Jan 3rd

Well I guess its all over now! Took down my little Christmas tree this morning and put it away for another year. We had a good Christmas in Antigua, very similar to Christmas in the UK but it was hot! We arrived in Jolly Harbour, on the morning of the 23rd after a good 'motor' down. The wind was on the nose for the whole journey so we had no choice but to motor. The first 20 hours were great, the seas were calm and despite going into wind and waves the journey was relatively smooth, the last 8-10 hrs got bumpy, the seas had picked up and we experienced our first Cat Slamming! As water gets caught between the two hulls and slams up against the underside of the boat, it was a little unnerving to start with but I must admit I had prepared myself for worse and if it hadn't of been pitch black at the time, it probably wouldn't have seemed half so dramatic!

Christmas Eve through to New Years eve were spent in an alcoholic haze. We travelled around the south coast of Antigua spending our time between, Falmouth Harbour, Green Island, Carlisle Bay until we arrived back in to the bay outside Jolly Harbour on Dec 30th. The kids had a great time learning to wake board and playing on the variety of water toys left on board the new boat, kayak, double doughnut, water-skis, windsurfer, wakeboards to name a few. Even Ange decided to demonstrate her water skiing skills one afternoon, after a very impressive round of Falmouth bay, she was unceremoniously hauled back into the dinghy and delivered back to the boat, within 2 hours her muscles had seized and only a double dose of ibuprofen could get her moving again the next day! And she decided she had definitely hung up her water skis for the last time, truly a sad moment, but I guess none of us are as young as we used to be... or indeed as we sometime think we are! There are some great pictures of all the antics on picasa.

On New years eve  the weather changed, up until that time we had not seen a drop of rain since we arrived in Antigua but we awoke on the morning of the 31st to grey overcast skies and it rained on and off all day, the wind picked up and by 7pm that evening it was absolutely throwing it down and the boats were all rocking around so much, getting in and out of the dinghy was quite a feat. We had planned to go ashore to a bar that had a band playing etc, but even getting from one boat to another in the bay was difficult with the wind and rain so we had to stay on board. We had all been wondering how we were going to make it to midnight anyway! With body clocks now firmly set on Caribbean time, we wake at 6 and if we make it past 9pm in the evening we think we’re raving! So Ange, Richard and Oscar, braved the elements and came over and somehow we made it to 12! We even considered celebrating it at 8pm when the UK celebrated.....! Anyway, it was a little difficult to know when it was 12 without Jools Holland but when the firework displays started we decided it was midnight and the usual celebrations followed. With the excitement over we went to bed, I got up an hour or so later and looked outside, horrified at the sight of Ange & Richard’s boat, Sophisticate, rocking around within about 6 feet of our boat, their anchor had dragged in the storm. I shouted their names, not really expecting to be heard through the wind and rain, so we also sounded the fog horn, they heard us and sprang into action, lifting the anchor and moving further away, no damage done, even so – it unnerved us all and I think both boats kept anchor watch all night.

Despite the weather, we bravely decided to stick to our schedule and leave in 25knt winds on new years day, we had a fast and furious trip, - doing a constant 9-10knts but the seas were huge - 4m+ plus given the storms the days before so it was a tiring trip, especially as we had been up most of the night before on anchor watch, so we decided to stay the night in St Bart’s, which was great, unfortunately the wind then completely died so we had to motor the next day with the screecher up but no wind to fill it!. Still it was a very smooth enjoyable journey and we got into Sopers' hole at 10pm last night, having left at 6am. Our first journey on STM complete.... Dave flies back to the UK again on Jan 6th so we are going to stay put here for a few weeks and get the outstanding jobs finished on the Seas the Moment.

Dec 18th

Firstly let me wish you all a very Happy Christmas, it seems very odd sittting here in the sunshine listening to carols. Despite being an intensely christian island, Christmas here is quite a low key event compared with home, the shops only started stocking stuff in early december rather than just after halloween, but it is slowly starting to feel more festive. There was a christmas street market in town 2 weekends ago with a great gospel choir, singing the way only the caribbeans can do - that was wonderful. I have missed the parties and the build up though, and it will be hard being away from close friends and family, in 40 years I have never spent Christmas away from my Mum & Dad!

Dave is currently in the UK, after a horrendous 48hr journey home with his father Ken, where they missed their transatlantic flight, he has a had a rushed 7 days trying to fit in seeing family, housekeeping and working on a new job opportunity. I think he managed to get everything done and is due to fly out of Gatwick tomorrow morning. He has travelled down to London today given the weather predictions for tomorrow so I have everything crossed he will make it back home to me safely. Whilst he has been away we have had a major change, after 3 months of negotiating and alot of hassle, on December 15th at 5pm we finally sold ChilliOyster!! As I type I am now sat on our new boat, a Voyage 500 Catamaran called "Seas the Moment". It is fantastic boat, so much bigger than Chilli, I have barely noticed the children in the last week! We are now virtually unpacked and I am due to go and sign the final ownership papers this afternoon. I guess we will have to rename the website but will leave it as ChilliOyster.com for now. The new owners plan to rename her "Relentless"  Unfortunately our camera is broken - but I have put some photo's of the new boat, that we took when we were viewing it, on picasa. So I guess that's our decision made, for a while anyway, when we set sail last spring we had no idea how long we would do this for, or if we would even like it, but we have had a fantastic 12 months, it was a year to the dday this week when we reached land in St Lucia having crossed the Atlantic, how time flies, and after coming home for 3 mths in the summer, none of us had any real desire to move back to Cruise Hill, so that is now being sold to make way for the new boat and we will see what 2010 brings.  

In the short term, if all goes to plan and Dave gets back here safely tomorrow then we plan to set sail for Antigua on Monday. Although we have met lots of really great people here, and the kids now feel like the BVI is home, we made plans last year to meet up with Ange & Richard on Sophisitikate, and spend Christmas with them, probably in Falmouth Harbour. So we are looking forward to seeing them and also to our first sail, albeit it will be into the wind all the way down, but that will give us an opportunity to see how the boat performs in less than perfect conditions. Molly is going to stay here with Lincoln and his family as we plan to return here, probably in late January. After that we can not decide whether to stay here awhile, go further south and see Tobago Keys, somewhere Dave has always wanted to go, or continue back up North into the Bahamas. Either way we hope to be able to do the east coast of the US next summer.

The children are fine, They "broke up" from school on wednesday, I don't know who was more relieved - them or me! Jordan has his GCSE's in the spring so he has now entered revision mode which means he is now trying to learn all the stuff he should have learnt over the last few years! He continues to surprise me with his aptitude for all things 'boat' and has spent the last few days working alongside the owner of the Voyage Yacht base, here in Soper's hole. There are 33 Voyage yachts here, ranging from 44-58ft. They are sold here and chartered with crew or as bareboat, so there is alot of maintenance to be done. It has been a great experience for him and he is meeting some great people, as well as learning alot, he has even been fibreglassing! India was 13 yesterday, and her inner Diva continues to develop at a rate of knots! We had a party for her at Lincolns last night, which involved me cooking from 2 until 8pm alongside Sonia, Lincoln's partner. I teach her mince pies and she teaches me Chicken Roti, what can I say.

Dec 10th

Unfortunately Dave must be having the worst journey of his life, and I doubt Ken, his 85yr old father will ever fly again! Dave and Ken left for the UK yesterday morning, Ken had a great time with us despite not doing any sailing - unfortunately they missed their transatlantic flight due to the Liat hop from tortola to Antigua being delayed then diverted... I hadn't realised it was so difficult to get on another flight if you miss one, so over the last 24 hrs Dave and Ken have flown to Barbados and Grenada, where they were scheduled to get on a flight home at 6pm tonight - They left Grenada on schedule at 6pm local (34 hrs after leaving Sopers Hole on wednesday), then landed in Tobago, from what I can gather this was unexpected and they were told they would be there for one hour, two hours later he contacted me to say they had been unable to start one of the engines! The virgin website is showing the flight as delayed by 2 hrs, though as of this moment I am not sure they have even taken off, and if there is engine trouble I don't think I want them to, so naturally I am a little worried. Assuming he gets there...Dave flys back in on the evening of Dec19th and we will head off to Antigua first thing on Dec 21st, weather and boat permitting!

Dec 8th - Kens' Last Night
Not the best photo's as taken with my phone but one of Ken taken on board the new boat with his adopted family! Lincoln, Sonia and the kids made such a fuss of him, this was his last night and they gave him loads of gifts. In order round the table, Christine, India, Nicholas, Melissa, Sonia, Ken, Sean and Al. He is drinking guava berry wine, a local liqueur they gave him. 

 

Well its been a rather hectic last few days. We did eventually move on to our new boat on Monday night, moving wasn't as bad as I expected and I thought we had it covered with 2 van loads, but everyday since we have made a trip back to chilli as more and more lockers seemed to yield hidden treasures previously forgotten! Dave was so immersed in all the last minute jobs he had to do - he didn't notice how much stuff was being carted off.... It was a real shame that he didn't really get time to enjoy more than an hour or two on the new boat before flying back, he was so tied up with doing the jobs the buyer had put down as a condition of sail. I am back on board Chilli today - cleaning and tying up loose ends.

Being on board the new boat has been incredible - it is like being in the flat at home - in fact I think the galley is bigger! It is only just starting to sink in really, Our camera is broken so dave has taken it back to the UK to be fixed so can't send any pictures yet, but have this one I took a few weeks ago!















Dec 6th
Ken and I went to church this morning, leaving Dave changing seacock's on Chilli.  It was a great service, we were only two of 6 white faces in a black congregation about 200 strong, the singing was incredible. I knew every song! They had a full robed choir, a band and a very talented girl leading worship, It really was good - really lively and happy but not over the top and extreme, I would be happy to go somewhere like that, Ken found it very emotional but I was a little more reserved this time - been there done that! But I think i will make more of an effort to go even if I am not here. The kids weren't interested which disappoints me but if I go next week I will put more pressure on them to come with me. Mum you would have loved it - they were dancing in the aisles, the bishop (it was a new life Baptist church) preached for 45 mins and we were asked to stand and say who we were and were warmly welcomed, it was full of life but it was not over the top in any way, no screaming or shrieking in tongues! Ken thought it was the most incredible experience he has had in a long time and I will probably go again on my own next Sunday.

This afternoon I went over to Lincoln's and Sonia taught me how to make Roti, they have a school concert early evening but they are expecting us back later to eat what I made today. Roti is the flat bread that accompanies every curry here, they do eat rice - but the most popular dish is a chicken Roti which is chicken and potato curry wrapped in a flat bread. I really like them, you can stuff them with all sorts of stuff but Sonia said she it was best to make them plain as it was my first lesson! Sonia is Lincoln's partner and although she appears very quiet compared to me! She laughs all the time and seems to like me so insisted we bake together yesterday - I taught her to make cherry bakewell and home made sausage rolls - both of which her kids loved and she taught me Roti - we went back last night to eat it all - another good evening. We also spent Saturday night with them at Mangles house! At Al's birthday last month - we met Mangel and his wife - Lincoln's best friend, also from Guyana, and he took a shine to us and insisted we come to him for a proper curry! So we went on Saturday - they live in an apartment in town with their grown up family, and they are such lovely people, and make us feel so welcome, there was a bottle of Smirnoff on the table waiting for me! They also have a big respect for older people so Ken is called Grandpa and is treated like a King, the younger daughters even tie his shoe laces and they all love to sit and talk to him, when we told then he had designed the nose droop switch for concord they all had to shake his hand and then the cameras came out so they could take photographs of him to send back to family in Guyana, so he has had a ball! I have attached a photo of mangel and his wife Sattie (gold medallion!) Anyway both the food and company was great as you can imagine.

Go Grampy!
On Wed last week we took Ken out for a day sail on a classic sailing yacht called Veritas, it's moored on the end of our dock. We thought ken would like it as we haven't been able to sail Chilli - I took this pic as Ken jumped of the boat in the bay we had anchored in for lunch - plenty of life in the old dog yet!!!



Dec 5th

Very quick update - but just to let you know that after months of hassle and wondering, the acceptance was finally signed on Chilli yesterday, only 6 hrs ahead of the final deadline! Technically she is now sold, though completion is not until Dec 15th! Dave and Jordan are currently with the surveyor doing the survey on the new boat, called "Seas the Moment" , Indy, Ken and I are packing up the boat, as long as everything goes ok today  - we hope to move on board tomorrow, we are all very excited, will upload pics to Picasa later.

Nov 28th
It's now Saturday night, 6.50. Dave is having a power nap, Ken is doing his crosswords, Jordan is out sailing for the night with another new friend, Indy is with 3 girls on a boat 3 doors up, Molly is still at Lincolns and I have just poured my first V&T and sat down to write to you. We have had a good day today, we hired a car for the week to show Ken the island and today we drove round the island, visiting Sage Mountain (highest point), Cane garden Bay (hideous! - a usually quiet little beach had been transformed into benidorm does the Caribbean as a huge cruise ship was in port and all the taxis' had taken bus loads of visitors there), so we didn't stay.  We moved on and had lunch at the Jolly Roger nr Sopers hole and finished with an afternoon swim and cocktails at Smugglers cove (hence the power nap!). Yesterday we took Ken to see the boat we hope to buy, we thought we would just show it him from the shore but we bumped into Jo (Seas the Moment crew) who was moving all of her stuff off Seas the Moment and onto their next boat, so she took us out to see it again. 

 

It has been odd being back, I have missed Lisa and the babies and being home, though certainly not the weather, and I was very emotional for the first few days, I'm a bit too old for hormones so I think I was just tired, the trip back is long when you start out for Gatwick at 4am and then have 2 flights, we arrived into Tortola at 6.30, (10.30 English time) and then there is a 25 min drive to the boat and the kids seemed more eager to see what was in my 3 cases than they did to see me, not the big emotional reunion one hopes for! Then when I got back, one of our bags had been searched, presumably at Gatwick and all the xmas presents inside had been ripped open and the new laptop I had bought Dave had been smashed, so that upset me. They all seemed to have coped fine without me, allot of the boat had been rearranged, cupboards cleaned out and 15 bags of stuff had been removed in my absence, all of that made me feel a little odd I must admit. On the babies front I had a text from Lisa today to say that Thomas has put on another 7oz on so I am so pleased he is continuing to do well.

 

Not sure of the plans for the the coming week,  we are not supposed to use the boat after survey, but in the absence of a decision we are in limbo and obviously we want to make ken's trip out here as much fun for him as possible. If we do get an acceptance this week, the broker for Seas the Moment has said he is happy for us to move on there asap so we still have our fingers crossed that Ken will finish his stay on a multihull!