Ah Barbuda At Last!!

*Author’s note: There has been a delay in posting this blog for two reasons:
1. Since leaving the deserted island of Barbuda with it’s excellent wifi , we have been in St Marteen, one of the most developed islands in the Eastern Caribbean that has no wifi unless we take the computers into McDonalds and there are only so many Macca Breakfasts I can handle; and
2. We promised a fellow cruiser who provided directions for us safely navigate the wreck and reef strewn waters of Barbuda that we would tell no-one of the true beauty of Barbuda so others would not follow and ruin the tranquillity that is Barbuda.... so you will have to judge for yourself whether I am telling the truth in this blog or just dissuading others from following...
After much nail biting and “discussions” on which parts of Barbuda I was allowed to take Where II (Coco Point in, Spanish Point is out, Low Bay is questionable or so the missus thinks) we were ready to head north to Barbuda. We spent several hours pouring over the charts and Doyle’s guide chartlets to define a safe (read very safe) course to Barbuda. This was not easy as no two charts agreed, however we had been told that Doyle’s charts were pretty much as good as they got. WE were concerned that they did not show a large submerged rock close to where we wanted to anchor in Coco Point that was on our Navionics electronic charts, but as they say, your eyes are the best navigational tool so we set sail with a little bit of trepidation (Of course I try and hide mine so Karen doesn’t realise that I don’t really know what we are getting ourselves in for, but what the heck – you only live once and we have survived the rocks once before in our rock solid cat!)

The sail was uneventful with the sails up 45mins after we left Dickenson Bay getting ever closer to those reefs until about an hour from our destination we turned to wind and dropped the sails for the motor in through the rocks and reefs (okay – there weren’t that many but we didn’t want to add to the 300 odd wrecks that are scattered around the Barbudan waters. The motor in was also uneventful, keeping close to the route we had set. We saw some of the reefs, but never those submerged rocks so we thought Doyle must have been right and the rocks displaced in a hurricane (we have since been told that they are there so I am glad we didn’t anchor too close!)

Coco Point is just stunning – a long pinky white beach with coconut palms (planted around the two resorts) and nothing else but the hint of the private airstrip that services the one working resort (Coco Point Resort – such imagination with the names). Once anchored I did the Heinrick Manoeuvre (diving on the anchor to see that we were set – naming of this manoeuvre is another long story that I won’t get into here) and relaxed to check we were set and of course got out the wifi antennae and hooked up to the world while taking in the glorious surrounds, with only 2 other boats at anchor.


 
There was a prediction of northerly swells a couple of days out that could possibly turn Coco Point into an untenable anchorage that we needed to watch but other than that it was relaxing in Paradise, until...
Just as we were settling in to this beautiful bay, a new Leopard 46 arrived and I couldn’t believe it, it turned directly in front of us, stopping what seemed a couple of boat lengths away, dropped the pick and started backing up on us. “Bloody Frenchmen” I thought as I picked up my bitch wings and headed to the bow.... But no! It was an Aussie flagged boat!!! After I picked up my jaw from the deck, they looked back (I am sure with a smile on their face) and picked up their hook and moved. “Must have been taking the mickey” I thought giving them the benefit of the doubt...

Well by the end of the day there were about 15 boats at anchor so I don’t feel so bad about telling people about Barbuda, because obviously a lot know.

Next morning we went and visited the jokers on their very nice “Scolamanzi” and found the second joke they pulled was their accents. The Queenslanders, Henriette and Johann invited us aboard with very noticeable South African accents. And despite having been in Aus for over a decade, Johann inexcusably still barracks for the Boks....

After a tour of the boat (which resulted in an order for a Intervac central vacuum by the cheese and kisses as a result of BE – boat envy), and discussions on the weather (which resulted in Scolamanzi upping the anchor and heading to Spanish Point to avoid the northerly swell) we headed into the beach for a stroll and swim. The swell was a bit unpredictable but we did manage to put ashore near the K Club (now defunct, but apparently Princess Di’s favourite resort, which Karen tucked away in the gossip filing cabinet) and enjoy the beach. As we approached the other resort, the resort security approached us and explained we were welcome to enjoy the beach, but could not enter the property above the beach line. I am not sure the photos do it justice, but the beach is beautiful, with a tinge of pink from the broken shells.



We continued down the beach to the point and looked across to Spanish point to gauge (or at least I was) how difficult it would be to navigate the reefs safely if required.

Back on the boat and another check of the weather confirmed that our options were to bug out of Coco Point for Antigua, or buzz round the corner to Spanish Point to hide from the oncoming swell. Well after a lot of discussion, a quick call to our new friends on Scolamanzi and some very detailed work on the charts, we agreed that next morning we would become experienced reef navigators and head into White Bay at Spanish Point! (See I knew I would get my way)

The sun was up and the sky reasonably clear the next morning so at noon we upped anchor to head round with the sun almost directly above and moving behind us. We had a very detailed route on the chart plotter and a very nervous reef spotter on the bow and an only slightly less nervous helmsman as we motored around the corner.

We slowly and carefully worked our way around the point and zigzagged our way through the reefs, Karen very competently spotting all the reefs and Bommies (coral heads) with ample time to ensure we safely manoeuvred towards the reef (her very dry mouth made competent communication of these facts a bit more difficult but flailing arms and nervous steps can say alot). As we were nearing White Bay, I made a mistake, instead of following our route, I decided to head towards Scolamanzi, despite a couple of “obstacles” on the chart. These ones were actually there, but as I approached, my spotter kindly indicated my error, and with an “all Astern” I backed out of the reef with no contact at all – luckily as I would never have lived it down, nor been allowed to go within 100 miles of a reef again!

We dropped anchor exactly where we planned, but with rocks close by the next 24 hours was a bit nervous as we constantly monitored our track and watched how we swung in relation to these “Navigational Hazards” in the photo below – things looked the same from all sides of the boat!



Well it seemed that the northerly swells were set in and we were stuck in White Bay with strong winds, lots of sun, waves crashing over the point and clear, clear azure waters. We were in about 15 feet (yes I have succumbed to talking in the ancient imperial measurement system due to the abundance of North Americans down here) and you could see the ripples in the sand from the deck! (You may need to look very closely at the photo tho’)



We spent 11 days in this delightful place – no shopping, no bars, just beaches, reefs and water. We caught up with some friends from Grenada (Hummingbird, Act 3) and met new ones as we enjoyed a impromptu pot luck on the beach one night, dinner on Scolamanzi and drinks aboard Hummingbird. We met the owners of a Canadian 42 PDQ catamaran that had designed his own hybrid system using Fischer Panda technology (including litium Ion batteries worth $25,000). It was a different design philosophy to the Lagoon , but he loved it even though it did take him two attempts to get the system to work properly on a cruising catamaran.

We snorkelled, walked along the beach, played bocce (although the beaches in White Bay were narrow and you had to watch out for the donkey poo obstacles) and of course worried about when the swell would drop and how we would get the hell out of the reef obstacle course. The island is interesting in that it is small and inhabited by only 1600 people who effectively live in one village, Codrington, and the rest of the island is uninhabited so you could go for walks and be totally alone with only the sounds of the waves.



We saw lots of evidence of wildlife, past and present in the form of the above mentioned donkey poo, vacated land tortoise shells, interestingly coloured conch shells and other stuff. We were a little disappointed in the snorkelling as the reefs appeared a little dead compared to other islands we have visited.





Apart from enjoying the beauty of the island we also to a stroll to windward side to the surf beaches and were absolutely amazed at one low swooping white sandy beach. From a distance it looked stunning and very inviting – and we had it all to ourselves. However, when we got up close and personal, it became obvious, that all was not as it seemed.


Garbage Beach
Strewn along the beach was more garbage than I had ever seen – gin bottles, rum bottles, old buoys, crates and all manner of flotsam – all apparently wash up from being discarded or washed overboard from passing ships – it made us vow never to throw any rubbish overboard. It also instigated our cruising garbage collection system – now we use my finished 1.75l rum bottles (there are an abundance of those aboard) to collect all our packaging material. You would not believe it but in that one little bottle I fitted over 1.5 weeks of garbage, excluding organics and recyclables! We also did our bit and took away what we could carry (ok it was two nice packing crates that fit nicely in our front locker).



After 11 days it was time to say “Hasta la Vista” to White Bay no matter how idyllic our surrounds we, and following our track in (except where that little mistake was made) in reverse,  we slowly made our way round Coco Point and headed north to Low Bay for a couple of days (an unfortunately short stay as beers were running low).



Low Bay is another 16 mile pinkish white beach with a couple sparse resorts on in (one near Codrington and one at the southern tip). We anchored near the Light House Bay resort and again got good wifi!



We spent the afternoon relaxing, watching the anchor track and of course taking advantage of the wifi – Karen even rang home on skype. We also organised to be picked up the next morning to visit the frigate bird rookery. We were in two minds if it would be worth the US$50 but thought it would probably be one of those things that other people would rave about and we would be disappointed if we didn’t go.

Next morning we were up  early and went to meet our water taxi on the strip of white sand south of the resort.... have a look at the photo and imagine that beach went on for 16 miles then you tell me where you think we were going to meet him.... Well it turned out to be easier than we thought, another taxi driver was on the beach on at the resort and he called us in and then pointed us in the right direction and our guy appears on the beach and helps us haul Debbie up the beach to the fence.

Our guide, organised through George Jeffrey, was a professional power house operator who did tours and water taxi work part time to make ends meet. He was very informative about the island and the frigate bird rookery. In fact we learnt more about frigate birds than anyone really has the right to know!



The blokes do all the hard work, puffing up there bright red neck to attract the female. After she has checked him out and decides if his bright red neck is sufficiently large, his real estate, nice enough and he won’t embarrass her with her friend’s, she sends him out to gather building materials and build the nest. If he does a good job, he is rewarded with sex (does this seem familiar to you guys). She then gets up the duff and sends him out to get the food.



This story does have a familiar ending though. After about 2-3 months of this the bloke gets to leave for another colony and the girl has to stay behind and look and he gets to do it all over again!



After the tour we headed back in to Codrington to clear out.



Now checking out in Codrington is not something you want to do by yourself. Yes, it is a safe place and the people are friendly, but it is complicated and it is very difficult to find the customs and immigration offices. Customs is near the airport, in a house and I could not see the sign until it was pointed out to me by our guide. After about 1 ½ hours, all was done and we just needed to do some shopping for fresh and beer (I had run out!) and we were done. Unfortunately I forgot to tell the taxi driver I wanted beer and we missed that stop and not much fresh in the supermarket so not much shopping done.

The taxi driver suggested if we wanted a beer, we could stop at the resort before heading back to the boat which we did. It is a beautiful resort with the bar overlooking Low Bay and Where II.



In addition to the US$20 beer and juice, the manager gave us a tour of the resort rooms, which were fantastic. Full suites with huge bathrooms, a full kitchen (with wine chiller but no cooking facilities) and large bedrooms. At $1500 a night, I suppose it is what you would expect as I have never and will probably never pay that for a room, but all food and drinks are include at that price and if you stay 3 nights you get a complimentary one way helicopter transfer from Antigua!

After that it was back to the boat to prepare for tomorrows trip to St Bart’s and onto St Martins the next day. We tried to sort out our Gennaker but had no luck so it looks like it is a motor sail west for us.

Antigua or Bust! And that we did....

We have been hanging out to reach Antigua – it is supposed to be fantastic. Mega yacht capital of the Caribbean.... beautiful beaches etc etc. But our arrival there was anything short of horrific. And this is how Karen described it in an email to friends back home ....

“We have had an interesting time in the Leewards.  You knew the starboard engine failed in Dominica, but that was ok as we were on a mooring, sorted out the fuel intake thing and we have it working.

We had a rough sail to Antigua, waves breaking over the bimini into the cockpit.  But quicker than we thought, arriving in tiny crowded English Harbour around 2pm. I put out 10 metres of chain when the windlass died completely.  I had just enough out to get the anchor wrapped around an old mooring line (we didn't know it at the time) so I had to take the helm and Matt struggled to pull it up by hand.  My helming was all panic, which made it harder.  Matt almost got it up but didn't have the brake on at it all fell back in!  After another 20 minutes he got it up, and we saw the old mooring ropes tangled around the anchor.  He went back to the helm and flagged down a dinghy and got them to release it and we headed out and to the next bay Falmouth, with Marinas.  I wasn't going to anchor again until we had it working.  Well the $100US a night for 2 nights was beyond our budget, but while on the dock we were able to ascertain it was the circuit breaker that had failed. We walked for hours to every Chandlery, hardware and electrical shop to no avail.  Matt jury rigged it with the Circuit breaker for the electric winch and we went out to anchor in Falmouth.

Meanwhile, my computer was losing the date & time, so we took it to an IT shop.  They said no worries, it will be the motherboard battery, come back in an hour.  Well when we went back my computer no longer worked, the guy was talking Bios upgrades, and a week later he was unable to fix it and gave it back, dead.  Meanwhile Matt’s computer decided to join it and kept freezing up, then gave up.  So with the only one IT shop we knew about, we had no choice but to give him Matt’s and keep our fingers crossed.  He reckons Vista was corrupt, and backed it up and reinstalled everything and (touch wood) it seems to be working.  So we spent 2 ½ weeks waiting on computers.  Matt pulled mine apart to see if he could fix it and really put the nail in the coffin, so I am waiting until St Martin to see about a replacement.

 But our sagas continued!  We decided to leave Falmouth for Jolly Harbour.  I had almost got the anchor up when the windlass shut off again (this time because the chain was backed up in the locker and wrapped around the Gypsy).  As it was only a couple of feet above the water I put the brake on to stop it falling back in, when the port motor died.  The winds were gusting up to 25k, there are mega yachts anchored all around us and we only have the one engine.  I tried to release the brake and drop the anchor, but the damned thing was jammed. Matt was having a hard time keeping us off other boats, so I managed to flag down John from Millennium who came on board and helped me release the tangled chain and we dropped the hook in a hurry, hoping like hell we were set.

 It turned out to be the fuel intakes pipe – the same as happened on the starboard engine in Dec.  On reflection we should have changed both then.

 So we waited a couple of days for my nerves to calm down, then headed to Jolly harbour.  Nothing broke down; the holding was good and a big supermarket like IGA in Spiceland mall.

In the meantime our friends, who had been stuck in Martinique for 6 weeks waiting on mail, started the mad dash to catch up with us, doing day trips 4 days in a row to finally join us in Jolly.  We had not seen them since pre Xmas, so it was nice to catch up.

They had friends arriving on Thursday to sail with them for a few weeks,  It was really windy here, but about a week later it was agreed that the 2 boats would head 3 miles around into Deep Bay, then start making our way to Barbuda together.

Well they took off ½ an hour before us and we followed.  As it was only 3 miles we were prepared to motor, but they sailed and went offshore a bit more, so got more wind & waves.  Just as we rounded 5 Islands they radio us and say they have lost steerage and propulsion, they are heading back and may need a tow in.  What!?!?! We have never towed a boat before and there are reefs everywhere, but we slow down for them to return.  Next they radio and say they have blown out there main, and they want a tow through the cut back to Jolly.  They had the Genoa out and looked like they were sailing ok, but they asked us to come alongside and take their line.  Of course the wind and seas picked up, and when they threw the line it hit the Genoa, so Matt had to do a quick U-turn, missing them by a foot.  Second attempt I got the line and managed not to drop in and tied in onto the Port rear cleat.  Steering with their boat wanting to go in other directions was difficult, and Matt & I decided to forget the cut, and go outside the rocks and back into Jolly.  The noises their lines made were scary, as was trying to control our boat.  I was so relieved when they finally dropped the anchor and the tow line and we were under control again!  So now they are looking for a replacement transmission coupling and sail repairs, and I am trying to get up the courage to sail again.

So if you thought I was “Nervous Nelly” before, you should see “Shaking Stevens”.  I am going to look for herbal valium or start drinking with breakfast!
But it wasn’t all bad. After we sorted out the windlass and were waiting on computers, we did enjoy Antigua.  We spent a day exploring Nelson’s Dockyard in English harbour.


Officer’s Quarter’s

Lord Nelson as you have never seen her
We took in the history including a nice little museum, a wander up to Fort Berkley (where we watched a mega yacht struggle to pick up its anchors amid all the yachts crammed into the anchorage one of which got towed out of the way by the marina tender!) and a T Shirt shop where Karen bought 5 pairs of board shorts – yes that is five pairs.

We also enjoyed the traditional Sunday evening at Shirley Heights – steel pan band and reggae band with a great barbeque and view of English Harbour.


The Crowd at Shirley Heights was almost as big as the Island Population

English Harbour with Falmouth Harbour in the background
We met up with another Aussie boat Alexes (although Dave was an impostor with an English accent) It was Dave’s birthday so the rum punches flowed freely.


Karen Jenny and Dave (Alexes)
We caught a taxi up to save the walk there and back (which is essential as rum punch makes rubber legs!).


Our Rasta taxi
Of course the neighbourhood we were staying in was none too shabby either. When we went into the marina, we were the second smallest boat there – not something I normally brag about!


Maltese Falcon – just one of many mega yachts we were hanging about
We lazed around Falmouth, enjoying lunch at the yacht club and dinner at the Mad Mongoose where the served Calamari and fat chips and EC$5 rum punches – it was not bad at all. Australia day was coming up and there was a Barbie being held on Galleon beach that we thought we might attend, but in the end we were invited by “Gone with the Wind” (Aussie) to celebrate it with some Canadians and Americans. We gathered up John and Nat from Millennium and met them all for drinks at the Mad Mongoose. As the others left for dinner down at Nelson’s we decided to enjoy the calamari and chips (with a half price bottle of Babich NZ Sauvignon Blanc) once more at the mad mongoose. I could not tear Karen away from the Calamari!

Now it wasn’t all just eating and drinking, we did venture in to St John’s – the capital and wandered the streets. We were caught by a disabled guy who was selling CDs to raise funds for his school. We decided on the reggae CD (Onyan “Baby Food”) and parted with our cash (not cheap but a good cause and local music I kept telling myself). We explored the Cruise dock terminal where Karen found the Body Shop and bought some eye gel, but best of all we found The Australian Ice Cream shop down near the dock. I am not sure what differentiates “Australian” icecream, but it was fantastic! (On our next shopping trip into St John’s we had to go back to introduce our friends to Aussie Ice cream).

You will be disappointed to hear that the CD I bought was effectively a donation, as I think we have listened to the CD the one and only time – it was not that great... I would have preferred to find a copy of “Drinkin’ Rum and Red Bull” and part with my cash for it. I am sure that with a name like that the proceeds go to a good cause!

We spent a couple of days exchanging files and movies with John and Nat and a club burgee with Antigua Yacht Club.


Elizabeth Jordan, the Commodore of the AYC swaps burgees with yours truly
Next we headed up to Jolly Harbour where we relaxed and enjoyed the excursions to Epicurean to shop while awaiting our friend’s arrival. There is a nice beach with white sands, a beach bar and thousands of tourists – we fitted right in. We noted it was perfect for Bocce, which we played later in our stay!

Jolly Harbour itself is like a canal development on the gold coast with every unit having its our dock. I was keen to check them out, ‘cause if Karen wanted to give up the sailing, it seemed like a nice place to park the boat and live out our retirement. Karen thought it was a stupid idea so she will have to keep sailing!

After about 2 weeks at Jolly we started heading north to Deep Bay, which is a nice protected harbour with a white sand beach (you may think I am going on a bit about the white sand beach thing but we haven’t seen too many in the Caribbean – maybe we Aussies are a bit spoilt), a quite resort, a wreck into the entrance of the bay and an old fort on the hill. So there was a bit to do. Fort Barrington was a bit of a rock climb, so Karen made it only half way, meaning sundowners up there were out of the question



But the view of Deep Bay was magnificent



Given we couldn’t have sundowners up at the fort and there was a nice white beach, we mixed up some rum punch (I think my recipe is getting quite good now) and headed into the beach and had a game of bocce! Nature of course had its own plans, and while I was whipping Karen’s but, the clouds built and we headed home without Karen’s inevitable defeat!

Next morning we headed out to the Andes to snorkel the wreck, but alas visibility was 0 and you could only make out the top of the mast, the bow and some of the deck structure. So back to the boat and some forward planning. It looked good for a short hop to Dickenson and then up to Barbuda over the next couple of days so we had an early night (probably watched an episode of Love My Way which Al and Boofa introduced us to last year).

Next day it was off to Dickenson, a nice white sandy beach surrounded by a couple of all inclusive beach resorts and expensive beach bars. We thought about going out for a special Valentines dinner, but in the end we decided to cook up some garlic prawns, have another bottle of Babich and enjoy a quiet romantic night on the boat. All that came off except the quiet bit! The resorts kept the music coming ‘til late at night which encouraged us to head off to Barbuda today!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Janette Boluch
DATE: 3/16/2011 11:23:12 PM
Loved catching up with your blogs, which I have missed reading. Footy season is about to begin again - go bombers. The mighty Sir James Hird is now our coach and big things are about to happen!! Footy will be interesting as the Gold Coast Suns with Guy McKenna as coach enter the competition this year and North Sydney with Kevin Sheedy as Head Coach enter 2012. Gary Ablett Jnr left Geelong as did Campbell Brown Hawthorn to join Gold Coast but if you have internet you probably know all of this. Karen send me your email so I can write to you.

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!