Georgetown, Bahamas

The night before we headed off from the DR to The Bahamas, we anchored off a resort island in the Bay of Semana.
Whilst we were sat having our sundowners, two small local fishing boats spent about two hours laying a net, and retrieving it.  Such hard work and after all that, not one fish was caught.  We really felt for them, so Daryl decided that a cool Heineken might help, they were thrilled!

Cheers!

My hunter/gatherer strikes again, a beautiful Mahi Mahi, caught en route.                                                                                

Meeting up with our good friend Andrea on his catamaran 'Lo Espirto de Stella' in Georgetown was a real treat. He always seems to be around when we have caught a big fish!

Waiting for gas refills in Georgetown can take all morning, luckily there is a watering hole across the road for a cold one and a chat, but after waiting about two hours, we gave up.

Daryl and I organized a dingy drift.  We tie all the boats together and drift down the bay, excellent fun meeting other cruisers with a glass of wine.

We love our citronella candles in the evenings, designed to repel bugs!  Well I suppose if they are in the candle they are not biting us!

R and R in the DR

From the British Virgin Islands, we decided to head straight to the Dominican Republic.  We had not stopped before, but had heard good reports, so heading to the recommended Puerto Bahia marina in Semana on the north east coast of the island.

Great sailing to the DR with our favorite sail the G2, easy to put up and always as easy to snuff.

Daryl, as usual, managed to get us the best spot in the marina, right alongside the pool, bar and restaurant in this beautiful marina.  The island is a lush green and we were keen to head to town and see what that was like.

Relaxing  by the pool!  What a hard life.       

At the market in Semana, this must be parts of the biggest Calamari I have ever seen, comparing to the ladies arm!
(Sorry can't seem to get the photo the right way up!)

The local shoe store in town, there were a lot of traders using vehicles as shop windows.  The town was interesting, but rather rundown and poor.  It seemed like a different country from the marina, which is a gated community with fabulous houses and landscaping.  You could visit the marina and get a completely false impression of the character of the island.

The British Virgin Islands

After checking in at Gunn Creek in the BVI's we headed to our favourite anchorage, just off Eustatia Island.  Wonderful clear water for swimming and snorkeling, and within easy reach of Saba Rock for sunset painkillers too!

In Norman Cay, there is a bay where all the boats put an anchor down and then a line ashore.  This is the view off the back steps of our boat, such clear water that it looks like six inches deep, rather than six feet.

Also cruising in this area were a Swedish family on' Elin', great people.  They crossed the Atlantic in their small boat and now will return home, planning to buy a larger boat sometime in the future for more cruising.

I was in touch with a school friend who said that she was also this area cruising on a boat.  As the internet connections were rather patchy, we decided to head for their last known anchorage in Trellis Bay and try and find them.

And find them we did!  'Feelin Good' is a gorgeous 82' Bruce Farr design, built in South Africa,  and owners Art and Tracey were pleased to show us around there beautiful boat.

Celia and I celebrating our reunion with a glass or two of wine on 'No Rehearsal', so good to catch up again.

St Maarten

Well, I have finally got to a civilized island that has Wifi, so I shall endeavour to catch up on all our news in the next few days!

After a great time in NZ, we fly back to the boat at the end of February.  The new sails from Doyle arrived about two hours before us and with Justine from Auckland arriving the very next day to fit them, it was a bit of a photo-finish!

Justine working on the mainsail, fitting all the batten furniture.  We had just one day to fit the new Genoa, boom bag and then the Main,  but it all went like clockwork and luckily not too much wind that day.

Daryl and Justine enjoying a cold beer at the end of the day.                                                                                               

The Coppercoat all finished now and looking great, managed to get five coats on in total.                                                                                                            

Another good job done.  Daryl with Vincent and Vivian the painters,  who did a great job on the anti-fouling.    

Hurray, back in the water again.  What a relief!  St Maarten is a great place to get work done, but it always takes more time than expected and  our patience was running a little low by the end of our stay.  The very next day, I checked out and we headed north to the British Virgin Islands and a bit of well earned relaxation.

A break in New Zealand

The bottom of our garden in Kerikeri.  Wonderful to see how green it is again after all the blue seascapes that we usually see on the boat.

Well better late than never I guess!
 

Jay and Lisa looking at our section on Pa Road, where one day we shall build.

Most of you will know that we had break from the boat, over Christmas and the New Year.  I spent the whole time in New Zealand, enjoying catching up with Lisa and Jay. Daryl visited family in England and then spent a couple of weeks meditation in Bordeaux.  He is not over fond of all the Christmas celebrations and so it worked well for all of us.  Then he joined me in NZ for my birthday, before a trip to Oz to see his daughter.

Jay, myself and Lisa managed to get the tree out of storage and had the most relaxed Christmas ever, lots of good food and drink, a few presents.  Enjoyed going for coffee each day in Kerikeri, playing a lot of tennis too.

A couple of years ago, I took part in the Bay of Islands Sailing Week and loved being involved, but it was really hard work out there on the rail.  So this year I volunteered to help behind the scenes and I was given the job of laying the marks on one of the courses.  So together with Kurt, we laid the marks for the three days of the regatta.  Great fun and really enjoyed getting to know Kurt, I think we made a good team and hope to get the chance to do it again.

Whilst I was on the water, Jay had turned our double garage at home into a sail loft!  He was there on behalf on Doyle's in Auckland and was responsible for repairing any damaged sails for the boats in the regatta.

Back in the Doyle sail loft in Auckland they were in the middle of making our new sails, here the boys are glueing the Genoa together.  It is a huge and very impressive loft.

Heading north now the hurricane season is over.

Heading north, this is Tyrell bay in Carriacou, a great anchorage.

Trying out my teaching skills,  As you can see, the children are not taking a lot of notice of me, it's a good job I gave up teacher training and went sailing instead.

Whilst in Grenada, we took part in the Mount Ayrie reading program and a group of cruisers would take a trip inland and help some of the local children with their reading.

Sunday Jam session at Whisper Cove Marina and taking centre stage is our good friend Mitch playing his ukukele.

Daryl happily seating under his new 'Suncode Bimini'  out of the heat of the midday sun.

Sewing a piece of thick leather on the anchor to stop is whacking the boat on the way to it's  resting place.

Prickly Bay in Grenada, our base for the hurricane season.  There was always lots of social activities and plenty of different anchorages to choose from.  Some boats stayed in the same place for months, but No Rehearsal was always moving around.

A visit from Jay

So back to the boat in Grenada, a long flight and delayed in Barbados.

But good to be back on the boat.  Two days after my arrival, Daryl had organized the most wonderful surprise for me, Jay flew in to spend a week on the boat with us.  He and his team had been racing in the States and he had a week between venues, and then he flew off to New York.

Fruit stall in one of the Grenadine islands.

One of the beautiful beaches of the Tobago Cays.

Daryl and tall Jay stopping for a snacket at the local 'French' bakery.

Jay looking every bit the racing sailor.  I think he was rather disappointed  with the lack of  sailing wind whilst he was on board and we ended up doing rather a lot of motoring between the islands.