Free & BrEasy - The Circumnavigators’ Tale

We have crossed the finishing line!  Free & Breasy has returned to St Lucia after a 15 month, 25000 mile tropical circumnavigation!  The whole World ARC fleet completed a 2 hours Parade of Sail from Marigot Bay to Rodney Bay, in line, 100 metres apart and dressed up with all signal flags flying. To mark the finish we blew the fog horn and yelled until we were hoarse. Out came a red flare and we posed for photographs to mark the end. We were now officially Circumnavigators! After docking we went straight to a drinks reception by the pool. We were late arriving and wondered why everyone who congratulated us, stroked our clothes and said “my - your very dry”. It was not long before we discovered why as we were bodily lifted up and thrown into the pool! We had spent 15 months. read more...

Free & BrEasy - Deep Turtle

We are gradually working our way up the Winward Islands, collectively called the Grenadines, that form a chain of stepping stones between Grenada and St Lucia. Our last few days in Grenada continued to be happy ones, except for the frustration of not being able to fix either the water maker or the single side band radio, but by now Roger is well acclimatised to the vagaries of the Marine service industry! A huge achievement whilst we were still in Grenada was to finish the beans and rice that we had over prepared for a meal with Adela; what a relief to finally see the bottom of the bean box!We left Grenada with many happy memories of a beautiful island with friendly locals. As one old Yottie, that we met in the Market, commented, with a very wistful look in his eye, "I could die here".. read more...

Free & BrEasy - Goat Racing in Tobago

Tobago is a lovely green hilly island with lots of place names that sound familiar to English ears such as Scarborough, Plymouth and Richmond. The Scots and Welsh also had fun as places were called Speyside, Cambletown, Culloden Bay, Stonehaven Bay, Glamorgan and Pembroke. Even the Irish got in with Hillsborough Bay. No wonder we felt at ease in the tropical heat!Arriving in Scarborough, the main port, we were advised by the port authority to anchor close in shore rather nearer to some fishing boats than we liked. After exchanging gesticulations and eventually a radio conversation with a neighbouring boat from Belgium, we realised that they meant, really close in shore. Ten minutes later we learnt why when an enormous ferry smartly executed a handbrake turn just where we were going to. read more...

Free & BrEasy - Bats and Black Sand

A week on and we are still in Grenada. We have been here so long that we are considering applying for Grenadian Nationality! We now happily catch the minibuses all over the island without a thought for the cramped conditions or our safety due to the manic driving. The small minibuses are, incredibly, designed to hold maximum of 18 passengers, a driver and a shoe-horner. The shoe-horner takes the money, signals to the driver to stop when new victims appear on the roadside and shoehorns them into the seats, trying to exceed the maximum number of passengers! It is a very fast, cheap and environmentally friendly form of mass transport and you never wait more than a few minutes for the next minibus!The new standing rigging now stands proud in its shiny stainless steeliness but alas, the water. read more...

Free & BrEasy - Green Grenada

Our arrival in Grenada a week ago was smooth and joyous. The green tree covered hills welcomed us as the sun rose and, after refuelling, we were efficiently guided into our marina berth where Suzana and Nicky from World ARC were on the pontoon to welcome us with the customary rum cocktail. How does Nicky keep the ice from melting? We then ‘pressed the flesh’ of all our fellow circumnavigators and caught up with the news on the other boats. In other words we had a fine pontoon gossip!We have been living in luxury in Port Louis Marina, St George’s Town, Grenada. The Marina is the Hilton of Marinas with large spacious showers, a poolside restaurant, scenic location amongst the Grenadian hills and all the services and pontoons work. Even Customs and Immigration officials were on site. There. read more...