Changes

Current Location: John in Antigua Airport, Gill back in Grenada

We've spent the last last few days in St Lucia. There, on the beach, we met Paul. Paul is a typical hustler, good natured and trying it on for an Eastern Caribbean dollar or ten. After determining my name and where we were from he told us that actually the Queen Mother was St Lucian. When we queried this he said well not exactly the Queen Mother but the Queen had been to St Lucia and had a child by a black St Lucian. Of course this was not a well known fact as if the story ever came out it would be very embarrassing for everyone concerned. Then he looked at my T-shirt. It has a turtle and a gecko on it. "You like turtles?" He dives into his rucksac and comes out with a little wooden turtle he has carved. We tell him there is no space on the boat for a little wooden turtle so he moves on to the gecko. "I will make you a gecko" he says. He takes a small banana leaf and starts to make an origami gecko out of it. Except it isn't a gecko, it's a locust or a grasshopper or something. Pretty cool eh? We only have a 20EC note so it's his lucky day as surprise, surprise he has no change!

Is it a turtle? No.   Is it a gecko? No.   Is it a banana leaf locust? Yes of course.

But that is jumping ahead. We left you with Gill and her broken ribs. Well, they have got slowly better but she is still in a lot of pain. It's mostly short, sharp spasms in her back which cause her to cry out - in restaurants, in taxis, with friends - anywhere really where she will draw attention to herself!! Grenada is now practically out of codeine and paracetamol as she chomps her way through packet after packet. Also in great demand are arnica (secondary supply provided by the yacht Calypso) and a special nutmeg paste invented by a Grenadian doctor. They all seem to help to a greater or lesser degree.

For the next 10 days we chilled out with Gilly trying to do a bit more each day. We met up for a couple of very pleasant meals with our Gleaston neighbours Dave and Vera (sorry D and V, pictures are too poor for inclusion) and spent more time with Dick and Mary on Alacazam. Dick showed me how to jig for fish when anchored and we even caught a few. We went for dinner on the beach too.

By now we had decided to fly up to St Lucia for my cousin Pete's house warming party in Desruisseaux as Gill was still not up to the bouncy passage northwards. So we put Petronella into the marina in Prickly Bay. Here we met the skipper of Good Friends. He is 91 years ols and has been sailing since 1948, most of the time living on the boat. He recruits new crew each year through FindACrew and spends the season sailing up and down the islands. What an inspiration!

And so to St Lucia. We flew up to St Lucia and then got aken by Pete to Desruisseaux which is a little town in the south east of St Lucia where Jose, Pete's wife grew up. She is a St Lucian with 1.4 million cousins, nephews and nieces. Pete met her when he worked out of St Lucia and Dominica for various brewing, accountancy and hotel chains in the early 70s. The first day though was spent sightseeing with cousin Judy and partner Dougal. We visited all the usual tourist haunts and it was great to get to know Judy after 60 years.

The cousins with one of the famous Pitons in the background - with Star Wars shaft of light bisecting the photograph

And so to the party itself. This seemed to involve around half the entire population of St Lucia...and us, together with Pete's cousin Judy and her ex RAF partner Dougal. Great food, plenty to drink and excellent company. Interestingly one chap thought that Gill was the wife of the leader of the opposition and we met ministers, lawyers, brewery engineers, the Dominican tourist guide photographer, his wife the Director of Public Prosecutions and no end of PhDs and MPs. A large proportion had lived abroad, a few in the UK but most now in the US and especially Canada. All in all an excellent day.

Ice arriving

Beer arriving

Cake arriving

Industrial scale catering - Syrah and Jose (right)

Pete and the Dominican photographer

Serious political discussions

But then amongst all this partying and enjoyment we got word first that my last remaining aunt had died and then that dad had fallen onto mum back in their new apartment in Dursley. Dad was shaken but mum had broken ribs and punctured a lung. Yes, more ribs, three this time. She is in hospital in pain and dad has moved into the care home next to their flat. Poor brother Philip and Jane are flying from Stroud to Dursley to Gloucester.

And so I come to be in Antigua airport waiting for my previously planned flight back to the UK. I am supposed to return in two weeks to meet up with Gilly in Grenada but who knows what the future will bring.

Broken Ribs!

Current Location: Still in Prickly Bay

[DICTATED BY GILLY]

We are still anchored in Prickly Bay just outside the marina. Our friends Dick and Mary from Alacazam and several other boats we know are here too. It has been quite windy but it is a really nice anchorage and we like being here. However, amidst the myriad of usual small boaty problems we have another big problem. Me!

Last Friday we went for a shakedown sail on Alacazam. It was forecast to be 15 knots but was pretty bouncy briefly hitting 40 knots as we came back into the bay. Unfortunately, as I went below I was thrown right across the very wide galley area. I winded myself badly (I couldn't get any breath at all for half a minute) and it turned out I had broken two ribs in my back - one on each side of my spine. Ouch!

To add to the drama as we came rocketing in Alacazam broke down. Dick put out a Pan Pan and suddenly the sea was full of dinghies rushing to help. It looked like something out of Star Wars as they zoomed towards us from all directions. What an amazing community of sailors and the marina staff were fantastic too. They got Alacazam onto a buoy and carefully transferred me into a rib (ha, ha - no pun intended), back to the shore and off to hospital.

Uncomfortable patient

Since then not a lot has happened. We are trying to work out what to do for the best. My back is still VERY painful and what I would give for an acupuncturist! We don't know when I will be up for sailing but we still have eight days before our Rodney Bay booking begins. It is now five days since it happened and it is still almost as painful as when I first did it. I've never taken so many strong painkillers in my life. What a bummer. Still, it could have been a lot worse. For a minute when I couldn't get my legs to move I thought our lives were about to change in a very big way.

We will probably make a decision on Monday. John is supposed to be flying home from St Lucia on 25th Feb. We will have to wait and see whether that will be possible or not.

[JOHN]

Meanwhile amongst other things I've been fixing the rowlock on the dinghy that someone thoughtfully broke when we were tied up on the dinghy dock.

Broken tube

Can we put a drill bit through it? Too solid.

Gill's best wooden spoon is perfect!

Cut spoon to length

File down rough bits

Epoxy spoon handle inside tube. Job done.

Back in the water

Current Location: Prickly Bay, SW corner of Grenada, West Indies

We finally launched last week once the travel lift had been repaired. It was, to say the least, interesting. Firstly after all the detailed technical work on the forestay we ended up putting the genoa on upside down. Rather embarrassing. Then, after we had checked forward and reverse in the launching dock we set off and Gill steered to starboard but we turned to port! More embarrassment, for me, when we realised I had put a half twist in the steering wires which caused the wheel/tiller relationship to reverse. Oops. Still no major harm done and we sat in St Davids Bay for a couple of days sorting things out.

In the slings, final antifouling before launch

Then we sailed/motored round to Pricky Bay where we are now awaiting Dave and Vera, our neighbours from Gleaston.

The beautiful but busy Prickly Bay

In the meantime it's been more jobs. Cleaning diesel tanks, erecting The Beast (our wind generator), putting on guard netting, handing over ownership of the Atlantic Crossing Group to this year's crossers, dismantling and reassembling the dinghy engine which had a blocked jet and all the other "new season" jobs.

But on Saturday it was the Grenada International Work Boat competition. The sun was shining, the sky was dark blue, the sea was light blue, the boats were beautiful and the action intense. Whiffs of marijuana drifted across the beach, the rum and beer were flowing and the bass was booming out reggae. Typical Caribbean. And what a photo opportunity.

Soon we'll be off "up island" to Carriacou, Bequia, St Lucia and beyond.

Ah yes, a plug for the Atlantic Crossing Group (Google it if you are interested). This is the group we used for advice and help during preparations for our Atlantic crossing last year. I then became the membership manager for the group. Good luck to Jackie, my replacement. There are already 20 or so boats signed up who are crossing this year. I see that Kevin and Ann on Sailaway have joined. Sassoon, are you interested? Can't wait to see you all across here next year.