It's been a year on the 11^th since you pushed me out of the mud at Uskmouth, the things you do to get to the bar quicker. I have tried to press on but there's such a lot to see and do. Please bear with me on the photo's they have been taken it's getting them on the web site thats a problem. To-morrow I will set off for Bora Bora (reputed to be the most beautiful island in the world) then to Samoa via the Cook islands. Hope your all in good form and enjoying the nice weather.
Tony

These are the high volcanic islands of French Polynesia consisting of 6 large and 6 small islands of which I visited 4. The price of goods in the few shops is outrageous and has nothing to do with cost of goods and transport. The French have there nuclear test area at Mura Roa Atoll to the south and are still trying to keep people happy by employing many of them as civil servants and trying to get some of the cost back by very high taxes on all but the most basic food. So Coca Cola is $6 a litre (Rum was only $4 a litre in Panama), Beer in a bar is a staggering $6 for a 33 centi-litre can, but bread, flour, milk powder etc are normal. As a result there are virtually no tourist's excerpt us yachties who eat and drink on our boats, the locals appear to be very well off as they all seem to have big 4 x 4's or fairly new land-rover 110's or Range Rovers, the houses are mostly simple bungalows but there are quite a lot of serious mansions in Atuona and Taiohae on the 2 main islands. All the islands are full of semi wild Coconuts, Paupaus, Limes, Mangoes etc. and domesticated animals gone wild. So if you want a chicken/goat/cow for dinner take out gun climb onto your Chilian horse ( more of a pony really that are left in the wild) and hunt it down.
The glass fibre dinghy I bought from the yacht Patagonia at Panama for some charts and guides of the Caribean is turning out to be a real little horror and has been christened Horrible Dinghy t/t CARIAD, on one trip into town she got wedged under the landing stage in a big swell and submerged as a result I lost the pair of shoes my brother brought out to me early in the new year then at Pua Mua bay she balled up in the surf 4 times and I lost my watch. But she tows well and rows fast and goes really well with the 3.3 Mariner outboard which helps to make up for her down sides. The zodiac dinghy was repaired during this stay at Atuona using the 2 pack  Impact epoxy glue which I should have used at Trinidad,but was not available at Budget Marine.
The islands are the most beautiful I have yet visited and on first sight quite take your breath away even in the dark they smell beautiful because of all the flowers and blossom. The army have a base at Atuona overlooking the harbour and night and morning they sing really well just to keep us amused. The French Navy paid a courtesy visit to Hiva Oa and  Fatu Hiva providing very nice food and at Hiva Oa wine Fatu Hiva is very religious so only soft drinks were available.I made the mistake of bringing 2 bottles of Rum from the boat,the locals asked for it but they can't hold there drink so we where all having a good sing song with the guitar and yucalally band,but when the police local came over ( sent by the majority religious zealots) one of the yucalally players nearly hit him, I felt really bad as it was me that brought the Rum. The First Lieutenant of the Navy boat had told me that some islands are split into different factions so when I saw the band playing local music but the school and religious group were dancing to a record player I should have guessed there was a problem. I must get one of those Billy Morgan Tee shirts with, It's me what did it as I'll get the blame any way written on it.
Fatu Hiva was great with a nice dinghy harbour and deep water anchorage in the bay which had some adiabatic winds in the evening. They only use money as a last resort on this island always preferring to barter, this was much more economical for us and them but it ment you had to go out with pockets full of goods to barter, such as pens and pencils, tinned food, boat equipment etc. Met the 3 Czech guys from the yacht Angel and John and Kerry from Folly so we had some long stories to tell each other about the ways we coped with the long journey from Galapagos. Folly are very organized as John was a Rolls Royce apprentice then ran his own engineering company and Kerry was a nurse who is an artist and does astro navigation so they can fix almost any problem and they must have had a few in the 25,000 miles since they left the UK.
I left with Angel on the 7^th June for Nuka Hive anchoring over night at Montane an uninhabited island on route. In the morning I had difficulty getting the anchor up as it and the chain were wrapped around Coral heads. Angel had real problems and Milan had to us his diving gear to get them off (after 45 minutes of struggling).
We  then spent a couple of days on the north side of Hiva Oa inspecting the Tiki's, stone statues and other archaeological sites. It was on one of these trips ashore that horble dinghy let me down in the surf. Booked out at Atuona by walking across the island helped by lifts in the back of pickup trucks and left for Nuka Hiva the capitol of the nothern Marquesses.
The bay Taiohae is large but so is the entrance which faces south so the south east wind works quite a lot of swell into the bay making it a rolly anchorage. It was here at the Keilkahanui Inn that I hoped my replacement rigging from Atlantis spars would be waiting for me, but it hadn't arrived and the post office who spoke no English and knew nothing (I asked if he was from Barcelona but he didn't understand that either).
Angel left for the Tuamotu Islands and I waited 3 days for my rigging the gave up and followed them

On Saturday the 30^th April 2005 I left Academy bay, Santa Cruz, Galapagos for French Polynesia. It was lovely sailing day and seals swam around the boat as I got the anchor up. For the first 6 hours the wind was light and the sea calm, but as we passed close to Isabella Island the wind dropped and we motored for a couple of hours to get clear of the dead area. To the north I could see Fernandina Island whose volcano erupted a week later.
During the next 4 days we made steady progress in light weather. The wind and sea then started to build and on the 6^th May CARIAD did 170 nautical miles in 24 hours, this will pro ably be the the best she ever achieves and it kept on for another 4 days 863 miles in 5 days. I was out on my feet the boat was surfing at times and as we were down wind she heeled from 30 degrees one way to 30 the other and yawed at the same time, even in my bunk I was being knocked about. So it was a relief when the wind and a day later the sea calmed. The next 3 days were quiet and I got noon sights with the sextant to check my position I made up quite a lot for the lack of wind by flying the spinnaker which was up for 37 hours at one spell. The wind came back but would not settle down as trade wind should, the sea however came up very quickly, probably there was a storm way to the south of us which caused it. So I was back to being thrown about for 4 days. On th 20^th and 21^st days out I got good noon sights and at 15.30 hrs. on the 21^st May the Islands of Montane and Hiva Oa gave a three point fix to treble check.
As the moon was virtually full I decided on a night entry to Atuona harbour on Hiva Oa, ETA. 21.00 hrs. The French have put in very good navigation lighting and the sector light beckoned me in (the approach is as easy as PAPIS). As we came up to the breakwater a wave of Hibiscus scent came wafting down the valley to meet us. The inner harbour was quite crowded with about 20 yachts anchored bow and stern (so they don't swing with the tide), as I tried to decide whether to stay or go back out and anchor outside the breakwater a pretty French lady called Stephanie asked if I wanted help. I accepted gratefully as she had a dinghy to row out the small stern anchor and my horrible dinghy would have had to be launched as the inflatable was still under repair. As we anchored it became clear that I was much more tired than I had thought so Stephanie took charge and I operated the winch and tied us up. Then to bed and the first full nights sleep for 3 weeks.

These Islands were not what I expected, due to time and cost constraints some of which stemmed from the misinformation given about the visiting rules (JUST GO don't try to get clearances as the authorised think you are rich wildlife film makers). I decided to visit only the island of Santa Cruz because it has the Darwin Institute and was recommended by previous visitors, but I sailed close to several others.
The main settlement at Puerto Ayora which I thought would be the a village turned out to be town of 10,000 very young people with good shops, restaurants, bank (with an ATM that worked) and lots of wildlife tours,diving and entertainment. The price of food and beer were not much more than Panama but without the crime and social problems.
The wildlife is guarded by Park Rangers who are also official guides. If you take out a cruising permit to go round the islands with your own boat you must have an official guide on board. This would make it prohibitively expensive unless the cost can be spread. As a result very few cruising yachts take out permits they just anchor at the 3 or 4 ports of entry and take day guided tours or a weeks tour on one of the many approved local tour ships which are very good.
This is not really my scene I like to boldly go not have some guide with a degree in bird watching telling me what David Attenborough said on the telly. However I did take a tour and it was very good we had a great lunch on board a nice motor vessel, the company which included 2 Russians, 2 Austrians, 4 Americans, 3 Brits. and 3 South Americans (may have been Equdorians) was very good. The local natural birds and animals are not really wild, they so laid back you worry that they are going to fall over backwards and hurt themselves. The seals and sea lions come and play when your swimming then when you get out they chase after you trying to get you to come and play some more. One seal was sleeping on the door mat of the Bank at Puerto Ayora during opening hours (it's a nice shady spot 10 metres from the sea). The land and sea Iguanas maintain a 5 metres space between themselves and us. The birds nesting on the islands are quite unafraid of people and you could have touched the Frigate Birds which were sitting on the bushes, they have difficulty taking off from the ground (perhaps I should have hanger-ed the Cub up a tree). We did some snorkeling and the veriety of fish was amazing (though one of the Americans said it was just as good in Bermuda) there were Rays, Jacks, Grupers plus the sort of small fish you only see in really good tropical fish tanks.
On the Thursday I went to the Darwin Institute were they run  the the captive breeding programmes to rebuild the animal populations decimated by hungry sailors and the island prisoners over the centuries. You can walk among the giant Tortoise's and meet Lonesome George the last of his exact species he was returned from San Francisce Zoo to help with the breeding programme. The Tortoises are about the size of a 45 gallon barrel when fully grown and live longer than humans. The male land Iguanas are very colourful look like small dragons but the females are rather drab.
The captive breed animals are at present only release on the small island where previously introduced rats and pigs have been cleared and my tour was to one of these islands. It's is hoped to start building up the Tortoise's on the big Island of Isabela soon but it will be a long time before they are able to stop the decline as rats find Iguana, Tortoise and Turtle eggs very easily and very tasty.
There's so much to do and the human population is going to grow very rapidly. Many immigrants have come in from Ecuador were the standard of living is much lower so they won,t be going back and some of  the volunteers from England, America etc. stay on indefinitely, the average age seems to be about 20 so there are not many passing on.
Pollution is a problem that can be solved with sound engineering solutions,but at present there is oil and fuel discharged into the harbour along with the sewage from 10,000 people and some light industry. So if you want to see the Galapagos don't leave it too long.

The last 3 weeks or so have been spent in the Marquesas islands, but later to-day I will set out for the Tuamotu islands 500 miles away and then on to Tahiti which are a further 280. When I get to Tahiti the Internet should be much better and I will try to phone. Wish me luck with the Coral Atolls that are reputed to very pretty once your inside the reefs.

Well I have cracked the big 3,000 mile crossig to the Marcasas in 21 days and have now been at Hiva Oa for a week. The internet is a complete nightmare (and 15 dollars an hour for a french key board) so please send me messages but don,t expect reports till I get to civilization;
Tony

To-morrow I leave for Nuka Hiva in the Maquases Islands, French Polynesia, where I will write up the Galapagos,

Tony

Arrived Puerto Ayora,Islas Santa Cruze, Galapagos 00 45 S  90 19 W at 18.00 hrs. 24-04-05.
At 6.00 am on 15-04-05 slipped my mooring at the Balboa YC. (great place run by  Dave a super American Mr fix it) and moved into the shipping lane which had traffic in both directions. After 3 miles and with ships all round 6 or 8 Dolphins came to play as if to say welcome to the Pacific.
5 miles out is the main ship anchorage where 32 ships were waiting to transit the Canal, with pilot boats, measuring launches and supply boats dancing in attendance around them.I thought it would be possible to keep out of the shipping if I kept close to the shore but this was not to be,the ships coming into Panama stay close in shore to avoid the current which is 1 to 3 knots going out to sea. So Cariad moved to midway between the lanes which was fine until it got dark then it was radar and the see me (transponder) on and no sleep. It was like Lands End with ships coming from all directions until 6 am on the 16^th when we where at last clear and making great progress with the N.E. Trade wind pushing plus a 1 to 3 knot current(150 miles in the day). Saturday was a lovely day and very quiet so I did a lot of sleeping, but the speed was dropping all the time and the SSB radio forcast lots of convection up ahead. I pressed on as fast as possible altering sail with every little wind change day and night, but I only made 65 miles in the day. During the night we where becalmed and I was lucky to catch a squid with my fishing line. It got boiled and eaten for breakfast. The day was dead with quite long spells of flat calm during which I motored and made good progress. As night fell large cumulus clouds started to build which exploded with bolts of lightening this is quite worrying when your waving a 16 metre high aluminium mast at them. Only one or two produced fork lightening most just light up the clouds (74 miles in the day).
18/4/5 started with storms a shore sign I'm in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The wind then went SW right on the nose so it was all tacking, but at lunch time I caught a sport fish called a Moi Moi weighing about      15 lb. which was very tasty when fried in butter (I was so full that I didn't eat much for 2 days). Lightening again all night and beating to windward, Must have done 120 miles at least but only 58 was towards the Galapagos. At 7 am on the 19/4/5 the wind moved east making me think I might be through the ITCZ but no such luck. It was the start of a bad day with 25 knots of wind on the nose. Poor old Cariad was smashing into waves that stopped her dead her bows under green water. At 5.30 I heaved too and made some tea the SSB radio told me the boats up ahead were having the same weather.
20^th April my birthday and only 53 miles yesterday. But it was less windy and there was a sunny patch which I pressed on to using the engine and after 2 hours got into better weather and shuck out the reefs. By mid-day I could make 230 degrees when close hauled and a speed of 4 to 5 knots which increased to 6 by midnight after a lovely evening. During the night and early morning of the 21^st I kept the boat hard pressed on the wind still, so we had been heeling at 20 degrees or greater and the deck running in water for nearly 4 days. The price to pay was water in the bilges which I noticed when they overflowed onto the cabin floor. This meant all my tinned food was under sea water and Oh!! where is the water getting in from. It turned out to be mostly coming in through the newly fitted anchor winch so I plugged it as best I could and started 2 days of mopping out.
This is why I couldn't go round Cape Horne where the wind would be on the nose for weeks not just 4 days. The wind moved slowly into the SE and I was able to keep up 4 knots backed up by 1.5 knots of current so made 110 miles in the day. 23/4/5 had an easy day after finishing the mopping out and at 15.20 crossed the equator, this called for communion with Father Neptune so tied a rope round me chest and had a swim then drank to his health giving him a libation. The evening was pure magic with the full moon and flat calm. There was no rush as the cost of booking in at Galapagos is 4 times normal on a Sunday so we must not arrive till the Port Captains Office has closed.
24/4/5 set off under engine after a good nights sleep and at 13,30 spotted the small Island of Barrington (Santa Fe) which was close enough to my route to for me to photograph the bay where Bernard Moitessier worked on his yacht Joshua in the 1960's. This bay now has 2 Ecco tourist lodges for seal watching.
Got into Puerto Ayrora, Santa Cruze Island at 18.00 and anchord bow and stern.
The crew of a Czech Republic Yacht took me into town and had a good meal and the first beer for 10 days.
Tony

I have now reached Panama City on the Pacific east coast 79 33.4 W  08 56.3 N
20 days of waiting in Colon finally came to an end on Friday the 8^th of April.
Colon is a very poor town with lots of serious poverty there are even streets with sewer manholes without tops (yes the whole top missing not just the cover) and the traffic just weaves around them on a driver beware basis. Many of the people are living in the accommodation built temporarily to accommodate the workers building the canal 100 years ago which have had no official maintenance.
But prices were very low with beer at 1$US per Bootle for the best and 3.5$US for a jug with about 2.5 pints in it and these were yacht club prices so as there were 3 of us single handers we enjoyed our selves. The duty free area was crazy with Rum at $US 2.77 for a litre bottle but the graft to get it out putting it up by 30% or more. Still got an ipod and digital camera quite reasonably. so there should be some pictures with luck.
Yachts  are pouring into Colon all the time and the Canal company are finding it very difficult to get them through because of there restrictive and inflexible rules which were set up by the Americans who's main objective was maintenance of trade between the east and west coasts of the USA.
The scheduler had originally given my a transit date of 16^th April, but dates started to reduce after Easter and I rang him on 5^th to confirm. He advised that  I was to go on the 15^th this seemed wrong as I was expecting the 10^th so I rang again on the 6^th and was told there was a mix up with the boat names my date was now the 8^th. Less than 2 days away and the dinghy under repair.
Alan from yacht Wallaby Creek lent me his dingy and I set about getting a crew to-gether in a few hours Barbra and Mike from Octagon were at Panama City so I sent them messages through the Balboa YC but my third  crew could not make it as her boat is coming through on the 10^th. I just went round every yacht till I came to Ciel Mere a French Canadian yacht where Rejane and Denis said no problem.
I then had to tern Cariad into a 5 berth boat and as the rainy season is now underway sleeping on deck was not an option. By stuffing the lockers and my cabin to bursting point it was just possible. Then there was food to do and still no message from Barbra and Mike, but it all fell into place at the last minute helped by the scheduler moving his original start time from 15.00 hrs to 17.00 hrs. I did not have time to book out from the port but as I have a $US60 crewsing permit form the Republic of Panama there should have been no problem??Wrong.
At 18.00 on the 8^th our pilot/adviser came on board and as I had cleaned the barnacles off the anchor chain earlier in the day it came up without difficulty and we were off at 18.10. The weather looked threatening with bolts of lightening close by but we didn't get any rain.
We got to the Gaton Locks at about 19.00 and rafted up with a 54 foot French Aluminium yacht and El Cordiero a Swedish yacht crewed by the Swedish owner and his wife from Trinidad so no problem with English and as half my crew are native French speakers you would have though they could at least communicate with the french boat, but there is a slight difference in the accents so it was not possible (as my granny used to say "there's none so deaf as those that don't want to hear". So we pulled alongside and stopped 100 mm from the French boats port side they passed us bow and stern lines, then before the Bow line was fixed a woman put the stern line round a winch and with her 10 year old son winding the handle like a maniac and proceed to wind Cariad into back of there boat, they just would not stop (a gun would have been handy but a bit OTT). While all this was going on a dredger came right up behind us in the dark and we had to move even though the raft was still being assembled. Still we got through all 3 locks without ay real problems. The difficulties all stemmed from the French boat being so big that they had a sufficiently big crew to do the line handling without helping any previous boats hence no experience. I had been through twice before and Octagan the same. Fortunately we and El Cordiero did the handlling of the main lines so it all went well, But the mosquitoes were bitting big time despite sprays and oil.
The raft was broken up and we set off under our own navigation to a mooring buoy D45 about 2 miles to the south where we tied up for the night.We sat out in the cockpit and ate our evening meal with cold beer and later on Rum and Coke.
If you remember how little room there was in Cariad you will realize how worried I was about two couples used to there own comfy boats fitting in. But the Rum did the trick and they all sleep-ed or at least made sleeping noises.
At dawn the Howler Monkeys woke us. I was up just before 6 am but as I dived in my Alligator watcher saw the pilot boat coming so it was a short dip and we were underway by 6.10. As skipper I was ordered to the galley to make breakfast for 6 (this is as much Sou cheffing as I normally do in a week), glad there only here for the day. We passed Monkey Island where the Howlers were having breakfast in the trees watching us glide by.
The route for the first third of the journey is the short cut only used by the ships when the main channel has a problem so it?s very quiet and sometimes it can be sailed. Then we were into the main channel to the two thirds point where the Galiard Cut starts. The main traffic was fast launches taking parties out to see the Wild Life in this National Park. We kept looking for Aligators but on this trip saw none. In the Galiard Cut traffic is one way only with every ship having a tug in case of breakdown. The Canal Company is currently widening and straightening this section to increase capacity as there is often a backlog of ships waiting to get through.
We arrived at the first Panama Lock and I had to raft up down wind and down current, But the it all went O.K. as the french did as there Pilot/adviser instructed.
We went into the first lock very quietly and it all went really smoothly (best locking I have been in), it is easier going down as there is no frantic in rush of 50,000,000 gallons of water in 5 minutes just a gentle lowering.
The raft was then raced to the second lock half a mile down stream and we were in first right up against the lock gates, you would have thought this would have made the helms woman on the controlling boat stop short but when the stern lines went on we were doing 2 knots, my adviser said reverse and that did the trick. The adviser on the controlling boat asked why I had reversed, I said I only do as I'm told ( this would mean changing the habits of a lifetime). Into the last Lock which is well covered by the web cam, But we were yet again going too fast. My adviser said nothing I did nothing Denise put his line on the winch the line squealed on the cleat every body looked round. I inspected the cleat found cracks in the gellcoat. Looked the controlling adviser in the eye and engaged mouth. He didn't answerer back and my advisor looked very happy as he had made his point at Cariads expense (on checking later I found cracks around the other cleat so the damage may not be new).
We descended the Lock and the gates opened to reveal the Pacific and the old Bridge of the Americas. The raft was brocken up and we said goodbye to are adviser Francisco who must have been happy with my boat handling as he got me to pull along side the pilot boat, where he jumped aboard while we were doing 5 knots in choppy water.
Picked up moorings at Balboa Yacht club next to Octagon and adjourned to the cafe for food and beer.
Great crew and a trip with enough excitement to make it memorable.
Faling to book out at Colon caused some problems later but the saving in time and cost made up for the hassle.
Tony

I have been taking it easy in Colon, Panama and will be going through the canal for my second trip as crew later to day. It is not expected to be as exciting as the first trip when our motor filled terminally in the cutting at the Panama end of the canal (glad it was not Cariad). We put up full sail and as we were down wind had enough way on to maneuver to avoid the shipping until an Australian yacht "Inti" came back to give us a tow. Many many thanks to the skipper Rob who is now on his way to Galapagos with tails of how the Aussies saved the POM,s (and he did).

Have made it to Panama 9  21 N  79  55 W.
Aruba was very nice but expensive as its on the Caribbean Cruse Liner circuit.The prices were in $ US for the American tourists.
The first night was spent off the beach by a major hotel complex but the water was very shallow for half a mile out. Even Candedus and Star of the West were having difficult getting in close next morning and I saw depths on my fish finder of less than the boats draft (the sensor is 2 feet below water level). Then we were instructed by radio to clear in at the main Commercial port so we had to find our way back out through the reefs. Cleared in at the Port offices and anchored in Paarden bay by the airport.
The new electric winch is working well with the wiring still to be routed through the cupboards etc. So I hope my left arm will be back to normal very soon.
On Saturday morning at 8am anchor up and booked out but while I was away from the boat having my papers gone through with a fine tooth comb the side of my lovely white "Cariad" was being massaged by 3 black oily lorry tires used as fenders on the dock wall (the boat moved enough for my fenders to slip off the tires while I was away). So far the marks only seem to be removable with acetone.
The 3 boats all set off for the San Blas islands 570 miles to the west through a section of ocean shown on the charts as having more chance of big waves than the Bay of Biscay in November. The first day and night went well with a 20 knot following wind and Candedus and Star of the west catching big fish (one Wahoo was 4 feet long). During the afternoon of the 13^th the waves increased to 2 M high, the wind strengthened and the barometer dropped 4 millibars. As it got dark a storm set in and by 3 am it was at force 8 gale. I ran before it steadily reducing sail until only the storm tri-sail and a very small jib were left. At day break it eased a bit such that I could put the main sail back up with 3 reefs in it. But the waves were nasty and upset the auto-helm and sometimes broke into the cockpit where I was having to steer manually. As the night of the 14^th progressed the wind dropped to 25 knots but the sea was still rough, the windpilot (wind vain self steering) could just handle it.I was also able to keep clear of the Panama to Brazil shipping lane.
In the morning there were some good flying fish on the deck but it was too rough to cook. I was still in VHF contact with the yacht Candedus but Star of the West was out of range excerpt with my SSB receiver when he gave his position at 8.00 and 18.00 hours.
By the night of the 15^th I was back through the shipping lanes and the windpilot was doing its stuff so I got some sleep. In the morning there were 10 flying fish on deck photo to follow) and 2 in the chain locker that I didn't find until 4 days later. So I had them fried for breakfast but not before a big wave got half of the the fat over the cooker, a rolling boat and hot fat don't go well to-gether. They tasted great.
It was not going to be possible to get to the islands before night so slowed down and made my approach just after daylight on the 16^th. It was my first Coral reef navigation and as I only had the C-map lost track of the way in (became disoriented in some way) so back tracked and followed Candidus in. This travelling with other boats is not my way but I needed the cover during the route along the coast of Venezuela and Columbia.
The Sand Blas Islands are classic coral islands with reefs full of brilliantly colored fish, white sand beaches, Palm trees and natives living in stick huts. But I must get through the canal, so after 2 days recovering I left Star of the west and Candedus and set off the 85 miles to Colon at the West end of the Panama Canal and arrived at 1.05 am on the 20^th March.
To day I have been going through the booking in and paperwork to get on the list for the few slots to get through to the Pacific which is my next challenge.
Tony

I am now at Aruba still in the Netherlands Antilles 12 30 N 70 00 W.
but will be moving on to Panama to-morrow all being well.
It was great sailing conditions from Curacao which was done in company with Star of the West and Candedus with an over night stop at the north end of Curacao (West punt). But it was all over shadowed by the inverter which appears to have burned out it's coil. The temperature round here is 35 C in the shade and it's possible the inverter had direct sun on it as the hatch was open giving a possible 50 C or more when I shut it down and the fan went off.
Now I have 4 or 5 days at sea in the shipping lanes emanating from Panama with a landfall in the San Blas islands which are part of Panama.
Aruba has good beaches but is very expensive as it's on the Cruise Liner circuit. So hope to stock up at Colon at the west end of the Canal before the big adventure in the Pacific.
The weather looks good but the current will be against the wind so big seas and slower progress along the Columbian coast so wish me good luck.
TONY

Have now arrived at Curacao still in the Netherlands Antilles
12  05' N  68  52' W.
Left Bonaire at 7.30 on Thursday 3/3/05 Candidas was off ahead of me as I didn't use the motor (they run there fridge compressor off the engine so they might as well make progress at the same time.
The wind was dead astern so at 9.00 am I decided to put up the Spinnaker what a mess it seems that when I last packed it at the sail loft in Bequia it was put in the bag twisted. As a result the first 5 metres of the sail came out and filled the majority was just in a twist so I had to disconnect the control lines which could be a major problem if this massive sail suddenly filled. It then twisted round the inner fore stay (such is life) but after 20 minutes was set and I started to reduce the 3 mile lead that Candidas with his spinnaker set had built up and leave Star of the West who only has a Genoca.
It was a great sail and after 25 miles the gap was down to just over a mile by which time we had reached the narrow twisty entrance to Spanish Waters lagoon on the Island of Curacao still in the Netherlands Antilles. The spinnacker came down like clockwork and was in the locker in 2 to 3 minutes.
Yesterday we spent a lot of time booking in at Customs and Immigration. This island is run by Coloured officials in uniform like Trinidad so it's a bureaucratic nightmare taking 3 hours to do the same paper work that took 20 minutes in Bonaire and being told we have to travel back a gain to book out in 2 days time.
The water is now Christal clear and great for diving so when I dropped a screw driver in 12 feet of water it could be located without even a mask. The prices of food at Bonaire were at least as high as in UK but are much lower at Curacao as there are fishing boats that trade from Venezuela were prices are very low, so it's off shopping to day.

I am now at Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles 12 deg N  67 deg W
Trinidad was a stop over to get work done and to see the Carnival.
Cariad was lifted out on Wednesday 18/2/5 at Power Boats Chagaramas and after pressure washing I anti fouled the hull with 2 thick coats of serious paint, so lets hope it does better than the Hempale that Dave Cox and I put on last June (only 7 months is ridiculous, wait till I see the manager at Rogerstone paint depot). I fixed an anchor winch on deck (to save my back) and cleared all the stop cocks some like the toilet were completely blocked with barnacles.An attempt was made to repair the dinghy but all the experienced cruisers say it's had it so it will have to be replaced.
By the time this work was done and paid for I just wanted a quiet couple of days before moving on with 2 New Zealand boats (Star of the West and Candidas). Luck was with me when Eddie Edwards turned up just as I was ready to launch and confirmed Scotland bay as a good choice and offered to crew. Eddie is very experience aroud boats and my tanks were filled with fresh water and I was off to Scotland bay in 10 minutes, so quick in fact that I had left the fuel dock before the idle attendant told me he required 50p for water. he was too late especially as I had just paid the same company 150 pounds for the 5 day lift out.
Scotland bay was a holiday area for the American forces stationed at Chagaramas and has been almost absorbed back into the jungle in 40 years. There is now no road just a little less scrub where a road might have been and large sections have slide into the sea. The howler monkeys have taken over on the ground and parrots in the air and if you want to move on land be shore to have a machete to cut your way through.
The New Zealand boats tuned up next day and I went back to check out with Immigration and Customs and had a few problems getting fuel because of the water payment from 2 days ago.
The reason I am traveling with the 2 other boats is piracy. Even though the Royal Navy cleared this area of Ann Bonney and Black Beard 250 years ago some Venezuelans are up to the same tricks. The pirates in the Malacca Straights on the other hand have been wiped out by the Tsunami (you just have to look on the bright side of life).
At 7 am we were at the entry point into the Caribbean sea (Entrada's point) then set off for Bonaire 450 miles to the west. Our course was outside the Venezuelan Islands approximately 50 miles out from the main land as recommended by the coat guard. The wind was East by North-East 15-20 knots and the equatorial current was over 1 knot with us so we were flying. Problems arrived at night when I just go and sleep for 25 minutes at a time while the other boats had crew who were on lookout all night but were reluctant to be close to another yacht in case they fell asleep and ran into me. So we drifted on to our own navigation. It was with some trepidation that I watched a fishing boat coming to-wards me next day close to Islas Testigos, the engine was on and the jib furled in no time at all. I turned right and he went the same way which looked serious so I turned back left, he held his course so no problem time for a cup of tea).
During the first day we did 150 miles in the day and on the second 164 which is fantastic for a 34 foot 15 year old cruiser. On the third day at 7 pm I reached Los Rogues which is just 2 shoals and lots of rocks just above sea level at low tide (I didn't see them but Candidas say they did). Due to the high speed I completed the 440 Miles in well under 3 days and arrived at the south point of Bonaire at midnight (this has a lighthouse but it was not lit which is very dangerous as the south of the Island is very low lying and there are no illuminated buildings). I trusted the GPS and my C-map but still had problems finding the marina whose entrance was not propely lit so I went to the main anchorage and there in the harbour was a classic Customs House (Queen Anne style) so I put out the light anchor and went to bed at 2pm next to 2 tugs.
At 7 on the Sunday morning the Pilot boat woke me to say could I move on to a wall as he was going to fetch a ship. This was a small cruise liner so the customs house opened and by 8 pm I had cleared into the beautiful Island of Bonaire where the water is Cristal clear and they don't do petty bureaucracy.

Tomorrow "CARIAD" is to be lifted out for 5 days so I can give her bottom a good scrub and put on more anti-fouling. We are getting ready for the Pacific which is notorious for light winds between Panama and the Galapagos Islands. So a clean hull will help in the light winds and also cut fuel consumption if I have to motor.
Here at Chagaramos in Trinidad there are all the facilities if other problems arise so I don't expect any real problems will occur (they never do if your prepared).

I've been at Chagaramas, Trinidad for just over 2 weeks and will be here for 2 more as I have decided to have the boat out off the water for anti-foulingg and a general inspection. I have also been having somemassage on my left shoulder which has been damaged with all the hand anchoring that has had to been done, and am fitting an electric anchor winch which is VAT free out here to yachts in transit.
The carnival was yesterday and I hope to get the pictures in the post this week. It was a massive street procession starting at 5.30 am and finishingat 10.30 pm there seemed to be about 10,000 mmasqueraders taking part with another 5,000 stewards,police, fire, ambulance and even a SWOT team. It was very colourfull with some stunning costumes. Everyone who went was impressed, the sound was so loud you werephysicalyy shaken by it.The sound systems were mounted on articulated lorries which carried the generators, speakers,DJ's's, etc.
My shoulder is responding well to treatment and I can now sleep without any pain and I hope the new expensive winch does it's stuff.
Last night after returning from Carnival I stopped for a drink in one of the bars around the harbour and found I was in company with Alex (Eddie) Edwards who is Gary Stokes son, it certainly is a small world. Eddie has been iChagaramusus for a week or so but has much more local knowledge of thCaribbeanean than me so I have been learning a lot, he seems content with the West Indies but I just want to be off again. I wouldn't haswoopedoped any of the days coming across (even the difficult ones) for the day at Carnivalival.

I arrived in Tobago on Friday the 14^th January in pouring rain and after 2 days got the boat clean and ready to receive my brother Keith and his fiance Pam. As most of you know Cariad is now very reduced in space after her change to round the world yacht (facts well known to my brother). So the accommodation was cramped. My guests arrived on Sunday night with enough kit to fill a dinghy but minus the sleeping bags I told them to bring. This made things difficult especially as the nights start hot but by 3 am you need a light cover over you. on Monday I booked out for the north of the island and and filled the boat with water. Sounds simple but was not. Clearing immigration was OK getting a ticket for water meant queuing for over an hour then being told to sail round to the cruise liner dock in 45 minutes time. Luckly I found Keith and Pam but we were late off because of torrential rain. So we arrived 5 minutes late but they had no hosepipe and mine was just too short. So we had to fill with a 3 inch fire hose (water every where but mostly over me). As soon as the lines were cast off ready to go the tug tied to the dock ahead off us decided for no obvious reason to open up his engine with prop engaged result Cariad in a 10 knot slip stream and pushed back all most into the cruise liner fortunately the water from his prop must have hit the wall behind us and created a counter current which saved us. All good clean fun for me but very phasing for Pam and Keith.
We motored round to Store Bay which was long Atlantic rollers but no waves breaking however as we approached the bay Pam was getting queasy and our Keith was not to good. So anchored very quickly and got them to shore before any harm was done. After sleeping over night on board it was clear that a life at sea in Cariad is not for Keith and Pam. They got an apartment on shore for 26 pounds a day and are now very happy.
So on Sunday 23^rd I left at 7.30 for Trinidad this is going with the Equatorial current west along the straights between the 2 islands and almost as soon as you leave Tabago the sea turns from blue to dirty green as a result of all the South American rivers flowing into the equatorial coastal current the Amazon is 600 miles away but the Orinoco only 100 with 20 other big rivers contributing. The sea was fairly big with 2.5 metre waves. As I was coming up to the point were you turn into the Boca we were surrounded by a big school of tropical spinner Dolphins which are very acrobatic and distract you from your navigation. At Entrados Point the water was boiling where the 2 currents met and the Dolphins went crazy leaping miles out of the water and crashing down on there sides. I was glad to get into the safety of the Boca straight and round Degardo point. All along the coast of Trinidad there had been not signs of habitation as it's all very steep wooded slopes down to the sea in the national park. So it was a surprise when Chagaramus came into sight. This was a US naval base in the war with 30,000 US personnel employed. It's just as big as it was but now it's oil Riggs, yachts and power boats of all sorts. I mored up at the customs dock and  cleared immigration, but the customs papers were not in order as I had forgotten to clear out of Scaborough after the performance getting water.
So I had to attend for an official warning by the head customs man next morning, I later found out that this is happening to most other boats and suspect there is some problem with the system here perhaps they should keep customs and immigration closer together as they are in separate buildings a quarter of a mile apart at Scarborough.
To-Morrow Keith and Pam are coming over on the ferry to see the Carnival preview.

Tony

Left Clifton on Union Island at 15.00 on 13/01/05 with the half sunk catamaran on my left. This is the southern booking out island for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The wind was 20 to 25 knots from just south of east and I had a chance of crossing without tacking if it held. So I was cutting corners and didn't notice that the current (which was mostly with me) had moved Cariad close to the big reef on the south side of the Martinique Channel alongside Petit St. Vincent. The waves crashing on the Coral made it clear that a turn to port was imperative but even though speed dropped a bit I was going to put 8 miles into the first hour as I cleared the Atlantic end of the reef and turned the few degrees south that made the boat run that bit easier. By now there were 3 reefs in the main and No. 3 Genoa up and this was my rig for the night. I start sleeping early as the 25 minute periods are not as good as longer straight sleep sessions. It came as a bit of a surprise to wake at 20.25 to find a ferry from St. George, Grenada to Barbados was 2 miles astern and passing me heading north-west though I don't know why. Perhaps it is only at times such as this that the reason for half hour watches becomes clear. During the night the tropical showers got longer and heavier and at dawn Tobago was still not in sight then at 8.00 it appeared not far to the east. The showers were now torrential and as I rounded Crown point at the south end of Tobago it turned to continuous rain with a 3 metre sea. So it was engine on and 3 hours into wind sea and current, with poor visibility and wringing wet. The only good thing was passing 2 yachts going the other way, it couldn't be that bad else they wouldn't have been out?? Then a ferry passed me and when it was 400 metres away it disappeared as I descended into a trough so the sea was big. The GPS found Scarborough harbour and I anchored in the rain at 14.00 hours. 23 hours of hard sailing but I am now in a position to meet my brother and his fiance in 2 days time after refitting Cariad to sleep 3 (that will be a challenge).

Tony

I am now at Union Island in the Grenadens having just booked out at the airport. You have to walk there to do immigration  as the 5 customs men at the port office only do boat registration and customs.
To-day it's off to Tobago 95 miles of open ocean for a change and lets hope the rain stops for a few hours.
This area is all Coral Reefs and boat traps so it will be nice to have some open sea for a change, it dosn't help with the marker bouys now being American marking instead of British. This means the red marks are on the right (starboard) coming into port were in the rest of the world exceept America they are porthand markers as you go into port. It is very obviouse at Union Island as there is a foaming reef alongside the marks so you don't go on that side. But at other island you have to check the book.
Hope to meet my brother and his partner at Tobago as he wants to do some diving (he can start by cleaning the bottom of Cariad).
Wish you were here.
Tony

Bequia Island is a bit like the Hotel California "You can book out but you can't leave" English people are still here after crossing  in 1979 even though there boats are deteriorating. It's as near to Paradise as I can think of and am spending time trying to get Cariad fitted with an awning to keep the sun off and carry the solar panels etc. Will write a full report on the Island before I leave.
Tony