UNDER SIEGE

Why do I have my door closed at night for the first time?

Why have I got my lower washboard in at anchor?

Why have I got a barricade up across my other cabin door?

Why am I wearing shoes on board for the first time?

Why do I have a pistol at the ready at all times?

I am under siege?

Remember the movie Alien when Sigourney Weaver had to creep about fearing an attack at any moment from an evil monster, well I know just how she felt.

I give you the attack kitten! Dizzy Sox

Now I blame it all on the blonde, she taught her that food comes on black plates not kitty bowls but worst of all she showed her the foot attack.

I have tried diversionary tactics to no avail.

So the water pistol is at the ready and hopefully Dizzy Sox will soon learn the meaning of "NO" and "AAARGH NO YOU LITTLE BITEY MONSTER NOT MY TOES!"

I have a moments respite just now. We have just had mad kitten 15 minutes and we have crapped out.

She even looks cute.

NEW CREW JOINS ELEPHANTS CHILD

I finally gave in and stopped avoiding all animal rescue/pet shop/cat rehoming pleas and kitten advertisements. I looked in at the Grenada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and asked if they had any kittens that needed a new home. About a minute later I was sitting down with a little black and white scrap on my lap. She crawled up my chest and fell asleep on my shoulder.

I knew my goose was cooked at that point but managed to avoid taking her on the spot and thought about it over night before saying yes.

So Elephants Child has a new and very demanding crew member. 14 ounces of black and white mischief, already climbing everywhere she can get her claws to grip and exploring every nook and cranny she can get her nose into.

Belle has started playing foot games with her and this is means that we are subjected to full scale sideways kitten attacks on our toes at random intervals during the day.

Belle thinks I need to give her swimming lessons now but I am putting this off until she is a little older which may be a mistake as she will soon be able to make it onto the deck level from the cockpit.

I guess that I need to find a piece of netting to hang over the side so that she can climb back on board if I don't hear her squawking from the water and I need to find it soon.

GREAT TO BE IN GRENADA AGAIN

Elephants Child is back in Clarks Court Bay and enjoying catching up with old friends and some new ones. Captain from LuLuDu crossed the Rainbow Bridge but there is a new puppy on board, a rescue that was hairless and could not stand up when found at the side of the road but is now bouncing around the boat and looking good.

Another regular resident in Clarks Court Bay is the aptly named Flying Buzzard. This 100 ft long Clyde built steam age salvage tug is not your everyday liveaboard.

As well as providing a home for Mike and Julie it has been busy recently salvaging the deck from the beautiful wooden staysail schooner Raindancer which went on the reef trying to enter Le Phare Bleu marina at night. We had been puzzling over this deck as it is lashed along side the old Albatross another long term resident of the bay with the dog house windows just above the water.

But the Buzzard has another job today, it is keeping afloat the remains of the super yacht Uisque Beatha which caught fire in Prickly Bay. This was an 80 ft Jongert built state of the art high performance sailboat which we had passed as we left for Clarks Court Bay.

The clean up operation will start next week, organised by Darren Turner from "Rescue 1", Prickly Bay Marina, Grenada to rid her hulk of as much toxic material and waste as possible before attempting to tow her 8 odd nautical miles off-shore to a spot that has been authorised to lay her to rest in the deep.

Mooring balls

White pimples have been popping up in the popular anchorages as enterprising governments and local boat boys try to cash in on the passing yotties. However they have been going adrift at an alarming rate as something seems to be amiss in the fastenings. Here are just a few that have been recovered as they drifted away often with a yacht attached.

Belle and I are off to the Sunday afternoon jam session at Whisper Cove Marina. I will NOT be taking my flute yet. We are also hoping for another spectacular sunset like this one.

BEAM REACHING DOWN TO GRENADA FROM TYRELL BAY

We had a few quit days in Union Island and Carriacou but the wind ticked round to the North so we took advantage of the angle and sailed down to Grenada.

Beam reaching at 7 to 8 knots with only the usual disturbed seas of the North end of Diamond Rock to upset the tranquility aboard Elephants Child. The engine was only on for a few minutes at both ends. Just blissful.

CANOUAN and THE TOBAGO CAYS

A wild night in Canouan
We had a pleasant sail down from Bequia to Canouan in benign conditions and sat at sundown enjoying our drinks in the cockpit although we had some rain showers. Belle was tired from the days sailing and found she had left her hatch open above her bunk. We all do this [ once ! ] I got my head down too, but the squalls kept coming and the winds got stronger. Canouan harbour is a bowl and the winds swirl around coming from all directions and the rain storms were intense. So neither of us got much sleep until morning when the wave went through. I was slightly doubtful about heading to the cays but by the time my second cup of coffee was going down the skies were brightening so we made the short passage over to a little piece of paradise that is called the Tobago Cays.

Turtles in the Tobago Cays
Belle had snorkeled for the first time in Bequia and I was hoping for easy conditions in the Cays which was what we found. We spotted the first turtle within 30 seconds of getting in the water and as viz was so good it was easy to follow the one we spotted and also pick up others grazing on the seagrass..

One was missing a rear leg but we saw that three leggers do OK

I was working around the edge of the buoyed area when I spotted the biggest stingray I have seen so far at least three feet across and more than seven feet long. Mindful of Steve Irwin's fate I kept a safe distance.

The next morning we went snorkeling again this time in a spot where the fish hang out over coral heads. As well as the usual surgeons and parrot fish Belle drew my attention to a big spotted bat ray with a tail gunner. I am not sure what this parrot fish was doing but he was keeping station under the back of the rays body.

It looks like there is a healthy population of adult conch in the cays, this one was typical with a good lip which is the sign on a sexually mature adult. I also saw quite a few lobster of a good size, certainly well past the minimum but people must be restraining themselves from picking them up.

Finally I had my usual scene stealing upstaging little spotted box fish putting on a show for me.

Back on board the cheeky grackle which had been taking bread from Belle's hand in the cockpit had found the mother lode inside the cabin and pecked through the plastic cover to get to the good stuff.

Rubbish in paradise
Some people are just rubbish. They leave this sort of stuff on the perfect beach as well as carving their pithy messages on agave leaves and tree trunks.

Lots of iguanas spotted on Baradel, this was good news as the last two times I had visited they had been none on view and I wondered if some needy local had harvested them. Iguana meat fetches more that steak in the market here.

BEQUIA to CANOUAN TOMORROW FOLLOWED BY SOME TIME IN THE TOBEAGO CAYS

Of South tomorrow. I was going today and it would have been OK as it turned out but the online weather radar was showing some heavy showers and squalls last night so another day in Beautiful Bequia.

Chris Doyle's cat spotted anchored off the Fig Tree.

BLOOMIN BEQUIA

The mangoes and breadfruit are plumping up.

The flowers are coming out.

It must have been all that rain.

But the sunsets are still the same.