Time for a holiday.... On land....

On Monday we flew off from Grenada for a 6 week holiday in Florida, Oregon, Washington, and British Colombia.  Disney World has been fascinating and we are looking forward to joining the American Independence Day celebrations in Seattle next week. It's then a car ferry to Vancouver Island for a distant family get together followed by mountain walks in the Canadian Rockies with a long-time friend.  Lots to look forward to and a chance to regain our land legs...

British Virgin Islands

We just had 3 weeks in the BVI's, the most scenic islands and anchorages we have been to in the Caribbean... crystal clear water, teeming with fish of all shapes and sizes, easy sailing and very relaxing!  The school holidays helped, no need for a wifi connection and to drive the pupils to "get on with it".  The BVI's were the turning point in more ways than one...  We now feel much more in control and settled as a family and the steep live aboard learning curve is starting to plateau.  Believe it or not, the boys became book worms overnight thanks to the author Rick Riordan.  How good is that!!  The whole intensity of a family of five living in a confined space has reduced ten fold.  In fact, given the choice of swimming with turtles or going ashore for a walk, the boys will opt to stay onboard and read!  We now have more time for ourselves (and Kara) and the boat is much quieter.  The challenge we face is to keep a good diet of Percy Jackson loaded on the Kindle's.  Don't know what we will do when they finish the second series?  Other than reading, Travis is obsessed with fishing, Beau loves dinghy sailing (with the new Optimist we bought), and Kara enjoys helping Sonia out with cooking and making things.  We now head slowly south again to Grenada where we will be stationed for the hurricane season...

Having fun with friends at Virgin Gourda

Crystal clear water - we discovered more vegetation on our hull after the St Martin lagoon

SUP's at one of the pristine anchorages

Book Fever kicks in - a serious pastime!

Gorgeous sunset... 

Kara enjoyed swinging over the side at Jost Van Dyke

Travis taking photos from the masthead - 20m up in the air

Sonia's book-end rock

Criteria for a good anchorage

There are a few things we consider before dropping the pick, especially here in the British Virgin Islands where there are so many anchorages to choose from and we are moving almost daily (it's still school holidays!). Firstly, we need protection from the Atlantic swells so on the leeward side of an island or behind a reef in 3m of water is ideal, although wind can accelerate down the hills and swing the yacht uncomfortably. A nice anchorage means pleasant stand-up paddling! Secondly, we look for natural features such as clear water and good snorkelling with fish and coral. Interesting marine and bird life such as turtles with remoras, dolphins to paddle with, dive bombing pelicans, and large fish such as Barracuda hanging under the keel all contribute to a good anchorage. We have also had the occasional shipwreck to see and explore. Thirdly, land interests like rock formations, hills to climb, beautiful beaches with walks, fascinating history, Geocaches (google it), and iguanas, goats bleating on the rocks or chickens running wild. It's essential to get off the boat daily or cabin fever starts to set in. Other criteria include a wifi connection, especially for school since Travis has an online classroom two evenings a week; peacefulness, we avoid the raging beach parties and bars open to the early hours of the morning. Well, an anchorage is usually peaceful until we arrive! And, a final bonus is a local bakery... The French islands know how to do it with hot baguettes and pastries even delivered to the boat! Our present anchorage is a small cay between two islands with a reefy passage. The natural feature is the "Bubbly Pool" on the windward side of the island where the waves funnel though a gap in the volcanic rock. There are turtles feeding on sea grass 20 metres from the boat and onshore we even found some clay to shape. The main island, Jost Van Dyke, is named after a Dutch pirate who hid in this anchorage and attacked passing ships. Enjoy the photo's attached...

Catching a Mahi Mahi

By Travis...

Yesterday while we were sailing from St Martin to the BVI’s we caught a big fish called a Mahi Mahi or a Dolphin fish. After trying to get the main sail up and having a bit of trouble we sailed over a sea Mountain. Beau saw birds flying overhead and flying fish jumping. So he decided to put the rod in. Then he saw one flying fish just behind the lure then a big fish jumped out and ate the flying fish! He then saw it following our lure and BANG! The rod started to lose line. I suddenly woke up and got strait to the rod. Beau was already there so I untied the rod from the holder and Beau started winding. Since it was a big fish it was hard to wind it in so Dad got us started. It took us about 10 minutes to get it onto the boat.

When we got it close to the boat so we could recognize what fish we had Beau and I cheered, as we had wanted to catch a Mahi Mahi since we got on the boat. But our troubles had just begun. When we gaffed it and got it on the deck it used the last of its energy on its last spasm. Beau forgot to shut the deck well and dad fell in!! Then while in its amazingly energetic spasms it wriggled into the well as well! So we had a spasmodic fish in our well making an absolute mess and leaving blood everywhere! When it was wriggling into the well it left a dump on our seat and then its tail flicked it everywhere. So we had a massive mess to clean up. Our fish hitter broke so we had to use a spanner instead. It took a while to kill the fish, as its spasm’s hadn’t stopped.

Dad filleted the Mahi Mahi while we cleaned up its mess. When dad got to its guts he cut them open and found the flying fish that it ate! Beau wanted to keep as a souvenir but Dad had already chucked over. I tried to cut its head off because the fishing book we bought said that the head was good for soup. But the knife I was using was getting blunt and there was a big bone in the way. So we just chucked the carcass. Mum cooked a great teriyaki Mahi Mahi and it tasted better than Wahoo and that’s hard to beat!

We all pitched in in catching the fish: Kara spewed 11 times and her spew was used as burley. Beau, dad and I wound the fish in. And mum cooked the Mahi Mahi.

Sailing School among the Super Yachts...

Beau and Kara learning to sail Optimist dinghy's...

St Martin is the Super Yacht capital of the Caribbean!!!

Kara and Beau preparing their Optimist Super Yachts

Kara was so proud to have her own boat

Ready to be untethered... it was gusting 20 knots

She must have listened to the instructor!

Great view from the yacht club

Kara getting a bit close to the super yacht...
They wouldn't notice a little red paint missing!

Oh Oh.... Kara in the water and learning how to right the boat herself...

Beau making it look easy

Proud Skippers!

Antigua and Barbuda

Our Sweedish friends we met in Antigua at Nelson's boatyard, English Harbour

Beau chasing the girls playing "The shark is coming to eat you!"

The Easter Kite Festival at Devil's Bridge on Antigua's east coast.  The kites were fantastic and included a giant parrot, octopus, cat, cow, croc, dragon and the national flag

Kara in the galley preparing "Ants on a Log" for morning tea

Fishing at night was good in Barbuda, we also had big Tarpons hanging around like pets

Kara enjoys reading the Kindle

Arriving in St Barts during an international race was interesting as we were ushered away from the finish line to prevent us from interfering

Sailing Life

Sailing in company means great photos of Moana Roa

Sailing along the east coast of Antigua to Nonsuch Bay

The First Mate at the helm...

The Skipper at the helm...

Flag girl and tactician flying the Courtesy flag and the Customs flag

On passage, Travis practicing his bowlines

On passage, Beau doing some traditional weaving

The boys about to test their cardboard sailing vessels

Travis scraping out a Calabash fruit to make a bowl

Beau retiring with a good Kindle

Eastern Caribbean Map

Our stats after 3 months on the water are:

581 nautical miles travelled
28 ports/achorages visited
7 countries


Thanks John for a reminder to put up a map... when I can figure out how to put arrows on a map they might be more informative.  You can click on the Caribbean tab in our blog to see a map of the whole Caribbean.  The Eastern Caribbean map below covers the Windward Islands (from Martinique south) and the Leeward Islands (Guadeloupe and north). The next group are the Virgin Islands west of Anguilla.


Beau and I started in St Lucia and sailed to Martinique to pick up Sonia, Travis and Kara.  We then sailed via St Vincent and the Grenadines to Bequia and Carriacou to meet Clare and Heather.  After 2 weeks we sailed north again via Tobago Cays to swim with turtles and continued back to St Lucia and Martinique.  Christine and Luke joined us in Martinique and we continued north to Dominica, Ilse de Saints (Guadeloupe), and we are now in Antigua due to sail to Barbuda in the next couple of days when we get a weather window.  We are enjoying sailing in company with a Sweedish family.

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Dominica, mountain paradise!

Awesome island with 9 active volcanoes.  Also one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean dependent on tourism (mostly cruise ships) ... a nature lover's paradise!  We enjoyed the mountains, jungle, bird walks, waterfalls, gorges and rivers.  Many scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean was also filmed here.  The Kalinago people (indigenous) with their traditional canoe making... you can imagine the effect of the arrival of Columbus' fleet around 1500 as depicted in the wall of this church.  We want to return to Dominica to hike a segment of the national Waitukubuli trail.