We sailed from Trinidad on November 2. At one time that was considered the end of the hurricane season. It was assumed, therefore, safe to venture after that date into the wilds of the Caribbean where ,hurricanes swirl, whirl and prevail. That was a major concern because most boat insurance policies excluded coverage while in the “hurricane season in the Caribbean”. Since then, the good folks at the marine insurance business extended that date until the end of November. Lately those folks gave up the date and location issue entirely. Many boat insurance policies, including ours, excludes coverage for any “named storm, any location, any time” unless you pay more. Seems, some really believe in climate change when money is involved.
For the record, there were two named storms in the Lesser Antilles this year which is the average number for the last 30 years. Of course, Major Hurricane Beryl destroyed Carriacou but they are slowly recovering.
We sailed north from Trinidad in wonderful weather, picking our way between islands to avoid the squalls and adverse winds. We overnighted in Bequia and then sailed on to St. Lucia. There we spent five days visiting friends and cruisers. The strange thing, while in St. Lucia was that Customs and immigration was closed for almost a week. The problem with that is if you don’t get Customs clearance in and out of an island, you don’t have the right paperwork to enter your next port of call. Fortunately, our next port of call was Martinique. This French Island is not as demanding regarding the paperwork and so we cleared in and out and then had the proper papers to enter Antigua, our final destination.
In the interim, we overnighted in Dominica and Guadeloupe before Antigua. This island hopping for 536 miles brought us to Antigua just in time to gather with the arriving 80 boats of the Salty Dawg Rally from the U.S. Since then, there has been the daily social events they organized that keeps us busy. Lynn and Mark have stayed with us for a five days as their boat ROXY is in Annapolis on the block to be sold. Lynn is the social director for the Dawgs and did a great job, along with Bob (PANDORA), in setting up all the events. Things wind down after Thanksgiving as we plan to spend two weeks in New York for Christmas Holidays.
We have managed multiple dinners, played Mexican Train Dominoes and even had a private Jam on Kalunamoo with young Victor from Spice of Life.
This short video shows, we do actually sail at times. True most time is spent at anchor but as Christopher Cross sang:
Well, it’s not far down to paradise
At least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away
And find tranquility
Oh, the canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me
Our current “neighborhood” is about 500 miles long and so when the wind is right we move. And when it is not, we stay. Believe me!
Kalunamoo 