Tag Archives: mustique

Rhythm method

Takes longer and longer to settle in.. Am I getting older or ..

Vacation takes a while to settle in. First part is balls to the wall, then over do it, then recover, then finally settle in. Took about a week this time.

First the struggle to get out of port, wasn’t a real struggle, but we spent an extra day there. Then made it south met friends, after a long sail and too many beverages. Hooked up with friends in Mustique, that are simply awesome. Finally, the rhythm started settling.

Great sail from Mustique to Tobago Keys, even hooked up with a black fin tuna for that we have yet to break into, we finished the first one last night at the Tabaggo keys. Not sure how much if this is a repeat of other posts, but here it goes.

Leaving Mustique the wind had shifted out of the south of east, of course the direction we wanted to go. We raised full sails and beat into the wind, again a port tack, about 42 degrees to the wind. Great sail. We looked back and the 62 foot GUNBOAT had spotted us a 3 mile head start. Carbon boat, carbon or mylar sails, its fast. We watched it catch us for hours. (wink), they were pointing at around 30 degrees and thought they would clear the island to the east the we would have loved to clear. The Gunboat could have cleared South Africa with his point.

As we approached Canouan, the cedar plug hooked up. Tuna again, onboard. While we doused the gib and and headed into the wind to reel the 2 meal’er in, the Gunboat appeared on our side of the island. Huh? Oh well beat a $5M boat in a race that they weren’t aware they were in…. and scored a tuna. About 2 hrs later we found them in the Tabbago Keys, a chillin. I could look up “zenyatta’ but its charter rate is probably beyond our comprehension.

Two nights at the Tabaggo Keys, watching the Kiteboarders, and saying hello to old boat boys like Walter, its always fun. Still into the rhythm (and yes I did have to look up how to spell rhythm), a little swimming relaxing, sleeping, hiding from the sun — back into a groove.

No particular place to be, but still have a deadline.

We did the math and we have been in Chatham bay at least 6 times, and almost always stop by Vanessa’s beach bar. The first time Shookie came out to meet us, this time, I yelled Vannesa name as she came up while we anchored. Christine spouted, 3 for dinner as we are already releaving my cooking duties for dinner this eve to Vanessa. Conch and MahiMahi are on our dinner menu tonight.

Quick trip to the ‘fancy’ resort, for beverages and to get the wifi code, as they they changed it. Damn them. I had under 6 boats in ‘how many here this time of year’ and lost. Still less than a dozen, but this is a swirly place, the wind comes in all directions. We have been here 5 hrs now and have done at least 2 360s based on how many wraps are on our stern USA flag.

Right now, the biggest decision is…. Sunset on the boat, or at the beach bar.. Its not like they will feed our food to the seagulls.

Love this place, no better place to spend a birthday. Maybe sharing with some more friends, but Christine makes up for all that. Someday every one will come and enjoy this humidity and sticky feeling.

Cheers ya’ll and thx for the bDay wishes for all those emails that found me in the 12 degrees of Latitude.

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Tour de ‘Tique

Day started out nice and slow, with both boys sleeping in and giving me some “Christine” time to do some work, read my new novel, and enjoy the sunrise. As the boat started to stir and thoughts of the day started to formulate we realized that the only thing on our schedule was lunch with our friend Richard, the Mustique Tennis Club Director (and tennis pro himself). We met Richard and Val during our last trip here and managed to stay in touch over the months. Richard is a super nice guy, met us out for drinks at Basil’s last night and filled us in on the island stories. He has been here for over 15 years building one of the most well known tennis clubs in the islands. He hires tennis professionals from around the world to teach the guests, home owners, locals and tourists and knows everything about everything when it comes to this island. If you ever come to the Windward islands, you have to stop by and get a lesson (email: mustiquetennis@gmail.com). Matt jumped back in the water to finish cleaning the bottom of the boat as I cleaned the inside of the boat (in the hopes that we ran into our TX friends and entertained them). We hit the market and refilled our boat with beer, rum, vodka, Pringles, and other such imperative provisions. We then met up with Richard and he took us to the Cotton House where they have this beautiful restaraunt on the beach appropriately called the “Beach Cafe” where everything is about 10x as much as you would expect (U.S. $28 burger). We indulged enjoyed two fabulous pizzas (they have an Italian chef) and I had a fish sandwich that was to die for! Afterward, Richard showed us around the Cotton House where the island’s only gym is located, a nice spa, and 15 cottages. We parted ways as he had to finish moving and we wanted to walk and explore the island. We passed by Mick Jagger, Tommy Hilfiger and Brian Adams’ homes (mansions) amongst a few other stars. We managed to keep this exploration under 3 miles (unlike the last one that was over 8 hours). It was a beautiful walk through a gorgeous island. We hung out at the boat, Matt made pasta and shrimp for dinner and they crashed. So, I am the only one up (first time ever) wide awake at 8pm and enjoying the evening stars. Here are some fun pic

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Sorry “Charlie

Started with a lazy morning as the boys slept in–recovery mode. Once motivated, Matt decided to clean the props and wipe down our hulls (surprising how fast growth and barnacles grow). Wayne drank about a gallon of water as I finished my novel (great book for those of you who read “The Other Boleyn Girl” the same author wrote “The Lady Rivers” about a 15th century heroin who is virtually unmentioned in the history books. I loved it so much I downloaded 4 more of her books along the same theme. Matt made toad in the hole for breakfast using some fresh bread baked by our pizza guy at St Lucia (little gift to me). We decided to head to Mustique rather than the keys with our friends as it made more sense to travel up once and then down by Mayrou and the keys on our way to Grenada. We hope to see them again here in Mustique tomorrow as we will hang out here for a few days (one of our very favorite islands). It is only about 8 nautical miles as the crow flies once you get past Bequia, but the boys wanted to take the long way around since we were not in much of a hurry and it is a short distance. Super smooth seas, motor sailed with the jib as we continued to fill the water tanks. I took a short nap out on the tramp–it was that peaceful. When we were about 1/2 mile out of the bay, we hear the joyous sound of the reel running–fish on! The same boring 6″ cedar plug caught another one (not any of our other fancy fishing lures!) So happy that Wayne caught us dinner! Yummy.

Wayne maneuvered the boat expertly up to a ball while Matt tied us up to a mooring ball. Super easy catch. Hanging out on the bow, enjoying the beautiful blue water, music from the shore, cool breeze, and sunshine. Super great day!

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