Day 112

22.11,73N 78.17,29W Double breasted island. Bahamas. Wonderful group of small islands.

Day 89 Ragged Island

22,09,82N 75,43.27W  We are anchored off this tiny flat island 

called Ragged Island. There is nothing here but a few 

houses and a salt harvesting plant. Very few yachts come 

here, its just a rest for us before we make our last sail for

 Varadero, Cuba! 48 hours away. Our trip here was amazing, 

the sea was so flat all the way. Rob lowered the rubber duck 

and went to visit Yacht Searenity for a few hours. Its still flat 

today so we are very happy.

Day 88 Great Inagua

20,57.39N 73,40.86W We arrived here yesterday, 

Great Inagua island. There is a lake in the middle of the 

Island with a huge Flamingo colony, we have seen 

them flying by the yacht. The island is small with 

1600 inhabitants most of whom work at the salt plant. 

We can see the devastation of a hurricane that hit the 

island a few years ago, fishing boats beached,steel 

structures bent. We are anchored in 5m of glorious 

blue water and can see the bottom clearly. The sea is 

so flat its wonderful. Today we leave for Little Ragged 

island, a 24 hour trip. These islands are at the edge of 

the Bahama Islands, so we are getting a taste of whats 

to come later, after Cuba. Rob caught a Tuna yesterday, 

great for dinner tonight.

Day 85 At Sea

19,41.56N  69,46.61 W We are off the coast of the 

Dominican Republic and the sea is flat. Wonderful 

for us but Searenity cant sail and is also on motor 

to their disgust. We are going as slow as we can 

at 1200 RPM and they are going as fast as they 

can at 22000 RPM, both maintaining 7 knots. 

Our motors are 3 times the size of theirs. 

We are headed for Great Inagua Island.

Day 69 Antigua

17,04.5N  61,54.7W We are anchored outside Jolly harbour, Antigua. 

We are in wonderful blue water as its only 3m deep. The thing that 

makes cruising in the Caribbean so great is that every island has 

wonderful natural bays that offer the yachts calm protected waters. 

Everyone is complaining that its a bad season with much fewer 

yachts than normal. Good for us as we get easy anchorage 

in popular spots.
Over the last few days we have seen whales, a huge 1.2m 

turtle and large dolphins. Nice to see some marine life again. 

Today we had fresh croissants and bread delivered to the boat 

at 7am (in Deshaies bay, Guadeloupe). She took our order last 

night and did a roaring trade. The French islands are great. 

We clear in and out on a computer, no waiting for ages at 

immigration offices and filling out forms.
Its rained every morning which has been great at cleaning 

the salt off the boat. Also great for the islands as some are very dry.

Day 63 St Vincent

13,57.98N  61,01.62W We snorkeled at Tobago Cays, 

there is a huge variety of fish there and turtles. 

We took the rubber duck close to the reef, picked 

up the bouy and jumped off. The sea so warm its wonderful 

to swim in. On the way back to the yacht we were drenched 

by a thunder shower. The water there is light blue, very pretty.
We then moved on to Bequia Island and slept in 

Chateaubelair Bay. A much poorer community. 

As we anchored an 14yr old called George came to warn 

us not to anchor here, its too dangerous as 'the men get 

drunk and may come to steal from your boat' So we moved 

to the suggested spot closer to the police station. Next to 

the only other yacht. We then bought Pineapples from George, 

a really bright kid. All went well although we did not get much 

sleep as it was Friday night and 3 party spots on the shore, 

were doing a good 'jump up'(local term for party)
We are in wonderful Marigot Bay, St Vincent Isl. Lots of yachts. 

Had a walk around and met South Africans from 

yacht 'Fennesy',it was moored next to us in CT.
Really special here. Will post pictures soon.

Day 59 Grenada

12,02.56N  61,45.30W  We are in St George's town, Grenada. 

We left Scotland bay, Trinidad at 1am yesterday, this was to get 

as far as we could before the wind started blowing and made

 the sea rough, and also its safer at night. There have been 

a few instances of attacks on yachts from small speed boats. 

Not enough to confirm a problem but if we travel at night there 

is little chance of being found as they don't have radar on the 

small boats. It was a bumpy ride but we arrived safely and 

anchored in Prickly bay yesterday. Caught a huge Dorado 

and Wahoo on the way. Met the yachty's at the local 

outdoor bar, happy hour. There is an SA couple there, 

who have been away for 2yrs, lots of good info. 

This is a wonderful island. Its the heart of spices with nutmeg 

and cinnamon growing on the island. Very dry, they are on very 

strict water rations. There are 4 cruise ships here today. 

Off to Tobago keys tomorrow.

Day 51 Iles Du Salut

05,17N 052,35W  We got here in rain at midnight and moored in the dark! Searenity went in first so we followed his lights. Thanks heavens for good gps instruments. Went onto the largest island of the 3. It has a hotel and a few old buildings. The wild life was great, huge Iguana, monkeys who stole the chickens eggs while we watched and strange small brown animals, something between a rabbit and a buck? The two Macaw Parrots where spectacular, roaming free. The one likes toes and when I wasn't looking attacked mine sending me running. Day trip tour boats arrive from the mainland, French Guyane, daily. It was Papillon who was imprisoned on one of the 3 islands. The buildings are very broken down and overgrown. The area is covered in palm trees, we broke open a coconut and ate the best fresh coconut ever! Leave for Trinidad tomorrow, last long stretch of 4 days.

Day 49 13 Mar 2010

04,46.95N  51,33.61W  We are in dark green sea, 

diluted by the Amazon river water. The current is 3 knots,

 so we are moving at 10 Knots! The sea is calm so we 

can do this speed. We are trying to move fast to get through 

the fishing boats before dark. Its a nightmare watching 

out for them at night. They set out lines of nets.
Yesterday was a record fish day, we caught 8!! 

4 Blue fin Tuna, largest 10lbs, 65cm. 4 smaller, 

Eastern little Tuna(Mackrel tuna). Today we had 

seared tuna for lunch..yum. Also pickeled some and 

froze some. The best was giving 2 to Searenity who 

were catching, but not landing fish. We drove close to 

each other and threw the fish onto their boat. They 

were a happy crew. NO more rods out!
Its really boring now, we are watching movies twice a day.

 The movie Invictus is great, the world cup rugby story. 

A movie every South African should see.
Tomorrow we will be at Iles du Salut, great, we will be 

on land again. Do you know who was imprisoned here?

Day 35 27 Feb 2010

Past the 'Átol das Rocas' last night and the sea 

got shallow, to 53m. Dolphins swam with us at 

dusk, they are so wonderful to watch, Krazni and I 

went to the front of the boat to watch and 4 jumped 

at the same time, least 2m in the air! They came 

back again at 22h00 and we could see them just 

below the surface with the full moon. Wash day today, 

sheets and towels in the washing machine. Also washed 

down the bathroom at 7am before it gets too hot. 

Everything gets a layer of salt air on it and feels sticky. 

We wipe the wooden surfaces with a vinegar and water 

mix to remove the salt. Rob is making more water so 

we'll have full tanks in Fortaleza, should get there Sun morning. 

Doing 8.5 kts.  Caught a small Marlin but cut the line off 

once we had got most of it back on the reel, lost lure. 

3,45.22S  35,48.05W  PS steak in F.de Noronha was not good.

Day 30 22 Feb 2010

5 days at sea, need to get off now and walk. My body is 

tired of sitting or lying, I do some leg lifts and arm swinging 

each evening to get the blood flowing. No lines out, 

dont want to catch a Marlin again. At night a few birds 

rest on the roof. Amazing how they appear from nowhere 

at about 9.30pm. Good breeze now and we are 

averaging 6.5 knots. 5,03.77S  27,07.76W

Day 28 20 Feb 2010

Today Krasni caught a Black Marlin 2.1m long! 

A shame really as we did not want to kill a Marlin. 

The lure came out of its mouth and then got fouled 

on its tail. With all the excitement Rob started the 

other motor forgetting the bungy line that was out.

 It got wrapped around the prop. Thank heavens 

Johan, from Yacht Searenity, is a good diver and 

he went down to cut the cable off. Its not a great 

eating fish, but created a good diversion. 

It gets rather boring out here. 6,15.70S 21,56.20W

Day 27, 19 Feb 2010

It was sad that we could not go ashore at 

Ascension isl, but we had a nice break. 

The huge swells were set to stay a few days 

and there is no protected landing jetty. Its a 

British isl with a USA airforce base. We had a 

fly past of 3 F16 as entertainment. The Canadian 

yachty next to us said the fresh produce market 

was closed anyway. He was a chatty fellow, 

he and his wife had been sailing for 7 yrs! Great 

excitement as we left we caught a 65cm long, 

black fish with a big flat head. It provided excellent 

meat which we made into pickled fish. Today Rob 

had the fun of fighting a Marlin till the line snapped. 

Between the two yachts we have now lost 6 lures 

and burnt out a reel. Searenity is ave 6 knotts so 

we are staying together. She looks pretty with the 

Spinaker flying. Today they got up to 7.5 knots.  

6.47,79S  19.35,86W

Day 23, 15 Feb 2010

We will be in Ascension tomorrow at 16h00, had a great Valentines lunch 

with a fresh Dorado, 70cm, and freshly baked chocolate brownies. 

No wind, we have now left Searenity behind as the are trying to 

sail in hardly any wind. 9,50.52S 12,29.30W

Day 20 leaving St Helena

Today we left St Helena, and just in time. Getting onto the island has

 to be done via the water taxi or we used our rubber duck.

 The jetty consists of a flight of 10 steps down to a concrete 

wall with 3 different levels, to accommodate tide and wave movement. 

The boat comes against the wall, you grab a hanging rope and 

step off. It was fine for the first 4 days but yesterday we had to use 

the water taxi as the swell was large. Getting onto the taxi to return 

to our yacht was a quite an experience, not for the faint hearted! 

This morning the swell was so large it was washing over the wall 

and right up the stairs. No one is leaving or going onto the island today. 

We passed the St Helena ship earlier, she is on her way back to 

the island from Ascension, to collect passengers and return to CT. 

I wonder how long they will have to wait for the swell to subside.

About 8 miles out we spotted a small fishing boat that must 

have broken its mooring last night. It was rather battered and 

we reported it to the authorities via our radio. The radio controller 

asked us to call him each day on our SSB radio to give the caps 

in the office some SSB experience. Such friendly people.
No fish today, we saw the fin of a Dorado while he inspected the lure, 

but he wasn't that hungry.
On Wed we saw a huge Ray swim past the yacht, that was very special.
Here are our Co-ordinates for Keith, 15,15.94S 6,28.43W, 

who is following us on Google Earth. Sea temp 26C, air temp 28C.
'Searenity' is just behind us with her spinaker up. 

At last some wind for them.

Day 4 sailing off Luderitz

More of the same...lots of sea but with a cold wind behind 

us today. It was interesting to see how the sea life 

increased off Luderitz. We were still far off shore but we 

had seals and even a lonely Gannet with us for awhile. 

Its 19h30, just had great Woolies steak pie! gps reading 

25,13S 14,27E We tried playing Rummikub and only 

managed two games before we felt sea sick.
My shift is 21h00 to midnight. Quite peaceful with 

the moon out. Tomorrow we are on land again!

Day 2

Yepee caught a nice Yellowtail today, 3kg. Enough for 2 meals. 

Sea Wolff is powering along at 8 to 9 knotts and all crew are 

well. Rob is a bit green. Mince on rice with veg for supper 

just now. A few seagulls about, nothing else but sea. 

We are 20 miles off shore. Sea temp 20C. 31,42S  16,57E. 

Cant believe I can sleep soo much.

Chat soon, Nadene and crew.