Yacht Larus
A slow circumnavigation
| Vessel Name: | Larus |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Slipper 42 |
| Hailing Port: | Southampton |
| Crew: | Tim Chapman and Nancy Martiniuk |
| About: | Sailing together since 1988 |
| Home Page: | Http://www.sailblogs.com/member/yachtlarus |
18 June 2016
Blog is moving
There is no perfect blog site for those of us who have almost permanent internet challenges, however we're moving from Sailblogs now to a new blog site. The posts here will remain but all future posts will be at;
21 February 2016
Every cloud has a silver lining
It came to light during the Boat show that the boat's insurers were insisting that the delivery skipper had an Ocean endorsement on their Yachtmaster ticket. Tim doesn't have this. He's had his Yachtmaster for over 20 years and in those days Yachtmaster Offshore was the highest level of certification. [...]
03 December 2015 | Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI
Blog 78 - Cruising once again
Having just reread our last blog, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that it was pretty much spot on.
03 June 2015 | Antigua
Work, Work and more work.
It is an awfully long time since our last blog and we really haven't been doing much other than working.
27 October 2014
On the hard Chaguaramas and crusing in Tobago
Spring this year, April to July, found us working pretty hard. Summer found us spending our hard earned gains treating Larus and ourselves to some TLC. While Tim and I visited friends and family in Canada and the UK, we left Larus on the hard in Coral Cove Marina, Chaguaramas, Trinidad in the care [...]
19 October 2014 | Trinidad
New paint job
Couldn't resist painting the boat at Trinidad prices. Looking gorgeous in a slightly warmer shade of white. Also rolled on 4 more coats of Coppercoat for good measure.
04 July 2014 | Bequia
We’re still here!
And by ‘here’ I mean, Guadeloupe, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Marten and the British Virgin Islands. We have been working quite a lot over the last few months, and are currently in the Grenadines doing nothing but looking after Larus and pleasing ourselves.
02 March 2014 | Chaguaramas, Trinidad
The Run Up to Carnival
Trinidad is obsessed with Carnival. I've read that between Carnivals, the Trini's are either reminiscing about the previous Carnival or planning for the next.
24 January 2014 | Bequia
Charters and Bequia
Both Tim and I have been out on charter. I worked for two weeks in Guadeloupe on a 70' Flagship catamaran while Tim got called out to a short notice charter in the BVI.
Antigua Activities
It is now the 11th of June and we've been in Antigua for almost a month.
One of those reasons is that Tim has just completed his Padi Dive Master qualification with Don from Extreme Marine Scuba, Antigua.
Don and Tim. This photo was taken on one of the days I went diving too.
We dived with Extreme Marine Scuba for the first Antigua Lionfish Derby. I might well be brandishing a spear, but I didn't do any actual hunting. I did carry the 'non-return' bag used to get the poison-spined fish off the spear and keep them contained the one dive I made.
The Lionfish Derby is an attempt to reduce their numbers and impact on native species.
Eradication would be preferable but a few minutes browsing www.reef.org/lionfish will show you just how impossible that is. Scary stuff.
Marcus is the gentleman with the enormous, both in size and cost, camera. We're very much hoping to see some of the photos he took.
On our way to the dive first dive site.
Our team caught all of eight Lionfish but the total for all nine teams was over seventy.
This was quite a big one and you can see the spines, whose venom can cause the most excruciating pain and are very effective camouflage. Notice the stripe that crosses the eye.
Marcus informed us that being scratched by one of the spines is like the worst bee sting ever. The venom is neutralized by dousing it with the hottest water you can stand.
Dicing with disaster - this pup's owner would have been hard pressed to catch said pup, let alone apply hot water, if it went a sniff too far.
You can eat Lionfish after trimming their spines off but you want to have a nice big one or it's a lot of work for little return. We didn't try but I don't think any went to waste. We have been told they taste like chicken grouper.
It was suggested at the prize giving that this became a 4 times yearly event if any impact was to be made on the Lionfish population. That's fine by us and we're looking forward to participating again.
When we first arrived in Antigua, we spent a few days on the West coast in Deep Bay. It is a beautiful semi-circular bay over looked by an old fort.
It was quite a scramble to the top, more suited to the goats than me.
Tim figured out the panorama setting on the camera to take this picture of the salt water lake behind separated from the Bay by the beach.
I like Deep Bay as it's one of the calmest and least busy bay for swimming.
Duuun dun duuun dun...
...dun dun...
...dun dun dun dun...
...BOM BOM...
...dun dun...
...dun dun dun dun...
...BOM BOM!
Need I say more? :D
Click here, in case I do. Hahahaha.
The swimming cap is for visibility as not all the anchorages have so little boat traffic.
Back in English Harbour, Tim decided to up-grade our dinghy outboard, so he ordered a 5 horsepower two-stroke engine and put up a notice to sell our trusty but underpowered 4 Stroke 2.5 horsepower engine.
Our old outboard engine was bought by a gentleman living on this boat, Guiding Light. I wouldn't have mentioned this at all except that we first met Guiding Light in the Itchen Ferry Boatyard (later renamed Quayside Marine) in the late 1980's. The current owner bought her from Steve Duke who was the owner when she was in our yard.
We anchored in to English Harbour when we came aback around to the south from Deep Bay. Two months ago there were probably twenty five or more boats anchored here and now there are only a handful. The beach resort has only a few guests judging by the numbers on the beach.
In all the time we were here before, never once did we see the local's fishing from the beach. It must be quite nice for them when the season comes to an end and they can use their beach as they see fit.
On Friday the 14th of June, we'll be heading south the Trinidad to do our SCTW95 Basic Marine Safety Course at the University of Trinidad. We'll stop off at least in Guadeloupe to replenish our basic stores and will probably head straight down from there. The course is on the 1st of July, but the doctor, who is one of the only two doctor's in the Caribbean who can do the medical for the course, is going on holiday the last week in June so we're getting to Port of Spain a week earlier than we intended.
We've been preparing ourselves as quickly as we can to be able to start working for the charter company. We will need to do their training course and a week on a charter with an experienced crew to see how it's done, but after that we should be ready for whenever they need a crew short notice.
Exciting times, we hope. :)
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