Well tomorrow is the BIG day, the boat gets hauled out of the water. We spent all day Friday lining up people to come today and get their marching orders. Saturday and Sunday were cleaning days for us as no one in Trinidad does one bit of work on a weekend. The nice thing is our location at Crew's Inn; the pool is right next to the boat, so work, swim, work, swim was the nature of the daytime activity. The air conditioner was installed on Friday, soon after we arrived, phew did we need that! All opened food has to be removed, cabinets cleaned with vinegar, find that ONE cockroach that snuck aboard (thank heavens for boric acid), and get packed. One does have to realize that we don't need any of our caribbean clothes in New England or Scotland, so that didn't take too long. We had fun evenings with our British friends testing out the various restaurants at the different marinas. Today the sails came off and went away with a list of repair work, mended screens, ordered a new sun shield for the stern and the sides of the cockpit; the winches are being rebuilt, new cockpit cushions with backs, wow! Tomorrow is last minute laundry etc. The nice thing is that we are coming back to stay here at Crew's Inn for the rest of the week. So, our Caribbean Adventure comes to a close as we look forward to going home to family and friends for the summer. We will start all over again next November with a plan, at the moment, of coming back here, playing with all our new friends and exploring the dozens of anchorages that we missed this year. I also think that Mr Willauer has his eye on a few regattas from time to time! Looking forward to catching up with all of you who have been following our travels.....

This is a good bye to our hard working repair crew. Although we left them in Bequia, we wouldn't be heading for Trinidad without their hard work. We have had a fun 48 hours in Grenada, although we haven't seen much ashore, we have had great fun with our friends from Shein, Jane and Paul Read and our famous friends from Cygnus, Mel and Jane Boudrot. Mel did theatrical voice overs in NYC before retiring and counts among his good friends Morgan Freeman! We hope to see more of them back in the States. Jane and Paul are originally from Scotland and have been giving us lots of tips for our forthcoming CCA Scottish Cruise this summer. We have finished boat projects, made the chili for dinner and midnight snacks, bought the coconut muffins for breakfast and are about to have our last swims in azure blue water. The water in Trinidad is brackish brown because of the rivers. I will head for the swimming pool at Crews Inn! We are leaving in stages due to the boat speed differenc es, so we are on the last departure time, around 6pm. More tomorrow from Trinidad.

After a glorious sail down from Bequia we arrived at the Tobago Cays, an azure blue marine park inside a 4km long reef. We anchored just off the reef to listen to the waves crashing under a moonlit sky. The evening started off slowly as we had vacationing stock brokers partying next door, but those that start early, end early so we had the moon and stars to ourselves. This morning we had a spectacular snorkel right out front on the reef. Beautiful coral, gorgeous fish and turtles! I haven't mastered my underwater camera yet (?!) so the pictures do not do it justice. The marine park also has a turtle sanctuary, a sizeable space ropped off to swim with the turtles. What a fun experience! You can swim right on top of them and watch them dive up and down. This is definitewly a place to return to next year and spend a week or so really exploring the beautiful pristine beaches. The Marine Park encompasses nine islands. In addition to its pristine coral reefs, TCMP also features a small mangrove on Petit Rameau, a salt pond in Mayreau and a number of sea grass beds. These provide critical habitat for fish, sea turtles, iguanas and a variety of sea birds. A must next December! We are doing Customs in Union at the moment and then on to PSV for a yummy dinner. We continue on to Carriacou tomorrow.....