We finally made it back to Lone Star at the end of
February. She was berthed in Martinique
at the Amel facility for some repairs after the ARC. We had a short sailing season due to Jan’s
mother’s health and ultimate passing away in January. We were looking forward to getting away and
spending time on the boat. We had
originally planned not to have any guests on board but in the end changed our
minds and had three great sets of friends on board.
Then on March 12th we were off to Rodney Bay, St Lucia to wait for our first guests to arrive. Prior to their arrival we ran into Tony Wessendorff and his wife Gail Corrigan. Tony and Gail are members and past Commodore and First Lady of our former yacht club Lakewood. Tony and Gail have based their sailboat Ceteca in St. Lucia for the past 11 years. Recently retired, they were making plans to set sail in July for an extended cruising adventure. We had a great time enjoying drinks on each other’s boats and enjoying dinner out. They provided us with a wealth of information on cruising in the Caribbean which we knew would come in handy.
Lynda and Mike Staley joined us March 15th for a week of fun in the sun. Long time friends, Mike and Lynda were with us on our previous boat Seabbatical in Florida and the Caribbean and Mike helped sail the boat with Craig from Gibraltar to the Canaries. We spent the week enjoying activities both on land and sea.
Before setting sail we
decided to risk life and limb with zip lining and had a blast. Having survived flying through
the air suspended from cables we decided to conquer the seas and set sail for
the Pitons. We spent two nights moored
in one of the most idyllic spots in the Caribbean (if not the world). Mike fished, Jan and Craig snorkeled and we all toured the botanical gardens, “drive-thru” volcano and enjoyed cocktails at Ladera. A resort nestled between the Pitons.
After two nights we
sailed into beautiful Marigot Bay. From
there we went horseback riding on what had to be the most pathetic looking
horses
we had ever seen! Word of warning
– in St Lucia do not use Trims Stables.
Our final evening we had dinner at the Rainforest Hideaway. A great send off for great friends. 
We visitied Bequia and had the famous lobster pizza at Mac’s, did some awesome snorkeling in
the Tobago Cays where we met Mr. Quality who took care of us every time we were
anchored in the Cays, 
spent
calm nights anchored off Canouan and a rolly night off Mustique where Basil’s
Beach Bar and the snorkeling made the roll worth it! The highlight of explorations was the two
nights we spent in Chatham Bay on Union Island.
A beautiful calm bay filled with sea turtles, Chatham is home to 5 BBQ
Shacks where you can enjoy a fresh lobster or fish dinner. We picked Sun, Beach and Eat owned by Seckie
and Vanessa. Seckie is the
man behind the grill and Vanessa is the lovely hostess and the master mind of
the place. 
The food was phenomenal and
we had a great evening visiting with Seckie and Vanessa. Turns out they have been featured on Anthony
Bordain’s No Reservations. We’ll
definitely return. 
We then headed back to Marigot Bay, St. Lucia and were joined by
Nita and Stacey Horne from
Kingwood who also sailed with us in Greece in 2011.
After a return visit to Rainforest Hideaway and a night between the Pitons 
we headed back to the Grenadines
for some great sailing and fishing. Of
course we had to first stop in historic Bequia Harbor where we enjoyed lobster
and Jack’s Beach Bar. Then we were off
to Tobago Cays for some awesome snorkeling.
Along the way we dragged the fishing lines and the Fishing Gods were
smiling down on us that day. A double
strike at the same time! Two fat tunas
were waiting for us at end of the lines – yum! yum! Not satisfied with just two fish, the lines went back in the
water and strike again! This time one
line was spinning and it was something big.
Before we could stop it the line was stripped but then caught on the
other line that was still out in the water.
The monster on the end had plenty of fight and the guys were having
difficulty realing her in when suddenly something or somethings jumped out of
the water and then the fight was gone.
Upon realing in the catch we found the top third of a large tuna. 
Something had decided they needed the rest of the tuna more than we
did! After two great days in Tobago Cays
we sailed to Palm Island for a last lunch together then on over to Union Island
where we bid them fairwell. 
(0928) Nita and Stacey boarded a puddle
jumper headed north to St. Lucia and we were on our way south to Grenada. 
After clearing out of Union Island on April 24th we sailed to Carriacou and cleared in to Grenada. After spending the night on the hook in Tyrell Bay we sailed in to Port Louis Marina, St George’s, Grenada. Port Louis is a large, modern marina with all the facilities a yachtie could want – restaurant, bar, wifi, swimming pool, a nearby Island Waterworld Marine chandlery, grocery store and beautiful views of the charming harbor of St. Georges. On May 1st Carol and Dave Weigel joined us for a week of cruising the Grenadines. Great friends we have enjoyed visiting their beautiful home on Casewell Beach, NC and having them on board in the Balleric Islands in 2009. Unfortunately, the Weather Gods had other plans and we were never able to leave Grenada. So we went to Plan B – explore the southern bays of Grenada and do some land touring. If you have to be “stuck” somewhere Grenada is a pretty cool place to be stuck. We spent a couple of nights in St George then after
some
snorkeling at Moliniere, the location of Grenada’s underwater statue park we
sailed to the south side of Grenada and spent the night on the hook off Hog
Island. A extremely calm anchorage we
grilled steaks under the stars. We then
spent 3 nights at Clarks Court in Woburn Bay.
During that time we booked a tour with CB’s Historical tours which was
awesome. CB gave us a very interesting,
historical tour of Grenada including the time of the revoluti
on and the
invasion of the American Troops. As it turns out Dave has a good friend who was part of the invasion which made the
tour all the more interesting. We also
visited waterfalls 
and a
nutmeg factory (Grenada produced most of the world’s nutmeg). Another night we enjoyed a cruisers pot luck
and live entertainment. From
Clarks Court we sailed to Prickley Bay for our last two nights together. We booked another tour with CB this time
visiting the rain forest, Rivers Rum factory, and a chocolate plantation. After a great week doing things we hadn’t
planned on doing we said goodbye and watched Dave and Carol’s plane from the
boat head for the States.
