So it is Christmas, and what have we done

It has been awhile since I have written, as (the) one avid reader pointed out to Karen in his Christmas email, but you must understand that it has been hurricane season in the Caribbean and that means just one thing – lots of parties with friends we may have only seen once or twice over the past twelve months. But I am probably jumping ahead of myself, there were a lot of miles covered between Guadaloupe and here so I will give a quick rundown on our trip before explaining Grenada in Hurricane season.

Suzy in action

Dominica

Dominica was beautiful as always with the added bonus of duty free fuel! We checked into Portsmouth and ordered fuel for Tuesday morning at the cruise ship terminal. They recommended taking the boat over but one look at the dock told us we were not going to do that. It had big black tractor tyres and I have a little white boat (at least compared to the size of the dock and the tractor tyres). We dinghied over to the dock with our 220l of Gerry cans at the allotted time and waited... and waited.... Thinking this was just island time, we weren’t too distressed but after half an hour we found the security guard and he called the fuel guy. The fuel guys was looking for our big boat and failed to see little Debbie from his pushed back chair at the main commercial dock on the other side of the bay (no wonder) so he would be there in an hour (as the clouds started to build over the island). It poured down as we waited for the fuel guy to arrive and fortunately it stopped while he filled the 10 gerries, but then it bucketed down while I ferried the 2 loads of gerrys (and Karen) the ½ mile back to the boat.

Once we were fuelled and stowed it was off to Roseau to snorkel Champagne, an underwater gas outlet for the local volcano. Unfortunately after three days waiting for clear weather to be able to see the bubbles we gave up and checked out to head for Martinique.

Martinique

We high-tailed it down to Grande Anse on the south west coast and found a nice spot to anchor. Dived the anchor and it looked set to hold so we hunkered down for a nice night and then to see if we could check in there the next day. The quiet night was not to be. A 54ft motor boat came and anchored in front of us (not to close so no problem), but at 4am I woke and looked up to see it’s stern swinging about 4ft from our starboard bow. Jocks on, yelling at Karen to help, I was up on the bow holding the boat off and we tried to wake the occupants. We managed to wake the crew but not the skipper before it had smashed into both bows and got its stern-drives caught inside our anchor bridle! By this stage I had climbed down onto the other boats swim platform to keep it off our boat so the crew could wake the skipper who was locked inside the boat!

By carefully driving forward with one stern drive and then stopping, we were able to take the tension off the bridle and let it drop before motoring away from our baby and re-anchoring the stink boat. At this stage it was too dark to see what damage the loud crack I heard was associated with so we agreed to meet the next morning to look at the damage. I then asked for a lift back to my boat as I was sure Karen might be a bit anxious on the boat alone with a possibly compromised anchor. The skipper, looked a bit put out by my request but acquiesced and told his crew to lower the dinghy and take me back. After checking the track I managed to get back to sleep to be awoken by Karen at 6am (yes I said Karen woke me at 6am) telling me that the motor boat had done a runner!

Well no getting back to sleep then, so p!£$€d off we had breakfast, checked the damage (which was only two small chips in the gel coat) and headed for Le Marin to see our favourite Lagoon Dealer, Hubert to pick up some parts and discuss some minor problems with the boat. Hubert as always was very helpful, had the parts ready and bought a technician out to the boat the next morning and we were ready to go. That is after we had been to Leader Price to stock up on French ham and cheese, red wine and beer!

Bequai

Stocked up, we did a two day (over-nighted in the Pitons in St Lucia as Australians still required US$50 Visas to enter St Lucia) sail to Bequai, one of our favourite islands. Of course Evergreen, our Canadian buddies met us in Bequai as they always do. This year we had however radioed them in Rodney Bay St Lucia and they sailed down to Bequai with us – so we now know they don’t just sail around Bequai. We got our dodger (windscreen) repaired here and were shocked by the timeliness of the repair – we took it into Grenadine Sails at 10am to get the zipper replaced and asked how long it would take. Expecting an “Island Time” response we were very pleasantly surprised by the “can you come back at 2” response. I almost let out the “which day are we talking about?” that was in my mind, but sure enough, at 2pm the windscreens were repaired at a reasonable cost and ready to go. I highly recommend these guys!

We ate rotis at the Green Boli and celebrated “Canadia Day” by playing Boules (petanque whatever) on Princess Margaret Beach with Evergreen and Quattico wearing Canadia stickers and a moose (Maximillian brought back by Jim and Dinah to travel the world on Where II) on my head! Unfortunately Max got pretty wet as the skies opened up and called the game short due to weather. (Either that or we lost again – can’t quite remember....)

Drinks with those guys and Cajun Diva, Daniel Story, Melvin (Aussie Lagoon 37’) and Puddle Jumper on the same beach were also interrupted due to rain – but funnily enough all my rum punch was gone by the end of it.

We also ran into a nice couple from Florida (or did they run into us???), once again Where II’s magnetic bows were active at about 0400 in the morning. The bazaar currents had us swinging in one direction and Dave and Colleen swinging in another. I must have had a feeling ‘cause once again I woke just to see their boat cross our bow. Colleen and I managed to keep the boats apart while Dave started the boat and moved to a new spot. We both checked our tracks and neither of us had dragged, but the current had bought us together. Next day, two more boats came and filled the spot Dave had vacated, leaving us with some stressful, sleepless nights.

Union Island

From Bequai, Evergreen and Where II sailed us to Chatham Bay in Union Island where we anchored smack bang in the middle of the bay, a little bit away from the resident moored charter boats (This charter company has taste – they are all Lagoons). Despite the offer of free moorings and water if we ate at the resort, we declined the free mooring. A couple of days later, Where II’s magnetism started to show again... The Lagoon 500 moored next to us seemed to be getting closer by Karen’s estimation. We checked our track and we did not seem to be moving, so I jumped in the dinghy and went and had a look  - but it was still tied to the mooring so we decided to up anchor and move to a safer distance. While we were doing this, the boat boy looking after the charter boats came and said we were dragging. I told him that I didn’t think we were, but were moving anyway and he should check his mooring. In quick time, he looked at it, shot into shore to get some help to move it to another mooring. He then came back to pick up the mooring line which was attached to nothing!

We spent a week in Chatham playing boules and drinking rum punch at Vanessa and Seekie’s beach bar before hauling anchor, checking out and heading to Hillsborough.

Carriacou

Once in Hillsborough, we decided to stay put until the Carriacou Regatta week and join in some of the festivities. We also, against common cruising wisdom decided to stay in Hillsborough anchorage as opposed to around the corner in Tyrrel Bay or our favourite, Sandy Island. This seemed fortuitous, as we ran into an Aussie bloke we met 3 years ago at the St Lucia Yacht Club, Edgar Roe. Edgar had taken me sailing on his J24 – Loose Cannon, which had now been sponsored by IGY Marinas – Rodney Bay and had a sparkling new paint job. Edgar asked me to crew for the races which I quickly agreed to.

The first race was an around the island 2 handed race, so it was just Edgar and I. I packed up my sailing gear (big floppy hat, sun screen and ½ case of beer – yep I forgot things like gloves deck shoes) and caught a bus round to Tyrrel. I hitched a ride out to Loose Cannon with Terry (Melvin) who had decided since there was only one other multihull in the race to enter his house in the race and at least get a place. Edgar supplied me with the Red team uniform and we did a couple of timing runs to the line and when we had it down pat waited for the hooter and we were away, the first across the line – and then the first beers were cracked!


Now you can see from the above photo, Edgar is a fairly experienced racing sailor – just by the way he holds his beer - but I should have reminded myself I as a cruiser (on a go-slow catamaran), not a racer as Edgar’s boat did tend to bounce around a bit and lean over making it difficult for a fat slow man to move around and hold his beer at the same time.

Photo courtesy of Dave Wiatt –SV Promise

Never the less, by following one of the locals to find the good water and riding Bloody Mary’s wake we were able to stay with the big boys right up until the windward side of the island, where they started to gain a bit on us, and despite the handicap Edgar had bundled himself with by inviting me along, the J24’s time adjustment meant we won the race by about a minute!

Photo courtesy of Dave Wiatt –SV Promise

As we were sailing through the anchorage (no motor on this boat) we were met by Stefan one of the other crew members who towed us back to his boat with his dinghy. Edgar meanwhile lost his hat (see above picture) and as it was so nice jumped overboard to reclaim it leaving me with a tiller and a dinghy on the hip driven by a German whose second language was English to conduct a man overboard manoeuvre in the anchorage without hitting Spirited Lady. It was a close call but I got Edgar and the hat back. After a bowl of peas soup and a few celebratory drinks ( the half case was gone about ¾ the way round the island) we headed off to the Yacht club for the annual Children’s auction.

After checking the weather that evening, Karen and I decided that we should head south on Sunday and needed to get the boat ready on Saturday, which meant missing the second race. But as Edgar pulled Loose Cannon up to Where II he convinced us that, and I quote “But I need the fat boy up the front!” so there was no option and I raced a second time. Unfortunately, the weed that got caught around the rudder negated the benefits of a fat boy up front and we failed to win the second race, narrowly missing out (I am sure). The race around the south of the island was exhilarating, often coming within meters of reefs and at one marker buoy, within millimetres of Bloody Mary and the Robin of Bequai’s boat. I am not sure if Edgar has nerves of steel or is short sighted but it convinced me that I will never take Where II in a race that he is in.

Sunday, we packed up and left for Grenada, in what was supposed to be the only wind for the next couple of days. Needless to say, that wasn’t the case and we ended up motoring all the way to St Georges.

Grenada
Back to Grenada, our hurricane home for the past two years. We had timed our arrival to coincide with Carnival and had booked in to Port Louis Marina for the carnival special for 5 days to allow our friends Graeme and Linda who were arriving from Aus via the States and Canada to get use to the boat and see as much of carnival easily before taking off back up the Grenadines for a sailing holiday.

The first part worked well, be berthed on the super yacht dock (because Where II is super and it gave me more space not to hit anything) and went to check out the pool and surrounds. This was our first relax in a marina since leaving the Canaries and I was looking forward to it. Grae and Linda arrived on schedule with the devastating news that our TimTams had melted on route and had to be thrown out (I still think  that the temptation may have been too great for them) but all else was good and they were ready to relax.

Linda immediately got into the spirit of things, enjoying the rum punches and the local wild life at Jouvet... what are those two young boys looking at?


Whilst I set Graeme to work on the boat...


That’s when it had all gone horribly wrong... While we were enjoying carnival, a small sore I had developed on my leg was deciding to have it’s own tropical experience and develop into a boil. So while I was hanging to use the pool and go sailing, my leg had other ideas. After carnival, a trip to the doctor confirmed my diagnosis and I was to be treated every two days for the next two months while this horrible thing grew, festered, was lanced and sucked out then healed. The doc said to keep it dry and stay out of the dinghy as if it gets wet with the warm salt water it will get re-infected. So we were dock-bound, with beautiful showers that I could not enjoy properly and a pool that I could not swim in and a leg with a hole in it the size of Calcutta! Karen wanted me to take some photos, but honestly when I saw what came out of my leg, I didn’t need any photos to remind me.

So Linda and Graeme’s sailing holiday turned into a holiday in a marina. Not all was lost, they did get to motor from the Super yacht dock to the main dock on Where II and John and Nancy on SV Silver Seas (a half boat) did take them sailing round to Prickly Bay.


Of course the holiday wasn’t a total loss, they did get to met some great people like the intrepid Carnival player Suzie, (See photo at beginning of blog)
Have barbeques on the beach (we let Heff the Irishman come because he could build a fire and cook the food)


...and general relax and explore Grenada. They said they had a great time even if we didn’t leave the dock – I hope they did.

A lot of the rest of the season was spent working on the boat and worrying about the results of the world cup. I was elated when England got on the bus to go home, but was devastated when Australia suffered the same fate.


I bought the Jersey off the back of an Englishman’s wife, who refused to wear it once they lost. It cost 50p at auction. Don’t worry Mal, I haven’t forgotten that I owe it to you.

Unfortunately the most famous Australian Rugby player in Grenada has a first name of Bloody and is entirely held accountable by everyone in the Port Louis Marina and Prickly Bay as the reason for this unfortunate outcome.

The work on the boat comprised finishing the projects that we had started (by purchasing the parts in St Maarten) and not finished on the way down, the major one being the solar hot water heater. Our prototype that we built in St Thomas, worked but only provided warm water and a failed pump, but the new improved one provides hot water and so far no leaks.


Of course living in the marina does have some advantages, the social life was rampart, with dock parties, pig roasts, movie nights and of course the Halloween party. Now being an Aussie and really not all that familiar with Halloween parties, Karen and I got costumes with a horror theme – Karen went as a witch (yes starting with a “W”) and I had a zombie mask. But apparently in North America, it is just a fancy dress party. Sunny from Texas was the most imaginative as a “Tropical Depression” (ie storm)


But Richard was just down-right disturbing


And then there was the Aussie Chicks – Karen, Lou and Suellen. They came as Aussie Chicks inclusive of stubbies!


Grenada would not be complete without Dominos and Cricket. Cricket was played again at Clarke’s court but we had only a smattering of Aussies so our season was not as successful as last year. Karen’s Domino season was in full swing though. Having beaten Kim at de Big Fish on a couple of occasions, Karen whipped Nahani River’s (Doug and Wendy) collective butt, so much so Wendy made Karen a Dominos tiara (seen on the witches hat in the above photo). But introducing Jon and Sam (Imagine of Falmouth) to Dominos took it to a new high with no-one leaving until 11pm at night.




I don’t know about you, but I can’t see any dominos and Karen’s tiara does seem to get around!

So once we blew the cruising budget by staying in a marina for 3 odd months it was time to head north again. We found out that St Lucia is now Aussie friendly and haul out rates were not too expensive, we high-tailed it to Rodney Bay, via Chatham Bay and Keartyon’s Bay in St Vincent. Jon and Sam had recommended the Rock Side Cafe there so we stopped for the night. We tied up to a mooring and organised to be picked up at 6pm for dinner. The message taker fell asleep and forgot to tell the Restaurateur about the arrangements so we got picked up but no food and just a little rum punch. I think we were a little early in the season but it was a nice place


St Lucia
We arrived in St Lucia on Friday evening and went into check in on Saturday morning and were pleasantly surprised by the friendly officials (this wasn’t the case 3 years ago). We then went and checked in with Edwin Chavas at the boat yard and tentatively arranged to haul and paint on Monday or Wednesday and then decided to relax, as Sunday was the ARC flotilla and we were crewing on Princess of Tides with Guy, Christine and Princess (and her boyfriend Bill).


The 0800 departure seemed early, but Guy and Christine got us there in time for delay in starting so we milled around in Castries Harbour while the rest caught us up.  There were 50 odd boats in the Flotilla which made an impressive site heading out of Castries.


We of course then joined in the celebrations for the start of the 2011 ARC and I met Adam Foster, the Aussie General Manager of IGY Rodney Bay who has been pushing for the removal of Aussie Visa requirements – Thanks Adam.

Monday morning at 0730 (after a few more drinks on Princess and a game of Dominos), Edwin called me and said there was a cancellation on the lift and could we come in now. “No Problems” I said thinking this gives me no time to panic about getting into the slip. Unfortunately, just as I was about to enter the slipway, I was told to turn around and come in backwards!!$%! Which I did with the calm air that did not reflect the inner turmoil I was facing – but I did it like a pro! We met Dave and Colleen who were being launched when we were out of the slings and then we were into it. 3.5 days to sand, paint, raise the waterline (it had always sloped forward since the new engines were installed) and change the sail drive seals (with the help of Alwin of Quick & Reliable Mechanical Services ph: 1-758-520-5544 e: alwinaugustinengineer@gmail.com who I would highly recommend). Alwin also instructed me on how to change the seals in the future.
Once the boat was back in the water we did the island tour with Dave and Colleen (Promise), Mark (Sea Life) and Al and Michelle (Tarantella). This was a full day road trip quickly seeing the sights such as the Pitons and the volcano as well as enjoying a nice local meal (chicken and ground provision or if you are Karen – ground provisions) in a local restaurant in Vieux Fort.

We also spent a day in the Pigeon Island National Park where Karen actually made it to the top of the Fort!



Evergreen arrived from Venezuela, so there was more than a bit of catching up to do before they headed south to pick up their daughter and grandson and we headed north to Martinique, supposedly on our way to St Martin for Christmas. We had said goodbye for the last time so many times over the last couple of years that this parting was a bit of an anti-climax.

Martinique
So here we sit in St Anne, just some 30 miles from Rodney Bay two weeks later and only a tick of the clock until Christmas. Santa Claus (yes he does exist Tina) is climbing our mast, our Christmas tree is up, decorated with presents from the Hully’s and Evergreen and it is laden with goodies



and we even have festive (solar) light hung in the cockpit.


We will be spending our 5th Christmas far from our family and friends and our old home, but you are not far from our thoughts. Nor are all the new friends we have made on our new home. Fear not, we will not be alone, some of those new friends will be on board on Saturday night and Sunday. So we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year.
Karen & Matt
SV Where II
Martinique FWI
----- EXTENDED BODY: ----- EXCERPT: It has been awhile since I have written, as (the) one avid reader pointed out to Karen in his Christmas email, but you must understand that it has been hurricane season in the Caribbean and that means just one thing – lots of parties with friends we may have only seen once or twice over the past twelve months. But I am probably jumping ahead of myself, there were a lot of miles covered between Guadaloupe and here so I will give a quick rundown on our trip before explaining Grenada in Hurricane season. ----- KEYWORDS: ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Janette Boluch EMAIL: janetteboluch@gmail.com IP: 114.76.51.180 URL: DATE: 12/24/2011 8:54:18 PM Great Post. Have a wonderful Christmas enjoyed your Blog. Glad 2011 is over it's been a s£!+ of a year. Bring on 2012. Keep safe and healthy.
Janette xoxo PS I still owe you an email Karen. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mum EMAIL: nmdonovan@bigpond.com IP: 124.185.149.245 URL: DATE: 1/11/2012 6:28:51 AM It's a bitlate to be reading this Matt butI really enjoyed it and the photos are great. Still getting back to normal here in Brisbane with a heat wave this week. Take care, happy sailing. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Paul and Barb EMAIL: queimarla@hotmail.com IP: 101.169.3.236 URL: DATE: 1/30/2012 4:45:25 AM yo ho ho!! good read guys!! ahh the itch is back. wouldn't take much to cut the rope and reach outa here!! Say hi to the puddle jumpers!! met them in Trini and Grenada too if I remember correctly. All good here, I O, I O, and off to work we go. Remember those days? Ah yes. close encounters of the anchoring kind. Maybe not so bad living in a house! We dream on. don't be so tardy with the posts! We need the motivation!!! Hugs from across the seas! Barb n Paul

Ah Guadeloupe – You’ve done it again!

Previously in Matt & Karen’s Soggy Adventure... (bugger it, read them yourself). So we checked in at Le Pelican and everything in Deshaies was as we remembered it (except Harold no longer was delivering bread, which is why we came back – fresh baguettes and croissants in the morning without leaving the boat – how civilised!) Anyway, there was not much we needed to see since we had been here before, so it was a relax station, with a dive thrown in.



So that was how it was. When we got back to the boat, Mike and Cheryl from Happy Times, whom we had met checking in, dropped by and asked us over for sundowners.... so the relaxing started. We arrived and met Mikayla, their daughter, and were introduced to Bob (a high school headmaster), who he ditched his sick wife Janice for the night and Johanna and Martin from Swedish Sailing Vessel Snowbird (you really need Cheryl’s Swedish accent to understand why it is Swedish Sailing Vessel Snowbird, not just Snowbird). We had a fun night, particularly when Bob described a real life High School Musical. I am sure that is why he left his job!

So after we got home and got some rest we decided we wanted to dive Jacques Cousteau’s marine park so we went and tried to book in at Blue Pearl www.bluepearl.gp run by Relio and Stephanie, but they were doing what they do – diving. But through the miracle of the internet we made contact and organized the dive. We couldn’t do Jacques’ place but on Saturday we dived the reef just off Anse Paul Thomas. The price was reasonable and all inclusive and Stephanie spoke English! When we arrived there were 2 other couples diving with us, but they went with Relio doing a Baptism of Diving and we got Stephanie to ourselves. The dive was fantastic ranged from 2-18m, although Karen didn’t have enough weights, so she hogged Stephanie and I had to try and keep up to see what she was being shown.  We swam with a hawksbill turtle, saw fish fighting, unique sea shells, heaps of vase coral of so many shades and colours. It was great. I managed to last 45 minutes before I blew my tank. We then hauled ourselves onto the boat, ate ananas (pinapple) and bananas (bananas) and drank planteurs punch (rum punch) before heading back to the shop and having more planteurs and finding out what we had seen. It was a great day. Highly recommend doing a dive with them!

After the dive we relaxed and then motored to Le Saintes at the southern end of Guadaloupe. We tried to check in here on our way north... you would have known that if you had read the blog... but it was too crowded. This time we headed straight for Pain du Sucre (sugar loaf) under motor. All was good until 10 minutes from the anchorage when the oil pressure alarm from the starboard engine came on... what the..!!!!

We motor in on the port engine and literally dropped the hook like a charterer! 30m and probably all in a heap. I had a feeling I knew what it was and when I opened the engine compartment, I was right. My oil filter wrench had scrapped the paint on the oil filter and it rusted, pin-holed and sprayed all our engine oil around the engine room! It was the quickest oil change I have ever done – no need to pump the sump – it was empty! I changed the oil filter, filled the engine with oil (or up to the full mark anyway for all the girls out there) and tested my work – all good! So I did the Heinrick Manoeuvre (Boofa – you know what I am talking about) on the anchor and found it resting on its side on the sand below. Time to re-anchor! We test the motor and reset the hook and relaxed for the night.

Next morning, we decided to move into Grand Bourg so up came the pick and we headed on in and decided to drop the anchor near the fishing harbour where Merengue told us to. As we were setting the anchor we look over and all the other boats in the harbour were on moorings. So the hook came up again and we moved over to mooring number 47, nice and shiney new and free until 1 July (apparently). They are everywhere in the harbour which is notorious for deep anchorages and poor holding to the north, so we were happy to be on the mooring! I have heard they will be €25 a night soon.

Anyway, after deciding to never do a fort again in the Caribbean, we set off the next morning to Fort Napoleon on an overcast but humid day. It was a reasonably easy walk and the views over the harbour were great.



I hate to say it, but the fort was in excellent condition and was well worth the walk.



It was then back to the boat with baguette in hand and back at the boat we met Terry and Julie on Melvin and talked about having drinks the following night and maybe staying for the fish festival on the weekend. Now I am sad to say, we have met a couple of pretenders along our travels (Boats flying the Aussie flag, but the owners having funny South African accents – obviously they have seen the light even tho’ one who will remain nameless still barracks for the Boks), the situation on Melvin is worse... Terry is an Aussie and Melvin is flagged with a red southern cross and no Fed star (Kiwi). I will work on him on the way south and see if I can straighten him out!

Next day we catch up with Happy Times and invite them for drinks, only to find Melvin has done a runner for Pointe a Pitre – they must of heard of my rum punch, so we delay drinks for the a day and I get to work on Debbie’s old donk. To fix the gears, the whole motor head needs to be removed, and after inspecting it, this does not seem hard. I remove all the visible bolts, spill engine oil over Karen’s nice white deck, but still I can’t get the motor off. Before I resort to a hammer, I do a web search on the problem which I find is very common. The solution was to hit it with a soft hammer, which I did and it worked. The engine is apart and next step is to fix the gear shift – but we don’t want to rush things so that can wait a while.

Melvin arrived back a couple of days later, and I told them that we had had drinks without them, but the fish festival was on. So Saturday it was off to Plage de Pompierre for the concourse de culinaire (or something like that). The bay, an easy walk from town, is beautiful so we found some coconut palms (which Terry checked out for dangerous appendages) for shade and sat down to listen to the music.



As they were still setting up the stalls, this situation didn’t last long, we hopped up and headed to a restaurant close by to have a cool drink, taking in the wildlife on the way.



The restaurant was packed with locals and the food looked quite nice, but we restrained and headed back to the fish festival – there had to be food there. And there was – fish no less! So we grabbed some fish skewers (and Karen went outside to the sandwich vendor for her cheese sandwich) and settled back under the coconuts and gorged ourselves – there is no such thing as a small helping in the Caribbean!



Sunday came around quickly so it was sails up and off to Dominica, with winds on the nose and seas on the side, but we made good progress with the  winds shifting to the north as we came into the lee of the island and we sailed on into Prince Rupert Bay with plenty of sun and Karen at the helm (for some of it at least)

St Kitts & Nevis – Not a lot to say...

In our task of ticking off as many islands in the eastern Caribbean before we head a little west later in the year, we motored our way south to St Kitts and Nevis in a manner that is not honing our sailing skills at all. Kitt’s is only about 22 miles or 3 ½ hours from Statia, but when you arrive at the marina and walk through the Cruise Ship terminal to customs and immigration, you could be light years away from the tranquillity and simplicity of Statia.

We anchored in Basseterre, just of the new marina in nice sand and a fairly gentle roll coming from the south west into the harbour. We were one of three boats in the harbour, so a nice easy anchoring job. We waited until we were sure the anchor was set before heading into Customs to clear in. Of course I continued the “we’re here beer” tradition passed down to us by Jackster in Venezuela before I left. This is one reason I don’t leave the boat before 2 hours after anchoring – a very good, safe and pleasing practice.

We arrived at customs at 3:00pm, just as the officer was stepping out and were told to come back in an hour and a half and that in the mean time we were free to wander around and have a drink if we so desired – so we did. When we got back we cleared customs, paid our harbour fees and were told to come back in the morning to clear immigration. So we weren’t really in the country just yet.

When we got back to the boat we found out our friends on Evergreen who were looking to catch up with us, sailed right on by with our new sheet and anchored in Whitehouse Bay without even waving. They took off the next morning for Guadaloupe so we had no time to catch them up!

Next morning we wandered around the town doing “Tommy Tourist”. The museum was very interesting and gave a good sight into St Kitts and Nevis history and slave trading in the Caribbean in general. Whilst that is perhaps a sad part of history, it is very definite that the Caribbean would not be what it is today without it. Particularly in the British Islands, the Africans are now the dominant population. As Boofa said, he now knows what it feels like to be a minority.

Basseterre is a quaint town and we wandered through the town and visited the Catholic church. On our way there we wandered through independence square, where all the school kids hang out (and make out) at lunch time. We were approached by a man you sought support for a program to take some local kids to the Special Games, which of cause we gave to, but it did bring me back to Antigua where I bought a very ordinary CD to support another disabled program...must be the current trend. Anyway...



By the way I had problems with the camera, so independence square is all you get.

After doing the sight-seeing, having lunch and buying some fresh food we decided that we should make our way down to Whitehouse Bay ourselves for some R&R. I t was an uneventful motor and we set anchor in amongst the local and transient boats. It was not picturesque, but tranquil. There is a dinghy dock and rubbish provided by the developers who plan to put a marina in somewhere nearby so it is good for a couple of days.



While we were here we snorkelled the wreck which was pretty good – sorry no photos, you know the story – and took the weather window or no weather window to install our 5th and final solar panel! This gives us 695W of solar power and 400W of wind power (when Wally wants to work) which should have us diesel free at anchor in most situations!



As you can see it is a slightly different installation to previously, hanging off the back of the bimini (roof) and mounted on stainless steel brackets I got made by “Terry on the French Side” in St Martin. If you are looking for stainless work, he is good, quick and reasonably priced.

So anyway, the was no wind and no waves – perfect, and to appease the faint of heart among the crew, I decided to tie a rope around it as I was mounting it so it would not fall in the drink. We agreed roles and went to it. Karen would hold the rope and anchor the solar panel (even though it weighed as much as her and probably pulled her into the drink if it got away but don’t tell her that) and I would drill, glue (with our favourite body art material – 3M 5200 marine adhesive) and screw it. Well, perhaps I overemphasised the “Hold on and don’t let it fall in the water” instruction because for the next hour I struggled against Karen’s tight hold on the rope to try and get the solar panel out over the edge and into position. Once there it took 4 minutes to drill, glue and screw it down. This may be an exaggeration, but I do it only for illustration purposes as I had not camera or video. It did remind me of when Karen and I were renovating the bathroom and trying to lift 4m lengths of plasterboard (dry wall) up ladder and fix it in place near the ceiling!

After a couple of days relaxing, it was time to head to Nevis, a 5 mile motor from Whitehouse so not real exciting. We arrived on Saturday and were thinking about doing dinner in town, but when we realised that you could not lock the dinghy on we were less excited about it. Debbie had a new donk and we did not want to leave this hanging on a bowline in the dark. So we ate on board and decided we would hit Sunshines on Pinney Beach for Sunday lunch and a game of Bocce.



We met Sweet Pea, a local vendor shading herself in the outside area, who welcomed us to Sunshine’s and pointed us in the direction of the bar (like I need any help in that area) where we were greeted by Sunshine himself. He mistook me for an English chef who has his own show on the cooking channel (must be my slender physique) and showed us to a table. We went out on a limb and ordered the house drink – d’ killer bee rum punch, which must of been good as Karen had ordered a second by the time we finished lunch. I of course, being responsible, ordered the lower alcohol beer to play Bocce with. Ok Karen had blown all our money on the Shrimp Salad so I could only afford beer...

After my whipping Karen’s butt at Bocce with our new larger and much more slippery bocce balls like Merengue’s, we headed back to the boat. After the 2 killer bees, Karen took us of the beach with the new motor like a professional!



We spent the night umming and ahhing about whether we would stop in Montserrat. The website suggested that the areas that we would want to see by tour would be closed so we decided that Monday afternoon we would check out and Tuesday motor through the coral banks of Redonda and then try and sail into the wind past the Windward side of Monserrat to at least see the scenery of the volcanic plains.
Monday was a pretty simple day. We checked out with the port office, tried to find somewhere to hve a drink while we waited for Customs to open and gave up and walked to Fort Charles ruins and figured out we are done with forts in the Caribbean. We strolled back along the beach checking out before heading back to the boat for an early night, because...

At 0400 Tuesday morning we were on the deck, and dropping the mooring lines for our full day trip to Guadaloupe. We slowly made our way out of the harbour, with Karen on the foredeck spotting boats and buoys until we had rounded the long pier and dawn started to break at 0500. The buoys did not stop however until we were at Redonda! By the way – what a rock, it would hold its head high against Uluru (Ayers Rock) back home.



Karen, of course, maintained her navigational duties, studying her tools religiously throughout the trip



We tried as hard as we could but we could not get consistent wind in the right direction to sail (heaven forbid someone mention the word “tack”) but it meant that the planned 14hour sail was reduced to 12. The view of Monserrat was magnificent – clear until the very peak, with long volcanic slopes to the shore.



At 4:00 in the afternoon we were relaxing having a “we’re here” in Deshaies, Guadaloupe!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Alison
DATE: 6/10/2011 5:12:19 AM
I just noticed the drop sided outdoor table - very snazzy guys!

St Bart’s – The big boats, the big brands and a new donk for Debbie!

We finally escaped the clutches of St Marteen / St Martin and dragged the anchor up after 9 weeks anchored in Simpson Bay (yes we are a bit unusual in that we never went in through the bridge to the lagoon with the big boat, but enjoyed the bay and suffered the roll and the fees) and headed east to St Barts. We were on a mission... All the brands are in St Barts, Hermes, Cartier, Ralph Laurent, Yamaha etc etc. Yes you heard right Yamaha. We had ordered a new 15 HP outboard to replace Debbie’s 6HP Suzuki donk that has started to seize up in places you would not expect.

We arrived in St Bart’s and anchored outside in Gustavia harbour, but were surprised when we went in to clear in to find that no matter where you anchored from shell bay to effectively the Columbier Bay, you were up for harbour charges – effectively about €19 per day – more than we had paid in St Marteen for a week! We had plans so we checked in and paid for 4 days and made our way round to the Yamaha dealer Chez Beranger (chezberanger@wanadoo.fr), introduced ourselves to Marie-Marcelle, with whom we had been dealing with over the past two weeks to secure their last 15HP engine, and made arrangements for the delivery of the outboard in the morning. We did pick up the harbour authority’s magazine that should have given us a clue to the prices – it was a publication that looked at home on any Toorak coffee table.



We then went back to the boat mumbling our discontent and settled in for the night or so we thought. When we got back the wind had shifted and we had swung within a boat length of the bow of a French Boat (huh - got them back!). The owner emerged as I was looking around the anchorage for somewhere else to anchor and suggested politely we were too close so we moved and re-anchored next to the channel marker and hoped like hell we didn’t drag into the channel in the middle of the night.

After a night of numerous anchor watches by captain and crew, we arose anxiously awaiting our new purchase – the new donk. We made our way in slowly and took delivery of the new motor, unpacked it on the dock and reverently lay the new Yamaha 15HP Enduro motor onto Debbie for the slow trip out to the boat. We then spent the day changing the motor, reading the manual (yes Karen now forces me to read all manuals before I can play with my new toys), figuring how to mix 2-stroke oil and getting familiar with the run in instructions. Finally it was ready to go.



Well almost, it had to run on fast idle for ten minutes before we did anything else! So we waited....
And finally it was ready to go ... slowly... for the next fifty minutes we ran it just above start trying to get it up to 50% throttle, but it went so fast that we had trouble getting there. That’s when we wondered how we would get it to full throttle for stage three, we asked our friends Guy and Christine on Princess of Tides and Guy’s recommendation was and I quote “Get Karen a Snoopy the Red Baron leather hat and goggles, sit her in the bow with 6 cases of wine and let it fly!” But I saw only one way – Karen would have to leave the dinghy and Evel Knevel here would have to do the hard work on that himself.

Anyway enough about the engine, what about something for the girls you say. Ok shopping. Our first trip with the new motor was in to do some shopping.  If you are reading this Andy, you would have loved it – all the big names in about 100 yards.



And boys, you would have been proud of me – all of those expensive shops and my wife wanted to hit the chandlery and the hardware! How well have I got her trained? In fact, she had to grab me by the arm several times to stop me drooling over the €26,000 watches!  We walked along the harbour to the Industrial Zone, found the champagne shop, decided not to buy the Tattinger and then found numerous homeware shops and the hardware, but as it was after 4:00 and this was France most things were shut so we took the scenic route back to the harbour (up over the hill) and had a magnificent view of the bay from the lighthouse.





Next morning we were up and did the historical tour of Gustavia, taking in the museum (not worth it), the old fort (nice view over shell beach), shell beach and a very nice bar there where we stopped for a breather, the churches, the old town hall and basically everything in the brochure and that was before lunch! We stopped at Le Select for a cool drink before Karen decided it was shopping time again. You guessed it, back to the chandlery, hardware and home shops where we bought new coasters and a beach umbrella and anything else we could think of – it was after all over a week since we had left St Martin.

We paid another day to anchor in the crowded harbour and then, after watching the Maltese Falcon unfurl her sails and sail off into the sunset, we took off north to Columbier to relax (and not spend anything) for a week.



We had planned to do a couple of jobs like install the new inverter, while we were up here, but we read the park guidelines and found we could not work on the boat. This did not however stop us from employing some of the locals to clean the bottom of the boat – and they worked for food alone!



Columbier is a beautiful bay at the north end of St Barts and a popular overnight stop between St Martin and Antigua, but we got hold of a buoy there and stayed a week. We walked up to the hills surrounding the bay and did a bit of exploring.



We did however get stopped by the gate with “Beware of Dogs” sign before we got to the old Rockefeller house



I also amazed Karen with my culinary skills making fresh roti for dinner!



As our week of swimming snorkelling, reading (I polished off 5 novels in a week) and relaxing came to an end, it was time to put Debbie’s new donk to the test – dinghying down to Gustavia to check out. Fortunately I, for some reason, had the foresight to put the boat papers in the waterproof bag, for when we turned through the dinghy channel we saw that this was probably going to be a rough trip. It only took twenty minutes, but we were both wetter than if we had swum to town! The donk went superbly, still yet to get it to full throttle but it was an exhilarating ride none the less!

We did the last chandlery run (in case we had missed anything) bought some fresh food and it is on to St Eustatius tomorrow!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Boofa
DATE: 5/29/2011 11:06:04 PM
Congrats on the new Yamaha Matt. I know you've had HP envy for quite a while.

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Janette Boluch
DATE: 5/30/2011 12:11:53 AM
As usual a great blog Matt. Wish I was there. JB

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 5/30/2011 10:13:32 AM
Loved these pictures Matt. Looks a beautiful part of the world.

St Eustatius – Statia for those who can’t spell big words

Our plan all along was to make it north to Barbuda, across to St Martin, West to the Virgin islands and then back down through Saba, St Eustatius, St Kitts and Nevis and then back to Guadaloupe for our trip south – well that was one of the plans anyway when we decided not to go north this year. And we pretty much did it, with the exception of Anguilla and the Vis so we were pretty pleased with ourselves when we arrived in Statia. According to Doyle there may or may not be mooring buoys when we arrived and after tooling around the anchorage we decided to go with the option of No buoys as they all looked light weight and private so we dropped the pick in nice clean sand just off the old wharf ruins. The anchorage was picturesque with the fort and village decorating the cliffs above Low Town.



We checked in at the main port, paid for 3 days at the port office and mosied on down to the park office to pay or marine park fees for a week. The whole island is a marine park so no matter where you anchor you are up for the US$30 ($10 a night or $30 a week). We then thought we would take a short stroll up the old slave path to town to have a look around. Well those old slaves must have been pretty fit ‘cause that path was steep and both of us were blowing by the time we reached the top. Perhaps we should spend less time reading and relaxing and more time exercising – yeah right!

We wandered around town, which was quaint and marked with history, but we took only a little of it in as we strolled and decided that tomorrow would be our historical tourist day so we headed back on down to low town to have a sundowner at the old gin house. We took a detour half way down the Slave Path at some stairs and we caught a glimpse of a young Green Tree Lizard – I think one of the prettiest reptiles I have ever seen – greens, blues and aqua – the photo really doesn’t do him justice (and this is the best of 5 shots.



Sitting at the Gin house, watching over the bay, we decided that we should check out the diving here. Although we have been gathering diving gear since the Canaries, the only time it has been used was to repair or clean the bottom of the boat. Karen and I hadn’t done a recreational dive for almost 19 years. Unfortunately by the time we left the bar (only one and a half drinks each – ok I had 2 , Karen had 1) the dive shops were closed so it was back to the boat.

Next morning we got up at a leisurely pace (as we do these days) and then headed up to town to explore properly. We started at Fort Oranje and visited the tourist office that explained a bit about the islands history and gave us a pack including a very interesting and interactive CD. The Fort itself was in excellent condition and from here, in 1776, the first official acknowledgement of the US as an independent nation in the form of a gun salute was made. The decision to do this by the then Governor de Graffe was unfortunately a career ending one for him, but placed him in the annals of American history.



We then toured the museum, housed in an old plantation house that dated back to about the same era (prior to 1775).



There was also interesting archaeological info on the Carib Indian inhabitation and believe it or not an early Jewish Synagogue dating back to 1739. Apparently the Jews were persecuted here as well with the population being exiled after the British invaded expecting great riches from the merchants, but found none. That was until they found a lot of funerals occurring and the riches were being buried in the coffins!
During the tour of the town, we were joined at first by one dog, and then a second, who no matter how hard we tried stuck to us like glue all day. We even tried locking ourselves in a cemetery, but somehow they found a way in. We stopped wrote postcards and they just lay at our feet then followed us as we left.



No matter where you go in Statia, the dormant volcano is dominant in the background, so over lunch we decided that the next day would be a hiking day – yes you heard right – Karen agreed to hike up to the crater of the Quill!



After a day on the go we stopped at Scubaqua and spoke to Marieke and explained our experience (6 dives 19 years ago)and that we wanted to do a nice easy dive with a dive master very close. Marieke was very understanding (I mean she didn’t go “You want what?” or “ How long?” or “ I wasn’t out of diapers then” or “How was it diving in those brass helmets?”) and said that they could do that and put a dive master right next to us the whole time, and the price was reasonable. We also stopped at the other dive shop and there solution was a bit more complex requiring reintroduction type course and hence was a bit more expensive. We decided that night we would go with Scubaqua.

Next morning I donned my x-country thongs (flip flops not underwear) and Karen put on her deck shoes (for the first time since she went home) and we took off for the hike. I have by this time learned how to get the dinghy to full throttle – but it is not a thing Karen enjoys, but it was a good way to start the day. We stopped by at Scubaqua and booked our dive and headed up the track to The Quill (music should go in here – Da-na-na-na... try and imagine it please).

By the time we had made it up the cliff track we were perspiring (me) and glowing (Karen) and the pace was set for the walk – slow and hot. The track was well marked and had informative signage along the way as we searched for the Killi Killi Kestral and other exotic wildlife. The best we saw was a lot of hermit crabs, a blue throated dove and a Red Bellied  Racer Snake of which we saw three.



Now, those of you who know Karen know that she is a city girl right? You can take the girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl – hence her desire to shop and her fear of snakes. Well, the first snake she saw, she observed inquisitively, but the second- for some reason she went all girly and jumped around squealing etc – very strange, but on the whole she did well in the bush – but more on that later.

After about an hour we made it to the rim of the crater and relaxed for a while, while some American tourists took photos and seemed to talk really loudly. I took some photos but the size of the crater really could not be captured by my lens. So I took a shot of Karen instead (She respectfully ask that you not look too closely at this as it is not her best shot).



From the rim of the crater, it was a 45min walk down into the crater .... with a warning....



...So of course I, not being a city boy, leave Karen at the top and head off down the trail. Well down the nice steps with the railing that started the trail, then when it got a bit steeper, I thought I had better do the right thing and go back to my wife and protect her in this wild place.

The Americans headed back the way they came, and in a bout of madness and a desire for tranquillity in this beautiful spot, I convinced Karen that I would be just as easy to branch off on the round the mountain path and work our way back into town from the other side – besides it would be a well marked trail, just like the one we came up....

Wrong!!! About 2 hours later, I found the fork in the trail which was marked sort of, after climbing over rocks most of the way down with City Girl, complaining of sore feet. We gambled and took the fork even though we could make head nor tail of the way the signs pointed and finally came to a fence, an overgrown field and what looked like a road beyond. Karen wanted to jump the fence and make straight for the road (trespassing I say and most houses here have dogs...) so the Harry Butler in me opted for divining my way through the field, what looked like lantana and finally I found our way to the road! The Leyland Brothers would have been proud!

Fortunately there was a park bench about 20 m down the road where we were able to stop and rest for a while (have the obligatory cigarette to clean the lungs of the fresh air), ‘cause by now, not that I mentioned it to Karen but my feet were hurting as well. Here we were guarded by the friendly tree, so we were safe and sound!



We took off the shoes and x-country flip flops and strolled back to town and past a bull grazing on the road. He kept a good eye on us until we came to the end of the long paddock and turned left. I thought it was a bit odd, until I realised the whole time we were walking past him and on down the road, I was waving a bright red Digicel bandana around (red rag to a bull and all that).

We made it back to the boat, exhausted, hot and sweaty where I found out that perhaps there was some basis to Karen’s complaints about her feet – blisters and most amazingly blood blisters under both her big toe nails – these shoes are really dangerous implements!



Next morning, after wondering whether Karen would be able to put flippers on, we hauled our dive gear up to Scubaqua ready for our first dive. Marieke was was replaced by Mike as our dive master and we explained again our situation. (I thought maybe Marieke had wized up to us and palmed us off to an unsuspecting newby, but it turned out Mike was one of the owners of the business and very patient as he explained how he was going to approach the dive and the rules. He then checked our gear and one of the hoses on my octopus burst and Karen’s BCD was self inflating. So we hired some gear for the dive.

Diving was everything I remembered, anxiety as we sat on the side of the boat ready to flip into an almost raging sea (2ft wind chop) and then the exhileration of being able to breathe underwater. Mike was fantastic (for a one handed diver – his second hand belonged to Karen and she wasn’t letting go of it) and coaxed Karen down the mooring line until we were on the bottom at the humps – a volcanic outflow and reef to the south west of Statia. We both adjusted our buoyancy and Michael continued to show us the sights including a young trumpet fist and snails. We lasted 40 minutes before I had blown my tank and we had to surface.  Mike had managed to pry Karen from his arm and the last 10-15 minutes we swam by ourselves. I am sure Mike will be nursing his arm for a while. You should check out their website http://www.scubaqua.com particularly the photos and video of the humpback whale that visited them recently and if you get to Statia (Patrick and Silke, I am talking about you at least) stop by and dive with them.

After 4 full on days we decided to spend the weekend in Statia and relax so in the end it was a six day stay in one of the nicest islands in the Eastern Caribbean!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Patrick & Silke
URL: http://www.la-palma-sailing.com
DATE: 6/1/2011 6:41:06 PM
Great post - again! Well so plans are meeting you in Cuba next year and go for a scuba dive together, right?! We'll love it and are looking forward to meeting you again. Meanwhile we'll leave for Azores next week....just to keep us trained sailing wise (will try to do a blog)
HTTP://quetzalsailingblog.blogspot.com/
as well. Big hugs!!! -----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 6/2/2011 1:01:05 AM
Wonderful blog, really enjoyed it and the photos. Great to see you are so adventurous and still safe.!