Waiting for the weather

Tatt av vinden
Bjørn Larsen
Tue 5 May 2009 21:08
The forcast for tomorrow is bad. "Tempest" who left St.Martin yesterday
reports 40 - 45 kn in squalls, and 30 kn most of the time. Even if we are a
little impatiant now, we decided to wait till the 7th. The good thing is
that it looks like the Azores high is building in a more suitable position
than earlier. So when we leave, it will be with optimism. Here in Village
Cay Marina the weather for the moment resemles the bad summers of
"Veskusten" in Sweden. Though the rain and the wind is comming form the east
here, and we have to admit that the temperature is closer to 30 degrees than
16 degrees we would have had there.... But when the cruise ships arrive, the
taxi drivers call out: "Welcome to paradise!" Even if it is raining buckets.
And they seem to mean it every time they cry out.

Our nearest nabour in this marina is a nice young couple who do charter.
They have a Sun Odyssey 54DS. Because of the financial crisis they have no
bookings for the next season. The season starts in November. They can
accomodate 2 - 6 people. It is an all inclusive concept. If anyone are
interested, they can give a good discount if the booking is done directly
with them. www.spiceislandsoul.com. The name of the boat is "Sayang" wich
means "Sweetheart".

On the other side we have a German. He has been around the world with "World
Arc". But that is about all we know, we have not made any closer contact
yet.

If we sail out on the 7th, we will far from be alone. The ARC Europe starts
from Nanny Cay just a few miles south of here the same day. As far as we
know "Las Primas" is the only Norwegian boat in the fleet. It is in fact the
only Scandinavian boat among the 35 partisipants. But the ARC fleet goes to
Bermuda and restart there 20th of May, together with boats joining from
Følorida. As we go directly to the Azores, we'll hopefully be in Horta in
due time before them.

I think we have come to love the rythm, the smiles, the pace, and the proud
people of the Caribbean, and the temperature and the coconut trees (They are
palms not trees - I know). Yes, we shall miss it. We'll try to sum up our
impressions later on.