XYZ ...Stands for Zombies.....VeryTired Sailors at the End of the Day!

Everything you do is harder on a sailboat. Mr. Johnston's tune up was a challenge. It was easier at Abaco Yacht Services when we could tie up to a dock.

The cleaning is never ending. Every locker is cleaned and every item on board is desalted.

Spice Island Marine Services, Grenada....Celebrian's new summer home.

Up she comes in the travel lift.

Once the boat is out of the water they transfer it to a trailer that moves it to your spot. This means they can store boats very close together. It is also part of their hurricane strategy.

Once you are in your spot they put supports under the hull along with chain. The added thing that they do here is anchor the boats from four directions. The next picture shows one of the straps. Since we are so small we were placed in an area where we may get moved a few times when other boats launch.

W is for Whew ....We made it to Grenada

St. George, the capital of Grenada is a beautiful city of 20,000.

It is the 25th of May and we are on the hard in the boatyard and working long days making sure that Celebrian is "summerized" and ready for her vacation at Spice Island Boatyard. We have spent the last few days doing as much preparation on the hook but there are many things that we can not do until she is hauled. We have booked a room for two nights at an apartment next door to the yard and the laundry is free her. I think we are getting our money's worth as I am on my seventh or eighth load. They have internet as well; however I don't have an English adapter so I will soon run out of battery. The rainy season has started here and it has been a real challenge getting the sails and covers dry; however today is better so this afternoon we should be able to get some things dried and put away. We are flying home on Sunday the 27th with Caribbean Air non stop to Toronto. There are not quite as many steps here to getting home as there were from Grenada; however the boatyard in Green Turtle was much nicer than Spice Island. That being said we are glad to have a safe place to leave Celebrian for hurricane season.

These pictures were taken in Carriacou where we cleared in to Grenada.

More Vistas ....and more Islands to Discover

If it is Antigua....it must be Tuesday.

If it is Wednesday ...it must be Guadaloupe.

If it is Thursday ...it must be Dominica.

Some days were harder than others.

If it is Friday...it must be Martinique.

If it is Saturday....it must be St. Lucia.

If it is Sunday....it must be St. Vincent.

If it is Monday....it must be Carriacou.

Some days there were dolphins.....

And one day we caught a 3 foot mahi mahi....delicious!

V is for Vistas.....If it is Tuesday it must be Antigua

The last couple of weeks have been a blur of islands.

If it is Sunday it must be ....Antigua. We are motorsailing the 45 miles from St. Christopher(St. Kits) to Jolly Harbour, Antigua today. The last two days we have been on the move from St. Martin to St. Barthelemy (St. Barts), 14 miles and from there to St. Kits, about 35 miles. The good thing about this travel is that the passages are possible during the day and we don't have to do any overnights. From island to island is not so far and we can sight see as we sail by. Yesterday we saw St. Eustatius (Statia) and Saba off in the distance. We almost went to saba as a day trip from St. Martin but the time on the island was so short that it just didn't seem worthwhile. We would love to go there in Celebrian; however there are no protected anchorages and it is often very rolly and uncomfortable.

Before we left St. Martin we did our laundry at the marina. The picture shows the captain doing the laundry while eating pineapple orange icecream that the admiral brought him from the local grocery. The picture of the admiral shows her with her baguette (French bread stick). The other pictures are of Marigot. The last night in the harbour we had quite the squall and rain as you can see from the pictures. We were happy not to be out at sea.

The following pictures show Ile Fourche, an uninhabited island 3 miles northwest of St. Barts and part of their marine reserve. We were able to pick up a mooring here for the night and do a little snorkelling and paddling.

Legally if you have not checked in to a country you are not supposed to get off the boat; however we thought we were unlikely to be caught this far from the main land. Generally you can fly your yellow quarantine flag and anchor for the night and then be on your way to the next island. If you wish to go ashore or stay for more than a day you need to clear in with the officials. We were held up in St. Martin because the officials went home at noon on the day we wanted to clear out and it is not recommended that you don't clear out of an island before going to your next destination. It is complicated sometimes but just part of sailing in the Caribbean. These pictures are of St. Kitts and Nevis showing the terrain.

Can you see the goats on this cliff? All of these islands were formed from volcanic eruptions and for the most part they are all dormant except for Montserrat which erupted in 1995 and continues to be active. It is not recommended to sail on the western side of the island in normal trade winds as sailboats have had ash burn holes in their sails. Of the 11 thousand who used to live on the island there are only about 5 thousand remaining and they are all living in the north as the south is totally under ash and lava. We will be sailing by on our way to Guadaloupe from Antigua. Today is Friday May 18th and the last couple of weeks have been a blur. If it is Sunday it could be....St. Barts,St. Kitts, Antigua, Guadaloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent or Carriacou??? Since St. Martin We have anchored overnight in bays on 10 islands only going ashore in Martinique and yesterday in Carriacou to clear into Grenada. Carriacou is a small island that is part of Grenada but we are still 35 miles from Grenada itself. Next winter we will have the time to stop and smell the frangiapani (beautiful Caribbean flowers with an amazing smell).

Over the course of this winter we have sailed about 2000 miles. These last couple of weeks we have been sailing 35-50 miles a day. Some of those days we were on passage for 12 hours. It has been exciting but tiring. Some of our anchorages have been very rolly so after a long day sailing hard in big ocean waves we have spent the night rolling some more. We are ready to come home and spend sometime living in a home that doesn't move. We are planning on visiting the boat yard on Monday. We will spend the next couple of weeks getting celebrian ready for storage and booking our flights home. Everything is new here so we have to learn as we go. The pictures of the last couple of weeks will get posted in the blog at some point but it may not be until we are home.

U is For Unbelievable Spectacle....Carnival in Sint Maarten

We have had no lack of things to see and do in St. Martin and our timing was perfect for carnival on the Dutch side Sint Maarten. Carnival on the French side is in February but the Dutch celebrate the end of April and May day with a four day holiday. We took two buses from Grand Case to Marigot and then on to Phillipsburg and joined the thousands of happy locals lining the streets for their carnival parade. Carnival goes on for several days and nights beginning with what is called a Juvie which entails getting up at 4am and joining a parade of revellers who dance and sing their way around Great Salt Pond at Phillipsburg. We thought we could pass on that part of the celebration and decided to go to one of the parades which occur during the day and don't involve getting up in the middle of the night.

What a spectacle it was and the costumes were unbelievable. The parade lasted for close to two hours with at least a dozen huge trucks with bands providing the music for the hundreds of costumed dancers. The dancers were of all ages and shapes and sizes and the outfits were amazing. The biggest challenge was to keep their head dresses from blowing off in the wind. The parade we saw was on Monday and yesterday Tuesday May 1st they were going to do it all again. I imagine many folks go back to work today very tired.

Kite surfing is popular at Orient Beach.

Yesterday we took the opportunity to take a bus to the windward side and walk the famous Orient Beach. Being topless is allowed in the French Islands but total nudity is only allowed at the club at Orient Beach. Naturally we had to visit the club and check it out for ourselves. The sign at the beach bar says No shirt No pants No Problem! The captain was in his glory eating pizza and drinking beer at the beach. It was just like being at the cottage but only more entertaining. club Orient is a resort for naturists that has been on Orient Beach for many years and given the number of people we saw on the beach it continues to be popular.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.