Christmas Wishes

We send our very best Christmas wishes to you and hope that you enjoy a happy and healthy 2009.

With love from,

Christine, John and Bequi from Bequia xxxxx

Please join us as we relive 2008 aboard Timentide

December......St. Martin/Sint Maarten

Shopper's paradise......

This is an amazing island....(one third French, St. Martin and two thirds Dutch, St. Maarten) it has completely reinvented itself as the holiday destination of the Caribbean. When natural resources ran out they declared themselves duty free and threw the country wholeheartedly into tourism and so there are designer shops, casinos, hundreds of hotels and at least one cruise ship visits daily.
Talk about a jewel in the Caribbean crown.

The best of everything is here.

Versace and Lacroix are just two more of the designers persuaded that this was a good place to sell their products.

Coffee time will never be the same again.

November.....travelling North

Time to move onwards and upwards to St. Martin via Union Island, Bequia (where we found our little dog, Bequi, nearly six years ago), St. Lucia and Martinique where we learned that the weather was not going to be conducive to travelling north so we holed up there for a week enjoying the best that France has to offer....great coffee, pastries, wine, oh it was hard!!

When Mt.Pelee, in Martinique, erupted in 1902 the fireball created killed 30,000 inhabitants. Smoke blackened evidence of the disaster is still visible in many of the buildings.

Then on to Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda finally arriving in St. Martin after a non too pleasant overnight crossing.

The advantage of leaving Guadeloupe before sunrise.......

October..... Grenada

We were very happy to leave Venezuela and are unlikely to return as the future there looks very unsettled. John was mugged for his bike (no-one was having a Yorkshireman's hard earned possessions!!) and a friend was shot dead about a mile off shore.

We took advantage of the effects of hurricane Omar (a reverse westerly wind) ......and headed off to the beautiful island of Grenada. Known as the "spice island" we took a tour around one of the old plantations now, unfortunately, suffering the effects of hurricane Ivan in 2004, modern technology and a decline in banana production but we were shown mace and nutmeg, cinnamon, bay, cloves, loofahs, cocoa and the rolling hillsides are thick with fruit trees and beautiful vegetation. The people are delightful, willing and friendly and we are very pleased that we have seen it now because, with the government's blessing, millions of overseas dollars are being invested in marinas and various projects which I have no doubt will make big changes to the country.

I couldn't resist picking my own nutmeg but I also bought enough to last a lifetime at the rate I use it.

Spot the monkeys in a roadside tree.

September........Peru and Ecuador

Having decided that we will not be going through the Panama Canal we took the opportunity to fly to the magnificent Inca ruins at Machu Picchu in Peru.

Breathtaking and a marvel of human achievement, no other way to describe it.

The Incas worshipped the natural elements of sun, wind, fire and Mother Earth so it was inevitable that they would built a ceremonial site as high up as possible.
It would last less than 100 years before the Empire was destroyed by
conquering Spaniards.

It is amazing how the Incas transported 300 ton blocks of stone from nearby quarries and worked them with such precision.

Plazas des Armes is the central square in the Inca capital, Cusco, where locals meet and enjoy the wonderful surrounding scenery. There are cosmopolitan restaurants and delightful shops skirting the square where replicas of
Inca gold can be seen.
Christian churches were built by the conquistadors once they had
defeated the Incas.

We saw this display of magnificent Peruvian handiwork in the famous Sunday market in Pisac.

These two little girls probably made more money on Sunday morning having their photographs taken with tourists than their parents made toiling in the fields all week. The taller girls actually has a new-born lamb in a sling under her left arm. This traditional dress is still worn by the older generation.

We then followed this with a trip to Ecuador

We had great fun doing experiments on latitude 00 00 00 and the water DOES go straight down the plug hole.

We were awarded certificates for managing to balance an egg on the head of a nail. The Coriolis effect is neutralized here.

And then we headed off to the Galapagos Islands where we enjoyed a wonderful eight days cruising around these unique islands. To be honest, it was more like an expedition because the local guides were so determined that we would see as much as time allowed, but what a fantastic experience it was.

Here we are arriving on the volcanic island of Baltra. So much work is going into preserving this as an area of scientific research.

Just waiting for a lift!


Here are just a few pictures of the fascinating wildlife seen on these incredible islands.

A blue footed booby bird and what an incredible blue those feet were. We also saw red footed and Nazca boobies.

This fledgling wave albatross was the scruffiest looking thing but he will grow into a graceful adult, the biggest breeding bird in the Galapagos,
with a wingspan of 2.35 m.

This handsome,male, land iguana was totally unphased by our presence, as were all the animals and birds.

Poor Lonesome George, aged 90+, is the last Isla Pinta saddleback tortoise in existence although it is reputed that attempts are being made to reproduce the species using DNA from tortoise shells found in various museums.

The height of the native cactus is directly related to whether tortoises or iguanas live on the island.....the tall varieties grow to protect themselves from predators. Along with Darwin finches and other examples, scientists are able to continue to explore evolution.

Post Office Bay is where ships' crew used to leave their letters to be collected by anyone going their way. We, in fact, delivered a postcard to a couple who were charterers on the island of Bequia in the Leeward islands when we visited
there in November.

Never to be forgotten was the sea lion who playfully nibbled my foot as I made a frantic escape after I felt his prickly bristles tickle my face and the white tipped shark stealthily patrolling his territory.... I fortunately managed to film all this because no-one would have believed me otherwise.

so cute!!!

"Jaws has a lot to answer for".

July...........France

We finally said our farewells to the BVI, which was a bit scary having been so happy and settled there for over two years, but we were also ready to move back to the cruising life and so we headed off to the lovely french island of Martinique which we enjoyed so much on our last visit and where the ethos of France has been imported to the Caribbean....quite remarkable.

We gradually made our way back to Puerto la Cruz in Venezuela where John could begin his Etape du Tour training in earnest.

Yes, despite his serious cycling accident just the year before, he was game for an entry to the Etape du Tour, an amateur stage of the Tour de France, held on closed roads just a week before the actual tour takes place, when Cara suggested that it would be fun! So then he began the really hard task of training to comlete the tenth stage, a ride of 110 miles up Tourmalet and Hautacam in the Pyrenees, which, I'm pleased to say he completed without mishap in 8 hours 55 mins in cold, wet and windy conditions on the 6th July.

only Hautacam to go now...95 miles under his tyres and still managing to smile or is that a grimace??




Our son in law, James, also put himself through the pain barrier, seen here at our improvised feeding station.

I'm afraid that we weren't all taking it as seriously as the cyclists. This is the support team having a delicious lunch prepared by John's dear sister, Judith, in the car park a la Twickenham style.

Had the weather been clear this is the view that John would have enjoyed from the top of Tourmalet.

And this was the view from the top of Hautacam the week before.



We were then joined in France by Zoe and Allister with whom we watched the Lannemazan stage of the Tour de France with all the razzamatazz that that entails.

Allister, Zoe and I excitedly waiting for all the goodies, well probably me more than them!

We managed quite a few loads of washing after this entourage came through.

As if it wasn't hard enough without having to cycle round an ambling heifer.

February.......Cara and James' Wedding

Our year began in the nicest possible way with Cara and James' beautiful Caribbean wedding. It turned into a wedding week as friends and relations who travelled from the UK were entertained with picnics on the beach, snorkelling and diving trips etc. and it was a very happy occasion enjoyed by all.

A rose petal parade

The Lancashire and Yorkshire roses show history repeating itself.