I worked hard preparing to leave Grenada, fixed things, cleaned things, provisioned, etc.  Then I took a last hike inland, this time to the Seven Sisters waterfalls.     (If you blow the picture up you can see me jumping from the top). Many more goodbyes later , and I set sail, alone, heading north .  There was an ESE wind forecast that I took advantage of the first day.  But, things change, of course.  The seas picked up and the wind went a bit north so I was beating into the wind at 8 knots on my way to Bequia, when POW!  I nailed my head into the companionway door arch as I ran outside trying to do a quick sail adjustment when there was a wind shift.  A choppy sea caught me as Gypsy Cat went over a crest suddenly dropping as I was jumping out.    Funny thing is, is that if I had lost consciousness, I would have hit Bequia in 20 minutes as I was on autopilot.  We met a solo sailor last year in the Turks and Caicos last year who wore a bicycle helmet when sailing.  Not a bad idea.

Well, things got better day by day, and I kept on sailing, and stopped and explored inland here and there along the way.  Stopped at St. Lucia, loaded up on fruits and veggies at the once a week fruit market in Dominica, hung out in the Saints off Guadeloupe, and the south coast of Guadeloupe. . 

Two days ago, my day was spent fixing a motor problem.  It took me a couple days to fix.  Turned out there was an air leak in the fuel system.  A few hours to diagnose, and a couple hours to locate and fix the leak.  But I did it! 

Yesterday, my day started on the south coast of Guadeloupe.  I motored through the center of the island (a mangrove waterway) going through the bridge openings at 5AM and then 5:20AM.  From there I arrived on the north side and set sail for Antigua.  It was a fast, wet, choppy ride on a beam reach with light squalls hitting periodically so I had to constantly adjust the sails.  About 20 miles out from Antigua, I hooked up a nice Mahi Mahi.  What fun it was to arrive at the famous and crowded English Harbor with my big fish hanging overboard bleeding out .  Had many a head turn, a lot of thumbs up, and even a mega yacht crew stopped what they were doing, jabbed each other and gave a little cheer.   (I filleted it and after my sumptuous meal, have seven more servings).  Then I checked into Customs, and took a hike to the top of the highest ridge here overlooking the entrance to English Harbor.   I watched the sun set over Montserrat, hiked back down to Gypsy Cat, put on some Reggae music, had more Mahi Mahi and some Champagne, and dozed off.  That was my day yesterday.

December 13, 2009 St. Bart's

I had a great time in Antigua and met some great people.  That's all I can say.  I had my Mahi Mahi every night there, and plenty to share.

When it was time to leave, I went to the capital city, St. John's, to exchange money and clear out of customs.  I went to the Royal Canadian Bank - they certainly should have their act together, right?  Nope, it was run "island style".  Once inside, I went to the counter where the sign above me said "money exchange" and I politely and clearly asked for my local EC dollar to be exchanged into US dollars.  The guy looked at me like I was asking for a retrograde antimatter subatomic particle accelerator for my space ship.  "Huh? Duh? Ehhh...."  Brain cells: 15, IQ: 30.  A few minutes later he stammers that they have no US dollars.  Well, bullshit, because three cruise ships are anchored outside  a mile away, and there are thousands of Americans wandering around, many standing in the bank trying to get local currency.  Well, genius couldn't follow the logic and worked his best to provide customer dissatisfaction.  I figured out that they have Euro's so that will be fine.  He says, "48 Euros" for my 200 EC.  Fine.  So he comes back with only 45 trying to rip me off a few.  He explains that they have no coins, "sorry".  Hey, no problem for me as I have two shiny Euros that I put on the table so I can get an even 50 back.  Sensible, right?  So, of course, this confuses him, and after doing some higher math on his calculator,  he has to have a conference with his superior.  Confident he can still rip me off, he triumphantly marches back to inform me that they do not accept Euro coins.  Well, I persisted, and bringing my section of the bank to a grinding halt, they caved in, and gave me the overage in local EC dollars.  Caribbean style banking at it's best.

Ok, phweew, that's done.  So I walk over to Customs happy and cheerful to clear out.  The lady looks at me, confused of course, when I present my boat paperwork, and ask to be cleared out of the country.  She asks me why I have their copy of my clear in papers.  I have only what they gave me, and did what I was told, so if they made a mistake in giving me an extra form, then you just fix it, right?  No.  She tells me that I have to clear out where I cleared in as they made a mistake.  She doesn't want to move her fat ass and I am clearly interrupting her solitaire game.  Hey, no problem, I can just go back to the bank and exchange out more local currency, hop in an overpriced taxi and go to the opposite side of the island and waste one full day.  Well, the weather was turning ugly and the seas were picking up, and I had a small weather window to go to Barbuda, and onwards or else I would have been pinned down for over a week there.  My solution?  F*** them!  I just left.  If you clear into a French country, they don't need to see your exit papers.  I love the French islands!

So I sailed onto Barbuda, landing a nice Tuna  .  Had sashimi for lunch at my private anchorage , and then seared Tuna for dinner.  The seas were running 8-9 feet and building, so at 3AM, I sailed under my 150% genoa sail downwind and arrived in St. Bart's just after dark 16 hours later. 

The next day, yesterday, after my free shower, and free internet with free electricity (provided for everyone) under the gazebo in Gustavia Harbor, I cleared in with no trouble, free of course, and am legit.  I love St. Barts.  Part of my timing in coming here was that a friend (Veronique) was having a party and we all had a blast last night on Shambala.  My Italian, French, and Spanish is in serious need of help.  Hmmm...I think I will have to study Italian. 

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