We are back in St Maarten after a horrible sail from the Virgin Islands - wind on the nose the whole way and a big lumpy sea. Simpson Bay is very rolly so we're anchored in the Lagoon again.
When we arrived in Simpson Bay Anne went through to the Heads (as you do) to find the floor awash, the hot tap having disconnected itself from the pipe - we had lost about 60 gallons of fresh water into the bilges. The only consolation is that we didn't actually BUY the water - we had collected it in our new rain catcher. We don't want it to rain here, but it would be good to top up the tank again!
Take a close look at the photo above - "Grand Bleu" - there's a whole lot more toys on this boat than you think! At 370 feet she's reckoned to be number 12 on the list of the World's Longest motor luxury yachts.
|
Comments [0]
We've got a big northerly swell coming in, the wind is coming from the south and it's a question of where does one anchor, because it doesn't seem to matter where you go there's waves coming at you, with their main intention of rocking you, and rolling you, and generally upsetting our peaceful equilibrium. However, Alan has managed to sort some kind of bridle out with the anchor and chain and we're sitting bow onto the swell, which is working well. Note, the photo above is not where we're anchored at the moment! This photo is Watermelon Bay, and you can see more photos by clicking on the link on the right hand side of this page.
|
At last, I've got a connection, and I've got heaps of photos to upload. However, one at a time ... here's the first - Kate and DJ from "Hello World" - you just never know who you're going to meet. They're from Scotland and we first met them in Trinidad nearly three years ago. It's a very, very small World!! We met up with them in the BVI's and went strolling round Peter Island with them. We split up shortly after - we came west to the US Virgin Islands, and they went to St Maarten. We're sure we'll meet up with them somewhere soon.
|
The problem about being in the middle of nowhere is that there are no internet connections, so although I've got tons of photographs, I can't upload them just now. Sorry guys, you'll all need to wait!! I haven't had a really good connection since St Maarten, and we won't be back there for a couple of weeks. I'm uploading this bit of blog from Sailmail - at least I hope I am!
We're still in the US Virgin Islands. We plan on leaving the Virgin Island group in the next 7/10 days. That's today's plan at least. We have to leave here by the end of April. We're just about to do our second circumnavigation of St John - all of 20 odd miles, with several overnight stops (one lasted a week actually!). Anne fell in love with a wee house which for sale and Alan thought it might go for around $200,000, but Anne thought nearer $1M. However, when we got the Estate Agents info, the asking price is somewhere nearer $10 million!!!! Just a bit out of our range!! The desirable houses (even a very small one) in the Virgins (especially St John) costs astronomic amounts of money. We don't know how the locals manage to buy anything at all. However, it is gorgeous here. We just love the whole set of Virgin Islands - the BVI's, the USVI's and the Spanish Virgins - that's probably why we're still here! The sun shines, the sea is blue, the beaches are lovely and the sea-life is spectacular - we've had rays under the boat, turtles swimming beside us, fishes of all descriptions and the coral is fabulous.
Found weevils in the flour so had to chuck it all out. We've had bugs in the macaroni, and bugs in the spaghetti, but never weevils before - UGH! Never mind, we just toddled along to the supermarket in Redhook on St Thomas - a very, very nice supermarket - and bought lots and lots of fresh food - and more flour (minus weevils I hope!)
Anyway, we're bobbing about in an anchorage at the moment - one of our favourites, and it's free! (Most of the anchorages are free). It's only when we're in the St John National Park that we have to pick up a mooring buoy because we're not allowed to anchor - they are trying to preserve the coral and natural habitats.
|
Well, it's been a while since I've updated this blog because I didn't have an internet connection between St Martin and Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. However, I've got a freebie tonight, and as long as it's live and well, I'm updating this blog, at least a bit of it! We're here to buy, buy, buy in both K-Mart and Home Depot. They're not as good as the US mainland versions, but they're doing okay. We're off to do a bit more exploring of St Thomas tomorrow and I'll try to update this a bit later next week.
|
The fearless duo tackle the still active volcano on Montserrat. Note the path of hot boulders being spewed out of the volcano. There are more photographs of this volcano in the gallery - click on the link on the right hand side of this page.
|
Just round the corner from Marin we anchored near the beautiful beach at the small town of Ste Anne's. Very French!!
|
We watched the single-hulled Gommiers of Martinique racing while we were anchored in Marin. They simply raced through the anchored boats. Apparently the hull is formed from the Gommier tree (don't ask!) The wood is brought in from either St Lucia or Dominica and built in Martinique into these strange boats, but the main is made out of bamboo. The poles you see are somewhere between 8 and 10 feet long and help to balance the boat. They need an extremely agile crew of nine, four on each side and a helmsman, but somehow there appears to be more than the required number on some of the boats. We reckon the guys were more often hanging out over the water, or bailing water out of the boat than actually sitting inside the boat.
|
We finally arrived in Martinique last Friday morning at 1.00 am after sailing 92 miles from Bequia. We anchored in Ste Anne's and headed round to Marin later on Friday morning where we checked in with the very friendly Customs lady. We then headed off to the supermarkets where we filled our fridge with Brie and Pate and Baguettes and of course, a few bottle of very nice wine. The weather is gorgeous, the sun is shining, there's a little breeze blowing which keeps us cool, and we're happy bunnies! So, everybody, buy your French phrase book and head to Martinique for paradise in the supermarkets!!
|
We woke up this morning with "Mirabella V" as our neighbour - all 247 feet of her. According to the website her beam is 48.5 feet and with her keel down, her draught is 33 feet. You too can be a guest on Mirabella V if you have a spare $300,000 a week to spend. She is huge, but we wouldn't say no if offered in a gift! How many wee sailboats could we buy .....?
|
We are now in Bequia. We thought it would be really quiet here, but how wrong can you be! There are hundreds of yachts in this gorgeous anchorage and the cruise liners appear to have found this beautiful island too. There are hundreds of tourists clogging up the small streets in town (you can always tell who the cruise liner tourists are - they're the ones who are mostly white, but with large red bits where the sun-tan lotion missed it's mark!)
|
We left St George's Bay, Grenada yesterday morning along with Paul and Denise on "Vixen". It was a really bumpy sail, but we got to Carriacou in just under eight hours. Carriacou is a wee island just north of Grenada, but also belongs to Grenada. It's nice to be back here again, but there are dozens of yachties here, so the anchorage is really busy. We recognise at least half the yachts in the anchorage as having spent time in Trinidad.
|
We went to a barbeque at Roger's Bar on Hogg Island on Sunday afternoon with a lot of cruisers and a few locals too. There were quite a few smokey aromas wafting through the air, and not all of them came from the barbeque!! It was fun though. It's just a shame the other side of Hogg Island is being ripped apart by private developers.
|
We are in St George's Lagoon in Grenada. We spent a week at Hogg Island but have come back here to stock up with some food, do some laundry etc. You would not believe the amount of rain we've been having!
|
We finally launched "Freya" on Friday 24th November from Powerboats, checked out on Monday 27th and arrived safely in Grenada (Tuesday) morning at 6.15 am after a very pleasant and uneventful sail. We actually managed to sail the whole way! (yes we managed to remember which bits of string to pull!). We're catching up on some minor bits and bobs here in St George's Lagoon before moving round to Hogg Island area for a bit of R&R at the weekend (ha ha - does Alan ever manage to do R&R?). Weather is still very hot with frequent rain showers but it must be better than Scotland's weather!
|
