02/28/2010, Petit Tabac - Tobago Cays
An island of palm trees and reefs, maybe 1 mile long by ΒΌ mile with room among the reefs for only a boat or two in 10 feet of water. That is Petit Tabac, a destination to be respected and approached by experienced reef pilots only and visited briefly, at low tide, unless you like rollers yanking at the anchor. But with consideration for the above, there is not a more remote, picturesque tropical island in all of St. Vincent and The Grenadines and maybe not the West Indies.
A short sail from there, the Tobago Cays await, with diving, turtles and water the color of Blue Curacao. It has been a month now that we have been in Grenada and back and forth to St. Vincent with our friends Dan and Debby Hoyt from New Jersey and now Hans and Dani Himmelman from Nova Scotia.
Grenada has become a second home, specifically Le Phare Bleu Marina in Little Calivigny, our base for island tours and waterfall adventures. As we now work our way through the islands of St. Vincent, it feels good to be underway again, saying goodbye to Carlos, our favorite "boat boy", Pleasure, the Chatham Bay character and all the other hard working locals out here. This will be our last visit for the season as we head north to Antigua, The Virgin Islands, Bahamas and home to the Chesapeake.
This has been a season of standard fare, if Caribbean cruising can be considered standard, perfect tropical weather with various equipment issues; refrigeration, water maker, generator, fresh water pumps, even the dinghy engine. These issues are apparently designed to keep Steve busy and sometimes even befuddled. Remarkably, he manages to fix or jury rig each and every breakdown with help from our visiting friends toting luggage packed with parts.
It is eerily quiet in the Caribbean, the wind has been down for weeks, to under 10 knots at times, and the cruisers and charterers are fewer than last year, which was also a down year. Megayacht captains are complaining about no charter business, we see them idle in Antigua or just out for a day sail with the crew. It is somewhat amazing that the recession has idled the "idle rich" along with the rest of us or maybe the mind shift from conspicuous consumption to quiet enjoyment has finally filtered up to the super wealthy.
With Satellite TV onboard, we are so much more in touch, from the frightening natural disasters happening around the world, the Super Bowl, watched with Brits (as we could find no Americans with which to have a Super Bowl party), the unbelievable snowy winter in the U.S. and the Winter Olympics, while floating in 85 degree water! Lucky for us, the Canadian Hockey teams won as we watched the games with Hans and Dani Himmelman from Nova Scotia, and everyone knows how those Canadians are about ice hockey!
Next week, we start the journey north with a stopover in Antigua to fly back for a week, then on to the Virgins, Bahamas and home. We will leave the Caribbean with no particular plans for next season so the big question remains, "Where will we go from here?"
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01/20/2010, Union Island, St. Vincent
After sailing south from Antigua in two short hops, we met friends Tom & Sue Boyle and Ken & Barb Hodge in Marigot Bay, St. Lucia. A few exhilarating sails later we arrived in beautiful St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The sailing is marvelous with each anchorage as pleasant as ever. Blue Pearl has been performing quite well, keeping Capt. Steve busy, but without too many problems. Instead of boat issues, we have been lucky to spend our time diving, swimming and exploring. We found Happy Island just off the coast of Union Island, the home and bar business of a typical Caribbean entrepreneur.
Built by just adding to the original conch shell foundation, it now stands on concrete, surrounded by water, awaiting the inevitable hurricane.
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01/12/2010, Isle de Les Saintes, Guadaloupe
As the trade winds settle into the rhythm of the season, so we do, as well. After sailing Blue Pearl to Antigua mid December, and a quick visit back to the States for the some skiing and Christmas, we are back aboard with almost two lovely weeks of cruising already under our keel.
We spent the last ten days exploring Antigua by boat and car with a short, uncomfortable sail to Montserrat to see the live volcano, which, right on cue, burped a big ash cloud just as we approached, thankfully taken by the wind before it could rain ashes on us. Montserrat lost it's good harbor to the volcano years ago and the only harbor left is windy, rolly and buggy, so one sleepless night later, we decided to just skip the volcano tour and head back to Green Island on the east side of Antigua. The trip was hardly worth the stamp in my passport!
Juli and her friend, Annie, flew back to chilly Boston on Sunday and we are once again headed to the Windward Islands, our favorite part of the Caribbean.
St. Lucia, 200 miles, no worries. Les Saintes today, Dominica tomorrow, then an overnight sail to St. Lucia to meet friends in Marigot Bay. Sailing is as dynamic as ever here with a steady breeze of 12-20 knots with 25+ between islands. I am almost afraid to fish as landing one is quite the effort under these sailing conditions. Almost, I said, as the lure (no pun intended) of fresh fish for dinner sure is worth it! And I am Domenic's daughter. But we are READY this year, ALL hatches closed (no exceptions) and plastic curtains in place.
What else can I say to all our friends and family enjoying enduring winter in the Northeast? Get on down here and sail and swim and snorkel and explore with us. I can guarantee perfect weather, incredible scenery and outstanding trade wind sailing. And from what I see on the weather channel, there is very little of that to be had in the Northeast during the winter.
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11/17/2009, ST. Georges Bermuda
With winter in the Northeast fast approaching, Blue Pearl departed Oxford Maryland on a brisk but dying northwest wind.
The captain, Steve Stelmaszyk and crew of Dan Hoyt, Jerry Skoll and Selwyn Levitt were in good spirits, looking forward to a fast and safe passage to Bermuda albeit with a forecast of light winds for three days. They arrived in St. Georges, Bermuda on Tuesday night November 12th at approximately 2145 local time, with the northeast wind a steady 25 plus knots.
I, on the other hand, arrived on Thursday, after endless provisioning and driving back and forth for crew and supplies, aboard the 1545 Continental Airlines flight out of Newark. Yes, I took the easy route, but will be onboard for the Bermuda Antigua run, in early December hopefully without the equipment failure we suffered last year.
After an interesting summer in the North Country (Lake Placid, NY), it is exciting to begin a new cruising season with the local knowledge gained last year. Customs will be so much less challenging, unless of course the rules have changed, as they sometimes do in the Caribbean.
The weather here in Bermuda has been spectacular, 80s and sunny, a taste of the glorious Caribbean weather we will enjoy all winter.
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05/13/2009, Stocking Island, Bahamas
The passage south through the Bahamas is called the Thorny Path because although it involves no offshore trips, it is upwind sailing into the trades all the way to the Virgin Islands, a rough trip into 15-20 knot headwinds. Going back to the States, it is the opposite, downwind and beam reaching every day, still with the steady, easterly trade winds.
Our crew of Juli and my Dad arrived in St. Thomas on April 24th and we spent several days revisiting all the wonderful anchorages in the US Virgins and the British Virgins that we visited so long ago by charter boat. Maho Bay, Jost Van Dyke and The Baths on Virgin Gorda are just as beautiful and pristine as we remember and at this time of year, not very crowded with charterers. Juli finally enjoyed the white sand beaches and aqua water that she craved all winter.
After the relaxing Virgins, we started our passage to the Bahamas via Culebra, an island off Puerto Rico then our three night passage to the Turks and Caicos Islands. I don't have much to say about Culebra except that it was dirty and disappointing, not even worth the long entrance channel!
The passage to the Turks& Caicos was downwind, rolly and uneventful except for the BIG fish that stripped the line in 30 seconds and the Spanish ship that refused to answer our call as we closed on a collision course. Surviving both events, we sailed over some of the deepest water in the world, The Puerto Rican Trench, 27,000 feet deep in spots, to arrive with the depth going from 10,000 feet to 12 feet in a matter of minutes. The dramatic change in the color of the water was unworldly, the deep blue ocean to swimming pool aqua green, with a line in the water marking the change. Welcome to the Bahamas!
Well, not quite the Bahamas, as TCI is a separate country but with all the characteristics of the Bahamas chain, bright, white limestone ashore and clear, clear water all around, with spectacular reefs just to make it interesting. Providenciales, the island where we anchored, is commonly called Provo (don't hurt your mouth, Mon). We spent three nights there, in the brightest, clearest water you could imagine.
After Juli left, we sailed a quick overnight to the Acklin Islands and spent the night the only boat on a beach covered with shells and sponges. The reef right off our bow was a snorkeling delight, all types of coral and reef fish. Better to snorkel those reefs than run into them!
Our next stop, Little Harbor on Long Island was accessed through a VERY scary entrance. Narrow, with the sea running, only 10-11 feet deep but once inside, WOW! There were turtles, fish jumping and again we were the only boat. Where is everybody? I thought we would see a lot more travelers, oh, and a lot more fish. In spite of Dad diligently fishing every day, we got nothing. So on to Clarencetown, still on Long Island, where we tied up to The Flying Fish Marina to spend a day or two cleaning up, clearing customs (finally) and refueling. We got to see what lures the sport fishermen were using, so Dad got yet more fishing gear, and we headed out for Conception Island, a national park, with an interesting feature, an inland bay accessible at high tide only.
I guess the fish somehow knew we now had our official Bahamas fishing license, because 1-2 miles out of Clarencetown, we boated two Dolphinfish at once! Redemption! Now that the pressure was off, we trolled our way to Conception, catching another, but releasing it as we didn't want to clean another fish.
Conception was everything the cruising guides said it was, pristine and scenic with huge limestone cliffs and dramatic views of the reef strewn windward side. We took the dinghy ride up the inland bay at high tide, it was shallow and eerie, but we missed seeing any turtles. An hour after high tide, the ride across the reef was rough, shallow and fast with the outgoing tide.
Although Steve and Dad discovered dinghy fishing back in Little Harbor they really took advantage of it here in Conception. Grouper seemed to be the dinghy catch and we used them to lure bigger fish at the boat. We spent a scary evening with sharks all around where they took our 50 lb. test line twice, once on a steel leader. I dangled a fish head in the water after dark and watched an eight foot shark try to strike it again and again. He was right next to the boat, with his head up to get the bait. It was exciting to see a fish so powerful and when I finally let him take it, the line broke in an instant.
I think that Dad is getting his fill of fishing, finally.
Working our way back, we sailed on to the Exumas, stopping near Georgetown where Dad and I go back home. There are plenty of cruisers here, many having gone no further than the Bahamas. The sailors here are mostly from the States, different than down island, where we were the minority. A few more weeks and Steve and Blue Pearl will be back in Oxford, Maryland where we started this adventure last November. What a trip!
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Frank
04/20/2009, Anguilla
The return to Antigua after our sad trip back to the U.S. was bittersweet. In a way, it was good to be HOME, that is, back on Blue Pearl. Our friends, the Matthews, arrived on Friday, sans luggage (I warned them!), to another beautiful day in the Caribbean. Waiting for the luggage, we made the requisite trips to the Saturday market in St. Johns and the Shirley Heights Jump-Up on Easter night. Finally underway on Monday, we sailed east to Green Island, for swimming, snorkeling and experiencing a few of the many, many incredible beaches of Antigua. Too nice to leave!
But on Thursday we did just that, sailing past Falmouth for the last time this season, remembering our arrival there back in December, at night with no rudder, and our sad return a few weeks ago. We have many happy memories of Antigua also, dawn of the day after our test at sea, Christmas with our daughter, New Years with our childhood friends, Tom & Sue Boyle, and Easter with the Matthews.
Five Island Harbor on the west side of the island is another of the famous harbors and beaches of Antigua, with a resort boasting $ 150.00 (US) dinners. Needless to say, we ate aboard! A short trip around the corner to Jolly Harbor for re-provisioning and a farewell to our crew of Matthews. A week goes by so fast and yet the week until Juli and my dad arrive seems like an eternity.
At 0500 on Sunday, we left Jolly Harbor bound north for St. Barts, a windless 85 nm motor-sail. We stayed overnight there and left early for Anguilla, another light wind sail. Anguilla was less than we expected, with a general lack of ambience and yet another remarkably laborious customs experience, with fees and restrictions befitting the Middle East, not a small, tourist dependent island competing with well-known neighbors like St. Maarten and St. Barts. In retrospect, those islands may have been the place to stop but then one can spend quite a lot of money in there, with boutiques and stores rivaling those in NYC. Anguilla needs to take a lesson from them if they want to appeal to the tourist trade and get some of those dollars and euros in their economy. I guess one season in the Caribbean is just not enough to sort this all out.
Tonight we set sail for St. John, US Virgin Islands to arrive early morning on Steve's birthday! Going north is filled with expectations as we will be visiting ports where we chartered many years ago and now arriving in our own boat. Ports beyond the Virgins will be new for us, the Spanish Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos and then the Bahamas, the SHALLOW Bahamas. I have to admit, I am dreading those 10 foot readings on the depth sounder but hopefully the experience gained all those years sailing in shallow New Jersey waters will be put to good use.
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