Ice cold Alex!

I was introduced to Brandy Alexander on the island of St Lucia on the second last night of my recent sailing trip and since then I've had one (or two!) at every opportunity I've got.

On Satuday, Amy and I had one in Dillingers and then we had another one the next day when we met Alice for dinner.  Alice agreed they were just like milkshake and partook in two!

Here's the Dillingers version (sans nutmeg - which is fine by me):

And here's the Shelbourne version:

In the Shelbourne, we introduced Cousin Kasey to Brandy Alex (at that point we were so familiar we were going by the short name.....lol) and she also agreed they were mighty good.

So for the moment it is a see you later to Espresso Martini and a hello to Brandy Alexander!

Bones on holiday!

While we were on holidays, Bones had a holiday too. He visited a few different houses and were minded by a few different people. He first started off in my parents house and from there he was taken back to his house to be minded by my sister and her boyfriend. Seemingly he was renamed for a short while as "Buddy" because the aforementioned 'boyf is Canadian Irish living in the States. 

From there he was taken on the Luas back to my parents for another few days until he was then moved to my older sisters house for one night when my parents went to Galway to see my younger sister perform in the musical "The Sound of Music".

Phew - lots of movement for Bones - luckily he is a social dog and loves meeting people and will pretty much sleep anywhere!

On his return he was straight in to the groomers and he is all clean and cuddly as he was well overdue a hair cut!

We kept his hair semi-long in order to keep him warm for Winter.

On the high seas of the Caribbean! Martinique, St Vincent, Bequia and more......

As you can probably see I haven't blogged in a little while.  This was because I was on a sailing trip around the Windward Isles. It was an amazing holiday - a trip of a lifetime in someways.

Here's a few pics and a general report about the trip.

We left Ireland and flew to Martinique through Paris and arrived at the boat dock late in the evening. The boat was handed over to us and we were instructed to check in at the office the next morning and get sorted for taking her off to the islands.

For the first time, we had arranged a company to provision the boat before we arrived. This is a must and I would never go back to provisioning ourselves. It saves so much time - probably a few hours in total by the time you go to the shop, buy everything, load in to a taxi and then carry it all on to the boat.

Some of the spots we visited:

• Soufriere, St Lucia
• Keartons Bay, St Vincent
• Bequia
• Mustique
• Mayreau, Grenadines
• Union Island
• Tobago Cay
• Bequia Island
• Cumberland Bay, St Vincent
• Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Highlights of the trip:

• Swimming with turtles in Tobago Cay
• Seeing starfish on the sea bottom
• Dolphins swimming alongside the boat
• Bathing in a waterfall on Keartons Bay
• Lobster dinner being delivered to our boat by canoe on Mayreau
• Visit to Moonhole
• Bequia
• Taxi tour of Mustique Island
• Cold strong drink once we were safely docked
• Rum punch on arrival at Rock Side Cafe, Keartons Bay
• Renting a speed boat for our last morning in Martinique
• BBQ in Mustique in local hangout "The View"
• Nautical gingerbread fronting in Bequia
• View of the Pitons
• Lobster pizza in Macs on Bequia
• Tasting sugar apple
• Arriving safely at port
• Fresh Mahi-Mahi and Tuna for dinner

As you sail around the region, you will be visiting different countries when you land on certain islands. This means that you need to check in and out of customs and immigration or if you dock in a bay but don't set foot on land, you will need to raise a yellow flag to show that you are transiting. Getting through customs takes a little organisation as most of these offices work general hours - on one occasion our Captain and a crew member had to rush down to customs, passports in hand, the minute the boat was docked. Luckily they made it in time before the office closed!

Some of the places we ate at:

• Frangipani in Bequia
• Rock Side Cafe, St Vincent
• Maria's Cafe, Bequia
• Zanzibar in Le Marin, Martinique
• Mac's Pizza, Bequia
• Basil's Bar, Mustique
• The View, Mustique (known as Lisa's by locals)
• Le Petit Peak, Soufriere in St Lucia
• Hurricane Hole, Marigot Bay, St Lucia
• Doolittles, Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Swimming in a waterfall was like a dream come through. What a great experience and then I washed and conditioned my hair and made it sooo soft!

Hanging out on the ropes! I think this was the only time that I wore a jacket. It was chilly for probably 1 minute :-) 

 Look at this!  

 Obligatory provisions - Vodka and Gin!

A note about safety. We took usual precautions of not carrying large amounts of cash, leaving jewellery at home in Ireland and bringing phones and passports on to land with us when we left the boat. Overall we felt very safe even in places that we were advised were a little unsafe.  

I adored this fish shaped gingerbread on this little medical centre in Bequia.

Happy and safe on our second last night in Marigot Bay in St. Lucia.