Like I said, We’re off to The Saints

So we got up early right, headed north right, had a beautiful sail right, noticed a cruise ship off our port stern right, started to head into the channel to The Saints right, still under sail right, noticed that the cruise ship was gaining on us fast right, and heading into the channel right – so much for sailing vessels stand on rights – we turned to starboard and dropped the sails looped round and followed it into port. Welcome to the Saints!

That was just the start of it – there were 2 more cruise ships at anchor in the harbour and about a thousand other boats taking up the two small anchorages near Grande Bourg so after one aborted anchoring attempt we gave up and decided to head on to Guadaloupe – say Pointe-a-Pitre. That wasn’t to be either as the wind had turned more to the North making a sail to Pointe-a-Pitre on the nose and with only 4 hours of light and a tricky channel entry we turned to the west to head to the anchorage at Basse Terre – the capital. Well I think Doyle got it wrong when he said there was an anchorage there – the shelf looked about 12ft wide and the wind was blowing from the west so we had a lee shore full of rocks! Bugger that we agreed as the starboard engine failed, got a rope caught. We powered up on port and headed north to Pigeon Island. Along the way the rope seemed to clear itself and we were able to start starboard as well to make better time. We made it by sundown in time to see a beautiful sunset over the island.

We woke up in the morning and the north east swell had arrived in anger. We watched as the waves crashed onto the dinghy docks that suggested that we may not get ashore here easily…. which was an understatement. We dropped Debbie and thought we would see if we could find a way in as we had to check in to the country. We tried to find a river that was a bit to the south but with no luck so we tried the floating dinghy dock which looked interesting to say the least but the waves weren’t breaking over it anymore. As we neared we met a local dive instructor swimming to his boat and he suggested out best bet was to leave Pigeon Island and head north to Deshaies and check in there. It was an easier harbour to get ashore in this swell. So we upped anchor and headed north.

We arrived in Deshaies and anchored out the back as we always did and sat on the boat making sure we were dug in watching the waves crash against the walls of the beachfront restaurants. “How the hell are we ever going to get ashore in that – hopefully we can get in at the fishing harbour” I was thinking when we heard “Where II” being called from a rowing dinghy fighting the wind and swell. It was a guy named Indie from the yacht Pegasus anchored ahead of us. He gave us the low down on the dinghy dock and Customs so we could clear in. Customs were helpful but made it clear that really they didn’t want to waste time with yachts – better for us to clear at the local cyber café (Pelicans). We wandered around the village checking out where everything was and getting a baguette before heading back for the night.

The weather was crap for the next couple of days windy and raining and we stayed on the boat and even though there was bugger all sun so solar power was low, Wally the Wind Generator certainly made up for it and we were living off free energy for most of the time.

 There is a variation on the boat boy in this harbour, in true French style…. Harold the bread boy! Each afternoon he comes round and takes orders and the following morning we get fresh, hot baguettes and croissants and pain au chocolate! With the bad weather we were even having hot coffee for breakfast (infused with local vanilla beans – very continental!)

Indie came and visited (I get the impression he was kicked off the boat as his partner Natalie was studying for some exams) and we decided to have New Years Day lunch on our boat (well really Indie did and we went along with it) So Indie and Natalie were bringing a French Ham, and wine and we did the quiche, salad and Champagne.

So New Years Eve was spent on the boat, we put champagne in the fridge and hit the sack early with the alarm set for 2350 so we could see in the New Year. Good in theory, but when someone is so tired that they can’t get up – the practice was not quite there. Anyway there were fireworks from shore and the boat next door was letting off flares so it was a bright welcome to the NY – I won’t say which one of us saw it in….

New Year’s lunch was delicious – the ham and potatoes baked to perfection and the company great. Although we hadn’t met them before, we had realised that Indie and Natalie were anchored not far from us in Brewer’s Bay St Thomas last year ( there were only 4 boats there) and knew our Bocce tormentors - Jim & Wendy on Merengue.

Once the rain stopped we decided it was time to see some of the island and headed to the bus stop to get a bus to Pointe-a-Pitre. Waiting, waiting, waiting… but no bus showed so we headed to the car hire and got ourselves a little ford and headed into town. We stopped at Grande Anse which was pretty and within walking distance of Deshaies, and went onto St Rose where we stopped for morning tea (pastries off course, we are in France) and headed onto Pointe-a-Pitre (missing the Rum Museum - can you believe it!?)

On the way in to town we passed a huge mall with a hardware (Mr Bricolage) and sports store (Decathlon) so we made a point of planning a return visit here on our way home so Karen could shop. The way in was busy and it reminded me of traffic jams back home which I don’t miss and didn’t expect to see on an island this small but there you go.

 Pointe-a-Pitre is a pretty town with some distinct architecture – starting with the grand Tourist bureau.

We strolled along the streets and through the market stalls, buying the local vanilla beans very cheaply compared with other islands before heading to the Schoelcher Museum.

Victor Schoelcher was one of the first advocates of the abolishment of slavery in these islands and the museum has a collection of slave exhibits including slave neck collars, models of slave ships and even what appeared to be a slave sales registry or cargo list (I am not quite sure as all the explanations were in French). We finished off the visit here looking for handbags (as you always do in a tropical island).

Next we checked out the marina complex and then headed home via the mall (where we got drawer rails for Karen’s new shelf in the galley – my next job) and face cream from Carrefour. We then did the shopping run to Leader Price to refill my Brie, ham, beer and wine stock as my vegetarian partner has been quite taken by ham baguettes since we have been in the French Islands.

Next morning we were up early as we had the car until noon and took off for the hills. Our first stop was a lookout at Morne Louis which was up a tight little road littered with the results of mud slides. We made it to the top to be greeted by comms towers and absolutely no where we could get a view through the foliage! Not much of a look out! Another car was arriving as we left but I did not have enough French to say “Don’t bother!”
We then made it to Maison du Foret – an early picnic ground next to a fast flowing stream. This is a beautiful little area with heaps of picnic pavilions and further along the road, an interpretation centre (known as this obviously because we non-French speaking people need an interpreter to understand any of the signs), a suspension bridge across the stream and a 20 min walk which we decided to do (hiking again!).

The rain forest was wet and slimy and full of big trees and stag horns (some of them with name tags in French) – it was pretty whatever it was we were looking at. We made the hike in 24mins (an extra 4 for a detour around a fallen tree) and if you know Karen, crossing the suspension bridge was a great achievement too!

We headed back to Deshaies and dropped off the car, deciding that if tourist information was open we would head up to the Botanical Gardens. It was (first time in two weeks) and we did. They call the gardens and a bus will come down to town and pick you up which, although it is only 1.5 km it is all up hill so it is worth it.
Entrance fee was €14.50 each, which standing at the gate seemed as steep as the ride up, but we swallowed it and paid (we had just got a free ride up the hill) and were greeted by a thousand odd 35 lb koi carp. You could buy food and feed them but they looked fat enough and we needed some money over to buy our own lunch. The gardens are beautifully laid out and include not only the carp, but lorikeets (from Australia), flamingos, blue parrots as well as thousands of trees, flowering plants (half not flowering at this time of year but they had photos of what they would look like if they were flowering), orchids, waterfalls and even a Norfolk pine from Australia!

And of course we finished off the day taking the obligatory photo of me and my headless friends.

Big day, but we decided that we should forego the free bus ride back down the hill and then headed back to the boat.

After all that excitement, the next morning we decided that we would take a good weather window and head north to Antigua. If we missed it we would be stuck in Deshaies for another week at least, so the diving will have to wait for our return trip this season. So we checked out, and spent the afternoon doing maintenance on the boat (Engine checks, re-stitching the trampoline and finally clearing the rope from the Starboard prop).

Tomorrow we head for Antigua!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 1/30/2011 10:57:23 PM
Really enjoyed this blog this morning, Matt. Fantastic photos.

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Anne Foster
DATE: 2/3/2011 12:29:32 PM
G'day WhereII and Happy New Year, I found you again after a long absence-good to hear how things are going Matt, you are obviously far too relaxed and at ease with the world. The blog is great-it all sounds magical and I love that Karen is eating ham, those French foodie influences are hard to resist! All is well here. We are leaving Melbourne town soon, alas not for Caribbean waters but for the sunny climes and brilliant beaches of Perth. Dave is working on an alliance over West (at my restless insistence of "c'mon let's do something new now that we've conquered the child rearing thing") and we will be there for 1-2 years at this stage. Sol and Elsa are 2 and 1 and full of fun and I should probably consider working again but I'm hoping to become a beachcomber and get a tan to rival Karen's... watch out for Pirates and I'll check in on you again soon. Cheers, Anne xx

Stuck in Martinique – There are worse places to be….

STATUS: publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ALLOW PINGS: 1 CATEGORY: Travel Diary DATE: 12/13/2010 5:11:00 AM ----- BODY:
Well we have been in Martinique a month and it started pretty much to plan as you saw in the last blog, but things have slowed down a bit since then. The weather has been doing crazy things with strong north easterly swells and some strong gusty winds, so we have pretty much decided to just stay put in Le Marin. Also the cable I bought for the VHF didn’t seem to solve the problem so I took it into Jacque at Diginav for him to have a look at it. Friday afternoon was when he said it would be ready, but we must keep in mind that this is “Island Time with French Attitude” and so…. it was not ready. “Tomorrow” they said, then rethinking it they said “Monday”. With this in mind we relaxed into the bay and hit the Beach Friday night in search of Pizzas and ended up at a restaurant with Evergreen eating the local curried Dorado which was very nice.

Saturday was the starboard engine service (sometimes I wish I had a monohull – one engine – one service, but this is rare) and Sunday wasn’t Dominos day as is the usual plan but we tried out the new bocce set and got our butts whipped 3-0 by Jim & Dinah – it must have been the lack of Sand Bar Rum Punches!

We gave Diginav until Tuesday morning before checking back and they had good news! They knew what the problem was – the cable they sold me was no good so I just needed to get another one! Fantastic… except they didn’t have one, but Jacques was heading to the Paris boat show and could get me one. The bad news was it was another 2 weeks away. We decided to bite the bullet and wait as Jacques is probably the most competent Raymarine technician we have dealt with – albeit a little slow. With this news Evergreen decided to get their mail sent to Le Marin and we settled into Le Marin for the wait.

Over the next two weeks we hired a car with Jim and Dinah twice for 2 days each time. The first time was for 1 day shopping and one day touring, and the second time was for touring Fort de France. Well it seems Karen can manipulate things such that we did shop on all four days…. I am wondering the wisdom of letting her read Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series! I am also wondering whether the French really want to share their island with the rest of the world as most of what we had decided to visit was closed (from parks to museums to rum distilleries) with the exception of Karen’s shops….

So anyway what did we see:  We started off with a tour around the south West peninsula taking in Les Anses d’arlet stopping at the pretty little bourg of Petit Anse d’Arlet for a snack at the patisserie

On to Anse Noire ….

… and up to Trois Ilets before Karen decided that it was enough touring and we had to shop. So it was off to Champion and Intersport in Dillon where Jim and Dinah bought a nice expensive set of shiny boules (apparently our kiddies set was not good enough to beat us with). Then we headed east to Francois and Le Vauclin looking for somewhere to have an early dinner or at least a drink. Whilst the scenery was nice, our quest was unsuccessful and we ended up back at the Mango  in La Marin where we all partook in the moulles et frites (mussels and fries in a white wine sauce). Delicious way to end the day.

Day two was supposed to be all shopping, but by consensus (can’t say which way Karen voted or whether or not she was pouting in the back seat of our Peugot 307) we decided to be Tommy Tourist again. We headed off past Fort de France to the north west of the island for our first stop if the day – the Museum of Gauguin at Carbet. This is where the disappointments started – after 20 minutes of looking, we realised that it no longer existed, so it was onto St Pierre at the base of Mt Pelle. The prior capital of Martinique was the victim of the 1902 eruption of Mt Pelle when only one resident out of the 130,000 survived (of course he was a drunk in jail for disorderly conduct – who says drinking is evil?) We started at the commercial centre,

visited the museum, toured the grand old theatre (a copy of one in Bordeaux) that was destroyed in the eruption)…

…and then had lunch at various outlets around town before heading further north.

Here the disappointments continued to mount. First stop was the Tomb of the Rebels where legend has it the last of the Carib Indians jumped from the cliffs above to avoid being enslaved or massacred by the pursuing French – couldn’t find it. Next it was onto Habitation Ceron - an old plantation with apparently beautiful gardens – shut. Always chipper we headed back to the DePaz Rum Distillery and we found the tomb of the Rebels !

The cacti were in flower there as well.

Then we hightailed it to DePaz because by now it was bucketing down. We dashed across the car park and sat outside the store to wait for the rain to abate to do the tour which is mostly outdoors.

Half an hour later we gave up and went into the store to sample the rum. After trying a couple of different rums we purchased a few of the specials (yes shopping) we checked the rain and gave up, thinking we might make it back to the Dillon distillery for a tour there. Wrong, this distillery is shutdown and it is now made at DePaz which we had just left! We did get the education video and bought some white rum, shrub rum punch for the girl and a bottle of very old rum for special occasions (more shopping – the girl was happy).

Day two did however end on a brighter note as we found the seaside bar restaurant in St Luce on the way home. Unfortunately our budget  extended only to a drink. Jim and I tried the Desperado Tequila beer – don’t bother!

The next week or so we relaxed around the boat, played dominos and boules (with Evergreen’s new boules and they still whipped our butt) and waited for mail and parts. We decided to do another couple of days with the rent-a-car when we found out it was almost as cheap as catching the bus to Fort de France.

The plan was to spend 2 days in Fort de France taking in the history and doing some shopping. We headed in with a plan to visit the fort, the library, a museum and the shops. So this is how it went down….
We lucked out and got a free park near the old post office and visited the fort to be told that it was not doing tours as it was a strategic defence location. No problem, plenty more to see like the park with the beheaded statue of Josephine…. Fenced off for renovations (as it was when we were there over a year ago). No problems lets do some shops and then the Library and the museum.

The shops didn’t take long (believe it or not) with the exception of a liquidation centre Karen wanted to find (but no longer existed). We grabbed lunch in a Gyros shop (as you do in a French Island) near the market and kept going. Next the Schoeller Library, a unique structure designed and built in Paris around the same time as the Eiffel Tower, dismantled, shipped and rebuilt in Martinique. We were concerned that it might be closed as it had scaffolding around the front (picture below from last year) but we found a side entrance and got some cultural experiences.

We were however not so lucky  with the museum and with time to spare we started heading back, but of course we had to hit the hardware on the way back (as close to a Bunnings as we are going to get south of the US Virgins) but alas it was closed. Karen, being the opportunistic shopping that she is took us across the freeway to Gallerie de Lafayette! Here we hit Hyper U, a shop not dissimilar to RG Maddens and a great sports store where Jim found shiny boules for a quarter of the price they paid – much to their horror! They finally told us and we were now the proud owner of grown up boules!

After shopping it was back to Marin and onto the boat for an early night.

Next day it was up and heading to the north-east, via InterSport to return Evergreen’s new boules. Luckily the guy in the store had been to Canada and chatted with Jim while he gave him his money back. On to the other store to get the cheaper boules and then up to Robert and places north to find somewhere for lunch. The scenery was idyllic

But alas nowhere that struck our fancy for lunch! So it was back to Le Marin  to have pizzas at a place we tried and liked last year but guess what – it was closed! We found another placed and enjoyed the pizzas while the skinny French woman next to us and her friend ordered the largest steak I have seen that wasn’t part of a cow! I assume it was to share…

So by now we were just waiting for Jacques (Diginav) to finish his olives – his choice not mine - and champagne at the Paris boat show and get us the cable so what did we do – play boules of course.

Guy (Princess of Tides) suggested we dinghy over to the beach past St Anne have a picnic – it was only 20 minutes away. Sounds good in theory, until we realise that 20 minutes is in a dinghy with a 15hp outboard… we have 6 and Evergreen 8, so even when we rode Evergreen’s wake it was slightly longer than 20 minutes

but it was a nice beach and we did enjoy both the picnic and the boules (although we got our butts whipped again)

Next with Christmas coming up it was time, for the first time since leaving Aus, to decorate the boat. We splashed out and bought a Santa on a rope ladder for the mast and a Christmas tree for our pressies. So we carefully decorated the tree with the 2 hand painted bells my sister had given us last Christmas out and only now had a tree to hang on!

Well Jacques finally returned but it didn’t appear that he had the part but he assured us if we came back early in the morning it would be there. Not only was it there, it was installed and he charged us no more than the second hand part we already paid for! Big thanks Jacques.

Now all we needed was Evergreen’s mail and some good weather and we were all off with my Christmas leg of Lamb in the freezer. Well the weather came but unfortunately the mail didn’t and we took off without our sailing buddies to St Pierre to wait to cross to Dominica, hoping they would catch up before we left.

After another day wandering round the town, dinner on Princess of Tides and it was time to go it alone – we are off to Dominica for Christmas!

Italians really do say "Mamma Mia"…. And the world’s most expensive rum punch!

Okay, the sail from St Pierre was good, not great but good. We left Martinique in light winds after clearing out first thing in the morning, so out came our new favourite sail –the Gennaker, however once we got just north of the island, of course the wind picked up and I went forward to furl the sail in rough seas and winds gusting over 20 knots. Not too bad, but a little interesting for the first time. The furler kept slipping and in the end, it was in but messy and making a lot of noise against the now unfurled genoa – so it had to come down in those same conditions – interesting…. But do-able. After this struggle it was a calm sail into Dominica where we were met by Pancho the boat boy’s offsider Julian. He helped us tie up to the Marine Centre’s mooring buoy and we took in our surrounding in the bay just to the south of Roseau, Dominica. Julian was quite helpful, friendly and unlike some boat boys – did not hassle us at all so it was a nice intro to the country.

We relaxed on the boat for the afternoon then headed in to the dinghy docks the next morning – first we headed to the Marine Centre’s dock but it looked a bit high (too challenging with the swell that was running from the north west), so we turned round and headed to the Fort Young Hotel dinghy dock in town which turned out to be much lower and easier access, but we still had to tie off the stern of the dinghy due to the swell! There was a cruise ship in, so the town was pumping and we had tour guides galore telling us of the pleasures of the island. We just wanted to clear in and relax around town – which we were told was a waste of a day for us, but we had the time.

After a stroll round town we headed to the Botanical garden and viewed a famous cricket ground (what it was famous for I don’t know but it was smaller than most country grounds in Qld) and headed up Jack’s track to Morne Bruce, the cross overlooking the city and a panoramic view of the city. Notice how the city is dwarfed by the cruise ship. As a matter of interest in a week we saw 7 cruise ships arrive, with 2-3000 passengers each, so say 20,000 people, just under 1/3 of the population of Dominica transited Roseau in that 1 week!

We also saw the power of Cyclone David in our stroll through the Botanical Garden in the form of a fallen African Boabab tree – luckily the bus was empty!

We wandered round town and enjoyed a Kubuli beer (or at least I did) and went in search of the elusive lime. Another point of interest – Dominica used to be one of the world’s largest producers of limes in the world, but we struggled to find enough to flavour my rum, apparently the annual crop or limes has been replaced by bananas which produce year round.

The following day was to be relaxing, snorkelling or touring but the starboard engine had other ideas. Whilst charging the batteries that evening, the engine slowed and stopped. We tried to restart it but to no avail! So the next day was a work day!

Our first assumption (Karen is really starting to understand some of this stuff) was that the dirty fuel we got in Trini had fouled the filters, so I drained the pre-filter and changed it – it was dirty, but it was hard to say if it was clogged. I had to fill the pre-filter and filter with clean fuel so we took off in search of a small gerry can with which to buy some. This we thought would be easy but it was challenging enough just getting the stern anchor set on the dinghy (never done that before) and climbing onto the fuel dock at the marine centre, but then finding a small gerry was also challenging – a walk into town in my smelly work clothes got us a gasoline gerry, which the service station attendant was reluctant to fill with diesel!

Anyway with clean diesel we filled the filters and tried to bleed the system which seemed slow but the engine ran…. For 10 minutes before it stopped again…. Obviously used up all the fuel from the filter. So my assumption was that it was a fuel filter issue or I wasn’t bleeding it properly. I remembered a tip from Danny (Magnum in Grenada) to put a fuel bulb in line from the tank to prime quickly, so next morning I found one and cut it into the line and pumped away. The effect wasn’t how I imagined with still only a little fuel coming out when I tested it, but fuel was making it to the fuel filter so I gave it another go with the same result… A little frustrating but narrowed it down to the fuel pump or so it seemed to me – tomorrow’s job to try and find a pump.

As I agonised over the problem in my sleep (Karen by now was a sounding board only) I remembered John’s (Stevee Jean) problem with a split fuel pick up line on his 420, so at 6:00am I was up and pulling apart the starboard bed and fuel tank. Sure enough, the copper pick up line was split from a$%*hole to breakfast! Well that should be cheaper and easier to get than a fuel pump – one would think. However tomorrow was Sunday so it would have to wait a day….

So Sunday, we decided to take the snorkelling gear and grab a bus down to Champagne to snorkel the underwater volcano vent. Wrong! Sunday is dead, no cruise ship and no buses. So not to be put off we stroll down to the anchorage hotel to check out the whale watch centre. We had seen our first whale between St Vincent and St Lucia - we wanted to learn how to identify them and how we should sail the boat in their presence. When we arrived, we were told that there was a whale watching expedition that day and so as a Chrissie pressie to ourselves we booked ourselves on after checking the likelihood of seeing a whale (95+% and they had seen whales all of the last 11 days). So for US$57.50 each we would get served fruit juice, a rum punch and see thousands of whales.

We rushed back to the boat, got the big camera and rushed back to their dinghy dock for the briefing – which was very informative but we could not wait for our 3.5hours of dodging whales, identifying them, learning what their tails looked like, how to track them etc etc. We did learn how you can track them, had our US$57.50 rum punch and 3.5hours later we returned to dock to check out the pictures of whale tails. Little did we know that on the 12th day the Whales rest….so we saw nothing, not even a dolphin. We did see some nice rainbows though. (Sorry no photos of whales – check elsewhere on the internet)

Monday we went to the Yanmar dealer, who sent us to the chandlery, who sent us to the Yanmar dealer, who sent us to a hardware in Pottersville, who sent us to Valley Engineering, who sent us to a building supplies centre, who sent us to another hardware (we walked from Newtown to the docks) all to no avail. On the way Karen had spotted an agricultural supply store who had irrigation supplies so as a last resort before swapping the generator pickup for the engine pick up we tried there and I hate to admit Karen was right, but we were able to pick up 16mm HDPE garden irrigation pipe that looked like it would do a good temporary job, which it did that afternoon. So after 3 days we were back in action!

Tuesday, with a new cruise ship in dock we headed into town and bargained our way into a tour with a bunch of Italians and Slovenians from the ship (well all we did was wait until a driver told us he would give us a tour for US$10 and we were in- how bad  could it be for $10). This cruise started in the Med and 19 days later had seen most of the Caribbean – what are we doing wrong that that has taken us 3 years?

We headed off to the botanical gardens (and the squashed bus) and Morne Bruce (which I had to walk to) and then it got interesting.

We hit the highlights of the south as the Italians were saying “Mamma Mia” as we took the hills and corners at a reasonable pace…

Trafalgar Twin Falls (notice there are 2)

Wotten Waven Sulphur Springs

Freshwater Lake (very cold – yes cold and cloudy) and back to town.

We could have continued to Mero for a few extra bucks but we planned to sail there and do a distillery tour.
Next morning it was up and off to Salisbury for an overnight stop and a distillery tour.

We anchored south of the dive dock and were promptly told by the operator that he had moorings available if we wished to use them – he later told us they are free of charge as he is trying to discourage anchoring to re-establish the sea grass. We splashed off the back of the boat and enjoyed the cooling water. The water in Dominica is so clear it is really like swimming in a pool back home!

Next day, as it was still a few days before Christmas and he had some spare time on his way to Aus, we left Santa on watch and headed to Macoucherie Rum Distillery.

Unfortunately, after a bit of a hike we found out the tour guide was not there so a tour was out of the question. So we kept walking, thinking it was not far to Mero, but an hour later we realised it was.

However it was a lovely little beach and we stopped at the new Romance café for a refreshing grapefruit drink, before hiking back to Salisbury.

Having hiked all we were going to we packed up that afternoon Portsmouth, a quick 2 hour (after the Minnow, nothing is a 3 hour cruise on Where II just in case) sail north. We were met outside the harbour by Alexis – one of the Portsmouth boat boys, who introduced himself and then headed back in to harbour leaving us to find a spot and anchor. He visited later to say hello and we said we would talk to him over the coming days once we decided what we wanted to do.

Over the next couple of days we were quite busy, running into Aussies everywhere, and at one stage 50% of the boats in Portsmouth were Australian registered! Friday we took the Indian River tour with Alexis which included a tour of a plantation and 2 backpacks of fresh fruit and 218 different ways to make rum punch! The others on the tour were from another Melbourne registered yacht! Notice the entrance to Indian River where the swell is breaking just in front of the wreck! Alexis did a great job of rowing us up the river and explaining the wildlife and his links to Johnny Depp (Pirates 2).

Saturday was Christmas Day and I discovered how to get Karen out of bed before 8:00am. The night before Christmas, when all through the boat, not a creature was stirring except for me about 2:00am. I wrapped Karen’s presents and carefully placed them under the tree. (The good thing about a small tree is it makes the pressies look big!)

Karen got up at about 4:00am to steal orange juice and check the anchor track and saw Santa had been and from then on she had trouble staying asleep! (Who says I’m the big kid of the Family?) So we got up at 7:00am to open the presents and then have breakfast in true Donovan style followed by a feast (unfortunately as Evergreen could not make it, my lamb roast shrunk to shanks but it was delicious none the less)!

With the festivities over, we got onto the serious stuff, we went hiking (yes hiking) through the Cabrits and the ruins of Fort Shirley which was hot, tiring but very cool, especially when you got to the ruins of the old northern gun battery. This took us the best part of the day covering the west battery all the way back to town.

After this strenuous activity we decided we should probably start to make our way to The Saints, a small group of islands just south of Guadaloupe and as soon as we made that plan it changed. Alexis came by the boat and asked us if we wanted to do a tour of the north part of the island as he had another boat interested. We apologised and said we had planned to depart and that we would do it on the way back down the islands in May. He went off and explained to the other boat that it wasn’t going to happen. 5 minutes later our plans had changed and we called him back and said we would wait it out another day and do the tour…… So he had to go back and tell the other boat it was now on. You can see our quick decisive skills and planning capabilities are still there!

At 8:00 the next morning, Alexis picked us up and dropped us with Geoffrey who first took us to the bank and to customs for the other boat (Ascension Gordon and Ginny) to clear in  and we cleared out at the same time – not the fastest process – we were there for about an hour. While we were there Geoffrey realised he had lost his phone so when we came out we were in the hands of 62yo Winston. The tour started slowly with Winston never being at threat of breaking a speed limit, but he was very informative along the way. We headed east past Morne aux Diables through the town that was home to the world’s oldest lady (128yo) until she died.

From here we made for the beaches of the north east (Batibou Bay, Woodford Hill Bay, Marigot and Pagua), all the time with Winston giving us up to date political announcements from the Skerrit administration and trying to sell us real estate on the island! We stopped at one of his girlfriends’ place and the beach, which he said was available for the right price!

The scenery was fantastic and his local knowledge great. He showed us an old sugar mill and explained the construction (using molasses in the mortar to guard against hurricanes etc) rivers, plantations and even the old Methodist church where he went to school!

He gave us the option of doing the Carib Village – a model village on the only Carib Indian reserve in the Caribbean. This was something we were keen to do. On the way there we stopped on the side of the road at a Cassava bread bakery where we sampled the bread and bought some for the trip the next day. Winston had to buy four for another girlfriend he would see later on the tour! (no wives, just girlfriends – less trouble)

The village was interesting and well laid out, but I did expect to see some traditional costumes as you see in the brochures, but everyone there was in jeans (what was I thinking?) The tour was interesting, but not as interesting as I had hoped.

From the village we continued south in the reserve, stopping at a road stall to buy a woven basket from a young Indian girl.

The tour continued on through the centre of the island where we hiked up to Spanny Falls. Unfortunately, it was getting late, cold and it was raining, so none of us felt like going for a swim, although the water did look quite refreshing.

By the time we got back to the van we were wet and quite exhausted and we settled into the long trip back to the boat. We passed through Mero and Salisbury on the way and realised just how far we had walked the previous week – I don’t know what we were thinking!

By 8:00pm we were back on the boat (a 12 hour day) and ready to head off to the Saints tomorrow morning!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: tina
DATE: 1/9/2011 9:25:35 PM
liked it

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 1/12/2011 5:04:16 AM
This was a great blog Matt and I enjoyed reading it but I did not get any pictures. Hope you can keep safe in Antigua until you get the anchor fixed. -----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mum
DATE: 1/12/2011 5:08:14 AM
Now I have the pictures. Great. Wonderful to see you had an almost traditional Christmas! -----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Patrick and Silke
URL: http://www.la-palma-sailing.com
DATE: 1/13/2011 10:56:03 AM
Wow ... I think this is all we can say at the moment. Thanks a lot Matt and Karen to keep your blog running, we enjoy it so much! And next year around this time we are preparing Quetzal to cross the Atlantic and find you somewhere over there :o). Big hug and hope your family in Australia is fine (news here about the flooding are not nice...)

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Levin
DATE: 1/15/2011 2:38:47 PM
Hi Karen and Matt!
all your blogs have been so fine to read. Even as we are not close friends (yet) I feel close to what you do.
Look. I finally made it over the Atlantic.
Since Rubicon Lanzarote (where we found each other) my boat was damaged in big storm FEB 2010 year. After a lot repairings we arrived to Medregal and JeanMarc 2 Jan 2011. Jemilo is now standing on the hard. Its a big Swedish colony in Medregal but I tell everyone i got the info from Where2!!
All the best to you both.
Keep on mailing your blogs please.
Yngve Levin @ Jemilo

Just in Time for Christmas

STATUS: publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 ALLOW PINGS: 1 CATEGORY: Advertisement DATE: 12/11/2010 3:15:00 PM ----- BODY: Or New Year.... or early January....

Inspired by my friend Jim on Merengue, I decided it was time to share my talents with you all in the form of a 2011 Calender - Kids of Carnival.

We have now spent 2 years attending the Grenada Carnival and the kids are great - so I didn't need much talent to create this as the kids were so full of energy and fun... See what you think at http://www.cafepress.com.au/WhereII. You can use the calendar to plan your trip to visit us next year!

I should have one or two more posts before the year is out, but have a Merry Christmas (wouldn't the calendar make a great present, for yourself or others) and enjoy the New Years where ever you are

Cheers

Matt & Karen

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jim and Wendy
URL: http://merengueundersail.blogspot.com
DATE: 12/12/2010 12:58:21 PM
Great photos! The kids are one of the best parts of carnival!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Adrian Castagnini
DATE: 12/12/2010 11:23:26 PM
Hey Matt & Karen, great to you doing so well & hope you are practising your negotiation skills in case you bump into some of those pirates! Have a great xmas & Happy New year!
PS: Don't use calendars anymore, gone elctronic - that's what happens when you remain in the corporate world like a sucker.