We’ve made it through another dreadful week in the Caribbean, which makes it 5 months- hard to know how we cope…!!

We took some back up for lion fish culling this week, it came in the form of our s/v “party of 5” friends. We hit a reef a km south of St.anne and came back with a few. Travis prepped the spiny buggers & we were treated to a mini feast on them. The guys were right they do weirdly taste a bit like popcorn!

We headed back out to St.lucia for a Sunday morning sail as there was swell on the horizon. Lily woke up half way across and literally didn’t know if she was coming or going. This time it was Daddy’s go at the water park and a family affair on the hobie. The kids called for pitch poles the whole way & Chris didn’t disappoint with a capsize for the thrill seekers.

Waves were then had and the kids hung out at the pool at Rodney bay marina. A very civilised affair & we even snuck in a Thai.

The kids picked up some new found friends to hang out with. We met a Norwegian family who were waiting for their boat to come in from the arc+ which heads to St.Lucia via Cape Verde. No wind has significantly slowed play!

A seasoned Caribbean cruiser named Lynne took me on some exploration runs. We went to the other side of the island And picked up a trail and some dogs to run with at Cas en Bas beach. On the way up-to the coastal path I spied a laid back beach bar in a c-shaped bay that had kiting written all over it. Up the hill some way were massive cactus barley, rolling hills, wild horses and a stunning view over the coast- totally unspoilt & totally different to the other side of the Island.

After some negotiation I brought the family back across for the day, which turned into 2. Harry got his first kitesurfing lesson with a legend called Simon of aquaholics and Lily was thrilled with a horse ride along the beach from the local stables. We then stumbled across a YouTube chef who specialises in outdoor or bush cooking. Really interesting and obviously super talented guy. Look him up if you’re in the area (chefSherlock). All this thanks to Lynne and her running routes! Cheers Lynne!

The plan was then to head back to Martinique, finally fit solar panels and batteries and hot foot it to Antigua…….bbuuuttt plans change! Even the word “plan” seems to be a dirty word among the cruising fraternity. It evokes the odd twitch in people when you mention it. You can plan your route all you want but for the most part you can add a massive pinch of salt. Now I did think our mini-plan for the short term was fairly cast iron but no!

We had comms from outside our cruising bubble. Apparently way over there in the real world there is family and everything. So right now the kids and I are on our way to the UK. We’re off to see Grandad who will kill me for writing this. I’m sure as always he’ll tell us “I’m lovely” when we arrive and ask how he is.

We are Essex bound to the town I grew up in. For all the travelling Harry’s done I’ve only just realised he has never visited Essex, mostly because my parents have been off cruising for 10 years! We won’t take him on the pub tour of Burnham-on-Crouch(BOC) just yet and he’s lucky I won’t be making him short tack up the river Crouch in the raging tide and probably bitter December wind.

We’ll wait for Otter week or RB week one summer to induct the kids into Burnham sailing scene, only then will either of them truly know that BOC really stands for “Better than Orange County”…..

So we’ll be back to our boat home and gorgeous Daddy sooooonnn, I’m sure he’ll enjoy some peace and quiet! Who knows where we’ll end up for Christmas. We’re cherishing everyday on this journey.

What a week! The top of the week saw us do a bit of island exploring here in Martinique. We hired a car & drove an hour & half to a science and earth exploration centre at the base of Mount Pelee volcano, but it’s shut on a Monday…doh!

On the way there my scheming kids decided to give me a little hair cut with pocket knife scissors!! As you can imagine I was utterly delighted to find a chunk of hair missing…..Just wow….I gave birth to savages! I guess I’ll get my own back by cutting off Harry’s Liam Gallagher “do” one day soon mwhahaha!

To be fair the car journey to the shut science centre was a novelty. There were dual carriageways involved, traffic near forte de France and everything! We affirmed that whilst boarding school sounds like a solid option in the kids immediate future, a return to full civilisation is not currently appealing. As we headed further north the hills got steeper and the vegetation denser. Then we glimpsed the Mt. Pelee volcano through the clouds.

We did manage to visit the volcano museum in St.Pierre and see some relics from the eruption of 1902. Harry’s photo diary was left wanting as there was a no photo policy, by order of the mayor apparently but not related to preserving the objects…maybe the reason was lost in translation. Think I mentioned my French is crap.

I couldn’t convince anyone to do the epic sounding 5 hour hike up the volcano, so we crossed to the east of the island in search of waves. Tartane was the spot of the day. My mothering pride returned sufficiently to be super pleased for Harry catching some waves on his Dad’s board.

Tuesday saw a bit more homeschool trauma then we headed out on a kiteboarding adventure towards Anse Travaud. The road was a bump fest and then you pay to cross a guy’s land. A bit more bumping and head butting surfboards, a navigation across quicksand and we finally arrived to a deserted beach and Chris had a quick kitesurf. I stumbled past a few palm trees with the kids and across a naked Frenchman. Not a problem. But a) where do you look? and b) where do you look?

The later part of the week we had a few more dinghy rides into Port Plassainse at le Marin to ogle a plethora of chandleries and chat boat bits. We were blown away by the number of boats moored up there & in the Marina’s! Reminded me a lot of Cowes week. I was quite taken by the ingenious Pizza oven on the back of a Cat in the harbour, it even does deliveries!

The skate park was a nice 15 minute jaunt from the dock at le Marin. The kids were having a great arvo until Daddy cool went splat! Safe to say he came off worse than the ramp.

Friday saw us fill our water tanks from the sky and hot foot it to Saint Pierre. A speedy downwind leg with some decent waves and probably a bit more sail up than we needed. Chris forgot we weren’t in the 2nd leg of the Volvo and giggled to himself as he got our home up to 15.4knots! The scenery up the West coast is green, lush and mountainous. So nice to get some pace and be heading downwind.

After a 4 hour sail and a half an hour walk up the base of Mount Pelee Volcano we arrived at the Science and earth museum that was shut on Monday! We learned all about the 1902 eruption that devastated Saint Pierre and killed 30,000 people. The term “Nuee Ardentes” was coined by Mr La Croix who extensively researched the type of eruption that occurred in Mount Pelee. It was a fantastic interactive spot with loads of learning opportunities, particularly if you are fluent in French! The kids did get a lot out of it though & the “make your own animation” zone kept them entertained until we got kicked out at closing time.

Fair to say we had a rough week with the kiddos, which had has trying not to call in the yacht brokers. They pushed us to the max with attempts at school and fought like billio over everything from Lego to fishing bait. So frustrating at times. Boggles my mind the tantrums, tears and resistance at a few tasks (not all the tantrums were mine). As much as we try to engage Harry in the process on a project he likes, the act of writing is painful for him. Video projects where he spontaneously writes his own notes or writing letters to his friends does get a pen on paper. Lily pretty much makes up her own work and we attempt to gently steer her occasionally, much to her big brothers dismay! Resurrecting the old star chart, whilst it didn’t bring my locks back, brought back a tiny bit of sanity to the ship. We’re on the lookout for some other boat kids in Martinique too!

We had a chilled sail back South to Grande Anse. We had 6 to 20 knots in a matter of mins which kept me on my toes. A mini bar hop for sundowners in the chilled picturesque bay was the perfect end to the day.

Yesterday we beat 4hrs back upto St.Anne. Our main agenda this week is battery replacement and surf….probably not in that order!

We anchored up and stayed put in beautiful Bequia for the best part of a windless week.

Controversially it is one of 3 places in the world where whaling is still permitted. 4 whales a year can be killed. An aboriginal law is used that upholds the heritage of the island. It would seem to me that these days tourists provide a more sustainable income for the island & the container ships bring in food that can’t be grown on the lush island, but then I don’t sit on the whaling commission….

The model whaling boats at Sargeants model boat shop are a sight to behold. Harry was mildly disappointed the models don’t sail or hydrofoil like his Grandpa’s though.

Our neighbours in Port Elizabeth were friends from Grenada. “The red boat” Nomadica with gorgeous Cheryl and Morgan one side & the “SAGO” family the other side, which was perfect for Halloween action. A resident turtle also paid us daily visits and sprat flung themselves into our dinghy desperate to join the party.

Dinghy issues this week were sorted by a local legend & chaps made up at Grenada sails. Hopefully this will extend the life of our dinghy, assuming I don’t let it float away again!

I pulled myself out of slothsville and took on a few runs on some hilly terrain across to the other side of the Island (no it isn’t a big Island). I might have stalked a French couple and joined them for their run one morning…such a weirdo. I appreciated the company even if they didn’t.

Going ashore at Port Elizabeth we were met by a walkway full of vibrant colours. Laid back sellers on a small stretch don’t force their wares on you. A unique bunch of bars and cafes littered the waters edge. The kids were partial to the ice cream at the Gingerbread hotel & cafe, and were pretty taken with the parrot at the next door dive shop too..

If you continue on past the Beach hotel up & down streps on the side of a cliff you reach “Jacks bar” on princess Margaret beach. We were anchored just off here. Our true find was at the far end of the beach where “Len the Lion” will cook the meat you bring & seat you for $5EC a BBQ use. His beer somehow tastes even better! We had a great Friday afternoon here with fellow cruisers.

I took the whole school of Draper on 2 trips this week. The avid marine biologist took notes and asked Mr Orton King a million questions at the Turtle sanctuary. He was particularly confused as to why you’d take baby turtles from the beach if they weren’t ill. Mr.King explained that his aim was to increase dwindling Hawksbill numbers. 20% of his turtles survive to be released by 5years old or when he deems them large enough to survive. In the wild only 1 in 3000 survive to 40 yrs old. Not really comparable stats but Harry was satisfied this is a good thing to do. The larger turtles kept in small tanks were unable to fend for themselves in the wild and so would stay at the sanctuary and be scrubbed once a fortnight, be gawped at by the likes of us and continue on a diet of canned tuna for life.

The other trip was to the Firefly hotel and restaurant. Ok so the drinks were pretty good! I promise the kids learned a thing or 2!! The hotel is on the site of an old sugar plantation but now grows a variety of fruits etc. Our personal tour kept the kids interested for 45mins (better than I ever manage). We munched on whatever we could try from passion fruit to star fruits and a lot in between, but the best was pulverising our own sugar cane and drinking it- yum.

Humidity seems to have dropped a tad in the last few days. Yesterday we headed north in a very civilised 10-15knts passed St.Vincent and towards St.Lucia. The wind then crapped out repeatedly & unsurprisingly we ended up motoring upwind for a while. Our aim was to anchor at Rodney Bay in the north and explore. We had been keen to visit the reknowned Pitons in the South, but a spate of boats being boarded at night and robbed had put us off. What actually happened was that it got late and we decided to push onto Martinique as the wind picked up!

So we woke up this morning in St.Anne’s near Le Marin after a 16 hour crossing. We’ve made the most of the play equipment and paved area ideal for skateboarding just off the dock. There may have been a croissant or two consumed and a post carb slump has occurred. A pretty different day to running the New York marathon this time last year! Miss you Lorna.

It seems time is cranking on and we’ll be having a Christmas knees up in Antigua before we know it!

Last Sunday after a family surf at Prickly bay we headed off in another down pour towards Carriacou. Looking at the forecast a pit stop in Halifax harbour for the night seemed the sensible option…but then we changed our minds and headed up anyway.

We shot past the underwater volcano exclusion zone, past the natural arch of London Bridge, past the Sisters and Kick ‘em Jenny rock. The sails were up and down like a strippers knickers, but we arrived to a beautiful sunset in Carriacou. The kids convinced us to get off the bateau for dinner & the “Lazy Turtle” was a welcome treat.

After a lazy morning on the boat of yoga, fishing, fort building & hide & seek I went for a jog & we cleared customs. We had a little starboard hitch up to Sandy island which led into a tough beginning of the week…We snorkelled with sting rays, turtles, shoals of fish had a family beach run & beach clean followed by cocktails with the Garrett family.

Salinas was our next stop after a short sail back towards Tyrell Bay. More reef exploration meant the kids covered a lot of ground. The tucked away bay was full of charm, turtles & a great coral reef garden. The downside was the mozzies!!

We bid farewell to the Garrett’s with a lobster dinner as they leave the cruising world after 11 months and head home to Oz. We wish them safe travels & hope to see you there one day.

A night back in Union was called for. We hear that we narrowly missed a local stabbing incident in Clifton, right in the spot we had been with the kids for ice cream! Mild wake up call, but we’ve enjoyed our time on Union. These isolated local incidents that could happen anywhere wouldn’t stop us going back to the Island.

After nearly 4 months on the boat we got off for 2 nights…It felt weird with our home just outside!! Great timing though as I’ve been randomly suffering with vertigo this last week & it had got worse. The feeling took me back to my Uni days when I’d swear that I never got ill, only for the whole room to spin after a night out with predictable consequences. This is not a good feeling when you live on a boat or want to move your head. Must be the dizzy heights of 10 years marriage!!

Salt whistle bay was a gem of the Grenadines & a stunning spot to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! We were the only guests in one of a handful of cottages with a glamping tent outside for extra kid beds. Ralph the dog was a friendly security guard, as were the actual 24hr security that looked after us. Justin was a fab host & chef. The locals were super friendly & a trip to the small village got us acquainted with the reknowned Rasta Righteous Richard & his quirky bar. A epic clash of steel pans played over a backdrop of Celine Dion….The rum punch definitely was special too!

Lily & Harry adored their glamping experience in the tent. Lily unpacked pretty much all her possessions for the 2 night stay. She then set up a beach stall selling shells, rope, flowers & general tat. Fortunately she took leaves & sand for payment as we were all out of cash.

There were 10 boats anchored up in the small picture postcard bay. The charter season has started! Turns out there are some benefits of cruising in the summer- empty anchorage’s. Think we’ll need to do some adjusting.

We’re pleased to be back on our home. After a tight fetch to West Cay in Bequia (3 hours ish). Chris then short tacked up the shore against the Sunday dinghy racers in true competitive style! We’re now in Princess Margaret bay, one of the few anchorages on this little Island. Loving the vibe of this funky place and it’s been great to catch up with some fellow cruisers here, especially when they have us over for a fresh tuna feast!

We plan to head to St Lucia, then Martinique next, before trickling back to Antigua.