http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rum-Runner/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rum Runner en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:32:07 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:32:07 +0000 Well it looks like we have been stuck in St. Martin for about a month now. Although that isnrsquot necessarily a bad thing. We love St. Martin It is a fun and lively island with great shopping and beautiful beaches friendly people and great food. Plus the anchorage here inside the lagoon is one of the best in the Caribbean protected from all weather. It is so convenient to get everythi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Netherlands-Antilles/Sint-Maarten/blog-461822.html What a week After spending a glorious month in the Grenadines we ran into some problems with the boat. First our rigging needs to be redone but we found a temporary solution for that. And our autopilot still doesn't work even after sending it back to the States for repairs this hurricane season frustrating But the straw that broke the camel's back was that our generator went out last Sat http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Netherlands-Antilles/Sint-Maarten/blog-456997.html The Grenadines are one of our favorite places on this earth and it holds a special place in our hearts. The water is so clear and so beautiful it sparkles like a flawless topaz sea before us. And the beaches are so white and pristine lined with coconut palms. The lobsters are plentiful and delicious grilled up at a beach bbq and smothered with garlic butter. The snorkeling is unparalleled http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Saint-Vincent-and-Grenadines/Grenadines/blog-452648.html Mystique the island of the rich and famous. It is one of the few privately owned islands in the Grenadines. Due to its luxury and isolation many famous people have vacation homes here including Tommy Hilfiger Shania Twain Mick Jagger Brian Adams and Princess Margaret. It also attracts the very rich such as a sheik from Saudi Arabia and the CEO of Nike. In fact you just never know who you http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Saint-Vincent-and-Grenadines/Grenadines/blog-452642.html We have spent much of the last two weeks playing in the Grenadines sailing between the different islands and scuba diving as often as we can. Diving has become our new favorite hobby. And the Grenadines provide pristine reefs and abundant sea life to explore. So we have taken the plunge. We have dived Horseshoe Reef and Mayreau Gardens in the Tobago Cays the Devilrsquos Table in Bequia a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Saint-Vincent-and-Grenadines/Grenadines/blog-450493.html Our first stop in the Grenadine Islands was Carriacou. Although technically Carriacou is still part of Grenada. We have only stopped here a couple of times thrown up the QFlag and spent the night at anchor. We have never actually stepped foot on land and figured it was time to go ashore and explore this lovely little island that we have heard so much about. Luckily we were traveling with t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/Carriacou/blog-448934.html Splash The Rum Runner is back in the water. And looking better than ever We have new bottom paint the hull has been waxed the plumbing redone and we completed just about everything on our todo list not the entire list but good enough. We got new cockpit cushions our old ones were stained and falling apart and even a new grill which was necessary after 4 years of heavy use we grill e http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/Grenada/blog-444042.html We have done lots of island tours in this last month all over Grenada. And Jay has put about 2000 miles on our rental car which is crazy considering that the island is only 30 miles long We have driven along the west and east coast up to the north end of the island and cut across the middle thru the Grand Etang National Park. It truly is a lovely island to explore lush mountains full of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/blog-441769.html One weekend we got invited to go to an Oil Down which is a traditional neighborhood party here in Grenada. Oil Down is the national dish of Grenada and is a hearty meal of meat and provisions stewed in coconut milk over an open fire. It is called oil down because the coconut milk simmers down and releases its rich flavored oil into the pot. Yum It is Caribbean comfort food at its best. Trad http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/Grenada/blog-441756.html Our plan for hurricane season this year was to stay in Grenada so this is as far south as we were going to sail. But we decided to try something new. Instead of living on the boat thru all of hurricane season which is downright miserable we decided to put the boat on the hard and live on land at least for 6 weeks. It was time for us to haul out anyways because we needed new bottom paint. I http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/Saint-David/blog-441746.html One day we decided to go out snorkeling in Moliniere Bay. We had heard that there is a cool underwater sculpture park and we wanted to check it out. So we hopped in the dinghy and trekked over there. Moliniere is a sheltered bay on the west coast of Grenada that is relatively shallow only 10 to 20 feet deep perfect for snorkeling. So we tied up the dinghy to one of the mooring balls and dive http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/Molini%C3%A8re/blog-441765.html Luckily we got to Grenada in time for Carnival Spice Mas 2009 yohoo Every island has Carnival at different times throughout the year and we were super excited to go to this one. Grenadarsquos Carnival is unique and we have heard tons of fabulous tales about past years from other cruisers. It is one of the few islands in the Caribbean that still use paint on JrsquoOuvert morning the only http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Grenada/Saint-George/blog-441241.html What a reliefhellip to be south of the hurricane belt and back in the Grenadines some of the most beautiful islands in the world. We love the Grenadines and have spent a lot of time here. But surprisingly have not seen it all. So once we rested up for a couple of days and recovered from our sail down it was time to kick back relax and explore.We spent a couple of weeks touring the Grenadi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Saint-Vincent-and-Grenadines/Grenadines/blog-440774.html Even though we had to book it south for hurricane season we couldnrsquot resist stopping at Iles de Saintes on our way back down. We skipped the Saintes on our travels up the Caribbean chain this year and just couldnrsquot pass by these islands without stopping again. Besides we had to break up all that travel somehow. And who could resist this group of small islands just off of Guadelou http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guadeloupe/Les-Saintes/blog-440185.html It certainly was time to book it on south. We couldnrsquot believe that it is already June where did the time go We ended up spending close to another month in the Virgin Islands traveling back and forth. We went to St. John for a couple of days then back to St. Thomas then back to St. John then over to Norman and finally back to Virgin Gorda. We spent most of our time just riding http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-439929.html We continued our trek through the British Virgin Islands by sailing over to Jost Van Dyke. This was one of the islands we stopped at last year yet our time here was brief. Too brief like only a few hours on shore to eat lunch and check out of customs and immigration. Which is certainly not enough time to explore any island in my opinion. So we were excited to return and spend more time ther http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/British-Virgin-Islands/Jost-Van-Dyke/blog-439626.html We spent the next week touring the different anchorages in Virgin Gorda which is one of the largest islands of the BVI chain. The first anchorage we stopped at was Leverick Bay one of the newest Marina complexes built in the area. It has a great pool complete with a pool bar and restaurant a very reputable dive company which we planned on utilizing and of course a Pusserrsquos store which http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/British-Virgin-Islands/Virgin-Gorda/blog-438792.html The Baths are one of the coolest places to visit in Virgin Gorda where giant granite boulders line the beach creating tidal pools tunnels arches and grottoes. You can spend hours hiking around the Baths and in fact we did. We decided to sail over to the southern end of Virgin Gorda to spend the day there it was so much fun The natural beauty created by this unique geologic formation is a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/British-Virgin-Islands/Virgin-Gorda/blog-436796.html The next stop for the Rum Runner was Norman Island a very famous anchorage in the British Virgin Islands. Famous for the crazy parties aboard the floating pirate ship and bar the Willie T famous for the amazing snorkeling at nearby Pelican Island and the Indians a rock formation just north of the Bight and most famous for pirate lore and hidden treasures that were found in the caves on the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/British-Virgin-Islands/Norman-Island/blog-436575.html Our plan for this cruising season was to sail up the Caribbean chain stopping along the way to visit new islands and revisit some of our favorites from last year. Our goal was to reach the Virgin Islands by April and spend a month there before turning back and heading south again our insurance for the boat dictates that we must be out of the hurricane belt by the first of July. So once we le http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/US-Virgin-Islands/Saint-Thomas/blog-434339.html