Sunday Island took off like a rocket as we departed Los Roques as we sailed down wind with two reefs in the mainsail and a poled out Yankee at 10kts. She seemed to be enjoying her freedom sailign downwind like a bird after being caged up in Trinidad for 6 months.

By now all the crew have their sea legs. We put out the fishing line and caught a few small tuna, then a Mahi. We maintained speeds over 10kts through the night. I spent most of the voyage diagnosing why my SSB radio was no longer talking to the Winlik station. And after re wiring the radio, checking the antenna, I finally found an incorrect setting with the USB network from my computer. The re wire was still worth it and now the transmition and recieve signal is better than ever!

The next day at dawn we entered the magnificent harbour of Curacao. The enterence to the yacht harbour is hidden amongst the cliffs, and is only 50m wide and difficult to see. Pirates looking for a hidden harbour to fix their ships and hide before their attack would have loved this harbor.

After anchoring in the harbour we headed ashore to check in to this Dutch caribbean island. Nobody seemed to know what checking in was or how to do it, so we went to the shop, go some fresh grocieries, and headed back to the boat to rest, deciding check in could wait for another day.

We met a french family that afternoon and spent the afternoon swapping travel stories while the kids played. The next day we decided to remain in harbour and do some maintenance, and continue to tidy up from the Trinidad experiance. We focused on doing maintence on the teak deck caulking that had not been done in Trinidad, and also repairing some glued laminated teak that had come apart in the heat of the Trinidad summer.

With the boat back togeather at sunset, Emilie and I enjoyed a beer, before getting an early night and waking up for our short 70nm sail to Aruba. After exiting the harbour we were happy to see our speed over ground was still 10kts and we arrived in Aruba at 4pm that afternoon, anchoring next to the airport for a quick swim.

The sight of Aruba did not tickle our fancy and nobody had any desire to go ashore and look around. The lsland seemed very developed in an ugly sort of way, with lots of influence from cruise ships and the oil and gas industry. With no desire to head ashore in Aruba, we decided we would take alook at Columbia, 200nm away. Regards Rich

Hurricane season in the Caribbean can be hot, humid and sweaty. We left Sunday Island on the hardstand at Powerboats yard in Trinidad and headed back to Tasmania for some work contracts and to keep ourselves sane over the Hurricane Season. This year has proven to be a good one with respect to the lack of Hurricanes, but we did not wish to stick around to find out with the family onboard.

Tasmania offered a fantastic relief to the hot and humid conditions. I was able to earn some money with Incat and an offshore oil company, while Emilie and the kids settled into house life. Issy and Max were accepted into the local Lauderdale primary school where they made some fantastic friendships, enjoyed school and performed well. It was a relief to find that our home schooling efforts were on the correct path, with both Issy and Max entering the Tasmanian education system as an average with most of their piers. When we departed Tasmania six months and two terms later, Issy and Max were both nearing the top of their class in grades.

I arrived in Trinidad on the 8th November to find Sunday Island looking a bit worse for ware. Our caretaker and the company who were commissioned to do some work on Sunday Island, appeared to have promised the world, not just to us, but to many other yachts in the yard, and Sunday Island work and duties had been neglected with the contractor thinking it was better to wait until our arrival to do any work on the boat. This was very disappointing, but when Emilie and the kids arrived two weeks later I had the boat back it the water and almost livable.

On the 24November 2023 I re launched Sunday Island in the morning prior to Emile, Issy and Max arriving that evening. We enjoyed a weekend off the boat exploring Trinidad and found some great waterfalls, monkeys and even took a river cruise to watch the Red Ibis birds come home to roost, turning an entire island from green trees to red! Also on our tour we saw White Ibis, Caimans, Constrictor snkes, and other wetland wildlife.

On the following monday we began to sort Sunday Island out in preparation for onward adventures including a thorough clean and sorting of cupboards, and getting sails and awnings back on deck. Finally by the 29th November we moved onboard and began stowing $3000US worth of dry provisions onboard to keep us going for the next 6 months of cruising.

Work completed in the Trinidad Yard period included
* Re wire Sunday Island batteries and fuses to accommodate new Lithium Batteries * Install lithium batteries – we now have 600AH of Lithium Power! * Remove internal ballast, paint bilges and clean
* Secure ballast
* Antifouling and painting
* Repair dent in Starboard side of gunwale we received in Malta * Re initiate all systems onboard
* New cockpit Bimini
* 70m of new 3/8 anchor chain
* Re-installing solar and wind generators.

On Friday 1st December we paid our bills, filled up with 350L of fuel and left Power boats yard. We sailed to a small bay around the corner for the night as a sea trial, packed away the last of the food and equipment, stowed for sea and departed the following morning for Los Roques.

The first leg of our onward journey took us 60nm due north near and oil rigs, so as to be well clear of the troubled Venzuelan coast, before altering course to the west. The first day we have experienced reasonably light winds so gave the engine a good run to charge batteries to 100%, and remove all our heavily chlorinated Trinidad water to be replaced with nice clean water maker water. I’m very happy to note that all systems onboard are working well and the crew are getting their sea legs again. We have excellent wind to push us west with 12-15 kts from the ENE.

Panama Update. Panama has experienced “Drought” conditions throughout 2023 and the canal is only operating at minimal capacity to preserve water in the lake that provides the water that feeds the canals. At present Panama Canal are only allowing 25 ship slots per day. 1/25 slots are reserved for non Panama vessels, resulting in only one slow for small vessels to pass through the canal. Our latest information from an agent in Panama is that by rafting the small vessels Panama are able to process 14-15 small yachts per day, resulting in only a 5 day waiting period. Our aim is to pass through Panama in early January ahead of the World Arc and Oyster Rally yachts.

Our avid readers are probably wondering what happened to Sunday Island and the Hewson family???? Do not fret, we are alive and well and have slotted back into 9-5 life – sort of!

In April I had a contract with Incat Tasmania to commission their high speed catamarans and captain them for sea trials so I would have been away for at least two months. We also had some repair work to do on Sunday Island so the decision was made for us all to fly home, do some work, put the kids into school for a couple of terms, catch up with family and friends and avoid the hurricane season.

The Incat commissioning went well and after two months I had sent the 76m high speed ferry “El Dorado Express” over the horizon. The kids were fitting in well at school and loving their teachers and new friends.

After the Incat contract I had a few weeks off, and got stuck into house maintenance, so spent the next few weeks throwing paint around the house, fixing floor boards, and general maintenance of our little house by the beach in Cremorne.

At the end of June I was just about to start sanding our celery top kitchen benchtop when I was offered a contract as Chief Officer onboard a Tidewater anchor handler sailing out of Darwin. It has been good to be back in the offshore industry, but the days are long and far away from family. I am really looking forward to getting home to Tasmania tomorrow and seeing my tribe of beautiful people!

Sunday Island lies sung and cosy in the Powerboats yard in Chaguaramas Trinidad having some work done by our new friend Cow from Classic Yacht Services. There have been numerous delays with the work which involves repairing the damage done when a vessel collided with us in Malta last year. The damage has caused some deck leaks that need to be investigated and repaired, and of course the hull needs to be straightened, painted, teak replaced and everything put right again before we sail across the Pacific Ocean. We have experienced some issues with offending yachts insurance company Pantaenius making us pay for the work upfront. We pray Pantaenius honour the claim and pay us back once the work is complete as it will cost a good percentage of our yearly budget to complete repairs.

My highlight of being at sea was being given a book to read “South Sea Vagabonds” by John Wray. This was the book that gave Sunday Island her name and is a fantastic read for cruisers, dreamers and anybody who likes boats! Another highlight is designing a new logo for Sunday Island that will soon be printed on T-shirts, stubby holders and other merchandise! Get your orders in now!

Tomorrow I travel home to Tasmania from this ship. I will have the next five weeks off to enjoy tassie life, work on our hours, build a fence, slip Mum and Harry’s boat and if not too cold, dive with mates and learn to wing foil! In five weeks I will be back onboard the anchor handler in Darwin for another 5 week swing…… Then…… Back to Sunday Island!!! We cant wait!

Our adventures onboard Sunday Island so far can be separated into four parts. Part one cruising from Hinderlopen NL through the French canals to Marseille. Part Two cruising the Mediterranean. Part 3 sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Part 4 cruising the caribbean.

With the hurricane season approaching we needed to work out a plan. Sailing north to Canada required a B1B2 US VISA which we did not have. Remaining in the caribbean would be hot, wet and sticky. So we decided to leave Sunday Island in Trinidad and head to Tasmania to do some work and earn some $$$ for the pacific.

Tobago Keys gave us a wonderful setting to start cleaning and packing up the boat while still being able to swim with turtles and explore tropical islands with huge iguanas.

When the wind swung to the NE we sailed from Tobago Keys to Union Island to clear out of St Vincent and the Gredadenes,

We made sure Sunday island was thoroughly secure and departed Union Island at 2pm, with a reach towards Trinidad with a 100 degree wind angle at 20kts making 8 knots in the right direction.

The next morning we entered into the Harbour at 0800, pulled up a buoy and contacted the yard for direction and Customs clearance.

First job was to set up the kids bikes to provide entertainment, then while the kids rode around the yard, Emilie and I spent the rest of the day stripping sails, removing halyards, cleaning freezers.

Power Boats Yard in Trinidad is an excellent facility and even has site apartments to make the transition on and off your boat a lot easier. We decided to get an appartment and defiantly found it worth it.

The next day on 24th March we hauled Sunday island out of the water, gave her a good wash all over, and secured her on the hard stand.

While some people are content in leaving their boats with sails on, dirty bilges and the interior not packed I like to use the opportunity to do a full deal clean, check if all gear and thirough pack away.

I spent the next two days removing everything from the bilge – including the lead ballast – cleaning, panting and replacing every inch of the bilge. Emilie emptied and every cupboard from food and clothes. We then thoroughly cleaned the interior and wiped the teak down with a mixture of teak oil, oil of cloves and eucalyptus oil to prevent mildew during the approaching wet season.

Sails, tenders, halyards, wind vane steering, outboard motor, Solar, wind generator, basically everything that could possibly be removed from the deck was packed away and stored below. Finally we applied a wax coating to the hull and stainless and handed toe keys to our new friend and boat minder “Cow” from Classic Yacht Services.

The five day pack up working 10 hour days in the heat was exhausting but will make for a nicer boat to return “home”. We returned to the apartment and packed our bags ready for our adventure back home to Cremorne Tasmania Australia.

In March 2020 Our family left Tasmania to start our adventure living and cruising our way around the world. Living in Malta and Spain over the pandemic, then Purchasing Sunday Island and moving aboard In October 2021. Now three years, 21 countries, 12,000 logged sailing miles and countless islands we will return home for a “work sabbatical”. One thing is absolute- we can’t wait to get back onboard Sunday Island in October and plan to enter the Pacific January 2024 and continue our adventure.

We had a fantastic time in the BVI’s and found the reefs had the best coral and sea life that we have seen this voyage. In Trunk Bay Virgin Gorda we had fun exploring the “Baths”, a group of rocks that have been pushed up from tectonic activity many years ago creating caves and a labyrinth of passages to explore. The kids loved bouldering and canyoning through the tight spaces and finding beautiful pools of water hidden underneath these magnificent boulders.

BBQ on the beach

From Trunk bay we made our way up the coast of Virgin Gorda to Long bay where we had fun snorkling around the reefs and point. We then sailed up to Leverick Bay and enjoyed Pirate Beans show, then sailed on to Great Camano island where the kids and I explored the island including shipwrecks and huge hermit crabs, before sailing to Trellis bay where my aunt “Tinks” lived for many years running various charter yachts. After Trellis bay we sailed to Peter Island, but we were disappointed to find huge signs informing us very matter a factly that we were not allowed on the beach or island!

Max at the helm

We explored Norman “Treasure Island” (see previous blog”) and the kids found a treasure map so we spent a few days looking for Blackbeard’s treasure. We then sailed up to “The Indians” and had a great snorkel around the magnificent reefs with the best coral so far! We returned to the Indians a number of times to keep diving on the reef it was so good.

Heading to town

At Cooper Island I hired some scuba gear from the local dive shack and spent the afternoon diving “The Rhone” which is a mail ship wrecked in a hurricane many years ago. The wreck was fascinating and provided some very accessible swin through compartments. In the wreck I saw some of the largest crayfish I have ever seen, they were about the same size as a Labrador! The wreck is classified as a national park so I left the crayfish to continue living their exotic lifestyle in the wreck. Surrounding the wreck were numerous reef sharks, fish, turtles and eels.

The next morning I dived “Wreck Alley” a number of purpose sunk vessels to create a great dive with four wrecks to explore, and ending on a nice reef and underwater pillars and canyons. After this dive the kids were keen to try out the SCUBA gear so we found a nice sandy bottom with some reef fish, rays and hopefully sharks and I dived to 2m with the Issy and Max both having a turn to breath underwater. The kids loved it and can not wait until they are of an age to complete their PADI dive course.

Sailing to windward

We then sailed up to Anegada Island and picked our way amongst the bommie’s and reefs to find a good anchorage in the shallows with our keel up. Sunday Islands lifting keel allows us to reduce our draft to only 1.4m, which is a great asset when exploring shallow areas and reefs. It is important when cruising through these uncharted coral reefs to have the sun at your back or overhead and have someone on the bow to let the helmsman know where the bommies are.

I found this in a hole

After we anchored Issy and I took the tender to horseshoe reef and went for a good snorkel with rays and turtles. That afternoon we walked to the middle of the island to look at the pink flamingo colonies. We remained at Anegada for a few days, but the wind and swell began to pick up making it imprudent to remain, so we sailed to Prickly Pair Island and then down to Spanish town were we met up with some American friends on another ketch “Mug Up”.

Max and Issy love coconuts

We sailed in convoy with Mug Up to Great Dog Island for a snorkel before lunch and then George Dog Island where I went for a dive with the Mug Up boys where we dived “Visibles” and then the wreck of the Kodiak Queen. The Kodiak Queen is a fuel barge and was one of the only vessels not sunk in Perl Harbour during WWII. It ended its life in Road Town and was due to be scrapped when a few divers acquired it and turned it into a dive wreck. To make the dive more interesting they created an underwater sculpture of a huge sea monster wrapping itself around the ship! We enjoyed a lovely evening with the Mug Up crew eating crayfish and fish that we had caught over the past few days.

The next day we motored inside trunk bay reef and enjoyed a fantastic snorkel, followed by another great snorkel at Great Dog rocks, and returned to the more protected anchorage at Spanish town that evening before clearing customs and setting sail back to Antigua.

Max and Issy’ garden

It was a bumpy ride back to Antigua but the wind was north of east so we sailed on a shy reach all the way back to English Harbour where we waited for my sister Amanda to arrive from Palma. Amanda stayed with us onboard in English harbour while she taught a medical course and I spent the time looking for an electrical fault and re wiring the batteries, and replacing the wiring on the solar and wind generator for larger gauge wiring. I also replace the motor in our anchor windless and did some other maintenance onboard.

Emilie enjoying a coconut

Amanda’s husband Jason arrived on the 4th March and they hired a 40ft catamaran for a week. We cruised in company up to Green Island and hoped for a week of kitesurfing, but the wind had other ideas. Despite not having any wind we did have a fabulous time just hanging out with the “Beryl and Jack”. We then cruised to Cades reef and had a couple of days snorkelling around the coral. On our way out to Cades we came across a huge pod of hump back whales and stopped the boat to drift and watch while they put on a show for a couple of hours who swimming quite close to our boat.

Humpback whales off Antigua

After saying goodbye to Beryl and Jack (Amanda and Jason) we cleared customs and hiked up to Shirley Heights to enjoy the steel drums and rum punches with some Aussie cruising mates before setting sail the next morning for one of our favourite anchorages in Tobago Cays. We had an amazing sail inside the windward islands and were entertained by a few pods of Humpback Whales. One pod was breaching out of the water as we sailed past. It is amazing to see these massive creatures leap so high out of the water then come down with a massive splash.

Beryl and Jack’s Cat

While we were sailing Emilie went below to boil the kettle and found their was no water pressure. She immediately checked the B&G and found the water tank showed 0%, while last time we checked an hour earlier it was at 100%. I began to investigate and found the engine bilge was full of fresh water! A fresh water pipe had burst and our water pump had pumped 500L of water into the bilge! This took a bit of cleaning up and we had some repairs to do on the fresh water hoses, so we puled in to Bequia for the night and stayed a few days while we sorted out our bilges (which are now very very clean!). While we were at Bequia they harvested a hump back whale, but we did not find out until it was all consumed one day later! The people of Bequia are allowed to harvest 3 whales per year, and are famous for their boat building skills, especially their model boats, so while there I had the opportunity to buy another boat – a souvenir Bequia whaling boat!

Humpback jumping

With clean bilges, and water back in the tank we sailed to Tobago Cays and are presently enjoying snorkelling with the turtles, while we tidy up the boat in preparation for sailing to Trinidad where we will haul out and return to Australia for a work contract at Incat Tasmania.

We arrived in Antigua on the 19th January 2023 and anchored in Pigeon Beach in English Harbour. It had been 12 years since Emilie or I had visited Antigua and it was good to be back. It has been interesting to see the amount of development around English and Falmouth Harbour, with lots of new money apparent on the southern parts of the Island.

A two days after clearing customs we experienced an Earth Tremor from a 5.8 magnitude quake off Dominica. It was interesting to experience an earth tremor onboard a yacht and it felt like our keel was bumping off the sea bed. We remained on close guard watching the tide and swell in the bay for the next two hours in case of any tsunami influence from the tremor but nothing more came of it.

Over the next few days we caught up with old friends and new friends, and did some hiking and lots of swimming and snorkling in the area. It was nice to see so many turtles in English harbour, and we had a resident large green turtle who hung out right next to Sunday Island.

The 26th January was Australia day and we met with a bunch on other Aussie cruisers for a BBQ on pidgeon beach. It was a fun day with lots of other kids for Issy and Max to play with. With Issys birthday on the 29th of January, and one of our friends Chris also celebrating her birthday Emilie made a cake and we blew out some candles.

On the 29th of January we borrowed a friends car and toured the island visiting “Devils Bridge” and the sting ray sanctuary in. The sting rays were so friendly you could feed them with some squid and also hold them. It was magnificient to hold a massive sting ray and show the kids up close where the barb is and how to be safe around these peaceful creatures.

We explored Antigua until the 31st of January then made our way towards the BVI, however the wind swung to the NE and we were experiencing rain and wind squalls so our planned night crossing was not appearing to be very pleasant, so we aborted and anchored in Five Island Harbour Antigua. I awoke at 2am to a terrible smell and we found out that we had anchored down wind of Antigua’s rubbish dump where they were burning all sorts of rubbish. We moved south about 1nm out of the lee off the dump to anchor for the rest of the night before re-commencing our voyage towards the BVI’s.

As we passed St Barts in the early evening we decided to anchor under the cliffs in Shell bay and enjoyed a restful night surrounded by billion dollar mega yachts. The next morning we departed and sailed towards St Martin to take advantage of the large grocery stores. Two days in St Martin was enough for us and we departed Marigot at midnight on the 4th February. The winds had swung to the East and we had an enjoyable sail towards Virgin Gorda with the yankee poled out and a full mainsail sailing at 7-8kts.

We arrived at Virgin Gorda at 1530 on the 4th February and anchored in Big trunk bay off the “baths” while I dinghied up to the marina to clear customs. The next morning everybody was awake early and we swam into the beach and walked through the rocks of the Baths. It is quite amazing that these massive bolders were pushed up beneath the ground by a volcano, creating numerous pirate caves and secret passages. We walked through the rocks to Devils bay and had the place all to ourselves. Not 10 minutes after we finished our morning explore but a number of tourist busses carrying hundred or so tourists arrived and the palce was swarming with humans so we evacuated back to Sunday Island.

The next day we motored to Long Bay and anchored. It was difficult to get hold in the shallow sand, and once secured we went for a quick evening dive on the reef. The next morning Issy and I went for a dive on the point, however the swell and wind had picked up and the visability was too poor to see the reef so we picked up anchor and sailed to Leverick bay.

That night we booked a table and dressed up as pirates for the famous “Pirate Beans” show. Issy and Max were the only kids in the audience and Beans made them feel very special. Issy won the “Pirate Princess” conk shell blowing competition. Beans show went for two and a half hours of entertainment. There were many swigs of rum and lots of dancing and interaction. I highly recommend the show for anybody passing through the BVI’s.

We then sailed towards Trellis bay Tortola, anchoring at Great Camano Island on the way and exploring the windward shore consisting of debris from storms and hurricanes including shipwrecks and hermit crabs that had made their home amongst the debris.

Trellis bay was the first bay I came to when I visited the Caribbean 15 years ago to visit my Aunt who had lived in the BVI’s for 20 or so years. It was sad to see how badly Trellis bay was affected by the hurricane and many of our old favourite haunts and dives were no longer there. We did explore the famous studio of Aragon but could not afford to buy any of the beautiful but expensive art. Trellis bay was marked by our transition to our third log book since starting our cruise. In logbook 2 we logged 6200nm between 1st August 2022 in Greece and 8th February 2023 Tortola.

We decided to abort plans to stay in Trellis bay overnight and sailed on to Peter Island which is a private island and does not welcome cruisers. The next day we sailed to “Treasure Island” otherwise known as Norman Island. This island is famous for being the island that the book “Treasure Island” was based on and it was fun to explore the many caves. One morning the kids were coaming the beach and found an old glass bottle washed up on the rocks. To our supprise the kids opened the bottle and found a treasure map! We immediately went into treasure searching mode, and low and behold Issy and Max found a small treasure chest hidden under a pile of rocks! There were two other locations of buried treasure drawn on the map and we explored “Spyglass Hill” searching for the other treasure but were “attacked” by cactus plants before we found the other buried treasure that remained on Spyglass hill.

We met a number of very nice American cruising familes at Norman Island and enjoyed the weekend playing with water toys and BBQ’s on the beach. We were joined by the Americans for some fantastic diving and snorkling in the area where the coral is the best we have seen so far in the Caribbean. One of our favourite places to snorkel has been the Indian’s, a group of rocks about 3nm from Norman Island.

Sunday Island anchored off the Malendure Guadalupe on Sunday 8th January 2023. We remained at anchor for four fantastic days. Each day we would enjoy two or three snorkelling expeditions to Pidgeon Island and the Jaques Cousteau Marine Reserve allowing us to snorkel the entire way around both Pigeon Island and her smaller sister Petit Island.

On the 9th January we were joined by Emilie’s father Phillippe and her uncle and aunt Laurent and Marie-Laure who had flown in from France. The party arrived late in the evening, but that did not slow anybody down the next morning and we were all up and snorkelling before breakfast.

We found the coral and fish plentiful at the Jaques Cousteau reserve, however a noticeable absence of reef sharks, rays and lobster.

On Wednesday 11th January we departed our anchorage after a morning snorkel and motored south to Bouillotte (boiling) where we explored the hot springs ashore. The springs opened into the ocean and we enjoyed swimming in 41*C water. I could feel myself sweating while swimming!

We then set sail for Illes Les Saintes where we anchored off and explored the quaint little town of Borg des Saintes. The next morning I met up with a friend off another boat and hiked up Fort Napoleon which was very interesting and rich in history from the time of the French English wars and Pirates. Later in the day we motored SW to a beautiful little anchorage called Pain A Sucre “Sugar Bread” which offered some fantastic snorkelling.

The next morning at 0600 I woke up and pulled up the anchor and set off towards Dominica while everybody remained sleeping. It wasn’t long before our guests (not wanting to waste a minute of the cruise) were up on deck and eager to start sailing. We hoisted the sails and put out the fishing lines and sailed on. Laurent loved sailing Sunday Island and spent the day on the helm. Close to Dominica our fishing lines went “Zing”. Philippe began reeling in one and I was on the other, while Emilie and Laurent slowed the boat down. Both fish were very large and took a long time to come in. Amazingly when the fish were only 30m from the boat we both felt one final tug, and reeled in only the heads of two massage tuna!

We anchored in Dominica where our guests left us to stay in a B&B. Later we met up for dinner and a bit of a rum party onboard before our guests returned ashore. The next day we explored the fresh food markets, bought some lobster from a local fisherman and then Laurent and Marie hired a car and we piled in and toured the magnificent island of Dominica for the next two days, exploring many waterfalls, beaches, boiling sulphur points, and a volcanic lake. A picture can only try to show the beauty of the island. A note for future travel in Dominica it to be prepared for all conditions, it can be wet and cold at the top of the volcano even when it is sunny on the beach.

After a few days touring Dominica we returned the hire car. Philippe, Laurent and Marie returned onboard and joined us for a sail to a nearby island Marie Calot. Laurent and Marie had organised another B&B here. We explored the island by foot, then spend the next day at the beach before a farewell dinner on Sunday Island.

The next morning on 18th January we sailed to Antigua. It is 130nm from Dominica to Antigua and we sailed through the night arriving at 0400 in the morning where we anchored off Pidgeon Beach in English Harbour.

It was fantastic to return to Antigua, after a 15 year absence for both Emilie and I. We had a lot of new and old friends to catch up with and planned to meet a few Aussie crew on Pidgeon Beach for Australia day. It was here in English Harbour on 19th January Issy got her first Wobbily tooth. But Issys tooth wasn’t the only thing wobbling!!!

The next morning we were up and about early eager to re-explore the island. I was making coffee at 0723 when Emilie and I felt Sunday Island start to shake as if her keel were banging on the sea bed in 1ft chop. Emilie and I both ran on deck and looked over the side, but we were still in deep water and the anchor had not dragged. Emilie looked on the web and found out that we had just experienced the effects of a a magnitude 5.8 earth tremor in Dominica!

Today we arrived at The Pigeon Islands (often nicknamed “Réserve Cousteau”) are two tiny islets laying only 1 kilometer from Bouillante and Malendure beach, on the west side of Guadeloupe.

This protected area, part of the Guadeloupe National Park since 2009, and accessible only by the sea, provides a unique concentration of marine life. The islets are famous for the magnificent elkhorn and staghorn corals covering the seabed, where snorkelers can spot a large number of colorful reef fish species (angelfish, parrotfish, butterflyfish), as well as sea turtles.

The best snorkeling area in the Pigeon Islands is the Coral Garden, which covers the coral reef fringing the eastern side of the islets.

The northern part of the Coral Garden is Sheltered from the swell, the seabed is covered by healthy and good-sized staghorn corals and elkhorn corals. These reef-building corals are vital to life in the Caribbean reefs.

The Pigeon Islands have some of the fishiest seabeds in Guadeloupe, due to the currents: several species of forage fish, snappers, damselfish… parrotfish butterflyfish, trumpetfish, trunkfish, angelfish and more.

On our voyage sailing here we caught a couple of black fin Tuna and enjoyed some of this prepared as Sushi for lunch today

We have started watching “Becoming Cousteau” with the kids, a documentary about Jacques Cousteau’s life, enhancing everybody’s appreciation for the reef and where we are.

Tomorrow Emilie’s Dad Phillippe, uncle Laurent, and Marie Laure who will join us for a few days cruising around Guadalupe and Dominica.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:7304925/zoom:10

Sunday Island sailed from Grenada north to Union Island via Carriacou to meet some friends for Christmas. Our Aussie friends on “Cowabunga”, “What Else”, and Dutch mates on “Off Course”. All our friends were cruising with kids of similar age to Issy and Max and we were anchored Close enough for the kids to swim between the boats as they wished.

The anchorage in Ashton Harbour Union Island was surrounded by the remains of a failed marina development and made for excellent kite surfing.

Emilie got a kite lesson and got going strait away after a 7 year absence from the sport. It was great to see Em riding so well and having so much fun on the water. I had a lesson in kite foiling and managed to get going, but I still need a lot of practice to ride correctly for any distance. The next day we hired kites and enjoyed the day zipping around the bay.

While at anchor I got out the sewing machine and made some new deck cushions. I’m building up to making a new awning in the future.

On Christmas Eve our fleet of kids boats sailed around the corner to Chatham Bay and met our friends Rex and Louise from Lord Howe Island sailing Spela.

We had planned a BBQ on the beach for Christmas Day but when a local owner of a beach shack resteraunt offered to make us lunch for $30US per head, with children eating free we jumped onboard.

Christmas lunch was amazing with our new found friends and fantastic food including Lobster, chicken, beef, fresh vegetables rice and pasta.

Later in the evening some new friends we had made who owned a 70m Superyacht joined us on the beach for a bonfire, marshmallows and a $300 bottle of Tequila!

We cruised back to Ashton Harbour the next day for some more kiting before our fleet sailed north to Canouan island.

We hoped to rent some golf buggies to explore Canouan but they were all booked out, so we hiked over the hill to Windward Bay inside Grand Cois Reef. The beach and inner reef were spectacular and would make an amazing anchorage for Sunday Island with her centerboard wound up. Whilst there are a few anchorages marked on the chart inside the reef there is a rumor that a local resort has paid the government to disallow cruising yachts from anchoring inside “their” reef. We will need to investigate this further as it would be spectacular to anchor there on our return to the south.

That night we had some big squalls n the anchorage and gusts funneling down from the hill. We had left our tender in the water overnight and woke up at midnight to a big gust and flipped dinghy. I spent the next few hours flushing out the outboard with engine oil and thankfully by 0300 I had the outboard working again.

The next morning we made a quick morning dash into the beach before a pleasant sail to Bequia for New Years Eve.

New Years eve was spent with s BBQ on the beach before the evening rain drenched us all and we made our way over to “Cowabunga” to re cook the damp meat and enjoy a few drinks yo bring in the new year fireworks at midnight.

The next morning I spent on the beach sanding our new bathroom (head) floor, and had it fitted before lunch. We enjoyed our final Bequia evening eating pizza with our mates, then sailed the next day to Marigold St Lucia.

We are presently sailing north towards Guadalupe to pick up Emilie’s dad and uncle for a weeks cruising.

On Monday we set sail from Tobago Keys to sail to Grenada.

We had a brief stop in Union Island to clear customs. Unfortunately a cruise ship had arrived that morning so we sat waiting for customs and immigration for 2 1/2 hours. By the time we set sail it was too late to sail all the way to Prickly bay in grenada so we pulled into Carriacou and cleared customs there then checked out the small town in the late afternoon.

We had left out 3.1m zodiac with friends in Union Island so only had the walker bay which can get pretty crowded with all the family and bags onboard. On the way into the beach the bung fell out of the walker bay and we began to sink. Unable to find the bung I put my hand over the hole and started bailing while Emilie steered us to the beach. We must have looked a sight!

We departed Carriacou at first light and sailed down the eastern side of Grenada. What a beautiful island Grenada is and we were quite surprised how much nicer it was than we had expected.

We arrived in prickly bay at midday, and I went ashore to check out the Budget Marine store and look for a hire car.

By early evening we were on the road I. Our Dihatsu jeep towards a large supermarket to do our Christmas and NYE provision (booze) shopping. The kids met Rasta Santa, got some sweets, and reminded us (many times) about our lack of Christmas tree.

The following morning I returned to Budget Marine to do some serious battening. We managed to purchase a new Tohatsu 9.8 for the dinghy, a silent x wind turbine and all our other chandlery spares snd supplies for $4000 US. A big shop, however we saved 40%!

I then had a meeting with the yard about storing Sunday Island and repairing the dent caused by a rogue yacht in Malta. The meeting with the yard went well. I was impressed with the cleanliness snd standard of work. We commissioned the yard to build a new frame for the wind generator snd organised plans for April 2024. While in the yard I spotted another Koopmans of very similar design to Sunday Island.

We then hit the road to explore this beautiful island, our first stop was the customs office in Camper & Nicholson in St George. Then onto a beautiful Annandale waterfall before visiting the Grand Etang national park complete with rain forest, volcano crater (now a lake) monkeys, armadillos.

On our way back to the boat we stopped by a chocolate factory, and finally the market to as we gave in to the Children’s Christmas tree request.

The next day was wet and squally. Not the nicest weather to be sailing, so Emilie spent the day organising the boat, while I installed the new Silent X wind generator and ripped apart the aft cabin to complete the wiring.

This morning at 0700 we departed for Union island to meet friends for a Christmas. We sailed up the more sheltered western side of Grenada with Easterly winds.