EGOI:
Yes!!! We are back! In our floating house Grain de Sable… And for me there were moments in the last years that to think of beeing back here  togather and with the best present  the life can offer you it was possible just in my best dreams.
JURA, this is the name of the most important crew member- our almost 17 month old baby boy . He is… (I'm the father so for sure not objective…) THE BEST..
Now everything on board is different: We sail in total different way, the boat doesn't look the same (now is prepared for a non stop moving baby), our routine is no routine at all… It is not possible to program anything now for us!!! Jura is onboard:)...
Everything is  different with plenty plenty plusses and very little minuses.  OF COURSE we are more tired but continue smiling and enjoying life afloat.
So this season we started in Aruba.  And at the moment we are still in Cayman Islands preparing to leave very soon to Honduras bay islands . On the way to Caymans we stopped and spend whole month sailing in the wild and wonderful Jamaica. The sailing was great-  easterly winds and happy Genoa-Jib-Pole sail with Lithuanian grandparents on board giving us a very very BIG help!
But we promise will try to write more about that soon ( baby on board means BABY on board...means BABY ON BOARD:). No time in other words:)

Have been in silent sooooo long! But as you see, here we are again. Back on our boat , back to sailing life, back back back....
Soon we will write about our past adventures and try to give an update of latest news ( very BIG news!:)))
But for the moment we leave you here with our boat areal view which our friends from neighbour boat made few days ago. After sailing from Aruba to Jamaica now we are here at anchor in Governors Creek in Grand Cayman island.

​Anyway all went well and our Grain with the 4 reefed sails on sailed faster than ever and brought us safely to Bonaire where before mentioned surpise of BERT  was waiting us...

​Here in Bonaire weather forecast was announcing tropical storm risk. So of course every body started preparing for the worst. So do we.  In  Bonaire is not allowded to anchor, so all the boats must stay on mooring buoys (10 usd per day) or go to  marina. Quite a few boats day before strong winds arrived chose to leave to the harbour. But we decided to stay. Checked better  mooring buoys and huge concrete blocks suporting the ropes down below and thought  its safer to stay  here than being in the  marina. All what we did was we dived to attach extra lines directly to the blocks(we were attach with 6 ropes finally!), tied everything on the deck, had lights, extra lines, and rain jackets prepared and waited for the worst  watching movies and reading books... But luckily. strong winds didnt touch  Bonaire at night all we got was maximum 40 knots of gust and some rain....Nothing scary or to be worried about. But it was nice experience and yes...nice reminding that hurricane season is already here. No jokes!

​...so now for at least  a few weeks we are  staying here in BONAIRE enjoying amazing clear waters and snorkeling and diving almost everyday. We were lucky to find our friends from sy FAIR PLAY we met in Tobago here.  They have diving equipment and compresor on boat, so what can be better! Egoi is making dives every two days!!!! In a one of the best diving places in all Caribbean!... 

Good by BVI!.....time to sail south and continue our Caribbean journey...

Time is flying so fast and 2 and a half monthes spend in British Virgin Islands are gone...Even though it  was  not enough.  We enjoyed  this sailing paradise so much  that in  some islands and bays if we could, we would spend minimum 2 weeks more.!..

But season of storms and hurricanes is already here and we do not feel prepared enough to spend it sailing here in the North ..Grain de Sable is a home for us and our cats- too important to put her on any risk.. Thats why we leave. To Bonaire and later CUracao. These islands are out of official hurricane belt where the possibilities of great storms are significaly smaller  than in any norhern caribbean . Also these islands are  dry, so for our Grain it will help a lot. After the last summer season spent in fresh water river in Suriname, lets say, this time we prefer to be in a drier place
( but thats doesnt mean we didnt enjoy Suriname- we loved it!)

This is also the reason why we are not sailing to Trinidad or Grenada, where most cruisers sail to hide from the hurricanes. They are very wet places as well..... And our Grain need to be hauled out and get dry..

We have 440 nm around to go , weather forecast looks good ( east , soutseast winds 10-20 kn)...adn if all Ok in 4 days we are in Bonaire. Enjoying another great island, beaituful waters, snorkeling and waiting for a visit of our friends-Mikel, Cristina and Amelie!

...It was a real pleasure to sail here in BVI,....and honestly, we feel quite sad leavig them,,,

But boats are made to sail, and we - to travel:)

So ..write you soon from BONAIRE!
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Time is flying!...
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Between discovering up and down the water worlds in BVI our days just flew away....We are in beginning of June ! Still, in BVi, but sad to say not for a long anymore...

Hurricane season has already started...and our amazing time in this incredible archipelago is finishing.  But what a time!!!....
We have sailed all over around, anchored in stunning anchorages and broke the record of times we dropped the anchor per day...If we would count all the times we changed the places and anchored here  it would probably be more times than in entire trip around the world with RagaineII:)..
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till now It would definitely be the islands number one for cruising on our list!... Yes, of course, there are pluses and minuses here, like in any other place in Caribbean....but generilising all-  this is the place!..... Maybe the local culture and people are less curious and communicative than in countries like Dominica , 
Grenada and Tobago, but the nature, landscape, bay, caves, rocks, white beaches, incredibly transparent water and AMAZING under water world is wining all that!

Lots of boats and especially unbelievable number of charter catamarans make most of the places crowdy, but the  great thing is that in afternoon most of the anchorages stays empty because charters boats leaves to some few famous places with beach bars and restaurants...And  then we can have this  privilege to enjoy peace and shining starts above alone .....
Sincerely....we love BVI,,,,,

Who knows , maybe next season we are back here again, because cruising 2 months a half it was still not enough..
Our Grain served us good and sailed us safely all around  here...During the time on BVI She had more people on   board than ever ( 18+ 2 coming tomorrow!!!) and made that all of them could enjoy their hollydays :)....And of course let us earn some money for being able to bring her to Curacao, do all necessary repairs...and by tickets to Europe to visit our families and friends.  
Our cats the same, got to be familiar with place, start sailing sleeping on main sail and discover that apart from mosquitoes and flies there are many birds flying around whom they can be ready to attack (unfortunately birds supposed to be more clever than they think and ever got too close to the cats).

And we the same,  got in love to the magic life below and spend more time snorkeling that walking around:)... Nowhere did we see so many Turtles, Sting Rays and Eagel rays as here! ... Morning swim before the breakfast it became our morning greeting to all water creatures swimming around the boat...

Our favorite spots here became Peter Island and Deadmans Bay, Virgin Gorda and the Baths, Guana islands and Monkey point and of course Trelly bay, place next to Airport which converted to our base where we picked up our guests and leave them. We discovered a perfect place to anchor and all the time were coming there used it. Close to the shore and most important with a free WiFi which we were able to use from one bar. This bay used to be incredible full, but to our surprise our spot was always free waiting us to use it:)...

Now that the high season is over bays are less crowded and the only boats we meet are charter ones-  mostly catamarans. Our Grain sometime looks like the last existing cruiser and monohul, shining blue and making big contrast to all white boats floating around.  Like a black sheep in a white sheeps crowd. We are starting to miss cruisers families and couples anchoring around . But this will be back next season:).. For sure. Even though,  we are still so  lucky  to get known a few but very nice sailors whom we hope we will meet again soon.
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First- how lucky we are to be here!... This is what we keep saying every time we arrive to new BVI island and jump to the crystal water !-. How lucky we are to be able to sail here with our own boat, to have plenty of time to enjoy any anchorage we like, to snorkel is amazingly clear waters and see stunning sunsets almost every day!...
This is the main thing we love about BVI- it makes us feel soooooooooooooooo good !!!
It reminds us natural park of Kimono in Indonesia...not people not culture and not the wildlife(I wish here were Komodo dragons too)...but all these dry and almost wild islands close to each other brings us back when we were sailing with my father and sy RagaineII in Indonesia. Super nice memories!

But now we are here in BVI, almost a month cruising and enjoying as much as we can. Each day there are new things we see and new things we learn.

So some of them let, s write here. Maybe for some one planning to sail here it can be helpful :

First- entry documents and rules.

BVI islands consist of more than 50 islands archipelago, where you can find nice anchorages almost in each islands you stop.  Knowing that we decided to stay here more time than anywhere before - almost 3 months! But for that there are some important things necessary to know when deciding in order to avoid any surprises.
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BVI immigration rules in respect of all non-British Virgin Islanders entering the Territory are- 30 days permit of staying in the Country. Visitors who wish to stay longer than that need to apply for an extension.. So did we.. When we got close to 30 day limit came to Road town and went for extensionn. It was easier than we thought. Some nice explanation about the reason why we want stay longer, 10 dollars each and another stamp in the passport allowing our visit to be legal till 26 of June. 

So this is the part of immigration. After comes customs and our boat. Grain the Sable same as we needed extension. And here again all simple. Just ”liitle” bit more expensive. After 30 days of staying in BVI we had to get temporary import for our Grain, which is valid for all year....and cost 200 dollars. That,s it. And that's what we have:)

But there is another way to extend your visit in BVI. Like in most of other countries when your legal time is finishing. Go out of the country and come back with new entry. So most of the cruisers do like this- clear out from BVI and sail to USVI (United States Virgin Islands)which are just 5 miles away. Make there an entry and exit and come back to BVI with another 30 days permit. Difficult part is that USVI belong to US and its need visa to get there. Cruisers than apply for ESTA- 90 days visa which you can apply online. And here comes the interesting part of that. To make the Visa valid is necessary first go to USVI by ferry(government require first entry make by official transport), stay few hours  or more.than back on ferry, check out and enter to BVI. Then take a boat and sail to USVI to make boat entry. Again check in, check out and back to BVI with another 30 days permit both for boat and the crew. You avoid to pay 200 dollars, visit USVI and continue sailing in BVI.

We knew that and had it as our preferred choice. But my passport is becoming totally full with no place for stamps(and for VISA!) ...so finally decided not to risk and choose little bit more expensive but less complicated way of extension.

Also, it could be an option sail back to Saint Martin and come back. Its cheaper, but...you have almost 24 hours sailing against wind...so not very attractive option:)

Anchorages and mooring buys.

It is a charter paradise, so you could  imagine, how many boats sail around. But surprisingly (maybe because we arrived at the end of the season) we found many places quite empty and during the nights is some bays we stayed totally alone.
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Most of the bays in the islands  have mooring buoys installed to protect corral and sea grass...What is nice....but...each of these buoys cost 30USD per night...What is not very nice (imagine paying 30USD every day. In a month you are almost 1000 dollars more poor!), but....if you a good in anchoring and dedicate some time to look for a good spot you can always find a place to drop anchor giving enough space for boats on mooring buoys if swinging.  We are here one month and till now we did not have to take a buoy. Charter boat likes to use them- it,s easy, no worries about anchor drag and so on...But for us taking a buoy is not just economically cruel choice..We prefer to use our old,  but trusted rocna anchor and stay just on our own risk (too many sad stories about the boats lost ashore after the mooring buoy rope broke)...

Taking a buoy could have just one good reason- they give you a bag of ice, many  litters of water and sometime showers on shore for free (after paying 30USD of course:)) It is not a critic. Actually it is really great how BVI protect their waters and corals. We just wanted to say that if you are the one who cares about $ don't worry because there are still plenty of place for dropping your anchor at sandy spot not damaging neither the corals nor your pocket:)

Provisioning.

This is another important thing to write about.  It is expensive place. No doubt. Except alcohol. What is not bad, no?  We knew that so tried to load our boat full of stuff in Saint Martin from Super U supermarket...But still. Things do not last so long so here we still  need to visit supermarkets and buy some food.  

​And here same as in any other place- longer you stay better you know the island and learn some tricks.  There are  few good supermarkets in capital- Road Town , Tortola where most of the cruisers stop just for a day for shopping.  You can pick a mooring buoy just for few hours ( if you do not spend a night you do not need to pay mooring price) and make tour to the markets.

​Forget good diary products, french cheeses and fresh meat because they are limited choice and crazy expensive!...And the bread! 4USD per bar! After a long time spent in french islands this is really hard part.  Luckily we have oven on board so home maid bread  is even better:) Most of the fruits and veggies are also too too much....so we had to limit ourselves with potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, cabbages and bananas. What is not so bad. All the rest canned or frozen.  Typical “Caribbean”:)

If you come straight from Europe it can make difficult to get use, but after spending whole 7 months in tropics we are used to that. IF i had to choose- fresh tomato salad and stake of snorkeling with turtles almost every day?...We stay with turtles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snorkeling.

Amazing!!!! ....In any island in any bay.  And you know why? Because water here is the clearest water we saw in all Caribbeans! 
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Visibility is so great that you can see the bottom even at 12 meter depth!. Really is something incredible!...But the life under is quite poor... Especially speaking about small fishes.  Comparing to southern Caribbean islands here is really epty. But what we see a lot and soooo beautiful are many rays, turtles, barracudas, big tarpons  and some sharks!...Because of so great visibility we can snorkel in deeper waters where bigger creatures appears:)

Caves, wrecks and underwater huge rocks makes snorkeling really interesting here also. And the treasures you can find at bottom:) People loose so many things and even do not try to find them! Better for us, because our collection is constantly growing!... Anchor, snorkeling glasses and tube, sun glasses, hats, ... Right from the bottom. Good for Ocean, good for us:)

Things to do ashore.
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OHHHH.........here all depends on your pocket:) Because main attraction lets say is going to restaurants or beach bars lets say. Thats what all the cruising guide reccomends and writes about. And that's what mostly cruisers (mainly charter boats) do, because there are really nice nice places to eat and interesting bars with good live music at night.

But also we found that many places has nice paths to walk, go up the hills , visit other remote bays, and of course great beaches . Most of the islands are so small that walking you can reach their other side easy. We like that.

SO these are the things we got to know about BVI till now. Enough for telling that these islands are one of our favorite places to cruise. And it's a place to visit by Boat

. That,s for sure!.....
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So we are sooooo lucky!!!!

So, finally we arrived to BVI-  our last destination before heading south to Curacao to hide ourselves and our Grain from hurricanes. And we are so happy that we reserved almost three monthes just for this place!!!!

In BVI here are more than 50 islands and all of them are so close , that in one day you can visit more than one. ...And the water.....WOW!!!!!!!!!!.AMAZING!!!SO transparent we didnt see yet in any place in Caribbeans!...We just have visited 4 places, but its enough to have  more than great impresion about it...

We were told by many cruisers we met how turistic and crowded and busy and expensive they are,,,,but after hundreds boats on anchor in Marigot bay in Saint Martin any place looks crowdy anymore::))))

...Expensive? yes....it is...but grenadines were as much or even more expensive so we got used to that::)

Also the high season is going to the end,,,,so better for us :)

Hope to write you more next days and of course...photos photos and photos...!
It,s  amazing , but we never get bored about this...same sea..same sun....but every corner has something unique...and hope for many years ahead we will continue enjoying that!.:)

Like now- this unique place-BVI:)


Rafa , Marta, gracias por aconsejar nos para venir aqui!!!!!!!!!!!:....Sois muy Grandes!!!

That's right. We are already one month here in Marigot Bay between hundreds and hundreds of sailing boats around. All types and all nationalities!
This island is a special place- wouldn, t say it's our favorite island, not at all(too much crowded, very dry and too many ugly building near the beach, especially in a dutch side), but it is very useful stop and I think many sailors would agree with me.

First of all it is still Europe, like Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Bart, so you can stay as long as you want here. But half of this island is French and other half- Dutch, what makes it even more interesting. Going by boat from one side to other you need to check out and check in, but going by land or by dinghy -no:))Also it is really safe place, not just speaking about the crimes, but also for the good protection for sailing boats. It has a huge lagoon inside, where you can enter either through French side or Dutch side bridge.  Inside lagoon many sailors leave their boats for hurricane season. For the moment do not plan this option is not for us-even if it is so protected still it looks dangerous. Not because of you, or your boat but because it is so full and there are so many boats that in a hurricane strength winds any other dragging boat could be a real danger. But now, during the good season this lagoon is very practice.  No waves, good depthh and very good holding everywhere. It also connects both sides of the island which can be easy accessible just with the dinghy. There are many boat yards, many marinas, and even more chandlery shops and services around. Cruisers ¨Meka¨for fixing boats. And it is duty free islands too so everything, and not just alcohol and tobaccoo but also fuel and other stuff is tax free!

So if you need something for your boat when you are in Caribbean sea this is the island!:) For the hurricane season its safer in Trinidad or Grenada, but during the trade winds - this is the place!
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As for anchoring place we chose a French side, Mari got bay, outside lagoon. It is more quiet here, less super yachts and crazy fast dinghies and nice friendly town ashore. Water is much nicer and bottom is full of Sea stars!

Also, it is a good place for doing day sailing trips to other well protected bays. Like grande Case or Anse Marcel or to Tintamarre (super nice snorkeling- lots of Turtles and Sting Rays just next to the boat) island. 

Other shopping on the list was the life raft. Tried to have it serviced, but unfortunately it was too old(from 1996!) and we had to by new one. And here appeared our good friend Andreas from SY ¨Luna¨ who was looking for bigger one for his boat and agreed for much lower price sell us his 1 year old off shoree 6 person raft. So another great deal. 
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​And finally the anti fouling paints, primer and epoxy. We found a really good value boat paint shop in the entrance canal of french side where almost all the stuff was a half price comparing to the main shops. 

And of course alcohol- again duty free, what's means that 1 box of beer coast 10 euros, bottle of Rum 3,5 and wine. 3. These prices will triple in BVI so again. Dinghy ride to the shop and full loaded back to boat!

Now our boats is more heavy than ever, but it was important to take all the advantages of this island because later all that would cost crazy moneys.

​......and our cats! Finally, they have passports and now they are french:)... I don't know if they are happy to be french, but British Virgin Islands are quite strict with pets import- so better be legal and have all papers done.

​In two days we sail there and plan to stay there till middle of June. There are so many islands around so hope we will have time to visit them:) And if not next year will be:) Caribbean sea will continue under Grain, s keel!!!

Winter is over, carnival is over, and our full time cruising&relaxing time  too...We are in Saint Martin , anchored in Marigot Bay and receiving guests on board. Time to earn some money, because summer is comming and our boat need a work done (mostly on the hull). What means need to buy many things....many!!!! So we are going to dedicate all the three months for Airbnb service and make people comming on our Grain to enjoy as much as possible. 
March we are staying here in Saint Martin( the French part of the island. The other half in Dutch) and April and May we will be in British Virgin Islands cruising around many islands of this archipelago.
Hope winds will help us too, because this weeks here was blowing worse than when Christmas winds were blowing in Grenadines and move around is not very possible. So two anchors , lots of chain and rope and wait for calmer days, which we see that  are comming soon!!!!!:)........:) 

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Some pics from our last night shacking and rolling!.. Winds shifted to west and all "well protected bays" became a dance hall- huge swell was entering every bay and making live on boats impossible!!!! We are Ok, our old but very good anchor held perfectly and all is fine, but heard some boats in other islands around were not so lucky......
Looks that this nights is getting calmer and tomorrow to St. Barts!

Time to write some words again.. More than a month passed since the last time we published on our blog and no more updates since then..
But to be sincere everytime i plan to write i find it so dificult to decide how to start and which information to give- write more about islands we are visiting or tell more stories about our life on boat , our thoughts, our doubts, our joy?
 That is  not easy, but than  again- the most dificult is to start, anyting. But once i start words fly alone and the only thing i need is to stop in a right moment for not to write an endless novel...

Last time we wrote on our blog we were leaving Bequia and Grenadines and sailing up to Martinique to meet Egoi parents....This time we had one night sailing,  because we didn,t stop neither in St. Vincent nor in St. Lucia. The reason we didn,t stop in any of the bays on the way was the bad reputation of St. Vncent west coast.Last year there was one german sailor killed while on anchor in one of the bays... Not nice story and not nice name for all the island which definitely has so many amazing places to offer.
It is really sad how one incident can affect all island. But sailors community is really small and internet nowadays is very powerfull.  It will take time for St.vincent to get back the welcoming soul...
Hope more good stories will appear and cruisers be back visiting this island and enjoying so friendly people and interesting culture. So many sailors write just complains about that and that, about small roberies or incidents  which of course do happens when you travel abraod. But at the same time there are so many of good things happening,  no?


Anyway...

So after very relaxed sailing we arrived to Martinique. Here we had to pick Egoi parents who came to spent with us all 3 weeks and sail togather till Guadeloupe.  
Martinique belongs to France and ,yes, even if people are black, climate is tropical and pelicans are flying around,  believe you still feel you are in France. For good and for bad. But after spending 4 months cruising around caribbean islands and not seeing any big supermarket beeing back to Europe it means just for good:) You can,t imagine how happy you can feel when again you can have yougurts, cheese and of course good and cheap wine on boat! Now we understand why so many criuisers sail to Martinique even just for provisioning:)
We arrived to the southern part of Martinique Cul-de-Sac du Marin bay. Probably it was the first time when we saw so many boats on anchor in one place! Hundreds of all kind of sailing boats anchored at the end of the bay in from of a huge Le marin marina. Spectacular!

 And of course we had super news for our cats- Epoxy and Sikaflex.. We found a good food and good material for their toilet:) Carefour you are the best!
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​In a few day Egoi parents were already on board with lots of kisses, smile and happiness to see them here with us on our Grain!  Again boat is full of goat cheese, chorizo, good ham, "pipas"-sinflower seeds ( special request from Egoi:), rolling tabacco, pimiento rojo and anchovies!

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​Sailing along the lee coast of  MaritiniqUe the same- was perfect. Lots of winds and no waves at all! Sun all the time and stunning views of Pitons mountains and Pelee Volcano....
Than fast day sailing to Dominique and 2 kilos Barracuda for dinner! In January trades winds shifted more to east and southeast so sailing between the islands became much more pleasent-nothing to compare to crazy Christams Winds in December! (Remi , you would have loved this passage!)

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Year which brought our boat and us to these warm and tropic waters:)

Canary islands, Cape Verde, Suriname, Tobago, Grenada and Carriacou, and now the Grenadines and Bequia, where surounded by so  many sailing boats we celebrated New Year- alone but content to be on board  with our cats and Grain de Sable:)

Strange in the begining but happy at the end- no headache in the morning and fresh start of new day in new year:)

And lots of energy to write few  words about our sailing in Grenadines:)

But if to be honest, i  need to say that both days-Christmas and  New Year eves we were missing our family and friends a lot ...

So maybe next year..

This time four of us ( me, Egoi, Remis and  his son Andrew) Christmas Eve we met in incredibly beautiful place- Tobago Cays...Locals in the wild island ashore organized Christmas dinner so most of sailors from boats around gathered there to celebrate ...SO do we:) All togather in a big table with lobster, grilled fish, rice, fried banana, veggies , potatoes and of course Campari which we took from the boat.
Thank you, Remis!!!! It was really worth to come there...Imagine totally wild island beach full of tables covered with food and sailors sitting around and having great time....Something unreal...
Something so magic to remember ...

Just the winds were not as we would like to be.. .Really...so so windy! Since Remis arrival  in Grenada we had not any calm day...Winds were blowing constatly 20knots from north east direction and in the gusts frequently reahing 30!...This was something we didn,t expect...But now we know- these winds are called-"Christmas Winds"- a yearly phenomenon bringing sailors high winds and rough seas. They tend to appear during the months of Dicember and January,.. hope this year at least January will be better.

Remis came to enjoy relaxed sailing and what he got was a really hard sailing days with the wind on the nose and wavy sea ! 

We started in Grenada and little by little moved north towards St, Vincent, from where he and his son Andrew  had to fly to Martinique and after to Boston ....
Distance in miles looks really small, but with strong winds on the nose and west ward going current, believe, even a 10 miles passage can last long!..SO we waited few days ( while staying in Port Luis marina in Grenada- swimmig pool and showers- no complain:)) for  weather window and after sailed from Grenada to Carriacou. On the way visited underwater sculpture park  and spend the night at anchor at  Grand Mall bay. Next day with early start and quite calm sea( perfectly planned weather:)) reached Carriacou. 
There we had to wait till Remis son Andriew comes and after again sailed few miles hard to the wind till Union island- Clifton. Very windy anchorage and squalls till 35 knots....Little space  with too many boats near so the nights were little bit restless worrying not to be hitted by other boat in front draging ...Luckily our anchor (rocna) is really good and oversized for this size of our boat so we feel safe mostly all the time while on anchor. Also here with so many gusty winds we let much more meters of chain than normaly. But in all these crowded anchorages there is also a risk to get in trouble not because of you, but your neighbour ...
Anyway..
 The place itself was so unique!..Anchored on a leeward side of the island just with narrow  line of  reefs separating us from the Ocean..Incredible colour of water and reefs just in front! 
Ashore  we made check in to new country- st. Vncents and Grenadines...and after 2 nights left towards Mayeru...One of our favourite islands...

Anchored in Saline bay with a long beautiful beach in front where we met  sunset sitting on a sand and of course drinking Campari ....:))) Happy hour,  like Remis says:)

...Next day-Christmas Eve day and as we planned sailed to Tobago Cays..
Once more crazy wind and current and rolly anchorage in the Cays...But here, no matter how much is blowing this place always it will look stunning. 
Tobago Cays is a wild nature park where Caribbean Pirates where filmed and where normaly you can see lots of sea turtles while snorkeling...But we didnt..Too much wind and current between the islands...Only the sea stars they were everywhere down there!.....But we still  love this place!..

Next day we decide to move to Canoun..Weather forecast was showing increasing  wind and sea  so we were in a hurry to reach St, Vincent where we could all relax and spend  the last days of Remis and Andrew visit  in confortable Blue Lagoon marina. .In Canuan anchored in a beautiful wild and spacious bay....but next day with a sunrise left towards St , Vincent....11 hours to make 30 miles passage!...wind and current not helping at all...so with a furled mainsail....mizzen sail and baby jib and engine in blowing 25-30 knots and once reaching 40 knots from north east little by little made it!
Welcome to windy Christmas!.....At least it was  sunny and warm,,,blue colour and great views al the time!..This area of Caribbean sea is special! And the people, they are nice..relaxed , living on small islands where some of them had no electricity  till 2003!...We know that more north we will sail more civilized and crowded we will find everything, so once we are here lets enjoy everything...

Now we are in Bequia , still Grenadines, but once the wind will get little bit more from the east and lighter we are going to start sailing north again. First few days stop in St. Lucia and after- Martinique...
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Little by little......

...Time to celebrate New Year....and start the next one...and Grain de Sable is sailing to Bequia to meet them there like in 2008 with my father on sy Ragaine II:)..If someone would have told us we will sail there 8 years later with our own boat and just two of us probably we would take it like a joke,,,

But as you see it is not a joke: And thats why we love this life. ,,,,Never say never and believe in your dreams:)

---strongly and deeply

...and one day you will have them comming true without realizing it was your drea,m....

So enjoy the photos and wait few days for longer text about our crusiing in these beautiful waters with our friend Remis and his son Andrew. Today they left our boat from St. Vincent where we are at the moment and in few minutes we will sail to Bequia...again just the two of us and the cats......

Promise to get soon fast wifi and write about our windy sailing in Grenadines....

You see this blue water?...So this is the biggest reason why we wanted to come to Caribbea sea:)...We did enjoy Suriname,,,,Tobago ( a loooot!!!!!) Grenada...but none of these islands had this colour....:)
And so since now we have this nice windward islands chain of Grenadine islands and there waters waiting to be explored...
In Grenada we received our new crew member- Remis, who flew from cold Boston to sail with us!!!