Grenadines

We are in the Grenadines.  We went to Bequia on the 8th (Admiralty Bay).  Everyone told us how much we'd love this place but to us, there was so much garbage and non-friendly locals that we really didn't care much for it.  It could have been a remarkable place if the people just cared a little about their island.  Too bad.

From there we went around to the south side for a couple of days.  We left Admiralty Bay on the 12th and headed to Friendship Bay, Bequia.  Not much better.  We tried to snorkel but there was trash in the water and it really turned us off.  Nothing like floating along and having a bottle hit you in the head or get smacked in the face with a chip bag .... if you weren't watching where you were swimming.  Oh well ... hope all the Grenadines aren't like this.

From Bequia we sailed the short 7 miles to Mustique.   This is a private island for the rich and famous but they allow us to explore freely (as long as we don't trespass on private property).  This was so much nicer.  The waters are beautiful and there is no trash strewn about.  We really enjoyed Mustique.  The only drawback is that it cost $200 EC (about $75 US) for 3 nights.  That includes a mooring so it's not too bad.  The first two nights were awesome ... last night was very rolly.  The winds must have shifted even though the weather forecast states they haven't!

Today we move on.  We are undecided whether we will stop in Canouan (it's also private but about 1/2 the island is blocked off and secure and you are not allowed on it).  If we pass Canouan, we will stop in either Mayreau or Tobago Cays.  We're looking forward to this because it is much more remote. 

Not sure when we'll have internet again but will try to write asap.

Between the Pitons, St. Lucia

This is the first update in our revised blog format.  Instead of reporting daily on this site, I will post minimal information to let everyone know we are alive and well.  You can read our day to day synopsis through our books on Amazon.

We are sitting between the Pitons in St. Lucia.  For those of you who have traveled here, either on a cruise ship or on vacation, I'm sure  you have seen this view.  But it is nothing compared to actually sitting here, having our morning coffee and enjoying the view for hours on end.  In addition, the view is not only surface ... drop below the water and the snorkeling is most excellent.  We are really enjoying ourselves.  But like all good things, this must come to an end.  We will head to town today to get fuel, groceries, etc and to clear out (officially).  Then our plan is to head to St. Vincent tomorrow morning.  The weather has been perfect so we're hoping it will hold for one more day for our 35 mile crossing! 

Hope all is well with everyone back home.
Miss ya!

Changes to our Blog

It is with mixed emotions that I write this entry. 

This blog has been a work in process.  We are trying to find the best compromise between getting the information out there for your reading enjoyment and the time/expense it takes in producing it.  We haven’t found that balance yet.

We’ve expressed that maintaining this blog takes a lot of time, effort and expense but what you really need to understand is, maintaining this blog actually affects HOW we are living our cruising dream.  Instead of finding that remote anchorage where we can experience a real adventure in a beautiful, picturesque bay, we sail right past and head for town.  We anchor as close to civilization as possible in the slim chance that we can get WiFi on our boat to upload that update or picture.  If we can’t, we head into town in search of it.  We are spending more time trying to get you the information than we are actually living the dream.  We’ve decided something has to change.

We will continue to update the blog periodically to let everyone know we are alive and well.  However, we will keep these updates brief so upload time, effort and expense are kept to a minimum. 

For those of you who are still interested in reading about our adventures in detail, we will document them in book form, representative of each leg of our journey.  You can read them chronologically, as we have experienced them (with full color photos for your viewing pleasure). 

We’ve already put out Bahamas Bound and Back Again (our 2006 sailing adventure) and Around the World on SV Soulmatie-Year One-Book 1 (our journey to and through the Virgin Islands).  Thank you to those of you who have purchased these books. 

Between production and publishing costs, we have priced each book at a basic break-even point but unfortunately, because they have full color photos, the paperback version still ended up being quite expensive.  Since they are available on Amazon, you can easily download electronic reading software to your computer (available free on the Amazon website) to be able to read/view our adventure in full color at a much more reasonable cost to you than the paperback version. 

Around the World on SV Soulmatie-Year One-Book 2 (our journey through the Leeward Islands) should be available any day now.  Book 3 (the Windward Islands) will be available shortly after we leave Granada … we need to experience the Windwards before we can write about them J  From there, we will publish with each milestone we reach or basically (to keep production costs reasonable), we will publish when we’ve reached about 100 pages of blog/picture material. 

We hope you can understand our decision in changing this process and hopefully, by reducing some of our ties to civilization we will be able to live a more adventurous life for your reading enjoyment J