A Very Happy New Year to everyone!  

We can't believe how long it's been since we've last written but we've had a really busy few weeks and are now just only settling down to a routine again.

By the end of November we had very nearly finished the painting of the boat. All the difficult bits had been done with only a few panels of the textured areas to do. But with Andrew's father, Roger, coming out at the beginning of December we decided to call a halt and start to reassemble the boat so that we could move again.

To achieve the best paint finish we had taken all the deck fittings off including the guard rails, cleats and clips. To put them back meant Andrew crawling in some very small places, and at funny angles, and Sharon on deck with the ratchet. Communication was limited to grunts and knocks and Andrew finished with some amazing bruises! The benefit of stripping everything off was when it all went back we could bed everything in with fresh mastic and now there's not a leak in sight!

Roger arrived at the tail end of the rainy season, and it certainly went out with a bang, heavy downpours and some quite strong winds. We kept him busy though. An island tour with our favourite driver, Cutty, up into the rainforests to see the waterfalls and the monkeys. This was followed by a trip to the chocolate factory and to see River Antoine rum made. We had been there before and knew to stay well away from the drink. Roger decided that with time spent in the British Navy he could handle a tot or two of the local brew.

He soon agreed with us that it was best used for paint stripping!

 

Our last few days in Grenada were spent provisioning and Christmas shopping and on Monday 18 th December we finally left. It was strange to be moving again after four months and also sad to leave as we had made many friends here, some of which had already headed north and some who were staying. We had been very fortunate this year with the weather, there had been no hurricanes at all in the area and only one tropical storm – Ernesto – that was fairly benign as it left us but later turned into a hurricane further north. We consider ourselves to be very fortunate.

 

The first stop on our journey was Carriacou, an island just north of Grenada which we had previously visited and enjoyed. After a couple of hectic weeks we were glad to stop and chill. The anchorage at Hillsborough is huge and can be a bit rolly but we eventually found a nice sheltered area where the swimming was good. A crew discussion led to the decision to have a quiet Christmas here and then go to Bequia for a lively New Year. No doubt influenced by the fact that Pat's Deli was offering ready prepared lobster for Christmas! Christmas Day was warm and sunny for the most part and we started the day with a swim before breakfast. Roger had kindly brought out some presents from family (including a Christmas pudding!), and we had been able to do some internet ordering as well. After breakfast we sat on deck with our champagne & mango juice and opened presents.

Lunch was lobster for Andrew & Roger and Sharon had made a tart of caramelised onions, blue cheese and spinach. Dessert was Pina Colada cheesecake!   A consignment of magazines had also come out and so the afternoon was spent on deck reading. A really great Christmas Day.

On Boxing Day we went across to Sandy Island where we spent a couple of hours snorkelling on the reef.

 

The following day we were off again and checked in to St.Vincent & the Grenadines . St.Vincent is the main island but has dozens of small islands to the south. We headed for Mayreau which has a nice anchorage but few facilities, in fact they only got electricity a few years ago. It's quite a popular spot for the smaller cruise ships as there is a long sandy beach where they hold barbecues for their guests.

We were sitting on deck while one of these ships was in and saw a couple go past clutching on to a lilo . We thought that they didn't look happy, were a long way from shore and heading out to open water. We signalled to them and they started paddling towards the boat. Andrew got in the dinghy while Sharon managed to get a long line to them and pull them in and they got on board. The young woman was in tears she had been so frightened. Whilst Andrew went to get the second lilo we found out that they were singers on the boat and had been allowed the day off to join the barbecue.

They took lilos out but hadn't realised how strong the wind was (20 knots) and that it would push them away from shore.

Fortunately we were at the back of the anchorage and had seen them before things got too serious.

 

Eventually the weather settled and allowed us to sail up to Bequia and we arrived on 30 th December. Bequia has a huge, busy anchorage which is very popular with cruisers. It's also very pretty. After we had settled in Lucy, from ‘Flying Cloud' came by and invited us to their New Year celebrations which we happily agreed to. The first half of the evening we spent on Flying Cloud with friends from Nancy Dawson, Raven & Primrose. By 11 p.m. the women were getting itchy feet so we went to join the party on the beach and danced until midnight when there was a big fireworks display over the water. Despite the late hour, and a high rum consumption, we all managed to get safely back to Paragon by about 2.30 a.m. Although some were a little wetter than others!

 

After our quiet times in Carriacou & Mayreau we picked up the socialising again. Roger certainly got into the swing of cruising – boat chores and shopping in the morning, lunch, siesta then a hearty supper to be able to absorb the evenings rum quota.

We have to mention that Rick & Lucy on Flying Cloud and Sue & Randy on Nancy Dawson were particularly hospitable. If only Sue didn't keep taking incriminating photos! Eventually they left us heading north but we decided to get a few more boat chores done. We needed some specialist welding done and found ‘Fixman', an English chap who came to Bequia to retire and is now busier than ever!  

Next stop was Avell at Grenadines Sails. Our boom cover was not in brilliant condition when we bought the boat and after summer in the Caribbean had shredded badly and so we decide to have it replaced with a ‘stack pack'. This stays up permanently and allows the mainsail to drop in when you take the sail down and then you zip it up. It's a very neat solution and puts an end to flapping canvas. Avell was excellent, producing it in 48 hours, plus mending our bimini and giving our mainsail its annual service.

The only downside, as far as Andrew was concerned, was that he had to trust his wife and father to winch him safely up and down the mast while he altered some of the lines! But the stack pack works beautifully and Paragon is now a very smart boat.

Eventually we left Bequia on the 9 th January with the intention of doing a 20 hour run past St.Vincent & St.Lucia to Martinique . Unfortunately Sharon wasn't well – Roger was blamed for bringing out a cold virus from the U.K! – and a blocked fuel filter just past St.Lucia led to the decision to turn and head for Rodney Bay . The filter was quickly sorted but we decided that as Roger was flying back to the U.K. from here we might as well stay.

Facilities are good with a decent supermarket, good restaurants, a chandlers and boat boys delivering bread and fresh fruit and vegetables in the mornings.

 

To explore the island properly Roger hired a car and we went off exploring. St.Lucia has stunning scenery and huge acreage devoted to bananas. In fact in the lowlands all you can see are banana plants, many with the fruit hanging in blue bags to ensure even ripening. As a huge source of revenue to the island bananas are taken very seriously – as you can see by the photo!  

We took a side road up into the rain forest, the scenery was spectacular as were the roads. Andrew did amazingly well keeping the car on the road in some places. High on Roger's list of ‘must sees' was the rum factory. Completely different to River Antoine in Grenada where everything is done the traditional way St. Lucia Distillers is very high tech. with stainless steel vats and lots of staff in white coats. They produce over 20 different products, several of which we tasted at the end of the tour. They have a vast range of styles from their normal drinking rum - Bounty – which we didn't really like to Admiral Rodney which is superb. The rum with ginger is good but the one with chocolate & nuts – Nutz & Rhum - is incredibly sweet –a bit like a liquid Picnic bar!

 

Sadly on the 16 th January Roger had to return home, apparently to gale force winds, heavy rain and cold. Although we have been complaining it's been getting chilly at night – it goes down to about 74F and we have to wear a cardigan!

We decided to stay an extra week or so, finishing the last of the painting and starting on the varnish. Next stop will be Martinique and as it's carnival in about a month we are debating whether to see it in Martinique or Dominica .

 

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew