You're not going to believe this! Yea, you might.
I'm still in Martinique!Same anchorage, I've moved a quarter mile twice. Yip! Lazy as...man! This island is really cool. I'll try to post a pic of where I am. Le Marin is the hub of the charter world out here in the east. Everything is here. Very professional services etc. Great grocery shopping too. I'm sure the food is subsidized as it's very affordable. Today I saw oranges in the supermarket. Product of South Africa. Pride! They were oranges like I'd never seen in SA. Not a blemish. Nothing! I had to buy a couple,what with scurvy and the like, lurking. Let's see what they taste like. I'll dig the shopping slip out of the garbage so that my citrus farming friends know what their product is achieving!
I think that it was €1.98 kg. The local oranges are about €2.50 or so.
Any who! Then it's a half mile motor to St. Anne's Bay. With a great beach, crystal clear water, free wifi from Club Med etc. all good. And it's a very quaint town too. I've just discovered rye baguettes! Damn! Gonna buy more butter!
Ok! I have finally upped anchor. Not easy. Leaving Diamond Rock to port, I went around to Anse D'Arlets. Very pretty. Then a day or so later to Grande Anse.

A while later I'm still here in Martinique. I'm now in Trois Islets. A friend of mine, who had boulangeries in Paris, is here and opening great stores. For those of you who know me, my kind of game. Also said good bye to a friend of a friend who flew out from Germany to sail with her. Going to miss you!
I'm now running low on water. I carry 380 liters below and another 125 liters in jugs on deck. It's been about a month since I filled up. I looked at the chart of the area and saw that there is a small Marina at Pionte de Bout.
We sailed from Trois Islets and I went into the marina not knowing what to expect. It is like out of a post card. Really cool little place. Great staff, well protected, water was €2 per 100l. And it's on the back of Anse Mitan with a boulangerie and supermarket! All the important things. I think that this place was big with the yachting scene before Le Marin was developed.
A highly recommended stop.
I didn't enjoy Trois Islets this time as it was windy and the anchorage is very exposed with a long fetch. So I'm very happily anchored in Grande Anse once again. Back with the turtles, crystal clear water and hopefully quiet nights.
A few weeks have passed, and I'm still enjoying Grande Anse. A few days ago we had a westerly wind and it pushed the seas up here in the bay. I was anchored fairly close to a local fishing skiff and was in danger of wrapping my anchor chain around its mooring. I had to up anchor in the choppy seas and reanchor further out. By the time I'd done that, another sailboat anchor near where I was, had gone aground. It was very sad to see. Over the last two days, they've been trying to pump her out and patch the holes up to refloat her. It was a hairy afternoon and night. I think that the destruction would have been far worst had that squall come in the night. Various boats were dragging anchor too.
Two days ago, an old friend of mine, from school, and his wife, arrived in the bay. It was great to catch up with Neil and Gillian Anderson, on Silver Lining, after about 30 years. They've sailed from the UK, across the Atlantic and are now off to Panama and then the Pacific, to New Zealand. A brave pair! They sailed north this morning, making for Guadeloupe, where they will provision and head for Panama. We had a great evening aboard their boat catching up with lots of old stories.
New update! Wow! Not much has happened though.
It's now a month later and I've just returned from Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. I had to do a quick run down to fill up with propane for the stove. Here in the French islands, they use butane. So I motor sailed down with the wind on the nose but had a great sail back. Now it's time to get a couple of little repairs done aboard, provisioning, read shopping, and it will be time to head south for the summer again. This year has really gone by fast.
The best plans are written in the sand at low tide.
I'm now in Bequia, SVG, on my way to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou to catch up with very good friends of mine, Ron and Jackie, on Desperado. I haven't seen them for almost two years so it's time. I should be there tomorrow. I've day sailed down from St. Anne's, Martinique, sleeping in Marigot, St. Lucia and now Bequia. On the way north I did it in one hit, overnight, with Anna as crew.
On the way to St. Lucia I came across a pod of pilot whales. I don't remember seeing them before. Like huge slim Dolphins. Then today, off the NW corner of St Vincent, I saw the largest shark I've seen for a long time. He was just tooling along the surface and not worried by the boat. He must have been 12-15 feet, as he was a lot longer than my cockpit. I was right next to him. A dark brown color.

And now I'm back in Bequia, after having spent 2 weeks in Carriacou with Desperado. We had a great time together catching up, drinking too much rum, a couple of late night swims etc. I left Tyrell Bay on a Tuesday morning and arrived in Bequia that afternoon. I dropped anchor, made tidy etc. and went down for a shower. The water pressure pump was running but not pumping water. Stripped it down, checked it out, put back together. Nothing. Airlock? So I disconnected the water pipe at the top of the tank and poured water down it to prime. Nothing. I then contacted a local engineer, Kerry, and he came aboard and showed me how to prime it properly. I still haven't figured out how it lot prime??
A week later I notice that the temperature gauge on my main engine is not working. So out with the sensor and gauge and both are knackered! Can you believe that?
So I'm waiting for a friend to bring me the new ones from Martinique.
I'm here with friends on Windkat, JK and Nelia, from South Africa. So I decided to go no further. Loads of friends have come through Bequia while I've been here. I've met lots of new folk too. Niven, Hizle, Ferdie, Darelle to name just a few. We've had lots of beach braais, BBQs, happy hour parties etc.

As I write the last bit of this blog, I'm preparing Golightly to face a potential hurricane. We've all been watching the weather reports, grib files etc, following the tropical waves coming across the Atlantic. The forecaster that have been predicting the path of this animal have been all over the shop. From Trinidad to as far north as the St. Lucia-St. Vincent channel. We are hoping that it doesn't develop into a hurricane. And stays as a tropical storm. So tomorrow will be a day spent prepping the boat. Securing everything! Solar panels, dinghy, sails, covers, secondary anchor to be made ready and the like.
While snorkeling to check on my anchor while re anchoring this afternoon, I came across an unused huge mooring block lying on the sea bed. Tomorrow morning I'll put a heavy line to that as back up.
So that's it for now. And I'll post again after the front passes