Malta

I was scheduled to go to Malta and look after my Mum whilst my sister took a break and had a holiday in England with her family.  But Mum needed an operation a couple of weeks beforehand and I decided to head to Malta early.  There was concern on how the anesthetic would affect a ninety year old.  So off I dashed and got the first plane out of Grenada, leaving Daryl on the boat, with Luxor, a local guy that was helping with some of the maintenance jobs on the boat.

Daryl with Luxor on the foredeck of No Rehearsal

Mum and I in the hospital in Malta, we are both glad that the operation is over and she can begin to recover. She was allowed home after five days.  Her first request on getting home was a gin and tonic!  Good old Mum!

My sister, Jane with her children Ashley and Gary                  

Mum and I visited one of the local markets, which was great fun and good to see all the local vendors.                          

Whilst I was in Malta there was the fiesta of Santa Anna in our village of Marsascala.  Here is the statue of the saint being paraded through the streets of the town, being carried by the locals in white robes.  We watched it all from the restaurant and later moved along the quay to watch the firework display.

My sister has a whole menagerie of animals, two horses, a donkey, a mule, goats, rabbits, cats and loads of dogs.  She also looks after dogs for people when they go on holiday.  So whilst I took care of Mum in her absence, her friend Polly and husband looked after the animals.  Here is Polly with Jane's dogs!  One day when I was there, I counted 17 running around.  Utter chaos, but the visiting dogs love it and don't want to leave!

Towards Grenada

From Guadeloupe we cruised south towards Grenada for the start of the hurricane season.  Daryl felt that if he spotted any significant system heading our way, we could always duck down to Trinidad, or even further south, if we needed to.  The general opinion was that this season could be a bad one!  Great!

In Domenica, we took a tour up the Indian River, it was a rainy day, but the river was  interesting, with wonderful tropical undergrowth.  There were lots of land crabs on the shore, and tall crane-like birds creeping along the banks hoping for a tasty lunch.

We didn't stay long in Bequia, just long enough for me to check in and have a walk along the beach and remember the good old days of rum punches at the Frangipani, which has changed out of all recognition.

In St Vincent, we were hassled from the moment we anchored and decided very quickly that we did not like the anchorage either.  With so many islands to choose from, let's just move on.

Are we cool enough yet?                                        

We enjoyed getting off the boat I'm Martinique, hiring a car and seeing a bit of the island.  We visited the ruins of Le Chateau Dubuc, where sugar was produced.

Guadeloupe

Finally we managed to leave St Martin behind and headed south.  What a relief to be on the move again, with the wind in our hair, the sails full and the fishing lines trailing hopefully behind us.

Wow! A huge Wahoo.  Here is Daryl, the hunter gatherer of the family with  a huge fish!  We managed to get about thirty steaks from this fish and gave them out to fellow cruisers in the anchorage.

In Deshaies we visited the beautiful botanical gardens, wonderful orchids and tropical plants.

Wherever  we seem to go lately, suddenly a pair of swallows appear, intent on making a nest in the end of the boom.  We are often still moving when they perch on the leather strapping and peer into the cavity to judge whether it is suitable.