I’m not going to say much about the crossing as David hopefully gave you a feeling for it each day as we crossed.

There wasn’t much to see, water, sky, sometimes cloud, stars, and always flying fish, even at night, flying fish.

So we left Sal and sailed overnight to isle of Santiago, this is the main island with all the administrative offices. Now for the main island and a port of entry, you would expect some visiting boats, yes, well there was Us. We rounded the corner into the harbour, and thought “What have we let ourselves in for”, has something happened that all the other boats have gone.

an extra 3 photos to the Cape Verde and Atlantic 1 albums.
The whole of Atlantic 2 is new as is Christmas in the Winward Islands

David

We have worked out why they call the islands Windward islands. We had an exhilarating windward sail from Bequia to Martinique (about a 100miles) to get Andrew back for his flight. At the moment Occasional islands would fit as well. Occasional showers get you up in the middle of the night to shut the hatches! The hardships of tropical nights.

Enjoyed a great walk around the south of Martinique yesterday – photos to follow

David

We are in Admiralty bay, Bequia (pronounced Beckway) for Xmas.  Bequia is part of the Grenadines and is just to the south of St Vincent.  They drive on the left here and the bank notes have a youthful Queen Elizabeth on them which reinforces the colonial feel.  It’s hot but we are getting stronger than normal trade winds which makes it feel nice.   Occasional rain has you running to shut hatches.

Andrew is with us and we will make our way north again after xmas to get him back on his return flight from Martinique on 29th December.  I think we will then spend some time in St Lucia doing a little maintenance before heading north.

David

Since my last entry I’ve been busy with housework!  Yes me doing housework, almost unheard of.  David had his list of jobs too, watermaker something, car horn to fit, new socket at the back end to attach, anode to fit, bilges to look at and fit nappy!! Ask David.  I on the other hand was cleaning fridges, containers, emptying water tank, getting washing up to date, reorganising food lockers general stuff!  Once that was complete then the shop.  Now usually that’s easy you just jump into the car and off to whichever big supermarket you frequent,

We been here a day now.  Life on land is full of hussle and bussle!  We both managed to walk without the time at sea having any effect.

The green is marvellous.  The cooling wind is very welcome as well.

First task after the sign in is to find  a launderette.  Mary has kept up with the small stuff but towels and sheets are best done in a machine ashore.

Solved the whisky problem for the moment.  Fridges are empty so I have some whisky in there.  There was even room for a bottle of Moet champagne ready for our arrival.

David

Position 14.46,-59.85 at 10:37 GMT
60.5 miles to go.
Wind ENE 5

The wind slowly decreased yesterday and left an awkward swell. So we quickly decided to start motoring top the batteries and fill the tanks with water. We mototred up to a couple of ARC boats. Before dark we set the sails and went south at 230 to keep wind in the sails and to be well placed when the new breeze from the NE filled in. All worked to plan and we got 2 miles ahead of the ARC boat. A lot of boats just using an anchor light rather than a tricolour!

It was a lovely night to be on watch. The full moon was there all night and there were lots of shooting stars leaving the trails almost to the horizon. Sea was smooth and force 4 meant Giselle was moving at 6 knots effortlessly. Being close to land lets you relax even more. Lets you reflect on what has been achieved so far. Lets to count up all the help and support we have. Lets you think about the days ahead.

Looking forward to giving the At Anchor message tomorrow. As soon as we have internet access we will put the pictures and Mary’s story from Cape Verde on the blog.

David

Position 14.90,-57.45 at 10:36 GMT
202 miles to go ETA at 5 knots 00:06 Monday 15th Dec.
Wind SE 4

This should be the penultimate report.  If we can keep up 6 knots we will arrive last light on Sunday evening.  Seeing more sailing boats. There was one just ahead all of yesterday that we were creeping upon.  During the night the light I confidently identified as a planet was in fact a yacht using its anchor light rather than tricolour.  We have one behind us as the sun came up doing much the same speed.

Mary has done an amazing job with the food.  Major shop was 11/12 Nov in Lanzarote and we still have fresh veg and enough oranges for breakfast.

David

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