So, there I was. Struggling with a broken rib. Yes, broken. Not fractured or dislocated. Broken. This big fella, while reaching deep into the fridge, not while trying to find the last bottle of rum Charles, rolled the rib over the wooden fiddle and It went bang! I was cleaning. Really. This is not the first time this has happened to me. It’s about the fourth. Boats not only eat your bank account, they also slowly eat you! This happened about a week ago. Only now am I able to breathe and walk around properly. Luckily I have very considerate friends around me who have done shopping and garbage drop offs for me. Thanks Harm and Lizzie, David and Trina. So it’s rest for me. Until the rib stops clicking. Then it’s more rest. I’ve actually been “resting” since April 2019!
I’m in a good place, here in Martinique. The covid numbers are going through the roof though. In the last 24 hours there have been over 700 new cases and a huge spike in deaths. Where I’m anchored is away from the madding crowd. If I went to the hospital for my rib, they would not give me the time of day. They are very understaffed with the pandemic as is, and there is not much that can be done
Right! Jumping ahead to late April 2022.
I’ve been anchored in the mangroves, behind Club Med for months now. Last week, after much encouragement, I came out and anchored in St. Anne. Great swimming here and lots of friends.
While in the mangroves, I replaced the bilge pump float switch and a section of the bilge hose. All good now.
Forgot to mention. I’m recovering from Long Covid. It’s very debilitating and hard to shake off.
I’ve taking down the Genoa to have the sacrificial canvas restitched. And I’ve also started to scrape the bottom of the boat , which is full of barnacles etc. It’s been nearly 3 years since I last hauled out to repaint the bottom and sitting at anchor for long periods of time doesn’t help. I’ll have it finished in a day or two.

June/July 2021.
A few months back, I was anchored in St. Anne, Martinique, and a great lady aboard Coho, organized for us cruisers to get vaccinated. John, from out of Africa and I headed off and got the AZ shot. The next shot we had was at the local hospital. A lovely lady doc, with purple hi lights jabbed us. All good.
Currently, early August 2021, the cases are ever increasing. It’s getting worse day by day. The French military have sent 50 Doctors to assist with the crisis.
Anyway, my bud John from Out Of Africa , has flown back to South Africa, Kurt is back in Sweden, Casper is back in the Netherlands and Anne Marie and Steve are back in the UK. Also my friends Katie and Doug. There are still a hundred others that I’ll think of later. Love you all.
And once again Martinique is in full lockdown. Tourists have been told to leave the island. Only essential businesses are allowed to open and no one is allow to travel more than 1 km from home. 200+ medical staff were flown in today from France. The figures released today are that there are over 4100 new cases and 57 deaths. This is on an island of about 100,000. And less than 20% vaccinated. The hospitals are 200% full.
So there we have it.
Being anchored for such a long time, my shitty quality anchor chain wore badly. When this happens, it weakens the integrity of the chain and also jumps in the gypsy when heaving. So there was a few rum tokens lost. Then last week, the fresh water pressure pump died on me. So off to invest in a new one. We used to be able to buy parts for these things but since Covid the chandlers are not bringing in the gear that they used to. So no Jabsco micro switches available!
Sucks man!
I’m in a good place, unless the rum stops. Then the French government will have to deal with me.

Late January 2021
This is the year that the first Mad Max was meant to have taken in.
Crazy times!
I haven’t upped anchor for nearly 11 months now. A record for me. Here in Martinique we still have freedom of movement, with masks and social distancing. So all still good here.
Christmas was a relatively quiet affair, which I enjoyed. Thursday 24th, a small crowd of us had a beach bbq at Caritan beach with many swims and a few drinks. Late Christmas afternoon, John on Out of Africa and I went across to join Mike and Daniella on Zig Zag for Christmas dinner. It was a fantastic spread. First there was a plate of charcuterie, followed by a prawn and avocado salad. Then came the Christmas ham with all the trimmings. Then followed a delicious trifle. We had all had more than an elegant sufficiently by then so we passed on the cheese board. A great evening was had by all and Mike and Daniella were very generous hosts.
The week in between was busy with parties etc aboard various boats.
New Year’s Eve was once again a beach bbq. Much fun was had by all. I came back to Golightly at about 4 pm and settled in for the evening. I woke at about midnight with various fireworks being set off along the beach. I rolled over and went back to sleep.
I’ve made a huge number of good friends out here during this covid thang. Too many to mention. One I have to mention though is Truman. He and his daughter are from Taiwan and had a sailboat anchored out in St. Anne, not too far from me. Truman is one of the greatest spear fishermen I’ve known. Of slight build, he’d spend 3-4 minutes down deep hunting fish. Often, just after dark, he would dinghy up with fish for me and various friends around. Snappers, Cera mackerel etc. What a treat! Thanks Truman!
March/ April 2021 came along.
And still not much had changed. A few friends had sailed south, a few north. I decided to stay put. I’m enjoying being here in Martinique. The authorities have been kind to us cruisers, so far.
A few countries had started opening up with limited quarantine requirements. Friends started making plans to store their boats ashore and fly home. Wherever that may be. Australia was still closed to me, and still is. It looks as if the state governments haven’t handled the situation very well. I think that this should have been done on a national, or federal, scale. Time will tell as it’s all getting very wobbly there now.

Christmas Day was great in Bequia. Cheryl and Lafayette from the Fig tree restaurant closed for the day and allowed us cruisers to hold a pot luck bbq there. It was a lot of fun with so many friends.

December 27. Bequia. Donna, Kev, Angela , Gary and I caught the ferry across to Kingstown, St. Vincent’s capital. EC$ 25 one way and took an hour. What a vibrant town! Busy, people laughing and had a great feel about it. Some of the best hardware and grocery stores in the Caribbean. We walked around, seeing some beautiful old buildings and then caught a local bus out to Blue Lagoon Marina. Very nice out there. Had a snack and a few beers. Bus back to town, shopped and then caught the ferry back to Bequia. A great day out. I’ve bought some lamb loin chops, which are rare as hens teeth out her, to bbq on New Year’s Eve.
Greg and Jenny, on Nebula, upped anchor and sailed north to St. Vincent. They are meeting friends up in Antigua late in January but don’t want to get caught south of there if the winds pick up. Sad to see them go but we will hopefully meet up in Martinique in a month or two.


New Year’s Eve. A crowd of us got together on the beach, just opposite my boat, for a late afternoon bbq. Gary and Ang on Mystic Blue, Richard and Rowena on Galene, JK and Nelia on Windkat, John and Wendy from SA and a few others were there. It was loads of fun swimming and the lamb chops were like butter. Delicious!
That evening I noticed that my inflatable, read deflatable, dinghy was getting very soft. Upon inspection the following day, Gary and I found that the seams on the nose had started to give way. This is 2 years after I’d bought the little beast. Warranty here in the Caribbean? One year. So I went to the chandlery in town and bought a tube of 3M 5200 adhesive. We took the dinghy to the beach and deconstructed it as best we could. Then slathered it with the glue and taped it up. 24 hrs later I pumped a bit of air in and it held shape! A week later and it’s good. But I think the saga will continue.
Otherwise just been chillin’ in the Caribbean Mon. Loving life, swimming a lot. Yes it is winter time out here. The temperature hardly changes. Only the humidity.
Sailing at 0 knots.
Life at the speed of zero.
That was mid January 2020. Skip ahead to late April 2020 and the world has changed. I’m currently in St. Anne, Martinique and there is lock down here aboard too. We can go ashore for essential services and exercise for one hour. We have to have a self issued permit with us while ashore. All good though. The Martinique authorities seem to be on top of the situation here. The grocery stores are well stocked and social distancing is happening.
My friend Murray Hoffman, made a detour on his trip back from South Africa to Canada to visit his son, to visit me here in the Caribbean. He flew into Martinique as the world was about to start shutting down. He was due to spend 2 weeks out here, sailing the islands, but I couldn’t leave the anchorage. A week in and it was decided that the prudent move would be for him to try and fly back to Australia, via Miami and LA. After a couple of attempts at the airport here he managed to board a flight out. Good decision Murray! You might still have been here.
We are allowed to sail away but none of the islands want us arriving or won’t let us in. So best to stay put I think.
Life aboard is always a little slower. Life aboard during a pandemic is at a snail’s pace.

Skip ahead to early July 2020. The world has gone even more nuts. Lost it’s shit. World leaders are are showing their total incompetence in dealing with this pandemic. There are exceptions of course. I hope think that this might be the first time that most of the world is looking at the USA with pity. How sad is this and how the mighty have fallen. Not to mention the Victorian Govt in Aus. The government’s handling of covid 19 and now the BLM protests, riots whatever. I wonder how many people realize that there were a lot more black slave owners than white ones? And there still are. Africa is still a very harsh continent and the world turns a blind eye.
Rant over.
So.. reality of the situation. Hurricane season has arrived!
I’m not positioned where I want to be. I’m about 200 nm north, in the hurricane box. I can sail south to St. Vincent and the grenadines but is not a good place to be when a storm comes bowling through. I’m waiting for Grenada to open up. Currently they are open with a 14 day quarantine period. I’m hoping that Carriacou, part of Grenada will open too. Then I might set sail. Mean time, here is good. I’m surrounded by good people, facilities etc. and I can duck into the mangrove area a mile away from where I’m anchored.
I’m anchored next to a friend of mine, John, on Out of Africa. We have lots of swims together and go shopping on Wednesday’s. So all good. Sadly John picked up a fish pot line with his prop and messed the drive train up. So he can only sail, in and out of bays too. Not too easy. I’ll hang around and give him a hand.
And.. a good friend of mine, who’ve I’ve been sailing with for a year or so , Greg, who I’ve known since 1980, and his lovely lady, Jenny are part of this chapter. Jen had to fly back to the U.K. to assist her Mum and wasn’t going to make it back. The world shut down and Greg was aboard Nebula in Antigua. He set sail for the Azores a few months ago. Made it. Then continued to the U.K. single handed! I’m very proud of my friend. And he has total command of the Cobb bbq too. He should be their rep.

I hauled out at Tyrell Bay Marina on Tuesday 26 November 2019 . I was greeted by many familiar faces. It’s like coming home for me here.
The folks at this new marina have got their stuff together. From the guy who drives the travelift, to the guy who guides him up front, like landing a Boeing, and it’s my Boeing look a like. Everyone in this establishment is accommodating, polite and they go the extra mile.
When hauled, the boat had a high pressure wash and and sand. Very good. After that, chocking and stands. The same day the guys managed to prime the whole underwater area too. The next day was applying the anti fouling. One that day, the second the next. Brandon, in the yard, did a great job for me.
And Sandrine is a sweet heart.
Edwin oversaw the work and I thank him.
So back in the water and enjoying it. I have good friends in Tyrell Bay who I swim with most afternoons. John and Betty, Ang and Gary. Richard and Rowena, Greg and Jen are also players. I always look forward to to the afternoons.
And suddenly! Boom! It nearly Christmas . I’ve never spent it in Bequia and I’m told it’s a good place to be.
Fondest memories of my son Matt rescuing a few of us at the dinghy dock. Ron? Jackie? Love you both.
So I’ve sailed out of Tyrell Bay, Carriacou and am chilling in Chatham Bay. I only through out the Genoa and got the boat up to 8.5 kts. Great sailing. Sunday morning I decided to use the same sail plan again. Not such a good idea. The wind had backed about 35 degrees and was up to 25-30 kts. I set the stay sail out and had to motorsail into a lumpy sea. Not much fun. It took me an hour more than expected to do the 28 miles. A long day.
Monday morning I took the dinghy in to check in with customs and immigration and am now anchored tight in off Princess Margret Beach. The winds have increased quite a bit. These are known as the Christmas Winds and should blow for the next 6 or so weeks. I have various friends anchored around me and we all socialize quite a bit. Yesterday we all went on a Rum Shack tour around Friendship Bay, on the south side of Bequia. Good fun had by all.

I had to sail down to Grenada. I needed new batteries, buy anti fouling paint and get other bits and pieces for Golightly. I chose to sail down the windward side of Grenada as it’s a shorter distance to Prickly Bay. The currents were horrendous, I was at times making 45 degrees leeway. This was while I was between Carriacou and the north of Grenada. It only slacked off half way down the island. I made it safely in and dropped anchor. So while I’ve been here I’ve bought new batteries, anti fouling paint, primer and new canvas to redo the dodger, Bimini etc. It’s been fun here with all the events and happenings. The only downside was being here for 2 tropical storms. This is a southerly exposed anchorage and large swells and a chop were coming in to the bay. It made it very uncomfortable to say the least. Dangerous too. Many boats dragged anchor and 3 went aground in this bay alone. Two are a total loss.
I’ve also made a reservation to haul the boat out in Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, to clean and repaint the bottom. This is for 11 November.

And then on Sunday October 27, the worst day of my life began.
At about 8am AST, Daniel, my youngest son, phoned me to let me know that Matthew, my oldest and Dan’s brother, had passed away.
It’s Tuesday 29, and I’m still at a loss for words. I’m flying to Miami and then catching a bus down to Key West on Wednesday. Gary on Mystic Blue and Greg on Nebula are going to keep an eye on Golightly for me.

Wednesday 30. October.
Gary on Mystic Blue, picked me up and delivered me to the Budget dock in Prickly Bay. Took a taxi to the airport. Flight delayed 1 hour. Flew to Miami and it took 2 and a quarter hours to clear immigration. Ridiculous! I missed the last bus to Key West and had to spend the night in the airport. It was a long, cold and very uncomfortable night. I had coffee and a banana.

Thursday 31 October.
Spent the night in a steel chair in Miami airport. Not fun. I had a good Cuban sandwich for breakfast. The first bus down to the Keys was at 11am. I was dropped at Joel and Helena’s house at about 3pm.
Darren and Pauli, Matt’s friends, came to the house to fetch me. We then went to the hotel where I met up with Daniel and Eudi.
We then all went down to the Green Room, where Matt had worked. We stopped at Jack Flats for a couple of peanut butter whiskey shots. At the Green Room a party to celebrate his life was going on and we joined in. His friends, Darren and Tiffany, Pauli, and many others made us feel very welcome. By the time I got back to the house, it was 0200.

Friday 1st November.
Darren fetched us and took us to the funeral home to see Matthew. We spent about two hours there chatting etc amongst ourselves and including him. It was a good time. A time to say goodbye.
The funeral director took us home

Saturday 2 November.
RWC 2019. SA v England. We won.
Then before sunrise a crowd of us gathered on the beach for the lighting of lanterns, sprinkling of his ashes and roses into the water. It was in front of Matt and Jeff’s apartment and a rainbow appeared above the building. All very cool on this calm morning. Grant and Mel were there too. From Australia. Then went up to Jeff’s apartment.
Helena and I went shopping and the others rested up.
That evening we went down to Mallory Square to watch the street performers and the sunset. Had a mojito there. After sunset we had a drink at Hogs Breath Saloon then walked up to Jack Flats where we had peanut butter whiskey shots. After a few of those we walked up to Mr Zs for pizza slices and philly cheese steak sandwiches. The boys treated us well there.
We were treated so well everywhere.


Sunday 3 November.

Pauli, a lovely lady and one of Matt’s best friends, picked me up and we went to Hog fish grill Tiffany arrived with Daniel and Eudi. Had lunch there. Shared van den Berger. Huge!

That evening we met down to the waterfront for the remembrance cruise. It was a great send off for Matt again. About 80-100 aboard. Another boat with friends also followed. Eudi sprinkled his ashes and said good words too. When we came ashore, we went to Mallory Square to light lanterns again. Too much wind. Then we traipsed up to Ricks, where Matt first worked. Had a drink there and then off to the Green Parrot. Lots of drinks there. Someone paid for an Uber home for me at 11. The rest got home at 5 the next morning!

Monday. 4 November.
It was a slow day all round. Most of the crew had only got to bed at around 5am and couldn’t be roused until about 3pm.
I hung around waiting at Helena’s house till 11. No response from Daniel or Eudi. I then went down town to buy a few things. Since I hadn’t heard from anyone, I decided I’d have a quiet evening as I was going to have a early start. We had a delicious dinner of roast loin of pork with roasted veg. Very nice. At about 8, Pauli, Daniel, Eudi and Grant arrived to say good bye. It was good to see them although I would have liked to have had more time with Daniel. Early night.

Tuesday 5 November. Up early, coffee, pack and to the airport by 6. Joel also flew to Miami for a business meeting.
A huge thank you to Pauli, Darren for carting us around. Big ups to you!
I had a sweet cheese and a cherry danish for breakfast. The flight to Grenada was good. Taxi to Sails restaurant and had happy hour with Gary, Ang, Jenny and Greg. Then back to Golightly. All good aboard.

Thursday 7 November.
Put dinghy in the water. Yoo-hoo!
Went shopping with Ang today.
I cried a bit more today. But not yet enough.

I’ve picked up a bad chest infection and am having difficulty throwing it off. On antibiotics now. I can’t sail single handed not being at full strength so I’ll hopefully sail up to Carriacou next week.
I motor sailed up the leeward side of Grenada and on to Carriacou on Tuesday 19 November 2019. It was pretty easy going. I fished all the way, tuna were jumping, but didn’t even get a strike. The fish are becoming few and far between. For me that is. I then anchored in Tyrell Bay and confirmed my haul out date for Tuesday 26 November.