The sail from Bequia to Carriacou was very nice. Most of the trip was at 15 to 20kts on the beam. 6 to 7kts of boat speed when the wind was on the high side.. We got here in 6 hours so the average was about 5.8 Kts. There was one stretch were the waves were cause us to surf and the winds were variable between 12kts and 22kts and this was driving Otto crazy (or me crazy watching Otto do it wrong. So I took the wheel and she was well balanced. I think the combo of surfing waves and variable winds where the problem cause even at 20+kts I was not fighting weather helm. Now when a surfing wave hits from behind on the quarter and the boat heads up hard while the wind is also heading up, then you have to be careful to to assume the head up is pure weather helm… If you do you will over steer as the wave passes you will find no weather helm and you have turned the boat too hard down…. But with the winds the boat is quick to recover.
We are in Hillsborough for now. Ah, today is a national holiday (who knew????) so everything is closed (almost like the French islands)! Except customs and immigration, but we pay more today cause they are on overtime. I'll stay overnight so I can get my SIM card update here from with Digicell or Flow and do just a little shopping. I think we will go to Tyrrel Bay later in the day and see if any of our friends are there. There is a storm coming in. For now it looks like it will pass south of here and mostly impact the waters from Trinidad to Grenada. I'm keeping an eye on it.
To my Dear Sister Eugenie, the Donkey is not in the grass by the restaurant across from Ades Grocery and rooms to rent. I have not checked upon Dave and Ulla. Also Sandy Island is not what it was…. A couple years after we were here, the palms died and a Hurricane capped it with corral. The residents have planted trees on Sandy… So she is stable, but never like we saw here, 4 palm trees on and sand spit.
I got a bottle of Jack Iron rum.