After three months in Europe, we are now back in Grenada. Our time away visiting Anthony and his family was awesome. We feel blessed that we were able to spend this amount of time with them. Now we have to sort out the remaining projects and get them completed ASAP in order to get back in the water. Life improves exponentially as soon as you get Splashed. Life On The Hard is not very pleasant. It is hot, lots of mosquitos, dirty and you have to climb about 8 feet [...]
We wanted to take one more trip before our time in Europe would be up. We tossed around a few places such as Scotland, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Sicily. In deciding where to go we wanted to be able to get to our destination with as little hassle as possible and it should be reasonably priced. Round trip plane tickets to Sicily were $55.00 per person, a short 80 minute flight from Lyon to Palermo, plus food and lodging would be fairly inexpensive. Also my grandparents on [...]
We scheduled a second mini vacation around my birthday and decided to circle Lake Geneva. We rented a car from Lyon and set out for our first destination, Annecy, France. We visited Annecy on one of our previous trips and decided to make it our first stop on the way to Switzerland. Annecy is sometimes called "Venice of the Alps", this idyllic and touristic representation comes from the three canals and the Thiou river lying through the old city and whose initial role was to protect [...]
We arrived in Lyon on July 21st and it has been nonstop since we got here. Our plan is to help Anthony demo/remodel an apartment/condo they purchased with the hopes of being able to move in around the beginning of September. As is sometimes the case, things take longer than expected. Anthony took the entire month of August off from work as does most of the people in France. This is a good thing if want to relax but also a bad thing if you are trying to line up [...]
**** WE ARE CURRENTLY IN FRANCE ****
Well, it is that time again and we find 5KNOTS back on the hard in a boat yard. This year she will stay at Grenada Marine Boat Yard (GMBY) in Grenada. This hurricane season Renee and I will be going to France to visit our oldest son Anthony and his family, Amel, Lalia and Maelie. We are very much looking forward to going. We have several projects that need to get completed before we can set sail again in November. It didn't take long to figure out that [...]
We decided to break up the 100 miles to Bequia by biting off 24 the first day and then the remainder the following. The short leg was to anchor overnight in Rodney Bay on the island of St. Lucia. Our plan is to arrive just before dark, anchor and leave first thing the next morning. This way we will not have to clear with customs and pay the fees for just one night. We found Rodney Bay very large and anchoring was easy. Fortunately Sharna & Jim (Second [...]
Some of the islands throughout the Caribbean have or has in the past, had some sort of crime involving cruisers. Things from just aggravating cruisers by wanting to help with moorings, theft of dingy and/or motor, stollen items from boat, and in rare incidences violent crimes have occurred. The town of Portsmouth in Dominica, has put in place an organization called the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security (PAYS). PAYS, is a non-profit organization providing security, mooring and related services to yachts visiting Dominica. When you arrive in Portsmouth you will [...]
We left the anchorage at Prickley Pear in the BVI around 1:30pm looking to make the 123nm trip to St. Kitts and arrive around the same time the following day. However, the seas were confused (coming from all directions) and kept our speed down. We decided that after 22 hours we had had enough and settled for the island of Sint (Saint) Eustatius which is the island about 20nm north of Sint Kitts. We found the anchorage easy to get into and we anchored without any difficulty. We originally planned [...]
After working our way across the southern coast of Puerto Rico, we made a short sail to Isla de Vieques, the first of the Spanish Virgin Islands. The principal islands are Vieques and Culebra and there are multiple smaller islands and islets. These islands are also called the Passage Islands and as is Puerto Rico, are all US Territories. Vieques is best known internationally as the site of a series of protests against the United States Navy's use of the island as a bombing range and testing ground, which led to the Navy's [...]