So we spent a number of days in Marin, Martinique trying to find someone to test and hopefully repair our alternator. To make a long story short we purchased a second hand universal mount alternator to get us through until we can rebuild our high capacity Balmar. Yes Brett once again spent time in the engine compartment installing the new alternator and rewiring to jumper past the internal regulator so it could attach to our boat regulator that governs the batteries. Yeah it worked we were charging again. Good job Brett.

It was a good time to get this sorted as the weather reports while in Marin were not looking good for continuing south. Thursday mornings report from Martinique to Bequia showed Wind speeds of 19/20 knots, gusts of 20-25 knots, wave height of 2.1 – 2.3 m, wave period of 7-8 seconds (typically a little choppy) but this was much better in comparison to those in the foreseeable future. We knew it would be a little uncomfortable but decided to clear out of customs and get moving.

The passage between Martinique and Saint Lucia was the worst part with winds and gusts between 20 – 30 knots and high seas. We had put reefs in our main and reefed the genoa as needed and Seismic Wave handled it really well at speeds up to 8.7 knots. Going down the Leeward side of Saint Lucia seas were calm and we flew along at 7-8 knots which was incredible given how close to land we were. We will have to come back to Saint Lucia as it looked impressive, especially the Pitons.

The rest of our trip was much better apart from a couple of squalls that crossed our path. Radar gives us time to prepare for the blast that usually comes with the squall. We arrived earlier than expected, 3:30am in Bequia as our speeds were higher than we thought we’d get when doing our planning.

After moving the boat to a more sheltered area and clearing in at Port Elizabeth customs we needed a walk so went up to the fort ruins at the entry to the bay to see the views over the bay and look down at Seismic Wave.

We enjoyed walking along the waterfront where all the vendors line the road selling fruit, veg, music, hats….. you name it. It was really lively with music playing and people just hanging out. We enjoyed lunch along the waterfront and then it was time for a snooze.