Estrellita Through the Windward Islands 2007

We left Key Largo, Florida on April 18, 2007. Since then we have sailed over 2000 miles to get to our summer home in Grenada arriving on August 1. Just in time for Regatta in Carriacou and then Carnival in Grenada on back to back weekends. Except for the fact that Hurricane Dean rolled through on the VERY NEXT WEEKEND, you’d think this cruising thing was one big party!



We sailed the 350 miles from the BVI to Martinique nonstop. It was the roughest sailing of our entire trip. We got caught in a couple pretty good squalls, but remember, “They come on you fast, and they leave you fast.” (thanks Captain Ron for that comforting knowledge)



First stop was Marin on the extreme southern tip of Martinique. For us it was culture shock because of the language thing… All French. We did learn that there is a new universal language that works even here. “WiFi” is understood in all languages. That one word question and an index finger pointing to a phone line dangling on the wall in answer got us everything we needed to tell our float plan holders that we were safe and sound in Martinique.



Next we sailed the 100 miles overnight nonstop to Bequia. We were still in a hurry to get south before the season’s first bad weather and we didn’t care to stop in St. Vincent anyway. Then finally, we slowed down and day hopped to the Tobago Cays, Carriacou and finally Grenada where we expect to stay until mid October when we plan to move on to Venezuela on our way to the canal in March/April.



Here are photos from our trip through the Windwards.