Dear All,

 

OK, I know its a long time but enjoying ourselves just gets in the way.

We were pleased to see Dale and Sue who joined us in Antigua and it was good to catch up on all the local news from Coverack. We provisioned the boat before leaving Antigua. The Island has quite a large population of Brits.

So we were able to find some of our favourites and it was whilst passing a long line of drinks coolers that I could not believe my eyes. Amongst the single rows of beers was my favourite... Doom! I eagerly grasped the front bottle and lo and behold, there was another behind which I quickly grabbed; but then alas, the row ended, just two bottles! I found the nearest person dressed in a uniform with a name tag to ask if there was anymore, unfortunately she worked at the bank!  I then went to customer services, this rather large lady was at the desk. Now bear in mind, the Caribbean people are very religious but also touched with a tinge of the occult and  voodoo, so can you imagine her reaction when I ask her if she had any bottles of Doom? Her response was “ for want do you want this for? ” it was at this stage I knew two bottles was to be my lot.

 

We left Antigua and headed for Montserrat.

A little history, Montserrat pre 1995 was home to the rich and had a famous recording studio where Elton John recorded three albums at the Montserrat studio in the 1980s. Dire Straits recorded their successful Brothers in Arms album between 1984 and 1985. Other artists such as Ultravox, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Paul McCartney, Rush, The Police, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Midge Ure, Little River Band, Duran Duran, Sheena Easton, Luther Vandross, and Supertramp have also recorded albums there.

In 1995 a massive eruption took place and the resultant ash and mud slide wiped out half the island including the capital Plymouth. Today there is still an exclusion zone covering half the Island with all the inhabitants relocated in the northern half. Luxurious hotels and homes that belonged to the rich lie derelict whilst nature reclaims them.

 

After Montserrat, we went to St. Kitts and it was there I first began to notice the change to tourism shaped for the American Market and we did not like it! Adjacent to St. Kitts is an Island called Nevis where we sensed there was still the Caribbean culture, unfortunately we did not stay long but have decided that Nevis was our preferred Island of the two and would return at the next opportunity.

It was at around  this time that I decided it was time to savour my bottle of Doom, now as I am a fair and sharing kind of bloke, I obviously offered the other to Dale who probably had had a pint a few days before he came out and was likely to have another within hours of his return, whilst me, well my last was probably in October 2015 and my next would be May 2016! But I guess it was my  Rolo sharing with Dale moment and I guess I had earned my place in heaven.

 

We finally arrived in St Martin which was where Sue and Dale caught their flight back to Antigua. It came around so quickly but we knew we had again shared some magic moments together.

St. Martin is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by more than one country i.e France and Holland. The total area is 34 square miles with France occupying 20 square miles and Holland the remainder.

Currency is interesting too, prices are displayed in Euros, Dollars and Dutch Guilders! However it is all duty free and is also the boat parts capital of the world, so if Out-Rageous was going to throw a wobbly, here was the place.

We had until now enjoyed limited success from our solar panels. Having spent a considerable amount of money, I was disappointed to say the least. We had trouble with one of our fridges and a local refrigeration engineer called Maclyn came aboard. He quickly diagnosed and cured the problem. Whilst aboard I asked Maclyn if he knew of a good electrical engineer. Oh dear!!!

 

“But wat is de problem brudder? “

I told him my concern about the lack of power reaching the batteries from the panels.

Before I could say anything he was down in my engine room like a ferret after a rabbit, about five minutes later I heard from depths  “I can fix dis with de help of the Lord.”

So what a dilemma, was I a non believer?

I have to say that he did diagnose the problem and increased my input to the batteries from the panels by some 40%, however the problem was, other things stopped working and there were many wires hanging dejectedly and without a home.

It was at this stage that I guessed the Lord’s attention must have been distracted! It took a while for Maclyn to realise that the Lord’s attention had wandered to another poor lost soul and that he was on his own... three days to be precise!! 

And then behold, a miracle had appeared and the Lord rewarded me for my misguided faith in Maclyn by providing me with an angel in the guise of fellow yachties Peggy and Mike Wheatstone. Mike a retired Canadian electrical wizard whom we had met in St. Barts (and he just happened to own the mooring next to us in St Martin.) He restored all and peace descended upon the noble ship Out-Rageous, and I am blessed now with more amps than we know what to do with.

 

After our second week in St Martin my brother Clive joined us which was good as it had been many years since we had shared an adventure together. We left St Martin and headed to the British Virgin Islands, some ninety miles down wind. I am not sure if he was looking forward to it or not but it was a good introduction to Caribbean Sailing, blue seas, blue sky and 30 degs C.

We arrived in Virgin Gorda one of the Island chain, the wind was brisk but because of the location of the islands there was little swell.

I think the most striking thing about the BVI s is the underwater fish life. Lynn and I had always been fascinated by marine life and were not disappointed by the snorkelling. Clive had brought along an underwater camera, however had found it difficult to see the controls despite numerous attempts at wearing his glasses inside his mask! I remember being anchored off Dog Island and snorkelling above the coral reef where in places we were swimming amongst the corals and thousands of fish.

 

We visited the Island of Jost Van Dyke and walked to a famous bar called the Soggy Dollar, named because it has no dock so to visit the bar you must land on the beach in the surf. Most times you get a good soaking.

Whilst we were there, there were many tripper boats visiting from the American Virgin Islands which are only 3 miles away, again an American invasion. (Sorry Greg & Tuyet.) The good thing is the skimpy nature of the clothing the young girls wear, this was brought to my attention by my elder brother. (Lynn here, believe that if you will!)

We look forward to seeing Clive next year in the Caribbean but hope he can find a different hat!

 

After Clive left us at Tortola for his return flight to Antigua, Kathy and David joined us.

I have to say at this point I was a little anxious, not because of how we would gel, but because of David's former profession. Prior to retirement, he was a Scilly boatman. Kathy and David ran Bryher boats and David has been a boatman all his life, how would I measure up?

No worries, a true professional and it was a pleasure to have them both on the boat. I guess our only short comings was the amount of wine Lynn and I could manage.

We introduced Kathy and David to Catamaran sailing. We thought at first it may have been a busman's holiday, however that was quickly dispelled at watching David on the helm of Out-Rageous doing twelve knots and all for free. Kathy and David have a power boat and to do twelve knots would come at a price.

 

It was on the first night of their stay that I thought we had burglars! I could hear movement in the cockpit but also accompanied by (sleeping noises.) David had difficulty adjusting to the heat and did what was natural and slept on deck In fact I don't think he spent one night with Kathy for the whole of their stay, finally settling in the forward cabin with his head out of the escape hatch. (Although this could also have had something to do with the fact we stored the beer in the forward cabin?)

We explored many anchorages and bars together and with all our guests shared many a bottle of wine. We rescued a German yacht from certain disaster and were rewarded with six cans of Heineken!

I told David not to mention the War!!

 

We found the off islands more like the Caribbean we had left in the Windward Islands and have since found some secluded anchorages and local bars although the food and drink is some 30% higher than the previous Islands we have visited.

We are currently on our own on Virgin Gorda our favourite Island of the BVIs. I am looking forward to some great diving before we return to Antigua to get Out-Rageous lifted out and stored in a boat yard for the summer.

We have had a most fantastic time but now look forward to returning to Cornwall to family and friends + Molly.

 

We have already booked our return flight to the Caribbean and look forward to planning our voyage for next year.

 

Thanks for reading this.

 

 

Lynn and Derek.