Location: 13°05 N; 59° 36.7 W
Saturday 21:00, 05.27.2006

The Schooner Maggie B is now in Barbados, in Carlisle Bay at 13 degrees 05 North, 59 degrees 36.7 West. We arrived May 25th after a fast (130 NM in 18 hours) overnight run. Carlisle Bay is right off downtown Bridgetown. There is a long lovely beach that is well used. We are on a mooring associated with the Barbados Yacht Club, which has been very welcoming.

The bay and the beach is lovely fine, soft sand. Terrible holding conditions. The mooring gives some appearance of safety, but we can’t really tell just what is under the sand holding us. Some of the moorings around us (visibility is about 200 feet!) are huge ancient anchors, one with 10 foot flukes. Near us there is a protected area where new scuba divers dive on a variety of wrecks. Hmmm, what can the prudent mariner deduce? Abandoned anchors, wrecks, terrible holding conditions? We are going to check out a new artificial harbor on the NW side of the island in St. Charles, which might be more appropriate.

I mentioned that the Barbados Yacht Club has been very kind. One odd thing is that most all of their program is in small boats, launched from the beach. The Yacht Club has no dock, no wharf. One arrives by dingy through the surf. Thank goodness one doesn’t have to dress for dinner anymore.

Swimming around we have seen lots of turtles, who are entirely blase. There also have been some fascinating fish, called, I believe, Flying Gunards. They are about a foot long and rather boxy. They root around along the bottom with two fins that work as hands to scrape at the bottom. If alarmed, they spread other fins that are about the length of their body that look like an iridescent blue cape, with the effect of the Phantom of the Opera taking his departure.

During our swims we have been rubbing off the little marine growth that accumulated in the rather “bio rich” water of the Cul de Sac des Marins marina. We’re keeping the Maggie B a clean machine!

Our strategic planning for Brazil is somewhat complex. A direct route puts us right against an adverse current (up to four knots!) that runs along the Guyanas, and once we cross the Convergence Zone, a strong head wind. Our current thinking is to head East as best we can, with whatever we can get of Northerlies, perhaps as far as 5N/28W, cross the Zone, probably motoring, and then loop back into South America in the SE’erly trades. There is relatively little current out in the middle. Recife is about 8S/34W, so we have 21 degrees of Southing and 26 degrees of Easting to do. From Lunenburg we have done 31 degrees of Southing and only 5 degrees of Easting.

Our plan is to leave Barbados about June 3rd, full of food, water and diesel. We have about 1000 miles of fuel and 350 gallons of water. Yesterday’s exciting system news is that I finally got the water maker going and the water was sweet and clean. It can make about six gallons per hour.

All is well.