We had a 4 hour delay at the airport in St. Lucia because of the snow in London. We flew to Gatwick and it was an over night flight. They had a choice of about 50 movies and TV programs. But I couldn’t help feeling how strange it would be getting home and couldn’t imagine it either. The thought of home after all this time. It was crazy.

 We got to Gatwick 8 hours later. It was -4 degrees. And we had to wait outside for our bus to Newport. The cold stung. When we got to Newport we got picked up by Blyth’s aunt. They dropped me off at Waitrose where my mum came and picked me up.  It was very strange seeing mum again. In a way she looked different because her hair was longer, but I recognised her face and clothes straight away and then her voice which sounded exactly the same as it always had done. She made so much noise that everyone for a mile away could hear her!

I said good bye to Blyth for the first time in a while and then we went to work to find dad. All really exciting, long time no see!  Another cool thing about getting back today is that I could pick my sister up from the ski trip and because of that I would get to see some school friends. My Mum would not leave me alone about my short very blond hair. It was quite funny. The skiers were delayed and did not get to Crickhowell until 11 o’clock. But Hetta had not changed at all either when she got off the coach.

The next day it snowed.  It was mad - lovely hot weather in St. Lucia to minus something in Wales.

This was my last sail going from Bequia to St. Lucia. I just could not believe that I would be going home in a week. It was great fun and we had lots of wind and some big swells. But the boat ploughed on through them. Unfortunately I forgot to take sea sick pills, and ended up chucking up twice. It was annoying to think that I had pretty much been being sick all the way. At one point whilst I was lying on the deck a big wave came up over the boat and landed right on top of me. I was soaked! Then Blyth came up from the galley and was half wet, because the water had come though the hatch.

We came to anchor in the town of Rodney Bay. Blyth and I then got the fun job of pumping up the dingy so that Dale could get customs and immigration cleared. After a few days out in the bay we got the news that Ron would be getting back the day we leave. So that meant that Dale could go back to Lanzarote. So we brought the boat in to the Marina. Dale left at 4 o’clock in the morning the next day, and that was it - he was gone. We got put into the mega dock because we now had no skipper.

There were some massive and really cool boats, one sail boat being double the size of our boat. There was also a huge motor boat behind us belonging to Antonio Banderas. At the time that we were on St. Lucia there was a Trans-Atlantic race coming over from the Canary Islands - a distance of 2700 miles. On one of the boats that came over was a boy called Ben. Blyth and I made good friends with him.

We did lots of beach transects around St Lucia and found the same story of no plastic on the leeward side and quite a lot on the windward side.  There were lots of interviews done with fisheries, tourism offices and government offices.

We were not allowed to dive in St. Lucia without a local instructor. There was a fine of $5000 US if we did. So we decided that we would explore the island on the first day and on the second we would go for a dive in the south of the St. Lucia.

 Bryony and Tim hired a car for 2 days. This was our chance to get a look around the island.  We went on a farm tour which was very cool and they showed us how they made this special type of bread that tasted really nice. Then we got a bit lost in the forest before finding the so-called bird sanctuary. We went on a big very steep walk through the forest on foot but there were very few birds of interest but amazing views of the island.

We got back to Rodney Bay, Ron would be arriving tonight and we all decided to stay up until he got here. So Blyth and I started to watch “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Ron did not get here until midnight. He came with his parents Pat and Ron senior. Steven and I were sent down to the bar to get some beer for all the adults. We did not get to bed until 1 o’clock.

The next day we had to get up at 6 o’clock to go diving. The dive centre was on the southern end of the island and we were at the northern end.  We did our first dive just off the dive centre. It was very cool and all the fish were a lot bigger, because it was a marine reserve. Our second dive was down the Pitons which are 2 huge pointed rocks. That dive was quite disappointing as practically all the coral was dead and all the fish were a lot smaller. But then towards the end Bryony got very excited and pointed down into the depths. There was the biggest hawk’s bill turtle I have ever seen. It looked at least a metre wide and long.

When we got back we started the sad job of packing. We left Ron, Steve, Pat and Ron senior to look after the boat and take it on to the American Virgin Islands.

We had a very nice sail over from Barbados. As we left in the evening it meant normal watches and arrive there at about 9 am. On my watch that night it was very starry and clear as I watched Barbados disappear into the night. There were a few big container ships around but all were heading for land. Then looking around with the night vision scope I spotted another ship. It was hard to tell which direction it was going so I watched it for a bit, often going down to check the A.I.S but it was a bit too far out and the A.I.S did not have it showing. When it finally did show it was coming straight for us on a collision course. I straight away got Dale out of bed and he had to radio them up to ask for them to change course.

We arrived at Bequia on time in Admiralty Bay. It was a very popular place for sail boats and there were about 75 – 100 sail boats there. We anchored a bit further out from the other boats. As soon as we were anchored Blyth and I set to pumping up the big dingy with our foot pump. It took forever! Once that was done and the motor was put on we set Dale off to go and do customs and immigration.

We went for our first dive that afternoon on the northern corner of Admiralty Bay. It is called Devils Table. It is where I did all 3 of my dives. The first 2 dives we started on a pretty boring wreck on an old fishing boat which was just off the main reef. But nearly all the way around it were meadows of sea grass which had little colonies of fish living in them. Then we would get to lots of these boulders which were covered in coral and fish. We saw Garden eels, cow fish, parrot fish and lots more really cool stuff. The last dive I did was on and beside the Devils Table its self. It was a very nice dive. There were lots of really cool fish there but the best thing I saw was a yong little turtle. He let us swim right up to him and then swam straight towards me. It even let me touch it.

One of the days Bryony, Blyth, Tim and I got a taxi and went to the other side of the island (the windward side of the island). The first thing that we did was go to a turtle sanctuary and see what they were doing there. It was very interesting how they collected the turtles as they went down to the sea from their own private beach and then place them in their own sanctuary. After six years they are released back into the wild off the same beach and then the same turtles will come back to the same place to lay their eggs and so on. It is a long term project but they have already increased the percentage of the turtles by a good margin in that area.

On the beach transect side of things we had a similar answer. Lots of plastic on the windward and very clean on the leeward side. The beaches are like the perfect tropical island beaches that you might imagine, white sands, turquoise seas.

Having a really cool time and I can’t believe that it is really over. Just St. Lucia to go.

It took us 24 hours to get to Barbados from Tobago. It was a nice sail but in the number of days id been there I had already lost my sea legs and I felt quite sick all the way but I was not throw up.  We arrived at about 4 pm and got told that we were not allowed to step off the boat until customs and immigration had come to us and we had filled in the forms. The harbor we were at was at Bridgetown the capital. It had a cruise ship of over 200 m and another one a bit smaller. There were also about 4 container ships. After signing in it was already dark and we anchored about half a mile off the harbor in front of a nice big sandy beach with the city behind it. The following day we went down to the beach to do some transects and see what was there. We took the dingy to a pier which was owned by a restaurant called the Boatyard. After doing the transects with Tim, Blyth and I had a play the nice warm water. Later that evening I went to the yacht club and had a nice buffet meal.

The 4 dives we did there were ok but I expected to see a bit more. Unfortunately Blyth could not dive with his ear ache. The first dive was just looking around under the boat and there was not much to see at all. But I did see my first ever sea horse sleeping in some weed. The bottom though was covered with broken coral from boats anchoring. The rest of our dives were in a tiny marine park which used to be a dump and now has 6 small wrecks in it, though it is very clean now. Our first dive there was with Steve, Dale and Bryony. I was buddies with Steven. I saw quite a few small groupers and squirrel fish. There was lots more fish too but they were all so small. When we got to the last wreck there was an open hatch and Steve and I went in to have a look, it was very dark inside, but we had good torches. It looked like the engine room and inside there were some arrow crabs which looked very cool by torch light. The next dive we did was a bit of a disaster because we could not find the wreck we were looking for and ended up just doing a lot of swimming. But we did see another sea horse and a hawksbill turtle. The last dive we did was another night dive. It was pretty cool but we did not see much. At one point I reached out towards a pike fish which swam slightly blinded by my light into my mask.

I did lots of transects with Blyth, Bryony and Tim on both sides of the island. We found the whole leeward of the island is very clean but the windward side of the island is covered in plastic from the wind and currents out in the ocean. To get to the other side of the island we went by bus, for there it is very good and cheap. The first time we went on a bus we seemed to get the maddest bus in the country. He drove the bus like some race car and beeped as he went round a corner to give people a little warning. One time I swear that we missed a man on a bicycle by about an inch. Then there was this really chilled guy sitting opposite Tim saying “there is no need to worry for we are in god’s hands man, we are blessed”. We had a few more bus rides but the bus drivers were slightly more mellowed. One day coming back to Bridgetown we got the bus that the schools also use and it was jam-packed with kids.

Towards the end of our time in Barbados we decided that we would go to a different island for we had done all the research we could in Barbados so we chose to go to Bequia which is on the way to St. Lucia. We would be there for about 3 days and then might go to St. Vincent.

On one of the last nights of being at Barbados we went to an international 20-20 cricket match. West Indies against South Africa. There were not big names and I think it was B teams but it was awesome. It was the first international I have ever been to and there were big hits all over the place. South Africa batted first and set an ok score of 165. The West Indies started very badly then suddenly started nailing the ball everywhere. In the end South Africa won by 11 runs.

We left Barbados at sunset the next day and had a beautiful sail all the way to Bequia.

 I t   I s   a   4 8   h o u r   s a i l   f r o m   G u y a n a   t o   T o b a g o .   It   s e e m s   s o   s h o r t   a f t e r   h a v i n g   s u c h   a  b i g   s a i l   b e f o r e h a n d .   W e   a r e   n o t   a c t u a l l y   g o i n g   t o   T r i n i d a d   b e c a u s e   T o b a g o   i s   m e a n t   t o   b e   a   m u c h   n i c e r   p l a c e .   I t   w a s   go o d   t o   h a v e   R o n   s e n i o r   a n d   G e n e   o n   b o a r d .   G e n e   w a s   v e r y   i n t o   p h o t o g r a p h y   a n d   v e r y   s o o n   g o t   h i m s e l f   t h e   n a m e   G e n e   t h e   p a p a r a z z i   m a c h i n e .   W e   e n d e d   u p   s h a r i n g   m y   w a t c h   t o g e t h e r   w h i c h   w a s   s t i l l   t h e   1 0   -   1 2   p m .   R o n   s e n i o r   h a d   b r o u g h t   o t h e r   R o n  s   n i g h t   v i s i o n   s c o p e   w h i c h   i s   v e r y   c o o l   a n d   y o u   c a n   s e e   f o r   m i l e s .   I f   y o u   l o o k   u p   i n t o   t h e   s k y   y o u   c a n   s e e   t h o u s a n d s   o f   s t a r s .   I   w o k e   u p   t h e   n e x t   m o r n i n g   t o   f i n d   t h a t   t h e   b o a t   w a s   s t o p p e d   a n d   I   t h o u g h t   w e   w e r e   a l l   g o i n g   t o   h a v e   a   s w i m .   B u t   i t   t u r n e d   o u t   t h a t   w e   h a d   r u n   i n t o   a   m a s s i v e   f i s h i n g   n e t   a n d   S t e v e   w a s   i n   t h e   w a t e r   c u t t i n g   i t   o f f   t h e   b o a t .   B y   t h e   t i m e   w e   h a d   g o t   i t   a l l   o n   b o a r d   w e   e s t i m a t e d   t h a t   i t   w a s   a b o u t   1 5 0   m   o f   r o p e   w i t h   f l o a t s   a t t a c h e d   t o   i t .  

T h a t   n i g h t   o n   m y   w a t c h   i t   w a s   l o v e l y   c l e a r   s k y   w i t h   s t a r s   e v e r y w h e r e .   N o   s i g n s   o f   a n y   s h i p s   o r   a n y t h i n g   l i k e   t h a t .   T h e n   i n   m y   l a s t   h a l f   a n   h o u r   o f   w a t c h   I   s p o t t e d   a   l i g h t   c o m i n g   r i g h t   u p   b e h i n d   u s .   I   w e n t   d o w n   t o   c h e c k   w h a t   i t   w a s   o n   t h e   r a d a r   a n d   t h e   A . I . S   w h i c h   s t a n d s   f o r   a u t o m a t i c   i d e n t i t y   s y s t e m .   I t   t u r n e d   o u t   t h a t   i t   w a s   a   1 4 8   m   c o n t a i n e r   s h i p   h e a d i n g   f o r   J a m a i c a   a n d   i t   w a s   c o m i n g   a t   o v e r   1 7   k n o t s   w h i c h   i s   1 8 . 7   m i l e s   p e r   h o u r .   I t   w a s   n o t   g o i n g   t o   h i t   u s   b u t   i t   w o u l d   p a s s   q u i t e   c l o s e .  

T h e   n e x t   d a y   w e   s t a r t e d   t o   g e t   p r e p a r e d   f o r   o u r   a r r i v a l   i n   T o b a g o .   W h e n   i t   a p p e a r e d   t h e r e   w e r e   t h e   s h o u t s   o f   L a n d   H o   a n d   t h e   r i n g i n g   o f   t h e   b e l l .   W e   c a m e   i n t o   t h e   c i t y   o f   S c a r b o r o u g h .   T h e   p e o p l e   w e r e   v e r y   n i c e   t h e r e   b u t   t h e   p l a c e   w a s   a   b i t   o f   a   d u m p .   T h e r e   w a s   c o o l   r e g g a e   m u s i c   p l a y i n g   a t   t o p   v o l u m e   o n   e v e r y   s t r e e t   c o r n e r .   W e   d i d   n o t   p l a n   o n   s t a y i n g   t h e r e   l o n g   f o r   t h e r e   a r e   n i c e   a n c h o r a g e s e  f u r t h e r  d o w n  t h e  c o a s t . W e   j u s t   h a d   t o   c h e c k   i n t o   t h e   c o u n t r y   a n d   t h e n   w o u l d   s t a y   t h e   n i g h t   a n d   l e a v e   i n   t h e   m o r n i n g .   W e   t r i e d   t o   f i n d   s o m e w h e r e   t o   e a t   i n   t h e   e v e n i n g   b u t   t h e r e   w e r e   n o   r e s t a u r a n t s   o r   a n y t h i n g   l i k e   i t .   W e   e n d e d   u p   e a t i n g   a t   a   C h i n e s e   t a k e   a w a y   w i t h   a   f e w   t a b l e s   a n d   c h a i r s   f o r   u s   t o   e a t   o n .  

I n   t h e   m o r n i n g  w e  w e r e  t o   s e t   B l y t h   a n d   T i m    o f f   t o   g o   a n d   p i c k   u p   b r y o n y   B l y t h’ s   m u m ,   f r o m   t h e   a i r p o r t ,  t h a t  w a s   a f t e r   w e h a d  g o t   t o   o u r  a n c h o r a g e  .    w h e n   w e   l e f t   f o r   o u r   a n c h o r a g e   w e   w e r e n  t   s u r e   e x a c t l y   w h e r e   w e   w a n t e d   t o   g o .   B y   t h e   t i m e   w e   h a d   f o u n d   a   n i c e   q u i e t   p l a c e   i t   w a s   a b o u t   1 1   a m .   W e   p u t   t h e   e n g i n e   s t r a i g h t   o n   a n d   s e t   T i m   a n d   B l y t h   o f f   t o   g e t   B r y o n y .   B e f o r e   t h e y   h a d   e v e n   l e f t   I   w a s   i n   t h e   b e a u t i f u l   w a t e r ,   w h i c h   w a s   c l e a r   a n d   w a r m .   T h a t  s   w h e n   I   s t a r t e d   t h i n k i n g   t o   m y s e l f ,   w e l c o m e   t o   t h e   C a r i b b e a n .   W h e n   b r y o n y   g o t   t o   t h e   b o a t   s h e   f i l l e d   m y   h a n d s   w i t h   l e t t e r s   a n d   s w e e t s   f r o m   h o m e .   D u r i n g   m y   t i m e   i n   T o b a g o   I   d i d   7   d i v e s .   A n d   a l l   b u t   o n e   w e r e   w e   d i v e d   i n   t h e   w r o n g   s p o t   w e r e   a m a z i n g .   M y   f i r s t   d i v e   w a s   o n   a   p l a c e   c a l l e d   B u c c o   r e e f   n a t i o n a l   p a r k .   I t   w a s   m y   f i r s t   e v e r  d i v e   o n   a   c o r a l   r e e f   w h i c h   w a s   a m a z i n g   b u t   u n f o r t u n a t e l y   i t   w a s   n o t   v e r y   h e a l t h y .   T h e r e   w e r e   l o t s   o f   c o o l   f i s h   t h e r e   l i k e   p a r r o t   f i s h   a n d   a t   o n e   p o i n t   w e   s a w   a   h u g e   f i s h   o n   t h e   e d g e   o f   s i g h t   w h i c h   w a s   a b o u t   a   m e t e r   o r   m o r e   i n   l e n g t h .   F o r   t h e   n e x t   3   d i v e s   w e   w e n t   t o   a   s p o t   j u s t   o f f   o u r   a n c h o r a g e .   I t   w a s   a   n i c e   r e e f ,   a n d   w e   s a w   l o t s   o f   r e a l l y   c o o l   f i s h   a n d   t h e   b i g g e s t   s t i n g r a y   o f   m y   l i f e   t h e r e   w a s   e v e n   a   m o r a y   e e l .   T h e   n e x t   d i v e   I   d i d   w a s   m y   f i r s t   e v e r   n i g h t   d i v e   a n d   I   m u s t   s a y   I   w a s   a   b i t   n e r v o u s   a t   f i r s t .   B u t   o n c e   I   w a s   d o w n   t h e r e   i t   w a s   a b s o l u t e l y   a w e s o m e .   W e   s a w   a   b i g   c r a b   w h i c h   l o o k e d   s o l i d   w i t h   i t s   a r m o r e d   s h e l l ,   a   l o b s t e r   w h i c h   w a s   a b o u t   t o   g e t   k i l l e d   b y   a   m o r a y eel   m a s s i v e   s t i n g   r a y   s l e e p i n g   w h i c h   h a d   i t s  s t i n g   m i s s i n g . w e  d i d   o u r  l a s t  2  d i v e s  o n  a  s h i p  w r e c k .  T h e   f i r s t   d i v e   o n   i t   w a s   w i t h   R o n   a n d   D a l e .   I t   w a s   m a i n l y   a   d i v e   t o   s e e   w h a t   w a s   t h e r e .   I t   w a s   v e r y   c o o l   a n d   t h e r e   w a s   c o r a l   a l l   o v e r it.   T o w a r d s   t h e   e n d   o f   t h e   d i v e   D a l e   e x c i t e d l y   c a u g h t   o u r   a t t e n t i o n   a n d   p o i n t e d   i n t o   t h e   d a r k   s h a d o w s   o f   t h e   b o a t ,   b u t   t h e r e   w a s   n o t h i n g   t h e r e .   W h e n   w e   g o t   t o   t h e   s u r f a c e   w e   a s k e d   D a l e   w h a t   h e   s a w   a n d   h e   w a s   s u r e   h e   s a w   a   6   f t   s h a r k   w h i c h   w e   g u e s s e d   t o   b e   a   b l a c k   t i p   r e e f   s h a r k . 

 R o n   s e n i o r   a n d   G e n e   l e f t   a f t e r   a   f e w   d a y s   o f   b e i n g   i n   T o b a g o .   I t   h a d   b e e n   v e r y   n i c e   h a v i n g   t h e m   a r o u n d .   A f t e r   a   w h i l e   o f   b e i n g   i n   T o b a g o   R o n   b r o k e   t h e   n e w s   t h a t   h e   w a s   g o i n g   t o   h a v e   t o   g o   b a c k   t o   C a l i f o r n i a   f o r   a   b i t   t o   s e e   P o r t i a   h i s   w i f e   w h o   i s   n o w   a b o u t   5   m o n t h s   p r e g n a n t .   A n d   t h e n   D a l e   w o u l d   b e   o u r   c a p t a i n   f o r   a s   l o n g   a s   h e   c o u l d ,   b e f o r e   g o i n g   b a c k   t o   t h e   c a n a r i e s .   T h e n   R o n   w a s   p l a n n i n g   t o   c o m e   b a c k   a   c o u p l e   o f   d a y s   b e f o r e   I   l e f t   i n   S t .   L u c i a . U n f o r t u n a t e l y   I  h a d   t o  h a v e  m y  h a i r  c u t  a g a i n  a n d  t o  a  q u a r t e r  i n c h .  M y  h a i r  w a s  j u s t  g e t t i n g  n i c e .

A   f e w   d a y s   b e f o r e   w e   l e f t   T o b a g o   R o n ,   S t e v e ,   P h o e b e   a n d   I   w e n t   t o   I n t e r v i e w   a   m a n   a t   B u c c o   r e e f   t r u s t .   H e   w a s   a n   i n t e r e s t i n g   g u y   a n d   h e   w a s   t r y i n g   t o   c o n s e r v e   t h e   o c e a n   a r o u n d   T o b a g o .   T h e y   g e t   s c h o o l s   i n v o l v e d   w i t h   a c t i v i t i e s   a n d   t e l l   t h e m   w h a t   i s   h a p p e n i n g   a n d   w h a t   t h e y   n e e d   t o   d o   a b o u t   i t .   U n f o r t u n a t e l y   t h e   b u s i n e s s   i s   l o w   o n   m o n e y   a n d   t h e   g o v e r n m e n t   i s   n o t   a t   a l l   b o t h e r e d   w h i c h   i s   a   r e a l   s h a m e.

 T o   s i g n   b a c k   o u t   o f   t h e   c o u n t r y   w e   h a d   t o   g o   b a c k   t o   S c a r b o r o u g h .   B y   t h e   t i m e   w e   g o t   t h e r e   w e   q u i c k l y   s e t   R o n   o f f   f o r   a   t a x i   t o   t h e   a i r p o r t   a n d   s t a r t e d   s h o p p i n g   f o r   s o m e   f o o d   t o   g e t   u s   a c r o s s   t o   B a r b a d o s .   T h e n   a f t e r   s i g n i n g   o u t   w e   w e r e   g o n e .   O f f   t h e   m y   n e x t   C a r i b b e a n   i s l a n d .

2/11/09 Cape Verde Isles

We got woken up at 2:30 am that morning. We were leaving from Tarrafal to go to Praia, to get fuel, food and pick up Steve and Phoebe. It was a five hour sail and we planned to arrive in Praia at 9:00 am. On the way we all got rested because there was a lot to do when we got there.

When we got to Praia I radioed Phoebe and Steve to say we were here. We were anchored off the mainland and could only get there by dinghy. So that’s where Tim’s job came in. He would drive us all back and forth from land to the boat. Ron and Dale were the first to come ashore with the gas bottles for the stove. Tim came back with Steve and Phoebe’s stuff but they had stayed on land to help with the shopping. About half an hour later Ron called us to come and pick up the gas bottles and to bring Blyth and me with him. The main reason I needed to come into town was so that I could put my last blog up in an internet Café. Once we got to the police dock which is the only place that is possible to tie up the dinghy, Ron and Steve loaded the full gas bottles. Then we all headed into town. We got a lift in a small mini bus taxi which felt as if it were about to fall apart. From there Ron and I went off to the internet café whilst the others hit the supermarket.

After I had sorted out my blog we went to the fruit and vegetable market, and found Dale and Phoebe. Blyth and Steve had already gone back with all the shopping from the supermarket, and by the time we had found Phoebe and Dale they already had loads of stuff. I was told to wait on the edge of the market, with all our food so that we did not have to carry it all around whilst the others got more. As I was waiting with the food a man walked in with a tuna on his shoulder that looked about 100 pound.

 We did not have much time to hang around because we had a Shell fuel truck coming to the harbor to so we could fill up the tanks before we left. When we got back to the boat we drove down to the one place that we could tie up and waited for the Shell lorry to come. As we arrived a big gang of people hung around on the jetty watching the boat. It all was a bit odd having them all watching us as we worked, and we had to have at least two of us up on deck at any time, in case they tried to steal anything. The lorry arrived late and it took us ages to fill up all our tanks because we had use so much coming here. While we were still filling Ron and Phoebe went off to buy some last things that we had not found before. By the time they got back it was dark, but finally just a bit behind schedule we were gone to the deep blue sea. I had the 12 to 2 watch. It was the most tiring thing ever.

3/11/09 At Sea

I woke up this morning at about 10:00 am to see a tiny little volcanic island which apparently is still live. It would be my last sight of land for quite some time. By the side of the volcano there was a strong wind and we got the boat up to ten knots. (A knot is 1.1 times faster than miles per hour). The wind carried us right out until we had almost lost sight of land before it turned to a more steady pace. Tonight I got to change my watch to 10 to 12. It is a much nicer watch.

4/11/09

Once we knew for sure that we were in the trade winds (which is a good wind that will not die down and will keep its course for a long time) we hoisted the Genaker which is a huge sail that sits in a long sock and we would pull it up the mast on a halyard (rope) and then we’d pull up the sock revealing the sail. We use the Genaker is to get high speed from light winds, since it’s massive and extremely light.  It’s my favorite.

5/11/09

We kept the Genaker up all night last night and are  now going at 7, 8, 9 knots which is a good speed and we will be across in 10 days if we can keep it up. We saw a few birds stalking the waters for little fish, they were amazing flyers preserving energy by using the wind so they would glide over the water like jets.

A Busy Day on Sea Dragon

Breakfast - Fruit, oat puffs (Blyth), Omelette (Hugh)

Clear-up Breakfast

DutyList

-Cleaning the heads (Loo / shower)

-Sweeping floors

-Tidy deck

-Cooking

-Washing & drying dishes

Science

- Water Sampling - limited by weather

-Beach transects (not at sea!)

- Interviews (not at sea!) with fisherman, surfers, locals, envirnment agencies, Tourist officers.

Sailing - anytime of day or night when needed.   At least 4 hands on deck to raise or reef the sails

Swimming (anchored) - to cool down & for exercise

6/11/09 Still at Sea

When I got up this morning the sun was already shining down on us with hardly a cloud in the sky, and blue was everywhere in the sea and sky. It was beautiful. Later on I put out the fishing line and settled down to my book, The Recruit. After a nice snacky lunch there was the buzz of the fishing line going out and when I got to the rod and started to pull the fish in he felt like a big one. Then the line went and we lost him along with my favorite hook.

7/11/09

I woke up hearing the sound of the Genaker being pulled down. Blyth jumped out of his bunk to go help and I followed. Putting our harnesses on we ran up to find that a big squall was coming our way. The Genaker is only meant for light winds and would split if the winds got too strong, so it had been a desperate struggle to get it down in the strengthening winds. Soon Steve and Phoebe came up to join us. Then the rain started and we all got soaked because we didn’t have our heavy weather gear on, but we didn’t mind. Then the wind picked up to 46 knots which is over 50 miles per hour. It was crazy but great fun. We put the jib out and just off that we made 14.9 knots, it was the fastest the boat had gone since it had left England. The rain lasted all day and most of the night. My watch tonight was absolutely wet and miserable.

8/11/09

Today the weather was very rainy and we all got soaked. We had to take turns between who would go up on deck next. During the rain we saw quite a few storm petrels which are small little birds that look quite like pigeons. I talked to a big 299 m tanker on the radio. It was very cool.

9/11/09

The weather has cleared a bit now and we are making a good overall speed of about 7 knots. We are doing very well in time and things are going great, apart from the fishing. Another fish hit earlier and the line broke again. We think that something must have spilled on it which is why it keeps on snapping.

10/11/09          

Nice morning, few clouds. Finished my book and going to start another. A squall came this afternoon and we started to put the jib in then the roller that brings in the jib broke and we had to leave it out all through the storm. When the storm calmed down Steve, Phoebe and Ron brought the jib down and took apart the roller to see what had happened to it. The plate had been ripped and we were missing lots of screws and bolts. We decided to fix it in the morning because it was starting to get dark.  

11/11/09

800 miles to go. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! The generator is not starting very well but we finally got it going. It is another very nice day but a bit hot and there’s not much shelter on deck so I made a shaded area from a towel and read my book. Later on we put up a long pole (called a ‘spinnaker pole’) from the mast which the jib attaches onto for going down wind. It looks very cool from behind. It is called sailing ‘wing and wing’ because it looks like a birds wings.

12/11/09

Very nice morning. Managed to get the generator running smoothly. Talked to a fishing boat called Alexandra that was fishing for yellow fin Tuna. Best of all we passed the 500 mile mark. Amazing feeling! We would be there in 2 – 3 days. In the evening we saw a boat out in the distance and far out on the other side was a lightning storm.

13/11/09

Today we took down the pole that holds the jib out and put it back to its normal position, lying on deck. Then we put up the staysail which is like a small jib. So in the end we had 3 sails up at the same time. That evening Steve thought he saw a green flare. Ron did not know what a green flare meant because the distress flares are only red and white. We radioed to see if there were any boats in distress in our area but no one answered. So in the end we radioed the coast guard to tell them we saw the flare and continued on towards Guyana. 

14/11/09 An Atlantic Swim

Another nice sunny day. When I was sitting down below playing chess with Phoebe when there was a sudden yell down the hatch, “MAN OVERBOARD!”. We all went sprinting up the stairs onto the deck. We quickly set to work taking down the sails as the boat was steered up wind to stop it faster. I went down to get the ladder. It was all very exciting. But of course it was only a practice and Ron only did it so we could have a swim in the 9000m water. It was amazing but a bit scary being in the deep water with nothing but blue underneath you, getting darker and darker. Once we were back on board the boat and going we came across an area covered in algae-like stuff which was the colour of poo. We then took a sample in a bucket and had a look with the microscope. There was a thin layer of dead ones on the top and live ones swimming under them.

15/11/09 Land Ahoy!

At about 2:00 pm when we were all sitting around and keeping an eye on the many boats that were around us, we caught the first glimpse of land for 13 days. Then the loud shrieks of “LAND HO!” went all around the boat and Phoebe rang the bell as loudly as she could. The water is very shallow around here and we would run aground if there was not a channel dug into the seabed for all the boats that come into the port. But we had to wait for a boat to come and escort us in so that we could follow him down the channel. When we got there we met Ron’s dad who is called Ron as well so we call him ‘Senior’. His friend Gene was at a trip to some of the water falls in the jungle so we did not meet him till later. Once we had signed in to customs and got our passports back it was already about 8:00 pm and all of us except for Ron and Dale went to a hotel buffet where Senior and Gene had been staying. There was very nice food and we all had a great time.

16/11/09 A busy day in British Guyana

This morning we split into three groups to go to as many different places in the city as we could to do research before leaving on the high tide at 2:00 pm for Tobago. I went with Ron and Dale to the zoo. It was amazing and we saw lots of the wild animals that live in the jungle here. I saw and anacondas, jaguars, tapirs, caimans, otters, parrots, monkeys and lots more. In the zoo is a classroom which is visited by about two schools a day. Once the teacher had finished the first class we went to talk to him about what he was doing. In his room he also showed us some of the young animals he was looking after. There were tortoises that were a few days old and a five-day-old boa constrictor; he also had a rat snake. When we left the zoo we went to a pond and fed manatees. They are the most bizarre creatures I have ever seen. After a quick lunch we went to a place where a man was trying to breed rare birds and put them back to the wild. His name was Andy. He gave us a big talk about all he had done and it was very interesting. He had even found a type of parrot which was thought to be extinct. There is now a pair of them living in Georgetown. We got back to the boat in the nick of time to untie and leave for another country that I can tick off my list.

It is really hot and humid - I need to remember to drink all the time. 

I have found my sea legs - no longer sea sick - hurray! 

I have never read so much in my life - 3 books already and looking forward to starting on Blyth’s! 

Mummy thinks everyone should witness the state of my knees - no longer sea sick but still accident prone!