In the month that covers this blog we sailed from St Barts to Grenada and had some horrible sailing conditions and boat problems. Steering cable broke and had to be repaired in Antigua, Outboard engine was flooded with salt water while on the davits (talk about heeling), VHF Radio not transmitting (we had a backup), Battery charger not functioning (only an issue when at a dock), Main sail halyard is twisted or fouled inside the mast and won't go up or down, Main engine ignition switch melted due to a short and took the solenoid with it as well.

3-27 We cleared out with customs yesterday afternoon in St Barths and had dinner on Here Today along with Winergie. This morning we left for Antigua not knowing where the wind would really take us. With 20 knots of wind from the east we landed at Nevis after 9 hours of sailing with the rail in the water the practically the entire time. We were exhausted when we arrived and went to bed early.

3-31 After a few lovely days on Nevis..... We gave up trying to sleep with the swells rolling the boat so we got up and got ready to set sail. At about 2:0AM we let loose the mooring ball line at set out for Montserrat BUT only 40 seconds later I felt the steering cable break and we were with out steerage. We quickly dropped the anchor and Steve investigated the issue, which involved moving lots of storage tubs and crawling into the engine compartment! The Autohelm still worked and so after digging out the emergency tiller to steer near shore, we set off again about 4AM for Antigua where Steve could repair the cable. Another wild ride tacking to windward with the rail in the water most of the time.

4-3 Steering cable has been repaired and installed as well as replacing the VHF that decided to die on us. Cleared customs and will head out at first light. We have decided to rush to Bequia to meet up with Carol and Jon on Aldebaran and have some fun and laughs! It will be a busy week of sailing!

4-4 Whenever we decide to leave 'whenever we wake in the early morning', I am up in the middle of the night and ready to go. This day was no exception when I awoke at midnight. Thankfully we went to bed at 8 PM so we at least had 4 hours of good sleep. The winds were just right and seas were flat when we left for Dehaies, Guadeloupe. We made great time but the winds ands seas continued to build and we reefed and then reefed again. We made it all the way to Le Saintes by sunset. Rail in the water and waves crashing over the boat the for half the journey. Getting into an anchorage when the sun is setting is unnerving, we tried three times to anchor before we found a spot with good holding in sand. A rocky rolly night and we were up to do it again. 2 reefs in the main and half a jib and we still had the same crazy ride as the day before. We sailed right by Dominica and arrived after dark in St Pierre Martinique. A short day the next down to Anse D'Arlet at the south end of the island.

4-7 PERFECTION! A beam reach with lovely wind at 7 knots all the way to Rodney Bay in St Lucia. Today was SUBLIME! We pulled into the marina for 2 nights to get our outboard motor worked on, rowing to shore is not fun.

4-9 WeGo's little motor is behaving badly and we have sent it to obedience school. We hope by Monday afternoon (a part was ordered) it will be operating properly and we can be on our way to Bequia. In the meantime I was going to lay on another coat of Cabot's on the teak but it has rained off and on every day.

4-11 We finally left St Lucia on Monday afternoon after we found out that the motor guy hadn't even ordered the needed part yet. He had the motor since Thursday and just got around to looking for the part even though he told us on Friday that it was available 'on island' . Well it wasn't and now needed to be ordered in, if ordered on Thursday it would be here today. Island Time, ARGH! I told him to just return the motor ASAP and we would worry about it in Grenada. We knew we were meeting up with friends on Aldebaran so we could bum rides with them.

The trip was horrible! Leaving on a broad reach with flat seas and moving along nicely at 6 knots, we thought we had it made. As the wind increased and our double reefed main was still too much we attempted to drop it to sail jib only. The halyard got stuck, fortunately it was almost all the way down and Steve lashed it up good to keep it from flagging. Now we are sailing with the stay-sail only and still going 6 knots with huge seas on our quarter. Now all this sounds bad but we still need to add the rain the kept up for 12 hours! Every time we changed watch (every two hours) everything we had on was soaked through. Even our foul weather gear was wet. Sleeping was out of the question with the boat rolling all over and it was just a miserable night.

We arrived in Bequia after dawn and after dropping the hook we fell into bed. The protected bay was nice and calm. We cleared customs and had a few drinks with Jon and Carol and called it a night by 7PM. What a great nights sleep we had.

4-13 Today we explored a bit of Bequia and walked a few miles to the turtle sanctuary. Did you know that only one in 3,000 babies makes it to adulthood? That is why they lay so many eggs at a time. Turtles at every stage of development were being cared for, they are released at 3 years of age.

4-15 Time to move on to less crowded anchorages. Everything stowed and ready to go when Aldebaran called on the radio to say they were ready also. Nothing happened when I turned the key. Oh, come on. First the dingy motor and now this. Steve (AKA McGyver) discovered that the starter switch had shorted and melted the wires. Last night I smelled burning rubber while reading and thought it was a garbage fire on shore. I even woke Steve to mention it. Now this morning we realize how lucky we were, another Tayana just burned due to the same thing. Well more problem determination revealed that the solenoid was also affected and needs to be replaced. Having no spare on board and none available here McGyver again came to the rescue by manually engaging the starter gear and applied power to the starter motor and then disengaged the starter gear after the engine was ruining. Whew, did you get that? Anyway...... two hours later we where on our way to Petit Nevis, a very small island 2 miles away.

Petit Nevis is one of our favorite anchorages. Great snorkeling right from the boat and never over 4 boats at any given time. We enjoyed the day with Aldebaran and moved on in the morning to The Tabago Cays. T

The Cays are fabulous! The water is so shallow with white sand that we can actually see our anchor chain laying on the bottom at night under the full moon! Stingrays glide by night and day and turtles are everywhere. Part of this marine park is a turtle reserve and one can swim with them, watching them munch on sea grass. The entire area here is surrounded on the Atlantic side by a barrier reef that extends ever a couple miles. Some of the best and most extensive snorkeling in the caribbean, in my opinion (see favorite anchorages and snorkeling blog), and we have been enjoying it every day. The reef is experiencing some bleaching, the park rangers say it is due to very low tides and the water over the coral warming excessively in the shallow water. We have noticed a difference in just one year!

Compass Rose heard us on the radio yesterday and came to join us in the anchorage. They have a large cockpit and the perfect place for the 6 of us to gather for Sun-downers! The next night we all took cocktails and snacks to the beach to watch the sunset before we all took off in different directions.

4-21 What a shame to have to leave this paradise! We have enjoyed the visit with friends and the wonderful snorkeling but it is time to move over to Union Island to clear customs, then off to Grenada.

4-22 We dropped the hook in Mt Hartman bay on Grenada at 1:00 AM. The sail was blissfully unexciting. 3 1/2 to 4 knots in perfectly calm seas beats 7 knots with the rail in the water! Yes - I really did say that! Well, I need to run. Steve wants to look for parts needed for both engines right away. Our flight is in a week so we haven't much time.

Every day we worry about leaving the boat for the summer. We are getting everything finished and 'summerizing' for the hurricane season. We are have a mooring ball and a local man to check on her weekly. If a storm is approaching he will put down additional anchors but Grenada is south of the hurricane belt so she should be fine.

The week flew by and it feels strange to leave our home on the water for one on land. We will return after the summer and will be counting the days!