I'm sure there was a plan and it didn't include turning around in Puerto Rico. We spent weeks cruising the BVIs, USVIs and Puerto Rico with our Aussie friends Sue & Ian, then became nostalgic about leaving the Caribbean and decided not to leave after all. We are now heading down through the Caribbean Islands for another season. Merry Xmas to all our friends.
It's our second Christmas in the Caribbean. Last year Adrienne and I were anxiously watching the horizon from our hotel in Barbados as Lenny, Simon and Brook sailed across the Atlantic towards the Caribbean. They arrived two days after Xmas after a 21 day crossing. So here we are still, drinking Mount Gay Rum at $7.00 a bottle, snorkelling the crystal clear waters and wishing only for the opportunity to share it with more family and friends. Now Lenny is preparing to re-launch Feijao in Grenada and sail north through the Caribbean with our good Australian friends and meet up with me here in the BVIs. 2014 is still a mystery to us and that's just how we like it. We're thinking north, but that's as far as our thinking has progressed. Love our life ~_/)~~ Got a new waterproof camera - just had to take some underwater shots. Pretty happy with that. Also couldn't resist bragging about the price of alcohol in the Caribbean. Having so much fun.
If you have Facebook you no doubt know it has been impossible for us to stick with Plan A. Lenny sailed down to Grenada to 'summer' Feijao through the hurricane season because our insurance company wouldn't insure her in the local marina's so called 'hurricane pits'. He was clipped by Tropical Storm Chantal which was a thousand miles SW of the Caribbean. It took them an extra 12 hours to make the first leg which was only supposed to be 30 hours away and on the second leg they clocked 47 knot winds. As always, I'm glad I didn't make the trip. I'm a fair weather sailor and nothing more. Of course that just gave Lenny an excuse to reward himself with a layover in St Lucia, which happens to have the best pizza and ice cream in the Caribbean. From there it has been plain sailing. The weather cleared and they island hopped down through the southern Caribbean islands until they made Grenada yesterday. His trip south has reminded me how unique the Caribbean is for live-aboard cruisers. Day sailing from one island to the next can often only take a couple of hours, but a change of island usually means a change of country and a change of currency. We were constantly forgetting to switch currencies when going ashore and having to go back for EC dollars, or Euro or US dollars. We also have to check-in and check-out like you would at any airport, paying fees and being processed through customs. It is simply amazing to us that we had no idea the Caribbean wasn't integrated as the European Union and that each island is actually a completely different country. We've come to love the French islands. They have the best food albeit the most expensive . Such a treat to get French sticks and baguettes when the previous island sells pre-fab sugar-loaded spongy stuff. And, being French, they don't really want to serve you which is a real positive for the yottie. It means they don't want to check us in and out. Instead they provide computers for self-check-in. You just turn up, enter your details, pay 5 Euros and walk away. Oh happy days! So life is good. As always. Except for the fact that we are apart yet again. We seem to spend half our lives away from each other but that is the norm with our nomadic life. Absence really doesn't do it for us, we'd much rather be together so we have to work on our timing. But everything else is brilliant! Time is just slipping by and we have just been lazing around doing nothing. I've got a shoulder injury, but Lenny has been playing tennis which he hasn't done since Turkey.
Hurricane season approaches and we have to find a safe hole for Feijao. We were hoping to move to a mooring in Paraqueta Bay where all the Sun Sail fleet stays for the summer, but the entrance hasn't been dredged and it looks like we won't be able to get our 7ft draft in. So it looks like the hard-stand for us. Or a long sail back down south out of the hurricane belt. They pack them in with only inches between the yachts on the hard so one big puff of wind and they will all go over. Scary when we've just been watching the tornados in the U.S.
xx
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AuthorLenny & Gina Archives
February 2015
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