Moondancerx's BIG adventure

As you can see our little Value Village tree is back out of the closet and hanging in place after a 2 year break.  It still looks good, does the job.  Last year we were crossing the Atlantic, and even though I did cook a Christmas dinner which we ate out of deep tupperware containers, the gimballing of the tree might have been a bit much.   We'll not be aboard Moondancer this Christmas - not sure which Barefoot boat we will be aboard, but that's where we'll be.  Originally were both booked on separate boats with 2 different groups of people who didn't want to spend Christmas at home, but preferred to spend it learning to sail in the Windward Islands. So now by the grace of Liat, our monopolizing uncaring for its customers airline one of those groups' flights were cancelled resulting in the cancellation of their Christmas plans.  So that either meant that one of us would stay home alone over Christmas - or we both go on the same boat.  Tha...

Alot of water has flowed under the bridge since the last post - or it would have if there was a bridge. We've been with Barefoot since May of this year and have gone through their 'slow' season which really was quite busy - we've been home to Canada for 6 weeks, seeing our families and friends. I was lucky enough to have my arrival at my daughter Mary's home coincide with the birth of Isaan, her second child and my third grandchild.  During that visit I had some quality time with Mary's first-born, Mission, a lovely little boy who is almost 3.  Now I understand what happens in a Grandmother's heart - it tops many of the other things I have going on in my life. Tony and I are both working alot now - I got my cross-certification to the American Sailing Assoc. as an instructor teaching levels Basic up to Bareboat Skipper and Catamaran Skipper. Tony is also teaching a more advanced course - level 106. This is good work, we are both sailing on several diffe...

Please note that I've gone back to WEBSHOTS as a way of showing the majority of our photographs. It still takes too long to upload them to the site and any suggestions as to a better site would be greatfully received. In the meantime I've posted the most recent pictures on Webshots, click on the link at the side. We're back in Bequia, on board Moondancer - we've provisioned for the week, cleaned half of her bottom (we'll do the rest today), the St. Vincent coffee is brewing (its very good coffee) and I can sit around our cabin half dressed as the only person who'll see me is my husband - and he doesn't mind. We really like Bequia - to be more accurate I should say that we really like Admiralty Bay in Bequia, because quite honestly we've seen little else. We have what we need here - a quiet anchorage which is mostly very comfortable - NOT rolly as it has been for the past couple of days. The water is usually very clear and the snorkelling and divin...

Having just looked at this site for the first time in months I realise how time has flown by since the last entry. We've been very busy since we left Antigua. We spent a bit of time in Sint Maarten where we tried out for a week with Tradewinds, a charter club where we would be operating their catamarans as Captain and Chef - I thought I could be that Chef person until I actually saw the job in action. Though we liked the company I knew that I would not be happy in that job. In early May we heard of a charter company/sailing school further south in St. Vincent who needed instructors. Looking back on my records I found that we had applied to them when we first arrived in the Caribbean with no response, but the school director of that time was leaving and our timing now was right on. They asked us to come down to them as soon as possible, we did and we've been working regularly since we arrived. To be more accurate I should say that Tony has been working since we arriv...

"A bear, no matter how hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise", unfortunately that's the only line I can remember of that particular A.A. Milne poem, but the gentleman in this picture knows the whole thing. Actually when we first met at an apre Middle Sea Raceparty in Malta he joined a small group of us, myself, a woman called Sarah whose married to John Ross; Malta's leading Yacht Surveyor, two men who had just completed the middle sea race; a stock broker and a banker and we all stood around reciting children's poetry. Clive Carrington Woods, an ex British Naval Captain, now Captain of a beautiful 'superyacht'. We met again in Sint Maarten a couple of weeks ago, went out to dinner and had a really fun evening, and just to prove that he could I suppose, he got up in the morning and went out and bought this steed that he's riding. I suppose it takes some physical ability to stay on one of those things, so I suppose he's taking a lea...

Well represented in English Harbour, Antigua. Jonas and Heather Marshall on their 38' Ocean going Bavaria helped me celebrate my birthday. Their Club burgee put ours to shame - got to get new one. We've worn out about 3 now.

Antigua – 2 weeks later – we’re almost natives Antigua is beautiful, and we haven’t seen very much of it yet – our anchor is dug in very well which is important as the ‘williwaws’ in this part of the bay are interesting to say the least. Many times when we look out into the anchorage its possible to see wind gusts on the water in different places and the boats anchored will all be facing in different directions according to which ‘williwaw’ they happen to be in. Its actually been pretty windy and gusty for the past few days. Also some rainfall – we leave the water catcher up all of the time now, plumbed directly into the water tank. We still have to collect water in our jerry cans from the gas station, but its supplementing it, and it certainly changed our attitude towards rain. Now when it rains we don’t complain – Oh no not again; now we’re happy, the bigger the deluge, the more we like it. Wish I had taken my camera with me a couple of days ago when new friends Dana and Joe t...

Unbelievably we've been here 6 days already. And what have we done? A helluvalot of snorkelling. We are anchored behind a reef which has so many different species of fish to look at - we've already learned where most of the different species like to hang out. There is a wrecked both mostly submerged on white sand and a huge ancient anchor which is almost rock now. The reef is made up of natural boulders which have falled from cliffs in the area and been moved around by fierce hurricanes which come by from time to time. Its also home to many beautiful, colorful sponges and coral. We've snorkelled around the outside of the reef aswell and this is truly spectacular - we plan to dive there quite soon - we haven't located a air tank filling place yet. Yesterday we went to 'town' on a bus. The bus drive going in was very nice - a careful driver considerate of his passengers which felt like an economy sight seeing tour. 'Town' is St. John's harbour - a bit ...

The following post is a daily I was keeping for the latter part of the Atlantic crossing. For the first week or so all I could really do was hold on - it was a rough ride - but then I got used to it enough to be able to sit and type a little on my night watches. Actually I started to look forward to doing it on the watch. 3 hours alone in the dark with nothing except the stars and the constant heaving of the ocean and the breaking waves that certainly keep the adrenalin flowing were a good reason to go below and turn on the computer. Anyway its not much - but here goes. Pics and Vids to follow: December 18th One week away from Gran Canaria, and an unbelievable 3000 miles away from Malta. Since leaving Las Palmas on December 10th we’ve logged an unprecedented 980 miles – talk about a sleigh ride. Sleigh ride of course conjures up a pleasurable fun ride – not so with this sleigh ride, but can’t complain about the speed. At time of writing its 10.47 UTC and we are rolling along ...