October 19th...one year ago we left Miami heading to our hopeful destination of Grenada.    We made it on June 26th having travelled over 2,000 nautical miles and having visited many countries and islands!   Our plans now are to travel back north some time soon.  We are not sure how long it will take or where we will go on our return trip.  But we are all ready to return to the USA!  Maybe by next hurricane season.

                                                   We are ready for our adventure to begin

We did an overnight sail to West End in the Bahamas and spent 2 months exploring the Bahama Islands.   Our Thanksgiving was with friends John and Cathi at their beautiful beach front home on Treasure Cay. Our Christmas was spent on Rum Cay where we were invited to share dinner at a sandy floored bar for a pot luck dinner with the 38 residents.  New Year's Eve was spent in San Salvador with friends Helga and Peter. We left San Salvador on January 26th and had a two night sail to the last island in the Bahama chain called Mayaguana.  We had Will's brother Jamie with us as an extra crew member.  We spent a week there with 11 other sailboats waiting for a good weather window to make the sail to Turks and Caicos.

                                             Thanksgiving in Treasure Cay at Cathi's home

                                             Christmas in Rum Cay with friends  They are
                                             preparing costumes for Junkanoo parade the
                                                         day after Christmas

Helga and I on sailing catamaran Twiga on

New Year's Eve

Jamie and Will on our way to Turks and Caicos.

This is after two days of beating into the winds

and waves.  Happy to be in calm waters.

Leaving Turks and Caicos was a big jump for us and arrived in the Dominican Republic after another two day over night sail.  We arrived on January 22nd and spent 3 weeks there enjoying the Spanish culture.  We met up with friends Sylvio and Susan and Jon....cruisers we have met and spent fun times with as we have travelled south.  Jamie left us to find wind surfing meccas, and we set off for Puerto Rico.

Jon and Susan 

Sylvio

                                                       

We loved many of the ports that we visited in Puerto Rico.....Mayaqueze, Boqureon, Cabo Rojo, Guilligans Island, and finally Silinas.  We spent two wonderful months at this fine harbor and had friends Marty and Smitty join us for a week visit. We met our friends Dick and Jane playing Mexican train dominoes.   Susan's friend Kim came for a weekend, and we spent a day on the beach with our Puerto Rican lady friends

Marty and Smitty

Jane and Dick

Mommie, Kim and Susan

Alexandra

Next stop Tortolla in the US Virgin Islands.  We stopped to anchor each night at Vieqiues, Calebra, and St Thomas. We attended a wedding of our friend Morris's son on May 10th...Brian and Lara.  We explored different anchorages there and in the British Virgin Islands as well....Virgin Gorda was a treat as we met up with our friends Meredith and Justin.

Brian and Lara

My colorful friend

Fellow Hilton Head sailor Jim

                                              Will's good friend Morris...father of the groom

                                            Justin and Meredith married in Virgin Gorda

On May 22nd we headed east to the Windward Islands.  St. Maartin, St Kitts, and Nevis.  On June 3rd we arrived in Guadeloupe and were treated to an island tour to the waterfalls with Charlotte and Jonathan....a young couple we met at the weeding in Tortola.  This was our first French island and found the French very hospitable.

Charlotte and Jonathan in Guadalope

Everyone loved Benely.  This was on Nevis at

an outdoor art cafe

Dominica was our next stop and Bentley was not allowed ashore, so after two days we sailed on to Martinique another French Island.  We met a couple from Greenville, SC...Libby and David and toured the Mt. Pele volcano area with them.  Walking among the ruins of the town of St Pierre that was destroyed by the eruption of Mt Pele in  in the 1902 was a special treat.  We also loved the aromas and food on the French islands.

                                     Food stands and bakeries are a part of all island cultures


On June 17th we arrived at the first of the Leeward Islands...St Lucia.  Our hurricane insurance takes effect on July 1st, so we hustled through the islands quickly.  St Vincent, Bequia, Mayreau, Union Island, and Carriacou which is a part of Grenada, so we checked in there.

Beautiful anchorages throughout the islands

                                            Wendy and Dave with us in Carriacoua. This was
                                            the first time we had run into them since March, 2013

Checking in and checking out is a MUST in each of the different islands, so we have now checked in and out of 15 different ports.  We will be checking out of Grenada in the very near future.  We look forward to returning to the United States.   We are not sure which direction we will take or how long it will take us, but we hope to be back by the beginning of hurricane season July 1, 2015.

So a final picture of our sailboat Varua at sunset in Woburn Bay, Grenada.   We will miss many of the friends we have met from all over the world.   Bitter sweet to leave this country, but USA here we come.
                         

Shopping day Grenada style.


Here on this hilly, hot, humid island, you usually join a group of other cruisers on a weekday to take the shopping bus to get your groceries and other things that might be needed for the boat or personal use.  All buses on Grenada are actually vans with seating capacity usually at 12-15 people.  The city buses have a driver and a conductor that sits on the passenger side near the sliding door (there is only one door),  and he hails people along the streets to see if they want to take his bus.  He also collects the $2.50 EC fare.  EC is Eastern Caribbean money and $2.50 EC would be equivalent to about $1.00 US.  The cruiser's bus is $10 EC and is still loaded with lots of people.

                                                   This is a cruiser's shopping bus

Our driver today is Shademan

A typical city bus

The van arrives at 9:00 but cruisers have to give themselves time to leave their boat in the dinghy, head over to a marina that is close to them, tie up and lock the dinghy and walk up to the pickup spot.   So we left our boat at 8:15 and were there about 25 minutes ahead of time.  Because of the the mosquito virus that is spreading through the Caribbean, I have sprayed myself down with bug spray as they are very much buzzing around in the mornings.  The virus is called Chickungunya and has effected 65% of the people on Grenada.  I know of three people that have had the virus and two are still fighting it.  It brings headaches, fevers, and the worse part is aching in the joints that is similar in feeling to arthritis.  It last any where from days to weeks and even longer.  I sure don't want that disease, so I spray on that toxic spray...but the views are beautiful.

Off we go up the hill from Whisper Cove marina and winding around the dirt roads till we hit the main drag.  They drive on the left hand side and honk as they round a corner to warn of their approach to any unseen cars coming from the other direction.

                                                   Up the hill from Whisper Cove

                                              The roads are windy and tight....squeezing by


Our first stop is the ATM machine.   Six of us get out of the van to withdraw money to spend on the island.  I wondered how many different countries were being represented at that machine today.  I know there were a few French, an Englishman, a funny lady from Switzerland, and a couple from St Thomas and myself from the USA.   Money in our pockets, we are off to our next stop.



Some of the views along the way and the round about before getting to the Spice Land Mall with the big IGA grocery store.

After stops at the Ace Hardware store, the veggie market, and budget marine, we enter Spiceland Mall.  You never know what you will find in the produce or meat department, but the shelves are stocked with most of the items we need for the boat.  There are a lot of local fruits and vegetables like
avacados, papaya, chili peppers, callaloo (which is like spinach but much toughter), and lots of pumpkin, ginger, sour oranges, and bananas....of yes lots of bananas.  The meats are totally different. It is extrememly hard to find a chicken breasts....there are lots of wings, and feet and necks.  There is plenty of goat and oxtail, and I have never been tempted to buy a Canadian cow ear.



This is the veggie market...lots of ginger and sour oranges

I wonder who will get the lastbroccoli 

This is the poultry section....not one bit of chicken 

Pig ears...oh my

 Beef feet...no idea how to cook those

A couple of choices for rice or couscous.  

Then all of the groceries are piled into the bus to take back to our boats.

Hope the bread is on top!

Then all the food has to be redistributed to the owners and brought back down the hill to the dingy dock.  This usually includes cases of Carib beer and bottles of wine.  

Our supplies back on Varua....a big bag of dog food for Bentley

The results for tonights dinner is curried goat stew with pumpkin.  

And a glass of wine to wash it down.