Maandelijks archief: oktober 2015

Lovely bays and sleepless nights.

Today, October 13 at Admiralty Bay in Bequia, I am sitting at the Fig Tree restaurant, which is closed today, but I can  use their wi-fi, thank you Cheryl ! I cannot believe it has been 10 days since our last update. It is just so difficult to get strong internet so we get to the site and upload pictures. For the Esko readers, AX is superfast compared to the internet which we usually have in the different islands…:-), so I learned to be patient, ofcourse with a rumpunch or pina colada it makes it easier.
October 3rd, we left Tyrell Bay in the morning to sail to Tobago Cays. We sailed through the south entrance which apparently is a little tricky with all the reefs, we hesitated but it went fine. We managed to get a beautiful spot in front of horseshoe reef. The weather was beautiful, sun, some clouds and wind. There were only two other boats there. During the season this place can be packed with 20 boats! Time to go snorkeling and hiking on the different islands : Petit Bateau, Petit Rameau, Baradel and Jamesby.

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Ilse at Happy Island with Janti
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Stefan and Ilse all happy at Happy Island with rum punch and Flipper in the back. Almost 30 years married 🙂

October 4th, snorkeling, hiking and a lobster barbecue on the beach of Petit Bateau. Returning back to the boat with flipper in the dark was not simple, we had to struggle to get flipper back in the water. It was fun but we were both soaking wet arriving at the boat. No problem with 28 Celsius.

Iguana on Baradel Island in Tobago Cays
Iguana on Baradel Island in Tobago Cays
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Turtle swimming near Sanuk.

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View on Horseshoe reef from Petit Bateau island. In the back is Little Tabac Island where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. Sanuk is the boat in the middle.

October 5th, special birthday…30th wedding anniversary! My morning swim was to Jamesby Island and Stefan joined with flipper and dry clothes so we could hike (little hike) to the top.

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The magnificent Frigate Bird (female) – they are incredible masters in the sky.
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Their wings are long and pointed and can span up to 2.3 metres.
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Dad, I need your help in identifying this bird ?
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White egret ( I think ) – Dad, can you confirm ?

We decide to leave and sail to Saline Bay on Mayreau island. Sailing was perfect, 15 knots of wind and sun. Upon our arrival we were welcomed by a fisherman who was willing to get us a fish for dinner. We went into the little town of Mayreau, 300 people live on the island, no bank, one supermarket…We had pina coladas on the boat to celebrate and were waiting for our fish but at 6PM I knew he was not going to come … it was an anniversary dinner with bread, peanut butter and cheese 🙂

October 6th, we hike on the island of Mayreau, with beautiful views.

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Hiking on Mayreau Island.
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Stefan and Ilse on Mayreau Island.

At the end of the hike we returned back in the little village and peeked in the pre-school building, it was lunch.

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Kids sleeping during lunch time at pre-school in Mayreau.

In the afternoon we went snorkeling and had grilled chicken for dinner.

October 7th, we sail to Chatham Bay on Union Island, it rained most of the way but the sailing was good. Stefan fixed the generator by putting in a new impeller ( I am learning now about motor parts ) while I cleaned the boat. Boat life is a constant struggle against salt and sand.

October 8th, it rained almost all day, I finished reading The Japanese Lover from Isabel Allende ( definitely recommended) We did go for a hike, but returned in the pouring rain and I was not prepared for the rough terrain with my flip flops… We ended up in a local bar on the beach with our boat neighbours Barbara and Pierre from France.

October 9th, did laundry in the morning, finally some sun and lots of wind. We went hiking to the village of Ashton.

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Turtles coming out for a drink of water after the rain.

We went snorkeling in the afternoon but first bought fish from Pleasure who would also clean the fish for us.  After the hike we picked up the fish at the bar of Pleasure and had a rumpunch before sunset.

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Ilse with Pleasure at Chatham Bay. Sanuk all the way in the back.

Stefan took out his second anchor because we heard that the night would be rough with wind gusts of 8 beaufort. I had hardly slept the night before, being on an anchor with pouring rain and gusts of wind of 7 beaufort, swinging around the anchor is not good for a good sleep….We were not the only boat in the bay and at 6am in the morning we got up because it was really bad outside and saw another sailing boat swinging close to our boat. Luckily they moved the boat to re-anchor further in the bay. Scary …Needless to say the next night I hardly slept as the weather was the same and this for three days…At one point there is no wind and then all of a sudden there are windgusts of up to 8 beaufort.

October 10th, much of the same rainy weather but did a hike with Alex – Claude Vandamme’s biggest fan – so we could get off the boat for some time.

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Ilse with Alex at Chatham Bay on Union Island, Sanuk in the back.

October 11th, still rainy weather but we decided to sail to Bequia Island.It was 6 hours of great sailing, great wind up to 22KTS (5 beaufort) with waves of up to 2meter. I just did not get sick but could not eat during the sailing. We arrived at 4PM and I was starving then! Stefan caught his first fish during the sailing, a great mackerel! He cleaned it and we vacuum sealed it and put it in the freezer, food for two dinners ;-). We went out for dinner at the Fig Tree, so happy not to have to cook!

October 12th, went into the town of Port Elisabeth to the internet cafe, Hannah had said she would be on Studio Brussel with a request….She had requested to play the ‘Stand by Me’ our weddings’ opening dance, to wish us a happy 30th anniversary. We sat there listening with tears in our eyes….Being away from home, even in exotic places is not always easy. We sent emails and chatted with the girls at home. We re-anchored the boat to be closer to land to have internet, to a mooring buoy, but in the end the internet on the boat was still not strong enough to get on a news site. Internet cafe to the rescue.

Clifton, Union island

Friday October 2nd, we just came back from Happy Island and I think every friday should be spent at Happy Island…it takes just 2 cocktails , one rum punch and one pina colada to feel you can handle it all :-). We were to leave today to Tobago Cays but for some reason did not get away from the internet till too late so we decided to leave early tomorrow morning to go to Tobago Cays.

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Happy Island, more pictures to follow

Thursday October 1st was spent by fixing the ice maker (Miko) – Stefan succeeded !!!!so now we can have our own cocktails! Bravo Stefan !!! I spent the day cleaning toilets, bathroom, living room….doing laundry with Marcella….and in the mean time making sure we have enough water and electricity. Life on a boat is not always romantic 🙁 We treated ourselves for dinner at the aquarium restaurant with pizza for myself and lambi (conch dish) for Stefan, and ofcourse a cocktail! When we came back at the boat we watched “The Americans” 2nd season, 2 episodes with a cup of tea….This really feels like vacation!

Wednesday September 30th, we sailed from Hillsborough back to Union Island but first checked out from Grenada paying 40ECDollars each and filling out the necassary papers with a friendly customs officer. When we arrived at Union Island we went back to the airport to check in and they found our filled in paper from two days ago, all wrinkled 🙂 in a drawer with other papers. We paid 70EC dollars and then went to customs to have our passports stamped. So we are legal!

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Sanuk at Hillsborough on Carriacou Island
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Stefan at Moringa restaurant eating lentil soup with porc for lunch at Hillssborough on Carriacou Island