Barbados

Mor Toad / Moy Toad
David and Jocelyn Fawcett
Thu 8 Jan 2015 14:16

13:05.51N 59:36.92W

Well we here and we done it - 20 days at sea.

We had a good sail yesterday afternoon with the poled out Genoa and the cruising Shute. The wind died on us so we put the engine on but once we turned along our track the wind came on the beam and we had a good sail along the southern coast of Barbados. Unfortunately by then it was dark - it's all quite built up lights everywhere and we could have been anywhere on the south coast of Britain- in fact Dan likened it to Lee on Solent - was warmer though. We also arrived by the airport which is all lit up and must have seen over a dozen aircraft flying in and out. Back to civilisation with one huge bump.

David contacted the harbour authority on the radio - all the pilot books say you must do this or incur great fines and unfortunately at 8.30pm we had to go into the port for immigration. Huge great dock and not suited to yachts (3 cruise liners arriving tomorrow) so very difficult to tie up though we had a very helpful guy from a tug boat taking lines but all very high up. David as Skipper then had to go to the office and immigrate us all in. Didn't take too long meanwhile Dan and I trying to keep the boat off the harbour wall with fenders . David then came back with immigration forms we had to fill in. The guy was in a hurry as was about to knock off and said why didn't we arrive earlier? Ok after 2700 plus miles we needed a sense of humour. Anyway it all got done and the health guy also but David has to go back for customs tomorrow ( he'd already gone home) and apparently then has to go back with Alex Sam and Merryn to change their documentation from flying in to yachting out! Colonial beauocracy ? All good fun ? Think we going to have to get used to this as we travel around the Caribbean and it will be different in different islands.

So once this was all done we motored round to Carlisle Bay where you can anchor. This we did lot of music blaring out from the bars - we opened a bottle champagne but we all pretty tired by this time and it did feel an anti climax but we made it!

Thursday morning 8th January

Excellent nights sleep. Dan's comment is ' when will we believe we've achieved something' - think we all feel a bit like that this morning but hopefully soon. He has just left for the airport to meet the rest of the team. David has gone to customs and I'm trying to do some sorting.

We've moved the boat nearer the shore this morning to make dinghy access easier ( D and D spent long time this morning blowing it up and trying to get the motor to start - ( lock rusted on and it's not happy but it got them to shore just now) also can see very nice beach backed by low rise buildings and palm trees and what looks like a beach cafe. So here we are hasn't really sunk in yet.

When I woke this morning and went to make tea I heard a funny noise, looked out and there was a horse swimming across the bay being led by a person. Too much champagne last night - no saw them again later on and several were being led out onto the beach.

There are now 3 huge cruise liners in - glad we not still in the harbour.

It's warm but there is a pleasant breeze and the water clear. Went for a quick swim round the boat which was lovely and much needed. There is some interesting growth in the bottom of the boat too? So best get on with the cleaning and get the boat ship shape before everyone arrives back.

I will try and carry on with The Blog but perhaps not on a daily basis. It's a good diary for us of the adventure - I hope not too rambly. Thanks for all the messages and support we've had and Best wishes to you all.