On Saturday, 10th February 2024, after we woke to our first beautiful Caribbean morning as we’d experienced in a past life; sunny skies, dotted with puffy white clouds, and a light breeze out of the northeast, we weighed anchor and set a course for St Lucia.

By the time we anchored in Rodney Bay after enjoying a fabulous sail back to St Lucia from Martinique, we’d fallen in love with our sailing lifestyle all over again and we were back in the groove!

Once we were satisfied that the anchor was secure, we dinghied ashore to complete the officialdom processes. Being a Saturday we’d expected to pay overtime, but not quite as much as we were charged. Regardless, we were content to be in a far more protected and comfortable anchorage, having bounced around in St Anne’s for two weeks.

A coffee at Café Ole followed. This was an establishment we decided to try once more after the unpleasant experience we’d had when we first arrived back in St Lucia in December with the ARC 2023 rally, but decided to take the recommendation from Pete and Jeremy, off Chiron, when we unexpectedly bumped into them in St Anne’s. To our surprise, we discovered our first experience had indeed been an exception. We’d no sooner got back to Paw Paw, though, when the heavens opened again.

With the torrential rain continuing unabated all night, we nonetheless, continued with our evening plans; a barbecue while blaring out our favourite tunes; nothing was going to dampen our spirits! We were certainly back in the swing of things. We were also definitely grateful for the freshwater rinse Paw Paw got from all the rain.

The 10th February 2024 also kicked off the Lunar New Year with the Year of the Dragon, the fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac, based on ancient Chinese mythology. This holiday is also known as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival and is filled with rich culture and tradition, centring around the hope for good fortune and prosperity in the coming year. It reaches its peak with the annual Lantern Festival. Each year, the exact date differs as it's based on the cycle of the moon, although it usually falls between the 20th January and 21st February on the Gregorian calendar.

Fireworks, music, fairs, lanterns, dragon and lion dancing fill streets across Asia and SE Asia as locals begin their celebrations. For us, the Lunar New Year in January 2020 will remain a highlight of our circumnavigation as we celebrated it in Penang, Malaysia. Sadly a few short weeks later the world was in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a time in our lives, like most people, won’t easily be forgotten, especially since we still see destinations barely recovered from the devastation it caused.

Sadly, though, It seems the world learnt nothing from the experience; succinctly summarised by the statements of the UN (United Nations) Chief, Antonio Guterres, when he recently remarked to the General Assembly that the world has entered "an age of chaos" and indicated that the UN was more dysfunctional than during the Cold War.

He went on to say: "For millions of people caught up in conflict around the world, life is a deadly, daily, hungry hell” and that we’re seeing the results of chaos in "a dangerous and unpredictable free-for-all, with total impunity". Additionally, statements included: "After decades of nuclear disarmament, states are competing to make their nuclear arsenals faster, stealthier and more accurate. New potential domains of conflict and weapons of war are being developed without guardrails, creating new ways to kill each other – and for humanity to annihilate itself.” He indicated that the UN Security Council, the primary platform for brokering global peace, was "deadlocked by geopolitical fissures" and, although this was not the first time the council was divided, it was the worst; "today's dysfunction is deeper and more dangerous.”

He said the UN was founded on peace, but, around the globe and across the range of issues, "peace is the missing piece”, going in to say: “There is so much anger and hate and noise in our world today. Every day and at every turn, it seems it’s war; terrible conflicts that are killing and maiming civilians in record numbers; wars of words, turf wars, culture wars” and “so many peddling the perverse math that says you multiply support by dividing people," adding that this was especially troubling in a year when "half of humanity will go to the polls".

On a separate subject, he called on member states to "make peace with the planet," by reducing emissions and phasing out fossil fuels, adding that "humanity has waged a war we can only lose: our war with nature; it is a crazy fight to pick.”

Case in point as it pertains to cultural wars; young people in Cambodia were urged to avoid "losing dignity" on Valentine's Day, a day people with more traditional, socially conservative beliefs view as a foreign celebration that threatens the country's Buddhist culture, adding that the occasion was "not the tradition of our Khmer nationality" and to use the day "in line with the beautiful Khmer tradition for the sake of one’s honour and dignity".

Cambodia is not the only country where the 14th February has caused controversy in the past. From 2008 to 2019, religious police in Saudi Arabia banned the sale of Valentine's gifts, including red roses, as authorities considered the celebration un-islamic. In India and Pakistan, religious groups also protested in past years against Valentine's Day celebrations, saying they are an insult to hinduism and islam.

Wouldn’t it be nice, just for a change, if the world designated Valentine’s Day to be a day of universal peace and love as apposed to nations bickering amongst themselves about a day celebrating love. Preconceived ideas and fixed paradigms must truly be humanities greatest enemy!

More worrying, though, are the statistics on recent defence spending and policies. A record 18 member countries of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) are set to meet the defence alliance's target of spending 2% of their economic output on defence this year. Additionally, German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz,  declared recently that his country would have the "highest defence budget" in Europe and would maintain the 2% target "in the decades to come... for safety and reliability". Germany's projected spending is set to climb to the equivalent of $73.41bn according to German press agency DPA and the number of countries expected to allocate 2% of economic output on defence this year was "another record number and a six-fold increase from 2014 when only 3 allies met the target", adding that overall, European nations and Canada will have spent an extra $600bn on defence since the 2% target was set 10 years ago. Estonia has already said its defence budget will surpass 3% of its economic output this year, and that 0.25% of GDP will be provided in military aid to Ukraine.

Most alarming is that, according to NATO figures, in 2023, the US and countries bordering Russia, such as Poland, spent the highest proportion of their national incomes on defence.

On all counts, we have to agree with the statements of the UN (United Nations) Chief, Antonio Guterres, and, while some might prefer to be ostriches, these matters are, in fact, impacting us more than we originally realised.

We definitely did not expect to struggle to sell Paw Paw and definitely did not prepare ourselves for the possibility, but, after reading these statements and statistics, coupled with the recent announcement of which countries are indeed in recession, the continuation of the high interest rates, with certain countries even considering further rate rises and others indicating that cuts won’t be occurring anytime soon, it’s little wonder!

It has become abundantly clear to us, after having Paw Paw advertised through a yacht broker for a month and not having one single viewing or a smidgen of interest, selling her is probably not going to happen anytime soon! A chat with the broker cemented our thinking that people are looking at the state of the world in general and deciding to keep their status quo versus rushing out to spend money on a luxury item, like a yacht. That said, though, it could just as easily go the other way if people decide “to hell with this malarkey, we’re buying a yacht and going sailing!”

Regardless, what does all this mean for us?

Having complete our comparisons of various yacht insurers and resolved the associated yacht  insurance logistics, as well as resolved the medical care logistics for Elaine, to some degree, we’ve made the only decision we can make; settle back into our sailing lifestyle and take the opportunity to visit pastures new. In other words, we’re not going to sit around anymore waiting on a sale! Life goes on as we prepare for our imminent departure from St Lucia.

To this end, we’ve spent some of our time and effort on chores, errands and yacht maintenance, the latter including a replacement of the watermaker membrane, re-gassing the fridge and freezer and cleaning the waterline. Having eventually been able to refill our propane tanks since leaving Türkiye, Roy also reverted our propane system back to its original configuration. In between all this activity he managed to buy Elaine’s favourite chocolates for Valentine’s Day; you’ve got to go a long way to find these in the Caribbean; Lindt and Ferrero Rocher.

A minor inconvenience was discovering that our email facility to post to our website has become obsolete, which is forcing Elaine to now make updates directly; a real pain actually!

Besides continuing with our Irish lessons and being entertained by the goings-on in the anchorage, Elaine also put together a high level itinerary, with input from Roy of course, and which includes a haulout, all of which should keep us occupied for the remainder of this year.