Knot Normal - The Adventure

Moving up the Grenadines going North an island at a time.  We are now in Canonouan and will heading out at noon to Bequia where we will spend a few days getting chaps made for the dingy and fixing my 8 hp Mercury outboard.  Life is good. MAKK in Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau Anchorage at Tobago Cay National Park Our new best friend Ben, Deb and Makk slurping it up

We are in Clifton harbor, Union Island, St, Vincent having breakfast with Ben and Deb.  Clifton is a quaint but busy harbor with lots of BBQ, bakeries, ice, beer and for us, Internet.  Back to civilization for a moment.  Yesterday I tried docking my boat with 20 mph wind and an untrained and infested crew and got my first scratch.  Now I have a used boat.  Oh well.  Life is good. We are heading to a more non-developed cove on the lee side of Union this afternoon.  No Internet but also quiet, calm, and peaceful. Main Steet in Clifton, Union Island Breakfast at the Snack Bar with Deb and Ben and various street dogs.

On the go at last.  Deb and Ben Unger are aboard and we are anchored in Tyrell Bay.  We now have access to the internet and are having fish tacos in a beach side restaurant. Last night we had an anchorage in a cove called Isle de Ronde.  We were the only ones there and it was gorgeous.  I caught an embarrassingly small spotted grouper for dinner but it tasted wonderful.   The night before we stayed in Halifax Bay and again we were the only ones there to enjoy the scenery. Too small grouper - but tasty.  Isle de Ronde anchorage Halifax Bay anchorage Sisters Rocks off Isle de Ronde - Anchorage to the right in the distance

We go off the grid today at noon.  We cast our lines and leave this lovely marina, Le Phare Bleu.  We are setting sail to the western side of Grenada where we will anchor for the night.  Tomorrow we will pull anchor and sail to Carriacou, the northerly most island of Grenada.  We will meet Ben and Deb in Carriacou who are joining us for a leisurely 4 week cruise up the island chain to St Lucia.  Deb and MAKK provisioned the boat as only they could do:  we will not starve or run out of wine or rum. We will fly home from St. Lucia for a two week visit to Elizabeth City and fly back to St. Lucia with Bobby and his daughter, Brandy and Brandy's husband, Joey.  Next up, Bobby and crew depart in Guadeloupe and Matt and Emily join us or a 10 day cruise departing May 9th in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  We have no scheduled passengers after that. Matt and Emily are new friends we bonded with first on line and then in France where we and other new Fo...

Yesterday was the Hog Island BBQ adventure.  It is a weekly get together on a small island with mostly the locals.  You dingy over, there is band, food, a make shift bar, volley ball and generally a good time to be had.  We now have two dinghies and only one motor.  I towed the second dingy to carry Deb and Ben and Sue and Peter on the return.  The second dingy is a result of my poorly lashing the original to the boat:  it escaped one night and I thought it was stolen so I bought a new one.  The next day it was returned so I have two now. Towing cousin Deb (Ben is behind taking the pic) The tow Captain getting directions from the real skipper Beach hut The band on Hog Island The BBQ cook The dingy parking area and Ben in the orange shirt 

S orry for not blogging when I arrived February 17th.  Once on dry land I got very busy with outfitting the boat and getting ready for MAKK’s arrival.  Then I was busy with MAKK and our guests, the venerable Mr. Peter Thomson and Sue Thomson.  The trip across the pond (Canaries to Grenada) Knot Normal at rest in Phare Bleu View of St. George's Harbor, four masted wind jammer at port Calivigny Island -Yours for only $120,000 a night;  Yacht included Swedish lightship used as a bar and bad facility at Phare Bleu Phare Bleu view to the Atlantic Ocean took 18 days in following seas with wind 20 to 35 knots.  The seas were 9 to 15 feet.  The boat took it all better than me and the crew.  It was sunny most of the time except for the occasional squall.  It was hard to fish in that environment but I did manage to catch 4 dolphin, 1 skipjack tuna and 2 small amber jacks. We are now in a marina from heaven.  It is Phare ...

Spent two days in the port of Santa Cruz, Island of La Palma.  We provisioned the boat, fueled, and rested for the big leap:  the Atlantic crossing.  All is well on board except the loss of one of the antennas.  We should be in Grenada in about 20 days if all goes well.   We will be fishing two lines in hope of fresh tuna and dolphin. La Palma, cliffs and buganvilla Port of Santa Cruz, La Palma