Monsters of the Deep !
Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Wed 2 May 2007 23:22
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Hello Friends
"16:48.07N 62:12.43W"
We have some catches to report so we thought
we'd add another blog already.
Firstly, credit where it's due - here is
Marco celebrating the capture of a real live lobster off the seabed. OK it may
be rather a small one, but it's a very good start and formed part of one of
George's risottos later that day.
 That was caught in Ballast Bay, St
Kitts - our favourite type of anchorage with lots of wind to keep the power up
and a flat sea for a good night's sleep. George and Michael has a walk around
some salt lagoons for several miles, seeing many feral goats and cattle, which
have eaten southern St Kitts pretty bare. Also 3 monkeys sighted crossing the
path in front of us.
We spent a few days in Nevis again but the
weather was not suitable for a crack at Nevis Peak as the top is very frequently
covered in cloud.
As the wind was fresh easterly, we decided
to have a look at Montserrat where we are now. We had a great brisk sail across
in 4 tacks, coming close to Redonda which we think should be twinned with
Rockall for obvious reasons...
 All in, a good trash upwind, averaging 7.3
knots to arrive in good light in Little Bay, Montserrat.
Now as you all know, Montserrat is an active
volcano, or at least the southern half is. The type of lava here is very viscous
and just piles up into a huge dome which eventually becomes unstable and has
violent collapses and pyroclastic flows. At the moment the lava dome is getting
slowly bigger and is now nearly as big as it's ever been, so a big incident is
expected sometime this year. You can see the steam escapes from the side of the
volcano. The top of the dome is covered in cloud and steam.
 Little Bay - the name says it all - is the
one and only working harbour here and it is tiny. All the island's trade comes
through here, so the practical difficulties are considerable. We've just moved
the anchorage slightly as a big freighter is expected later this evening and
needs most of the space to manoeuvre.
Marco went snorkelling again and Terry the
Turtle decided to come back to the boat with him for a photo
call...
 OK, all together now - Aaahhh !
I hasten to add that Terry decided to return
safely to his bay shortly after the photo session. I'm sure turtles must be
protected but there are loads of them in the islands here - we see them in most
bays, even in town anchorages.
That's all for now, probably off for a quick
run to Guadeloupe tomorrow so that Marco can have a look at Les Saintes where we
spent Christmas and New Year.
Best Wishes
George & Michael
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