Splash 001

Little Farmer’s Cay in the Exummas became our home for 7 more days as we waited for a motor part to be delivered. In the meantime; we explored the cave on the adjacent island, attended a Baptist church service and discovered Ty’s Sunset Beach Bar on the west side of the island. The church service [...]

06 May 2016 | Ocean Cabin - Little Farmer's Cay - Exumas

In the Bahamas

What a difference another passage makes! Those who remember the details of our first 9 day passage from Beaufort NC to the Dominican Republic in October will recall it was a challenge! Our passage from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Georgetown, Exumas Bahamas was textbook easy!! Colin joined us and we left [...]

23 April 2016

St. Lucia - San Juan

It has been a whirlwind three weeks since my last post.

01 April 2016 | Rodney Bay St. Lucia

Waiting in St. Lucia

Still waiting on weather

16 March 2016

Marigot Bay - St. Lucia

I haven’t commented enough about the sailing, winds, weather and other sailors we have met. Jim and I left North America believing the trade winds would blow from the northish, allowing us a lovely beam to broad reach sail down the Carribean Island chain. Our guests of the past year will concur that [...]

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

What a wonderful week we have had with my sister Jane exploring St. Vincent and the Genadines. Jane is one of the most positive, helpful, energetic and fun loving people I know! And we “did it all”! We sailed from Blue Lagoon in St. Vincent to Union Island in the Genedines and back. Leaving St. Vincent, we sailed south, 9 NM to Bequai where we anchored at Elizabeth Beach. The next day, we had a champagne sail of 20 NM to Canouan, Charleston Bay – a beautiful calm anchorage. Augusta, a local fisherman who approached SPLASH sold us 2 fresh lobsters caught that morning! We hiked into the town to meet Ezra, 29 year old free spirit with a TIKI bar at the beach. He sang us his song, joined us for a beer and hugged us goodbye repeating his mantra of “one love”. Walking back, we stopped at a school sports field to watch part of a local cricket game. That evening we had our b-b-qued lobsters – delicious! On Monday we sailed south to Mayreau Island where we caught a mooring ball in Salt Whistle Bay. Very crowded little harbour, but with a fantastic protected beach. On the west side of the beach; kite surfers were enjoying the rough surf of the ocean. A walk into “town” was straight up then down the other side where we passed a beautiful Catholic Church with incredible ocean view, several tiny shops, bars and mini grocery stores and lots of poor housing. Tuesday we motored the 4 NM to moore in the Tobago Cays. Wow! The ocean, views, colour of the water are JUST like the pictures. We drank in all of the sights, snorkelled with the turtles, hiked a couple of steep hills (with the Iguanas) and enjoyed the evening aboard SPLASH counting the sea turtles who would lazily swim by. Wednesday we sailed south to Union Island and Happy Island. In the morning we wandered the little town, provisioned, had crab sandwiches for lunch (in order to use the wifi) then set off for Happy Island around 3:00. Happy Island is a man-made island made of conch shells and coral by Janti. The lone building on this tower of sea deposits is his home and his bar. Daily, he entertains yachtie visitors with his music, his story and the best rum punch drinks we have found yet! The afternoon turned into evening as we met sailors from South Africa and Brazil. A visit on Fabio’s boat with wine, cheesecake and guitar playing concluded a perfect day. Thursday, we made the turn north and sailed 30 NM back to Bequai where we anchored for two nights. As returning yachties to towns, Jim and I now know some of the local vendors for fruits, vegetables, bread and fish. Jane and Jim saw an octopus while snorkling and the highlight of Bequai was that all three of us watched a perfect sunset AND saw the green flash. Absolutely amazing! Back to St.Vincent and Blue Lagoon on Saturday where we enjoyed fresh showers, their beautiful pool and treated ourselves to a lovely dinner at the restaurant. Jane is on her way home to Collingwood right now, and I know she has great memories of her time in the Grenadines. Jim and I found the people and the geography of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to be generous and beautiful. SPLASH is happy to be on a Starboard tack now, heading north. Our next stop tomorrow is St. Lucia.

Limin in Soper's Hole, BVI

01 December 2015

Limin is the local word for "chillin" and Jim and I are quick learners. We have slowly been exploring these islands – anchoring, hiking some snorkeling.
We have bought extra masks and snorkels for the boat for when visitors come down. Docked at a Marina for the last two days was a real luxury. I walked 10 min with the laundry to have CLEAN sheets and panties!! An additional benefit of a marina is fresh water ( luke warm) showers. For at least 2 hours our bodies are salt free before they start sweating again! Reading tons, some sailor stuff, a Ken Follett, anything that is on mine or Jim’s ipad. And knitting a baby blanket for Heather; Jim’s sister’s daughter is due with her second.

There are different levels of tourists here at Sopher’s Hole Tortola Island in the BVI’s. You have your white pasty lumpy over middle aged couples; the women wear awful pants and the guys have sandals and socks and huge cameras around their necks. The shop keepers say that they pick up all the T-shirts then buy a lousy post card for 75 cents!! They shuffle on and off the ferries to “visit” for 1 hour before they are herded back onto the ferry for their next stop. Then there are the people who rent boats. They are still in fast pace mode as they scream into harbours trying to snap up the prime mooring ball spot before the next boater. They are loud, fast, and usually have more money than they know what to do with. We asked a “captain” of these rental boats to give us a tour as they were provisioning a 58 ft. catermeran. Gorgeous boat with SOOOO much space…. Can sleep 5 couples with private loos for each bed. The galley kitchen was bigger than mine at Beddoe. And for $28 000 a week, you too can rent this boat completely provisioned with food, booze, captain and cook. WOW! Then you have the “Jim and I” type of tourists – we wait for “happy hour” to get a dollar off a beer at 5:00 so we can use the internet. I walked 30 minutes to the phone store to top up my Caribbean phone plan. We buy local food, fish, fruit………. No T-shirts or tacky jewelry! All in all life is good!

Saw some teeny tiny lizards; adorable, then saw a huge one in a tree ( I thought it was a statue!) NOT adorable. Bleach is my new best friend as we keep all cardboard boxes OFF the boat and scrub everything down daily to avoid bugs. ( Saw cockroaches as big as my thumb at night outside a bar!)

Planning to meet up with Hamilton friends tomorrow and head out to Cane Garden Bay.

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