After a relaxing morning and stocking up a little bit at the store we were on our way for Rodney Bay by about 1030 hrs. The weather called for light winds (around 15 knots) so we were soon in to 15 knots of wind close hauled again. We have learnded from our friends Al and Michele whatever the weather forecast says add 10 knots. Joyce suggested reducing sail I said its just puffy lets carry on. Five minutes later we were reducing sail in 28 knots of wind, always listen to your wife, they are always right ( and pretty too). WE arrived back in Rodney Bay shortlu after lunch and anchored in 20 ' of water with the wind at around 25 knots. We did hook right up in nice sand so no problems sleeping last night, in fact we slept in the cockpit until 0400 since it was so mild and the sky was filled with stars. We also tracked down Joyces reitirement information and forms so that is tomorrows goals complete them and mail them.
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.'We departed Bequia this morning at 0530 with a clear sky and 15 knots out of the NE. As we rounded the point we soon had 20 knots and were close hauled making good time to St Vincent's. We were able to see St Vincent's by 0730 but it was still close to 20 miles away. We were averaging over 7 knots so this was hopefully be a bit quicker then the last time which took us 11 hours. It didn't seem very long before we were closing on St Vincent's which is a spectacular Island very much like Jurassic park. We had a nice sail along the coast and were able to see where they had hung up the pirates during the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean", pretty cool. Soon we had passed St Vincent's and were heading for St Lucia, where you can see the twin pitons from quite far off. Two hours later we pulled in to Marigot Bay at 1500hrs and dropped our anchor in 8' of water. Wow we made great time and had a great sail, Doolittles here we come. It did take a few tries to set the anchor its super rockey here on the north side and the south side is reserved for moorings. I dove on the anchor and it had a pretty good set wedged under some sand and a big flat rock. I can't believe we ended up staying here for four nights this is a hard place to leave. This is a boat watchers paradise, they never stop coming or going and every type of boat from pirate ships to super yachts and everything in between We had a pretty quiet day today. Started with a swim and eventually we worked our way into the shore to go through email and all that stuff. We picked our favorite local cafe "Maria's" and enjoyed the deck while we got caught up on our electronic business. Maria's is owned by Andy who has founded and funded the Bequia youth sailing program which is located on the beach right in front of his deck. It was great to see all the kids out sailing it looked like they were having a great time. We also meant the cruising couple next to us who were in their early 70's and had a two year old 50' catamaran named "Second Chance". Twenty years earlier the skipper was given 12 weeks to live and underwent a heart transplant at the last moment so his wife and him decided if they ever got a sailboat she would be called "Second Chance" pretty cool. They have now completed their two year goal and have the boat up for sale, what a great story. The cafe also had an Irish rugby game on in the background so it kind of felt like the Celtic corner on a Saturday afternoon. We headed back to the boat pretty early so that we could get ready for our big 60 mile sail back up to Marigot Bay in the morning. After we hauled off the outboard and store our dinghy on deck we were ready for a few boat drinks and a quiet evening full of stars. Next time we will spend more time in Bequia, what a gem.
When we wewre in St Lucia I cleaned the waterline and in Marigot Bay I snorkeled and got as much as I could but when I checked the propeller tere were a lot of barnacles and growth that I couldn't do with a snorkel. Today I rented a tank and did a proper job on the propeller while Joyce got the boat squared away. The propeller had quite a build up of marine life that was noticable when powering we were slow by at least a knot. I tried using a heavy plastic snow scraper to no avail the shells were just to tough. Joyce geared me up with a diving knife and after 45 minutes of hacking and scraping I now have a super clean prop. The nice thing was that the hull is perfect, no growth what so ever, how nice is that. I used Amercoat ant fouling paint(half the price of micron CSC) back at the dyc and have to say I will definatley use it again, what an amazing product. After all the cleaning and sweating we decided to check out the open deck restaurant located just off our port side from where we are anchored. We took our dingy over and Daffodil the owner assisted us in getting secured. The Young Geran sailing couple who ran the restaurant were amazing. We had a three course lunch Lobster and poached age with a lobster reduction cream sauce to start followed by Sea bass or jerk chicken and topped off with home made Banana bread for desert. What a fantastic lunch best so far in the Caribbean. After a relaxing afternoon recovering from lunch we finished our day off at the Figtree enjoying some live music (Ukulele, banjo and guitar).. I guess we dont have to eat tomorrow.
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