Valent

On the 8th January, we crossed back overnight from Barbados to the Grenadines, where we first spent a couple of days in Bequia in order to check in, before heading down to Tobago Cays. We met up with our friends on English/Swiss family boat Epiphany and had a lovely few days with them paddleboarding/kayaking between the small islands, snorkelling and enjoying the clear water and plentiful sea life. Sophie will write a separate blog post about what she saw on her snorkelling trips.

The winds were very strong at Tobago Cays, although the islands are protected by a horseshoe reef, and while we were there another boat whose anchor was not properly dug in to the sand started to drag its anchor along the sea floor. It was lunchtime, and the first we knew about it was the strange vision of a boat appearing alongside, an unknown boom flashing past the saloon and an unexpected noise. The dragging boat had brushed our bow and started to move quickly down the starboard side of our boat – with the anchor not digging in, there was nothing to stop it from drifting fast in the direction of the nearest island. Luckily we had the dinghy tied on to this side and it worked very well as a fender and stopped the boat causing any serious damage. The boat’s owners were not on board to do anything about it, so acting quickly Will stepped across from our boat to theirs. Luckily they had left the key in the engine so he was able to start the boat and take control of the steering before it hit anything else. Will was just working out how to raise the dragging anchor when the rather shocked boat owner came back by dinghy, climbed back onboard and together he and Will raised the anchor and got the boat back under control. The boat owner and his crew were relieved to find that we had sustained no damage in our close encounter, and after driving back to the anchorage Will jumped overboard and swam back to Valent. The yacht departed giving profuse thanks and Will settled down to enjoy the rest of his lunch.

After all that wind, it was time for us to make progress further north. Together with Epiphany we set off for Saint Vincent, with the wind and swell quite strong between the islands, and after a lively passage we arrived at a tiny bay, Petit Byahaut, where we stayed overnight. The bay was so small that as well as putting our anchor out from our bow, we used a long rope to tie our stern to a palm tree on the beach, to stop the boat from swinging around.

A couple of hours’ sail up the coast of Saint Vincent the next day took us to Chateaubelair bay, where we were met by a very friendly local, Kemroy, who looked after us during our stay. Our purpose for stopping in Chateaubelair was to visit Saint Vincent’s active volcano La Soufriere, which last erupted in April 2021. At 6.30 one rainy morning we started our trip, going by dinghy to the black sand beach caused by volcanic ash. The hot ash had forced its way through the rocks to make a path from the volcano down to the beach, and guided by Kemroy we followed this path up the mountain, seeing lush green vegetation turn gradually to sparse and broken branches and finally to dark grey volcanic rocks with no greenery as we climbed higher. After three hours we reached a ridge which led up to the summit, at 4,048 feet (1,234 metres) where swirling clouds and strong gusts of wind made the last part of the climb perilous. After a while the clouds cleared and you could look down into the volcano’s crater, where a lake filled with rising steam was visible.

It was interesting to hear from Kemroy and other locals about their experience of the previous volcano eruption. One lady told us that they received warnings of an upcoming eruption in December 2020, and she had her bag packed and ready, but nothing happened for a few more months. In February 2021 Kemroy could see the edge of the crater glowing red and everyone started to worry, but the Seismic Research Centre which monitors the volcano didn’t give orders to evacuate until 8th April 2021. On that day, the lady we spoke to told us that everyone had to run down to the water and get into boats which were leaving the island as quickly as possible. She was not allowed back to her house for a year, and there is still evidence in the town of buildings destroyed by the weight of the hot ash, with no money to rebuild them. This lady had lived through the previous eruptions of 1979 and 1971, but she told us that she always comes back because Saint Vincent is home.

Another natural feature of Saint Vincent is its waterfalls, and we visited the Dark Falls waterfall with our friends from Epiphany on a much less challenging walk the following day, where we were able to swim in the cool freshwater pool.

After Saint Vincent it was time to continue our progress further north to Saint Lucia. The weather was rainy and cloudy for our passage, and the journey between the islands was marked by considerable swell with the boat slamming into the waves and some gusts reaching over 30 knots of wind. We were pleased to see the Pitons coming into view, although they kept disappearing behind the rainclouds.

We are now in Rodney Bay marina, Saint Lucia, where we’re staying for around a week. We need to get our dinghy repaired/replaced (the seam split on Boxing Day in Bequia), give our batteries a full charge, and see if our generator can be salvaged. We’re catching up with our friends on Canadian family boat Rum Cat, who were also with us in Barbados, along with Epiphany who are moored alongside us. Adding in a couple of other boats from the ARC and ARC+ rallies, it’s a sociable place to stay.

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We certainly had a different one this year, starting with a Norwegian Christmas Eve celebration on the beach at Bequia, the Grenadines, attended by over a hundred people. This was very well organised with party games and fun swimming races for children and adults, followed by a short Christmas service with some beautiful Christmas carols, including dancing, all in Norwegian of course.

The family boats from the ARC+ rally remained in Bequia over the Christmas period, meeting up for a relaxed Christmas Day lunch on the beach, and a floating party on Boxing Day. We hiked up Peggy’s Peak for a spectacular view looking down over the bay, encountering snakes and a couple of tortoises on our way.

After a few days it was time to move on to Barbados, for a rendezvous with our Bajan crew member Dwight, his wife Kate and their son Jono, who had come out from London to Barbados to join Dwight for Christmas and New Year. They kindly hosted us on New Year’s Eve followed by fireworks and music at their local beach (in front of the exclusive Lone Star Restaurant) – a perfect way to see in the New Year.

We have spent a number of days exploring Barbados, visiting Harrison’s caves, watching monkeys at the wild animal park, and travelling to Bathsheba on the rocky Atlantic side of the island. Kate and Jono joined our crew one day to bring Valent down the coast of Barbados from Port St Charles to Carlisle Bay outside the capital Bridgetown. From our new base in Carlisle Bay we have visited the Barbados Museum and the house where George Washington stayed in 1751. We have also watched horses from the local racecourse enjoying a swim in the sea early in the morning.

We’re staying in Barbados for a few more days before we cross back to the Grenadines to spend a bit longer in the beautiful Tobago Cays nature reserve. After that it will be a sail up to Saint Lucia and we plan to be in Guadeloupe for mid February. We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and we hope that 2024 has got off to a good start for you (albeit a wet one apparently).

We spent a couple of days in Tobago Cays, which is a nature reserve with beautiful clear water, plentiful coral and lots of colourful fish and turtles. We have now arrived in Bequia, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where we are celebrating Christmas together with the other ARC+ family boats. On Christmas Eve we are joining a Norwegian Christmas celebration (including a Christmas service) with over 100 people attending, followed by Christmas Day fun and games on the beach with all the family boats.

Valent is ready for Christmas, and although it will feel like a very different Christmas here this year, we realise how fortunate we are to be celebrating in good company in such a beautiful place. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and we hope that you have a wonderful time with friends and family.

We arrived, we saw and we conquered, sorry departed. Valent spent a very enjoyable 2 weeks in Grenada. We have now left and are making our way North to join up with our friends from the ARC+ in Admiralty Bay, Bequia. Port Louis Marina, Grenada was very welcoming. Not only did it differ to UK marinas in the fact that it was warm, but also small farmer’s markets popped up, the wildlife was a lot more exotic and there was a small private beach full of interesting objects and much more inviting than Lee-on-Solent.

During our stay in Grenada we took in an island tour, a short hike to the north of the island and also the cricket. On our hike we were able to pick bananas and nutmegs from the trees, see cacao pods, limes, papaya, roucou (lipstick tree), starfruit and sour cherries. The girls found the sour cherries particularly tasty. These differ from traditional cherries in that they have 4 pips inside instead of the single stone.

Our tour took in a large swathe of the island and included swimming in waterfalls, seeing rum produced in the traditional way (still with a working water wheel), chocolate production, monkeys in the rainforest and a swimming opportunity.

The River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery was established in 1785 and still uses the traditional rum production methods. They use a water wheel to crush the sugar cane. The juice is crudely filtered before being reduced in huge vats to make a syrup. This syrup is transferred by hand to the fermentation drums before being transferred to the distillation pots. After distillation it is transferred to barrels to await bottling, but not before the taster had checked it for alcohol content and taste. The resultant rum is 75% alcohol. This alcohol content is high enough for the product to be labelled explosive. Following a change in aircraft regulations following 9/11 aircraft are no longer permitted to transport spirits with this high an alcohol content. The distillery have therefore developed a second rum at a mere 69% proof that meets the regulations and can now be bought and flown home by tourists. Of course aircraft regulations don’t affect our purchasing choice, but I preferred the smoky taste of the 69% version.

The chocolate production is a mixture of the old and new, with bean sorting done both by hand and machine. Fermentation and drying are done on big trays outside. Unlike the rum production the manufacturing is done using more modern techniques and we were not permitted into the production area. However, the girls were able to taste this product!

The girls have also enjoyed some wonderful swimming and continued their education at the cricket – though Sophie thought it was just an expensive place to go and read.

We’ve now left Grenada, and after a short stopover on Carriacou, we proceeded to Union Island to check into St Vincent & The Grenadines. Once checked in we have moved up to Tobago Cays and plan to stay here a couple of nights before continuing north to Bequia for Christmas.

Eventually on Monday just after day break Valent crept across the finish line under sail. Valent successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean, from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria via Mindelo, Cape Verde. Our total distance was around 3,000nm and we completed the trip without recourse to our main engine for propulsion. This may have been rather a mistake as 5 mins of engine at the end would have seen us finish nearly 2 hours earlier – but a sense of pride drove us, however misguided it may have been. We had sailed to 0.1nm (200yd) from the finish line when the wind finally stopped. Finally the tracker agreed that we had crossed the line, (though we thought we had a couple of times before), not helped by the fact that the tracker took 40 mins to update while we kept trying to finish again!

We were welcomed at Port Louis Marina by an enthusiastic and smiley welcoming committee complete with a large colourful banner. After our 17 days at sea it was quite a shock to find a lump of land in the way, lots of boats and a multitude of people. After successfully parking in our cosy spot, managing not to hit any super yachts we were greeted with Rum Punch. Following that with some beer and a bacon&egg sarnie (using the last of our UK bacon specifically saved for this occasion) quickly revived the crew.

The crossing itself was fairly uneventful. The conditions were kind, wind rarely above 15kts and we only had a couple of squalls towards the end. We spent about half the trip sailing with just the Bora parasailor up and it proved a very versatile and comfortable sail.

Fishing was increasingly good and we managed to land 6 Amberjack, 2 Tuna, 2 Dorado and a Wahoo (on the last day). The freezer is now well stocked with fish. We ate well on the trip and never had recourse to any tinned meals. We still have 4 or 5 meals in the freezer and I’m sure that they will prove useful at a later date.

We only had minor breakages and these were in general due to carelessness (tiredness?). The most annoying of these is the damage to the VHF command mic, hopefully this may just need a new socket and not a complete new remote handset. We require a new forward navigation light and one of the horseshoe rings has disintegrated. Other jobs include redoing the breather on the grey water tank, fitting a better door hook to an internal door to stop the annoying rattle and fit all the engine parts that Ann (Mike’s wife) kindly brought out from the UK with her.

All that is left for us to do is to get used to being tied alongside, get to know Grenada and then explore the Caribbean and its unique atmosphere. As part of that we have tickets for the T20 cricket later next week, West Indies vs England playing here on Grenada.

With heartfelt thanks to Neil, Mike & Dwight for joining the crew and making the crossing so enjoyable for Lucy & myself.