Grateful to be in Grenada!

Venus had already chased Jupiter below the horizon and a bright full moon illuminated the sky on the night we crossed the equator back into the Northern hemisphere at 0055 hrs on Tuesday 7th March. We celebrated returning to our home quarter of the world with a tot of rum, but there was no fancy dress ceremony or offering to Neptune that we had performed on our southbound crossing on February 17th 2020!

However it still felt significant, so the off watch crew woke up for a small salutation and tot of rum. After five days of fair sailing with 2-3 knots favourable current from Cabedelo in Brazil,

it seemed that as soon as we crossed into the north we were hit by squalls and strong winds of 35 knots from forward of the beam, which made life on board wet, uncomfortable and difficult for a few days. Our mood was not improved when we discovered a problem with our satellite phone which meant we had no email/phone contact for weather forecasts or emergencies. Life on the ocean wave was starting to take its toll after ten months and our resilience and ability to deal with setbacks was well worn. However, we coped because there was no other way and we’re thankful for our friends in the fleet on the twice daily long wave radio net who were able to relay an email to our satellite phone company and sort out the problem. We were able to return the favour to Dave and Anne on Amazing Grace a few days later, but this is a picture of us scrubbed up for dinner out and listening to a saxophonist play Bolero as the sun set in Cabedelo. A performance he repeats every night from the deck of a small boat and has been doing for 40 years!

Our next stop was at the Iles de Salut, a group of three small islands ten miles off the French Guianese city of Cayenne! We were sailing across the Demerara plain at the time, plenty of namesakes here, or reminders of the colonial history of the slave, sugar and spice trade! Isles du Salut is a group of three very small islands, the most infamous being Ile Diablo, Devil's Island.

All three were originally inhabited by the indigenous people before they became the site of a leper colony and then a French penal colony, made famous by the book Papillon, written by a former convict of that name. I had read the book and watched the 1976 film back when first published but we watched the remake of the film to refresh our memories before departing from Brazil. The islands are also featured in the historical novel "Officer and a Spy" which describe the events and wrongful imprisonment of a famous French political prisoner called Dreyfuss. However, visiting the real place, seeing the buildings cells and was fascinating.

Over 80 000 convicts were transported here and were housed mainly on Isle Royale, where we saw the remains solitary confinement cells which unlike the cell pictured had no windows. We saw the support blocks where the Guillotine was placed, centre front of the next photo;

made me think that the extent of man's brutal inhumanity to man is staggering at times.

However there was a hospital and a lot of the guard's families lived here, there was a butchers, and workshop as well as a sea water swimming pool of sorts.

Devil’s Island is a tiny island where the prisoners were left to fend for themselves and they were transported over in a cable car because of the strong tides and currents which flow around the islands making boating rather dangerous. Nevertheless, we had a comfortable couple of nights at anchor and days ashore exploring Ile Royale where we enjoyed the one bar and terrace restaurant and even swam in the remains of the prisoners sea pool.

There were enough tourists arriving in day trips and staying at some of the converted buildings to support one bar and restaurant and we enjoyed the simple buffet lunch with a couple of beers on both days. We had a farewell lunch with the crew from Sky who have sailed with us since Darwin and are now heading to Trinidad where they will leave the boat to be refitted during the hurricane season. Our rally was on its last ocean leg and the boats and crews were fraying apart literally and metaphorically. The boats were all tired and most had faults and problems, Celtic Star has sailed 35,000 miles since leaving Deganwy on 4th July 2019 and we were sailing this leg without any wind instruments or working radar, both of which we can manage fine without. Our friends on Amazing Grace had an issue with their autohelm and we were unable to fix it at the anchorage so Anne, Dave and their crew Gary had to hand steer the final 700 miles to Grenada, which meant the person helming could not let go of the wheel to adjust the sails, eat, drink or visit the bathroom. That's exhausting on the arms and morale and they also developed problems with their navigation plotter so we decided to sail within a couple of miles of them for the last leg.

Our fellow sailors on Chanto and Ko Tangaroa set off the day before us so it was just the two boats sailing within a mile of each other that finished the last ocean leg of our World ARC Rally on Wednesday 15th March. AG followed us and our masthead light all the way so that we could support them and talk on the VHF radio if needed. Anne said our "masthead light was their guiding star on Celtic Star"! Other boats were also having similar issues with sails and engines failing for one reason or another and we were all glad to be heading for Grenada for R&R&R&R; Rest, Recreation, Repair and Refit.

On our final final night at sea I realised how much closer to home we were getting. The Plough broke free from the horizon and we were thrilled we could see the North Star rising in Ursa Minor, even the constellations appear to have rotated, which means Orion isn’t standing on his head any more! As much as I welcomed sight of the familiar northern skies I gazed nostalgically Southward to imprint the southern stars of Crux Centaurus and Canopus in my mind and realised that the Magellan clouds were now lost from my field of vision and our sojourn in the Southern Hemisphere was finally finished. At dawn we sighted Tobago and were received by a welcoming committee of boobies and frigate birds as well as a few dolphins. Passing midway between Tobago and Trinidad was our gateway into the Caribbean sea and at midday we turned NE for Grenada and raised our courtesy ensign and yellow quarantine flag which will be lowered once we clear customs.

Amazing Grace followed our lead and we both finally dropped anchor at Prickly Bay at 21:30 local time on 15th March where we all had a sound nights sleep before heading round to Port Louis the following morning. It was windy when we arrived but after a tricky park we were warmly welcomed by Peta from Rally Control and a very strong rum punch! Peta had seen us off at the beginning of the Rally in St Lucia on 11th January 2020 expecting to see us in April 2021, better late than never!

Over the next few days we rested and celebrated at the local bars and restaurants, happy to . We bade farewell and thank you to our crew Pip and welcomed our friends Alan and Avryl on Island Wanderer into Port Louis on the evening of Saturday 18th March. Amazing Grace, Island Wanderer and Celtic Star are the three original boats from the rally that started in January 2020 and we spent lockdown in Papeete, Tahiti berthed next to them. So, we were delighted to celebrate together, somewhat emotionally, that we had all finally completed our circumnavigation!

Celtic Star has planned two weeks in Grenada before we cruise up island to Antigua from where we plan to depart Eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean to the Azores around the 4th May, one year after we left the UK! Our final World Arc Rally event and dinner will be in St Lucia on 15th April when it will be farewell to our Old Shipmates. But we have a few weeks of cruising in company and fun to be had before that.