Our long season is coming to an end. Hurricane season is approaching and that means it is time to get the boat safely stored and head home.

This season started early: we boarded Jet-Lagged in March 2023 in Montenegro and have been sailing non-stop since then other than for a 2 week break from the boat in October 2023. We will get off in Grenada in June 2024 having sailed through Greece, Turkey, back to Gibraltar, then to the Canaries, across the Atlantic Ocean and then up and down the Windward and Leeward islands of the Caribbean.

Lots of miles covered, memories made, and friendships made, built and enjoyed.

I am now going to rate all the friends we made on these key characteristics: personality, drinking prowess, attractiveness, sailing capability, joke telling ability, body odour and fashion sense.

I bet that got your attention!

As we say down under, “yeah, naaaah!” We won’t do that. But I will give some ratings to our latest Caribbean experience as our first season draws to a close.

I still think the Tabago Cays is hard to beat. We stopped there again recently and it really is breathtakingly beautiful. Although it is only a few miles from the nearest inhabited island, it makes you feel like you are in an isolated paradise. The water and reefs are beautiful, and the constant visits by turtles and other sealife are wonderful. A highlight of this stay happened one night when we decided to turn the underwater lights on to see what might be under the boat. We then saw more than 20 rays of all different sizes swimming happily underneath us. It was so amazing that we could not resist putting on our snorkelling gear and jumping in to join them. Magic.

Dominica was a surprise. We bypassed this island on the way north but our stop on the way back was very worthwhile. They call this the garden island and with good reason. Dominica has 365 rivers, lush vegetation, lots of waterfalls and an amazing variety of plants, fruits and flowers. Friendly are people too.

St Kitts was also an unexpected treat. We anchored in Orchid Bay over thousands of starfish. One or two may have taken a hit from the anchor, sorry about that… Onshore we saw monkeys and a mongoose that wandered into Shipwrecks Bar as we were enjoying a beverage. Here we met two fellow Aussies, Zane and Frankie, onboard ‘Sea Thyme’, a 42 foot monohull they had sailed across the Atlantic in December. We also met their friend Christophe who had completed the same trip solo onboard his 30 foot boat! A Jon Sanders in the making? We met again with our friends on ‘Bedouin’, Mark, Stacy and their son Conrad at Shipwrecks Bar too.

The other place that impressed us recently was Union Island, which is the southern-most of St Vincent’s Grenadine islands. The main town of Clifton (which is tiny) is on the edge of a beautiful lagoon. In the lagoon, on the reef, a local rasta called Janti has built himself a bar on top of an island of conch shells which he has collected over the years. As he gets more shells, his island grows bigger! His bar, appropriately called Happy Island, is now a decent establishment that you can visit in your dingy (the only way to get there) and enjoy some rasta music and lovely refreshments! Good work Janti!

We are now in Tyrell Bay on Carriacou Island, our first stop in the waters of Grenada. From here, we will head to the main island of Grenada to lift, clean, service and then store Jet-Lagged. I am sure she will appreciate the attention after so many sea miles!