. The feeling of the town isn’t touristy or catered towards tourism, it just has a very relaxed island flare and the locals (like the Grenadians) are very kind and respectful.
We frequently visit a local artist Chris, who makes hand painted Calabash bowls and crafts beautiful jewellery. His Rastafarian religion reveals itself upon his art in the colors he chooses..
We’re enjoying Bequia while waiting for the Christmas winds to die down and move from the northeast to east, so we can continue our way north to Antigua.
This is only what we’ve been up to since I returned home after my Christmas/New Year charter, and Mike’s sailing charter through The Grenadines.
Both went well, but the time away from each other, family and friends over the holidays was a bit sad and disappointing, however we both made the best of it. My charter was very busy, having to cross the Gulf Stream twice and being delayed upon our return due to 16-18 foot seas in the Stream…yikes. But the family had a great time while we were in The Abacos, and even though I wasn’t with family, I was with a great crew.
Mike’s charter also went well and aside from missing me…he had a great time with the family he chartered for and with his first mate, Dwayne. They had some pretty windy weather and some rather rough passages between the islands, but they still managed to catch a HUGE sailfish.Everyone was very happy.
Right before Christmas, I received news that Cruising World would like to publish my second article. So as we speak (or as I write) the process is in the works. I again am very pleased that they have considered my writing.
We’ve met up with some old and new friends and the graciousness of the people out here continue to amaze us. Life is good in the Caribbean and although we’ve been working on Meggie prepping her for her debut in Antigua, we’re really enjoying being back on the boat and having some great sailing and getting back into a routine of being a cruiser.
We’re hoping to have some visitors, but we’ve had no bookings yet (aside from Paul and Leanne who so kindly agreed to “crew” with us on Meggie during the regatta), but other than that…no takers, yet.
Anyway that’s about if for now. I’ve just finished making guacamole with locally grown avocados, tomatoes, onions and coriander to take to a friends boat for sundowners. So I must go.
We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and hope this year brings you all want you hope for.
Until next time,
Kylie and Mike
PS…Unfortunately Mike Shaw was not available to write this blog, however he will be back by popular demand.

A lesson from Mother

Hi folks. This blog is in a different format. Mike has written this blog after a reality check from the cyclone that devastated Bangladesh.
The past month has been a bit of a blur. I was away working on the mega yacht for 3 weeks while Mike single handed through the Grenadines and up to St. Lucia enjoying some close hauled sails some of which in 20-25 knots of wind. He has been having a blast in my absence, but insists that he would hate to be a solo cruiser as he missed me..hmmm! I on the other hand was busy.My new favorite phrase is “Mike…someone has to work so you can enjoy this type of lifestyle”…it’s a good one, huh! We took the big boat from St. Lucia to Fort Lauderdale, having a 2 day charter for Thanksgiving in Eleuthra, Bahamas. I am now preparing to leave tomorrow for another 3 weeks in Abacos, Bahamas for another charter. Mike will keep busy as well while I’m gone, being skipper on a catamaran visiting the Grenadines for 6 days and a couple of other odd jobs. Life is busy at the moment, but we’re enjoying being busy in St. Lucia.
Once I return we’ll be on the go getting Meggie ready for Antigua and hopefully visiting with some friends. Anyway…here is Mike with his first blog and we’ll be in touch after the new year. We want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and all the best in the new year.



On Friday November 15th, 2007 a tropical cyclone slammed into Bangladesh. Storm surge of 16 feet tall pushed along by 130 knots (250 km/hour) winds swept the streets, which are only 15 feet above sea level. I need not describe the aftermath, other than some 30 thousand people lost all that was dear to them if not their lives. Events such as this one hit close to home for me as all we have apart from each other, friends and family is our little boat Meggie, which at times like this makes us very aware of the forces of mother nature.
In addition to Kylie’s entry about our brush with hurricane season, we will always remember Felix reaching Category 1 status. This was just one more lesson we have learned and overcome out here. That is of course when mother nature or respectfully mother ocean wants to show her fury, her power or to prove who is really master out here. No man, woman, army or government can stop her.
Now…for the most part, life aboard Meggie for us has been absolute bliss. At times magical and at times stressful. These islands and waters are a privilege to spend time in, however it wasn’t for free. Against headwinds and seas we earned every mile to get here. And once again in doing so gained a real respect for the ocean along with ourselves and our boat. Certainly living and cruising for nearly a year and a half has changed the way we view life and what is important in the world and also the people within it. We have met so many beautiful and interesting people, I have lost count. Not just cruisers but people who live life completely different from how we live in the western world. During our 4 months in Grenada we learned how money, cars and houses just don’t mean much. Time spent with friends and family, peace and respect mean the most. My good friend Davis age 24, talented carpenter for instance, buys all the food for his family, works eight hours a day, has a 1 hour bus ride to and from work and also raises pigs and crops at home. He, always has a smile on his face! All of the friends we made in Grenada tell us the stories about the devastation of hurricanes Ivan and Emily and how they effectedtheir lives. All the leaves off trees gone, trees down, houses blown away and no power, an entire yard of cruising boats destroyed, most of whom had little or no insurance. But, the people came together in a time of devastation to help one another and to rebuild their beautiful country.
In Grenada the look on an old mans face is not one of old age, but of a slow paced lifestyle with simple pleasures and few daily stresses. I believe that in the great quest for progression and development in parts of the world, a lot can be said for simplicity and quality in one’s life. Slow down or speed up…enjoy it, be healthy and don’t let life slip by.
As for us we intend to keep on sailing. We want to see the western Caribbean after the Antigua classic regatta in April…of course Meggie will be looking her best for this event, as will her crew of Kylie, myself accompanied by Paul and Leanne Sandiford. Good times, no doubt. End of April, beginning of May, we intend to do a longer passage from Antigua to somewhere on the southern shore, perhaps Venezuela, Bonaire or Curacao stopping briefly and then carry on to Columbia or Panama where we intend to spend next hurricane season. Two things are for sure…great sailing and a whole new adventure. We are very well prepared both for sailing and for hard core anchoring for a major blow. The Caribbean is not without its risks, but is it worth it? Absolutely!
So until next time,
Mike and Kylie

The Wonderful Spice Island

Ok...I'm going to keep this one short. I can't believe it's almost time to leave our wonderful Grenada. It's been almost 4 months since we first checked into customs in the beautiful island of Carriacou, the northern sister island of Grenada. We spent most of our time anchored in St. David's on the south eastern coast of Grenada. Mike kept busy helping the shipwright in St. David's and I kept busy keeping up with our boat and then flying off to stewardess on the 106 foot motor yacht up in St. Lucia.. While Mike was helping at the shipwrights, he was fortunate enough to help along side some great local guys, which allowed him to learn about the local life and about Grenada in general. We both kept busy including some engine work. We repainted our engine and Mike rebuilt the starter, but more importantly than keeping busy we were able to be part of a community in St. David's and ended up forming friendships that will last a life time.Let me briefly run you through our time in Grenada.
Mike had the opportunity to help deliver a 68 foot wooden schooner to Trinidad....he was in heaven! They had a lovely trip and aside from a 40 knot squall which healed the old girl over, they had a successful trip. Now, I won't bore you with the excitement we experienced with the hurricanes, but for those of you that don't know, 65 knots of wind is 120 km/hr winds. So enough about that. Another exciting thing we took part in, in Grenada was the hashing.
We were first introduced to hashing one Saturday afternoon after our friends on Adventure Bound raved about how great it was. Our first hash found us exhausted, covered in mud and super excited for the next one. We meet at the local rum shop of the location and then run a trail that has been laid out by one of the hashers that takes you through jungles, rivers, fields, up mountains, down valleys...everywhere you could imagine. Then and the end once your completely exhausted everyone meets for a beer and some bbq chicken. The interesting thing with the hash is that when you come to a circle on the trail this means there is 3 possible options for the correct trail and if you take the wrong one you have to turn around and head back to the circle and try another route...this of course makes things interesting! We travelled to Carriacou for one of the hashes along with 2 other boats and our friend Stokley from the local rum shop in St. Davids.Stokley had never been sailing before and unfortunately the motion of the ocean got to him!! However we arrived in Carriacou after a great sail and soon we were in the water for a quick snorkel and then we were off with our running shoes on and were scrambling up a steep incline in the race. After a 2 hour hash we all finished at the local rum shop which just happened to be on the beach and had a big beach bbq...great great day! So speaking of Stokley, we were fortunate enough to meet a fantastic couple in Grenada.
Ironically they own the local rum shop which also sold bread so we were there more often for the fresh bread, despite what you must think! Mary and Stokley were great...they introduced us to oil down (a local dish), salt fish sauté (another local dish), sugar cane, sugar apple, green bananas and also entertained us with great conversation and interesting stories of Grenada. The hardest part of cruising is saying goodbye! With sadness and promises of visiting each other in Canada and Grenada, we said our goodbyes only days ago.
Oh and of course we have Carnival! Now, Carnival isn't just one day it starts about a month in advance. The music starts pumping on the radio, and the locals begin dancing and singing and preparing for the famous Jouvier! All day long we listen to the beats of soca and calypso blaring from the radio and soon we were singing along with it.The actual parade of Carnival was full of color and music and sunshine and sweat and beer and dancing. It was great. The costumes and the dancing and the energy was outstanding. You can help but move your hips to the soca beat. One of the best parts was the steel drum band that won the Carnival competition…they were amazing. They looked like they couldn’t be having anymore fun…the whole thing was a fantastic experience.
So….I promised to keep this short, so I will keep to that and plus we’re in a beautiful anchorage in Carriacou with good friends and have a pizza coming…so I gotta go! I’m off on another charter from November 9th to around the 29th and then again from Dec. 20th to about Jan. 4th. Yes, I know….Mike and I won’t be together for Christmas or New Years, but I can assure you that Mike will be well looked after by the other cruisers…that’s just the way it is. I on the other hand will be serving Christmas dinner this year!
Ok guys…the heat has finally lessened (either that or were getting used to it) and life is good.
Adios for now and Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes.
Kylie and Mike

Meggie and the gang in print

Well guys...apparently my article is on stands now! It is in the November 2007 issue of Cruising World. It's been changed some, but I hope you enjoy it.
I'll be in touch soon!
Cheers
Kylie and Mike

Trying to reason with Hurricane season

Well we’ve almost been in Grenada for 3 months now which is hard to believe as time is flying by. Being hurricane season I have to admit that I don’t mind the time flying by as it only means that it will soon be over. First lets start with the not so good part of Grenada.
Hurricane season began on June 1st as you all know. June and July were quiet months but our attention was always captured by the weather. Early on in August we got word that there was something out there that had just come off of Africa that had potential to develop into a LO. The stages of a hurricane are as follows: weather system comes off Africa, develops into LO, then tropical depression, tropical storm and finally cat 1 hurricane up to a cat 5. We are currently located at 12 degrees north and 62 degrees west, so we are always listening for the tropical features to go north. Dean who wasn’t yet Dean, was sitting at 11 degrees north for way too long. Finally the feature was upgraded into a cat 1 hurricane and only once it was named did it start to move north, but not north enough to miss the Caribbean. We prepared as best we could. We took all the loose canvas off the boat, strapped down the sail covers, set another anchor and then waited. We knew we wouldn’t get a direct hit, but we didn’t know what to expect. Dean passed through the St. Lucia channel (between St. Lucia and Martinique) on August 18th, not 160 miles north of us. We, in Grenada, felt nothing but the lightest of winds as Dean passed from the Atlantic into the Caribbean waters, that is until the next day. As Dean passed it was upgraded to a cat 2 hurricane and as it was marching along the Caribbean sea the last remnants of Dean slapped Grenada in the face…just to wake us up. The next night we still had everything strapped down, just being lazy, but thank god we did. The wind picked up in the anchorage and Mike got up to have a look outside…seeing a distinct line in the sky and thinking it was the end of the little squall we were already in, I came out and had a look. I turned to Mike and said “That’s not the end…that’s the worst”. I threw his foul weather gear at him and put mine on and no sooner had we started the engine did the 60 knots of wind hit. Horizontal rain pelted down and the wind howled through the rigging. We turned our lights on and got on the radio and informed the others in the anchorage to do so as well so we could see where everyone was. Everyone was alert and took care of any dragging that was occurring and soon the wind was down to a steady 40 knots, then 30 and then 20 and then nothing. Very scary, but Meggie was a champ and held into the wind and waves without much strain.Well now that that was over….I prayed that would be the only one. Remember September…remember September had been running through my mind since hurricane season had started. September is notoriously known as the worst month for hurricanes. Remember September. So around the end of August we got word that something had come off Africa with potential to develop. Not again! My stress level since Dean had been high and I became addicted to the weather, watching and listening to every detail. We listened and check the satellite almost every couple of hours near the end of August. We went to bed on August 31st after checking the satellite imagery and feeling somewhat confident that the tropical feature and dissipated somewhat. We listened to weather guru, Chris Parker at 7pm that night and he wasn’t on the air. If he isn’t on the air, this is good news, it means there is no danger in the near future. That put our minds and ease and although things looked good for no further development, we still prepared as best we could, 2 anchors, strapped the sails down etc…
I didn’t sleep well that night. Not a ripple in the water and not a breath of air, but I still had an anxious feeling, almost like the calm before the storm. At about 3 am on September 1st, after dozing off I got up instinctively. Mike asked what I was doing and I said I thought we should get up. The wind had begun to blow slightly and I knew something was to follow. I got the foulies out and got mine on, I got out into the cockpit and waited. I didn’t have to wait very long. By the time Mike came out the wind had increased considerably. We turned the engine and our light on and I took the helm, just in case. The wind gusted violently, gusting up to 65 knots with sustained winds at around 55-58 knots. This time it didn’t ease so quickly. Unfortunately for us, the wind was coming straight out of the south (the only direction we weren’t protected from, except for 2 reefs). So not only did we have to deal with the wind, the waves in the anchorage were way too big for any anchorage. We heard our boat being called on the vhf, and learned that another boat was dragging and it was headed in our direction. We couldn’t see a thing even though boats were only about 100 yards away. The rain was so strong we couldn’t look out, so we hailed back and asked it D and Don could keep us posted on the location of the loose boat. The wind screamed for what seemed like forever and as day broke we began to feel a bit more comfortable as the wind finally began to subside. The boat that had dragged had snagged another anchor and was hooked up on it, but only after smashing into 2 other boats in the anchorage. Meanwhile a trimaran had dragged onto the beach and Nicoli in his little motor boat was trying to help get him off. A wave came over his transom and swamped his boat, and down it went along with him. Mike jumped our dinghy and began his way over but we finally saw his head come up and knew he was safe. While Mike was in the dinghy, I was on the radio to another boat who’s dinghy was sinking fast….So Mike went over to help them with their dinghy….
I tuned in to the 7 am weather report and Chris (weather guru) informed us that the tropical feature had strengthened in the over night hours (no shit!!) and had been upgraded into a tropical storm (almost skipping the tropical depression part completely) and had now been named Felix. The eye had passed only 10-20 miles south of south Grenada! There were reports that as Felix was passing Grenada it was upgraded to a Cat 1 hurricane. Hurricane force winds start at 64 knots and someone in the boat yard on shore where we are clocked 65 knots, so who knows for sure.
It was a crazy morning and by 9 am the wind had relaxed to about 30 knots and we felt comfortable heading to shore. The feeling on shore was one of relief. Everyone’s adrenaline was still pumping from the mornings adventures and instead of ordering coffee from the restaurant the majority of people ordered a beer.
Felix was a scary event, but again Meggie kept us safe and sound, however I feel it was too close for comfort. We’ve decided that if there is anything at all that looks remotely threatening we will seek a better harbour.. We went away for the weekend 2 weeks ago and before departing we hauled up the second BIG anchor that had held us during Felix.
It took Mike, myself and our friend Scotty 3 hours to get this sucker up! Mike had to dive down 25 feet about 8-10 times to rig up several systems to get the beast off the bottom. We now trust our anchor even more.
So now I’m wondering if I should leave it there for now.
We still have carnival to talk about as well as the hash (no…not drugs…hashing is known as drinkers with a running problem and we run all over the island…in jungles, rivers, mountains, fields you name it) and also delivery of schooners, and all the other things we’ve been doing in this wonderful country.
Grenada has treated us well. With its kind people and beautiful country, we will be sad to leave this place that has become home for the last few months.
So, I think I’ll leave it there and will not be too long with another entry.
This is Kylie in hot, hot, extremely hot Grenada signing off.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. And No…we won’t be having turkey….its too friggin hot!
Be cool (literally…I wish I was)
Kylie and Mike
PS...more exciting pictures next time...I promise.

Lots more to come

I am apologizing! No news for quite some time, however I have good reasons. 1-we've been extremely busy, 2-we've had some technical difficulties (computers...ahhhh) and 3-did I mention the computer thing!
Stay tuned folks, don't give up on us...I've got a real doozie coming.
As always
Kylie and Mike

Well folks…it’s been 1 year today since we left our little town of Thornbury to commence a voyage of uncertainty. Our 1 year anniversary finds us tucked away in the little anchorage at St. David’s, Grenada. We’ve been here now for about 1 month and unfortunately have been too busy to even explore the island.
I suppose the last I left you we had just arrived in Dominica, which seems like forever ago. Dominica is a beautiful relatively untouched island, but we were met by “boat boys” before we even had the chance to anchor. The boat boys are harmless guys who are just trying to make a buck by offering tours of the island etc, but because there are so many of them, they become a bit harassing and annoying in their competition. Thankfully for us we have a small boat and for some reason they don’t hassle us as much as the new 50 foot Beneteau next to us!!!
We didn’t spend much time in Dominica, as we were getting more and more anxious to get to Grenada. From Dominica we made our way to Martinique and had the most exhilarating sail while doing so. We left the anchorage under sail and rounded the bottom of Dominica where we were met by 18-25 knots of wind and about 9-11 foot seas.Everything, however was finally on the beam and Meggie rose up over every wave even when we were prepared to get swamped and kept us comfortable and flew along. We averaged over 6.5 knots that day and saw 7 knots consistently on our gps. It was one of the most exhilarating sails we’ve had….finally!!!! We realized that day that 11 foot seas on the beam are FUN, just as long as we don’t have bash into them!
We arrived in a beautiful little French town called St. Pierre. Although this anchorage was the most rolly anchorage we’ve ever been in, the town was great and very French!
While cruising along the streets I could swear I was in France (in Europe). The cobblestone streets were lined with little markets of fresh fruit and vegetables, and as the sun set and we drank the local beer at a local bar, and we couldn’t help but smile at the perfect day we had had!
With no time to waste, we made our way south and after another brief stop in Martinique it was off to St. Lucia. We pulled into Rodney Bay, St. Lucia after another great sail between the islands. We sailed right into the anchorage tacking our way across the bay and were met by a huge schooner leaving the anchorage.
We thought it looked familiar and joked that it must by the Black Pearl....and it was!!!! We later found it moored at the dock in Rodney Bay and the real name was Unicorn and also found out it was the schooner used in the first Pirates of the Caribbean. It was pretty cool. We decided the take a stay at a dock…unbelievable I know. We hadn’t been at a dock in about 6 months so we figured we were allowed, there was a special deal as it was slow season and we paid for a week long stay for a whopping $45.00. We had fresh water to wash the boat with and real showers for the first time in a LONG time!!! After 4 days we were sick of dock life and had to move back out to the anchorage to enjoy our privacy, I guess some things you just get used to!
We soon moved down to an area of St. Lucia called The Pitons, which are two sister mountains that plunge deep into the ocean on the Westward side of St. Lucia. We took a mooring as the whole area is a national park and were anxious to check the town and surrounding area out. We noticed there were a couple of tourists boats at the docks while we were dinghying into town. We were met by a mass of locals harassing us. First we were met by young boys wanting to tie our dinghy, then people who wanted to give us a tour, the taxi upon taxi, it just wouldn’t stop. We decided to take a hike out of town on our own to get away from the harassment. We had a beautiful walk outside the town up towards the Pitons. We came across an easy hike that led the way to natural hot springs and spent the afternoon soaking our harassing worries away. We stopped for a drink on the way back overlooking the Pitons and ocean and soon began to forget all about the harassments we were having.
As we approached the town we were ready for the mass, but nobody came near us. We were greeted with smiles and “Hey mon” everywhere. What’s going on, we thought. Then we noticed all the tourist boats were gone and it dawned on us that they now knew we weren’t the type that blast in take a few photos, buy a quick souvenir and then board the boat to head back to the hotel or cruise ship they came in on. We strolled the streets and meandered through the stores at our own leisure without any hassle. The difference was night and day! As we made our way back to the dinghy we were greeted by the young boy that wanted to tie our dinghy. He came up to us and said “When you locked your dinghy the lock didn’t clasp, so I moved it over here and made sure the lock was tight.” I felt awful for the way I had felt when we arrived at the dock. I said to him that I wanted to give him some coins but that I had to go back to the boat first to get them. Then I asked him if he would like something other than coins and he looked at me and said “I would like a coca cola”. That was it…a coca cola. So Mike and I brought him back 2 bottles of coke and a big bag of chips and he was a happy camper. It amazed me that all this 13-14 year old boy wanted was a coke, something all of us take for granted.
We left St. Lucia for a 50 mile run to Bequia part of the Grenadines. While on this sail we past the island of St. Vincent and saw the area where they filmed the 1st Pirates of the Caribbean. We didn’t stop in St. Vincent, but we both decided it was a must if we ever came back up. We arrived in Bequia well before sunset after another brilliant sail.
The weather gods were working in our favour and we had another beautiful weather window to head to Carriacou, an island just north of the main land of Grenada. We sailed all through the Grenadines, past the Tobago keys (which was a mistake and we’ve been kicking ourselves ever since for not stopping) and made our way to Carriacou after once again a brilliant sail. We didn’t want to stop, the sailing was so good. As a matter of fact we have only used 6 gallons of diesel in the last 600 miles or so (nautical miles that is)!
As we were passing Union Island we finally heard the line go taught. Mike started pulling in the line to reveal the perfect sized black fin tuna. Because we weren’t catching any fish, Mike began rigging up the lures with 2 hooks, thinking the 1 hook was too hidden. Lets just say a 2 hook lure works, but be ready for one hell of a mess. The lure was so imbedded in the tuna that Mike couldn’t retrieve it until he had filleted it. I said that I thought we should bring the other line in as I didn’t think we needed anymore fish and just as we started pulling it in, the line went taught again. Yup…another tuna. We again had so much fish we had to give some away twice once we got to the anchorage.
We spent about a week in Carriacou enjoying the slow pace of this beautiful island. Everynight we were met by Robert who would row by our boat and ask if we needed some oysters and although we didn't need oysters we bought limes and oranges from him. One night we had a left over burrito and asked him if he would like it. He looked at us with genuine gratiutude and said "Thank you so much for the wonderful supper". We watched him float away while he slowly enjoyed his burrito and realized that something so small could make someone so happy. It was a humbling experience. We continued to buy Robert's oranges and limes all week.
We circumnavigated the island by walking one afternoon (just to give you an idea of the size) and spent our days swimming, walking, exploring and researching information to haul Meggie.
We had another weather window and decided to finally make our way to Grenada via the windward side of the island as we heard the fishing was good. We didn’t catch anything but we had a nice settled sail to our destination of St. David’s in Grenada. While in Carriacou we did some emailing and found the prices reasonable to haul us in St. David’s and the fact that they could haul right away worked for us tremendously. Due to our lengthy stay in Luperon and the massive marine organisms in the water there, our antifouling on the bottom of our boat was basically gone. Sailing the boat didn’t help either, so we needed to haul immediately to get some paint on.

We were able to haul Meggie out after about a week and were able to get straight to work. In 8 days we sanded the topsides and bottom, prepped them for paint and applied 2 coats of antifouling to the bottom and 2 coats of paint to the topsides as well as interior cleaning including the bilge and Mike was able to pull the prop shaft and fix our stuffing box as well as a sea cock that needed to be fixed. We were also able to get one coat of varnish on the transom. Again not too bad for 8 days! So now Meggie is back in the water and she is a MUCH happier boat.
The day we launched Meggie I was radioed by a fellow cruiser who knew someone who needed some help on a boat. Before I knew it, I was meeting an Aussie couple who are captain and chef on a 110 foot motor yacht who needed some help.
The next day I was aboard this incredibly big boat preparing it for the owners to arrive for their charter. I spent 10 days aboard the boat as we travelled north to the Tobago keys and the Grenadines. It was definitely a different experience aboard this 110 foot yacht, but one that was good. I will be accompanying the yacht again beginning this Thursday for another 10-12 days travelling up to St. Lucia for the next charter. Don’t worry Mike is being looked after quite nicely by fellow cruisers who feel sorry for him, and have been feeding him in my absence. He too has been kept quite busy!!
So…lots going on. We haven’t even had a chance to really check out this incredible island, but the longer we’re here the more we like it, but I’ll write about Grenada next time.
Oh…here is a picture of our almost new crew member. We discussed seriously about bringing her aboard, but we found out she had an owner, whom I had a word with about the responsibilities of having a pet and to keep them treated for fleas and ticks(after removing about 15)!!! We even named her Mango! It’s probably for the best.
Ok well until next time….
Peace
Kylie