Using his experience of a small fire after a garden clearance operation at The Bell House Hotel in Sutton Benger Jeff is now having daily conflagrations which should last for at least another two weeks- if he doesn't set fire to the entire bay in the meantime. Jeff is practising a long held believe that man makes fire!
The lot is beginning to take shape and we are pleased about how much usable land we will have once the excavations begin.

The weather continues to be warm and sunny during the day and cooler at night. There has been very little rain but the mosquito season is here and they are beginning to bite so we are getting used to spraying ourselves for the mossie hour between 6pm and 7pm and also up on the lot if we are tramping through the undergrowth.

We have met several people who have time share houses and who come for the Christmas/ January period .They have been doing so for donkey's years and are very much part of the community. They are now beginning to leave, so it is a time of 'farewells and see you next years'. We had the first of the farewell parties last night for two Norwegians, next week its the Canadians' turn. The sailors come and go, only stopping for a few nights in Marigot so we don't get to know too many of them unless they moor along side us. Some of the bigger yachts stay longer and we are already beginning to collect e mail addresses and promises of warm welcomes in their own countries, wherever that may be.

After our road side refreshements the real adventure started when we stopped at some stunning views before moving on to a waterfall in a deep, deep valley. We clambered down to the bottom and then all got into our swimming gear and swam in a freezing cold pool before standing under the waterfall to have a massage. It was a most beautiful place with lush green vegetation and giant plants shading the valley. We gave some guys a lift to the top of the hill with their sacks of dasheen, a local root vegetable. They gave us some in return so now I have to learn how to prepare it! The next part of the trip was up into the mountains above the pitons. It was a very steep windy road, teetering on top of mountain ridges. We stopped at a guys house who was a flower producer,ate fresh mandarins,collected interesting plants and then wandered down the forest path deep into the rain forest. It was cool and dark and full of gigantic palms ,ferns and tropical plants that you normally see in the M&S plant section on a miniature scale. We then did some off road stuff, found wild mountain strawberries and drank from mountain streams. It was idyllic. We had a buffet lunch at a roadside restaurant called Debbie's. Fantastic value at £8 a head including wine or juice. It was all local food including crab , prawns and king fish. After lunch we made our way to the south of the Island and stopped at a beach. It was white sand as far as you could see and quite busy with kite surfers and horse riders. This beach is on the Atlantic side so the waves are good and the wind always blowing. After a quick beer we were on our way up the Eastern side to stop of at Dennery to get some fish for Doreen's restaurant at the evening fish market. The final fun thing was the short cut back to Marigot through the banana plantation.

We had a break from clearing this Sunday and went into the hills to see "hidden" St Lucia. It was planned that ourselves and six friends would leave at 7 am. This eventually meant 8.15am; a very Lushun thing is not being on time for anything. We stopped by the roadside for fresh coconut drinks and a look at a Boa constrictor.

This is the beginning of the land clearance and John is one of our clearer's. His fellow cutter is Jacob. They are both nice guys and work hard for 60EC a day which is about £12 ( that is above the daily rate for most workers) It is hard graft,hot and prickly. Jeff works along side them and I stroll up now and again and give encouragement and water. We have to find the boundaries which are marked by small concrete stumps hidden in the bush. We have found 3 but 2 are still missing and one is not in the correct place so we may need the land surveyor to replace a marker. This has to be done officially so there will be no disputes in the future. The land topography has been full of surprises, some parts less steep and other parts quite craggy. It will make for an interesting garden!

Ready for action!

A few steps forward and a few back, that seems to be the story out here. We went in high expectation last week, to sign the deeds, only to be told that in fact the licence wasn't at our lawyers office, a secretary had made a mistake. So, we wait for the call. We do have a letter from the lady who is selling us the land to say that we can start clearing and getting our drawings passed by planning and health. So the photo is of Jeff wielding his machete, clearing a path for me to get to the bottom of the plot. The professionals will start to clear the land at the end of this week but we were keen to see what trees and shrubs could be kept. That is probably wishful thinking on my part as I am led to believe that once clearing starts everything in their path will be chopped down.

Wash Day on board Wine Down in Rodney Bay.

These are a few photos of our new berth at Discovery and also everyday living pictures of Jeff servicing winches and me getting the washing sorted. I had used the local service but the sheets came back with more stains than they were sent with.

We have had a busy few days. We sailed up to Rodney Bay in torrential rain,4" in 4 hours! It was pretty bad visibility but we got into the bay eventually and were happy to tie up safely. The next day the auto helm computer was collected from customs and fitted and it now all works again so we were able to get back to Marigot. The Prime Minister still hasn't signed our land licence so we are still waiting to start clearing the land. We have had lots of mail, mostly Christmas cards. The mail seems to take a month over the Christmas period and about 2 weeks the rest of the time. We are now on a berth in the new Discovery complex and have paid our fees for a year. This entitles us to use their facilities, including two pools, gym and spa. I have only been to the pool as everything else is very expensive. The long promised bakery in marina village has opened and is fantastic but it will b e a few weeks yet before the supermarket and bank open. Once that happens life will be very simple.
Last night we went to our local bar/restaurant for their Tuesday night live music. It really is a fun night, same band,same songs ,same people! We all end up dancing and drinking too much rum or beer but it is a good night for twenty pounds. Its a night in tonight, that's the plan anyway. We are reading more now than ever before so we will have a good supply of reading material to swap when visitors arrive.
When we get back to the marina we are promised a trip around a hue 160" luxury yacht. They owe us a favour as there crew members were very rowdy the other night and kept us lifers awake! They are also letting us hook up to their super fast WIFI connection once they let us know the code. So maybe the next missive will be courtesy of Callisto. Bye for now and love to all.

We are really enjoying ourselves. We spent last night in a village 7 miles away that specializes in fish and jump up on Fridays. We all had lobster and beer on a long table on the beach. It was packed with locals and visitors. There was one surreal moment when Jeff and I were slow dancing in the street to some Rastafarian singing Lady in red, with a Karaoke machine, in the pouring with rain. We went with another 12 people in a bus and returned to our local at about 11am and then continued drinking. By this time Jeff had offered to take Doreen, the owner, to the market at 6.30am. We made it and it was well worth getting up for as she introduced us to the best places to get fruit, veg, herbs, meats and fish. We got a whole beef fillet for £10. The locals don’t think it is a very good cut, as it has no bones!
We have also been out socialising at a drinks party and are being introduced to new faces all the time. There are loads of different nationalities living here, tucked away in houses hidden in the forests.
Our truck is turning out to be essential. We really need it for the steep hills and potholed roads. It is also great for giving folk a lift. They just hail us and leap into the flatbed bit and bang on the roof when they want to get off. Everyone quickly gets to know your car and it has been a topic of conversation amongst the locals about how good our truck is.
We are off sailing tomorrow to a goosnorkelingng place and then off up to Rodney Bay for the night as some spares for the boat have arrived for our broken auto helm .
The land licence has still not been signed by the prime Minister but our lawyer says it is imminent. Our plans for the house have been passed by the engineers as safe so that is one step nearer. We have to visit the water board to see if we can tap into the village supply that runs quite close to us. Electricity shouldn't be a problem but we will have to buy our own telegraph poles at $100EC each!( that is about £50) Next blog with pictures should be about land clearing..watch this space.

This was us on New Years Eve just thinking about getting ready for the evening ahead. The Lushuns celebrate New Year hard . We were still shaking our bits in the early hours and the music blared until sunrise,which coincidentally was when we had to get up to take John,Fi and Vic to the airport to get their plane to Martinique. It should have been an afternoon flight but they cancelled that one so we had no option. We felt awfull, so goodness knows how the kids felt with their long journey . We will never suggest the cheaper/longer route to get here again. It ended up costing the same but fraught with potholes, like fog in Heathrow on the first leg, which meant they missed all their connections!

We are off to buy machetes in preperation of the land clearance. It is a very over grown plot and although the builders do clear they only clear the building site, not the rest, so we will have our work cut out for us over the next few months. It will always be an ongoing job though as everything grows so fast.

If any one is on Skype our address is thebullens (all one word) We try and be around on Sunday lunchtimes yourtime as the cafe is quiet and we dont disturb anyone at 8am our time.

Until next time hope you are well and warm..someone said snow next week?

We have had a great Christmas and New Year and really hope that you have all had as much fun. A Happy New year to you all. We really appreciate all the e mails and comments. I am sure we are having more contact with our friends than ever before!

The young 'uns have returned leaving Wine Down feeling rather empty but its not long before my Mum arrives out in February. We had visitors yesterday,Tim, who flies for Virgin but also bought our house in Sutton Benger, so it was good to catch up with the village news.

We are now trying to get the on going repairs for the boat completed, both the windlsss for the anchor and the auto helm are not working and they are so labour intensive when trying to do it manually that this mate has said no more long sails until they are fixed. We are now camped out in Rodney Bay awaiting fitters!