A new time has arrived now that we are really sailing in the Caribbean. Short stretches of fantastic sailing, half to high wind with always a steady wind (mostly force 5), beautiful anchorages where you can swim from the boat and again more at our own pace without being so intensely involved with other boats as in the past period. So no more sailing together with the Barbarossa and that takes some getting used to. For five months we have been inseparable. Every night we were at the same anchorage or in the same harbour, or we saw each other's navigation lights during the nights sailing. Not a day went by without contact, doing things together, having drinks or talking on the radio during the crossings. A wonderful period to look back on, but we are also looking forward to the coming period which I am sure will bring a lot of good things. We haven't really said goodbye yet, because we will see each other for one day in the Tobago Keys and next week for one day in St Lucia when Carla and Huub (their friends) will be there. But after that we will meet again in five months in the Azores.

Our last days together in Trinidad are fun. On Saturday night (Jan 23) we have a delicious Japanese dinner at the Benihana in a shopping mall of Port of Spain. For Toine this is a regular meal during his business trips to America, but the others enjoy it as well. Afterwards we listen to steel bands practicing in two places. Sunday afternoon we go into town with the Jonatan to watch and listen to a steelband-contest. Monday morning the Barbarossa enters the water. After that they are busy the whole day to get all the jobs done. We also finish installing and testing the custom-made pulleys late in the afternoon. Because of this we just do not succeed in leaving for Grenada on Monday evening. But that is no problem at all, because now we have time to catch our breath with a drink and a last evening out with the Barbarossa.

On Tuesday morning we really leave, after having spent 15 nights in Trinidad. We have never been moored for such a long time. We pick up the Jonathan, who has already left for another bay and sail with the three of us to Grenada. A fast trip of 8o miles, great sailing, half to high wind. Exactly 12 hours later we arrive in Prickly Bay in the dark. A beautiful, but very crowded anchor bay. Our previous sailing trips in the Caribbean were in the low season (July/August) and then it was never so busy. But now we are sailing here in high season and we are very curious about the crowds we will find everywhere. The next day (Wed 27 Jan) after school we go ashore to clear customs and rent a car. The Jonathan has left for another bay and also the Barbarossa decides to leave for the west side of Grenada to make some miles in time to be in St Lucia for their visit. We go out and buy a lot of wine at a wholesaler (run by a Dutchman who has lived here for years). In the evening we eat lobster, prepared in the local way, in a nice Caribbean restaurant near the water.

The next day we get up early to explore Grenada. Grenada is a beautiful green volcanic island with villages and many spice plantations. The main export product is nutmeg. Grenada is also called 'spice'-island. The people are very friendly and it looks much more relaxed than Trinidad. Less traffic, not such an American influence and a very beautiful nature with small winding roads all over the island. We start with a nice breakfast with bread from the French bakery. Then we drive along the west coast to Concord Falls; a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the rainforest with a natural swimming pool underneath. We also hike a bit further to the Upper Falls and that turns out to be a beautiful challenging hike with a few crossings over the river and a lot of climbing on rocks. All four of us enjoy it to the fullest! The rest of the day we drive through the mountains, stopping here and there to look around. At the end of the afternoon we return the car and because that is next to the shipyard where the Waterman is moored for repairs, we walk by, chat and the girls play with each other.

After breakfast on Friday (that's yesterday) we left for a 7-hour trip to Carriacou. High to the wind with windforce 5-6 and a lot of swell. Spectacular sailing and easy to do for a few hours. The Jonathan also sails along. We drop anchor in Tyrrel Bay, have a drink with Jonathan and have a short talk with Kees and Martha of the 'big' Pjotter. Since a long time we have a dinner with the four of us on the boat and we go to bed early. Today we first go to school (even though it is Saturday), then we leave for an afternoon stop at Sandy Island; a beautiful little island off the coast of Carriacou where it is nice to snorkel. Also the girls do this for the first time without any problems. Now we are anchored at Pt St Vincent, again a beautiful island with a good restaurant which we know from 12 years ago. Then we were just the two of us with a rented boat, now we have our own boat and two fantastic daughters. We can't have it any better!

Our power supply is also running like clockwork. The new alternator charges the batteries really much faster and the wind generator loves the Caribbean wind and is working perfectly. This means we can get the alternators up to 100% every day without any problems. What will take some more work is that the antifouling is coming off in a lot of places. This means that somewhere in the Caribbean (we think Antigua) we will have to sand and repaint the underwater part of the ship. That has to be done every year, and the last time was in March 2009. So that's about time after 7000 miles of sailing ...