Elaine/sunny with winds over 20 knots
01/08/2013, Chatham Bay, Union Island

This is soo perfect.  We are on an island called Canouan.  I'd never even heard of it until a few weeks ago.  It is a picture perfect caribean island.   We took a mooring this afternoon (with much difficulty due to not having been ready) and soon after dinghied to the dock.   This resort is lovely; low key and yet with just enough nicety.  We have a room in the building furthest from the office and restaurants but 2 doors away from the spa.  I got a revitalizing swedish style massage shortly after arrival.  Nigiri, my masseuse, was a bright interesting woman whose teacher parents are looking after her 7&10 yo children in New York.  Meanwhile, poor Peter was dealing with our dinghy which got swamped on its way from the dock to the beach  We showered, then went to happy hour (our bartender's sister is in the  US army and lives in Colorado Springs) and had a lovely dinner of seafood brochette.

During our stay at the resort we met quite an international group of people.  One evening we had drinks with a lovely italian couple, a flight crew from England, a couple from Budapest and another from Rio.  We relaxed, had our laundry done, took a brief tour of the island and enjoyed being pampered.  

Internet activities down here, while possible, are slow and unreliable.  Because of that we  needed the greater part of one day to print, sign, scan and email a couple simple documents needed for our condo association's annual meeting.  It was a dose of reality in our paradise. 

After 3 glorious nights ashore--one which included my birthday celebration--we longed for the boat and so bid adieu and sailed off to Mayreau.  We sailed past Mustique, a private island which we had learned was "closed" until Jan. 9 or so--Matt Damon or someone was staying there and didn't want to be bothered.

After an afternoon and one night at anchor off Mayreau in windy conditions and we took off for Union Island.  It is now January 8 and, while the winds have been in the twenties, we are LOVING it here.  We are in Chatham Bay which is a picture perfect caribbean anchorage.  There are a few little beach bars and one nicer restaurant/bar.  The water is that splotchy aquamarine/deep blue melange that you see in travel magazine photos.  There are a few flat rock faces jutting out of the thick tree covering on the hills of the island.  It is magnificent and so remote.  

We have met a German couple, Karl an Patricia, who spent the past 2 years on their boat off Brazil.  Last night we  had drinks aboard another catamaran with the Belgian owners, Sonja and Johann.  What I can't figure out is how were all these europeans familiar with this part of the world and to us it's all new.

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Elaine/Sunny and warm
01/02/2013, Tamarind Beach Hotel

We spent Christmas Day sailing from Marigot Bay to Bequia.  The weather was pleasant at the beginning.  We enjoyed seeing areas of the island we had visited during our land tour.  The peaks of the Pitons were ringed with mist and the island was lush with vegetation.  We knew this would not last because we were travelling by boat on Christmas Day.  We  were hit with rain showers and lumpy seas for a good bit of the way, but it was all okay when we arrived Admiralty Bay, Bequia.  Lovely--Elke was right!  

I did some diving with Dive Bequia over the next few days.  We dived a couple wrecks, saw numerous lobsters, eels, killed a couple lionfish (they aren't native and have no predators here), and many other fascinating fish and marine life.  I was fascinated with the spaghetti worms.  First time I saw one I thought it was some fishing line caught on a coral head.  Next time I saw one I saw it move on its own!  I completed my Advanced Open Water certificate and Peter sailed BOB singlehanded while I was diving. 

New Years Eve day we decided to sail to the Friendship Bay on the other side of the island.  We took along Courtney, Lisa and their dad Alex.  They'd been on the dive boat with me and, turns out they live in Ft.Collins, Colorado!  Laura, Alex wife, works at CSU and knows our son-in-law Andre!  We joined them that night for dinner at their vacation home and had a great time chatting with Laura's parents too.

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Elaine/Sunny and warm
01/02/2013, Tamarind Beach Hotel

We spent Christmas Day sailing from Marigot Bay to Bequia.  The weather was pleasant at the beginning.  We enjoyed seeing areas of the island we had visited during our land tour.  The peaks of the Pitons were ringed with mist and the island was lush with vegetation.  We knew this would not last because we were travelling by boat on Christmas Day.  We  were hit with rain showers and lumpy seas for a good bit of the way, but it was all okay when we arrived Admiralty Bay, Bequia.  Lovely--Elke was right!  

I did some diving with Dive Bequia over the next few days.  We dived a couple wrecks, saw numerous lobsters, eels, killed a couple lionfish (they aren't native and have no predators here), and many other fascinating fish and marine life.  I was fascinated with the spaghetti worms.  First time I saw one I thought it was some fishing line caught on a coral head.  Next time I saw one I saw it move on its own!  I completed my Advanced Open Water certificate and Peter sailed BOB singlehanded while I was diving. 

New Years Eve day we decided to sail to the Friendship Bay on the other side of the island.  We took along Courtney, Lisa and their dad Alex.  They'd been on the dive boat with me and, turns out they live in Ft.Collins, Colorado!  Laura, Alex wife, works at CSU and knows our son-in-law Andre!  We joined them that night for dinner at their vacation home and had a great time chatting with Laura's parents too.

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Elaine/warm with sun and rain showers
12/25/2012, Marigot Bay, St. lucia

We did sail on down to Marigot Bay but did not leave for Bequia as soon as we had planned.  We ran into Dee and Ron, an English couple we had chatted with in Martinique, and they said we should stay put a few days.  As they are professional meteorologists, we heeded their advice!  

Peter and I had a romantic dinner 12/21 at the Rainforest Hideaway, a restaurant that Trip Advisor ranks as one of the top restaurants in the Caribbean.  It was dreamy and made even more special because our boat was anchored right in front of our table.  That night I slept 15 hours.  

The following day a fisherman named John came by our boat with some fresh fishes.  So, since the Rainforest was having a live jazz band on their patio, we invited Dee and Ron and Lucy and Nick, another English couple to join us onboard for dinner and wine.  A good time, and much wine, was had by all.

Christmas Eve day we took an excellent tour of the island with Dee and Ron.  Our driver Curtis, a local man who has shuttled them to and from the airport a number of times, was delightful.  He took us to the hot springs where I had a very therapeutuc soak.  We all went to lunch at a local restaurant inthe village of Soufriere--local fish and chicken dishes served with dumplings and a potato salad like dish made with green bananas and saltfish--yummy.  We picked up a few things at the local supermarket and headed back.  A great day.

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Elaine/warm and sunny
12/21/2012, Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We finished our Atlantic crossing 6 days ago. Had we entered the ARC rally our transit time would have put us in the top 10 of 200 boats crossing. Plus we ate great, sit-down meals all the way.

We arrived St. Lucia just before midnight on Friday, December 14. Saturday I still did not want to get off the boat so the guys went to shore to complete our checking in paperwork. Pete M. left us to fly home to Seattle for Christmas; Dan checked into a hotel for a couple days of recovery from the journey. After a bit of internet activity, Peter and I took off sailing--on our own--for Martinique. We anchored off St. Anne where we stayed for 4 nights. Ironically that bay is the same one shared by a Club Med I had visited in the eighties. While there we swam off the boat, took the dinghy to shore for a couple meals, and generally relaxed.

We returned to St. Lucia because we needed to replace our chart plotter which had gotten damaged early in our crossing. It's a bitraucous here because this is where the ARC Rally finishes. Today a 37 foot sailboat arrived with an amazing crew and wilder story. The crew consisted of 7 women who did not know each other beforehand. 18 hours out of Las Palmas their mainsail split leaving them with only a jib. Then, a day or two later the engine quit leaving them with no power, so the refrigerator quit and all the meat etc had to be thrown out + they had no lights or nacigation equipment save a handheld GPS and a compass. Now THAT'S an unforgettable adventure and more so because they had all gotten along well and were STILL laughing.

We are sailing down to Marigot Bay later to pick up a part for our Code 1 sail and then plan to leave for Bequi tomorrow.

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Pleasant
12/10/2012, 21.05.9/043.05.0

This is crazy good. For the past 2+ hours a pair of whales swam with, under and around our boat. THey just hung out, doing whatever it is that whales do and it was great that they found us to be good company. I made an Indian style lunch of potatoes with tikka masala, a melange of spinach and garbanzos and a green salad. Yes, we STILL have fresh lettuces! Now I am sitting at the cockpit table with a fresh cup of drip coffee and a square of dark chocolate writing to you. We are sailing with a reefed main and the spinnacere; no motor since 7 a.m. The seas are gentle, there is about 15 knots of true wind speed and we are doing 7.5 knots toward our destination.

Yesterday Pete M caught a mahi mahi yesterday that yielded about 6 pounds of fillet. After he cleaned the fish we stopped the boat and went for a swim.
Dan stayed aboard just in case. It was great to get some good exercise and to cool off. Later I made sashimi with some of the fish and Dan made us a dinner of ceviche--fabulous!

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