Hi Again!!!



Well we are now back in Vancouver for the summer and part of the fall. Our travels after Dominica have taken us down to Martinique where we stayed for just a couple of days and then back to St Lucia which we do enjoy. We anchored under the Pitons which are two mountain peaks which are left overs from an ancient volcano and are very spectacular. From there it was a day sail down to Bequie which is in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and is very friendly to yachties. We liked the Grenadines very much as you can sail from one anchorage to another in just a couple of hours. We spent a couple of weeks or so just gunk holing around and ended up in Tobago Keys which is the most beautiful place we have visited in all of the Caribbean. The waters are crystal clear and the marine life plentiful. It is a marine park and needs to be to maintain the corals and fishes. We swam with huge turtles who let you come very close to them without fear. The corals were wonderful and full of brightly coloured fishes of every description. The park is a reef that protects a few small islets and keeps the anchorage calm although as every where down here it always blows from the east at 15 knots day and night. They have dinghy moorings out on the reef so that you do not damage any coral. We would go out and snorkel for hours every day as it was like being in an underwater garden. On one outing Marian saw a six foot reef shark and it sure did not take her long to get back into the dinghy. I went looking for it like a fool until I thought that maybe this was not such a good idea.



We then headed down to Grenada which has a lot of cruisers staying in the country for the summer as most insurance companies require it. It is supposed to be out of the hurricane area but in 2004 hurricane Ivan hit the country and caused great damage on land and destroyed hundreds of yachts. I guess that is why our insurance requires us to be below 11 degrees north during the season which runs from June 1 to November 30th. We got an extension on our insurance and arrived in Trinidad on the 11th of June. For the last couple of weeks it has been noticeable hotter. The temperatures are about the same but the humidity and the strength of the sun is noticeable. We spent four days cleaning the boat up for storage staying at a nice marina where they would deliver a paper to the boat in the morning and even bring you room service if you wanted. We were very happy that we had air conditioning and between noon and three it was just too hot to do much of anything.



Well on the 15th as planned Kilkea II was hauled out of the water and blocked up in a secure yard. The bottom was fouled with all sorts of marine growth but the propeller was just fine as we used a product last year in Greece, called Prop Speed, That really works. So now she sits out of the water for five months with an outside air conditioner installed and the boat shrink rapped as it rains a lot in the summer down there. Not to worry though as we are now back in Vancouver living on Kilkea which is our power boat that we use as a condo when we are home. So as you see we really are boat people.



We have been home for three weeks now and have been enjoying the children and grand children and catching up with some of our friends. We have spent some time in Victoria as my Mum is not doing well and this week Marian is in Ireland visiting her Mum who is also having some troubles. So we have not been around too much. Marian should be back on Friday in time for Natalie's shower which Sarah and Lindsay are throwing for her on Sunday the 12th of July. We will be busy thru the end of next week and then we hope to get out to the gulf islands for a few days of relaxation. It does seem we are busy all the time. Anyway I will try to post some pictures of our journey through the Caribbean shortly.