LinoCat

We like Bequia and so we are having Dinner at Devils Table and coffee at Gingerbread. Fresh Baguette is delivered to the boat in the morning and the water looks nice. It has been raining a few times but only short showers. And i have a short haircut again Life is good!

LinoCat has done 10000 nautical miles yesterday just in front of St Lucia. We had planned to moor at the pitons but all moorings were already occupied and so we directly sailed through the night to Bequia.

Yes, it is rain on the picture. It rained heavily a few times during the night and day. WHat a relief for St Lucia! The same happened also in Martinique. Lets hope that the water problems will be solved by the rains. We started the crossing at around 1200 and the wind was OK and the sea state moderate. I was sleeping when Chris saw a whale just dissapearing right in front of our bows. The whale was then showing up once more behind LinoCat before it dissapeared. We arrived in Martinique at 15.00 but we had to wait until 1630 before a berth was assigned to us. So LinoCat is now back in a harbor since a long time. Martinique is as unfriendly as always and as expensive as always and we are looking forward to set sail again tomorrow. What we really love here is the water pressure to fill up the second tank and to rinse down the boat. (If it is just permitted)

Here some pictures taken a while ago from aboard Vanora. LinoCat left Tyrrel Bay 3 days ago and we then sailed to Bequia. The wind angle was always around 40 to 45 degrees so about the max which we can sail. Due to the strong winds we had a reef in the mainsail and still were doing more than 9 knots from time to time. Nice new antifouling! In Bequia we just took it easy, went to Doris for some shopping and left it the next morning after getting fresh and warm Baguette delivered to our boat. The passage to St Vincent was Ok but from St Vincent to St Lucia it was rough with a loft of changes in windspeed and direction and some unpleasant waves. It is said to be calming down in the next days and that would be nice for Andi, Anja and their girls. I filled up the gas tank for the Dinghyand we did some more shopping for food (Like 24 cans of Piton beer). Tomorrow morning we will head for Martinique. If you want to read more in german and see some pictures check out Vanors blog: http://bluewa...

We all met on the catamaran bagalut for a coffee at 1600. Like always there were plenty of things to eat and drink and everyone stayed until the sunset. Lani had fun with Tina and Brigitte and on the bow net we "solved" all political problems of the world over a few beer. Soem even met later for a BBQ on Bagalut :-) Peter caught a nice red snapper. The sunset was nice and pieceful. Despite the many boats the anchorage was quiet. Sandy island in front of Hillsborough. One of the fuel barges around. Yes, you can buy Diesel there and it around 30 cents per liter if not less. So we filled our tank on this one. The ham operators from Gambia, Volker and Oliver. Both are single handed on their catamarans and we met over a beer for lunch in Saline Bay, Mayreau. I said goodbye and swam back to LinoCat and then set sail for Bequia. We arrived in the afternoon in Bequia and i visited "BOMIKA" with Lisa and Charly and their two cats on board their boat. The sailing was fast, we...

Snorkeling on a sunny afternoon in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou. Tina searching for lobsters.... a huge stingray a small mooray eel and Walter looking for anything that fits on the BBQ. It was fun and part of a perfect day!

Always when there are many dinghies tied behind Vanora, there is a high chance that there is a nice and fun dinner going on. Yesterday evening it was a Pasta meeting but like always people bring much more, so there was Zucchini carpacciao, grilled bacon rolls filled with cheese, an indian curry, olives, sald, crackers and many other things. Different pasta sauces and a sweet dessert were also adding to the additional weight of the happy eater! As drinks there was a mixed fruitjuice with a "little" alcohol, some beer, wine and other stuff. Oliver from Tao played the guitar and so we had a nice evening with a good amount of Vanora feeling! Today afternoon there will be "Bagalut" coffee and tomorrow we will leave for Bequia.

The work done at Grenada marine was good! Nicolas the glassfibre guy and his people fixed the crack in the step and reinforced it. Price for that was 999EC Dollar. The woodwork done from the swiss carpenter and his team was 621EC Dollar. 1647 EC Dollar i paid for the bottom sanding, preparing and painting including both saildrives. The Zinc anodes were still good. 121EC Dolalr for the saildrive oil change. And 2069EC Dollar for the hotel. YEPP, that was the most expensive part. Good news abotu the boatyard is also that the cafeteria will be taken over by the marina people. Currently the do not sell anything besided beer and coke and the coffee sucks. So hopefully this will be much better in the future. The boatyard people are friendly and reliable and keep their promises and Francis car rental was also a very nice experience. To sum it up: The hotel near by is expensive and not up to expectations for that price. Grenada Marine is reasonable priced, work is good and a safe place to keep...

After all work was done: -cleaning of ship bottom -Antifouling hulls -New paint saildrive -Saildrive oil change -some woodwork on the teak grill -some fibre glass work on a step LinoCat was floating again and we directly sailed to Carriacou into Tyrrel bay. Peter, Tina and Chico with their guest Susanne and Walter and Brigitte were already waiting with dinner! Oliver was also there and we met him the first time. We had good food and even better drinks and it was midnight before it stopped :-) The approach to Tyrrel bay in the dark was a bit challenging but with the strong searchlight of Vanora we could circle around all the unlit boats anchored there. By the way, there is a HUUUGGGEEE internet problem, since a fibreoptic cable is broken. So if there is internet access it is extremly slow and often for a few minutes reachable at all

38 Celcius on the boat. The second layer Antifouling has just been put on. The step is reinforced and hopefully ready tomorrow. The oil in the saildrive will be changed tomorrow morning. So i hope we can get in the water already tomorrow afternoon!

LinoCat is still on solid ground at Grenada Marine in Grenada. I have used the opportunity to fill the starbord side toilet with white vinegar for a few days. This is cleaning all the "remains" from the hoses. Also the one plastic step into the open part down from the helm station has been removed since it needs to be reinforced. It had a minor crack and before it breaks through i wanted it to be reinforced. The same for the teakgrill that the carpenter has made in Portugal. It is Lanis favorite place to play and it was bending through also. The saildrive oil will hopefully be changed today and we can get back in water on Friday noon latest. The plan is then to set sail to Carriacou since this still belongs to Grenada and Walter and Gitti from Bagalut are still there. I have some tools from Ralf which belongs to them and also we have not seen them for a while now. I want to do some snorkeling with them also :-) Vanora with Peter, Tina and Chico and one guest should also be s...

Today at 9 LinoCat was hauled out. The crane looks small but is big enough. The boat looked ugly but after some scraping and a high pressure wash it looked much better. In the afternoon i dropped Ralf at the airport which was sad but i amsure our paths will cross again.

A word also about the anchorage here: The Dinghy dock sucks, our dinghy was underneath the dock and so it now has scratches everywhere. The dock should have a proper conctruction to prevent dinghies going underneath. Also the swell and mosquitos here are not helping to find a good night sleep. So if you want to have your boat hauled out here, then just arrive a day before. The price for the haulout is very competitive, it was 228 USD for LinoCat and 85 USD for the high pressure wash. 38USD is it for the "chock", which is the storage of the boat. This price includes even 5 days on the hard for the boat. Island waterworld has a store here, where you can get Jotun and Seahawk Antifoulings. People in Grenada marine are very friendly and helpful. Now about the island tour: For 55USD per day plus tax you can rent a car from Francis directly at the Grenada Marine store. We got a small Jeep with AC which was in very good condition and we cruised around the island. First we vis...

Due to many requests, here are some more pictures of Lani. She usually still is in a good mood but has developed a really strong will. When she plays the game that all her teddybears should sit around here and one falls over she really gets angry and is complaining heavily. She is crawling all over the boat and she can already climb the seat on the helm station completly on her own. Scary stuff! Yesterday in the rum destillery she fell over and a little part of a front tooth broke off. She only cried for 2 minutes and that was it. A tough girl but i am not sure if this is good or not because she tends to do dangerous stuff :-) The pictures on the bottom is my favorite. In the beginning she only wanted to smell all the spices but now she is licking on all the packages. it is really amazing that she tried to eat everything. Yesterday evening she had "Chicken Satay in spicy peanut sauce" and she liked it.