Tobago again – and Nora came to stay

“I’m stuffed” – Bryn’s 13^th birthday pizza.

Nora and me (a rare photo of me with my mouth shut).

Bethany, Bryn and Nora making fudge – and christening the new stove...

Beach bums – with special guest Nora – at Pigeon Point.

More music – with CHRISTINA PEARL, ERCOLAUSA 2 and MONOÏ (and yes, that sky is for real) (Photo courtesy of CHRISTINA PEARL).

Trinidad again

We tasted Trinidad again for Willie’s (LIAHONA) birthday. This time we got up to 67 different foods and then exploded in a nasty mess in Jesse’s van.

Taste of Trinidad 2.

Brazil nut.

Grenada

We holed up in Mount Hartman Bay and spent quite a bit of time playing music with Dave (PERSEPHONE), both at the Mount Hartman marina and at the Sunday Jam sessions at Whisper Cove (where we were paid in beer/coke for our performances!). Bethany and Bryn found a small crowd of teenagers to play volley ball, go to the beach, and generally hang out with.

The Frapping Halyards (nautical, noisy and annoying) in action.

Jamming with other cruisers at the Sunday Jam session at Whisper Cove.

We joined our American friends for Thanksgiving.

We added our brain cells to the No Eye Deer team (HEYMEDE and IMMPRESSIONIST II) in the Tikki Bar and helped them ‘spend’ one of the quiz prizes – an afternoon in a ‘dinghy donut’ in Prickly Bay, with nibbles and rum punch.

The dinghy donut.

Saint Lucia

Bryn caught a mahi-mahi (dolphin fish) on passage from Grenada to Saint Lucia.

We picked up mooring buoys between the Pitons, at the foot of the Petit Piton (left) and near the town of Soufriere.

At the foot of the Petit Piton was a great place for a beach BBQ with RAFIKI and SUZIE TOO.

In Rodney Bay we experienced an explosion of boat kids when we met up with Nancy, David, Chris and Josh (LIBERTY) (http://www.gohlkesonliberty.com/index.html)  and Nancy, Anita, Jacob, Kyle, Savannah and Shane (ORION) (http://crewaudacious.com/). Boat school every morning was followed by boat kid things.

Looking over Rodney Bay from Pigeon Island.

Boat kid panorama (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

Boat kids doing boat kid things (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

Older boat kids doing older boat kid things (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

When we’d done exploring Rodney Bay, we went back to Soufriere and the Pitons for more exploring, snorkelling and another beach BBQ.

Boat kid playing with fire.

Beach BBQ at the foot of the Petit Piton.

Soggy boat kids at New Jerusalem Falls (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

Soggy boat kids at Toraille Falls (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

The Petit Piton Challenge Team (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

Looking over Soufriere; CAPE can just be seen at the bottom of the photo (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

At the summit (photo courtesy of LIBERTY).

Martinique

As Christmas and New Year beckoned, we headed north to St Anne’s Bay in Martinique to meet up with Dave (PERSEPHONE), David and Nancy (FAWKES), Ken and Lynne (SILVERHEELS III) and Dave and Taryna (HEYMEDE). (Yes, many male yotties appear to be called ‘Dave’.) We shopped at Leader Price and Carrefour for French wine, cheese, olive oil, and ate and drank far too much as usual with a great crowd of old and new friends.

St Anne’s Bay, Martinique for a pot-luck Christmas lunch and the ‘White Elephant’ Game.

After seeing in the New Year, we headed around the corner to Anse d’Arlet then Grande Anse d’Arlet to take advantage of the ‘free’ EU-funded mooring buoys.

Anse d’Arlet, Martinique.

In Grande Anse d’Arlet we met up with ORION, ULTRA, SILVERHEELS III and RAFIKI for the start of a new year of boat school, movie nights, snorkelling, diving, hiking and ‘ULTRA’ boarding (a dive sled or manta board http://underwaterdivesled.com/ ). One of our current school projects is to draw up in CAD and make our own ‘ULTRA’ board – watch this space. At the moment we are sitting out the ‘Christmas winds’ and waiting for a weather window that will allow us to head to Dominica comfortably and then further north. Hopefully it won’t be another year before the next blog update, but I’m not promising anything!