ARC rally

We again arrived in St Lucia to see Anna and Bones on Emily Morgan as they cross the finish line on the 2107 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). They are due in on Dec 8th so we have a few days to wait. While we are here we get approached by Lynn on Silverheels III to see if we could do a stint or two on the finish line as we did a few years ago. Since they offer us EMily Morgans corssing day we decided we would do it again/ So here we are as the finish line boat taken numbers, names and times of those who cross. It's done as a 24 hour shift, so we start at 10am and stay up all night until 10am the following day. It takes it's toll after 34 boats crossing on our first shift.

Devin returns after setting the lights on the Buoy

Well this boat is very memorable as Devin's sister sent us a photo of because it is called Moose, although not Moosetracks, it was close enough. The photo was taken near his sister's house in Lagos, Portugal. Well imagine the surprise as we see it again crossing the finish line on the ARC several months later and just before Emily Morgan.

Moose of Pool

Happy to be done

well teh long awaited arrival of Emily Morgan is at hand. The weather will not co-operate and the sky is a dark grey with rain at times. Still you can clearly make out the smiles of those aboard as EM crosses the line to as much noise as we can make.

After 19 days we see them clearly

Emily Morgan crosses the finish line

EM does a nice fly by after crossing the line and we get to see Pluto for the first time in months.

All sails down and ready to go to a berth

A quick see ya later from Pluto and crew.

We of course went in to visit EM when we finished on the line and Moosie was bouncing off the bulkheads with excitement at being able to meet Pluto again.

Moosie gets a tour of EM with his buddy

Ahh leaving so soon, Pluto says goodbye

There were just a few noticeable crossings on the last day, one a close fly by to say thanks. One a dis-masted boat Lykke who had to make 800 miles to the finish without their mast.

A family affair

Xavier on Le Cigal crossing with his family

Lykke without a mast

This small racer looks really good crossing the line

Not all boat mascots are treated teh same, this poor mascot was tie-wrapped to the stern pole across the Atlantic!

Poor guy

Once we were finished and back at anchor we could catch up on sleep.

Back at anchor with great sunsets

St Vincent and the Grenadines

We left Carriacou toward the end of October and due to insurance restrictions cannot go above 12 degrees 40 minutes latitude. So we hung around Union Island and Mayreau for a few days until November 1st. Then we set sail for Bequia which is one of our favorite stops.

We visited Liz at her home on Bequia and got caught up on things happening in her garden and with her trip back to the UK last year. It was a lovely day and great to catch up.

Sailing to Bequia

Also in the anchorage was Sinbad and Nervana64 so we had drinks with Morgan, Karmen and Randy/ We felt like a little exercise too so we had a couple of snorkel trip with Karmen and Randy showing us their favorite sites. First we went out to the Moon Hole where the houses are built into the rocks. You might remember we tried to walk to these last year. Well we got a good look at the buildings and a better look at the underwater world.

Karmen and Randy

You can still rent these

Houses built into the rocks

The Moon Hole

Juvenile Spotted Drum

A couple of Lobsters

Our second snorkel trip was to the Devils Table, a dive site on the north side of the harbor. We found some lovely fish and a great snorkel spot.

Coral Butterflyfish

Foureye Butterflyfish

Spotted Moray Eel

Smooth Trunkfish

Jewelfish

Also in the anchorage were Harm and Lizzie of Horta, our Dutch friends we see so much of in Carriacou. We took a trip to St Vincent on the ferry from Bequia for a day out. We got to see several of the local churches which are very nice and did a little shopping as well.

Riding the ferry over to St Vincent

A very distinctive church

Nice internal gardens

No traffic lights so they do it the manual way.

Liz and Lizzie

 This one window has quite a history. Apparently made for St Paul's Cathedral in England and Queen Victoria felt Angels do not wear red, so she donated it to St Vincent instead.

Window donated by Queen Vistoria

well it wasn't all play in Bequia, we had some time to get our varnish done on the toe rails.

Devin hard at work

We had a fabulous time in Bequia and really enjoyed meeting up with our friends. Now its time to head north to Martinique for a little restocking of the essential French foods and drinks.

Sailing past the Pitons in St Lucia

Our first stop was Le Marin for restocking at Leader Price and Carrefore.

The wonderful dock to Leader Price. So convenient.

They rebuilt it after the storms this year too

We then went out to St Anne to enjoy a few walks and hikes and to get back into noodling at sea for exercise.

Lovely views of the sea on the hikes

The hike to Caritan beach

The beach at St Anne

So sad to see boats lost.

Well it's early December and in a few days our good freinds from the UK, Bones and Anna on Emily Morgan cross with their guests on the ARC rally from the Canaries. So we are off to St Lucia and |Rodney bay to greet them.

Carriacou Storms & Celebrations

We started September with Liz's birthday and left Tyrell Bay for the beautiful Sandy island just outside the bay. It was nice to get out of the bay for a few days and be on our own. We spent teh days walking on the beach and of course snorkeling the reef here.

Butterfly fish, always in pairs it seems

Beautiful sponges

Spotted Eel

A nice meal if it wasn't in the park.

A crab feeding

Nice color

Sandy Island moorings

We rushed back to Tyrell bay after the birthday weekend because tropical Storm Irma was on its way, although way north of us we didn't want any issues as it was forecast to become huge.

Bringing Les in

Moosetracks safely tied in

The Leeward islands got the brunt of the Category 5, the highest you get, Hurricane Irma. The devastation was awful and very wide spread.

Ok here we go again now for tropical storm Maria, it was again forecast to be a category 5. we didn't want to chance anything again as the storm surge was quite bad for Irma so here we are again.

The boat next to us had a film crew visit it!

A ridiculous amount of bad storms

The surge was by far the worst of the 4 storms this year, it destroyed some of the new docks around the new marina.

The really bad surge after Maria

Getting back to normal and snorkeling one afternoon on Oscar's wreck we found lots of new sea life. The wreck is now breaking up quite a lot and is gathering a lot more sealife.

Lobster now make it home

Lots of fish on the wreck

Devin got in a few Loinfish hunts with Lumbadive during September too.

A slipper lobster

A few lionfish

We helped the cruisers in the bay raise money for the Islands hit by this years storms. A local man, Gus, was taking his own boat to Dominica were he has family. So we loaded Gus with donated items for Dominica.

Helping load teh boat

Some donated items collected

The bay returns to normal, we hope for a while at least.

So we are back to boat projects now the storms have settled. First up is the Stay-sail repair for the sun cover.

Liz sewing the Staysail at Richard and Diane's house

Well soon we will be off again to Islands and anchorages north. It has been a wonderful season in Carriacou and we loved every minute of it.

We hope all our freinds are safe and had a great summer.