The weather here is awful! Although everything is relative, supposedly. It has rained at least once a day, some times quite violently. The overnight crossing from Barbados to Tobago, where we now are, was eventful in as much as it rained most of the time, it blew 42 knots of breeze and the seas were high and lumpy with the white crests glowing fluorescent in the dark. It was a bit like the west coast of Scotland on a good summer cruise, only warmer! We don't wear many clothes either day or nght, which saves on the washing bills!

Barbados is a wonderful island with huge business potential, especially for restauranteurs. The good restaurants appear to be booked months ahead during the high season of Christmas and New Year. Bridgetown, the capital, has not yet quite made it into the 21st century, although the people are very smartly dressed and friendly even down to a Captain Flint type character nailing new bits of wood onto his 15 foot covered dinghy powered by a seagull outboard. He had a grey beard, three teeth and was obviously proud of the way he was making his boat ready to sink if he ever went to sea. We had something in common through the seagull outboard, as well as the cheery smile.

We travelled round some of the island in a taxi.

There are eleven parishes, St John's, St James etc and also St Lucy's, which seems a strange choice as the only cannonised female for the island. The island is about 20 miles long by 14 miles wide and is very religious. The people really dress up to the nines when they go to church on a Sunday. The main parish churches are built of limestone and usually withstand the hurricans. The roof of the church of St Johns, which we visited, is like the inside of an upturned double diagonal mahogany planked yacht.

Mahogany used to make up a considerable amount of the forests of barbados along with the bearded fig tree, after which the island was named. Most of the mahogany were cut down for furniture making or as clearance for the sugar cane plantations. Barbados is a very lush island and could probably grow anything. The fruit there is delicious and pineapples do not have the same acidic taste they do in Britain.

Our tourist treats in Barbados were visitng the wildlife reserve, where we walked amongst the deer, the peacocks, pelicans, tortoises and green monkeys. We also 'snuba' dived in the beautiful Carlisle Bay where we anchored, off Bridgetown. It is surprising there are so many yachts anchored here since we dived on four wrecks. 'Snuba' diving is where one trails a raft containing the air tank and has a 20 foot hose and a regulator allowing one to go deeper than just snorkle diving, but not as deep as in Scuba diving. The fish and the atmosphere were so beautiful that we have all resolved to do the open water PADI diving course. Possibly next week here in Tobago.

We sadly said good bye to Kevin, who had been a great companion during our transatlantic crossing. He is off back to New Jersey to work as an Architect. We wish him and Lynne all the best for the future.

We were pleased to welcome on board Andy and Jila Peacock from Glasgow for the sail to Tobago. They were staying with Terry and Judy, who again very kindly allowed us the use of their dock in Port St Charles, on the night before our departure. Port St Charles is where the super yachts congregate. Whilst we were there there was a visit by Georgia, who until last year was the largest sloop in the world.

With Andy and Jila, we not only found common friends in Sandy and Christine Taggart, but also that they lived opposite Margaret's old house in Roman Road in Bearsden! The additional mutual connections with Glasgow University just went to show that the world is indeed a small place. There is no escape!!

As we said previously the seventy five mile crossing was dreadful, but we all survived and we were grateful for Andy and Jila's assistance and company. We were also most grateful for a great meal of creol cooking at An Old Donkey Cart House in Scarbourgh, which is the capital of Tobago.

You will note the British names of most of the places as old British colonies in Barbados and Tobago, although we are not quite sure where St Charles is in Britain, probably nowhere near Buckingham Palace! There are place names in Toabgo such as Speyside, Pembroke, Hillsbourgh, Richmond and Roxburgh as well as Culloden Bay, Plymouth and Bloody Bay on the North Coast. Our anchorage is in Store Bay at Crown Point, which is sheltered from the winds, but not all the swell, especially at the change of the tide.

Our view from the porthole after our lobster tea the other day consisted of pelicans using the ground effect to skim across the water whilst the frigate birds wheeled on the thermals over the point, as they dodged the planes landing at the nearby airport.

We have been delighted to entertain Richard and Julie Weller on the boat whilst they have a short break in Tobago. Richard was a work collegue of Margaret's and Julie was a client of Will's in Edinburgh. We would be happy for you to visit us as well, just drop us an email on Will's hotmail address, we would be pleased to see you.

We have snorkled the reef together and bought lobsters and red snappers from the local fishermen. We also had a walk in the rainforest to the Argyle waterfall where we swam in the pool beneath the falls.

We enclose some more snaps from Susan and appologise for lack of text messages as the phones don't work here! Will be in touch again soon.

Love from Atlantia