Sailing North and Big News

 

Chavez delivering fresh baguettes, bread and croissants in Bequia.  That is Sandy on Dakota Dream getting her daily cinnamon roll too.

Buying eggs from the local fruit stand is always interesting.  One never knows what the daily truck will bring.

Our route up the volcano on St. Vincent “La Soufrière”.  The volcano last erupted in September 2021 - ouch!

Our group of climbing sailors in the cool air, high up on the volcano

Yes, “La Soufrière” erupts a LOT of ash

Dawn on Cat Tales showing the way to climb into the clouds

This area was completely barren in September 2021, after the volcano erupted.  Look how quickly things grow in the tropics.

On the Bequia Express ferry at 0630, going to Kingstown, St. Vincent for our volcano climb

Kingstown, St. Vincent

Our climbing bus, led by the tour guide Fraser.  A local guide is required to hike or climb the volcano.

The trail on “La Soufrière” was in really good shape, even after so much destruction following the last eruption in September 2021.

Sailing on Bequia's "Friendship Rose" schooner with so many sailor friends. Charlie and Anina (Prism), Bill and Joanna (Cloud Street), Dawn and Laurie (Cat Tales), Fred and Sandy (Dakota Dream), Linda and Garry (X-July Indian), Barry and Monica (MoBata) and a nice British couple on the far left.  Maria and I are in the picture too, ha ha!

Maria with Savannah Sky at the dock in the Netherlands

 

Savannah Sky being stored for winter in the Netherlands

S/Y Aspen – January 14, 2023 – Log #188

Aspen Position: 14 degrees 04’ N, 60 degrees 56’ W

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, Caribbean

 

Sailing North and Big News

 

Leaving sweet Bequia, just after midnight, is necessary for Aspen to arrive in St. Lucia before another sunset overtakes us.

 

It was a good sail with Aspen flying along at 6.5 – 7.8 knots, skipping across the endless waves like a thoroughbred horse.  Well, if horses could charge across the water, you might picture that?

 

Twelve hours later we enjoyed peaceful Rodney Bay Marina, after visiting Customs & Immigration of course.  Yes, they even let us into the country, despite our bedraggled appearance, after spending all night and half the day sailing amongst tropical trade winds in the Caribbean Sea.

 

Rodney Bay Marina is recovering nicely from the world shutdown due to Covid.  Restaurants welcome sailors once again and the docks are busy with boats coming and going from all points of the globe.

 

Walking the docks in the marina is quite a reunion; seeing sailors and boats we haven’t seen since 2019.  The friendly comradery doesn’t change, only a few more gray hairs and sun-dried skin with several more wrinkles have changed everyone’s appearance; Except our ageless bodies, of course.  Ha ha.

 

Maria’s and my big news is: we bought another boat.  What???

 

It was a deal too good to pass up, as the saying goes.

 

We purchased an Island Packet 485 sailboat.  Yes, the same factory that built Aspen so long ago.

 

The name of our new sailboat is “Savannah Sky”, because Maria likes that sweet name.

 

She is a 52-foot sailboat, big enough to take on whatever adventure lies on the horizon for us.

 

Oh, there is one more little detail about the new boat.  It is in Rotterdam, Netherlands.  Woa.

 

Ah, it will be a grand adventure sailing Savannah Sky south to the Canary Islands and across the Atlantic to our beloved Caribbean during November 2023.

 

Sail on, sail on Aspen and Savannah Sky…

 

Steve and Maria

PS -

1.     You can follow Aspen’s route here: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_Aspen

2.     Aspen also has a Garmin tracker working so you can follow along:  https://share.garmin.com/SYAspen