Made it to the Caribbean after crossing the Atlantic in December. Landing in Barbados and one of the first things that we needed to do is find the nearest squash court. 17 days on the boat with no exercise and really feeling in need. First things first. Check-in!

Jacqui and I checked in okay, however our crew member needed to jump through some hoops before being allowed into the country. Even though he was going to be staying with us on the boat for a couple of weeks he needed to prove that he wasn’t going to stay in Barbados but even needed to prove his return back to Europe even though he was flying to Costa Rica and the to the states for friend visiting. After going back and forth with the immigration official and buying multiple tickets they finally allowed him entry.

Managed to locate the squash court not too far from where we anchored and got over there to play a couple of times. Even dragged Martin over to play. He handled himself okay for a novice at the game.

While there I flew home for about 12 days to visit the new addition to the family, yes a grandpapa! Everything was great at home. It was a quick visit and a cold visit! Martin and I were leaving on the same day and the day before we had gone ashore and left the dinghy pulled up on the beach. When we returned it was completely flat. The hot sun and sand had caused one of the seams to come apart leaving us stranded on the beach. Thankfully we were rescued by a young man who was getting some repairs done next door and he gave us a ride back to the boat and even offered a dinghy repair kit. The glue from the repair kit needed 24 hours to cure and so next day we had to get a ride ashore from the neighbouring yachties in order to catch flights . The yachting community rocks!

While I was away Jacqui’s son Liam came out to Barbados for those 2 weeks. They got the boat up to Martinique where a new dinghy and outboard engine was secured but in Saint Lucia, so that became the next port of call. The only problem was that they couldn’t make the trip back to Barbados because of winds and currents so I had to get an on-going flight from Barbados to St. Lucia and Liam needed to get from St. Lucia to Barbados for his flight.

After getting back to the boat in St. Lucia we headed back out to Martinique in search of more squash courts. None to be found. Fort de France in Martinique had the feel of a bigger city and not very pleasant. Hit the chandlery for check-in and off for groceries. We are finding things very expensive over here (US$8 for a loaf of bread, ridiculous). Left Fort de France for St. Pierre, a smaller town with small town vibes. No squash!

Next stop was Dominica. Picked up a mooring ball in Roseau and got a lift into the town for clearing in by the fellow who managed the mooring balls. Nice little town catering to the cruise ships but did meet up with our Lanzarote friends Sailing Lady Five Eric and Bruno. Lots of vendors selling tourist stuff to the cruisers. 2 nights there and then off to the northern end of the island where we did the Indian River Tour with them and enjoyed a beach barbecue with any amount of rum punch that you want. Only had a couple as someone has to navigate the dinghy back to the boat. Eric and Bruno had come in with us but we left them there to enjoy their evening. Next day on the tour you could tell that Bruno had enjoyed the evening. It rained for our river tour as it does over here. Seems to rain a lot even though it is now into the dry season. But it only rains for a short time and then the sun comes out and dries everything.

We kept heading north and stopped in Bouillante on Guadeloupe. Nice little anchorage but we kept doing donuts over the anchor and when we pulled up to move on, the entire chain was twisted around on itself. One of the yachties close by came over as he saw thet we were struggling to get the chain unravelled. He held one end of the chain out and I tried to get the knot out to unravel and when it finally did, the whole anchor just dropped back down. Managed to get the anchor up from there and it came up with a twist in the end. Pulled the rest up by hand then had to remove the shackle and untwist the chain . All this happening with no injuries thankfully!

Next stop the top of Guadeloupe at Deshaies. This anchorage was not the best and the wind blew through here very strong. Moved on from there to Antigua.

Finally a squash court! Although not the best and very slick. I experienced it most as my shoes are on the way out. The anchorage was a ways out from the dock where we could tie up the dinghy but with our new fancy dinghy with the new 9.8HP 2-stroke engine. Made the trip feel like nothing. Stayed in Jolly Harbour on Antigua for a week, played squash and met up with a couple that we originally had met in Montenegro 3 years ago SV Solar Dancer. Small world! They crossed the Atlantic last year and now unfortunately they are putting their catamaran up for sale. Going back to England to enjoy their new grandchildren.

On to St. Kitts and Nevis. Stopped at Charlestown to check-in and have a wander around. Went over to St. Kitts next day to a quiet anchorage with a lot of superyachts around. Took the dinghy into the nearby marina with all the superyachts. Not much there. Wanted to grab a cab into the city Basseterre. Would have cost $30 USD each way. No local buses here! Decided against it. Instead we took the boat to Port Zante and had a couple of days there in the marina where no taxi’s to town were required. Very cruise ship oriented but a nice stopover.

Next stop was going to be St. Martins as we had some good things about it and the fact that people hang out longer here. But before we get all the way there we needed to stop at St. Eustatius. We were thinking that we could hike up the volcano but after spending an unpleasant night at anchor, decided that we won’t even bother to check-in we will just keep going to St. Martins or St Maartens (French and Dutch).

St. Martins is an interesting island split between French and Dutch. We anchored on the French side in a very large and calm anchorage. The squash court that we found, however was on the Dutch side. Didn’t pose a problem because on the islands transportation is easy with the local buses. For $2.50 a ride you can flag down a mini-bus anywhere along the route. Played over there a three times and because it was in a fitness centre had a good feel with a well run desk for booking. Only had a problem when we wanted to play on the Saturday when most people are off and wanting play.

Our goal was to make it as far north as the British Virgin Islands (BVI’s) before going back south to Trinidad where we plan to put the boat up on the hard stand for the hurricane season. Well, we made it the BVI’s and had a great feeling about the multitude of islands. The only issue is the amount of charter vessels around. The squash court that we found was in Nail Bay and part of the Nail Bay Resort owned by a Czech billionare. It is isolated half way up the Virgin Gorda Island and run by a squash pro originally from Australia. He was telling us that he will be moving to Vancouver Island soon to meet up with his wife and kids. The courts are the best we found in the Caribbean and the best courts since we were in Gibraltar.

After having our fill of the BVI’s we decided that we wanted island hop back down to Trinidad. So we set off and had all intentions of heading to Guadaloupe. Well the wind didn’t cooperate for getting to Guadaloupe, so we said maybe Dominica, nope, maybe Martinique, nope! The wind was continually forcing us more west of where we wanted to go and finally decided that we better try to make Grenada or we are going to end up in Venezuela. After a 3 night 4 day sail we motored into St. Georges on Grenada grabbed a mooring for a couple days to catch up on our lost sleep. Made it!

From here we will go back up to Carricou and try to see some of the Grenadine Islands. We will make our way back to Trinidad to come out of the water April 24th and then fly back to Canada May 3rd. This will give us more than the 6 days that we were going to have if we stuck to the original plan of May 24th. Needed more time before heading to Australia for 2 months. And we know of a number of squash courts in Vancouver and in Brisbane. 🙂

Summing up the Caribbean after 3 months of island hopping: Checking in and out of each island supreme pain in the butt! Does the wind ever stop? On the positive side of that we have sailed everywhere and very little diesel fill ups have happened. Super super super expensive ouch! Needless to say one season here will be enough for MAD2 🙂