From Culebra

Hi, I just thought I would add a few photos to prove we have been out there doing it.
Living the dream
WHAT A DREAM
Rob....😊

James relaxing 😊

Alex swimming with Dolphins on the way to Culebra
if you look carefully you can see one in the bottom left

Alex getting some air time

Roxys in Great Harbour on Jost van Dyke BVI

We went for a walk

They even provide chairs and iced water on the way
how civilized

Salt pan in BVI
Salt island

BVI, Cuebra and Barracuda

Hi,
So we have made it as far as Culebra. It is a fantastic Island.

The BVI is very busy and expensive. Every anchorage crowded with charter Cats, tethered to mooring buoys(cost US$ 30 per night ). Zero space to drop an anchor in most places. And every spot worth diving or snorkeling is overpopulated. The coral has been badly damaged and the fish life is minimal. There are beautiful areas however, and on another stop here I plan to explore them a little more.
The last two nights in the BVI we spent on the Northern Island of Jost van Dyke. One day at Green Cay on the east point, and the last night in Great Harbour where we cleared out to head west. Both were really great. Green Cay has the most exquisite "desert Island". White sand beach, Palm tree, some junk, and you can walk all the way round in 2 minutes. Cool. Alex spent most of the day Kite surfing, while James and I did school. (not quite so exciting )
Great Harbour which is a small bay flanked on the north with a white sandy beach, many places to quench your thirst and party all night, and a police station. Good fun stop. just mind the sand fleas. Donner!

Our sail to Culebra from Jost van Dyke was the longest for a while. WOW 37 miles. But what a lovely surprise. Friendly people, uncluttered anchorages, and the most fantastic dive areas. There are mooring buoys here too, but here they are FREE. The coral is incredible, and the fish life is great. The Barracuda are cool, They just hang around under or behind the boat virtually motionless. Average size 1,5m in length.
Quite good fun for fishing especially on light tackle (you need a steel trace )Catch a small fish as live bait. (good luck getting it to the surface, the barracuda normally nab it) Hook it on (with your steel trace ), then get ready as you drop it back into the water. It takes maybe 5 seconds, then WAM, he takes it and runs off 100m, leaping into the air. It will then take you half an hour to bring him in, with many more dashes off into the distance. Finally exhausted you can unhook him and watch him swim away slowly.
Beautiful fish.!

Tomorrow we sail for Puerto Rico.
It is a great pity we have to hurry along, but the Hurricane season is June to November, so I really don't want to hang around to experience one.

Chat soon
Rob

St Maarten and moving along

Hi, as usual we have spent longer than planned.
We are on our way tomorrow evening to BVI for a bit of diving, fishing, kite boarding.
Tony Brewer and his family have been truly fantastic. Home from home, AND All our laundry is now acceptable again, and we no longer smell quite so yachtie......

We have even managed to get a good section of school behind us.
Tomorrow we stock the bilges and head off on the 100 nm to our next stop.
Just wish I had a bigger freezer

Hopefully no more engine troubles.....😃

Chat soon
Rob

windy lagoon

Anchored in St Martin Lagoon last night our anchor started to drag, no problem, we just motor forward and drop it again.
Well that would be easy. The fan belt started squealing, then shredded it self and got eaten by the timing belt after wrapping itself round the crank end pulley. For goodness sake why when I was already stressing.
we then had to put the anchor out at speed with the dingy.
To replace the timing belt after cutting away all the old fan belt I had to figure out where tdc is, what posi the cam should be in, and what marks are relevant to the injector pump.
All in about 6 hours later working with a tiny torch, my little engine is running again
phew
thought I had lost it there for a mo..

much relief !

St Martin

Hi, so we have got as far as St Martin.
Have had a great time on the way. The plan now is to sail this week to the BVI, Culebra, Bahamas and then on to USA

Antigua was fun, Alex found a position as crew on Vagabundo, a 45 foot classic, which came in 2nd. Very well done
I spent time on the judges boat, and on the last day on a Carricou sloop. We were not quite so lucky. We had a port, starboard collision, last our mast, and had to retire.
Here are some photos of our time.
Rob

Alex giving Gerda some kite lessons

Alex after a week of fun at Green island

Beautiful places to swim

The Start of one of the Classic races

My Mermaid

My two silly sons

Sunset in St Pierre, Martinique

We sent it sailing as a "message in a bottle"

Painting on our registration

VAGABUNDO

Antigua, Fun and Games!

Hi,
We are only as far as Antigua. 5 April. We have been here for a week now, and just found a grand place for kite surfing. It is on the East coast of Antigua around Green Island. There are free buoyed moorings, about 20 in a reef protected anchorage. Pity the wind right now is now quite enough, but it is sure to pick up as the day progresses.
The sail from Guadalupe to Antigua was anything but comfortable. Only 42 Miles, but eventful. While motoring out of Deshaies, just after we had stowed the anchor, the alternator / coolant pump fan belt broke. Not a major crisis, but I needed to replace it. Fortunately I had one spare left, (started the voyage with 6 spares) Replacing it is not as simple as initially it may seem. First as we are sailing, the boat is now at 20 deg and moving around a lot. Next the engine is hot from the motoring while lifting anchor. Then to remove the offending belt, you must start with water maker belt, off, then Jabsco salt water pump belt, off, then the alternator / coolant pump. All this adds up to being a fiddly, dirty and awkward job, filled with profanities. Lucky I have had practice. My alternator is too big for just one belt, so I go through one every 100 hours or so.

Finally, after all was tidied up again, we got to the task of sailing north. Two reasonable wind squalls later I had a sick wife. Lucky I have spare........ Helmsman Alex. Now Alex likes to sail fast. 8 knots fast? For us it is OK! So we sailed on our side through the squalls, then we had NO wind, so we motored. Then the BLOODY fan belt was slipping. Not enough tension! The whole boat smelt like a day at Drag racing. Fuel and burnt rubber. That really got my Poor Wife Green.
Bucket Green!

Well the anchorage at Antigua in English Harbor was fantastic. Calm, clean water, Beautiful 120 ft boats, Classics Boats, New Fast Plastic Boats, Wooden Boats varnished to Museum display grade, and some ordinary boats too. All too Beautiful and too comfortable ! So we moved up to Green Island. An eight mile move which took 4 hours and 18 miles of sailing. Beating against wind and current. Poor Wife....

The kite surfing is good :)
Chat soon
Rob

Snail is moving

Hey, here is an event worth noting
We moved, from Rodney Bay, St Lucia to Marin, Martinique (26 miles)
WOW!
Tomorrow perhaps up to le Saints.
Need to first get some wine and cheese here. Stock is dangerously low.
Weather is fantastic. Sea is like pond, wind is 12 kts ESE. Boat sails like a rocket......... well, ok, not quite.....
Have a great day
Rob

Hey, here are some pics for fun

Bequia

Hi,
Having left Grenada, where we had a great couple of weeks, and James had his birthday :) we sailed up to Carriacou,(2nights), then Union Island, which is our best for kite boarding. Alex has it, but James and I, well lets just say "not so good"
We anchor just behind Frigate Island, a small peninsula on the south side of Union which provides great protection, and creates lagoon like conditions. Here you can spend weeks, if you had provision enough, as there are no shops, but if you are prepared for a long dingy ride to Clifton, the main town, there is an assortment of shops with "tourist" prices.
Unfortunately (as we were having fun), we had to leave a bit prematurely. The weather was turning nasty. We managed a mid afternoon departure, a 6 hour (very wet and lumpy) beat up to Bequia, where we arrived at 21:00.
So right now we are anchored in Bequia, Port Elizabeth which is reasonable calm and there is plenty to do.
The weather looks like it will only let up in a week, so till then we do school, boat improvements, and maybe some diving.
Projects in hand include: Raise the cockpit floor, build shelves in the TV cupboard (yes we have TV), fix the bloody grey water pump again, fix the leaky garden tap on the stern which is making big ugly rust stains down the transom, and of course chip and paint some other rusty spots.
Or we could do all that stuff tomorrow, or the next day, as we have a fridge that works, and it has many beers which are not drinking themselves ;)
Present anchor position 13 00,00 N 61 14,86 W
Rob

Trinidad

Hi, while in Trinidad, we had a marvelous time!
Apart form meeting great people, we hauled "Margie" (The Teddy Bears Picnic) for new antifoul, hatch over the heads, a hard top roof, new through hull fittings and some other things that needed attention.
We are all now ready for the adventure to carry on. Too long in one spot.

Tanzi, Alex and Michael

"MINE   !!"...... "MINE !!"

Backing in to be hauled out. Reverse???? This is a boat it goes forward!

All good

All Rats are happy when messing around in boats.... what life is all about.

"MY KEEL."

Leaving Trinidad

Looking back at Chagauramas.

Alex , Birthday morning. He got woken by Girls with presents. ;)

Happy !

Building me a roof in Trinidad

Bending up a pipe for the edge

 

 

James always over the Moon when helping.

And ME, Always happy when building stuff

Roof Ready to go up

Roof up

Anchored in Grenada. What........

On Friday we should be starting our way up toward The Bahamas.
The plan is to stop off in Bequia, Martinique (for bread and wine), Le Saints, Antiguia, Barbuda, St Martin, BVI, Puerto Rico, then The Bahamas.

Hope all works out (especially the wine!)
Rob