Update: November 2008

November 29. 2008

Red sky at night, sailors' delight......

November 28, 2008 - Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Dinner in Bequia

Last year, we made a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us on the boat in Fort Lauderdale. The next day, we crossed the gulf stream to the Bahamas to start our first full year of cruising in the Caribbean. This year we had a fun and delicious turkey dinner with our cruising family at Tommy's Cantina in Bequia. Starting from the left of the picture: Jan and Terri, Roberta and Tito on Alleluia, Cindy and Lee on Tranquility and Steve on Iris. We took thanks for the wonderful year that brought us here this far and we are looking forward to the next 12 months with anticipation!

November 24, 2008

Admiralty Bay, Bequia in the Grenadines.

After more than 4 months in Trinidad, we left Chaguaramas late on the 19th to start our second year of cruising in the Caribbean. The last few days were hectic as we had to finish provisioning the boat for the next few months while at the same time our new refrigeration system was being de-bugged. Around 4 pm, we dropped the lines and headed through the Boca de Monos towards Grenada. We had great weather with 15 to 17 knots of wind from the East and relatively calm seas allowing us to make an average 7-8 knots of speed. We passed the southwest coast of Grenada around 4 am and continued on to Union Island, the most southerly point of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and our port of entry.

By the time we arrived, the wind and waves had picked up considerably. The anchorage at Clifton is very deep and protected by a reef on the eastern side but with the high winds the reef was not offering much protection. Despite that, the anchorage was crowded and after trying several times to find a place to drop the hook, we decided we had enough time to push on to Bequia before dark.

At 3:30 pm, almost 24 hours after we left Trinidad, we sailed into Admiralty Bay. As we scanned the bay for places to anchor, we saw our friends Lee and Cindy on Tranquility motoring in front of us. They had left Trinidad over a week before us and had spent some time in Grenada. We surprised them on the radio that we had caught up with them and by 4:00 pm, we were anchored at Princess Margaret Beach next to our friends enjoying the beautiful, clear water. Suddenly, the stresses of the last several months in Trinidad working on boat projects started to slip away as we enjoyed our first drink on our second year of cruising in the Caribbean.

November 10, 2008

Trinidad All Stars pan band playing during a street festival in Port of Spain with three other bands .

Our time in Trinidad is slowly coming to an end and we are finally putting the final touches on all our hard work over the last 4 months. Click on the November 10, 2008 cruising update to see all the changes we have done to the boat. We look forward to getting out of the marina on the 15th and making our way to St. Lucia for Christmas. On the way, we plan to spend some time in the Tobago Cays and then make it to Bequia for Thanksgiving.