Trompeta - World ARC comes to an end

Arrival yesterday in Rodney Bay Marina St Lucia was emotional for us as this was where we started our epic adventure in January 2012. There was a Parade of Sail from Marigot Bay to Rodney Bay led by the smallest boat in the fleet Spirit of Alcides. A long line of yachts all displaying colourful flags created a dazzling spectacle. Upon our arrival a gentleman was on the dock holding a huge bouquet of flowers and some chilled Moet & Chandon sent to us by our Yorkshire friends Jenny and Bill and we wish to thank them for this thoughtful gesture.  No sooner were we off the boat then it was up to the Marina pool to enjoy a rum punch and snacks to the sounds of steel pan drums. There was a certain amount of frivolity involving jumping into. read more...

Trompeta - Grenada Anchorages

We have had a fantastic time exploring the anchorages on the south coast of Grenada starting with St Davids Harbour which is where Grenada Marine are based and where we intend to store the boat for the hurricane season. St Davids is a delightful pretty quiet anchorage where we both had a good sleep. There is a bar and restaurant at Grenada Marine which serves cheap tasty food so you do not have to go far to eat out. Next we went around to Le Phare Bleu where we saw Mr Blues on the dock who was trying to get his repaired rudder put back on the boat. It seems the diver ran out of air and they lost the daylight so he was having another diver to help the following day. They have managed to get going now and have left Grenada.  Le Phare Bleu is again another pretty Marina with. read more...

Trompeta - Sailing the Wild Coast

The locals here call the East coast of South Africa the wild coast because of the sea conditions and often strong winds. We left Richards Bay a week last Monday in the wee small hours in the company of Zoe who was our sailing companion for the trip. Arrived safely in Durban later that evening after an uneventful passage. Only stayed one night in Durban and left the following day to sail down the East coast to Port Elizabeth some 475 miles from R Bay. In the event we had excellent sailing conditions with wind behind and a good 3 to 5 knots of  Agulhus current to whisk us along. The toughest part was the lumpy seas around Bashie Point near East London. The boats were going so fast (we were doing 11 to 12 knots at times!!) we decided to make for Mossel Bay. read more...

Trompeta - Ayers Rock

Big adventure from Darwin when we flew to Alice Springs with Charles & Marie (Dreamcatcher) to do a day tour to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park which is where the famous Ayers Rock is situated. Both Peter and Charles climbed to the top  of Ayers Rock which is 348 metres above the plain and 863m above sea level. We ended the day with a champagne BBQ dinner watching the sunset over Ayers Rock. Whilst in Alice Springs we dined at the Overlanders Steakhouse which was excellent and a real authentic outback experience with cow hides on the walls and wobble board entertainment!    . read more...

Trompeta - Beautiful Bora Bora

It was hard to leave Bora Bora as it was such a lovely pretty island. Whilst in Bora Bora the long awaited parcel from Fischer Panda arrived via the Agent Laurent and Peter has fitted this and so far all seems to be good and the generator is working as it should!We took full advantage of the bicycles available through the MaiKai/Rally Control and hired them on Monday to do a circular tour along the coast road route around the island. David & Caroline (Peat Smoke) joined us and we had a very enjoyable morning exploring the countryside and taking lots of pictures of flowers and fruit trees as well as the views over the ocean. There are very few mosquitos here probably because everyone seems to light bonfires in their gardens which are all very well maintained. The Super U supermarket. read more...