After our New Year's celebration we moved out of St. Martin's Simpson Bay lagoon into the Marigot anchorage to stage for a 0330 departure for the BVI. We arrived in Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda 13 hours later, but had to motor the entire trip. What happened to leisurely downwind sailing?
From Gorda Sound we went to East End, Tortola to say farewell to Griff on Mystic Journey and also have lunch with Wayne and Dianne, friends from our Winnipeg days in the early eighties. Their cruise ship just happened to be visiting Road Town, Tortola on January 7th while we were there. Small world, isn't it?
The next day, we cleared in to the USVI and picked up a mooring at one of our favorite places, Waterlemon Cay, St. John. After a couple of days snorkeling and hiking we moved on to Charlotte Amalie to rendezvous with Daniell Storey. It turned out that Hoof Beats, Allegro and Dream Maker were also there, so the expanded group celebrated Happy Hour at the Green Room.
After that it was off to Culebra to clear in to Puerto Rico. We spent a rainy, blustery week anchored off Dewey. We met Brian & his wife from Winnipeg (Northern Lights IV) another IP with whom Bill had corresponded on the IP mailing list. Reinforcing the small world perspective, they had visitors on board, Nancy & John from Kelowna (Sukha 1) who had hosted us on their IP (now in BC) last time we were in Dewey, a year ago!
We all went to Mamacitas to celebrate Michelle's birthday and we took the opportunity to say farewell to everyone including CheetahII, Minx and especially Daniell Storey (Dave & Michelle) one of three boats we have travelled with for much of our Caribbean trip. Our other buddy boats are Bonanza (Roy & Michelle) who are heading further west with us, and Dream Maker (Bill & Cathy) to whom we said farewell over dinner at one of the kiosks in Luquillo, near Fajardo.
We arrived in Fajardo on January 19th and spent a feverish two weeks going over Voyageur C and stocking up. In addition to the normal cleaning, oil and filter changes along with the usual minor repairs we had some biggies to complete. We even had to pull an impeller blade out of the heat exchanger. Sheesh! The fun jobs included replacing the head pump, head hoses and replacing the leaking stainless steel water lift muffler that has been the most unreliable piece of equipment on the boat since we re-powered.
Retracing our steps, it is 1200 nautical miles back to Miami and 2100 more back to Halifax. Considering we want to go via Cuba, it will be more like 4000 miles to get home.
Compared to the languid pace of the past year, we'll have to move faster, further and more frequently. The route from here to Miami along the south coasts of PR, DR and Cuba is certainly less supportive in terms of services and supplies so our inventory and equipment have to be in top shape. However, it is downwind, so there should be less wear and tear but Voyageur C needs 15 to 20 knots to keep her engine quiet.
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We missed some history in the last blog - entering the Saints Leona finally caught dinner - a lovely 3 pound tuna. She filleted it and we enjoyed tuna that very evening. We haven't mastered the full Fling, Flog and Fillet technique so we use cheap alcohol (her vodka not my rum) to terminate the catch. For those who aren't familiar with the 3F technique, it is the one in which you jerk the catch out of the water, it hits the mast, knocks itself out and falls off the hook onto the deck - As perfected by Atmosphere from Saint John, NB.
Bill submitted a story to the Caribbean Compass about our Angel Falls trip. The story was accepted and published in the December issue. The newspaper is distributed throughout the sailing community in the Caribbean, and is also available online at www.caribbeancompass.com. We sent the proceeds to the Carriacou Childrens Education Fund. The story may also appear in the Trinidad & Tobago Boaters Guide.
But I digress:
December 1st saw us up at 0 dark 30 (Daniell Storey's code phrase for a pre dawn departure) to catch the 5 AM opening of the bridges across Riviere Salee. There were four boats and we were second. Unfortunately, once thorugh the first bridge it was pitch black, and the lead boat which showed no lights, sped up and slowed down frequently, making for an interesting trip on the river. Once through the reef, we found light wind, frequent squalls and then wind with frequent changes in direction. Eventually things settled down and we sailed the rest of the 55 mile passage to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua in company with Bonanza. We arrived mid afternoon with ample time to check in at English Harbour and later enjoy a great dinner at Trappas. Two days later we moved around to Jolly Harbour so we could jump over to Montserrat when wind and sea conditions were appropriate to stay overnight in the exposed Little Bay anchorage. Just to add excitement, the volcano has been quite active lately and the threat level raised to a 4 out of 5.
After hanging about Jolly for a while, we realized that we were not going to get to Montserrat on our own bottoms so we headed for St. Kitts on December 8th enjoying a lovely downwind sail in 15 to 20 knots with 8 foot seas. Impressed how fast Voyageur C sails downwind with just a full main - well secured against accidental jibes in the quartering swell.
We spent a very enjoyable 9 days in St. Kitts, 3 nights anchored out in Ballast Bay on the southwest corner of the island and 6 nights at the Port Zante marina which is right at the cruise ship terminal in downtown Basse Terre. Unfortunately, the anchorage in town is very uncomfortable so those are the only practical choices.
Winston, whom Bill worked with back in Nortel lives on the island with his wife Rosie and they entertained us royally and made certain we didn't miss anything on the island. Winston owns a car rental firm (Bullseye) who will deliver your car to the marina or the anchorage. We started with a convertible and then switched to a jeep for some real back country exploring in the rain forest and the undeveloped southern part of the Island. On our last visit we saw Caribelle Batik, the Brimstone Hill fortress and one plantation so we revisited these as well as enjoying lunch and the beautiful grounds at Ottley Plantation.
St. Kitts is blessed with some excellent restaurants - our favorites included Stone Walls (downtown), Golden Lemon (NE corner of St. Kitts) and Ballahoo (on the circle).
While we were there, the Beaumont Park race track held its grand re-opening so we joined 10% of the St. Kitts population at the event. (Bill picked the winner in race 4, with some assistance from the two out of six horses that didn't start. One fell in the pre race showing and the other refused to enter the starting gate after ten minutes of prodding!
On December 17th we left St. Kitts for the 63 mile trip (lovely sail all the way from the tip of St. Kitts) to Simpson Bay Lagoon in St. Martin, timing our trip to the 1730 opening of the bridge on the Dutch side. St. Martin was our objective for the month because of its excellent stores and the major international airport - one of the few to which you can take a dinghy!
Our timing was excellent, as Samantha Leona Roberts was born to Angela and Doug the very next day.
Last time in St. Martin, we sat tight due to strong Xmas winds out of the north east. For this visit, we've had generally light winds, sometimes from the south or even southwest. One unwelcome fringe benefit was volcanic ash from Montserrat coating the boat and irritating our eyes. Thankfully this didn't fall for long.
Shortly after arriving, we wandered over to Moonlight Maid to meet Alan and Heather, recently arrived from Halifax by way of Newport and Bermuda. In company with Rum Runner, whom we re-discovered when we entered the lagoon, we returned to La Main a la Pate in Marigot for a feed of fresh PEI mussels but, alas, they sold out before we got there.
On the 22nd Leona caught Westjet back to Halifax to help out with Sam, leaving us apart for Xmas for the first time in 45 years! Roy and Michelle from Bonanza made sure the captain didn't starve, and Nancy Dawson, Mi Amante and Chinook Arch provided Bill with an excellent dinner on Xmas Day. Xmas Day was extremely rainy, giving us a chance to wash off the ash and then top up the water tanks without hauling jerry jugs or moving the boat.
Leona was back on the 29th, and gthe next night we headed out with Bonanza to the Bali Bar in Marigot for yet another excellent dinner. We spent a rainy and windy New Year's Eve aboard Nancy Dawson with Mi Amante, Chinook Arch, Kewaydin, Bonanza and Play Actor. A word of warning to would be cruisers - New Year's was celebrated at 0000 GMT, which was 8:00 PM local time. This more or less ensured that everyone would still be awake! Randy had us participate in a nautical tradition - the oldest person on board rings out the old year with eight bells, then the youngest person on board rings in the New year with eight bells.
We wish everyone a Happy New Year.
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The past month has provided the best sailing of our lives, with close reaching through to wind slightly aft of the beam in 15 to 20 knots apparent wind and 4 to 6 foot seas. On some of the shorter passages we seriously considered standing on for the next island.
Leaving Union Island, we stopped in the Tobago Cays on November 7th, and enjoyed snorkeling and a great lobster dinner on the beach with Discovery and Rum Runner. Then we moved on to Canouan for a walk around, spent a night in Bequia and moved from there to Young Island Cut, St. Vincent.
We hadn't been to St. Vincent before (except by ferry from Bequia) so we explored the capital (Kingstown) and visited the Botanical Gardens which features amongst cannonball trees and other exotica, a sucker from Captain Bligh's original breadfruit tree. The highlight, however, was a strenuous hike with Carl and Marilyn (Discovery) followed by a scramble up a lava flow to the top of the Soufriere volcano. Once we arrived, we timidly leaned over the precipice of the caldera to view the dome inside. There is a lot more hiking to enjoy here than we had realized.
Many cruisers pass by St. Vincent in the belief that it is too dangerous. Some anchorages have a bad reputation, but the government has built a cruisers visitor center in Cumberland Bay that should provide a secure anchorage on the northwest coast.
After 2 nights in St. Vincent we were off to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia for 2 nights where we celebrated our anniversary. From there we sailed with Hoof Beats, Allegro and Discovery to Le Marin, Martinique one of our three favorite provisioning stops - all French, of course!
On November 15th, we scooted around the southwest corner of Martinique and dropped the hook in Grand Anse D'Arlet, a lovely small beach resort area with a host of water front eateries. We hiked across Morne Champagne to Petit Anse D' Arlet to sample the mini market and bakery. This is a neat little town but a rolly anchorage so the boat stayed in Grand Anse.
Our next stop was St. Pierre, Martinique. This is the real "town that died", obliterated by the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee. Only one person survived out of a population of 30,000. The town is quite interesting (but often a bouncy anchorage) and a visit to the museum is de rigeur.
Our next stop was Portsmouth, Dominica on November 19th, where we were greeted by Martin Carriere, our guide on our last visit. Martin and the other Indian River Guides work very hard to make a visit to Portsmouth interesting (all manner of tours) and secure (moorings and a patrol dinghy at night). The guides must all have government training in subjects from botany to CPR to retain their licenses. If you are there, use Martin's services. You won't be disappointed.
We spent nearly a week in Portsmouth, hiking the Cabrits park, visiting Cold Soufriere and a plantation with Martin and taking a couple of day trips by bus to Roseau. One day, Martin came out to Allegro and spent 1 ½ hours making Pina Coladas from scratch - all fresh ingredients - lots of work but the result was an awesome Pina Colada.
Dominica is a poor island, but the people and countryside are wonderful. Truly this is the garden of the Caribbean, and one of our favorite stops along with Grenada.
On November 25th, we tore ourselves away from Dominica and sailed over to the Saints, anchoring in Bourg de Saintes. Bonanza (our buddy boat in last year's travels) caught up to us here less than two weeks after launching in Grenada. We celebrated their fast passage and timely arrival with a lunch time bottle of Champagne. Later that day we all contributed to a US Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey and ham aboard Hoof Beats with Allegro, Discovery and Bonanza.
We arrived in the harbour at Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe on the 27th so we could provision at the big Cora store here. Also on the hit list, more shoe stores per capita than anywhere else! There is a lot to see, including the flower market where a lovely â'¬10 bouquet would cost $200 + in Canada.
You wouldn't want to swim in the harbour, so we spent one night at nearby Ilet du Gosier. On return, we anchored near the Pont de la Gabarre. It opens at 5AM (every day except Sunday) to let boats pass through the Riviere Salee which divides Guadeloupe in two. Next stop - Antigua!
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and blessing of the fleet. Unfortunately the weather is not
cooperating with heavy rain, wind and excpected snow!!
So the boat is decorated at the dock, the oven is busy
making dinner for us and our crew of two. Miss and love
you guys
