St Maartin 14th-17th March

We had a hectic few days in St Martin.
On Monday Charlotte and I went “fruit shopping” at the electronic store – an Apple and a Blackberry!! Not to mention some other bits and pieces - this is my idea of shopping!! – forget the clothes and shoes. St Martin is the cheapest place in the Eastern Caribbean for electronics, and as my older/spare/Charlotte’s computer had recently “lost” its hard drive, it made me speed up my decision to change over to a Mac.

We met up with Paul and Leonor, who were down from NY at their time share.


On Tuesday Charlotte met up with Harmony again on Orient Beach – Jimmy and I enjoyed and “adult lunch” while they played on the beach and in the sea. On Wednesday we got to catch up with some other cruising friends at the weekly cruisers get together.

We headed back to the boat for a few hours sleep at 8pm – alarm clock on for midnight and then on Thursday 18th March, 12.30am we headed out of the anchorage in Marigot, on our way to Virgin Gorda BVI. Light winds, and downwind meant a motor sail. By 1am I was back in bed and Jimmy took watch til 5am when I took over, and he slept. 12 hours later, after an easy, non eventful sail, we were tying up to a mooring at The Baths – Virgin Gorda, in time for lunch. We had hoped to use the spinnaker, but it wasn’t to be. The winds were too light.

Antigua 1st-14th March 2010

By 6.30pm, Monday 1st March, 11 hours after leaving Statia, we were anchoring “back” in Jolly Harbor. We seem to spend so much time in Antigua, it’s like “coming home”! This time, (for a change!), we anchored off Jolly Beach for a couple of days before moving around to the anchorage. Boat jobs, Charlotte meeting friends at the pool, fueling and filling up with water, laundry – all the regular activities of life on board (Charlotte doing her dolls' laundry!):


At the weekend we headed to Bird Island in the north. It’s very pretty with lots of deserted islands. Charlotte and I went snorkeling - there are literally loads of conchs all around the anchorage. We could have dived down and easily collected enough to make a nice meal – but unfortunately this involves a lot of work, getting the conchs out of their shells and pounding them (and they are very tough) before cooking – BBQ burgers was easier!! While snorkeling we also saw many sea cucumbers, other interesting “breathing plant life” and a stingray – a little unnerving as we were in very shallow water and almost eye to eye!

Lewis, Sonja and Josh came over on Sunday, and Charlotte and I got to have a go on his very fast jet ski!!


I was keen to circumnavigate Antigua (and it being our last time here for a while….) – many times we’ve gone up one coast and then round and up the other, but never all the way round – usually because of sea and wind conditions as there are a lot of reefs in the north and its essential to have good light to navigate the reefs. Well, we had perfect calm conditions so after the weekend we continued round to Green Island on the east coast.

On the way there we stopped at “Stingray City” – a fenced off area on the reef where they take tourists to see the stingrays. Charlotte and I swam over from our anchored boat, and snorkeled. The area was no longer fenced in but there were still some stingrays there.


Green Island is in Nonsuch bay, a lovely big anchorage on the east coast, set behind the reef, with deserted islands around. We spent a couple of days there – Charlotte got to show off her water skiing talents to the anchorage and met a new friend on another boat that she invited to join her ”ski-bobbing”.

From Green Island we continued round to English and Falmouth Harbour in the south – home of the mega yachts. Charlotte got to play with Jack and Josh, 2 cruising kids that we met in Grenada about 4 years ago, and have been bumping into each year.

Some friends of Jimmy’s were renting a 65 foot crewed catamaran in BVI. Originally we were not going to see them as we were on our way south, but in Antigua we made the decision to turn around and go back up to see them. It had been some while since Jimmy had been able to spend a decent amount of time with Danny.

On Sunday, the winds looked best, to do the trip back up to St Martin – a 6am start and we were in St Martin by dusk.

St Eustatius (Statia) Feb 26-28th

How exciting!! – the first time to a new island since I don’t know when….. busy reading the guidebook. Statia is a small island (about 3 miles by 4, population about 3,000) with a large history. It’s part of the Netherlands Antilles.

Back in the mid to late 1700s Statia was the trade capital of the Indies. From one to two hundred sailing ships lie at anchor, with hundreds of small boats going from ship to shore to the many shops and warehouses with goods available from all over the world – thousands of tons of commodities were traded daily. The major powers were fighting each other and wrapped their colonies in a mass of red tape and taxes, stifling trade. The Dutch, who owned Statia, remained neutral and opened Statia as a free port. Countries who could not deal with one another could deal with Statia, so Statia papers were attached to many things produced elsewhere. For example, in 1770 Statia produced about 600,000 pounds of sugar but exported 20 million pounds. It was officially approved smuggling and the inhabitants (Dutch Jewish and English merchants) got very rich.


Nowadays, the many sailing ships have been replaced by oil tankers (it has a huge storage facility) and we had to avoid all the oil floating pipes as we came past the north end of the island.

There were about 5 cruising boats in the bay (very different to St Martin), plus some dive boats and tugs and tenders from the tankers. The guide book talks about the swell here (that we did experience) but that was nothing compared to the wake from the tug boats and tenders that sped back and forth from the tankers.

It is a small nice quiet friendly island, where people still say hello and good morning. With no natural protected port it is not on the cruise ship schedule, but attracts tourists willing to make that extra flight, looking for a more out of the way island and good diving. There is also a US Medical school here (they seem to be on most islands!).

Much of the “Lower Town” was destroyed in hurricanes (still remnants of the warehouse walls that have dropped into the sea) and a “New Town” exists at the top of the cliff – which involves a steep walk up the cobbled “Old Salves Road” giving us some insight as to what life must have been like for some (especially when Charlotte wanted to be carried!)

While in Statia, we did a great 3 hour walk up to the top of the “Quill” – an extinct volcano. It was a great trail – Charlotte said the flat parts were hard but the steep parts were easy!!

Charlotte led the way on the steep part and was the first up to the very top (see beacon and solar panel), to the panoramic view, but unfortunately the clouds closed in around us so we could not see below

We also did an island taxi tour (didn’t take very long!) (see the top of the Quill that we climbed, behind the bus)

and on the last day, went to the beach to try and find the "Blue Beads" - the "currency" used for trading years ago - unfortunately we didn't find any.

We had a resident ramora swimming under the boat for a lot of our stay.

While is Statia, we were boarded by the Netherland Antilles Coastguard. A fairly routine inspection of boat checking in papers, passports and safety equipment but still a bit daunting! – I wanted to ask them to take off their big black DM boots when they came on the boat, but dare not.

We stayed 3 days in Statia, and then, at 7.30am we headed out to Antigua. The winds were very light, which was good as our course was just south of east, exactly where the winds were coming from (as per usual!!). We arrived Antigua about 6pm

Back in St Martin - February 23-26th

Back in St Martin for a few days – we caught up with other cruisers again at the weekly get together. Unfortunately we had just missed some friends (with 2 girls) who had left the day before to head to Columbia (a big new hot spot on the itinerary of cruisers heading west to the Pacific). Charlotte had her last opti lesson,

Harmony came over for a last sleepover and Charlotte arranged one more kids beach party with over 20 children (and assigned someone else to carry on the new weekly tradition!)

Charlotte announced our departure on the morning VHF Cruisers Net and said goodbye to all her new friends. Having already said goodbye to Ella on Tuesday and Harmony on Thursday, this seemed to be the last straw as a tear came to her eye as we sailed out. A reminder of other friends, who had left ahead of us, who we hoped to see again, soon improved her spirits.

Many times we have wanted to visit the island of Statia (St. Eustatius), but have not made it for various reasons (timescale, weather not right for the unprotected anchorage there...). As it’s our last season in the Eastern Caribbean with Heat Wave, we finally made the effort to go to Statia. It’s a due south 30 miles trip – although the winds were coming from the south, the winds were very light so it was a perfect time to motor over. It was exciting - the first time we had gone to a new island for many years! We were busy reading the cruising guide book on the way there, and examining the charts.


We spotted a large school of fish jumping out of the water, feeding – we got out the fishing lines – of course we didn’t catch anything but we did get to see a big whale shark (about 20 foot long). First time we’ve seen a fish this large down here. Not great shots but hopefully you can spot the whale shark's mouth open out of the water in the picture above, and the whale shark swimming 30 feet away from the boat in the picture below. We were circling with the boat, trying to get the sun behind us for a better picture but the whale shark wasn't cooperating! - and we were also hoping he wouldn't go for our fishing lines that were still trawling behind the boat!!

St Barths (St. Bathelemy) February 15th-22nd 2010

St Barths, gem of the Caribbean. Quoted from the guide book: “With its sharply contoured rocky hills, a picturesque port and gorgeous beaches, it has become a world famous chic destination; the favoured hot spot for good looking, well-to-do “in” crowd, seasoned with a sprinkling of acting, singing and sports stars: the Riviera of the Caribbean.” Jimmy says we were sitting on the table next to Sharon Stone one lunch. The other year, we were at dinner on the table next to Richard Gere.

It has fantastic restaurants, is very peaceful and still very French (including great pate, cheeses, breads, croissants…), even with all the foreign tourists. It’s probably the most peaceful, and crimeless island in the Eastern Caribbean. We’ve noticed more construction and more traffic on the roads over the last 15-20 years but still a wonderful place.

We met up with good friends Sharon and Claude, from Bermuda, who rented a villa for a week (not sure which of the above categories they fall into!!). Charlotte was very excited to see Ella and Conor again.


Although St Barths is only 12 miles from St Martin, it’s amazing that the 1$ beers change to 5 Euro beers and the bars on the windows change into permanently open villas. Prices are definitely higher in St Barths than St Martin but I’m sure a lot of that is to ensure the “desired clientele”. We did actually find a great restaurant that also accepted 1$=1Euro - very unusual in St Barths.

We were anchored out in the bay next to some of the largest mega yachts in the world – one very strange looking one owned by a Russian billionaire.


Sharon and Claude joined us on the boat for a couple of days after their stay in St Barths – we all sailed back to St Martin and anchored just a quarter of a mile from the airport lobby, to ensure no problems trying to find a taxi at 5am – we used the Heat Wave water Taxi (a.k.a dingy)

St Martin - January 22nd-February 15th

The island of Sint Maarten-Saint Martin is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two different nations. Only 37 square miles are owned by France and the Netherlands Antilles. For more information on St Martin see the blog entry from our visit here last year.
http://heatwave-sailing.blogspot.com/2009/03/about-st-martin.html

It still amazes me how a supermarket can quote prices in 3 currencies, especially when 2 of them, US$ and Euro, fluctuate on a daily basis! The mental arithmetic keeps you on your toes here - in shops either dividing by 1.8 (Naf to US$) or multiplying by about 1.4 (Euro to US$) (a variation from dividing by the EC$2.67 and TT$6 for islands further south). Credit card transactions are done in US$ on the Dutch side and Euro on the French side, so, when they offer fuel, or drinks/food in a beach bar on the French side at a rate of 1US$=1Euro, its important to carry lots of US$ cash!

Many cruisers come to St Martin for 2 weeks and stay for 2 months! The social scene (catching up with old friends and making new friends), coupled with availability of parts, services etc makes St Martin a stopping place for many. A "Cruisers Net" on the VHF radio each morning informs everyone of weather, arrivals and departures, items people are looking to buy or sell, and social events. A weekly cruisers happy hour get together at a local dock bar attracts close to 100 cruisers (or is it the 1$ beers that attract them??).

While in St Martin, Charlotte started a weekly kids beach party, often attracting over 20 children. It was just like a continuation of the Elbow Beach parties that we used to arrange in Bermuda! Many complimented her on her VHF radio skills, when she announced it on the morning Cruisers Net.


Charlotte also caught up with her friend Harmony (from South Africa, who lives in St Martin) again for many play dates and sleepovers - this is now the 4th year they have got together. She also caught up again with Zinnia, who we had last seen in Antigua, and met many other new friends, including Emily and Olivia who she has sailing lessons with. Cruising kids are always happy to play with any kids, age often not an issue, and Damien, age 11 (half French half English) called up to come over with all his games one afternoon.

Charlotte also had Optimist sailing lessons twice a week, and did very well. It was nice that she was allowed to join in the regular beginners lessons, as so often, it is difficult to get involved in any local activities when you are only somewhere for a short time. It was great sitting at the yacht club, watching the mega yachts go out the 4.30 bridge opening, and then see Charlotte and her class following behind in the opties!


Regular life on board continues:
- home schooling in the morning (along with all the relevant bribing!);
- going shopping in a dingy (hoping the eggs weren't scrambled before we got back...);
- waiting for over 4 weeks for a package to still not arrive from UK;
- fixing boat problems;
- understanding power issues on the boat (eg can't make ice and flush the electric toilet at the same time ...);
to name just a few.

The highlight for Charlotte was getting her ears pierced - I thought 12 was a better age, but Jimmy thought 6 was fine - Daddy's little girl won him over...

Antigua - back to the warmth at last! - Jan 14th-21st

What is it about arms?? We arrived back to Antigua, and this time it was Eddy who has broken his arm (Jimmy had hurt his arm when we returned to the boat in Trinidad, and Charlotte broke her arm when we returned to the boat last year).

We were soon settled back on the boat, pleased to be back in the warm weather - we will never complain that its too hot again! We were now flying an Australian flag, having sold the boat to an Australian just before Christmas. Being a less common flag than the US flag, we are now often approached by Aussies, keen to bump into someone from their homeland! A New Yorker, Londoner and Floridian, from Bermuda is not quite what they are expecting!!

A few days in Jolly Harbour, getting sorted, and then on 21st January we headed to St Martin. One of the few, more downwind sails, heading NW. The 10-15 knot NE forecast started off very light (looked like it would be a motor job) and ended up at 25knots from the SE - the forecasts are often quite reliable in the unreliability of them!! We left at 8.30am (never quite managed the planned 5am start!). When darkness fell we were just passing St Barths, and arrived into Simpson Bay, St Martin at about 8.30pm - made good time with a 12 hour sail.

Visiting Mickey Mouse in Ski Jackets!!

We arrived in Orlando 7th January to the coldest temperatures in 80 years!! Same temperature as it had been in Austria!! But we still enjoyed 2 days in Disney World - a great place no matter what the weather. It didn't stop the crowds from turning up and we closed the place both nights - but we were thankful we had our ski jackets with us!! Charlotte got to visit all her favourite princesses etc


Included in our week in Florida, Charlotte got to meet more cousins while visiting Jimmy's sister Rita and her family in Daytona. And a couple of days visiting Jimmy's brother Billy and wife Susan in Palm Beach. We headed to Miami, stopping at the hospital that Charlotte was born at, to fly back to Antigua just as the weather started to warm up again!


What a relief to get off the plane in Antigua today and feel that nice blast of hot air to warm our bones - we will never complain about the heat again!! We will be back on Heat Wave by the weekend.

Snow in UK

Back in London from 3-7th January to stay with my sister Hilary and her family. Charlotte got her wish to make a snowman. Record snow in several years, Gatwick airport closed for 20 hours and we were lucky to make our flight out - Alan had to push our car out of the drive at 5am as the wheels were sliding!! It was cold... By now we realised that we are tropical people and do not like cold weather! We were looking forward to getting to Florida for some warm sunny weather!!........

New Year Skiing in Austria

We headed over to St Anton, Austria for 4 days of skiing over New Year, with my sister Denise and some of her friends. Charlotte's first time skiing - obviously Jimmy had no intention of skiing but wanted to enjoy the scenery. It was beautiful in the snowy alps and crystal clear nights with a full moon. Charlotte took to skiing very well, so do doubt this will not be our last ski trip!

Christmas in UK

Despite BA's threat to strike, on 23rd December we flew to UK to have Christmas with all of my sisters, at Sheila and Bob's house in Poole. Charlotte's first Christmas in UK and the first time all of my sisters had been together for Christmas in about 18 years (a few less children back then!). Charlotte was very excited about the prospect of seeing snow for the first time.

Antigua

We settled into to life in Jolly Harbour, continuing on with boat jobs and ensuring everything fixed and working. Barry and Tommy flew back to their families.

On Thursday 3rd December Jimmy flew up to NY - pre op tests on Friday and surgery on Monday. He called today (monday) just before leaving the hospital - sounded in relatively good spirits considering, but said his arm is all numb and feels like a lead weight. Hopefully he has a good supply of pain killers for the night.

Meanwhile Charlotte and I have been getting into a routine on the boat and catching up with the home schooling. A few boats have recently arrived on the Blue Water Rally across the Atlantic - Charlotte has made friends with 2 girls on one of the boats and we have been going to the pool with them later on in the afternoons. Santa made a visit to Jolly Harbour on Saturday afternoon, arriving in a helicopter! After a long wait, Charlotte got to have her picture taken with him.

Jolly Harbour is always a good place to meet other children and Charlotte made good friends with Zinia (7) from UK who was staying in one of the villas with her mum and brother, waiting for her dad to arrive across the Atlantic on their catamaran.

St Lucia to Antigua 26-28th November 2009

A slow start to the day for the boys after the birthday celebrations the night before. Unfortunately not the great Thanksgiving Feast that their families would have given them if they were still home (and I'm sure that thought crossed their mind..). We recognize that Jimmy is very lucky to have friends that will give up their Thanksgiving to help us out. We did offer turkey sandwiches (from a pack...) No takers.. Jimmy cooked a great chicken stew..

By about 1pm we were leaving the marina, chicken rotis take away for lunch, and on our way to Martinique. Nice wind direction this time (just wish we had more of it ...) Dark fell as we started the passage between Martinique and Dominica - we went up the windward side of Dominica for the first time. This allowed us to sail, rather than motor. By 7.30am, 19 hours later we were anchoring in the lovely anchorage of Les Saintes.


First stop - the bakery for croissants and fresh french bread.
Then some boat jobs, and then renting scooters to explore one of our favourite islands. 5 of us on 3 scooters - Jimmy had to come on the back of my scooter as he couldn't drive with his arm, which did mean he had to jump off and walk up a couple of steep hills.

An early start the next morning (after the obligatory visit to the bakery to stock up with croissants and hot french bread) - we sailed the 90 miles from Les Saintes, up the coast of Guadeloupe and across the passage to Antigua, arriving at our "home" for the next few weeks, late Saturday evening after covering just under 400 miles from Trinidad. Thanks to Barry and Tommy for helping us with this trip and for putting up with us!!

Grenada to St Lucia November 23rd - 25th

We left Grenada Monday morning, after a few jobs and a quick stop at Prickly Bay to check out of customs and immigration. Then another stop part way up the coast of Grenada to snorkel the underwater statues. We motored up the leeward coast. Wind was about 15-20 knots from the east which meant we had to motor sail across to Carriacou. We carried on through part of the Southern Grenadine islands and stopped just before dark at the small island of Mayreau. We had covered only 45 miles of the approximately 300 miles from Grenada to Antigua.

A fairly early start on Tuesday to do the 90 miles from Mayreau to St Lucia. Soon we were settled into the 4 watch routine (with others reading / sleeping / watching movies). We were able to sail a lot more of this trip. We went through the Grenadine Islands, up the leeward coast of St Vincent, across the 30 mile passage to St Lucia, up the coast of St Lucia and arrived in Rodney Bay shortly before midnight, with all eyes on deck checking for any unlit anchored boats in the bay. Winds averaged about 20 knots - we had 2 reefs in the main and the boat handled it well.

Very soon Tommy was put to work - part of the stitching on the jib was coming loose where the jib sheets attach. Armed with a sail sewing kit, he was sent up on deck, while we were sailing.

A little latter, Jimmy noticed the jib furling line had got caught under the furler. Another job for Tommy ... my words to him "you will get wet" - this was an underestimation as the bow ploughed into the seas.
Wednesday morning we went into the marina and had a day off (well off sailing - Jimmy was cracking the whip as fuel was transferred and the boat was scrubbed clean (taking advantage of the flowing water)). It was Tommy's birthday so Charlotte baked a birthday cake in the morning. By about 4pm, jobs were finished and we were able to enjoy the marina pool. That night the boys hit the town to celebrate the birthday boy.

Thursday - no biggy for the Brits on board, but a big celebration for the 3 American boys - Thanksgiving. with no turkey on board we headed off for another long day of sailing

Grenada - November 17th-23rd November

Our initial time in Grenada was spent sorting out the boat for the survey - all went well although the wind decided to blow over 25 knots for the sea trial, when we had to sail with full main and jib. The out of water survey was delayed til Saturday after a Caribbean misunderstanding "oh you mean this Thursday" when I called up to reconfirm the day before...

Tommy arrived Friday evening to join the crew with his usual abundance of energy. We enjoyed some social events in Grenada that weekend - a pot luck BBQ and karaoke at a marina on Saturday night (where ALL of the Heat wave crew participated) and the regular Sunday afternoon beach BBQ on Hog island. Charlotte got to have a play date with Jade (who she knew from last year on Wild Vanilla) and they also spent the Sunday afternoon on Hog Island playing for hours with bits and pieces found on the beach - who needs fancy toys??

We got to meet up with a lot of cruising friends for a quick hello and good bye before heading north early Monday morning.

Trinidad October 24th - November 17th 2009

Jimmy went down earlier to labour in a hot sweaty boat yard, to get the boat ready to put back in the water. Once Charlotte and I arrived, we launched the boat, went into a marina and Jimmy had a quick flight up to NY to sort out his necessary surgery to his arm after falling off the ladder in the boat yard and injuring his rotary cuff.

During our week in Trinidad, Charlotte got a chance to meet up with Ryan ("Trini boyfriend" who had spent some time in Bermuda over the summer) for a play date.

After an overnight flight, Barry was quickly put to work when he arrived in Trinidad, helping us with the final jobs before leaving Trinidad.

We left at first light, for our 80 mile trip to Grenada, with dolphins playing at the bow of the boat. The timing was perfect with the tides out of the "Mouth of the Dragon" and we managed to have a couple of knots of current with us for the first half of the trip. Conditions were great, 15 knots of wind from the south east. We had anticipated not getting in til after dark, but made it in about 10 hours, arriving in Grenada at about 4.30pm, in time for cocktails on the trampoline, BBQ dinner and all asleep by 9pm!

Start of sailing season 2009/10 Trinidad - Deja Vu

Deja Vu .... we started last sailing season with Charlotte's arm in a cast after she fell off a wall. This season, on November4th, Jimmy fell off the ladder in the boat yard in Trinidad and hurt his arm...

After a couple of trips to the doctors in Trinidad, a whirlwind trip to see the surgeon and MRI in New York, (just after Charlotte and I arrived in Trinidad) he is now scheduled for surgery for his rotary cuff on December 7th. So we are now on a fast track up to Antigua, where he will fly out of to have the operation, leaving Charlotte and I on the boat. Hopefully he won't damage it any more on the way. Tommy and Barry (2 more retired FDNY) are flying down to do the trip with us, with Jimmy barking orders.

The Day we had 6 meals and 2 hotel rooms

After eventually persuading American Airlines that, under their new award system, a trip from the Caribbean to Bermuda should be one award and not 2, we finally got our flight home ticketed for Saturday 6th June - one of the very few days that we were able to make it back from Grenada to Bermuda in a day. No overnighters so I didn't hesitate loading up the bags..... I should have guessed we were doomed...

Alarm went off 5am, breakfast 6am and we arrived at the airport at 7am to be told the flight wasn't leaving til 7.30pm! (thanks for notifying us..) We were given a hotel room and food vouchers (Jimmy enjoyed Charlotte's share!) for breakfast (2nd of the day), lunch and dinner. Plane finally took off at 8.30pm and we were given dinner No.2 on the plane.
Checked in to hotel in Miami about 1.30am (2nd hotel room of the day) and offered dinner (No. 3!!).

The following day more delayes on our flight to Bermuda and we were finally back sunday night about 10.30pm.
Charlotte was tired but made it back school the next day - I then celebrated my first "day off' in 4 months by unpacking....

Jimmy is about to sail the boat to Trinidad from Grenada with my brother-in-law Alan where it will be taken out of the water and left on the hard for hurricane season

Turtle Trip - Grenada June 3rd 2009

June is prime time to see turtles laying their eggs on the beach - they return thousands of miles to lay their eggs. At 6pm we drove with a number of other cruisers to the north of the island to see turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. Our guide gave us a short brief on what to expect and some do’s and don’ts – in particular no white torches (only red) and no camera flashes as these would disturb the turtles.

We arrived at the beach around 8pm and began waiting... We saw no action until 9:30pm when someone spotted some baby turtles hatching and we received word that a turtle had landed at the other end of the beach around 700 meters away.

We first made our way over to where the baby turtles were surfacing. The average nest has around 100 eggs, and the female will lay eggs about 6-10 time a season. Survival rate to maturity is very low. We saw around six to eight early arrivals scrambling around roughly making their way to the sea. A few who had red light torches were able to guide the baby turtles to the sea by shining their light ahead of them as they had an instinct to follow the light.

Next we trudged to the other end of the beach to see the turtle reported to have landed there. Along the way we were nervous of treading on other baby turtles that may be hatching and making their way to the sea. Once there, we found some researchers helping a 1000lb turtle dig her nest. She was having difficulties as her right flipped appeared injured and was not removing sand effectively. The turtle would only begin laying her eggs when she can feel no more sand beneath her. This was not going to happen without help.

It was exhausting just watching her and eventually a reflex must have triggered and she abandoned this attempt to try elsewhere.

The researchers knew when we were able to come close to watch. During the early digging we were asked to stand well away. As the hole developed we were allowed to come close.

Fortunately, another turtle came ashore as we were heading back to the taxi. This turtle was fit and able to dig her hole without assistance. Soon we were able to come close and watch. Methodically she would excavate each side of the hole with her hind flippers creating quite a deep, squarish hole for her eggs.

When her senses told it was time she went into her egg laying trance. In this mode she was practically senseless to what was going on around. We were able to touch her carapace (soft shell) and her fore flippers without disturbing her. She was also unphazed by the researcher holding her rear flippers apart so they could count the eggs and we could see them.

Two types of eggs are laid. Normal yolk filled eggs are laid which will produced babies. Around these, smaller yolkless eggs are laid as filler so that the yolked eggs don’t get too much sand between them.

Midnight approached so we had to head back to the taxi careful again to avoid any possible hatchlings. We saw a third turtle ashore to nest and lay her eggs along the way. It was nearly 2pm before we finally returned home.

I thank Steve Southwood, who was on our trip, for allowing me (hopefully!) to plagerise his blog which he so promptly posted (no 6 year old and home schooling there!!) and to use all his photos (he had a special night setting - with no flash, none of my photos came out).