Flying home………is so fast, unbelievable. After paying 50EC (ca.25.00 can for both of us) to get to the St Vincent airport, we began our long travel day. First to Grenada and then to Barbados : we could have taken a direct flight from StVincent to Barbados but it was too early...and we needed to put a tap on the boat entrance and close down everything, hence this connection between Grenada and Barbados! It felt strange to look at the boats anchored in Prickly Bay (Hi Pam and Bill!!!). We had a nice break of 2 hours in Barbados modern and elegant airport decorated with flying fishes....

The flight Barbados - Toronto was pleasant but we landed in a very gray and rainy Toronto...and Kingston was not much better except for the heart warming welcome by Lindsay and Karen!!!!

The next three days were only rain and rain and gray skies...it felt like we switched from a colour movie to a black and white one...

Life is not as pleasant on the hard as in the water…as summer begins, the temperature have climbed as well as the humidity and the inside thermometer has been showing 30C + since we hauled the boat out. But something made our stay there so special:

Thanks to Tony, the yard manager at Ottley Hall, we have been getting an insider look at StVincent as well as at the Vincis themselves. Tony is very proud and committed to make the island a good place to live for everyone, tourists included. After his long work days, he took us along to Kingstown (Veejays is THE meeting place) to have a drink (and rotis) with some of his friends and on another occasion, he traveled with us around St Vincent and brought us to a real gem of a place (restaurant and bar).”Dos Rios” was built by his owner, Goderich, with native wood in the area where he has always lived and between two rivers…Daphne may be the name of this area close to Kingstown. We had (several) very good rum punches (passion fruit, lemon, and rum) and very tasty burgers with fries for very little money. The ambiance was tropical, with frogs and crickets trying to compete with Bob

Marley’s music. Yes, Marley is still going very strong in the island and as Goderich was explaining to us, probably because of the values (e.g. self-respect, solidarity, pride) that Marley sang about. Tony then brought us to his house where he lives with his mother, to have us taste breadfruit that she had prepared that day. Wow, here we are, at 9h30pm, coming to a woman who is so warm and kind and embraces us as if we were her children….Breadfruit, fried mahi-mahi and fried mahi-mahi roes were absolutely delicious!

We are truly thankful to Tony for these side trips as they made our week at Ottley Hall a real discovery…it’s so sad, however, that StVincent is having difficulty attracting cruisers due to safety reason. All the people we met during our stay at Ottley Hall were friendly and generous and this is also true for the population of Kingstown. Hopefully, things will change because St Vincent is a real gem.

Ottley Hall Shipyard - a good bye for a few months!

We have been working hard to prepare the boat for the coming summer months. In Canada, we have to winterize the boat every fall - here, we have to "summerize" the boat. Some preparations are comparable: antifreeze through the engine and all pumps (so that the rubber will not stick), cleaning every cupboard ... others are new items for us: all water tanks have to be filled and treated, all walls have to be sprayed and wiped down with vinegar, every food item inspected for bugs (none found!!!!), sewing shades for all the windows to minimize the heating effect of the sun in the interior, opening all cupboards/floor boards/storage compartments so that air can flow.

But, boy, is it hot. With numerous showers we try to cool off as much as we can.


The yard, a large commercial yard, puts all the boats on cradles, which, in turn, sit on a concrete floor. One of the best set-ups we have seen so far in the Caribbean.

And the view is not too bad from the cockpit. Mountains and the Caribbean Sea. A nice backdrop when we sit down and take a rest in the evening.

The yard is surprisingly clean. No trash or dirt around the boats.

Some derelict cargo ships and fishing boats line the inner harbour wall. We have been told that they will be gone later on in the year due to new developments (the yard has been taken over by a new investor from the US).

We will be leaving in a few hours. Last night we had a fantastic evening with Tony, one of the yard managers. More about it later ...

Ottley Hall! We left Bequia this morning after two heavy downpours and squalls. We had great weather crossing the St Vincent channel, however, and really enjoyed this last sail of the season...ist-it funny that we stop sailing in June here and at home, that's when it really starts being nicer...anyhow, at 11h30, we entered the bassin of Ottley Hall and at 12h30 the boat sat on the craddle....Everything went smooth. My captin was really not thrilled to back up in a 18 feet wide ramp for the travel lift with significant wind gusts pushing us in different directions ! But we managed! It was really time to lift the boat: check these pictures!

The things sticking out are growth, hariy algae...that would cover the entire bottom if Heiner had not been scrapping as often as he did...Luckily, he tried scrapping this afternoon and the stuff is easily removed.

More disturbing was to see the shells, barnacles and other creatures around the shaft ! Surprising that the prop still turned!

Left is a zinc, can you still see it??? Down below, it looks like somebody stucked sun dried tomatoes in there....

And left is the transducer........

Yesterday late afternoon, we went back to this old abandonned resort to gather "Julie" mangoes...they literally fall from the sky! We can't wat for them to ripen!

What a surprise when Heiner told me that we had a calmar (octopus?) that squirted ink on our deck! I could not quite figure how it..but it was a simple story: one of those booby bird caught a little calmar and dropped it..with its ink spreading on the deck!

Back in Bequia....our journey is taking another turn. We are going north...the boat is going to be hauled out and our mind set has changed: we will clean the boat and do minor repairs for the coming week...and on June 11th, we will sail from Bequia to StVincent for haul-out. It is nice to be back here..although we miss our friends on Songbird with whom we were here last time...

C'est la vie...

Nous voila de retour a Bequia...nous sommes dans un drole de mood, maintenant que nous avons quitte nos amis Pam et Bill sur Songbird ainsi que toutte la belle gang de Tyrrel Bay...nous mettons l'accent sur le travail pour etre pret pour la mise hors de l'eau le 11 juin, alors que nous traverserons le canal de St Vincent entre Bequia et StVincent.