This trip, with Danny, Andi, and Rob on board, was slower and more relaxed than our dash south. We stopped at every major island and several minor ones, and had a chance to do the snorkeling and exploring we didn't get to on the way down.

Our first order of business in Grenada was resolving our continuing outboard motor problems. It's incredible how important the dinghy is to our lives, as we rarely if ever take Akka to a marina or dock (the last time was in December, in Bermuda). Our dinghy is, in effect, our car, and without it we are very limited. No grocery runs, no casual visits with other boats, and, unless the wind is light enough to row against, no connection to shore. In fact, when we arrived in Prickly Bay, Grenada without a working outboard, Rob waited 2 hours aboard Akka to catch a passing dinghy a ride in to clear customs and see whether he could score some spare parts for the motor. To Andi's delight, instead of spare parts, Rob returned with a new 15 hp. Mercury outboard. The purchase had turned into an adventure in international banking in the Caribbean. Two of the 3 ATMs in St. Georges were out of order, and the operating one would only dispense $1000EC (about $400US) far less than the outboard cost. However, the dealer's brother-in-law ran a rental car agency at the airport, and was willing to use his credit card authorization machine, so we "rented a car" to buy the outboard. Ingenuity is the key to getting things done in the islands.

We didn't spend much time in Grenada, wanting to have more time for the Grenadines, but we did stop at Petit St. Vincent, a 110 acre island with 22 cabins, a main lodge, and a golf cart which comprise the very posh resort of Petit St. Vincent. We met its owner, Haze Richardson, who is an old acquaintance of the friends of Ken Hidu's whom we met on St. Barths. They used to vacation on Petit St. Vincent years ago. Haze was pleased to be remembered, but didn't buy us a drink. We did that ourselves on the beautiful terrace bar then, back aboard Akka, enjoyed lobster purchased from a boat boy (actually a woman) for a combination of dollars and our old Evinrude outboard.

On to SVG -- St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We cleared in at Union Island, where we were surprised to meet a group of 20-30 U.S. Seabees who were constructing a pier and repairing a school and hospital. As they said, it's real work instead of made-up training, and it's great international relations. We spent the night at Palm Island, just 2 miles across the bay. Tiny, with only golf cart paths around the resort cabins, Palm had great snorkeling, including lobsters at snorkeling depth --but, alas, too small to keep.

The next day found us at Tobago Cays, only a 2-hour sail from Palm. These three tiny cays are uninhabited except during the day by tourists and "boat boys" who come ashore to hawk their t-shirts, etc. The Cays are almost surrounded by reefs, and protected in the east by a series of 3 reefs (the outermost called "End of the World Reef"). It's a popular cruising and charter destination, but unlike most of the other cruising boats, we anchored to the east of the cays, in 8-10 feet of crystal clear perfectly calm water and no land between us and Africa. The reefs around the Cays are protected by the SVG government, and have dinghy moorings to tie to. Snorkeling was easy (it's shallow) and perhaps the best we've seen in the Caribbean. We spent 2 days there -- spectacular.

The next Grenadine we visited was Mustique, home of the rich and famous. Rob had heard that Raquel Welch had a home there, so he temporarily suspended his search for lobsters in favor of trying to catch a glimpse of Raquel. Alas, we saw no stars except celestial ones. Speaking of which, one of the real pleasures of being in these latitudes (Trinidad is at 12 degrees; Martinique at 14) is seeing the Southern Cross. To us, it's the symbol of the tropics, and it never fails to make us smile to see it. We've also taken delight in seeing the International Space Station, which is visible a few nights a month but somehow seems to hide behind clouds a lot.

We only spent an evening on Mustique before heading to Bequia, where we had plane tickets waiting for us. It was an easy seven mile reach to Friendship Bay on Bequia's southwest coast, and, as this is not the usual destination for cruising boats, we had the beautiful bay to ourselves. We got a taxi from to Port Elizabeth to get our plane tickets, and while we were there we checked out the Saturday night scene. We were delighted to see that there were three bars advertising live music that evening -- a jazz trio at one place, guitarists at another, and some undefined dance music at a third. We returned to Friendship Bay for dinner, then back to Port Elizabeth at 9 p.m. for the jazz. Imagine our surprise when we discovered the jazz group had just packed up! So off to the next place, only to discover the advertised guitarists had already called it a night. Finally, the third place had apparently decided not to have any entertainment at all, and was shutting its doors as we approached. So much for Bequia's night life! But we met some vacationers who told us that the action would be at "Da Reef" at Little Bay the following afternoon. So we sailed around to Port Elizabeth the next afternoon, went to Da Reef and partied until we closed it. By then, we had a free-form group of some dozen Americans and Brits sitting around, and we realized we needed dinner. Someone called a restaurant in town which was about to close (it was about 7 pm), and convinced them that a group of 10 would be worth staying open for. So off we went, had a great curry meal, and closed that place!

We needed to get to St. Lucia in time to settle Akka in with Danny before we flew back to the U.S., so we cleared out of SVG in Bequia and went directly to the north end of St. Vincent to Baleine Falls, which are only accessible by boat. There we discovered that "boat" meant dinghy, not 50' yacht, and there was no place to anchor. We could motor almost to the shore in over 300' of water, so we did that, and took turns swimming from Akka to the shore then hiking about 1/4 mile to the beautiful pool and falls. The water was not cold, being from a tropical volcano, but nicely refreshing. Of course, we then got all salty swimming back to Akka. We retraced our path and anchored at Chateau Bellaire Bay.

We woke at 2 AM to set sail for St. Lucia, so we would arrive midday. Another beautiful night and fabulous sail, complete with another whale. This one wasn't broaching, but he was blowing frequently. We went into Marigot Bay, the Moorings home in St. Lucia, sailing past the pretty gazebo where Richard and Tracy Samms got married some years ago. We got the boat organized, gave last minute instructions to Danny, then flew out to the U.S. the next morning. Rob went to N.C. for the U.S. Sailing meetings; Andi went on to Richmond VA to meet with Lisa, her fiancé Guild and Guild's mom, where they made arrangements for Lisa's wedding. Although the visit was short and whirlwind, it felt good to see some friends and to be back in the U.S.

But it was cold! So we were happy to be back to Akka and the warmth of the islands. Danny, of course, had taken good care of Akka and had made lots of friends around Marigot Bay, so we were welcomed warmly. To all of our amusement (and Danny's embarrassment), we discovered that Danny was now known to be our "captain." We re-established the pecking order and resumed our adventures.