Season's Greetings
Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Thu 18 Dec 2008 12:06
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Dear
Friends
"14:26.2N 60:53.1W"
Sorry we've not done a blog for a while: all
is well and we've been relatively busy (by our standards).
Our haulout went well and being lazy as
usual we had the yard do the work so we could go exploring. This time we've had
'hard' antifouling as the ablative variety seems to wear off rather quickly with
the speed and distance of sailing that we enjoy. Hopefully the Trinidad Pro will
last a couple of years or so, maybe three years if we're lucky.
We were somewhat distracted from taking the
week off by discussing the performance of the new batteries we installed at the
end of August: from our testing we reckon they are, at best, a quarter of
nominal capacity. Anyway, to cut a rather long story short, the chandlery has
agreed replacement, which will be effected in Sint Maarten as no other suitable
batteries were available in Grenada.
[and for the techies - we charged the
batteries up well so that the resting voltage after 30 minutes rest was 12.87 v,
we took out 61 amp hours from a total nominal capacity of 460 amp hours (about
13.26%) during a 14 hour period overnight and the subsequent 30 minute resting
voltage was 12.13 volts which we reckon is about 40 to 45 per cent charge.
Expert opinions gratefully received.]
We did manage an island tour of Grenada -
self drive this time as we had a car for the haulout week - and we trekked up to
the higher Concord Fall on the west side of the island. Here's a pic of the fall
with Alex swimming underneath and George keeping watch.
 After the relaunch, we headed north and
spent a good 4 nights in the Tobago Cays. Now that it was the end of the
hurricane season, the Cays were busy with charter boats but we had a good time
in very good conditions. Both Michael and Alex saw sharks whilst snorkelling on
the reef but Michael claims the biggest - at least 10 feet long and seen rather
suddenly as he snorkelled around a corner of reef - the shark was only 15 feet
away! What sort of shark it was we can't say as Michael was too busy controlling
the adrenaline rush to worry about distinctive features. Let's just say that it
looked very much like the one in the movies.
Other items of interest from the Cays were
this Flying Gurnard with wings in display and a hermit crab urgently in need of
enlarged accommodation...
 A vigorous sail up to Bequia followed and
for the first time we were met by the 'photoaction' man who polices the
approaches to the anchorage with a large camera and a very good sense of
balance in his dinghy. The best action photo was printed up and now graces the
saloon of Blue Sky: you'll have to visit to see it!. We enjoyed a fair bit
of socialising in Bequia, as several of our friends' boats were also stopping on
their way North. We visited the Turtle Sanctuary again and this time a couple of
albino Hawksbill turtles were in the pools. Apparently the albinos are attacked
by the regular turtles, so these two were destined for a safe life in captivity.
They even fight each other, so here's just one of them:
 After a couple of days in Cumberland Bay
(see blog 6 Dec 07) we had another great sail up to Rodney Bay, St Lucia where
the ARC* boats were finishing their transatlantic. And it was exactly two years
since we completed our Atlantic crossing to Guadeloupe.
We're now in Martinique again for Christmas
and the conditions here are very pleasant. It's also rather nice to go to a
supermarket and find it full of splendid things to eat, in contrast with the
rather poorer, if cheaper, offerings in the independent islands. But not
wishing to be unfair to the 'English' islands, we'll finish with a picture of
our Last Supper in Carriacou - a lobster of 4 pounds 10 ounces for which the
fisherman wanted only 50 ECs (about £12). We finished this off at a single
sitting, thanks in large part to Alex's determined contribution to the task. So
despite the lack of Christmas Turkey, I guess we'll manage somehow.
 So that's all for now folks: we wish you a
very happy festive season wherever you are and a healthy and prosperous
2009.
Best Wishes
George, Michael and Alex
* ARC = 'Atlantic Rally for Cruisers' an
organised crossing for those who like a little company and moral
support.
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