The Scrabble went well, very competitive at the outset, less so as the gin and tonic kicked in.  We were lucky to get to the gin and tonics at all as it was rather rolly and Bob lost control of his handful of glasses and two went flying.  I am certain that the second ones were double strength.  When the Scrabble had come to its conclusion (I won, yay) we pottered merrily into the dock and fell into the next nearest restaurant.  Bob and I each had a tasty heap of fishcakes while Matt had the combo platter, which also included fishcakes, obviously a surplus,  and then we all moved on to mahi mahi (proving that there was at least some fish on the island), mine with Caribbean spicy rice but Bob and Matt plumped for chips.  Tasty.

Morning came a bit later than Bob had anticipated and flustered about his late wake up he managed to spill the coffee granules all over the counter top where he had slopped the gin and tonic the night before.  (Concentrated coffee granules have a habit of spreading huge distances and staining everything they touch so the galley may take some time to recover).   All this faffing was overlaid by the bonfire smell of something on shore burning and belching out black smoke, it smelled somewhat cedary. 

We set off (late) and headed off to continue our journey south.  It was really very pleasant as we sauntered serenely down the coast of Nevis at a sprightly 7 knots, (waving fondly to Oualie Bay as we passed, home of last year’s family Christmas), a steady wind and uniform waves.  Things changed up a gear as we passed Nevis and a mounting wind and turbulent sea on a close haul, again, meant that we started bashing into the waves and being brought up short, another less than comfortable ride but not nearly as bad as two days ago.  It being all rather feisty again, I decided to make lunch on deck which proved very handy as the salad included mainly prep of veggies the peelings of which were chucked over my shoulder into the sea, missing Bob’s face by a whisker.

We bashed on, passed Redonda on the right hand side, tacked virtually back to Redonda again before trying to make a course for Montserrat which remained inconveniently straight into the wind.  We motored the last bit just to get there in daylight.  To our surprise there are 5 yachts parked here, very different from New Year’s Eve last year when we were the sole occupiers.  The moment we anchored, Matt was up and over the side (doing his trademark somersault leap in off the deck) and headed for the shore where he was rolled over in the waves.  It wasn’t surfing but he seemed to enjoy it!  Meanwhile Bob and I relaxed with the statutory arrival beer and double double checked that we were anchored firmly, (paranoia).  We seem to be, so can now settle for the evening .  Spag bol is on the menu for tonight, maybe we will break out Katie Mellua (if Matt can cope) and early bed, it is amazing how tiring it can be sitting on a yacht all day.