Leg 4/5 – CaRIBbean (Tobago, Grenada, SVG, BVi, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas)

LOVELY TOBAGO

Charlotteville, Tobago and the surrounding bay are absolute jewels.   The anchorage is extremely rolly and somewhat nausea inducing and if you don’t have an electric windlass (which fortunately we do) then anchoring in >20 meters will be a workout for the arms.   But the bay is a little circle of dark blue in the middle of sloping bright green rainforest hills leading down to pristine white beaches.  Landing the dinghy is a thrill with the large swell but so far we have only flipped traumatically on one occasion and have recovered.
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NANA AND DADCU FROM GRENADA TO ST. VINCENT

Our life over the past few months has been fairly off the beaten path traveling in areas where there are few tourists and even fewer cruising boats and few of the creature comforts that we would generally take for granted (fresh water, showers, laundry, grocery stores etc.).
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CANADIANS, THE READING CLUB AND THESE HIPS DON’T LIE

Having done no laundry in about 2 weeks and needing to wash all of our bedding we took advantage of the laundry service offered by Daffodil Yacht Services. It was slightly disconcerting to hand off all of our clothes (yes, we had gone through essentially everything) and bedding to a total stranger in a random motor boat. But, back it came before 1600 that same afternoon, smelling fresh and carefully folded.
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A CLUMSY TRIP TO SOME CRUMBLED ISLANDS

The 2.5-day trip from Union Island to Tortola in the BVIs was spent sailing upwind in >30 knots, a little more than forecast. The boat was thus lying for the entire time at a 45 degree angle, meaning that all of our regular daily movements and positions needed to be altered somewhat. Opening cupboards on the windward side of the boat became extremely hazardous and generally resulted in a mad juggling act and a sigh of relief if successful or a mumbled expletive if not.
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DEEP SEAS AND A GREAT WHALE SHOW

Traveling by water from the BVIs to the Turks and Caicos brought us over the Puerto Rico Trench. This 800 kilometer long trench marks the boundary between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and has a maximum depth of 8600 meters. “So if we dropped Mount Everest in the water here we’d only have to climb 200 m high to get to the top?”
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