12:00.00N  61:45.00W    

From April until the end of October we worked hard to get ourselves organised for the next leg of the trip. As we intend taking  2 to 5 years to get back to the Caribbean there was an awful lot to do besides order charts and parts for the boat! Finally on the 3rd of November we were back in the boat yard preparing the boat to be launched back into the water. To our dismay there were several problems to be addressed before we could consider venturing towards Panama. The usual problems of mould and minor corrosion had been expected, we didn’t expect the generator to have seized up or the water maker to be such a problem to repair. 

Fortunately this didn’t stop us from sailing up to Mustique with friends Paul and Rebecca,  to celebrate Rebecca’s special birthday or a fabulous New Year in Bequia as well as enjoying the delights of Grenada and the lovely anchorage in Prickly Bay where we holed up to wait for our essential parts. Just as well really as the water maker parts had an extraordinary journey from Scicily taking in Europe, central America, South America and the Caribbean and somehow managing to cross the Atlantic 3 times in the process! The less said about international courier companies the better!

Here we are, at last, about to set off for Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles and on our way to Panama and ultimately the Pacific, both of us very excited and a bit apprehensive too. The "Big Adventure” starts now!