Caribbean – Page 2 – HandsOnDeck

Friends, Fish and Frigate Birds

Sailing with friends on board was always part of the bigger picture for us. We really wanted to share our adventure with the people we love, but covi, to a greater extent, had prevented this from happening. All this was about to change with the arrival of Suzanne from the UK. We had planned and looked forward to her visit for almost 12 months and now my old friend and flatmate from 40 years ago was joining us for a month cruising and exploring the Leeward Islands. First we needed to sail the 360NM north to meet her in Antigua.

Grenada was hidden under a cloud of misty rain when we started our sail north. The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms for the next couple of days so it was a good time to be heading offshore in the hope we could avoid some of the wet weather!

We had a lovely sail, making good speed as we passed one small island country after another – St Vincents and Grenadines, St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadaloupe, Montserat passing closer to the northern most islands which shed large wind shadows across our path. We looked hungrily at the islands we were passing, longing to stop and explore but knowing we will be able to give them justice on the return trip south. For now we were on a schedule (the worst thing to have on a boat!) and we continued on our 350 NM sail north to Antigua where we were meeting our friend Suzanne in a few days.

Before we left Grenada our good friends on Ruffian had given us a fishing line and lures as a thoughtful and kind parting gift. Each morning we put out the line hoping this would be the day we would catch and land a prized fish. On day two, that wish became a reality when we managed to land a beautiful Mahi Mahi. As Steve slowly reeled in the line, we could see a large fish jumping off the waves behind us, flashing blue and green. With hook, cloth, bucket and rum ready Steve hauled the large fish onto the boat, pouring rum into its gills to sedate it as the stunning (and stunned) fish made a final attempt to free itself. We looked in awe at this amazing gift from the sea – yellow, blue and green with a massive head and big mouth. Mahi Mahi (or Dorado/dolphin fish as we later found out) is, in our humble opinion, one of the best fish to catch – not only are they a beautiful fish to look at, they have very few bones and the ones they have our large and they are easy to fillet…. and they are delicious to eat. We feasted on fresh fish for three days, the final day sharing a meal with four other friends.

We arrived in Jolly Harbour, Antigua in the early afternoon, marvelling at the turquoise waters as we negotiated a shallow entrance into the harbour, spotting a number of large turtles as we wound our way towards the anchorage. We dropped the hook close to the main channel that led to Jolly Harbour, deciding to wait until the morning to check in. It was now Monday and Suzanne was arriving on Wednesday evening, giving us time to sort ourselves and the boat out before she arrived.

The next morning we took the dinghy about a mile up the channel and completed the check-in process which was quick and painless as we had already completed and submitted an on-line ESea immigration form prior to leaving Granada and were able to show negative Covid RAT results. Armed with a SIM card, fresh fruit and vegetables and a cruising permit, we returned to Cerulean in time for sundowners and a shared dinner with friends we had last seen in The Canaries. We all enjoyed the last of the beautiful Mahi Mahi as we watched the sun go down over the different shades of blue in the bay – a perfect welcome to Antigua!

Suzanne arrived the next evening and, even though she was tired from the long flight, we celebrated until late sitting up on deck drinking cocktails, catching up and opening all the wonderful packages she had kindly agreed to bring with her!!! Together we explored the island over the next few days, gently acclimatising Suz to the heat and slow pace of the Caribbean. We booked a day tour with the same taxi driver (Justin) who had collected Suz from the airport and he treated us to a fun day which seemed to involve quite a bit of rum at various locations. He even stopped at his house and collected some rum punch he had prepared earlier and proceeded to share it around in the cab while driving us to the next destination! We visited Betty’s Hope Historic Sugar Plantation which now stands as a relic to the former sugar industry that once defined Antigua. These plantations housed hundreds of slaves, brought over from Africa and whose ancestors now call this island paradise home. It was an odd feeling, knowing we had travel the same route as a lot of the slaves who were captured in West Africa, bundled into large ships and brought to the West Indies. There are lots of reminders of Antigua’s past scattered around the island from Windmills which crushed the sugarcane, to the ruins of the old sugar processing factory and large “Coppers” used to boil down the cane and extract the sugar. We visited a number of the 365 white sand beaches that attract holidaymakers from all over the world as the warm, turquoise waters invite you in to cool off from the hot sun. Justin took us to a place where locals get their lunch – a small cabin on a grass verge, serving excellent local food with fresh produce.

The English cricket team were touring The West Indies so we bought tickets for the first day of a Test Match at Sir Vivien Richards Stadium. We joined Traci and Andrew, our friends on Yacht Walkabout, and had a lovely day catching up with cricket going on in the background! Towards the end the Barmy Army found their voice and added real atmosphere to the occasion.

While in Falmouth Harbour we met up with my niece’s husband, Errol, who is captain of a visiting Superyacht. The marina was filled with enormous Superyachts from all over the World and we watched in awe as these impressive displays of wealth manoeuvred into spaces I would not be comfortable taking Cerulean!!! Errol invited us on board “Sorceress” a 31m carbon fibre, racing Superyacht. Some of the rigging alone cost in excess of GBP300k! She was beautiful and it was hard to jump in our small dinghy and return to our superyacht after that!!

Our next anchorage was Rickett Bay on Green Island, a lovely quiet area which is only accessible by boat and protected from the swell by a large reef. As we negotiated a sand bar on the approach into the anchorage, a group of dolphins played in our bow wave which was a perfect welcome to the beautiful surrounds and a great first sighting in The Caribbean waters for Suz. We spent the next few days relaxing in the pretty small bay, watching the colour of the water change as the weather turned from sunshine to showers, wind to calm. Turtles popped up in the blue waters, stretched their necks out so they could look around and slowly sunk down again into the clear sea. Other boats jostled their way into the anchorage until the bay was filled with a multinational selection of yachts all sheltering from the strong easterly Trade Winds that blow constantly at this time of the year. As the other boats left, we stayed for another night, enjoying a perfect day where we shared the bay with only one other boat which meant the turtles surfaced more often and we were treated to constant visits as they grew in confidence.

The wind had been blowing constantly with gusts of over 30knots and we sheltered in the small bay, waiting for a lull. The forecast showed constant wind from the East but not quite as strong as it had been, so we made a dash across the shallow entrance and headed for Barbuda, a small island 30NM northwest of Antigua. The island is very low lying and surrounded by golden beaches which, until a few years ago, provided luxury get-aways for the wealthy tourists, however Hurricane Irma devastated the small island community in 2017 and has not yet recovered from the destruction left in its wake. Hotels are being rebuilt but for the moment these are few and far between, so the small island paradise is visited mostly only by sailors and, because of its location, not too many venture further north than Antigua.

As we sailed, the wind increased in strength and Suz, instead of being treated to a beautiful leisurely sail in tropical blue waters, endured a bouncy, fast and exciting dash until we anchored off the lagoon which the main town sits on. Along the way we put out the fishing line, hoping to catch another Mahi Mahi but instead caught three Barracuda with very big and sharp teeth, so were thrown back before they could do any damage! Later we were told the local fishermen consider Barracuda a delicacy, so regretted throwing them back when we could have donated them to locals.

The lagoon at Codrington had been completely cut off from the sea by a thin sand bar, but Hurricane Irma opened up a narrow entrance so dinghies can now access the town from the sea. However, the wind was howling across the shallow lagoon, whipping up the water and making it impossible for us to take our small dinghy with three adults safely to town. We were anchored off a long, empty beautiful beach but the breaking surf on the white sands was a deterrent to launching the dinghy and ourselves into the waves as disaster was bound to unfold as we neared the beach! Instead, we called Pat, who owns a water taxi, which arrived 2hrs late, and sped us to Codrington across the windy lagoon so we could explore the town and get some much needed fresh supplies. As we wandered the streets, we met some of the friendly locals who left us with smiles on our faces as we learned a little about life living on a small island, totally dependent on tourists but with few visitors over the last 24 months. Several of the houses and buildings had not been rebuilt and there were gaps where houses once stood leaving an impression of a smile with teeth missing! As we walked along the streets a man on a new looking tricycle approached us, asking if we were lost. His name was Toomba and he entertained us with stories and answered our questions as he walked with us through town, acknowledging everyone who passed along the way. He introduced us to his sister who presented us with a hand of delicious Ladyfinger bananas after we had admired some growing nearby. Donkeys, goats and horses roamed, unfenced around the rutted streets, wandering into unfenced gardens or down driveways. We loved it!

We moved anchorages to Cocoa Point off the pristine Princess Diana Beach in the south of the island. The beach was renamed in 2011 as Princess Di holidayed here many times and had a special connection with the island. Large turtles welcomed us as we dropped the anchor and a sting ray darted under the boat. We jumped into the warm, blue waters and cooled off. Later we dinghied to the beach and feasted on fresh barbecued Lobster which we had ordered earlier. We brought our own cutlery, plates and salads but the Rum Punch, sunset and atmosphere was provided! It was a perfect night, apart from our exit which resulted in me being dumped in the surf as I tried launching the dinghy after having too many strong Rum Punches!!

On our last morning Steve and I jumped in the clear water for one last swim before leaving Barbuda. As I snorkelled around the boat I spotted a shark cruising around which resulted in Steve staying in the water on his own!

We had a lovely sail back to Codrington, arriving just as a squall hit followed by drenching rain as we dropped the anchor in front of a destroyed resort on the end of the entrance into the lagoon. Next morning Pat came to collect us in his powerful dinghy to take us to see the Frigate Bird sanctuary. Barbuda has the largest Frigate bird colony in the western hemisphere with birds flying between the Caribbean and Galapagos islands during the varying mating seasons. Even though these magnificent birds are seabirds, there feathers are not waterproof and they cannot land in the water, so all of our sightings to date had been watching them sore high above us with their impressive 2.4m wingspan. We skimmed across the choppy lagoon waters heading north with no Frigate birds in sight. Beach soon gave way to low mangroves and we continued bouncing at full speed across the shallow water. All of a sudden, we turned a corner, and the sky was full of birds. It was crazy – Frigate birds were all around, and above us noisily circling their crowded nesting area. Young grey chicks sat alone in their nest, peering out, looking like Rod Hulls Emu as the inquisitive birds squawked at us with Pat edging his dinghy closer and closer to them. We were mesmorised by the scene that was unfolding in front of us. Huge birds flew overhead while others perched in the top of the low mangrove trees. Some of the male birds had bright red throats which they puffed out like a balloon to attract females. The gular sac takes 20 minutes to inflate so the males need to be pretty sure they’ll attract a mate before going to all that effort! It was quite late in the breeding season so, sadly, the few males we saw with puffed out throats were the ones the females did not find attractive, and they made for a desperate sight as they stood out amongst the hundreds of nests containing a singular grey fluffy chick!

It was time to leave and explore another Caribbean island. Suz was only with us for another 2 weeks, so we needed to keep moving. We had dinner and left as the sun was setting, picking our way through the maze of reefs that surround Barbuda. It had been a special visit to Antigua and Barbuda, creating wonderful memories with Suz and continuing to wonder at the resilience of people who suffered huge trauma and loss with the devastating hurricane a few years ago, but are coming out the other side smiling and feeling positive. I was not expecting Antigua to be as raw and relatively uncommercialised as it is. It is a haven for Super Yachts, so I had expected it to be full of shopping malls and expensive restaurants to cater for the wealthy, but was pleasantly surprised by the lack of high-rises and unique character that remains on the islands. In our opinion, Barbuda is the jewel in the crown – a gift that kept giving as its beautiful secrets were slowly shown to us. The wind direction will make it hard for us to return but our experiences and people we met while in Antigua and Barbuda will stay with us for a lifetime.

The Spice Islands

Steve woke me at 5am to start my final watch of our Atlantic Crossing. The lights of Grenada sparkled in front of me as we made fast speed towards them. It was still dark and, not wanting to arrive before light, I slowed the boat down, reefing the main and then the jib, until we only had the main up as I tried to spill some speed, but it seemed Cerulean was as keen to arrive as we were!

At 8:30am we picked up a mooring buoy in Martin’s Bay, the designated waiting area for arriving yachts who were yet to clear customs and health checks. We celebrated as we turned off the engine and let the enormity of what we had achieved sink in!

As Steve inflated the dinghy, I made us a hearty breakfast using the rest of our fresh eggs, and we sat in the cockpit in the hot morning sun, looking out over the clear water to the tree covered hills that surrounded the small harbour of St George’s. There were no big highrise hotels or apartments to spoil the view, just lots of multicoloured houses that clung to the gentle slopes, surrounded by thick trees. Looking south there was a long sandy beach with a few hotels close to the shore, but not too commercial. A large cruise ship was in the port and we could see the passengers being disgorged and transported off in different directions to make the most of their one day in Grenada.

We jumped into the dinghy and headed to the Port Louis Marina, spotting a small turtle in the water as we bumped over the short waves towards the sheltered harbour. Our first stop was to get health clearance and we visited a lovely man sitting under the shade of a gazebo on the waterfront. After examining our documentation, asking for a recent PCR test (which we couldn’t supply) he stamped an official document and handed it to us. We were in a little bit of disbelief that it had been so easy to clear through and had to be told a few times that we were now able to proceed to customs and immigration, which we quickly did. They were in an office a few steps from the gazebo and, after completing a long form and handing over all the other necessary documentation including our customs clearing out papers from Mindelo, our passports were stamped, cruising permit issued for a small fee and we were free to explore Grenada!

We took the dinghy into town and walked the streets so we could get a feel for the place. It was the start of a long weekend as Monday was Grenada Independence Day so people, cars, buildings and boats were preparing for the celebrations as the locals proudly displayed their national colours of yellow, green and red. As we walked the narrow pavements, minibuses drove past beeping their horns as a way to ask whether we needed a ride – fares are a flat fee of EC$2.50pp which equates to less than US$1, to get anywhere from 1mile to 30miles along their route. The hot muggy morning soon became a wet muggy morning as we dodged rain showers which didn’t make us any cooler as the heat seemed to intensify during the day.

Over the course of the next few days a number of boats we knew arrived and our time seemed to be one long celebration of our joint achievements. We met old friends and new ones as we all shared the same realised dream with stories from our passages, advice, learnings and laughter. After a few days of sitting on a rolly mooring outside St Georges, we decided to leave the clear waters and turtles we saw each morning, and head to Prickly Bay about 8NM on the islands rugged south coast. This coastline has numerous long, protected bays and is dotted with small islands, lovely beaches and calm, clear water. In short, a boaters paradise!

We explored a few of the small protected bays along the south coast, with boats from all over the World that looked like they had been left on mooring buoys for some time. The water was turquoise, clear and warm and the white sands of the many beaches that nestled between the mangroves were empty except for an occasional shack that housed a small bar. Cruisers met there playing cards and backgammon as they sipped beers in the late afternoon heat.

Bus rides were interesting. We really felt we put our life in the hands of the driver as he sped through the narrow, bumpy roads with a van full of other trusting people. To alert him to stop, passengers either clicked their fingers or banged on the roof, at which point the driver would veer abruptly to the left and slam his foot on the brake while very loud rap music blared through the van!

I was excited to see large Frigate birds flying around the boat. They are huge birds with fork tails and 2.3m wing span. It was amazing to see them swoop around us as they hunted for food or chased other seabirds to snatch their fish from them. It may have been these magnificent birds or the less impressive, but equally fun Boobies, that unloaded on the boat and we were cleaning up their mess for days afterwards!!

Granada is known as the Spice Islands and while on a tour with new friends, we saw why. Our informative driver pointed out the many plants and trees growing wild in the forest – nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cocoa as well as banana, mango, French cashew (a fruit) and papaya. The law is that if fruit is hanging over public property and you can reach it, it’s yours and with over 160 different varieties of mango growing wild in Grenada you’d be unlucky to go hungry when foraging for food!

We visited a waterfall with fresh water cascading down rocks into a deep natural pool which screamed out for Steve to jump into – which he did with glee and grace, several times! On to a cocoa plantation and chocolate manufacturer where we had a tasting and short talk about the chocolate manufacturing process from nut to seed. We sucked on a cocoa seed and tasted the butter, buying lots of the delicious dark chocolate made from cocoa grown on the island by small holding farmers which made it taste even sweeter! Then on to the heart of the island – Grand Etang Lake, a crater lake in an extinct volcano and 530m above sea level. It is surrounded by thick jungle and I wish we had had more time to walk up to the crater rim but this will have to wait for another visit!

We bade farewell to our friends on Ilanda and Juliana and headed up the west side of the island, picking up a mooring buoy in a marine protected area in a bay just north of St Georges Harbour. There is an underwater sculpture park in the bay so in the morning we jumped in the warm, clear water and snorkelled over to the park. My overwhelming feeling was great sadness at seeing so much dead coral. In fact there was no coral left, just the skeletons of a once majestic living organism lay below us with a few colourful fish darting through the water. As a large tourist boat arrived to disgorge their swimmers, we swam back to the boat, had breakfast and sailed north to the small island of Carriacou or more precisely to the small, beautiful, tropical paradise of Sandy Island. This little island consists of a beautiful fine white sand beach, palm trees and the clearest blue water you can imagine. It is the scene used to sell tropical destinations that commuters stare at while riding the tube to work on a dreary day and here we were sitting on our boat, looking at the reality of the tropical paradise. It felt good, although it was incredibly windy so the only movement between boats were the pelicans who were blown off course and landed on our bow, the Boobies who made some clumsy attempts to dive in to catch fish which resulted in a bird equivalent of a belly flop and the odd turtle that poked its head above the turquoise waters for a short while before diving again. It was a magical place and we stayed for two nights until the wind dropped and we headed into the main harbour on Carriacou, Tyrell Bay to explore a little of the island.

Since arriving in The Caribbean we have been making plans for where we could spend the hurricane season which starts on 1 June and covers an area from Grenada in the South to South Carolina, USA in the North. If there is a named storm in this region between 1 June to 30 November, our insurance will not cover any loss or damage we may incur, so if we stay within this belt we must be able to move out of harms way quickly. The last time Grenada was hit by a hurricane was in 2004 so it’s a place lots of cruisers head to as it is easy to sail further south should a storm be forecast. We have some big projects to undertake on the boat so have been gathering names of prospective people who may be able to do the work. It became clear that we needed to meet these people and let them see the boat so we could get a proper quote, so the decision was made to head back to mainland Grenada while we had the opportunity. After spending four glorious days in Carriacou, we retraced our route and returned to the main island to meet with tradesmen, wash the boat and gather our thoughts!

Our last few days in Grenada were spent socialising, doing boat jobs, meeting tradesmen, swimming and getting the boat ready for when we collect our first visitor in a few days time. For now, we are checked out to leave this beautiful island and have negative covid tests which will allow us entry into other islands. When we checked into Grenada a few weeks earlier, the health officer said to us, “A word of warning, Grenada is a big magnet. Once you have been here, you will be drawn back!” He was not wrong. This is still a virtually unspoilt paradise with lovely people, protected anchorages and good sailing. We are already making plans to return here and spend more time exploring. For now, we will sail the 300 miles to Antigua where we will collect a friend and explore a different part of the Caribbean together.

*Dream, Believe, Achieve

*Title accredited to Bruce McLaren and Brent Esler

On the day of our departure to start the long passage across The Atlantic, we ate breakfast outside and talked about what lay ahead of us. Neither of us were nervous, just excited about starting the biggest challenge of our journey so far and we, and the boat, felt ready. We had prepared several meals which would be easy to heat up or eat cold during the first few days on passage so we could get used to being at sea again. At 9.30am we pulled up the anchor and headed out of Mindelo Bay, leading a flotilla of other yachts who were also leaving to start their crossing, which gave us even more confidence in our decision to go on that day. We pulled up the main sail while in the shelter of the protected harbour, thinking that, apart from shortening the sails, we may not be taking them down again until we reach our destination in 14-20 days time.

It seemed appropriate to be starting our passage on our second wedding anniversary so we celebrated with cake as we slowly left Cape Verde behind us, enjoying a gentle sail with the wind on our beam (side). The sea was calm, the sky blue and that night we had a full moon to light up the flat sea as we headed south west.

The forecast was for light winds for the rest of the week with a dead spot forming over the weekend, so we continued on our course south to try and pick up more wind. For the first few days we were in the company of a few boats, but seldom physically saw them, just their location on AIS (our GPS instruments) and always radioed them to have a quick talk. We noticed an Aussie boat we had seen, but not met, in Mindelo coming up behind us, so called them on the radio and had a good talk to them. As soon as our call finished we heard the dulcet tones of Iain on Ruffian calling us. They were not showing on AIS as they were still too far away, but had heard us chatting on the radio. We then, amazingly, continued to sail in their company for the next four days as they headed to Suriname and us to Grenada.

We have a Single Side Band (SSB) radio which, different to the standard VHF radio which all yachts are required to have on board, the SSB allows us to talk to other users who are much further away from us. While in Cape Verde we were able to talk to a friend over 1500NM from us, so the SSB is very useful when on a long passage and we had set up a daily schedule to talk with others also crossing the Atlantic. Once we were out of VHF contact with any other boats, the regular schedules were our only opportunity to talk to anyone else, so became something we looked forward to each night, while we all tracked each others progress and heard their boat news.

Steve and I soon developed a routine around sleeping and cooking. Steve took the first watch from 2000hrs to 2300hrs while I slept and then we would play tag team all night, sleeping every 3hrs. This worked out well and suited us, with both of us taking a nap during the day to make up for any lost sleep. I had, what I considered to be, the best watch from 5-8am when I watched the sky slowly change from black to grey and then blue as the millions of bright stars slowly faded as the sky lightened. Watching the sun slowly creep above the horizon and the blue of the ocean and sky intensify as the western horizon turn to orange and red as the blazing sun slowly became visible and rose into the clearing skies was a wonderful way to welcome each day. The wind tended to increase a little at night and the seas flatten out, so often our best speeds were achieved after dark, so as the sun came up the wind dropped away a little and the waves picked up.

Cooking was normally done in bulk. On calm days it was much easier to prepare food than if you are being thrown around the galley, so we made the most of the flat seas and prepared three or four dinners which we stowed in our big chiller until they were needed. This worked really well, particularly when we were taken by surprise one early evening when a thunder and lightning storm developed in front of us with winds increasing from 8knts to 30knots in a matter of seconds. We had seen the ominous looking dark clouds forming in front of us so altered our course to try and avoid the lightning that started flashing in the distance. I had seen something similar a few years ago when sailing with my sister, Bea, and Andy in Croatia, so knew the worse of what could happen. We reefed the main, even though there was still no wind, shut all the hatches and stowed all electronics in the microwave. As we watched the storm develop on our radar screen, we noticed lots of other pockets of weather developing all around us and on going up on deck and seeing the lightning all around us, realised we had no escape. The sea changed dramatically and turned grey in colour with flattened out waves, resembling a beautiful liquid satin under the heavy dark skies. Fortunately I had just taken control of the wheel from Hilda, the hydrovane, when we were struck by the first squall. I hand steered as Steve scanned the radar looking for an exit path for us to get away from the fast moving pockets of storm. In the middle of all this, he fed me pieces of pizza, prepared earlier and the perfect “fast” food to eat while handsteering through strong wind and heavy rain!

Before leaving Mindelo we had stocked up on fresh fruit and vegetables, knowing from past experience what lasts best. Our chiller, bilge and hammock was full of pumpkin, cabbage, courgettes, apples, bananas, oranges, unripe avocado, carrots, courgettes, papaya, tomato, potatoes, onions, chillis and watermelon. We ate the fruit that would not last first, so ran out of Papaya quickly, but as the bananas were a mixture of green and almost ripe, we were still eating them 16 days after starting our passage. Everything else lasted really well and remained fresh, finishing the last of the courgettes on arriving in Grenada.

We stayed busy each day with regular boat checks – ensuring there was no new wear and tear or breakages. This included inspecting the deck for screws, broken pieces or evidence of wearing/change. The biggest issue on a long passage is chafing – ropes or items constantly rubbing together until they eventually break. We could check at deck level, but not further up the mast, so every day we loosened or tightened the sails a little, just to ensure the halyards (ropes holding the sails up) were not rubbing through. We also cleared the decks of any flying fish each morning which, attracted by the cabin lights, may have unwittingly jumped on board during the night. We regularly checked the engine, generator, sails and other equipment for any changes or wear and tear. We had serviced the engine ourselves prior to departing Mindelo, so knew we had covered the basics but, as we were not intending to use the engine much during the passage, we wanted to make sure it would start when we needed it on arrival at our destination. The stores needed to be checked every day too. As we were about to leave Cape Verde, I discovered some nuts I had bought at a market were infested with little bugs. We had been so careful to try and avoid bugs getting on the boat by removing all paper labels on tins, not having any cardboard boxes on board, transferring eggs into boxes we knew were free of cockroach eggs and separating out flour and rice so if one store gets infected, they don’t all have to be disposed of. Fortunately our infestation seemed contained but we put down lots of traps and regularly checked all the food containers for evidence of bugs. Steve also let me have another go at cutting his hair as he figured if I did a terrible job again, it would be grown out by the time we met anyone else. Fortunately I redeemed myself and gave him a cut he was happy with!

It constantly amazed me how strong boats and sails need to be. The huge amount of pressure the hull, rigging and sails have to endure is incredible. When a gust of wind hits the sails, everything goes taut and, in the case of the sails, can bang as the force of the pressure hits them and the sheets (lines) tighten. The rigging keeps the mast from bending and moving while the hull holds the pressure of the mast and rigging. As the boat bangs down a wave, you can feel the boat shake and strain but we never had any doubt in her strength and what she is capable of.

We didn’t have much luck fishing. We did manage to hook a big fish and we both got excited when we heard the fishing rod spool unravelling at speed. I jumped up and, unable to lock the spool, decided to grab the fishing line which resulted in my finger being sliced quite deeply. The sight of a big angry fish leaping in our wake spurred us on, but sadly our line broke and the fish won that battle, sort of. It does now have a rubber fish in it’s mouth and is trailing a long line of nylon line but, as Steve said, it could ‘ve had a worse day and ended up on our dinner plate. We had one other successful hook, but again the fish got away before we could land it. The rest of our fishing attempts ended with us just catching weed and, as the amount of floating weed increased dramatically, we gave up putting the line out.

Yellow floating sargasso forms large islands of weed in the Atlantic. It surprised us how much of it there was and we had to keep clearing our hydrovane rudder of the long strands. We were informed the amount of weed had increased dramatically due to the sea getting warmer due to Global Warming. If someone can come up with a good use for this weed, they would make a fortune! We also started noticing pink and purple things in the water and, at first, were unsure if they were animal, vegetable or mineral. It later transpired they were Portuguese Men of War jellyfish and what we were seeing was their “Sail” that sits above the surface of the water and allows them to easily get blown across the ocean. Ingenious!

On day 10 we found the trade winds. The trade winds blow from the NE and usually bring 15-20 knots of wind. We had hoped to have these winds all the way from Cape Verde but our crossing was particularly light and others, who had crossed before, commented on the unusually flat seas and lack of wind. Our spirits lifted along with our speed and we enjoyed the last week of our passage cruising at a comfortable 6-7 knots in a constant breeze which meant we set the sails, set up the hydrovane and let the boat take care of itself while we did other things. This meant we could go for days without changing our course or adjusting the sails. As we entered our second week at sea we started a sweepstake on date and time of arrival and when we would see our first boat on AIS. Steve was more optimistic than me but as the days ticked by and the distance reduced dramatically, I started to believe that Steves prediction of a Friday daytime arrival was achievable and we became focused on getting the boat to perform at her best, covering over 150NM each day.

On day 15 we were contacted on the radio by another boat which we were passing over 5 miles away and hadn’t noticed. They were a kiwi boat called Sunflower who were also heading for Grenada. Fortunately Steve answered the radio call, as Sunflower were really pleased to hear a “real” kiwi accent! They were making slower progress than us under reduced sails as they had torn a sail in bad weather while on passage so we were soon well ahead of them, although we hope to catch up with Phil and Helen (from Christchurch) in Grenada.

When we were about 300NM from land we started being more vigilant on our watches As we had seen very little activity over the previous two weeks we had become a little casual about keeping a looking out for other shipping, relying on the alarms we had on our instruments to tell us if other boats were nearby, but now the amount of commercial ships crossing our path was starting to increase and many small and fishing boats, don’t use AIS. There was one scary moment when, still over 200NM from land, a small motorboat came into view. They were within a mile of us, which is very close, and then suddenly altered course towards us. The closest land to us was Trinidad and we had just been reading a 15yr old cruising guide which warned of pirates operating off the coast of the island, so I once again jumped into my “this is not a drill” mode while Steve shook his head in despair of me. The boat came close to us – within 300m – and continued on its path east but made no attempt to contact us or come out on deck to acknowledge we were even there. We both agreed it was strange behaviour and I had to do something about my lack of faith in human nature!

We had one final gybe to do so we could alter course for Grenada. As we gybed the vang (holds the boom down), which had been making funny noises for most of the passage, broke. Our options were to drop the main, but this would mean we would slow down considerably, or find a solution to prevent the main sail from lifting up. We decided to do the latter and jury rigged a vang system which could get us through the night. We had already decided to remove the vang and service it as we were concerned about the stress noises, so we were not too fazed when it broke. We put two reefs in the main and one in the jib as a precaution and headed for Grenada.

We enjoyed our penultimate night on passage in perfect conditions as we made fast progress with Hilda performing magnificently again, keeping perfect track as we drew closer to land. As it got light Steve and I were continually scanning the horizon for the first sight of land in 17 days as our path took us within 30NM of the small island of Tobago. At 2pm on Thursday when we were 40NM from the small island, we got our first sighting of land. I can’t describe the huge sense of achievement and joy that flooded through me. I stood for a long while on deck, mesmerized by the faint outline of land in the distance and thought about our amazing two weeks at sea to get here. We had done it. We had sailed to The Caribbean and achieved a lifetime dream which I stubbornly always believed I would do one day.

Sailing across the Atlantic has been everything and more that we had imagined it would be. We both agree that, apart from our incredible children, this experience has been both of our greatest life achievement to date and we are already starting to think about our next major passage in 13 months time when we cross the Pacific, but there are lots of adventures, learnings, discoveries and new friendships to be made before that as we start the next year exploring The Caribbean. For now our next challenge is to check in to Grenada as we try and talk our way around the prickly issue of why we did not have a PCR test done before leaving Cape Verde – a requirement for all those arriving in Grenada…….

Footnote:

In sport, players are often given Most Valued Player (MVP) Awards, Here are our nominations for the MVP’s that shone on this passage:

Hilda The hydrovane – what an amazing piece of kit! Easy to set up and a power-free way to steer the boat while following the wind. We often set it and then didn’t touch it for days while Hilda sailed the boat for us. It meant we didn’t use precious battery power, particularly at night, and we knew that if the wind changed direction, Hilda would adapt and steer us on the right course.
Comfort Seats – we purchased these chairs while in Portugal at significant expense, but they have been worth every penny. We use them every night on watch and every day when we’re outside. If they get wet they dry out quickly, dirty they clean easily and the sun has not faded the fabric. We can adjust the back and move them around the boat if we want to have sundowners on the bow. Best investment we made since leaving UK!
Louie, the lighter – ok, confession time! We had three lighters we used to light the gas cooker. Before leaving Cape Verde we discussed how good the lighters had been and we needed to get some spare ones. Steve went out in search of some and came back with two boxes of matches (we’re both a little confused why he only bought two boxes….). We stowed the matches away in a dry place as an emergency. Two days into our passage, two of our lighters failed and the other lighter was an unknown quantity as we hadn’t used it and didn’t know its history as it came with the boat. We calculated we could use four matches a day if Louie failed us and then made sure we limited the number of times we used Louie to try and extend her life. This meant some planning around food preparation so we could co-ordinate the use of the lit ring and oven! She never failed us, lighting first time, every time and became a treasured member of our crew! Love you Louie!
The crew! We worked together really well with seldom a cross word but lots of encouragement, discussion, joint decisions and confidence in each other and the decisions we made. There aren’t many couples who could stand spending 24hrs in each others company let alone 17 days in isolation in a small boat! We did it and loved it, enjoying every step of the incredible journey we shared together. Steve won the player of the match award when he climbed the mast 1000NM from land, to retrieve a lost line.
The boat – there’s hardly a day goes by where we don’t comment on how lucky we were to find Cerulean. She really is the perfect boat for us and for crossing oceans. She has kept us safe and comfortable, and sailed beautifully both downwind and on a reach. When the boat was built there was no expense spared in the quality of the products used and we are reaping the benefits of those decisions made by Peter, who commissioned Cerulean over 25 years ago.