HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, it's such a long time since I posted a blog on this site.....for those of you who were able to follow our journey across the Atlantic you will have seen our daily blogs on the ARC site.  They are still there if you have time to read them along with lots of photos in the gallery.

Right now we're in Port Louis Marina, Grenada doing some much needed routine maintenance on Kinabalu and preparing for Alistair and Maureen to join us on Tuesday 11/01.   It's not all work though - yesterday took local buses into the mountains to Belmont Estate to tour the cocoa factory.  The bus ride is quite an experience - 15 people, all shapes and sizes, crammed into a minibus,  driving at breakneck speed, hurtling into hairpin bends and hardly a gear change!

This morning I joined a team of sailors to help with a reading program for 30 odd local youngsters - set up a few years ago by a Grenadian lady and continued largely with the support of visiting yachtsmen.  We heard that they were short on the VHF "net" which broadcasts at 0730 hours each day.   I'll go back and see them again when we return in a couple of weeks.

Briefly, we survived the parties in Rodney Bay, St Lucia, said goodbye to our young ARC team and sailed down the beautiful west coast of St Lucia, past Marigot Bay and the Pitons, vowing to return.  Crossed to St Vincent and weighed anchor in Chateaubelair in the dark.    We could see a little red light coming towards us and it was 16 year old George with a headtorch in a mini canoe, all kitted out with life jacket and smart sailing shoes.   We were the only boat in the bay and with the wind and swell from the north west, we were very pleased to have him help us with anchoring.  We had caught a 5kg tuna which we cleaned and cooked for dinner.  George came back before we left the next morning with fresh rolls and oranges.  We wrote in his book and gave him some EC$ towards an anchor and mooring buoy.

Checked into St Vincent at Bequia where we stayed for Christmas.  Christmas Eve drinks at Frangipani and dinner at Devil's Table with ARC friends and Christmas dinner on board with Canadians, Marie and Maurice.  Sailed around to Friendship Bay for a couple of nights, swam and trekked ashore, and then headed off to Mustique, beautiful and unspoilt, for three glorious days.  Went to Basil's Bar for his famous Thursday night "jump-up" and mixed with the rich and famous ;)