Rain’s broken. All night long, it’s been pouring. Finally Barbados has some rain! A tropical wave – meteorological and awesome name for rainy weather – has come up from Guyana, off the South American coast. Today in Barbados is set to be wet. Wet, wet, wet!

We have the drip-drip of water and the run-off of Quest. The rain’s collecting along the solar panels. It pools and occasionally crashes down off the back of Quest’s transom.

This is a good time to stand outside, arms stretched out – with a bucket in hand. As it stands though, free water at Port St Charles’ dock has been making our yachtie lives easier since we’ve been here. We have two containers and take Edna to the dock to fill them up regularly – sometimes twice a day. We use the water to fill our tanks, shower and to wash dive gear. We are extra lucky too – Bajan water is among the best quality water. It naturally filters through the island’s limestone base.

Water is heaving down from the sky. Each plant in Barbados must be celebrating. Shoots are unfurling and tree trunks are sucking. It really is dry. The only green thing we saw last week when we borrowed Michael’s car was the grounds of the golf course at the super fancy Sandy Lane. And that was only because the water sprinklers were pumping out. In the middle of the day.

It was an oasis in the middle of all the parched vegetation. Still, if I was green monkey or a hummingbird or any creature of any kind – that’s where I’d be hanging out. Now however, now rain is a leveller.

As I write, we’re having an intense bout of thunder. Head under covers. I instantly think of Fin. Fin has the habit – in thunderstorms and fireworks – of jumping into the nearest bed and pissing it. Enormous dog wee. Can you blame her? Really, Fin. That was some smelly bed sheets I handed to the ladies in Antigua’s laundry. Service wash only. The duvet as well. Oh Finster. I do miss you. You are never boring!

Meanwhile, the weather is flukey out in the Atlantic Ocean. Our friend John Blair is out there right now – heading back towards Wales. We are tracking him – and at least a dozen others on the PredictWind routing page. Right now, the sudden storm off South Carolina has slowed everyone down. Because of the storm, there is a windless zone in the Atlantic right underneath it.

Most sailboats leaving from Caribbean to Europe are in this doldrum – or are about to encounter it. After the storm passes, the forecast is now saying that the whole Atlantic region is set to be replaced with headwinds (headwinds!) all the way to the Azores. Urghh. That’s a wincer.

Even though it’s officially ‘crossing season’, that’s not ideal. Or normal. It shows us that no matter what patterns we can ascribe, weather is never a slave to itself. We’ll listen to the rain for now.