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The second night, we waited too late to try to locate a room and it was dark before we finally found unique lodging.  Located deep in a holler, it was quaint to the point of primitive, a working farm with ponds of huge freshwater shrimp (ecrevisses) and sleeping quarters in a sort of bunkhouse with meals served on the main house patio.  The next morning, Anna fed the donkeys.

After several more days in St. Anne it was time to move on.  We stuffed the refrigerator with French cheeses and pates and bought fresh fruits and vegetables.  As Bob was raising the anchor to leave the anchorage, the fuse on the windlass blew.  Then the roller-furler would not roll out the mainsail.  Having made it only to the edge of the anchorage, we turned around and went back.  We had to drop the mainsail for a second time for Bob to diagnose the problem, a bearing for the roller furler.  The bearing was not a routine piece of marine hardware found at a local store so we had to rent a car and go back to the bearing store in Fort de France where we had earlier bought the bearing for the deck washdown pump.  Finally, after taking almost an extra week to make repairs, we left one of our favorite islands.

Our trip from Martinique to St. Lucia, Bequia, Tobago Cays, Carriacou, and finally St. Georges, Grenada was much like last year.  We suffered our only theft up to that time in Carriacou when someone untied two knots and stole the dinghy anchor.  The line was not cut but simply untied.  When we got to St. Georges, Bob enjoyed the Yacht Club, discovering his pool skills were still sharp enough to win the local tournament each time he participated.   

Georges and Anna had remained in Martinique for Georges's medical appointments.  They caught up with us in Grenada and we decided to travel to Venezuela together.  Along with six of their French friends, we departed Prickly Bay at the south end of Grenada on August 19.  A couple of hours out, Viking Rose was hit broadside by a heavy squall.  It soaked the cockpit and the supposedly waterproof control for the autopilot got drenched and stopped working.  We handsteered until Bob sprayed it with enough electronic cleaner to remove the water and allow the circuits to connect.  The repair was temporary; this will be one of our more expensive replacement parts.

After an overnight trip, we approached the first islands in Venezuela, Los Testigos.  We went through a school of fish and Bob had one of his best fishing experiences.  With two lines out , as soon as he could reel one in and take the fish off, a fish would hit the other line.  He caught SIX tuna like this in a short period of time.  Great eating!

The first day we went ashore in Los Testigos, the French people went crazy over sea urchins.  They began to gather them into buckets and nets, as many as they could manage.  That evening, sea urchin were served on the half shell.  Victor had a specific tool just for cutting the shell in half to display the star-shaped orange stuff inside.  By coincidence, the Tom Clancy novel I was reading described the harvesting of sea urchins in New England and the high price Japanese pay for this delicacy.  People actually support themselves by deep diving for these creatures in Maine's cold waters.  At Testigos, you have only to wade into warm water up to your knees to pick them up.


Anna grew up on an island in New Caldonia, near Australia.  Her father was transferred there and she and her brothers and sisters swam and fished a lot.  She still loves to fish.  Here is a picture of Bob, Georges, Anna  and the shark she caught.  They cleaned it and we had shark that night along with the sea urchins (oursins in French).