Petronella - The End

Current Location: Ebley, Stroud

So that's about it. At least for Petronella.

Our decision to push on to George Town was spot on and we enjoyed another day of 20 knot SE winds. Easy sailing under yankee and mizzen and we reached the Exumas in the early afternoon. The problem was that everything we did was for the last time. I used my night and early morning watch to say a final goodbye to P.

How much bluer can you get? The S entrance to the Exumas.

It's quite tricky getting in behind the islands at George Town but John A did some superb pilotage and we were soon anchored off the town. It was still windy though, not the tranquil sea we had expected.

Soon things had calmed down though and we went ashore by way of a bouncy dinghy ride to check in (for the last time). No problems and then on to the Peace and Plenty restaurant for a well earned beer.

The impossible blue of the Bahamas, Peace and Plenty Hotel

Shortly afterwards John and Helena raised the anchor on their own and re-anchored off Stocking Island for a day or two of chilling out.

We dinghy-ed ashore to the aptly named "Chat and Chill" beach. There's a conch man there that takes the flesh out of their shells and makes the meat into a salad. He throws the spent shells into the sea. Here's his shack....

'Chat and Chill' conch salad bar

...and this is what comes to feed on the leftovers. Real stingrays.

Stingray Alert

As tame as you like. And pretty big.

Don't even think about it

Time then for the last sail, or rather motor, up to Emerald Bay Marina. Again nice work from John and we tied up without incident (though we maybe started to get ready for our arrival just a little too late!).

The marina is new with very few boats and clear, clear Bahamas sea. We missed the opportunity to photo the nurse sharks that were swimming around but we got the young turtle that swam under Petronella.

Turtle under the boat in Emerald Bay Marina

John and Helena had already taken us out for a meal to thank us for putting up with them for a month and soon it was time to start the final handover.

Gill before the "handover meal"

But not before Gill and I went for an early morning walk on the 'deep side' of the island. Absolutely beautiful!

On the beach

We've lived  a substantial part of the last ten years on P. We made the decision to include just about everything boatie with the sale but we still had our personal effects to pack into bags. With Portuguese Airlines playing silly buggers over our extra bags we packed assuming they would not let us take them on the plane. So we had a 'must go' bag each and a 'could be sacrificed if we have to' bag each. Here's the pile for the two sacrificial bags.

OMG - do we really have to get that lot into two bags?

So, we got it all in eventually and then it was time for the handover. We had various insurance, Bill of Sale and evidence of competency documents to sign first.

John A had downloaded God Save The Queen and the US National Anthem to his iPad so we had an emotional lowering of the Red Ensign followed by hoisting the Stars and Stripes.

Last moment under the Red Ensign.....

...and the first moments flying the Stars and Stripes 

A final drink at the marina's sister resort.....

Past and Future - Gill and John, and John and Helena

....and then it was time to leave.

Bye, bye P   xx

We thought that was it but our short flight to Miami was just stunning. By some chance Business Class tickets on this flight were cheaper than Economy so we were royally treated by the plane's staff. And then we looked out of the window. Fabulous. What a way to say goodbye to the Bahamas, and of course, to Petronella.

Just amazing. The Bahamas. 2.5m deep in the foreground, 2,500m deep in the dark blue background!

Miami was bustling and rather good fun with an excellent Cuban restaurant. The following morning we met up with John A again for the the formal Bill of Sale to be notarised at a bank. Then back to the airport, an easy check in (yes, of course we could take the extra bags but at an inflated cost of 240 USD).

And here we are back in Ebley ready for Dave and Vera's daughter's wedding. We'll be spending a good few months now in the UK before we look for another boat so remember if you are here, DO come and see us. We are nicely situated in the southwest close to the main motorways.

I don't know what will become of this blog now but if you want to continue to watch Petronella's progress then go to http://www.unlikelyboatbuilder.com/ where John A will be continuing the story.

Thanks for reading.

John and Gill

Delivery Cruise - Part 3

Handover Cruise - Part 3

Current Location: 3/4 of the way across the Caicos Bank.

Wow. This is different! We have spent the day crossing the Caicos Bank. Just like the Bahamas Banks further north this is a vast area of shallow water. Around 40 miles by 30 miles. We started off at a nice 6m depth with clear water around us. Soon we approached the light blue water and it shallowed to 5m then 4m and we were dodging brown coral heads every few hundred metres. It got hot. We caught a nice eating size tuna, then a much too big toothy kingfish. Finally the 30kg line snapped as another 'big one' lived to tell the tale. As we approached the middle of the bank we had not seen another boat for hours. You could look through 360° and all you saw was this.

Gilly - Coral head spotting

Can't see any there

Ah, there's one at the top of the picture. Steer around it!

A bit like the Sahara or the middle of the Atlantic in that flat day Jen. But here instead of 3km beneath us there was just 3m for mile after mile at 6 knots. The sea started to turn greenish blue as we reached the shallowest part. The depth alarm set for 0.5m under the keel sang it's little song as we dropped to 0.3m below the keel. We negotiated the last of the coral bommies which entailed a diversion of maybe 1/4 mile. Then slowly, so slowly the depths finally began to increase. It was hot. It was still. It was almost mirage like.

If you think this looks nerve-racking...

...try these depths!!

Provo Safety Radio asked all internationally travelling yachts to radio in. We did. Switch to Channel 74 please ma'am. Then they wanted every detail of P and her crew. They were so thorough we thought they were going to ask Gill what her bust size was!

Anyway we finally made it to the western side of the bank. Tired but satisfied it was time to gut and the tuna and cook the goujons. Very good though we still worry about ciguatera.

Less than 300 miles to go to George Town now. A quick check of the weather though shows even more wind over the next week. Staying put is not really an option as our days are running out so after a 12 hour day today we'll be up early tomorrow to check out of the Turks and Caicos. Next destination? The Bahamas. We've been with John and Helena now for three weeks. We know their foibles and they know some of ours. It's been good but I think we're all ready now to get to George Town and to complete the sale. Preparation is complete. The start is complete. The middle is complete. And now we've just got the end to complete. Still 300 miles but the end is in sight now after almost 1,000 miles. Even if we are in a shit anchorage on a lee shore with 20 knots blowing. Come on P, you're an absolute star!

Handover Cruise - Part 4

Current Location: East of Acklins Island, the Bahamas!

Your mind plays tricks in you during night watch. Tonight I had the red light shining in my head torch. I looked up along what should be a clear port deck and saw a massive lobster lying there. I called the others. We all thought tomorrow's dinner had thrown itself into the deck. Until we realised it was just the coiled main preventer line that had dropped off its hook. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

This morning Gill and I took the dinghy, now repaired after the water man jumped in with gravel on his shoes, on a 2 mile return sleigh ride trip to check out. A bleak, dust strewn parking lot with a grubby little shack and nowhere to tie up. One other sailor there who had spent a pleasant night in the next bay. Wrong decision last night on our part.

Back on passage again, we were hit by a big squall tonight, just before it got dark. Instead of creeping up on us from downwind this one lay in wait for us. 30+ knots took us flying back towards the treacherous Caicos Banks where we had just left from. Captain Gilly ordered the genoa furled and we motored away from land again for an hour in the cold, with the wind roaring and the waves laid flat by the strong winds. Our trusty yin-yang-adorned wind steering paddle snapped off sometime in the excitement leaving just an orange stub. True gale conditions for an hour or so. At the height of the squall a large black bird came swooping up behind us. All very atmospheric and strangely wild and beautiful.

After the big squall

Watches. We are doing 3 hours each during the day and 2 hours at night. These are shorter watches than most people do but it works well for us. Not on watch? You will be sleeping, doing jobs or helping with a sail change. If you're lucky there will be time to read, write your blog or cook dinner! Yesterday we had a scrummy tuna caught by myself on the Caicos Banks and tonight during the storm John A made us all bean stew with rice each of which was topped off with two fried eggs. Scrumptious.

Well, we are now past the first of the Bahamas. Mayaguana slid by earlier in this 0400-0600 watch of mine. We might reach our final destination tomorrow or we may decide to break the final 200 miles into two. It's a grey old dawn here now. Plenty of small squalls around and it's spitting with rain. Only 15 minutes of my watch left so I might stay dry yet. Please.

14.28 Friday 28th April.

Thankfully the squalls stayed away during the night. We sailed on and on under jib and mizzen, our now standard downwind rig. 12 knots of ESE plus our boat speed of 5 knots makes for a gentle sail. We swoop along with the seas hissing past us. Long lazy swells, soporific and ceaseless. The end feels close now. (Remember Jen and Marcus?). Jobs are finished, floors are swept, bread is baked and all is good with the world. Around 0200 tomorrow morning we'll arrive in Long Island in The Far Bahamas. From there it's a couple of short hops to George Town.

Handover Cruise - Part 5

Current Location: East of Long Island, the Bahamas

So it's the next night and we're still at sea. What's that all about I hear you ask. It was a classic sailing dilemma. Our course and speed to Long Island 50 miles away would have us arriving at 0200. The entrance is strewn with coral heads and may have breaking waves. Once inside, the anchorage is very confined. Not a good place to drop anchor in the middle of the night. We could wait outside for daybreak but stronger winds are forecast. Our alternative is to crack on round the northern tip of Long Island and down the more sheltered western side to George Town. 60 miles longer and with winds increasing to over 20 knots this means another night at sea which no one (apart from me) relishes. We opted for this second option so it's now 0036 and my watch again. So far the winds have only increased slightly and the skies are pretty clear. We have 35 miles to make before reaching the northern tip. Current predictions show us rounding Cape Santa Maria just after 0600. Watch this space!

Delivery Cruise - Part 2

Current Location: 22 miles east of the first Turks and Caicos shallow bank. 63 miles north of the Dominican Republic, next door neighbour to Haiti.

Pretty cool eh? When you first get to a new cruising ground it all sounds very exotic. Once you've been there a while the exoticness wears off a bit. At present we are on Day 3 of the long ocean passage (430 miles) from the BVIs to somewhere else. We haven't quite decided where yet. It depends on weather forecasts if we can get one, on the SSB radio, on daylight arrival times and crew desire to keep going. Wherever we decide to stop I think Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands sound pretty much as exotic as it gets. After the T and Cs it it is a series of short hops to George Town in the Exumas, part of the Bahamas, where we will leave the boat.

Day 3 usually means that a routine is developing. Seas legs are established and watch keeping settling down. And that is the case today.

This morning at around 9am life was just about perfect. We shook out the second reef, the sun was out, we had long, slow 6' Atlantic swells swooping under our keel, the sea was azure blue and the crew was content. In the distance we watched two massive whales leaping out of the water and spouting. I sat on the bowsprit with my legs dangling. Occasionally the bow dipped, splashing my legs with warm tropical water. I looked back along the boat. Clear deck (now the night's flying fish collection has been thrown overboard), jib set nicely, reefed main and mizzen way out to port and held securely by their preventers. Absolutely perfect 15-20 knot, stressfree, blue water Trade Wind sailing at 6-7 knots. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Delivery Cruise - Part 1

Current Location: Soper's Hole, British Virgin Islands.

So here we are. Me and Gill, together with John and Helena, our new owners. They flew out last Saturday, just a week ago to the rolly anchorage at Fort de France, Martinique. Keen to get started we left there next morning stocked up with water, diesel and, it being effectively France, wine and cheese. Eventual destination - George Town, the Bahamas, 1200 miles distant. Initial destination - British Virgin Islands , around 320 miles away. This is quite a passage for sailors new to Petronella. John has sailed quite a lot on his own but Helena is very inexperienced. We could feel the apprehension but at the same time a high level of excitement. We sailed slowly up the western side of Martinique then across the bouncy Dominica Channel to our favourite (or is that favorite) island of Dominica. J and H were feeling a bit under the weather so we stopped in Portsmouth. At night. This was a first for us but we dropped anchor beautifully. If we were impressed then J and H were very impressed! They were dead tired though. They were learning, the motion was new, it was hot and sultry and they could finally relax after a very stressful few months.

Next morning we were off early towards the BVIs. Guadeloupe slipped by, followed by Nevis, St Kitts, Statia and after some serious gybing eventually Saba. We stood night watches for two days and the wind dropped. We motored for 24 hours and J and H gradually joined us. Food was finally eaten, beds were vacated and slow conversations gradually developed.

Finally, early on Day 4 we arrived in Leverick Bay (home of the one man pirate show Em)! We checked in and grabbed a mooring ball (well done J and H). The next couple of days were practising motoring, docking, mooring balls, dinghy work etc, etc. J is great at handling P. H needed confidence which she is fast gaining. They will be fine even though J admitted they were both wondering on Day 3 if they had done the right thing. They have learned so much in a week.

Next up is the long passage to Turks and Caicos. We were going to go straight there but there are three metre swells north of Puerto Rico so we will hop along the US Virgin Islands first. Three metre waves are fine for us, P and John, but we don't want to frighten H early in her time on P.

In order to sail to the USVIs we first have to enter 'US' soil by ferry. So tomorrow we will leave P here and ferry over to St Johns to initiate Gill's  ESTA which is like a mini visa.

So, everything is going well. P is beautiful and I get a pang of sorrow now when people dinghy past and tell us so. Soon she won't be mine any longer.

Star Date: 17th April 2017

Current Location: Soper's Hole, BVIs

Great news. Helena thinks I look like Sean Connery! At first she called me Scottie (as in First Engineer) but now she has decided I'm really a film star. Gilly on the other hand is simply Captain Cook because she is both captain and cook.

Yesterday Gill and I went to America! We caught the ferry to St John, just three miles away from our current island Tortola. $40 US return, plus $10 US departure tax each. The US has made it very difficult for Brits to get to US soil but this little wrinkle of popping across first by ferry appears to do the trick. Arriving in St John we were met by big open taxis. They reminded me of the African safari trucks. But these were full of large, loud American tourists driven by Spanish speaking locals. Small, somewhat down at heel, colourful bars and stores selling tourist tat. We hunkered down outside one with a coffee for a morning of serious interneting.

Gill's first official office on US soil

Add captionThe VERY fast ferry from BVIs to USVIs

Two frustrating hours later we had booked business class air tickets to Miami (includes two free hold bags and somehow cheaper than the Economy fare tickets??) from George Town in the Bahamas Exumas. And two tickets from Miami the next day to London via Lisbon. These were cheap tickets at £252 each but then we struggled to add an extra hold baggage each. In the end we added them but could not pay for them. This we must do when we get a connection as it will be more costly if we wait til the airport to pay for them.

By then an email had arrived saying the owners of a boat we might be interested in buying had arrived in Coral Bay just three miles away. We thought we just had time to see it before our ferry returned. So we arranged a (big) taxi to take us there - slowly, through the nature reserve that is most of the island. We arrive at the dock but there is no internet and no one has a VHF radio so we can't call them. A trip to the local bar (Skinnylegs) allowed us to email them and 10 minutes later Eric, the owner, arrived. He and his wife together with their three children had bought Laridae, a Westerly Ocean 49, two years previously, and sailed it back to the Caribbean. A great guy, and a great boat. But maybe just a bit big and a bit expensive. So I think we'll forget it for now.

So now we have 75 minutes to get back for our ferry. It's 9 miles, hot and Gilly. We start to walk. Very little traffic passes. Finally another taxi stops for us. Full of an American family who have chattered aotor cat. Thank you. Thank you. We get back to Cruz Bay only to find no one knows anything about our ferry. We rush from terminal to terminal asking immigration officials, customs people and ferrymen what is going on. The other 4.30 ferry back to Soper's Hole leaves and we are stuck. Just as panic sets in another ferry arrives. It seems we first have to go deeper in the USVIs to St Thomas. There we get off, go to the ferry operator to get checked out of the US and then return for a bumpy passage back to Tortola. A long day. But dinner and a beer await when we arrive and John is waiting in the dinghy to ferry us back to P.

Almost a disaster!

After a trip to the internet cafe Gill realised several hours later she had left her handbag there with credit cards and 200 USD inside. Panic. Dinghy back ashore to find that luckily the bag was behind the bar. Lucky indeed as Gilly had forgotten that both our passports and her driving licence were also in the bag! If they had gone missing the Bahamas would have been impossible to achieve.

So here we sit, frustrated and waiting for the weather offshore to improve. Hopefully we can leave in the next couple of days.

Dinner for Four

Current Location: Marigot Bay, St Lucia.

This is a really cool place. You enter into a small bay, hidden from sight (in our case just as the only squall of the day hit). You creep past a sand bar to port and it opens up into a perfectly formed even smaller bay protected from just about everything. There are twenty mooring balls in here at 30US dollars a night which is pretty expensive. But you can share them with another boat effectively halving the cost. The balls are rated up to 60 tons and it is so well protected we have no qualms about doing this with Dave and Melinda on Sassoon.

Mooring field at Marigot Bay

Sharing a mooring ball with Sassoon.

Chilling out at Capella Resort

Along with the mooring you get free access to the 5 star hotel. All day long they bring food and drink to sample. So after changing the fuel hoses on P we spent the afternoon chilling out by the pool. All very sophisticated.

I dont think I've ever written a 'foodie' blog entry before but food is very important in our lifestyle. It's how we cement friendships, try out the local ingredients and put some structure into our daily lives.

Last might was no exception. We (Petronella) prepared the starter and Dave and Melinda (Sassoon) the main course. Starter was freshly caught red snapper goujons caught by me the night before off the boat. As usual we had to improvise a bit. The only 'bread' we had for breadcrumbs was crumbled pittas and the tartare sauce was minus mustard. But the fish was super fresh and very tasty.

Raw ingredients. Fresh red snapper.

Ready to cook. Snapper goujons.

Finished dish with lemons and tartare sauce.

Main course. Sicilian chicken. Melinda used to be married to a Sicilian and maybe this is why it's one of her favourite dishes. Again the required ingredients weren't all available. The frozen peas turned out not to be peas but small beans so the store cupboard was raided for tinned ones instead. It tasted just as good.

Yummy Sicilian Chicken.

Yet again I ate too much and the hot still night made for a restless night.

Meanwhile the sale of Petronella seems to have stalled and we are starting to get twitchy. John A is still fighting the insurance people and meanwhile our window of opportunity is closing. We really need to be back in the UK for early May. Once the insurance is sorted we still have to ship off our possessions back to the UK, sail to Martinique, complete the sale, John has to register P in his name and get the bill of sale notarised. And then we still have over 1,000 miles to sail. Then we need to book flights back to the UK and say goodbye to P. It's starting to look very tight indeed especially as the weather might well play a part in our passage planning too. Come on John, sort this insurance business out. It's not helped by the fact that he is dealing with Lloyd's in London who of course finish work at lunchtime our time.

But for the time being there's nothing we can do but wait. And it's not a bad place to wait.

Stop Press: John A now has insurance and it's go, go, go. Back to Martinique over the weekend and J and H will arrive next weekend for the sail up to the Bahamas. We hope!

UK, Lively Passage and Sale Progress

Current Location: At anchor of Pigeon Island, St Lucia.

It's almost a month since the last blog. So much has happened I'm not sure where to start.

Firstly there was a success. The water pump imported from St Martin was eventually installed but not before further modifications were required. It ended up being a very tight fit but it's in, and it appears, working fine. In fact we seem to be getting more water from it than the old one.

The new water pump installed at last

With the pump fixed I (John) decided on a quick trip back to the UK to mark the first anniversary of my dad's death and also my birthday. I went via Paris and London City Airport. All very pricey but smooth enough. It was good to be back to support Mum and also to see Phil and Jane and of course daughter Emma. Em was over for my birthday and we cooked tapas for all. The day went as well as possible. I managed to see Saints in the League Cup Final at Wembley too with Phil. A great day out even though it resulted in a close defeat.

At last a Wembley Final for The Saints. We was robbed!

I spent my last night with Emma and Chris in London before flying back via Guadeloupe where I missed my connection as did two attractive French girls. It was a scheduled connection so for once we were put up in a hotel - the Club Med - very swish. The girls got smart rooms in the main block. The 63 year old single man on his own was stuck out in Block 6 miles away from the action!

Meanwhile Gill had spent a very windy fortnight in Le Marin. It barely dropped below 20 knots and a trip to anywhere resulted in a wet dinghy and a wet backside. It was hard especially as we had had a few small cockroaches on board for the first time. She 'fogged' them with a special bomb but it was a full on time for her. I have never known her so pleased to see me back! During my absence she had made new friends and only eaten on Petronella once. They certainly came in handy when the day before I was due to arrive the snotty gendarmes came round and told her to move - 22 knots. She called in friends though and she was soon reanchored.

By Saturday the winds were even stronger and the waves in the Martinique Channel were 3m+, occasionally 5m. Not pleasant but we needed to be down in St Lucia for Petronella's survey. Friday we spent sorting things out. Then we emailed John to say we would venture out into the channel. As it turned out we had a boisterous sail across the channel. Big waves but only 20 knots of wind and basically on the beam. We scooted across. Later we heard that John and Helena in Florida had tracked our passage via our AIS transmissions! 

J and H flew out and we spent the next three days with their surveyor Chris. The survey included a test sail, full internal inspection, a trip up the masts and finally a haul out to test the hull thickness. John hasn't had the survey report yet but we expect it to say we need to address two thin areas on the hull which means welding on two doubler plates near the bow. We expected this and if there is not much else we will all, sellers and purchasers, be very happy.

Late night welding on the thinning keel plates.

We've started the welding in advance of the report so that John can report it back to his insurers as completed. Then he needs to get that insurance finalised, pay his money and register P in his name. After that the four if us will sail the 1,200 miles up to the Bahanas. It will be a fitting way to say goodbye to my second wife! J and H will take good care of her which I am surprisingly pleased about.

In the middle of the survey days we were visited by Brian and Thai Kitty on Scraatch who are anchored off Pigeon Island. Then after we had been ashore less than 5 minutes Robin from Grenada accosted us followed by Dave from La Contenta. On Tuesday we watched Sassoon come across on their final Atlantic leg from Barbados. It was GREAT to see Dave and Melinda again and catch up on all their stories.

Next, we hope the sale will continue to progress. Meanwhile we will probably buddy up with Sassoon and La Contenta down to Marigot Bay for a few days. M-C will be back on La Contenta so it should be a fun time.

Dinner on Petronella

.....And so now we are back in the water. The sale is still slowly moving to completion and we are at anchor with great friends. Dave and Melinda on Sassoon who arrived from the Cape Verdes via Barbados last week, M-C and Dave on La Contenta who crossed with the ARC earlier this year, Brian and Kitty on Scraatch, round the world sailors. Last night 6 of us were on P and tonight there will be 10 of us eating at the little restaurant where at Pigeon Island. Hold on while I go and photo the view from the restaurant where I am sending this from.

P with friends from across the world. What could be better?

Ah yes, here's a good story. We spent a few days in the inner harbour here at Rodney Bay. You may have heard of flying fish landing on the deck of boats on passage. Last week we were sitting quietly on deck when Gilly shrieked and was splashed with water. There was a big flapping noise on deck. There thrashing around was a 6 pound (yes it's pounds here not kilos) mullet. Somehow it had launched itself through the guard rails. Lots of smelly scales, blood and fish bits had to be controlled and thrown back. The amazing thing here is that it got between the guard rails at all . When you try to throw even an olive pip through the rails you can guarantee that it will hit the rails and drop back on the deck. I just don't know how a fish that size got through without even touching the sides! Unfortunately we have no photo so it has to go down as just one more fishy story.

The Many Facets of Martinique

Current Location: St Anne Anchorage, Martinique

Well, we are still here. This week has been the story of a water pump, friends and boat ownership.

First off, the water pump. Regular readers (I do believe there are some) will know that the water pump on Petronella has been a problem since we bought her. This is the pump that bolts onto the crankshaft. Rotation of the crankshaft turns an impeller that pumps water from the sea through a heat exchanger and back into the sea via the exhaust. The heat exchanger plays the same role as the radiator on a car, cooling the fresh water that keeps the engine from overheating. We have two of these pumps, neither of which is really functioning any longer. Each time one breaks I try to rebuild it using replacement parts and bits from the other one. This time I think it is past mending. Just when we are trying to sell her too. So, you might think – buy a replacement. Yes and no. These pumps it seems have been out of production for more than 25 years and I can’t find a second hand one either. So we need a new type. Boaties love this sort of problem so everyone has been chipping in with their chosen solution. In the end we opt for a Johnson F6B-9 as the solution. Here’s a lovely picture of them both.

Old pump still in place on the crankshaft

New pump in St Martin prior to shipping (thanks Alex!)

 The Johnson had to be sourced from St Martin further up the island chain. At present Fedex tracking system tells me it has arrived in Martinique but is stuck in customs. This is silly because it is “Yacht in Transit” delivery which should mean no duty payable. We shall see. Even once it arrives I have to find a chap who will build a circular plate to go from the new pump to the crankshaft pulleys. More expense, and more chance that it won’t all fit together. Thanks to Dave and Vera for transport and consultancy, to Dick and Jack for ideas and to Alex and Carla for organising the shipping from St Martin.. Now I just need it to come together.

Meanwhile things are moving forward with boat sale although unfortunately we have withdrawn from our purchase of Tiger Lily as the owners were not prepared to do the required investigation work. Our mate John A though still seems very keen to buy Petronella. It’s all looking promising but we still have the water pump, survey, insurance and registration issues to finalise. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile we have started sorting out documentation and things that we will need to take back to the UK if and when she sells.

Finally we’ve had Dave and Vera over here for the week. D+V live next to our house in Cumbria and are frequent visitors to Petronella. This could be their last time aboard her. They hired a car for the week which not only allowed us to take the liferaft into Le Marin for service and to chase up waterpump bits but also to explore the island a bit. Martinique is tres, tres Francais (sp?) and very varied. Fort de France the capital feels more like an extremely busy western European capital and with the petrol drivers’ strike on Wednesday we could have been in France itself.

Outside of the capital though it’s a mixture of beaches, small rather scruffy small towns, the famous St Pierre with its volcano, and super green, jungly jungle. We’ve seen it all this week. Mount Pelee is the third most dangerous volcano in the world – well that’s what they call it because in 1902 it erupted after weeks of rumbling, killing over 30,000 people. Even today it looms over the town. Only one guy, so the story goes, survived. He was in solitary confinement in the town gaol. He was rescued 4 days later when people managed to get to him and let him out. He subsequently became a star act with Bertrams circus, displaying his burns and recounting his story.

 

The famous old theatre at St Pierre with the devestating volvano (Mount Pelee) in the background

The solitary confinement cell where the only survivor of the earthquake was found, days later

Up in the jungly jungle. Poisson with refried beans, rice and dasheen, a root vegetable. Plenty of carbs!

Limbo, Limbo

Current Location: St Anne anchorage, Martinique

Petronella at anchor in St Anne

Not the 'shuffling under the bar' limbo but the 'nothing much has actually happened' limbo.

It's always hard to write a blog after such a long break as I don't know whether to relate the 'what has happened since last time' story or to pick out a few notable incidents. This will probably end up as a bit of both.

After the big storm we decided to move Petronella into the marina in Le Marin. This is always stressful partly just because manoeuvring a 20 ton, 14.5m, hard to steer in reverse boat in tight spaces is inherently stressful and partly because we say we are only 12m long to save money! This means we end up in a narrow channel with little in the way of escape routes. My walkie talkie fell off my head and we made the decision to buy some posh ones back in UK. Anyway we got tied up with only a nudge from the marineros boat.

Next to us was another steel boat and her lady owner. Her partner had been taken seriously ill and returned to France. Valerie and her dog Luna were trying to decide whether she should continue to sail, now on her own as her partner wanted, or if she too should return to France. Domestic decisions and choices to be made wherever you look.

Soon though it was time for the UK. Flight from Martinique to Paris and our first time on the super fast, slightly tatty Eurostar back to St Pancras. Martinique actually operates as a department of France so at check in here you go through the usual EU entry process but when you get to Paris there is no immigration and you just walk straight out. Weird.

Our time in the UK was the usual packed time. Visits to see Gill's sisters and uncle Sid, Simon and Jane and friend Lynda in Cumbria all gave us opportunities to catch up with good friends and relations. Dave Wilton and Val and Andy dropping by on their journeys up the M5 and we caught up on all the 'life-admin' jobs that don't get done whilst we are away. For Christmas we had a lovely time. My mum is doing well without dad but it is a long, hard process of readjustment. Phil and Jane are slowly coming to terms without Sam and we were all joined by Emma, our younger daughter, for the holiday period. It was lovely to see Em for almost a week and it was a good break for her. Her first management role at just three days a week together with an MSc meant she was ready for a break. Lovely to see you Wombat! No such reunion with Jen though. We missed her badly and I think she missed us too far away in Uruguay. Gill's camera had broken so I was tasked with taking the festive people photos. But I forgot. Oh dear, unpopular was putting it mildly, though I did get a good picture of the fridge stuffed with food on Christmas Eve!!

Soon it was New Year and we were invited back 'home' to Cumbria for the annual gastronomic extravaganza. Dave, Vera, Chris, Audrey, Helen and Jonathan told us that this year was our turn for the main course so our excellent Beef Wellington joined, exotic canapes, three fish starters, amazing puddings, cheese and plenty of booze rounded off by the usual 'fireworks in the rain' from Ross. It really was great to be back with the Cumbrian crew. If anywhere still feels like home then this is it. Thanks guys!

New Year's Eve with good friends

The Aftermath

Our house in Cumbria is still not finally sold and it looks as though this might take a bit of time yet - but it will happen so we are pretty chilled about it. The car required more work. Thanks Phil and Jane for acting as the go-between here.

We also caught up with Hugh and Linda. Linda has been accepted on the first two stages of the Round the World Clipper race this year. At 60 something she will be one of the older crew members but I have to say I'm pretty envious. Gill is not!!

Soon we were winging our way back to Martinique and into the continuing story or selling Petronella and buying a new boat, hopefully to one day take us through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific. However, things are not plain sailing. We've had a great guy from Miami interested. Download his book (https://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Voyage-miles-alone-wooden/dp/0692601430) for a good read an idea of how he would be the ideal new owner for P. He came out for a couple of days sailing with us outof Fort de France. Perfect conditions and he fell in love with her.

Showing John A the ropes

The pretty village of Trois Islets

Trying out the lightweather sail donated to us in the BVIs

But he's having family problems and trouble with the US insurers getting insurance. Now we are talking with a French professional saxophonist as well in case our first buyer falls through. We've sent details now to 28 people so hopefully we will get a sale eventually. If John A does buy her we will sail P up to the Bahamas with him and his Brazilian wife. Watch this space.

At the same time we have had a survey done on Tiger Lily II, a 47' Hylas yacht, American made and well respected over here. Unfortunately the survey showed a potentially serious rudder problem so the owners have taken her back to Grenada to identify the problem and fix it. We might still be interested once we know how serious the problem is. Meanwhile we are tentatively looking further afield for a replacement.

Tiger Lily has a TALL mast. Rigging inspection.

That looks like a VERY, VERY stiff rudder

As a result of all this we are still here in Martinique. Our friends (and my osteopath) Dave and M-C have made it across the Atlantic after a slow and problem ridden crossing in their beautiful Najad 49 and it was fantastic to meet up with them last week. Now Dave and Melinda in Sassoon have set off from the Canaries and are headed down towards the Cape Verdes as I type. It all makes me want to get moving again but until we know the fate of Petronella it is hard to know which direction to move in. My guess is we will end up in Antigua for Classics Week as a further shop window for P. 

Fishing at anchor is going well. My reputation is starting to run before me and I was asked to help with basic angling techniques on Carpe Diem.

Four at once (and another one had just dropped off)

Lesson 1

A new angler is born...

....and the older one fishes on into the night

 

Checking the local crabbing lines

Here in Martinique we have friends all around us, both new and old. As well as the WiFi enabled patisserie (yum!) we've walked and run along the mangrove swamps to famous Saline Bay and held beach sundowner parties watching Venus, Mars, Cassiopeia (sp?), satellites and, new for me, Sirius competing with the fireflies as the sun goes down. Temperatures? A steady 24 to 27 degrees Celsius. Just pleasant. 

Jobs 1 - The extremely efficient launderette

Jobs 2 - Scrubbing the bottom (Petronella's)

Our local beach

Gill with Dick (Alacazam)

John with Mary (Alacazam)

Fantastic Thai food with Brian and Kitty (Scraatch)

Sundowners on the beach with Jack,Fizzy, Brian, Kitty, Ben, Lucy, Dick and Mary

Sailing gossip