05/16/2012, Cumberland Bay, Saint Vincent
We have always passed by the enticing anchorages on the west side of Saint Vincent, but we have been hearing good things about Cumberland Bay so we decided to spend a few days and make our own impression. In short we had a very nice time and enjoyed the bay and surrounding countryside.
All of the boats anchor bow out and have a stern line to shore. When we arrived one of the boatmen offered to tie us up to shore and offered us mangoes and at that point we could use a few mangoes. Several boatmen visited us and of course I cannot pass up fresh local fruit. We passed on the herbs and seed necklaces.
We took daily walks and one evening a young man joined us for a walk and helped us gather mangoes. We came home in the dark with about 20 pounds of mangoes in my pack, plus plums (different than North American plums) and half dozen plantains. One afternoon we walked to the town of Spring to buy bread at the bakery and spent time watching local boys play cricket.
There is a government built facility that has a washer and dryer for visiting boaters. We felt safe and enjoyed the evening music from the comfort of our boat. We have picked up our friends Jim and Kathy and will be headed south.
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05/10/2012, Pitons, St. Lucia
Yesterday we left Rodney Bay mid morning and headed south to the mooring field between the Pitons. The winds were very light and we motor sailed south. Hunter was sitting in view of the genoa (the foresail) looking at the sail trim when he noticed a 15 inch rip where the protective fabric meets the sail material. We had a similar tear repaired in St. Martin about two months ago. The repair is not hard to do, you just have to have a place to spread out the sail and have a sewing machine that can sew sail material. We did not want to wait to take the sail to a sail loft and we knew that today we would be making a passage from St. Lucia to St. Vincent and would want to use the genoa. We cleaned the fabric with alcohol and placed an adhesive sail patch and then took out my trusty sewing machine and zig zagged the edges. We had the sail back up within an hour and enjoyed an evening swim. It has been said that cruising is the opportunity to do boat repairs in exotic places.
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05/07/2012, Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
There was very little wind last night and the boats in the Rodney Bay anchorage turned sideways to the swell. We were sitting under a cell of low pressure and it was pouring buckets. The rolling started at dusk and we foolishly decided that we did not want to move to the north end of the anchorage where we might get some relief from the sideways rolling. The intense rolling last for about four hours and it got so bad that Hunter suggested that we pick up the anchor and go to sea and sail around all night. We heaved side to side and we heard things banging around that we have never heard before. We stuffed lockers with rags and pillows to keep bottles from breaking and damp the noise. We were worried about the weight of the dingy with the motor and gas can on the davits so during a lull (ha!) we donned our rain jackets and dropped the dingy and hoisted the motor and gas can. Shortly after that we began a slow turn towards shore where bounced gently with the swell on our stern.
The events of last night inspired me to share the Arctic Tern scale of rolling at Anchor. This was published in the Caribbean Compass a few months ago. For the record we experienced a full 10 on the scale.
1. Rock a bye Baby: Gentle movement that is comfortable and might even rock you to sleep. Don't leave your wine glass untended.
2. Pesky: Periodic rolls that cause unmanned objects to unexpectedly fall onto cabin sole. A pesky roll can wake you up at night, but usually not keep you awake.
3. Annoying: Bottles start clinking. Objects roll off of un-fiddled spaces. You to walk into walls and lurch. Annoying rolls will wake you and might require minor changes to sleeping arrangements.
4. REALLY BAD: It is really noisy with stuff rattling and clinking. Unsecured objects become missiles. Sleeping arrangements must be re-arranged to across the boat or bodies need to be chocked. Misery and whining is permitted.
5. Untenable: this is a gunnel to gunnel roll and if you can go somewhere else you should. Either move the boat or leave the boat. Forget about cooking or reading. If you cannot escape just take drugs and go to sleep.
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04/28/2012, Portsmouth, Dominica
We are in Dominica and it is mango season. You can buy mangoes or just go ashore and pick the freshly fallen mangos off of the ground. I celebrated this bounty by making mango chutney. You can use any firm fruit like peaches. You can find this and other recipes in the April issue of the Caribbean Compass.
Mango Chutney
5 Cups ripe mangos- diced
1 Cup raisins or currents
One and a half to two Cups apple cider vinegar
One and a half to two Cups brown sugar
Three quarters Cup diced onion
One quarter Cup diced ginger root
One half to two tsp hot pepper
1 tsp salt
Combine ingredients and bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until thick.
Cool and pour into clean jars and refrigerate. Makes about 6 cups.
This is the basic recipe. You can also add one half tsp cardamom seeds, a few cloves or a bit of cinnamon, or use cranberries or other dried fruit in place of the raisins.
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04/27/2012, Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
The Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta is over and it is time to move south. We both had a great time participating in the regatta. Hunter helped Alexis get Genesis, a traditional West Indian work boat, ready for the race and then crewed on Genesis. I had an article to write and I sailed on two different boats. I spent two days sailing on the 51 foot ketch Saphaedra and one day on a 120 foot boat Zaca a te Moana. Interesting names...Saphaedra is the goddess of tides and currents (Greek?) and Zaca a te Moana means for the love of the seas in Polynesian.
This is a photo of Zaca a te Moana undersail.
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04/13/2012, English Harbor
While I was sewing Hunter was oiling Genesis' mast in preparation for the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta.
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04/13/2012, English Harbor
In general I am not much of a procrastinator; I would rather get a job done than have it languish on my "to do" list, but there are a few sewing projects that I have been putting off for a long time. In the summer of 2007 I decided to make covers for the winches but the project seemed a bit complicated and I lost interest. Yesterday I decided to take out the instructions and the sewing supplies. I simplified the design a bit and spent a few hours listening to NPR podcasts and made two winch covers before dinner. Now I only have 7 more to go. You can see why I did not jump in with both feet.
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04/09/2012, English Harbor, Antigua
If Genesis does not do well in the upcoming Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta it is not due to a fouled bottom. Hunter has been helping Alexis get Genesis, his traditional Carriacou sloop, ready for the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. Genesis was built in the traditional way, with traditional tools and mostly local materials on the island of Carriacou, part of Grenada. Boats like Genesis served as fishing and freighting boats since the early 1900's. These versatile nimble boats have a rich history connecting the islands in the Eastern Caribbean for trade of all kinds, including smuggling liquor and other contraband.
You can read a short article about the building of Genesis at:
http://www.alexisandrews.com/data/web/WB221_CarriacouSloops.pdf
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03/28/2012, Falmouth Harbor, Antigua
The aroma of ripe guava overcame my senses in the fresh market in St. John's and I bought a bag of guavas that were just a bit green, but almost ripe. On the boat I left them to ripen in the little fruit and vegetable hammock in the galley. This morning the sweet smell of guava was strong it inspired me to make guava juice.
Guavas have thin skins and little hard seeds that you cannot eat around. You make juice by washing the guava, cutting off the ends and bruised or bad spots. Cut the guava into small pieces and blend with equal part water. Heat the mixture and add a bit of sugar and dilute to desired consistency and a chill. The results were delicious.
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03/24/2012, St. John, Antigua
There is a fresh fruit and vegetable market every day in St. John, the capital of Antigua, but the big day is Saturday. The streets are lined with vendors and there are little stands with local foods simmering in giant kettles and chicken parts on the grill. Hunter and I wandered around and bought vegetables as I created the menu for the week. I bought two fresh red snapper that I plan to stuff and grill tonight.
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03/23/2012, English Harbour
I am happy to report that the windlass is back on the boat and works, the hatch over the bed has been rebidded and the water pump is working. Dassa is an excellent mechanic and we can highly recommend him. Meantime I have been busy sanding teak and writing. At this point this is a record year for the number of my articles published in the Caribbean Compass and All At Sea.
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03/20/2012, English Harbour, Antigua
We attribute the small and unexplainable malfunctions of gear aboard the boat to "gremlins". A few months ago both heads (toilets) mysteriously were in need of repair. We left Saint Martin where you can buy just about any boat part easily and duty free and out of the blue the fresh water pump quit working. It had served the boat for 16 years, so it owed us nothing, but the timing was not great. We do have a hand pump, but before we primed the hand pump and got it going Hunter was able to use the sea water deck pump to pump water into the accumulation tank. This was not a perfect fix, but it worked well until Hunter could buy the correct pump.
Gremlins also attacked a hatch over our bed and on the sail from Nevis to Montserrat we had waves pouring over our bow and the hatch leaked and...one more for Hunter's list. We cannot attribute the next problem to gremlins, but the windlass (the motor that hauls the anchor chain up and down) has been in need of servicing and Hunter just lacked the tools to pull it off. We got in touch with a man named Dassa and he brought his wheel puller and as I type two brains and two tools boxes are attacking that problem. It appears that we need a can of Gremlin Be Gone.
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03/17/2012, Nevis
Nevis, the little sister island of two island country of St. Kitts and Nevis, is 36 square miles with a population of about 12,000 people. As you approach Nevis from any direction Nevis Peak (3,232 feet) stands out as the major landmark and almost always wears a shroud of clouds. I mention this for two reasons: the first was the welcome rain shower from the cloud on the peak that we got our first night here after a wet salty passage; the second is of course our desire to get onto the peak and into the forest. We did find a hike that got us onto the peak and into some very nice forest. The hike is called the Source and takes you to the source of the drinking water for much of the island. When you get to the "Source" you can climb a 55 plus rung rusty ladder, or you can just admire the forest. We both climbed the ladder.
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03/11/2012, Saint Martin
Okay, I did not surf any waves on my first day out on a surf kayak, also called a surf ski, I just paddled and wobbled a bit and said whoa and a few other words, not appropriate for my blog. . A surf ski is a long, narrow, lightweight kayak with an open cockpit and a foot pedal controlled rudder. It kind of feels like sitting on a long tube with an indent for you butt cheeks. When you get past the wobblies you can catch waves. Hunter looks very relaxed in this photo, but he has a few more kayak hours under seat.
Our friend Thomas is a coach for the Saint Martin surf kayak club and offered us the opportunity to try out the surf kayak. It was really fun and I think I would enjoy the sport, but the kayak is nearly 12 feet long and would not fit on our deck. We are getting ready to leave St. Martin and head south. It has been a busy and fun four weeks, but it is time to go.
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02/25/2012, Simpson Bay Lagoon, St. Martin
Saint Martin is a great place to buy stuff for the boat, get work done and do work. We both have project lists and today Hunter serviced the outboard motor. We used the boom to hoist the motor into the cockpit so Hunter could change the oil, change the impeller and lube the engine. The cockpit is not the ideal workshop, but it is better than working in the water, especially with high winds. This has the potential to be a very greasy job and Hunter did a great job keeping the mess contained.
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Thanks
02/22/2012, St. Martin
For us St. Martin is mostly about doing boat work and taking advantage of really good boat supply stores that are duty free. We always meet friends here on similar missions and we have a few friends who have settled here and it is nice to visit with them.
It is carnival week and we finally took a break from chores and errands (buying stuff) and went to the French side to watch the evening Carnival parade. A band is a group of people in similar themed costume. There is a sound truck, usually an 18 wheeler with really BIG speakers and a beverage truck behind the people. The people dance to the music behind the monster sound truck and do this for hours. At one point one of the band staff made his rounds with buckets of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)- yeah, for real.
Carnival happens once a year and people really let loose. As I took photos a few of the band members came up to me to get me to dance or pose for a photo. Of course I complied in all cases.
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02/14/2012, Whitehouse Bay, St. Kitts
I did not expect this much red on Valentine's Day. Yesterday we left Montserrat and sailed to St. Kitts in very light wind. Hunter thought it would be great to fly the spinnaker (actually it is an asymmetrical sail). This sail is rigged when needed and lives in a long sock made of very light nylon. Hunter rigged the sail and did not get it quite right and the red monster got in the rigging and the sock got torn.
The task today was to patch the hole and repair two ten foot rips in the sock. The sock is about 50 feet and is quite a monster when out of the big sail bag. Not to worry we did the repairs and the red monster is back in the bag.
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02/12/2012, Montserrat
The people of Montserrat are pretty amazing. In 1989 hurricane Hugo wiped out much of the island's infrastructure. Over 90% of the houses were damaged. People rebuilt and resumed their lives. In August 1995 the volcano that had been dormant for four hundred years awoke and buried almost half of the island in ash rocks and debris, including the capital city. People evacuated the area and got on with life. Many folks were evacuated and told that it would be a just a few days. That was 17 years ago. Just two years ago in February, 2010 a dome collapsed sending more ash and rock fall onto the island.
We have dropped our anchor here a few times but never went ashore. There is very little protection in the anchorage so you need good weather conditions. We took advantage of the opportunity and spent two days in Montserrat. We took a tour which in included a visit to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Our guide took us to lookouts where we could see the impact of the lava and debris flows. In this photo our guide, Joe, is showing us what the house looked like before the lava flow and you can see that afterward you can only see the top of story of the house.
PS. The Jimmy Buffet song "Volcano" is about Montserrat.
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02/09/2012, Ilet a Fajou, Guadeloupe
I spent my birthday anchored in a beautiful secluded anchorage in water so clear we could see starfish beneath the boat. We had a great birthday lunch aboard Oceania. Kathy cooked colombo curried chicken, rice and salad with birthday cake and wine. Lunch was delicious, the company was great. It was a lovely day!
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It is always a gift to take a minute out of my bureaucratic day and read about your latest adventure. Sue.
02/08/2012, Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe
We are in Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe and took a trip to the Aquarium. This little fellow is a yellow headed jaw fish.
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