Bequia to Carricou More diving, a beach barbecue, swimming. Bequia was as ever great fun. Then on to Carricou. Carricou is an island about 30 miles north of Grenada, we visited there two years ago, it was very tranquil and sweet. Nothing much seems to happen there. It is a very green lush little place, with little volcanic peaks, a small capital town of Hillsborough, and some very photogenic houses. We had a great sail down there, the wind on the beam, perfect sailing. We anchored in Tyrell bay, a big wide anchorage, safe and clean, fringed by mangrove swamps. As we anchored the man on the next boat said’ Hello Eleanor’ It was peter and veronica’s friend, they had told them we were coming! We went round for a drink that evening, Michael and ... read more

BEQUIA Still here, the wind has been howling and making the boat heel over. We decided to move further into the bay, which I think was a good decision, it has been more comfortable here. The wind has been gusting a lot at night, gusts of 30 knots and it has woken us up. During the day we have been off the boat. We caught the bus to Friendship bay. We had asked if there were any buses, and as usual they were not exactly crystal clear with the answer. 'yeah there a bus' 'when does it go?' 'no schedule' 'Ok right. But it turns out it is a pickup truck with seats, hop on hop off. He dropped us at the top of the road to Friendship bay, and Alan went round to the drivers ... read more

After a night in a very gloomy dank and wet Marigot bay, we were up quite early to sail across to St Vincent. As we motored up the side of St Lucia the clouds seem to hover amongst the green verdant forested hills. Inside the boat everything had felt damp that morning, even the pages of the log book were limp and soggy. As we cleared the island the whole atmosphere inside the boat changed, just as if you had turned on an airconditioner, everything dried up, the sun came out, and St Lucia was a smudgy darkness behind us. We saw callisto in front and stopped for a chat alongside, then carried on to sail to Wallibilou. Another good sail, gentle winds except for the edges of the islands, loads of yachts out, all passage ... read more

Windscreens get mended, cars get taken back and baguettes get bought for lunch. The windscreen is all repaired and hopefully will do us until we get a new one. It was tense to do the work but Alan was good as ever and now we think it will do the job. We are off to St lucia tomorrow, we came down here to st annes yesterday and anchored off the sandy beach just in time for a swim. Later we went ashore to the little village of st annes, a small centre with a square, a church, a few restaurants, couple of supermarkets and best of all between two houses two ladies cooking and selling accras, like cod balls, very tasty. 10 accras and two glasses of planteurs, french rum punch for 10 euros. very nice. ... read more

Les Saintes These pretty little islands are about eight miles from guadaloupe and as we sailed there a big storm blacked out the sea and the island, we even had to put the radar on. but soon the islands appeared and the little town on the island of haut terre was very sweet, with a few streets cafes, restaurants, and a ferry full of tourists arriving each morning to fill the island. when they have all gone it seems very quiet and tranquil, almost as if the island is relaxing again and taking a deep breath. We had been here before with Jim and Jan a couple of years ago, it did not seem to have changed much. There is a fort on the top of the hill overlooking the town, loads of iguanas run around ... read more