02/05/2010, Jolly Harbor, Antigua
"Off the rode again" to paraphrase Willie Nelson with a little sailing play on words. We left beautiful Portsmouth, Dominica after a nineteen day stay about 0630 on Sunday (1-31) and headed on up to the island of Guadeloupe. This is a French island and there is an underwater park there. The Jacques Cousteau Park is nice and we have stopped twice but not this time. It's about forty eight miles to the town of Deshaies on the North West coast. Most of our crossings are like this. We leave from an anchorage on the north west coast (where there is usually a fort) and sail across about twenty or so miles of open water and then about another twenty miles in the lee of the island to another bay on a north west coast (usually with a fort). Wasn't there a movie about "it's Friday this must be Antigua " or something like that? Any way, after a short night in the deep bay at Deshaies we set sail for Antigua. The first part of the day was brisk. Wind was about 18 knots but the seas weren't bad. The swell height was seven to eight feet but the interval between them was around twelve seconds so it was a lazy up and down motion, not the jerky, rough motion you get when height and interval are equal. We pass close to Montserrat on the way (17 miles, give or take) and it was erupting. We had noticed the ash plume from Deshaies the evening before but the closer we got, the more impressive it was. Occasionally large clouds of dirty brown/grey ash would rise in slow motion above the summit and a long trail ash filled cloud trailed off to the West. Luckily we were on the East side. There is an exclusion zone around the island and I wouldn't want to be inside it. It isn't that hard to imagine that the islands near us aren't inhabited by tourists in resorts with airports nearby but by early Arawak Indians and the earth is still actively rearranging herself. Adjusting her clothes, so to speak. We have heard that the ash cloud sometimes reaches as far as St. Croix in the USVI. By the way, St. Croix is one of our next stops. Unusual thoughts like this frequently come after several months of consuming beers named Wadadli, Kubuli or Hairoun. Most large islands have their own brewery but they don't grow lots of hops, barley, etc. I guess it's easier (cheaper) to ship beer in its raw form. We get a visit from friends on Thursday. They are on a BIG cruise ship stopping in St. John, Antigua for a day. We hope to meet up with another boat we cruised with two years ago for the passage to the USVI. They are a Canadian couple and are escaping the winter in Mont Tremblant on their boat. Their boat is named "Snow Shoo" This is one of the most original and clever boat names we have seen. The passage to the USVI is the second long crossing on the route back home. Sue doesn't like long passages but a few are required. We made the first from Trinidad to Grenada (11hrs.) and the next will be the longest, Puerto Rico to the Turks and Caicos (50 hrs.). Once again the picture picked itself. The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat was just too impressive not to share. In 1995 the volcano buried the capital city of Plymouth. In 2003 the government started opening up the area and cleaning up the ash thinking the volcano was going to sleep again. Obviously it wasn't.
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01/27/2010, Portsmouth, Dominica
We are enjoying the visit from my sister, her husband and another couple this week. We rode to the airport, a one hour bus ride, to meet them last Thursday evening (1-21). They mostly crashed Friday. It's a looooong way from California to Dominica. Their cottage is very nice. The Piccard Beach cottages are the ones that the staff of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie stayed in. Each cottage has a name plate over the door telling who was there. They must have been assistant something or others because we didn't recognize any names. The beach in front is short and is dark black sand. When the swells are from the right (wrong?) direction, huge waves crash on the beach. Some are so impressive that cheers break out when they hit. Sue and I took the dinghy over one day. It's about a 1.7 mile trip across Prince Rupert Bay. You have to time your landing to arrive between the larger waves. Launching when you leave is exciting. You have the motor tilted up when the dinghy is on the beach so you flip the lock lever so you can tilt the motor down when ready, you put the "kill switch" key in the switch, you turn the dinghy around to the bow is facing the surf and you wait. Just after a couple of large waves you, with help, carry the dinghy down into the water, Sue jumps into the bow, I push it out and jump in the stern, put the motor down, pull the starter rope, shift into forward and gun the motor to get beyond the breakers before another one hits. Even so you ride up some big swells before you are clear in deeper calmer water. This whole procedure takes about five seconds or you get caught by the next wave. Sunday we had our friend Alexis take all six of us around to Toucari, about four miles by boat, so we could snorkel. The picture with this update is one I have been trying for ever since I saw my first Flamingo Tongue shell. This time I got a great shot. They are so cool looking. Monday we took a short land tour to the Syndicate fall park area. We left at 0530 so we could be in the rainforest to see the parrots before they flew to the top of the mountain. The short hike was beautiful and the parrots are very impressive. They are protected all over the island now and some are very endangered. Tuesday was another lay around day which is easy when you are in a place like Portsmouth, Dominica. It rained most of Tuesday but is warm rain. We will spend Wednesday relaxing on the beach in front of the Purple Turtle (restaurant & bar) which is on the beach just in front of where we are anchored. That day will also include a short walk to the restored fort on Cabrits hill. Fort Shirley was a British fort to defend Prince Rupert Bay from the French. It has been a great week and underscores the sadness we feel leaving this life style. Fortunately there are many other interests to keep us busy like grandkids, camping, cottage in Canada and sailing on the lake back home. I would do it again in a heart beat and will enjoy the many memories. Our guests leave Thursday and we planned to head North on Friday but the weather (20kn wind and ten foot seas) will cause us to wait till Sunday. Then it's off to an over night stay under yellow flag at Deshaies, Guadeloupe and then to Antigua where we meet other friends arriving on a cruise ship for a day.
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01/22/2010, Portsmouth, Dominica
(1-12-10) We arrived in Portsmouth, Dominica about 1430 today from Ste. Pierre, Martinique. The passage on Sunday from Rodney Bay, St. Lucia was about forty one miles and took about six and a half hours which equals a very respectable 6.5 knots. We had 15-17 knots from the East (on our beam) and relatively small seas (4-5 ft). We arrived in Ste. Pierre where Sue loves to snorkel for glass and pottery pieces. We were tired so after Sue's short snorkel and my short boat chores we relaxed deciding to clear in and out on Monday for a Tuesday AM departure. Many locations on Martinique use local establishments as Customs/Immigration points. The "Escapade" restaurant and bar in Ste. Pierre is one of them. You sit at a computer and enter your info then print out a copy. That's it. Maybe I'm wrong but that sounds like an opportunity for abuse. Anyway, the Escapade was closed all day Monday so we ended up sleeping under the "yellow flag" fro both nights and left. We did walk from one end of Ste. Pierre to the other looking for a reported Customs office but never found one. So today we made the fifty two mile passage to Portsmouth and it took eight hours. Once again 6.5 knots. We actually saw 8 knots a few times on the GPS and again we had wind on our beam (17-20 knots) but the seas were a little higher and there was an added wind chop which made the trip slightly less comfortable than Sunday's passage. We had to try three times to get the anchor to set solidly. I ended up free diving down about seventeen feet, picking up our 44# Claw anchor, carrying it to a sandy spot five feet away and shoving it into the sand in it's proper orientation. NOW it's set correctly. What some people will do to get a good nights sleep. Our favorite "Boat Boy", Alexis, was here to greet us and we are looking forward to a weeks rest before company arrives. After they leave we will pass through Les Saintes
and beside Guadeloupe before sailing to Antigua. From there it's time to head west for the Virgins and Puerto Rico. After Antigua we will not have nice beam on wind to sail in but running sure beats the trip down which was sailing into the wind. (pssst. Did you read Sue's blog about the rainforest trip? Now she wants a Zip line in our back yard at home!!!) Today (01-15) we are going to the "P.A.Y.S." BBQ. PAYS stands for "Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security" We went to these events last season. For $50 EC ($20US) you get all you can eat and drink. Grilled chicken, salad, rice and rum punch. The proceeds go to pay for the night security guy. He cruises around in a big dinghy with a very large spotlight and checks on all the boats all night. This service is only available in the northern part of Prince Rupert Bay where the local boat boys/guides patrol. The southern part of the bay is considered "not safe" and the boat boys will run over there and warn any yachts that anchor there. It costs nothing to anchor in the northern part so why would anyone not anchor there. Last summer a French boat refused to move to the safer side and ended up getting boarded by thieves. The bad guys were caught and are in jail but why take the risk. Local knowledge of an area, harbor, bay, etc. is very valuable and cruisers pass along that kind of information all the time. Sue has been snorkeling again today (Surprise!) and loves the clean, clear water where we are. We picked up our visitors last night and spent today welcoming them to Dominica. The beach on the South end of the bay where their cottages are is truly "black" sand. It is very impressive and we showed them a great Caribbean "Green Flash" at sunset. Tomorrow we take a tour with them. It's great to have family visit. I couldn't resist one more rainbow picture. It's scenes like this that will bring back the great cruising memories when I finally get old!
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