The Grand Tour

Having signed the lease on our new home in Grenada we flew back to the U.K to start a 3 month tour!

1st stop was Herne Bay to look after my lovely Mum while my brother And his partner went on holiday. Mum and I had some quality time and it was great to spend so much time with her. I also got to see lots of my other family too.

Mike took the opportunity to go and visit some of his dearest and definitely nearest I.e Jon, Sarah and Oli; Peter and Jill; Gill, Graham and Rosie.

We then went to Sivota in Greece where we had charted a little 32’boat to poodle around. We had forgotten how beautiful the Ionian is. We sailed down the Ithica channel stopping off at a number of ports in Cephalonia and then round the E. Coast of Ithica. Fab! The main reason for going there was to see my son Josh (he is a Sunsail skipper) but he “got his dates wrong” and spent the week we were there back in the U.K being best man at his friends wedding! Oh well, we enjoyed ourselves anyway and still met up with his flotilla crew.

At Efumia, Cephalonia

The Crew minus Skipper Josh!

On return from Greece we rented a cottage in Itchenor (close to our home village in Bosham). We only stayed for few days so couldn’t do everything we hoped but we did manage to blag a trip on a barge down the Chichester Canal ( Courtesy of Jill, one of Mike’s choir friends). A lovely summers evening in England.

Happy man!

The Cathedral (Turner’s view!)

Then we flew up to Leeds/Bradford to spend almost a week with our friends in Harrogate. Plenty of signs that Le Tour had passed through still remain. Clearly it was a momentous event for N Yorkshire. We enjoyed some lovely days out with The Scanlans and introduced them to the delights of Mexican Train Dominoes (I kid you not!).

Whitby in the sun

My youngest ‘Musketeer’

And now we are in N. Wales (Abersoch) for a long weekend. It is stunning scenery and the weather is still being very kind to us.

We will leave here to spend a few days in Cheshire with our friends Kathy and Pete, then a quick trip Warlingham to repack! And then……

AFRICA!!!!!!

P.S in case you are wondering, Blue Dolphin has not made it back to the U.K. Long story but she missed the weather window is lying in St Lucia waiting for hurricane season to pass before continuing homewards.

Preparing for the next stage

We have managed to secure a professional crew to sail BD back to Chichester so she can be sold 😦 They (3 guys) arrive on 22 June and will set off when safety checks and weather permit. In the meantime we are busily offloading everything. We have 3 piles:
1) keep in Grenada
2) stay on the boat
3) Get rid! (Not as big as I would like but better than expected!)

We are currently staying in our friend Carol’s house in the mountains. It is beautiful up here with wide sweeping views south across the rain forest down to the ocean. Much cooler too which is very welcome. She has a 50+ foot veranda where we spend much of our time. Mike, especially, has been making use of it as he has had a very nasty allergic reaction to something which has resulted in a very widespread, itchy rash. Being able to wander around with few, if any, clothes on all day has been bliss for him. It was so bad at the beginning that he had to be admitted to hospital! All subsiding now, thank goodness. We will stay here until we fly home at the end of the month.

The view from Carol’s veranda

Me on the veranda writing this blog

Last night we went to see the amazing spectacle of Leatherback Turtles laying their eggs on Lavera beach on the N of the island. There were about 9 female turtles there all between 5’ + 8’ long! They return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs even though they have probably travelled about 20,000 miles away! We saw one huge older female lumber up the beach (they weigh between 300 – 500lbs!). She then started digging a hole with her back flippers. Once the hole was deep enough (pretty deep) she then laid her eggs. A researcher counted them and there were 85 fertilised ones and 10 unfertilised (used as protein for the newly hatched). Once laid she then covered them using front and back flippers. Once satisfied she then went and dug and covered another, much shallower hole, which is done as a decoy. She then lumbered back down the beach to the water and was off – job done!
The egg laying season s February to August but most activity is in May and June. Because of the timing we were extremely lucky to see some hatchlings as well! 3 tiny, cute, perfectly formed, little turtles scooted down the beach at quite a pace into the sea. In the meantime 2 little heads were poking through the sand struggling to get up and out. Wow, wow wow! (Unfortunately pictures are not too good because it was at night and we were not allowed to use a flash. Unforgettable sight though that we will never forget.)

A ‘mock turtle’ during our brefing

The real thing – just laid her eggs!!!

We think we have found a house!! It is in the most beautiful location out on a peninsula with the ocean on both sides facing SW & SE. It is brand new and has a pool and access to the sea. No pictures yet until the deal is signed as we don’t want tempt fate! But we are very excited!

Keep you posted.
C&Mxxx

One Year On

Well, we have completed 12 months in our new life.  What a year it has been!  Having set sail from Bosham on 22 May we have travelled almost 7,000 miles (all of it at an average of 5mph); crossed an ocean; been to 9 or 10 different countries, met countless wonderful people; and seen some fantastic sights.

It has not all been plain sailing, obviously.  I got off the boat in Santander and decided enough was enough only to get back on later that day feeling much better having realised that getting off was an option!   The weather for most of France and Spain was foul.   The food in all of Spain was (disappointingly) foul!  And 42’ is not enough space for 2 people to live full time!!

The things we have missed have been surprisingly few.  Mainly seeing our friends and family regularly (especially little Oli, 3 year old Grandson and my 85 year old Mum) who have both changed so much in 12 months.  Skype etc have not lived up to our hopes.  And wifi has been our biggest frustration!!!

Foodwise there is nothing we miss, mainly because I stocked up with tea bags and shortbread biscuits (and made it a rule that any friends visiting could only board if they produced one or the other).  But also in this globalised world we live in everything is readily available everywhere.  We have virtually given up cooking on board now because a) It’s too hot  b) meals out are/can be really cheap.

We haven’t missed TV, but have missed the radio.  We have a hard drive with 320 films on that our friend Des gave us and that satisfies our ‘nights in’ but the ipod, even with 1760 songs on it, has become repititous. For downloading new songs see wifi comment above!

We do read a lot and have got through loads of books (and Kindles – 2 have died on us!!)  Most marinas run a book swap scheme.  I need to explain to Mike – again – what ‘swap’ means so that I can get rid of the library of paperbacks we have acquired!  Our Backgammon tournament has continued throughout even though I still haven’t worked out how Mike is cheating!!  (He is currently 51 points ahead!)  We have played the occasional game of scrabble and Yatzee is good fun when there are others on board.

We haven’t swum as much as I expected mainly because I keep getting ear infections!  Also, swimming in marinas or bays where there are a lot of boats is not good.

As far as highlights we would say:

Benedot River – anchoring outside the Chateau

Porto – we had a lovely weekend break there last July

Algarve – 1^st taste of really hot weather and I passed my Yachtmaster. 

Las Palmas – preparing for the Crossing was exhilarating, exhausting and very, very, sociable!

THE CROSSING!   Thanks again to Kathy and Sally, who not only made it possible by coming with us, but made it more fun.

St Lucia – ditto Las Palmas plus Xmas!!!

Antigua – re-living memories

Tobago Cays – natural beauty and marine life

Last and definitely not least Grenada.

We have fallen in love with it here. Partly because the Island is beautiful, lush and has diverse landscapes from mountians, waterfalls, rainforest and beaches. Partly because the local people are so friendly and welcoming.  And also because we have made so many friends here and the social life is fab!  We are learning Tai Chi; Yoga; playing Mexican dominos –mmm OK; weekly hash (hikes); we have joined the University Club and have full use of facilities –beach/pool etc; dinghy concerts; then there are the evenings!!!  Every night there is something going on.  So that brings us to our next adventure.

­What Next

We have decided that we want to live in Grenada for a while and immerse ourselves in the island way of life.  But we don’t want to do it living on a boat – we want space, large bed, nice shower room, flushing toilets; kitchen where at least one cat can be swung with ease etc, so we are going to look get a long term rental (at least 12 months) and see how it goes.

As far as Blue Dolphin is concerned, we will have her taken back to the U.K in June to be sold.  (We are sad but we cannot afford the luxury of having her sitting in the bay doing nothing much).  We are not ‘swallowing the anchor’ completely though (sailor speak for giving up sailing).  We will either buy a smaller boat for pottering around in and/or charter when we feel the need to get back out on the sea. 

We will continue with the blog until no one is reading it anymore! 

Love to all

Carol & Mike xx

 

Back in Grenada – at last!

Well, we have finished our island cruise and are back in lovely Grenada. We have had a fascinating trip. Highlights have been:
Antigua, reliving memories, champagne, and staying in The Inn at Freeman Bay;
Dominica, Indian River – stunning, rain in the Rain Forest, waterfalls – a beautiful Island;

Indian River, Dominica

Indian River

St Lucia – we will never be able to sail into Rodney Bay without re-living the euphoric moment we arrived having crossed the Atlantic. It all flooded back! Pigeon island is forever imprinted in our minds. Kathy & Sally xxxx. Also, Marigot bay is beautiful. And we met ‘old’ friend s and had a wonderful meal at Pink plantation ( Castries) with our new friend Lori.

Lunch at Pink Plantation, St Lucia

Tobago Cays – we were saving the visit until our return trip and it was well worth the wait. Fantastic coral reefs in the most amazing turquoise seas. Our photos do not do it justice. We snorkelled and saw turtles, rays and an amazing number of beautiful fish swimming through the coral – wow!

Another beautiful sunset in Bequia

Now back in lovely Grenada. Having seen all the other island we are even more convinced that Grenada is a special place where we want to spend more time.

More to follow!

St Lucia to Antigua

Mike and I have been getting used to life at sea again.  Having been on the dock at Whisper Cove for 2 months it has been hard to get back into the daily trials of being at sea or on anchor: rollly nights; toilet that needs pumping; water rationing; cooking in a small hot galley; 42′ of living space; long, sometimes bumpy, sails between islands.

On the plus side we have seen some fabulous sights and met some lovely people.  We did a quick hop (Martinuque), skip (Dominica) and jump (Guadalupe) to get up to Antigua and then we shall do a more leisurely cruise back down to Grenada and take in some more of the wonderful sights along the way.

The morning we left St Lucia we watched the fisherman cast their net in a circle and then haul in their catch.  what the photo doesnt show is the excitement and fun these guys seem to have doing it!

Fisherman in St Lucia

The haul

After a not very pleasant night rocking and rolling in the bay at Fort of France, Martinique we set off early for Dominica.  It was a pleasant sail of about 35 miles.  We spent a night in Roseau where I managed to get a very nasty cut on my toe as I got back into the dinghy. Freak accident as my toe slide through the shackle and sliced it!!!  The amount of blood in the bottom of the dinghy was very concerning and made me a bit woozy but the actual damage was not tooo bad.

It did mean that our half day tour the next day was less adventurous than we would have liked, plus it rained and rained (but as the guide explained ” it is a rainforest”) durr!  but nevertheless the beauty of Dominca was very evident.  We will definitely stop here for longer on the way back down!

The reminders of the hurricane in Dominica

another wonderfall waterfall

Indiana Gorvett?

Hot pool

The view across beautiful Dominica

Another long sail to Guadalupe where we anchored in Deshais Bay.  Because of strong winds we stayed for 3 days over Easter. (Happy Birthday to 3 sons, Jon, David and Josh)  It was a charming little French fishing village but, being French and Easter, very little was open or happening.  Still we enjoyed relaxing on board and doing lots of reading.

Pelicans in Guadalupe

On Easter Monday we set off at silly O’Clock for Antigua.  The winds was 25 knots gusting 33 as we left the bay BUT we were confident that the winds would soon drop.  They didn’t!  Plus we hit a line of squalls that made us very wet too – it was almost like crossing the Atlantic!!   Still, we were very excited to be going to Antigua as we have lovely memories of several visits here.  Our last trip was in 2010 and that’s where Mike proposed to me.  We went back to the same spot and shared some champagne to toast the occassion.

Mr Gorvett

Mrs Gorvett

Humming Bird – Mike’s very proud of this photo.

We had also said back then what a thrill it would be to sail our own boat into English Harbour someday – and now we have!!!

Dream come true!

To celebrate we have had a few days off the boat staying in a beach cabana at The Inn, Freemans Bay.  Fresh sheets everyday, hot showers, push button flush, big double bed – luxury!!

It is also Classic Yacht week and there have been some fantastic yachts around.

Mike’s dreaming of his next boat – dream on!

We are starting to plan for the return trip (probably tomorrow)  and we go back on the boat today – oh well!

We hope all our friends and family are well?  I do try and reply to comments –  I hope you get them.

Love Mike &  Carol xx

On the move.

Well, we finally left Grenada, albeit for 2 months when we will return to have the boat hauled out and a quick fix of our Grenadian haunts before flying out for our summer holidays 🙂

We set off 2 days later than planned – oops!  I was finally prised away and we headed for Carriacou.  We had a superb meal there at Slipways.

Sunset in Carriacou – will we ever tire of them?

 

We then set off for Bequia.  Our plan is to get up to Gaudaloupe as quickly – ish as possible and then have a lovely cruise back down during end of April and through June, hence we by passed Tobago Cays – a treat yet to be had!

 

Fisherman between Carriacou and Bequia

Once in Bequia we were encouraged to re-visit St Vincent with our friends Lori and Ken-( a horrible stop over on the way down in January had made us very ambivalent towards St.V.)  We are glad we were persuaded but equally glad that we went by ferry and not sail!.  Whilst it is no Grenada it had a certain uncultivated charm and some fabulous plants!!

Very tall palms!

Crab claws!

????

Pipe cleaners!

Strange – the plant or our friend Lori ?

My favourite. Surely it is a Pixar creation not a plant!!!

We had a fab day!!

We left Bequia yesterday for a long sail to St Lucia (where it all began – once the Atlantic crossing had finished!!).  It took us 10 hours but was a fabulous sail, close reach all of the way.  We arrived in the very lovely Marigot Bay last night.  Today we are in Rodney Bay re-living our arrival way back in December and enjoying dinner at the Jambe de Bois – jazz band and all!  Tomorrow Martinque!!!

An improbably picturesque beach at Marigot Bay

 

Birthday treat

Not only did we go for dinner at the swankiest restaurant in Grenada (The Calabash) but my lovely husband also booked us in for a 24 hour all inclusive package.  Then when we got there we were upgraded to their finest suite, with exclusive swimming pool etc – bliss!  I felt very spoilt 🙂

The patio

View from the front balcony

Stroll along the beach before afternoon tea

Mike enjoying the facilities

Danny, our waiter shares my birthday. Twins separated at birth?

Lovely day nearly over

Beautiful flowers sent from Betty. They survived the flight very well 🙂

Grenada – yes we are still here

We just cant leave!! Maybe next week. We had a nice week with our friend Chris and now we will start to plan our trip “up island”.

La Sagesse beach – our favourite.

Mike soaking it up.

A Nutmeg – the island’s largest crop

A Cashew – the nut grows at the end of the fruit!!

One of many waterfalls

Yesterday we went to Hog Island ( a small islet in Clarke’s Ct Bay) for a swim and Sean cooked us fresh lobster straight from the sea – delicious.

Hog Island (on left)

Fresh lobster

Grilled to perfection

Supper on the beach

It’s good to be back ‘home’.

 Whisper Cove Marina

Having reassured myself that my mum is doing OK ( thanks mainly to the wonderful support she is given by my brothers Ian and Barry and their other halves Steph and Brenda), I returned to the paradise island of Grenada. While I was away Mike got a new tooth and had a great time socialising with our new friends.  We are still in Whisper Cove Marina as we cannot bring ourselves to leave!

We are looking forward to our friend Chris arriving next week.

Whisper COVE

Today’s lunch venue.

Another wonderful week in Grenada

Life in Grenada just gets better and better.  This week has been a fun packed,lively week.  Last Sunday we went to our 1st dinghy concert.  There was a large floating pontoon with a great band playing on it, another one with some  seats and a bar, and then lots and lots of dinghies all tied up together to watch.  There were even some who risked standing up to dance.  There were 5 of us in our dinghy so we just managed some arm waving.  Great fun.  Then on to Hog Island for (more) drinks.

Monday night we joined the others from our small (but beautiful) marina for a suchi night.  We loved the food and will definitely go again this week.

Wednesday we spent on La Sagess beach.  If you think of a beach in the Caribbean it will be  La Sagesse.  Wonderful sweeping bay of white sand, fringed with palm trees, a discreet bar/restaurant in the trees and clear blue water – and hardly anyone on it!!  We then went up to our friend Carol’s house in the mountains.  It is lovely up there in the rain forest and her house has a 50 foot long veranda all along the back which looks across the valley all the way down to the sea (Mike forgot the camera!)  In the evening we went to the cinema to see Last Vegas, which is a mildly amusing film but with the Grenadians very vocal interaction it was hilarious!

Thursday I went for a Grenadian cookery class at True Blue.  Again it was hilarious.  Because last Friday was Independence Day (40th) and a big deal on Island the 3 cooks began  by singing some Independence songs, then we all stood for the National Anthem, then they gave us a history lesson on how independence was finally granted by Queen Elizabeth and finally we got to eat the national dish Oil-Down.  It was delicious and I did get given the recipe but I would have no idea how to make it.  Still, it was a wonderful afternoon.

Friday we ended up with some friends at D’junction – the local hot spot – for drinks and dancing!!  Even though we were the oldest (by some way) everyone was really friendly and welcoming.  We had a ball!

Yesterday we went on our 2nd Hash.  It was very challenging but great fun.

Tonight we are going to the theatre to see a local production called Uncle, which is about Eric Geary, the man who led the Independence and was 1st Prime Minister.  Should be interesting!.

Mike is on his 2nd temporary tooth!!!   He swallowed the 1st one after only 4 days!  The dentist told him off.  Only 2 weeks till his permanent one arrives – hooray.

I’m off to the UK this week to visit my poor old Mum.  She is OK but I haven’t seen her since October and it seems too long to wait until July.  So Mike will be left to fend for himself – apart from all the new friends we have made who are all promising to look out for him.  He even has a date on Valentine’s Night with another Carol!!!

PS. I have been trying all day to load photos (yawn) but have decided that a blog without photos is better than no blog at all?  will try again tomorrow with the pics!