Back in Martinique - Bread and Cheese!!!

The sail to Bequai was fantastic. We were prepared for light winds and left at 0820 in the morning (Monday 8/11). For those of you who know Karen – this is no mean feat! Mornings normally start at 0800-0900 for here so to be out of Chatham with the sail up at 0820 was excellent. The sail is only about 28 nautical miles so we knew we had heaps of time. Well it could not have been better – we had a perfect beam reach all the way until we reached West Cay and then turning east we even sailed into the Harbour (well almost, you know a fair way in but sails were dropped before we got anywhere near other boats). We anchored in our favourite spot just of Princess Margaret beach just before 1300 averaging 6knots for the trip reaching speeds of 7.8knots. We thought that was not bad for winds speeds anywhere between 7 and 18 knots.

Finally getting emails for the first time since leaving Frigate, we find that Jim and Dinah are on their way to Bequai and will be there within the next 24 hours. This seemed like déjà vu, as when we arrived, unplanned from St Thomas earlier in the year, they sailed in within 24 hours…… Do they really go anywhere or just sail round Bequai waiting for us to come in???

Bequai is just the same – easy slow and friendly. We left the boat and headed ashore to buy some fresh food, stopping by Zenna to say hi to Mark and Marion. We had last heard from them just after Tomas with a cryptic sms that we wanted clarified. They had been caught in Mayreau and did not have an fun time as the hurricane came through.

We never do a lot in Bequai and this time was no different – picking up a few groceries and fruit, exchanging our books, stopping at the sailors bar for a rum punch or two, and catching up with who was in the harbour. We had drinks a couple of nights at The New York Sports Bar (a nice little local bar in the main street) which we hadn’t been to before and had rotis at the Green Bolly Bar near Dive Bequai  which were fantastic!

We left Bequai last Saturday, with a forecast of no wind but a flotilla of boats including our friends Jim and Dinah of Evergreen, all of whom, like us, wanted to get north before the predicted NE winds that would prevent us from heading north comfortably and cheaply (ie sailing) for the next week or so. Due to the predicted light winds, we thought it was time to become grown-up sailors and fly the gennaker, which has been sitting in the forward hold begging to be used since Morocco when we used it with Tim. We had it hoisted on Friday night and left it furled and ready for action early Saturday morning for the 10hour sail to the Pitons.

The day started at 0500 when Karen leapt out of bed ready for action only to find it was too dark to see so she went back to bed for half an hour (I am not sure she was really awake at this time –but it was a really impressive start). We weighed anchor at 0545 and let me just say, this was a neat sail – even better than the one to Bequai. We rounded Admiral Point and had 12knots apparent – so at last the Gennaker was unfurled! We sailed across the channel and because of the light winds we had agreed to sail leeward up St Vincent which, given the winds speeds we actually was, was probably a mistake to stop dead as soon as we got into the lee of the island. We motored for 2hours past St Vincent, staying close to shore to have a good look in each of the bays as we plan to maybe visit St Vincent by boat on our way back down to Grenada next year.

When we came out of the lee of the island the winds shot up to 18 knots so we hoisted the genoa  but they soon calmed and we swapped the genoa for the gennaker (yes we actually changed sail plans – a first for us) so we were on our way. Again it was a fantastic sail reaching speed of 8.5knots – our fastest yet if you discount the 13knot surfing we had around Finisterre and on the Atlantic crossing. The gennaker performed well and we were so chuffed we called Evergreen and told them we were going to continue on to Rodney Bay as we still had 4 hours of light up our sleeves. Of course the wind died just after the Pitons and we motored the last 3 hours. Not bad though 70 miles in 11 hours!

We relaxed in Rodney Bay for the night and woke to find Bill on Demoi anchoring next to us who had sailed up from Bequai overnight. We called him and he asked where we were – which was a bit of a worry as we are a big white boat, there are no boats between us and he had just come in and anchored next to us – boy he must have been tired.

We spent Sunday morning waiting for rain to stop and clouds to dissipate and just before noon we motored out of Rodney Bay to Le Marin, Martinique for our French Adventure (here for adventure read shopping for Karen). We anchored next to Evergreen and had a quiet night.



Monday morning we checked in and then the adventure began! We did Caribe Greement (chandelry), Diginav (electronics), Corail Caribe (Lagoon dealer), The Return of the Mango (bar and internet) and Leader Prix (groceries) all before lunch! The afternoon was Clipper Ship (Onan dealer), the watermaker agent, hardware, plastics shop where we did find boules (although they seem to be a kiddies version but after being beaten by Merengue so often, maybe that is what we need) and Carrefore (groceries).Karen also fitted in time to make a hair appointment for Thursday!



Tuesday was port engine service day which kept us busy and sweaty all morning. We did shop for filters in the afternoon before the mango for the internet. Wednesday was “waiting for the rain to stop and sort of hoping it wouldn’t” so I could do the other engine but didn’t so played dominos with Evergreen instead. It looks like Thursday maybe the same (with a dash to the hairdresser in the middle) and once this trough passes we will start casually heading up the Leeward side of Martinique before heading to Dominica.


COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 11/20/2010 1:29:01 AM
Really enjoyed this blog Matt, now that I know what a gennaker and a genoa are. Really felt I was enjoying it all too. Seems as if you are really on holidays. Enjoy it all.

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jim and Wendy
DATE: 11/29/2010 8:46:51 PM
Jim says that the customs officer in Union Island is right and that if Australia had a male Prime Minister, maybe you could play bocce ball like a man. It's in the bible? Wendy refuses to be a part of such a ridiculous comment and promptly punched Jim on Karen's behalf.

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Christina
DATE: 12/1/2010 7:49:59 PM
Just so you know - Tina Nick & the Hully Gang receive & read your blogs, but posting comments require consideration and other mental / physical capacities that may be being challenged in other ways. You are loved & not forgotten

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Tina
DATE: 12/1/2010 7:52:09 PM
On holidays? I thought this was a lifestyle choice - where does the work ethic fit here?

Union Island – rolly one day perfect the next

After spending another night on a Sandy Island mooring by ourselves, we checked out from Hillsborough where Karen had to have one more shop before realising there was nothing she needed (however she did find fetta cheese in the deli just south of the customs dock and so was very happy!)

The sail to Union was short and we anchored in Frigate Island as usual and thought we would easily catch a bus into Clifton. We were slightly wrong as no bus appeared for about 25 minutes, but we were saved by a friendly “Taxi to Clifton?” call from a passing Suzuki Jeep and after a quick confirmation of cost we jumped into the back seat (I remember when I use to own a car) and headed on in to Clifton. Our taxi drivers were Seakie and Vanessa who it turned out ran a bar in Chatham. As they dropped us off at customs office, we promised we would be round in Chatham in the next day or two and we would come into the bar (a bit of a break from our usual past-times).

The customs clearance was friendly and efficient and came with a free bible lesson from the officer. He also enquired about our new President, and when I explained I wasn’t American but we did have a new female Prime Minister – Julia Gilliard, he wished us luck and explained that we would need it as the bible clearly explained “women are not meant to lead”. Although Karen did try and argue the point (with what I thought was a plausible argument re whether he obeyed his mother) to save any problems with clearance we remained amiable, retrieved our papers and moved on to get them stamped.

We then wandered down to Immigration and cleared then it was on to do some shopping (do you get the impression that all we do is play dominos and shop?) Well this time it was important – I was almost out of beer. Then after a rum punch at Lambis, which is now almost a tradition when we arrive in Union, it was back to the boat, this time via the mountain road (they all are on Union) which provided us with another view of the island.

Next day the wind was picking up so we decided to stay in Frigate and met some friends from Island Time and Sea Quest who had spent Tomas around in Chatham, but did not have much fun – the mangroves are definitely the way to go.

After a very rolly second night in Frigate (yes rolly on a catamaran), we motored around to Chatham and was greeted by a nice calm and well protected bay. We did have a couple of attempts to anchor – if you don’t get in close enough, the holding is not too good. The Bay itself is quiet with little or no road access so there are just a few beach bars and a new resort being developed slowly (bar and restaurant with a pool so far).



For those interested in finding the treasure, the rainbow seems to end at Shark Attack – the original beach bar in the bay.

The next couple of days were quite relaxing – we swam, snorkelled and regaled the fish of this season’s bareboat charterer’s with our tales of cruising and ocean crossings (never exaggerated of course) and watched them turn green with envy . Of course we always asked them when their holiday was over!
We snorkelled just inside of Rapid Point and although it was not all that clear, we saw some interesting coral formations that we hadn’t seen before.



We also swam ashore to  explore and we walked to the end of the beach to the corner bar which is undergoing renovations to get it back off crown land and as he was about to open our beers, I realised I had lost my watertight wallet from my pocket, so we had to put the beers on hold. Luckily as we were walking along the beach I found it bobbing along in the water about 20m from shore – money all intact. Very lucky so we headed back in to have our beers.

We did visit Vanessa and Seakie’s Bar a couple of evenings. It is the Sun Beach & Eat Local Bar and Restaurant, complete with dog Pepper who loved to be scratched behind the ear, and would keep coming back and finding my hand with her ears.


We enjoyed the rum punches, which were different from most we have had to date with a spice mix we could not identify, nor could we cajole Vanessa to part with her secret recipe, but for $5EC a drink during happy hour, they were a very good way to enjoy the sunsets.



On our first night there we noticed that the décor was incomplete – no Australian flag! So as we have just put our 2010/11 season flag on Vanessa and Seakie are now the proud owners of 1 used (and signed) Aussie Flag!



We caught up with Phil and Mel from Samji (fellow cricket team members) and Tony and Sharon from Hoofbeats and were invited for a roast beef dinner on our last night (Samji cooking, Hoofbeats the venue). It was a fabulous feed and a fun night and we sampled real Yorkshire puddings made by a real Yorkshire woman (or at least Mel’s family was from there I think). It was a good way to end the week.
Next Stop Bequai!

The Start of Our 2010 Cruising Season (not what we expected)

Well after a hard hurricane season in Grenada (which I will write about soon) having had the bottom scratches repaired and a new black anti-fouling we decided to start our cruise north to the Leeward Islands a few days before the official end of the Hurricane Season.

We said our goodbyes, had our last game of Boules (accompanied by rum punches) at the Sand Bar with Jim and Wendy of Merengue (who never let us win),


Bill of Demoi and Princess



and her owners Guy and Christine of Princess of Tides, and took off to Carriacou on what was be a leisurely sail with 10-15 on a beam reach (not 18-20 on the nose).

We motored the whole way (we are not ones to tack) and made it in good time. Like our quick trip to Trinidad to buy paint, we did get to sail for about 20 minutes on the six hour trip. We grabbed a mooring buoy at Sandy Island and settled into new cruising season.

We snorkelled off the back of the boat, strolled leisurely along the deserted beach of sandy island





made it across to Paradise Beach where we visited Fidel Artisans and bought some T Shirts then stopped at the Banana Joe’s Bamboo Brunch Bar for a beer (American and not as good as the local)



and finally found the right spot to enjoy a sundowner



at Joy and Joseph’s Hardwood Bar. The rum punches are very good – up there with the Sand Bar’s.



So the start of the cruising season sounds like it is going to plan right? Wrong, in the background there is a large weather pattern called Invest 91 that is proving to us that the end of the season is the end of the season! We wait for the weather report Friday morning to find that it is shaping up to be a Tropical Storm so we have to decide what to do. The forecast tracks were split 40% saying it would go trough Trini and Tobago and the other 60% saying it would head to the north of us between St Vincent and Martinique – so nowhere to run… We talk to some Scottish people on an Horizon’s Charter Boat that we met at Hardwood the night before and Horizon had instructed them to go into the mangroves. We discussed it and talk to Bill from Demoi and decided that that is what we should do. We had already stripped the genoa and started preparing the boat for strong winds when I called Jim and Linda on Opus who we had met in Grenada and they suggested we get round pronto as it was high tide and a good time to get in.

We dropped the buoy and headed round to Tyrrell Bay and were met by Jim and his daughter Jennifer who helped us navigate into the mangroves  and tie up. We nudged Where II up into the mangroves with the bows well in – probably scratching our new bottom paint and Jim set the  lines in the mangroves and then help set a kedge anchor off the stern.






Once tied up we relaxed with a “we’re tied up in the mangroves” beer – a new variation on the traditional “we’re here” beer and one that I hope I never have to have again.
Once Jim and Jennifer left we finished preparing the boat, meaning we threw all our docking lines at the mangroves and tightened halyards etc and then gradually started bringing in the soft stuff so the boat was bare. We also watched the procession of boats coming into the mangroves – local boats as well as boats from as far away as Martinique! There must have been about 50 boats in the mangroves,



including the Hallalujah Bar previously frequented by Al and Boofa of Pascoe Vale South!



When we were satisfied, we were going to head into town for pan music and the fish fry, but Karen decided that it would be more appropriate to play dominos to take her mind of what was happening (go figure, Karen wanting to play dominos!). There is a charter boat across from us who were definitely in a party mood so after I could take no more of their music I fired  up Tex Perkins, ACDC and Casey Chambers to give them a good dose of eclectic Australian music! 

We continued to check the weather (Karen even getting up in the middle of the night to read and re-read the weather reports) and Tropical Storm Tomas has moved to the north and will pass just to the north of St Vincent, which means on Saturday we are sitting with no wind, a bit of rain and trepidation as to what the SE quadrant will bring for us as Tomas moves into the central Caribbean as a Hurricane tonight. All our information is mid-20’s with gusts that could be storm force, but I think we are on the very edge of the quadrant so I am hoping it will not be too bad. So to take her mind off it – Karen decided we should play dominos! The Americans and Scots on the horizon’s boats opposite us decided to team up and party with drinking games early in the afternoon which meant lights out was early for them.

The night was fine – wind gusts peaked at 21 knots and we hardly moved an inch in the mangroves.  So despite a restless night all was good when we awoke Sunday morning. Having been tied up for three days, it was time to venture out into the bay and into town as I had run out of beers (hurricane nervousness  (and umpteen games of dominos will do that). Well we certainly came to realise the benefits of the mangroves as we exited into the bay. While we were getting very little wind on the boat, it was whipping across Tyrrell Bay and it was quite choppy but not a lot of swell. Having secured the beer we dropped by Opus to invite them to guess what - that’s right play dominos, had to keep Karen’s mind off getting out of the mangroves now!



The girl’s were keen, but Karen got impatient and started without them. Jim came by later and said that he had spoken to Denise and the Hallalujah Bar was opening in the mangroves that night, so we would see them there. So Sunday night was a few rum punches on a boat bar, a sea gypsie braclet for Karen made by Jennifer and back to have dinner and finish the dominos!

Boats had started to leave on Sunday, but being extra cautious (I think Karen was angling for another game of dominos), we decided to wait for weather on Monday. After checking the weather, Karen put me up the mast for the annual rigging check and to change the anchor light as I didn’t think I would see such flat water for a while. Jennifer came over to say they were leaving  and they would see us at Sandy Island. So once the few squalls past we started climbing in the mangroves and untying Where II and motored around to Sandy Island.

Here I snorkelled around the boat and found some minor stains on the port bow and about a 1cm round patch on the port bow where the antifouling (my nice new black bottom) was damaged – not bad for our first hurricane! I also found a nice stingray mooching around under the boat so I called out for my camera and did a Steve Urwin but at a safer distance.



Later in the afternoon Opus came round and Jennifer paddled across taught Karen how to make do the bead thing and made her a second purple anklet before Linda popped up on the back stairs and the girls were all there chatting.



Jennifer also made me a sea gypsy anklet so I wouldn’t feel left out (but in all honesty, Ii think it looks very cool with the Rastafarian “united colours of Africa” green yellow and red beads!

Tomorrow we will check out and head to Union Island to chill for a couple of days in Frigate and Chatham before heading north – still watching the weather very carefully!

Oh and by the way, Karen just did a google search and apparently the official end of Hurricane season is 30 November! Whoops!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Silke
URL: http://www.la-palma-sailing.com
DATE: 11/14/2010 9:26:55 PM
Ooopss, ohhh ... on rare occasions I don't know what to write. Guys I am happy you are fine. I like your posting very much! 1. It warns us a little of what we might experience once we join (;O)) you over there and 2. it tells a little about sailors life. Thanks so much - we keep on following your steps. Big hug from La Palma - had a huge BBQ today (yes, mid of November, not too bad, eh?!) XX Silke + Patrick

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Penny O'Loughlin
DATE: 11/15/2010 6:17:05 AM
Hi Karen & Matt,

Hope you are both doing well!! Photos look amazing. I've left Greenevent- so just wanted to re-subscribe with my new email address.
Cheers,

Penny

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 11/15/2010 9:08:35 AM
Good to get this blog Matt and see what was really happening with Tomas and happy to know you are safe and again your way. Take care, no more risks

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Boofa
DATE: 11/16/2010 6:05:01 AM
Ahh dominos, you haven't got a 2 have you Matt