Backstreet Buccaneers heading to the Caribbean

It's been a whirlwind since we got back to Beaufort - first we had to get the depth sounder fixed and Andrew was all over that working with the local Raymarine agent, but it also ended up being a fabulous social time meeting some really lovely cruisers all heading in the same direction - I just love these jumping off spots for this. Two of the boats had abandoned the Caribbean 1500 and others had been waiting like us for the window that suited us - we all found each other in or around the Back Street Pub in Beaufort. We also enjoyed an OCC dinner at Clawsons hosted by Port Officer Dianne who gave each yacht a jar of her fabulous local peanuts.

It was decided we'd get an SSB net going and a coffee meeting was planned to get that arranged. Amazingly all 7 yachts are going roughly in the same direction and all have an SSB radio. We have agreed to be the initial net controllers and we all look set to leave on 16th November for points south.

Mike on Aleta came up with the name Backstreet Buccaneers after the great cruiser pub and the pirate connections in Beaufort- then he designed a logo incorporating their boat dog Marlon. Hats were made and this group is now cemented in cruiser history.

The boats are Aleta, Askari, Escapade, Loon, Lulu, Moonlight Serenade and Sea Larks - we have two others joining from other ports (Rockhopper and Miclo III) and hope to have some fun along the way. It should be around 10-12 days and we will generally head east before approaching the caribbean trade winds. However, we will see what the weather brings

All being well we will provide daily updates via our sail mail to the blog - so come along with us back to the warmth of the Caribbean.

Buccaneers send off last night at the Backstreet Pub