Embedded Files
The transition from fitting out to cruising was not abrupt, we gradually started sailing while trying to finish off all the many tasks that needed to be done. Of course every yachtsman will know that fitting out is a continuous process that never really ends until the boat is sold.
We were looking forward to visiting some of our favorite haunts in the VIs before heading south. We first visited Jost Van Dyke where we cleared customs and went on to Caneel Bay St John (USVI). It was great to be out of the marina and sailing at last. While in Caneel Bay we had the good news that our house had finally been sold. We celebrated with a bottle of champagne that we were keeping on ice for such an occasion.
Rafiki seemed to wake up as she started to move to the movements of the sea. We were delighted with the new staysail as this proved to be an excellent performer to windward and easy to tack with. Several gremlins inevitably appeared, the alternator belt broke as we were entering Jost and we had to sail up to the anchorage (the new sail was a great help here). A batten was missing from the mainsailsail and the watermaker failed. However, it was great to be sailing again. The VIs obliged with beautifully sunny yet cool weather.
We returned to TMM to have the last part of the bimini fitted and took the opportunity to get the watermaker and mainsail fixed and started to prepare for our first big trip - to St Martin.
Going to St Martin requires crossing the Anagada passage, which is somewhat of a challenge as it is around 80 miles but the direction is due east which is the direction from which the Trade Winds generally blow. We downloaded GRIB weather charts (using the UGRIB site) and studied the predicted trends. The winds had been coming out of the north but were predicted to veer to the east and increase in strength in a few days. We hurried up to North Sound Virgin Gorda, and spent one last day there, one of the nicest areas in the BVIs. Next day we sailed to Spanish Town Virgin Gorda where we checked out of customs. After a struggle, we got the engine off the dinghy and the dinghy on the foredeck (it has to be partially deflated to do this). We were ready to go hoping to catch the last of the northerly winds.
The last time we sailed the Anagada passage, the autopilot was not working. Claudia insisted that she would not sail this passage again without an autopilot. I checked the autopilot quickly by setting it to steer + and - 10 degrees which seemed to work.. The electronic compass was acting strangely, but I had seen this problem before and assumed that charterers had been fiddling with the settings and that the compass just needed to be swung. We set off about 16:30 and went through the compass swinging routine only to find that it would not work. We had no autopilot. We had a small weather window after which the winds were forecast to increase in strength and go round on the nose. We decided to go.
The winds were initially from the north as forecast at about 10Kts. Rafiki was in her element. I kept going as far to the North as possible as the winds were forecast to veer to the northeast, which they did by the time we reached the south end of the Anagada reef. However.by now we had sufficient northing that we could lay St Martin without tacking if we sailed as close as possible to the wind. As night fell another problem became apparent - the compass lights were not working. I cursed myself for not checking up on this before we left. We had a dinner of Goldfish crackers and water and hunkered down for an uncomfortable night using the stars and the wind instruments to hold our course with occasional checks of the compass with a torch. The winds got up to 15-18Kts and Rafiki charged on through the night to St Martin.
We dropped anchor in Marigot Bay at around 9:00. We were exhausted but elated by the time that we had arrived. All we managed to do that day was to dry out our cabin, nap and relaunch the dinghy. However this was fine as we no longer felt the pressure of trying to get through he Anagada passage in time to get to St Martin for Christmas. We cleared customs the next day enjoyed a wonderful French breakfast of croissants and coffee. True to the forecast, the winds started piping up to over 20Kts ENE in the Anagada passage, so we had just squeaked through our weather window
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After we arrived in St Martin, we were feeling pleased that we had escaped what seems to have been awful weather in Wisconsin. However, a day after we arrived the so-called Christmas winds set in and it blew like stink for several days (21-27 Kts). We were woken up one morning by a bang and a rumble of chain. The chain attachment on the anchor snubber had bent and it had popped out. I brought a couple of different types from the local chandler, but only one held in the conditions we were experiencing. Sleep is difficult with all the noise from the rigging and creaks and groans from the boat. When the winds died down conditions did not improve because a swell entered Marigot Bay from the north. The swell probably originated from a severe winter gale in the Atlantic. For a time the sea took on the appearance of a golf course and the waves formed big breakers when they hit the shore. A monohull yacht is a bit like a pendulum with its ballast keel and as such, has a natural roll period. Certain combinations of beam waves from the swell trigger a violent rolling. When the swell is head on the yacht rides up and down like a roller coaster. Also, getting on and off the dinghy was challenging; Claudia fell one time and bruised herself. All this is hard on the stomach. We both felt a little queasy from these conditions, both on the boat and when we went ashore, where we experienced ‘the leans’. One morning our anchor dragged during the swells. We had plenty of room and we re-anchored without difficulty; however, the incident served to remind me that, even with a good anchor and adequate scope of chain, dragging is possible so a constant vigilance is needed when at anchor in less than ideal conditions. In retrospect, we should have sought shelter in the large lagoon on the west of St Martin when the swell came up, but somehow we could never summon up enough enthusiasm to do this.
St Martin is a wonderful place to hang out on a boat. The island is half Dutch, half French. We stayed on the French side in Marigot Bay because of the easy access to the town of Marigot with its French cafés and market. We loved having breakfast there and wandering around the town. We bought a painting (of a chicken) titled volatile Coline to put into Rafiki’s saloon. She looks as though she is trying to get her balance as Rafiki rolls in the anchorage. There is a nice little marina at Marigot, Porte La Royal, which is surrounded by excellent bars/restaurants. We had some delightful French meals there; in fact our Christmas lunch consisted of a large bowl of Moules washed down with a bottle of Muscadet. The French supermarkets were excellent with a distinctly different range of produce from those in the USA. One day a consignment of fresh fish had just arrived and the locals were queuing up to buy the langoustines, tuna etc on offer. We bought vegetables and fruit from the market on the waterfront at Marigot. However, we were a bit disillusioned when we noticed a woman who ran one of the stalls buying a load of limes in a supermarket!St Martin has become a major centre for mega yachts. Some of these vessels are truly amazing. It is not uncommon to see helicopters on the larger power yachts. However, the sailing mega yachts were the most impressive, particularly when their huge masts were lit up at night. The crews of these mega yachts were usually decked out in immaculate uniforms (often all white), particularly when they were ferrying the owners and
their guests to and from shore. I find it incredible that so many people have the massive wealth needed to buy and maintain these toys. I wonder how enjoyable sailing is in one of these behemoths, their size precludes them from many of the places that we enjoy most when sailing.There is a large community of cruising yachts in St Martin. Many seem to stay there for extended periods. A VHF cruiser net comes on the air every morning at 7:30, which has weather reports and items of interest to cruisers, such as announcements of a weekly meeting of cruisers at Turtle Pier in the lagoon. We went to one of these meetings, which was timed for happy hour at Turtle Pier bar when drinks are $2. I had a few ridiculously strong gin and tonics and ended up staggering drunk. We had to cross the lagoon and go out into Marigot Bay in the dark to get back to Rafiki at the end of the meet. This would have been a major challenge of navigation in my drunken state, but fortunately, Mike and Jeremy, owner and crew of a Beneteau 57 whom we met, piloted us back to Rafiki safely. Even so, soon after we started, the engine throttle slipped out of my hand and we executed a few impromptu high-speed circles. One of my more embarrassing yachting exploits…
One reason we planned to spend some time in St Martin is that it is probably the best place in the Caribbean for equipping a yacht, as it is a duty free port and has two large chandlers, Island Water world and Budget Marine. For yachties, going into these chandlers is like being a kid in a candy store. While people in the U.S.A. flocked to the January sales after Christmas, we went to the St Martin Chandlers. We bought a new dinghy and outboard (a 9’ AB with a Tohatsu 9.8 hp engine) to replace our 10’ Caribe Yamaha combination which had surprised me by surviving seven years of charter use. However, the old dinghy was looking distinctly beat-up and the engine seemed a bit reluctant to get into full song, so we decided to replace them as a good dinghy/outboard is an essential piece of kit when cruising. After much agonizing, we bought a liferaft (a four-man Plastimo Offshore). I am not a huge fan liferafts as there have been several incidents where people abandoned their yachts to go into into a liferaft and fared worse than if they had stayed with their boat. Also, in the Caribbean, one is usually in sight of an island and the sea is warm, so one could probably survive a sinking if the EPIRB was activated. However, as we have plans to take Rafiki across the Atlantic in the next few years we decided to get one while we had the opportunity of getting one at a reasonable price. The other major items we brought were a Corepack for the Raymarine autopilot, and a VHF radio; both to replace defective units on Rafiki. It occurred to me that that with the installation of these two new items, none of the electronics on Rafiki is now original.
The days slipped by pleasantly in St Martin as we fixed up Rafiki while enjoying French café life. Fibreglassing the tabbing on the hull/transom joint was the most challenging job as access was difficult in the lazarette and ventilation was poor, so styrene fumes were nasty, even with a respirator. Also Rafiki was rolling like a pig on the day that this job was done, so I felt decidedly queasy by the time I had finished. However, it was good to have the opportunity of finally getting Rafiki in shape. As people who have experience in owning yachts will know, all the work that needs to be done never gets fully completed. Part of the reason is that new failures occur as one tries to fix things up. In one day the engine starter battery failed, the heads got blocked up and a latch came off one of the hatches. Getting the new 60lb battery on board while the dinghy was bobbing up and down in the swell was quite a challenge. However, by the time we left St Martin, Rafiki was in pretty good shape. Nevertheless there are several remaining problems: the hatches still leak, when we sail, water also comes in from the deck via the new inner forestay chainplate, and the screw holding the chain stripper in the anchor windlass came out; the alloy casing of the windlass was cracked and corroded and the thread holding the screw had stripped. I epoxied the screw back into place, but am not sure how long this will hold.
We had a sailed up to Grande Case, a pretty bay a few miles NE of Marigot Bay, and stayed for a couple of days over New Year. We enjoyed a swim here and planned to splash out for a nice New Year’s eve dinner. We were spoilt for choice in Grande Case which consists of a strip of restaurants along the sea front. We chose our restaurant and dressed up for the occasion. Unfortunately we chose badly. We were the only people in the restaurant, the food was mediocre and the prices exorbitant – Claudia sent her lobster main course back as she could not find any evidence of lobster in it. Thus 2008 ended in a somewhat muted tone for us.
One of the challenges of cruising is managing one’s finances and communicating with the rest of the world. Claudia manages our finances and has set things up so this can be done using the internet. We are in a somewhat in-limbo position in that we have sold our house in Madison, yet will not take up residence in our flat in Salcombe UK until we lay Rafiki up for the summer in May 2009. However we need an address and so have been using the St Brendan’s Isle mail forwarding service, which operates out of Florida. All our mail is now directed there and we can see what has arrived and ask for specific letters to be scanned so that we can down-load a pdf version of them. This has proven to be an excellent service, but we are now reliant on finding WiFi hotspots so that that we can check our mail and manage our bank accounts. Thus far we have managed to find enough free WiFi hot spots in the Islands to keep us going. We asked for a packet of mail to be forwarded to us in St. Martin, but this took over two weeks to arrive and held up our departure. We kept our US cell phone accounts, but use them very sparingly as roaming charges are high. We use Skype when we can to call family and friends though this requires a good internet connection. If, as is usually the case, there are several people using one WiFi internet connection, voice communication via Skype can become broken up and unusable.
St Barth
When our mail finally came through we finally said goodbye to St Martin and headed south for St Barth on January 9th. We had a fine close reach sail down to Ile Forschue, a small Island off St Barth and spent the night there. We had a delightful swim next morning and then thundered into St Barth going 8Kts most of the way under full main and genoa.
St Barth is perhaps the most fashionable vacation spot in the Caribbean, very much the place to see and be seen. There were some truly amazing megayachts here and it was impressive to see their comings and goings. There town is very nicely laid out with many shops selling goods from Cartier and the like. However there are also some modest bars and patisseries where the likes of us can hang out without decimating our budgets.
Nevis.
After a few days in St Barth we were getting bored with rubbing shoulders with the mega rich and wanted to move on. The forecast winds were from ENE at 19-21 Kts for the next few days - a bit strong but in a direction that would let us get to Nevis, our proposed destination, without tacking. The seas were forecast to be 14ft, definitely on the large side. We set off at 8:30 on the morning of 14th Jan with a single reef in the main and one roll in our staysail. It was a wild and exciting sail. We were glad to have the new autopilot in operation as it seemed to make a better job of holding the course than I. We named him Otto and entrusted him with most of the trip while we sheltered under the dodger keeping out of the spray and the occasional dollop of solid water that came over the side. The motion was violent and we were both feeling a bit queasy. The trip was fast, we were rarely sailing at less than 8 Kts, but very exhilarating; Rafiki seemed to be enjoying herself tossing waves off her deck. However, we were both glad when we reached the narrows between St Kitts and Nevis and the seas and wind started to moderate as we gained a lee off the land.
We picked up a mooring off a Nevis beach bar known Sunshines. We were struck by the many new moorings laid for visiting yachts, there seemed to be around hundred of them, but there were only a handful of yachts on them. The anchorage was much calmer than we had been experiencing at St Martin and St Barth, so we looked forward to a restful night’s sleep. However, we found that a lot of water had found its way into our (forward) cabin through the porous hatches and through the staysail chainplate where it was pulling away from the deck. Also, in the main cabin, water had come in where the mast passes through the deck and had dampened Coline the Chicken’s feathers. We changed our sheets and dried our mattress as best we could, but we had a pretty damp night. I reflected that all my boats have leaked through the deck in some way. I always said that my next boat will be a dry boat, so I guess I will have to keep trying.The next evening we took landed our dinghy on the beach where we were moored and had an enjoyable evening at the Sunshines. When we left a swell had got up and there were breakers on the beach. We tried to time the launching of our dinghy between breakers, but the lull we chose was the lull before a big one that broke swamping the dinghy with water and sand. We somehow got the dinghy away from the beach but it was completely full of water on which the fuel tank was floating. Miraculously the engine started and we were able to get back to Rafiki with Claudia bailing furiously. We learnt from this experience that it is better to turn the dinghy round to face the breakers rather than try and launch it backwards – pretty obvious really.
Nevis was a pleasant surprise, its people went out of their way to be friendly and helpful; crime and corruption seem to be low. They are very proud of their organically grown vegetables which are excellent. The capital, Charleston, has some nicely crafted stone buildings, many of which have been restored. Two major historical figures were associated with Nevis: Nelson was married there under an oak tree which still stands, and the US founding father, Alexander Hamilton was born there. We took a taxi trip of the island and saw several old sugar plantations, which have now been converted into comfortable-looking hotels. Some of the machinery from the old sugar mills has survived and delighted me as I am fascinated with industrial archeology. Nevis used to be a centre for trading slaves. According to our taxi driver, one of the plantations that we visited was notorious for being a stud farm, where strong obedient slaves were bred. We went for a short hike in the rain forest looking for monkeys, but did not see any.
One of the disturbing aspects of Nevis along with other places that we have visited this trip is that there were very few visitors to be seen. The plantation hotels were immaculately kept up but appeared to be empty. A large Four Seasons beach resort, near where we were moored, had recently closed. As tourism is the major industry in most of the Caribbean Islands, it is clear that their economies are really going to suffer from the current global economic recession.Montserrat
The trades were blowing from the SE so we had to tack to Montserrat. I am really glad that we had a staysail fitted to Rafiki. Bob Philips from Doyle designed it so that it can be sheeted inside the shrouds when going hard on the wind, and Rafiki storms ahead to windward in the brisk trade winds with this sail set. We anchored in a Rendezvous Bay quite close to sheer cliffs.
Montserrat has had more than its share of natural disasters. Hurricane Hugo devastated the island in 1989 and, more recently there have been a series of volcanic eruptions that caused the island to be evacuated, and the capital, Plymouth, to be completely buried in volcanic ash. Today, about one third of the original population of 14,00 has returned to the northern third of the island; two thirds of the island in the vicinity of the volcano is an exclusion zone. George Martin (a.k.a the fifth Beatle) used to have a recording studio on Monsterrat which was used by many eminent
pop artistes. He led a fundraising effort to build a cultural centre in Little Bay which was recently completed and is now an impressive looking building. It looks a little incongruous as there is nothing much else there; it reminds me of the opera houses that were built in old Colorado mining towns. There is much building activity going on everywhere in the north of the island and efforts are being made to establish a new capital at Little Bay. A lot of this activity is being funded by the UK. However it will be a challenge to make this small part of an island with its 5000 inhabitants economically viable.We went on a taxi tour the North of the island and were fascinated to see how the volcano is remodeling the landscape. A large flow of mud and lava come down a river valley and buried houses and destroyed a bridge along the way. The beach has been extended to seaward by 100 metres by the mud and lava that were brought from the volcano. What used to be a golf course now looks like a moonscape, although new vegetation is becoming slowly established. Several houses are isolated on the far side of the river valley. They are accessible by four-wheeled drive vehicles only when there has not been too much rain and the mud is hard enough. Our taxi driver took us to one of these houses owned by a charming American couple, Lee and Pat, who invited us in for a chat. Their house had a magnificent tropical garden, which is clearly their passion. Apparently, when conditions in the valley are such that they get cut off from the main part of Montserrat, they get together with their few neighbors and have a party.
Guadeloupe
The trades were blowing ESE at 15Kts on Jan 22nd when we left Montserrat bound for Deshaies Guadeloupe which meant that we had another upwind slog. We set off at about 7:30 and went on starboard tack to get our easting. We had a fine view of the east coast of Montserrat and the volcano obliged us by giving a burp of steam out of vent just below the summit. After a couple of hours we switched to port tack and managed to lay Deshaies without anymore tacking. Deshaies is a charming French village. It was great to be back in French territory again and, the day after our arrival, we celebrated with an excellent late lunch (‘diunch’). We find that it is usually cheaper to eat lunch out than dinner. We have our diunches at 14:00 - 15:00 and then have a light snack for supper. For all its charm, there was an underlying edginess to Deshaies. There were strikes taking place across Guadeloupe. According to the customs officer that checked us in, the main bone of contention seems to be high prices, particularly that of fuel. Piles of garbage had been put across the road in Deshaise to act as a barricade. There were quite a few people hanging around with apparently nothing to do. Some were getting drunk and loud-mouthed. An outboard motor had been stolen from a yacht the night before. It reminded us that, even in these tropical paradises, there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and resentment among the poor and disadvantaged of the population.
On Jan 24th we sailed down the west side of Guadeloupe to Les Saintes, a small group of islands to the south west of the main island of Guadeloupe. As we were in the lee of Guadeloupe, the E trades were broken up and the winds were either calm or squally. We motored for an hour or so, but managed to sail most of the way. Les Saintes are very beautiful and popular with French day-trippers who come over on a ferry from mainland Guadeloupe. The anchorage is generally rather deep; many yachts seemed to have anchored in 50’ or more. As one needs at 5-7 times the depth in anchor chain for secure holding and we only carry 200’ of chain, we spent some time seeking out a suitable place to anchor. Eventually we squeezed in near the shore and found a good spot. We particularly wanted to be close to the shore as we had signed up for a WiFi service in Deshaies (HotHotHotSpot) that covers several places that we planned to visit in the Caribbean. By using what must be a very high-gain antenna, WiFi links can be provided over relatively long distances. Remarkably, the system worked quite well with our laptops inside Rafiki’s cabin. We even managed some Skype calls with the family. Apparently our voices dropped in and out rhythmically, probably because of the rolling of the boat. Claudia made use of the relatively good connectivity to start preparing our tax returns; a challenging task, given our transitionary status.Les Saintes had none of the edgy feel of Deshaise, nevertheless it is not immune from the social unrest in Guadeloupe. Strikes on the main island had left the shops short of supplies. Neither of the two ATMs on the island were working. This was a problem for us as we had very few Euros. Nevertheless, Claudia managed to find a hairdresser that accepted US dollars and treated herself to a haircut. I have always preferred her hair cut short and was delighted with the end result. My hair had not been cut since I left Madison. However, there is not so much of it these days so I decided to conserve our remaining US cash dollars and wait to find a place where I can use local currency.
We really like Les Saintes and decided to linger for a few days. There is an interesting Napoleonic fort that is on a hill overlooking the town which we enjoyed exploring. We had an evening meal out for a change that was magnificent. We had ouassous a fresh water prawn that is caught in Guadeloupe.
We met Peter and Wendy on their yacht Keesje II, which was anchored close to us. We spent an enjoyable time killing a couple of bottles of wine while they told us of their exploits sailing the Caribbean for the past two years. They are planning to come to settle in Devon this summer, near where we will be living in Salcombe. We find that we get a lot of useful information from other cruisers that we meet. It is always fun swapping experiences with them.
Dominica
We had an enjoyable, fast sail from Les Saintes to Dominica, the only problem being a disturbing creaking sound that I noticed coming from the steering mechanism. As we approached Portsmouth Harbour Dominica, we were met by a boat boy in a long wooden boat propelled by a powerful outboard. Just as he approached, we were suddenly hit by a ferocious gust of wind from the mountains and nearly rammed him as we broached. After we sorted ourselves out we learned that his name was Alexis and that he could arrange some tours of the island for us. As we entered the anchorage and lowered our sails, several other boat boys came up to us offering similar services, but they did not badger us once they were told that we were negotiating with Alexis.
As we were clearing customs, we were struck by the contrast between Les Saintes - a picture postcard yachting center/fishing village/ holiday location to Dominica - a relatively undeveloped island. From the sea, Dominica is one of the most beautiful of the Caribbean Islands with high mountains that bury their peaks in cloud and lush rain forests, but as we entered Portsmouth we were struck by the collection of wrecked ships that have been driven ashore by various hurricanes. I suspect the local government does not have the clout to go after the owners or their insurance companies to get the wrecks removed. The houses around Portsmouth are generally small wooden structures, many of which are rather charming. Those that are not plumbed in to central supplies get their water from a stand pipe in the street. Often one of the rooms of a house serves as a shop selling a variety of goods or produce. There are a couple of good beach bars near where we were anchored. One had WiFi that we could use on Rafiki, much to Claudia’s delight. One night the boat boys organized a fund-raising barbecue in one of them for the yachties, which was good fun. The funds were to improve security in Portsmouth. We were impressed that the boat boys had organized themselves to provide good support and security to the visiting yachts, upon whom their livelihood depends. Our boat boy, Alexis, was very friendly and helpful; he arranged a couple of tours of the island for us.
First we were rowed up Indian River by a knowledgeable guide, Roy, who showed us the magnificent forest canopy along the way. We were amazed at the extraordinary shapes of the blood wood trees and the large land crabs that we saw. While we were having lunch, Roy made Claudia a charming origami bird out of leaves. The next day we went on a taxi tour of the island by Shadow, one of the few Caribs still living in the Caribbean. Shadow was a mine of information about the history, geology and politics of Dominica. We were struck by the lush green vegetation on the island and also a strange, deserted Taiwanese holiday resort that had been abandoned after Dominica received a big development loan from China under the condition that they no longer recognised Taiwan as a country independent of mainland China.The rest of our time in Dominica was spent pleasantly shopping for the wonderful fruit and vegetables that were available and having a couple of fun evenings with Pat and Tony, Brits who had recently retired and sailed from Mediterranean to the Caribbean in their lovely Hylas 46 yacht.
Before we moved on, I thought that I should investigate the creaky sounds coming out if the steering mechanism. I spend a day climbing into dark, inaccessible regions of Rafiki checking and lubricating the steering mechanism, a complicated collection of wires and pulleys that connect the two helms to the rudder. I found nothing particularly amiss and was beginning to worry that the rudder post might be cracked and about to fail.
We sailed from Portsmouth to Roseau, the capital of Dominica and asked a boat boy to direct us to a mooring where we could receive WiFi on Rafiki. This he did and Claudia worked on our tax returns while I caught up with some emails.
Martinique
We did not go ashore to Roseau, but set off next morning for St. Pierre, Martinique. We thought that the trip was going to be a pleasant reach in the forecast 15Kt winds, but as it turned out the winds were 22-24Kts for most of the way, with confused lumpy seas and poor visibility. We reefed down and Rafiki seemed relieved that we had done so. Claudia was sick and I was feeling decidedly ill. To cap it all, my efforts to lubricate the steering mechanism had not stopped the creaking, which was worse than ever. Eventually we got into the wind shadow of Martinique and the winds became fluky and mostly contrary, so we ended up motoring along the coast to St. Pierre. We were relieved the trip was over when we dropped anchor and made peace with our stomachs by giving them a nice French dinner.
St Pierre is a rather charming, very French town. Its heyday was towards the end of the 19th century when it was the capital of Martinique and known as the Paris of the Caribbean. In 1902 the mountain at the back of St Pierre, Mt Pelee, started showed signs of volcanic activity. The local businesses and government reassured the population that there was nothing to worry about, but the volcano blew shortly thereafter killing all but one of the 30,000 inhabitants. Today Fort de France is the capital of Martinique and the population of St Pierre is now only 5000. Efforts have been made to re-create some of the old world charms of St Pierre most conspicuously by building a replica of the original Financial Centre. An excellent pier for ship docking had recently been built. Although it was sturdily built of concrete and hardwoods with stainless-steel fittings, the deck had been smashed up by hurricane Omar in Oct 2008. We landed our dinghy on the pier, but had rather a precarious scramble to get off of it. It was amused by the contrast in dinghy landings between Dominica and Martinique: the Dominican ones were flimsy wooden affairs that were soon rebuilt when demolished by waves, whereas there was no sign of repairs being made to the substantial French structures.I had a haircut in St Pierre, my first on this trip. The hairdresser was obviously more comfortable creating exotic high-fashion creations on the young women of St Pierre, but she seemed to do a passable job on me.
We were fortunate in catching the weekly market in St Pierre. This was magnificent event with mountains of delicious fruits and vegetables on offer. We bought some fresh marlin steaks off a fisherman and, together with some salad vegetables and fruit, had a truly magnificent meal on Rafiki; definitely the gastronomic high point of the trip thus far.We left St Pierre on 8th Feb. and sailed down to the Fort de France region. Initially we anchored in Anse de Miton, as we thought we could stock up with supplies and diesel fuel there. However, Omar had destroyed the fuelling dock. We went ashore and Claudia was not impressed by the rather seedy holiday resort at the dinghy landing, with droopy topless women and heavily tattooed men draped around a pool, so we weighed anchor and crossed the bay to Fort de France. We went ashore on a shopping trip the next day, but found that everywhere was closed bec
ause of a strike We found the town to be rather uninspiring. Claudia commented that it was the sort of French town that would have a McDonalds. We soon found one; Col. Saunders was there too. Fortunately, we managed clear out of customs, but that was all we could do in Fort de France - no laying in stocks of nice French food.We went back to Rafiki and I tackled the steering mechanism again. I was rather at a loss, but ended up squirting some WD40 around the top bearing in the rudder post. All day there was a tremendous noise coming from the town: drums beating, car horns honking and loud tuneless music. In the evening and far into the night there was a continuous mantra of chanting from what was probably a political rally. The chanting was being led by a single person with regular audience responses. It was very loud yet the distortion on the PA system and our poor French prevented us from understanding what was going on. I reflected that political movements, like religions, have cottoned on to the use of repetitive chanting as a way to instill allegiance to a cause or creed by numbing the intellect and suffocating critical thought.
St Lucia
We were pleased to leave Fort de France next day (10th Feb.). The Forecast was for ENE winds of 22Kts. In the event the winds were around 20 Kts and Rafiki flew along, giving us a magnificent sail, going at 8-9 Kts all the way. Also, I was delighted that the simple WD40 application had cured the steering creaking; things were definitely looking up. We anchored in Rodney Bay and took the dinghy into the lagoon, where a fine new marina has been built. Rodney Bay has been put on the map in the last few years as it is the Caribbean destination of the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), which sets out from the Canary Islands. The marina has been recently taken over by new owners who are clearly trying to make Rodney Bay the St Barth of the Windward Islands. Many docks suitable for megayachts have been built, although only one was occupied while we were there. The rest of the marina seemed nearly full, many of the yachts there having come over with the ARC a couple of months ago. We took advantage of the facilities and topped up our fuel supplies and had our dirty laundry washed. We found the biggest local supermarket to stock up our supplies of food. However, it was rather like I imagine an American supermarket in the middle of Wyoming would be - lots of bland standard items (Kraft, Campbells etc) with nothing to tickle one's fancy. We really regretted not being able to stock up on food in Martinique where we could get delicious sausages that look like llama's turds and wonderful cheeses.Marinas are expensive and often rather hot places to park a yacht (yachts at anchor lie to the wind which gets directed into the cabin by the open hatches). Also, truth to tell, I am not very good at maneuvering Rafiki in a marina. We have no bow thruster and her high topsides cause her to be blown off course by a cross wind. Anchorages, on the other hand, are generally free and often have prettier surroundings than marinas. The down side is when swells come in, rolling can make a boat very uncomfortable to live on. The anchorage in Rodney Bay was delightful.. We found a nice spot near Pigeon Island in the north of the bay. We anchored as close as we dared to the shore where there was negligable swell. Pigeon Island was an English stronghold from which admiral Rodney whacked the French in the Battle of the Saintes. I always enjoy exploring old forts and was amused to compare the English version of the battle at the museum on Pigeon Island with the French version that I saw at Fort Nepoleon in the Saintes.
There is a delightful beach bar on Pigeon Island, the Jambe de Bois, where we have been spending our evenings.. The meals have been excellent yet not expensive. Furthermore, they have excellent Wi Fi which I am using at the moment to update this journal.
One morning while drying dishes after breakfast, I opened the cutlery draw and saw that we had a stowaway on board. We looked at each other for a few seconds before I decided that immediate repatriation was called for and I grabbed him/her. Roaches are tough little critters and it had no trouble escaping my grasp and scurrying off into the dark recesses of our galley. It was a couple of days before I found the right moment to ‘fess up to Claudia about Clarence, the stowaway. She took it quite well considering her intense dislike of grunge. We managed to find some boric acid-based cockroach treatment in the form of hard white pills. I put a few of these in various cupboards, but somehow I suspect that Clarence knows better than to mess with this stuff.
Bequia
We decided to skip St Vincent on our journey south as we had reports of incidents of stealing from yachts. Also, we were somewhat behind schedule as we planned to meet up with Claudia’s brother Dean and his wife Paula in Grenada in a few weeks. In order to shorten the passage from St Lucia to Bequia, our next port of call, we sailed down to Vieux Fort at the Southern tip of St Lucia and anchored for the night. We tucked right in next to a steep cliff and managed to get some shelter, but occasionally a blast of wind would send Rafiki hustling off down-wind only to be stopped short with a jerk by
the anchor rode. We set off early next morning (16th Feb.) and dosed ourselves up with Stugeron before setting out. The winds were around 20 Kts and were broad reaching in a big sea. I had to hand steer for an hour or so because we were a bit over canvassed and Rafiki kept trying to broach when a big wave went through. Eventually the wind and seas moderated somewhat and Otto the autopilot could take over. St Vincent looked particularly lovely as we sailed down its windward shore; I regretted not stopping there.We had a fast passage and arrived in Bequia at 15:00. As we approached Admiralty Bay, I noticed someone in a RIB dinghy bouncing of the waves coming to meet us. He turned out to be Kenmore Henville, a marine photographer. He buzzed around Rafiki taking pictures, which he delivered next morning. I was amazed that he could handle his dinghy and camera at the same time in lumpy sea conditions. He had a harness that was attached to the dinghy, steered with one hand and held his camera (a heavy Canon EOS-1DS with a 300mm lens) with the other hand.
Bequia is a delightful place to hang out in a yacht. We anchored off Princess Margaret Beach, near the entrance to Admiralty Bay. We chose this location because I am rather timid when it comes to finding a spot to anchor. I don’t like to have neighbors upwind or downwind in case either of us drags our anchor. We initially planned to move further in later on, but came to like the spot even though it was exposed, as it was very pretty and we could swim to the beach. It was here that Claudia made a break-through: she discovered that diving straight into the water is much less uncomfortable than slowly immersing oneself into cold water - not that 80F could be called cold.Bequia was visited by a few megayachts while we were there. We noticed that the latest fashion in these floating palaces is to illuminate the hull at night in blue light from underwater lamps. It rather reminded me of the way the tricked-out trucks were fitted out that I saw cruising round Bloomington one Saturday evening. One striking-looking older (or at least older style) yacht that we saw reminded me of the yacht that Sugar Cane (aka Marilyn Monroe) was taken in the hilarious seduction scene in the film Some Like it Hot.
There are many delightful bars, cafés and beach restaurants in Bequia. Claudia’s favorite hangout was Maria’s French Café, which had great a great view of the bay and good WiFi. She spent many hours there catching up on emails and working on our US tax returns. Eating out was fun; we liked Tommy’s Cantina and had several meals there. The local boutiques seem to be a cut above the usual souvenir shops that cater to cruise ships. We found a batik tee shirt and a wooden salad bowl that caught our fancy. Buying food at the local vegetable market is quite an experience as all the vendors vie with each other aggressively for your custom. At first this is a bit intimidating, but it is all done in a good-spirited manner and is fun when you get used to it. Excellent fresh vegetables and fruit are to be had at the market. Fruits like oranges and grapefruits don’t have the visual perfection of those sold in US supermarkets, but they taste much better. There are also produce that you don’t usually see in US stores such as passion fruit, bread fruit and papaya. Not all of this is to our taste (bread fruit, as it is usually served, tastes like, and has the texture of, overcooked potatoes); however, I am rather fond of fresh papaya. I have to admit, there are occasions in the Caribbean where I miss the deli section of a good supermarket. In many places groceries are obtained from tiny stores where the most exotic item available is spaghetti sauce. However we noticed at several locations that were popular with yachties enterprising folk had set up delis where one can get essential staples such as balsamic vinegar. Doris Fresh Foods was such a place in Bequia where many tasty items such as French cheeses are available – at a price.
Soon after we arrived in Bequia a boat pulled alongside Rafiki and its owner started telling us how he could make Rafiki gleam like new. We tried to politely decline his offers, but he started pulling out all sorts of yacht beauty aids and started working a patch of the non-slip region of the deck from his boat as a demonstration. The transformation was remarkable, so we fell for his patter and next day Winfield worked on our deck and cockpit. When we returned after a day of exploring the shops and bars, Rafiki had morphed from a tired looking yacht that had spent too long in charter service into a gleaming belle. It turned out that Winfield used to work on beautifying yachts in the Mediterranean and so he knew his stuff. We picked up several useful tips from him such as the name of a phosphoric acid-containing cleaner that effectively removes rust stains (Ospho). Our cockpit table was getting rather dilapidated as some non-marine grade plywood had been used in its construction which was delaminating. After discussions with Winfield we took the table to Jem, who had a small carpenter’s shop on the island. After a few days Jem had replaced all the delaminating parts with solid wood and Winfield had re-varnished the whole table. We were delighted the results as we eat nearly all our meals out in the cockpit. Cruising has been described as fixing up yachts in exotic places. Bequia is clearly such a place as it has practically every yacht expertise from canvas work to engine repairs available with the exception of haulout facilities.
We also used some of the time spent in Bequia to catch up with some of our own jobs. We had bought some special paint in St Martin to paint indelibly the name of our yacht on the hyperlon fabric of the dinghy in order to deter potential thieves. However, the chop and swells in the anchorages we have been using made the task very difficult due to the movement in the dinghy. Bequia was not exactly calm, but Claudia managed to do some nice lettering with a little help from me steadying the dinghy from the sugar scoop rear of Rafiki. The halyard and sheet winches on a yacht a quite elaborate devices as they provide two gear ratios by reversing the direction which the handle is cranked. They need regular lubrication in order to work reliably so I stripped each of them down and re-greased the mechanism in each. There are several small components in the winches and I was very careful to put them all in a bowl so as to avoid losing any. However, as I put the self-tailing mechanism of one winch back into position, I saw something fall out of the assembly, get caught by the wind and describe a graceful arc ending up in the sea. I immediately felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach followed by a wave of rage which I vented in a string of expletives. We would be really crippled without the use of one of the sheet winches as there is no way that anyone of normal human strength can trim the genoa sheets of a 47’ yacht in a breeze without one. When I calmed down somewhat and took an inventory of parts, I found that the component that escaped was one of six plastic spacers. The winch will have to make do with five.Mayreau
We finally tore ourselves away from the charms of Bequia on 24th Feb. and sailed south to Mayreau, the next island in the Grenadine chain. The sail was a fast broad reach and we headed to Salt Whistle bay, which looked appealing from Doyle’s cruising guide. The bay was quite small and looked crowded with yachts and, as we got closer, I was beginning to think about moving on to somewhere with more space. Just then a boat boy appeared and beckoned us in. Somewhat reluctantly, I followed him, but he found us a snug hole where we dropped anchor. In the bottom of his boat was a collection of large lobsters that had been caught that day. I couldn’t resist, and after some negotiations, we agreed to have full lobster barbecued dinner cooked on the beach and delivered to Rafiki that evening. The dinner was one of the highlights of the trip. We ate it in the cockpit as the sun was setting with a bottle of Muscadet.
The lobsters were magnificent and we had lovely vegetables and potatoes cooked in foil on the fire as we used to do on Guy Fawkes night in the UK. The next day another boat boy came round with a fresh caught Dorado (mahi mahi). He cut it up on his boat into four large steaks which we put in our freezer.
We had bought two collapsible kayaks (14’ Pakboat Puffins) when we were in Madison and had them shipped down to Tortola prior to our trip. The water in Salt Whistle bay was relatively calm so Claudia decided that this would be a good place to learn how to use them. They pack down to a 40lb bag and, when assembled, consist of an aluminium frame in a PVC skin with inflatable longitudinal tubes at each side. We managed to assemble one in Rafiki’s cabin one evening a few days earlier and stored it in one of the aft cabins. The manual said this was a 20min job but it took us several hours. We launched the kayak in Mareau where we used it to explore the anchorage. Claudia was more adept at paddling it than I and soon got the hang of it. I found it a bit tippy, but gradually gained confidence. It was great to paddle round in this little boat as, being long and thin, it is hydrodynamically efficient and so one can make good forward progress with moderate effort. In contrast, trying to row a RIB is a frustrating experience. We found that we could store the Puffin assembled on the fore-deck, without getting in the way of the sheets or furling lines.
Union Island
We had a lazy run under jib only the next day to Union Island. Unusually, the anchorage is on the windward side of the island, but it is protected by a coral reef and so is fairly calm. When we entered, we started to get our usual bout of pre-anchoring anxiety as the surf crashing on the reef looked intimidating. At that moment a boat boy appeared and offered us a mooring. I am wary about moorings offered by boat boys as these may consist of tatty pieces of rope tied to a sunken car engine held up at the other end by an empty plastic bottle. However, the boat boy insisted that his was a good mooring, so we followed him in. We ended up in a most spectacular position in the corner of the anchorage adjacent to a sandy beach on one side and the reef on the other. Being on the windward side, there was no wind-break for the trades winds, which blew steadily and unabated at 14-18Kts. We could have sold the surplus electricity generated by Beans, the wind generator in this location. In anchorages in the lee of islands, the wind is usually rather gusty due to the turbulence generated by the land. The steady winds and flat seas provide ideal conditions for kite boarding which was entertaining to watch. After we had been in Union for a day, we heard from Jeremy and Mike on Splendido, friends we had met in St Martin whom we had been following south, that they had been damaged in Union Island while at anchor by a yacht that had been on a mooring which had broken loose. I immediately dived down and checked out our mooring and found it to be a heavy chain attached to a block of concrete, so we decided to stay on it.
A large, sadly neglected ketch was anchored near to us which had become a popular gathering place for seagulls. They came in the evenings and lined themselves up in regularly spaced files on the main and mizzen booms. I was curious as to how they attained such a regular spacing pattern; perhaps they simply tried to get as far away from their neighbors as possible. But this was not the case. Closer examination of the seagulls settling on their favorite roosting place revealed that they had a set distance that they liked to be from each other. In this way they did not have to keep moving as their neighbors came or went.
Carriacou
We had another lazy down-wind sail to Carriacou on 27th Feb. First we anchored in Hillsborough where we checked in customs (Carriacou is administratively part of Grenada). Clearing customs here was more tedious than usual as we had to see three separate people in separate places: customs, immigration and port clearance. The customs official seemed to be having an animated conversation with her boyfriend and kept us waiting some considerable time, along with several other people, in a confined space on top of stairs outside her office. One learns to be polite and respectful of customs officials as they can make life very unpleasant, so it was with some trepidation that I knocked on her door to remind her that there was a queue of people waiting to have her stamp on their papers. Finally, after completing all the formalities we walked up and down Hillsborough but did not find any place that appealed to us to have a drink or some food. We moved on next day to Tyrrel Bay which we found a far more pleasant place to hang out in a yacht. We found an excellent beach bar/pizzeria that played music that didn’t give us a headache and had good WiFi. We spent many enjoyable hours there.
Tyrrel bay has a large, lagoon on the north side. We had great fun exploring this lagoon in the kayak. The lagoon was lined with mangrove trees. These trees sprout an extraordinary number of roots that grow down under the water. The roots capture and consolidate mud and sand and do much to stabilize the shore. A boat boy approached us in Tryrrel Bay rowing a dilapidated dinghy (most boat boys have flashy boats with powerful outboards). He struggled against the wind as he went round visiting all the boats in the anchorage and didn’t seem to be having much luck selling his wares. He came to us and offered some oysters. I initially refused, but then called him back as I love oysters. He had a little puppy and a sack of oysters in a little dinghy which appeared to be in imminent danger of disintegrating and sinking. He explained that he harvested the oysters from around the roots of the mangroves. I ordered a dozen oysters which he opened for me. However, the oysters were much smaller the English varieties that I am used to, so he ended up opening about three dozen for me and gave me a pile more unopened for Claudia (who wisely decided that, if she was going to eat oysters, they had to be cooked). The oyster were OK with a bit of lime juice, but most of all I enjoyed meeting this bloke and seeing his obvious delight in finding a customer who appreciated his oysters. Grenada
We sailed from Tyrrel Bay Carriacou to Grenada on March 3. The sail was a pleasant broad reach and we made good time, anchoring off the capital, St George at 13:15. We were surprised that St. George was such a large bustling city. Our anchorage was near a long sandy beach, the Grande Anse, which we explored. There has been much development in this area which has American-style shopping malls and fancy resorts next to the beach. A market place had been built next to the beach which had many small stalls. However, we found that all the stalls were selling essentially the same items: spices, T-shirts etc. We went to the St George’s Yacht Club to collect our mail which had been forwarded there but had not arrived even though it had been posted nearly three weeks earlier. We were not overly impressed with St George and moved on next day to Prickly Bay. We subsequently re-visited St George a couple of times by bus and discovered some interesting craft shops and excellent large vegetable and fish markets. I was struck by the smart school uniforms kids were wearing, something I have noticed in all the ex-British Caribbean Islands. I hated having to wear a school uniform as a kid and now most UK comprehensive schools did not require their pupils to wear uniform
s. In my old age I find myself thinking that school uniforms are a good thing in that they are social equalizers and avoid the morning arguments between parents and children about what to wear.I was keen to explore the old fort that has a commanding position on a hill in St George. Many of the Caribbean islands have old forts which I find fascinating. Maurice Bishop, one time self-appointed prime minister of Grenada was assassinated at St George’s fort in 1983, along with several members of his cabinet. Apparently, Bishop formed a personal army to quell opposition to his rule, but some of its members turned against him. I asked a local what happened, but the story seems very murky. Bishop did some good things for the island such as improving health care and getting Cuba to build a large, international airport. However, the fact that Bishop was a Marxist, eliminated the pre-existing democracy, suppressed opposition and was flirting with Cuba did not endear him to the US government. After Bishop was assassinated (and many other people killed in the ensuing mayhem), the US stepped in and invaded Grenada and restored a democracy. Grenada seems ambivalent about Bishop now. There is much heated discussion as to whether the international airport should be re-named the Maurice Bishop airport. I was surprised at the fort as I found it neglected and rather forlorn looking. It is currently used as a place to train police cadets. I found one low-key plaque on the wall marking the site of Bishop’s assassination.
Prickly Bay is a haven for live-aboard yachties. It is a large, sheltered bay which is generally crowded with yachts. There are a couple of good bars which also serve food. The bars are packed at happy hour and there is a lively social scene. Every morning at 7:30 there in a net on VHF Ch 14 in which weather forecasts and local events are announced. Also, people can request or offer for sale items of yacht equipment on the net “treasures of the bilge”. Many yachts seem to hang out in Prickly and the adjacent bays for months or even years as life is definitely easy down here with an excellent climate and cheap food and booze. Prickly bay has good services for yachts including a boat yard and chandlers. When we arrived in Prickly Bay, clouds of acrid smoke came out of one of the aft cabins. It turned out that the solar panel charge controller had died a spectacular death. This was alarming as we have become dependent on solar power for watermaking. It was a bit of a shock to be back to running the engine several hours each day to keep the batteries charged. Fortunately, I managed to get a replacement from the chandlers, Budget Marine, who had one shipped down from their St Martin branch in a few days.
We moved to the adjacent bay, True Blue after spending an enjoyable week at Prickly. We went there to meet Claudia’s brother and his wife, who were spending a night at the True Blue resort before joining us for a few days on Rafiki. We met them in the bar of the resort and thoroughly enjoyed our family re-union. While we were at the bar we noticed that there were a lot of young people hanging around who were conspicuously not drinking. Then at 22:00 a happy hour was announced with Carib beers at 1$EC each. At this point a feeding frenzy followed, loud music started and the party really got going.Many of the young people at the bar were from the adjacent St George’s University. This university is one of several US medical Schools which have been established on Caribbean Islands. We walked round the campus which rather has the appearance of a complex of Marriott hotels. It seemed a little strange as there were few students to be seen and no associated hospital or medical center. Apparently these universities run a two year pre-medical course and then try to get their students placed in US mainland schools for their clinical studies. Nearly all of the students are from the USA. St George has started to offer non-medical courses and thereby develop into a regular university.
We were inspired to explore the hinterland of Granada now that Dean and Paula had joined us. The interior of Grenada is lush and beautiful. There were few big towns but lots of little villages with their one room shops, rum shops and road-side barbecues. Everyone seemed to be out socializing with their neighbors drinking rum and eating barbecue.
We went to a Friday evening fish-fry in Gouyave, a fishing town on the west coast of Grenada. Gouyave was a complete contrast to the shopping malls and fancy houses in the south. It is a rickety Caribbean town untouched by modern developers and, as such, quite delightful. I loved the funny old shops, bars and houses. Women still wash their laundry in the river. The fishermen’s wives started organizing fish-frys quite a few years ago and it has now mushroomed into a major weekly event with a carnival atmosphere. There were many fish dishes to choose from and all that we tried were delicious. I was frustrated at the limited capacity of my stomach because there was so much that I wanted to try. We visited a rum distillery in the north of the island. The Rivers distillery is unique in that it still produces rum in the same manner, and using much of the equipment that it used, when it was established 200 years ago. Sugar cane is crushed using a watermill. Crushed cane is burnt to heat kettles that concentrate the sugar solution. The concentrated solution is then ladled out into large vats where it is left to ferment for a few days (no yeast is added, there is plenty blowing around the buildings to get the fermentation started). The fermented liquor is finally distilled to make 150 proof liquor (75% alcohol). Dean and I tried some of this rum. Once the pain had subsided, we reckoned that it tasted quite good. Apparently the distillery is still competitive with more modern ones because capital equipment costs and energy consumption are low. Moreover, it employs more people per gallon of rum produced than a modern distillery, which may not be a bad thing in this age where unemployment is often a serious problem.
The interior of Grenada is so lush and beautiful that we wanted to explore some of it on foot. We went with a guide up into the mountains and hiked to a delightful spot where there was a waterfall and small lake in which we could swim.After our forays into the interior, we sailed into a few different bays in the south of Grenada. In Clarkes Court bay there are two lovely islands: Calivigny and Hogg. Calivigny Island was purchased a few years ago and now is being developed into an exclusive private resort for the disgustingly rich. Hogg Island is as yet undeveloped and is a beautiful, unspoilt place to explore. We went to a great beach barbecue there which was a popular event with the yachties. However, Four Seasons have bought Hogg Island and are proposing to build a large resort on it. A bridge linking the island to the mainland has already been built, but further progress has been stalled because of the adverse economic climate. It’s an ill wind…..
Late one night, while we were in Clarkes Court Bay, we saw a st,range very long vessel slowly come into the bay. We could not figure out what she was from her navigation lights. When she was alongside us she spun round (presumably using bow thrusters) to face towards the wind and dropped her anchor. When her anchor settled, she suddenly became ablaze with lights and we could see that she was the 185' megayacht Selene. Her 200' main mast looked really impressive when it was lit up. I was amazed that a yacht of this this size had come into Clarkes Court Bay at night, as it has a narrow entrance between two reefs.The next bay along Phare Bleue, was nice and peaceful. A marina has recently been built, but this is a modest affair that is in keeping with the surroundings. The marina has an old Swedish light ship (The Phare Bleue) which has been converted to a fancy restaurant. We treated ourselves to a meal there and enjoyed what Claudia and I agreed was the best meal that we could remember - altogether a wonderful evening. We had a pleasant run back to True Blue Bay the next day where we sadly said goodbye to Dean and Paula.
We had come as far south as we planned and now prepared to sail north to eventually reach Jolly Harbor Antigua, where we planned to lay up Rafiki for the hurricane season. Our lasting impression of Grenada was the warmth and friendliness of the people. This friendliness seemed genuine and not some false behavior motivated by a desire to make a quick buck. People seemed to be happy and enjoying life, even in the face of problems and hardships. When walking along a road buses will stop and ask you if you want a ride. The rides cost 2.5 EC$ and are an exciting experience with the driver going flat out to the accompaniment of loud hip-hop music. Room is always made for you on the bus no matter how full it seems to be.
The Grenadines
The next day (21st Mar) we said goodbye to Grenada and sailed back to Union Island, where we had arranged to meet my daughter Phoebe. We had to tack against the NE trades but managed to get there by 16:00 with a bit of help from the engine, while the visibility was still good (so that the reefs are visible). We found the anchorage to be very crowded as we gingerly motored round trying to avoid the reefs. We were getting rather agitated, but eventually we managed to squeeze in by dropping our anchor close to the edge of a reef. The next day, Mike and Jeremy, our friends from Splendido, arrived and we had a fun meal out together. We went with them on a walk around the island. On the way back we stopped at a rum shop and were enthusiastically received by the locals. We found that the locals really liked you to join them for a drink at a rum shop, and often invite you in as you walk past. The conversation flowed freely, oiled as it was by the rum. However, we were a bit perturbed after we left and we saw one of our merry drinking buddies drive past in his taxi.
It was good to see Phoebe at the airport at Union Island. The day after she arrived we went to Tobago Cays, which is an anchorage in a marine park. The water was crystal clear and we could not wait to dive in and swim around. There were many turtles in the water and they did not seem to mind swimming along with visitors. I saw a giant ray swim underneath me, an amazing sight; I imagined it to be some secret new spy plane. We launched the kayak and paddled into the turtle reservation. The only problem with Tobago Cays was an over abundance of another sort of life – yachties. However, come sunset, the yachts looked pretty and seemed to fit in with the surroundingsIt only took a few hours to sail from Tobago Cays to Mustique, playground of the rich and famous, as they say. Mustique is a privately owned island; however, a few visitors are allowed in to see how the other 0.001% live. A few moorings are maintained for yachts, but these were nearly all taken by the time that we arrived. We spotted the last one and headed for it. Soon after, a catamaran also spotted it and drove flat out for it. Rather than risk a collision I backed off - my opinion of catamaran skippers reached a new low. Anchoring was not easy as the water was very deep outside of the moorings. We eventually found a small sandy patch at the end of the moorings, but we were uncomfortably close to a reef with surf breaking on it. Phoebe dived down to check the set of the anchor and let out a yell on the way back; she had been badly stung by a jelly fish. Soon after the harbor master arrived and warned us not to swim in the water because of the jelly fish. At that moment a mooring was vacated and he advised us to claim it immediately with the dinghy and then move on to it. This we did.
We enjoyed a fine meal at Mustique’s famous beach bar, Basil’s. Every year Basil’s Bar organizes a charity blues festival. We bought a cd of the 2008 festival and enjoyed listening many times on Rafiki. Surprisingly, this is the only cd that we have on board. I have not yet got around to connecting up my iPod to the stereo system.Next day we walked around Mustique and swam in Coconut Bay, an idyllic bay on the other side of the island (no jelly fish here). Mustique is quite stunningly beautiful, one can only be grateful that little has been done spoil its natural beauty. On the way back from our swim, we called in to see Mick at his amazing Japanese-style villa. I had a great time reminiscing with him about his early gigs in Richmond that I used to frequent: the station Hotel, Eel Pie Island and the Richmond Athletic ground. That evening we had a delightful meal at Firefly, one of Mustique’s two restaurants. When I got the bill, I realized that this is no place for someone living on a pension.
The next day we sailed to Bequia. This is our favorite location and I was pleased that Phoebe was with us to see it. We walked across the island to a turtle sanctuary where newly hatched turtles are collected on the beach and hand reared to maturity when they are released into the sea. I was sad to see Phoebe off on the ferry, it was great having her as she leads a high pressure life and seemed to enjoy relaxing on the boat. She is also a keen sailor, so it was nice to have her take charge of Rafiki for a time.We had a last couple of days savoring Bequia before heading north. On our last night we treated ourselves to a lobster meal. When we arrived at the restaurant’s dinghy dock I threw out a small anchor to keep the dinghy off the dock. Unfortunately the knot came undone and the anchor flew off the end of its rode. I had to strip down into my undies and dive down in order to retrieve it.
On towards the end
By now we have started to plan the final phase of our Caribbean adventure and made arrangements to be hauled out at Jolly Harbour, Antiqua, where Rafiki will be laid up ashore for the hurricane season. We left Bequia early on the morning of April 1, weighing anchor at 6:00 and headed for St Lucia. As on the way down, we by-passed St Vincent and sailed up the coast of St Lucia. St Vincent has a poor reputation for security and so yachties, including us, have been avoiding it recently. This is a pity as the island looks very attractive. We sailed hard against the NE winds all the way and had to tack at the south of St Vincent to gain our easting. We just about made it to Rodney Bay before dusk fell, with a bit of help from the engine.
It felt good to drop the anchor in Rodney bay near Pigeon Island, as this is one of our favorite Caribbean anchorages. When I went through my post anchoring routine of tidying up the mainsail and zipping up its protective cover, I found that one of the lazy jack halyards had come loose and jammed, causing the mainsail to start to fall off the boom. When I looked up the mast with binoculars, I could see that the sheave around which the halyard passes was broken. I was not happy about this as I realized that I was going to have to go up the mast to fix it. I think of myself as a fairly intrepid sort of person, but heights are the one thing that scare the shit out of me. Next day we rigged the bosun's chair and Claudia started to winch me up the mast. By the time I had reached the first cross-trees, my palms and the soles of my feet were dripping wet with sweat. I told Claudia to stop and hung there for some time. Eventually, I realized that this was not going to work and asked Claudia to lower me. I felt really annoyed with myself for being such a whimp and wondered how on earth I was going to fix the broken sheave. Then I had an inspiration - I poured myself a couple of stiff rum punches and waited for them to take effect. We then tried again and I went straight up past the second cross-trees without difficulty. I removed the broken sheave, came down, went off to buy a new sheave and went up the mast again to install the replacement - no trouble at all. I felt ridiculously pleased with myself for having overcome this particular demon.
We went to have a drink at Scuttlebutts, the main bar/restaurant on the Rodney Bay marina complex where we had previously had an enjoyable meal on valentine's day. It was closed and, when we asked when it would be open, we were told it was closing for good. We have been seeing many signs that Caribbean is not escaping the world economic downturn. Many restaurants and holiday resorts seem to be empty and struggling to survive. Anchorages where there are yacht charter bases are filled with empty charter yachts. It seems likely that the people that will be most resilient to the downturn are the people who lead the simple life in the islands, away from the urban centres.
After a couple of days in Rodney Bay, spent catching up with laundry and emails, we set off for Martinique, where we had arranged to meet Jill and Tony in Nychia, whom we met previously in Dominica. We had an easy sail arriving in St Pierre in the early afternoon, just after Jill and Tony. One of the delights of cruising is meeting fellow yachties and making new friends. We had a couple of great evenings together where we swapped yarns about our sailing adventures. Jill and Tony were heading south to Trinidad to lay up for the summer as we were heading north to Antigua.
We left St Pierre on 7th April and had an exhilarating reach in 15 Kt winds to Roseau, Dominica. Rafiki seemed to really enjoy herself, roaring along at 8Kts most of the time leaving a catamaran and a monohull in her wake. I hand steered most of the way as I did not see why Otto the autopilot should have all the fun. A boatboy came to meet us as we approached Roseau, and we picked up one of the Seacat moorings. We found that we had excellent WiFi reception from the HotHotHotSpot antenna on the Seacat building, which allowed be to bring this blog up to date. Roseau is a bustling Caribbean town although rather dominated by the large cruise ship dock. We enjoyed exploring the excellent fruit and vegetable market and stocked up on provisions. Our plans to do an extended hike into the interior were thwarted by rain and the lack of a guide, so we headed off after a few days to Les Saintes.
It was good to be back in the Saintes again, particularly now that the strike in the French West Indies was now over. Soon after we arrived, a large swell started coming into the bay making the spot that we first chose to anchor very uncomfortable. We moved to more sheltered location near to what we thought was a fisherman's pier. However, early next morning, we found that we were too close to the pier when a large ferry squeezed past us to moor up. One of the crew conveyed his displeasure at our proximity with some unambiguous gestures. We dutifully re-anchored feeling a little shame-faced.
No time was wasted getting some French food. One of our favorite dishes was fresh water crayfish which we ate at a delightful little restaurant near the dinghy dock. Next door there is an excellent liquor store where we stocked up on some some interesting wines.
Marie Galante & Guadaloupe.
As we had a little time in hand before we had to leave the Caribbean, we took a diversion and sailed to Marie Galante on the 14th April. The wind was a moderate 15Kts but we were sailing into it and there was a lumpy sea running. The period and shape of the waves were such that Rafiki often seem to stop in her tracks when she hit a wave. Furthermore, the wind seemed to be always trying to head us. Somehow we never seemed to get into the groove. However, we eventually arrived at St Louis to find a large anchorage with many mooring buoys available. Perversely, we did not pick up one of these but anchored instead.Marie Galante, a low-lying and flat island, is one of the few places in the Caribbean that still produce sugar commercially. It is rather off the beaten track and has a peaceful pastoral air about it. The mooring buoys looked like they had been recently laid, so presumably the French are trying to encourage charter yachts from Guadaloupe to visit the island. The town of St Louis is small with few shops or cafes. We had an enjoyable walk along a long sandy beach and back through the country. We we walked past a large diesel powered electrical generating plant that was silent. Apparently Marie Galante gets most of its electrical power from wind farms on the other side of the Island. The Saintes also have conspicuous wind turbines. It seems a no-brainer that wind-generated electrical power would be cost effective in the Caribbean islands, situated as they are in the trade wind belt. However, we only saw wind power being used on the French islands.We came across a most elaborate graveyard on our walk on the island. It seemed to be like a small town with luxury mausoleums for its dead inhabitants. Somehow the place seemed at odds with the simple rustic atmosphere of the island.We left Marie Galante on 17th April and continued or journey north stopping at Deshais on the north west coast of Guadaloupe. The west side of the Island is fairly mountainous, so we were in the wind shadow of the trades for most of the time. However, we managed to pick up a westerly sea breeze off the land and carried this for most of the way up the coast of Guadaloupe.
The atmosphere in Deshais was completely different to when we last visited on our way south during the French strike. All the edginess had gone and it had become a friendly welcoming place. We went on a hike following a stream up into the mountains. It was hard work as the trail often disappeared so we had to scramble over rocks, but the effort was worthwhile as it was very pretty with few other people on the trail. We were surprised to find plenty of hermit crabs right inland far up the trail. When we got back, we treated ourselves to some fresh-made coconut ice cream from a street vendor - delicious!Antigua
We were a little sad at making the last passage of the trip, but what a passage it was! The trades had piped up to around 18-20Kts and around half a dozen yachts left Deshais on 21st April headed north. We were the last to leave, but the conditions were just to Rafiki's liking with her staysail set and one reef in her main. Rafiki charged up North like a bat out of hell hitting 10 Kts at times and walked through the whole fleet of yachts that had left before us. We dropped anchor at 14:30 in Jolly Harbour Antigua and reflected that this would be our last sail for some time.
When we anchored I noticed that the bolt holding the chain stripper on the windlass had come off again. The alloy case of the windlass was cracked and corroded where the bolt screwed into the case. I had had effected a temporary repair in St Martin with epoxy and was relieved that it had lasted out until the end of the trip as we would have been in trouble without a windlass. Also the hated Balmar alternator had died again in the last week. Somehow I was glad as I could now replace it another make. The failure of the alternator was not much of a problem as nearly all of our electrical power comes from the sun and wind.
Jolly Harbour is a relatively new marina/holiday apartment development made by opening up a lagoon on the west side of the island. As such there is little native West Indies atmosphere there, but it is a good place for to lay up a yacht as there are plenty of shops and restaurants in the complex. One of the restaurants is a steak bar where we had our first steaks of the trip there - they tasted really good! The most prominent building of the Jolly Harbour complex is a casino. What ever possessed the developers to build an imposing casino in this place I shall probably never know. Inevitably it has gone bust and now stands empty; a monument to inappropriate development. We took a taxi across the island to English Harbour and saw the restored Nelsons Dockyard area. This has been very sensitively developed and is rather a nice place to hang out. The Antigua yachting scene, including several impressive superyachts seemed to be focused around English and the adjacent Falmouth Harbours. While we were there, racing for Antigua week was in progress and there was much excitement in the air. Antigua itself struck me as an island of contrasts. The Jolly Harbour complex is in the wind shadow of Antigua and the landscape is fairly dry scrub. The complex itself could be in many places in the world. However, in the interior there are tropical rain forests and attractive little West Indian towns. Cricket seems to be almost a religion in Antigua and is focussed on the magnificent Sir Vivian Richards stadium near the capital, St Johns.We spent our last week in Antigua stripping all the sails off Rafiki and getting her ready for laying up. It reminded me of emptying our house our house in Wisconsin. Rafiki was hauled out and tucked away in the boatyard. The struts propping up yachts are tied into ring bolts set into the ground and welded together, so Rafiki seemed reasonably secure against tropical storms. Not sure about hurricanes though, although our insurance company did not seem to think the risk was too great.For our last couple of nights, when Rafiki was on land, we treated ourselves to a room at one of the local resorts. A real bed felt good after six months at sea.
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