14:05.19N 60:57.43W

 

Well we are officially Sea Gipsies now, nothing to do but wander from anchorage to anchorage, tarpaulins covering up half the boat to keep the sun out and using the sea to cool down.....err actually not quite true, the tarpaulin/shade bit is true but we are actually quite busy whenever we find internet we are plotting and planning and buying bits for the boat for our guests to bring out and of course keeping in touch. Otherwise we are fixing stuff seemingly all the time and getting rid of unwanted ‘friends’ of the six legged variety.... We got lots of people coming out soon and are getting excited about that, Robin and June are first and get to bring the technical stuff out,  the later guests will come out laden with english goodies we hope.

 

Talking of internet its amazing how life changes...to choose a suitable anchorage...you used to check certain things ,.... is the holding good ....is the depth right allowing for tide fall....have we got enough swinging room.....now finally add “quick Kirsty get the iphone see if its got wifi” ....well I’m a sucker for bookface as some of you know.

 

We stayed long enough in Martinique to get annoyed by the french anchoring antics and video some turtles

 

 

Grande Anse....careful how you spell it ....is a beautiful bay where turtles swim round your boat all day, and mooring buoys are provided...for Free!!! well not quite for free, paid for, we suspect by Euro subsidies so lets say we were getting our money back.

We took a trip to the seedy Fort de France, a bit like downtown Marseilles ....I suspect... if Id ever been there.

 

Anyway talking of Anse’s once we had got bored of turtles I  scrubbed Jon Jon’s bottom which was a little weedy. It took nearly 3 hours to shift it all with a snorkel and scraper but we were rewarded with a fast close reach back to St Lucia, speed never dropped below 6.5 knots and we reached 7.8 through the water....unfortunately after a few days the bottom is green again so its suck up more antifoul or sail slowly till the end of the season!!!

 

We plan to chill out here get a few things mended...the watermaker pump replacement has finally arrived.... then head off somewhere with friends. We booked our flights today to return without boat to the uk in may...Jon Jon is having a rest in Trinidad till November and we are going to work!!! thatll be scary!!

 

things we are enjoying here at the moment....

1) getting up early...it goes dark at 6 so things shut at 10 so its early to bed and up with the sun for a morning dip

2) passion fruit ...expensive at home dirt cheap here...eating loads of them

3) err Rum... goes without saying.

4)living by our means...we are finally on a tight budget and sticking to it. Water is free as the water maker makes the drinking water and we try and catch as much rain as possible. We have to balance the power, we have solar and wind and these keep up with the fridge but not at night so fridge goes off but it stays cool. We have to run the engine occasionally for power if the wind dies but we are doing well.

5) the warm sea!!! its amazing how much you miss it, we spent 2 nights in a  lagoon and couldn’t swim , beautiful place but water was filthy, couldn't wait to get back on anchor just to have a swim.

 

Well Id better go before I sound like Im going to buy a caravan and tarmac drives when I get back and Kirsty orders a giant pink puff ball dress to get married in......

 

see you soon

 

Lee