December 30th, 2011
Nanny Cay, Tortola
On December 1st, we stopped at in Air Margaritaville for breakfast.
Our luggage did not arrive with us.
Our first night in Madrid, I had to buy a jacket to put over the T-shirt and shoes and socks to replace the flip flops.
The hotel was near the Coca Cola distribution center.
We took the a city bus, and then the Metro to go downtown to Calleo, and saw musicians carolling the shoppers as we walked down Preciados to get to Puerta del Sol. The tune sounded like "Jingle Bells", but the words were "Navidad, navidad".
After seeing the invisible man, we took a tour of the city by double-decker bus.
Lots of old buildings, monuments and fountains.
We were serenaded again on the Metro on the way home.
On Sunday (December 5th), we flew from Madrid to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. We had a long bus ride from the airport to Santa Cruz, where we met with John Dinsmore, Jay Sea Dee's owner, his son Jonathon, and his friend Greg who were also crewing for the trip.
Monday we topped up with fuel and water, and the crew was ready to leave.
Goodbye Tenerife.
Our days at sea were pretty uneventful, on the whole.
Jonathan put out the fishing lines, and caught a number of dorado (we ate the last for Boxing Day dinner), and also a delicious wahoo.
We took turns to be on watch and to be in charge of the galley.
A lot of stories were exchanged.
We reefed when needed, unfurled as the breeze lightened, and motored (for over three days) when there was no wind at all.
We dealt with squalls at night. We saw the moon grow and wane. Each night Venus was the evening star, with Jupiter high overhead. Orion would set before dawn. Jay Sea Dee's movement through the water excited the bio-luminescent plankton in our wake. The constant sighing of the waves was our music.
The Dinsmore boys enjoyed James Bond movies for entertainment.
Jonathon's fishing line stopped the wind turbine one day.
I finished a needlepoint, knitted and read a few books.
On December 20th, Greg called "Sail Ho!". Indeed, a ship was off to port, and we drew closer. La Malouine was bound for Martinique. They had left the Canaries a few days before us.
We sailed past Barbados at sun set.
We finally arrived in Grenada on December 22nd. Our "official" finish line, when we crossed longitude 61 42.733W had been previously agreed to. That put the voyage at 17 days, 5 hours and 20 minutes from our Santa Cruz departure.
We got to the Port Louis Marina in St George, Grenada in time for John to clear us through customs before they left for the day. Next day was busy with laundry, saying farewell to Greg, and cleaning.
John had a tree for the cabin, and a palm tree for the deck, and we had a good Christmas. We spent each afternoon, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day and the day after at the pool.
We said good-bye to John and Jonathon on December 28th.
Here we are on our 40th wedding anniversary, headed back to Lady. Three different flights on Liat, changing first at Barbados, a quick stop at Dominica on the way to Antigua, then the final flight to Tortola after a stop at Nevis. We were home in time to go out for a delicious dinner at Peg Legs Restaurant at Nanny Cay Marina.
Can you see us on the Peg Legs Web Cam? http://www.nannycay.com/webcams/ Aren't we the second boat on the right?
Provisioning and laundry yesterday. Internet today. Off sailing again tomorrow.
