Position: 12:35:78N 61:24:83W

We needed to get Mum & Al back to Bequia for their flight home, so set off northwards out of Charlestown Bay and out of the shelter of Canouan.  Out of the shelter of the land, we hit a solid 25 kts just off the starboard bow, and the worst seas we’ve experienced since Cape Finisterre.  Really steep, horrible ones, where you just see the bow taking off but you can’t see where it’s going to land.  We stood an hour of this before a collective decision was made to turn back.

Once back in the shelter of Canouan, Sarah got on the phone to the plane company and they agreed to change Mum & Al’s flights to Union Island for no extra cost, so we sailed down to Clifton, Union Island.  It felt good to be back here.  Poor old Mum & Al, they really have seen the worst of the weather in these last 2 weeks – we’ve not had so much wind and rain as they have seen these 2 weeks. 

Vegetable shopping in Clifton, Union Island

We had a lovely meal ashore on their final evening, and Al got to choose his lobster out of the pool, which was then taken off for a hot bath before being presented on a plate for his supper.  I had the steak instead!

We finally waved Mum and Al off from the tiny airport as they flew to Barbados for their connecting flight to London.  We slowly walked back to the dinghy jetty, which is effectively just at the end of the runway, full of mixed feelings.

My eye wasn’t improving and we were concerned that there was a chance of permanent damage.  We decided that it would be best to seek a second opinion and after some telephone calls, managed to get an appointment with a respected ophthalmologist in Barbados.  The only flights I could get meant an overnight stay which was less than ideal, but we figured I needed to get this eye checked out thoroughly as soon as possible.

So, the next day, 24hrs after Mum & Al did the same flight, I said goodbye to my girls and flew to Barbados.  Checked into a cheap guesthouse, spent a couple of hours researching uveitis on the internet, and saw the doc the following day.  He was very thorough and concurred on diagnosis of the St Vincent doc, but spent lots of time explaining likely outcomes etc which was somewhat reassuring.  He has put me on a stronger set of steroid drops which I have to take every 3 hours.  If these don’t work, I’m on the systemic steroids, which are the ones with nasty side-effects.  So I could do with this clearing up anytime now, really.

Tobago Cays from the air

I was very glad to get back to my girls after the doc’s appointment, and also glad that Nutmeg hadn’t dragged her anchor or anything else happen to her whilst I was away.  Some friends on a couple of boats “Yara” and “Hilde” had kept an eye out on the girls and the boat, which was very kind of them.