NOTES:
If you want to see where we are, copy the following link to your browser:
http://www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/PositionreportsDetail.aspx?callsign=VE1VOY
Also, our first post, titled "Learnings" has been updated.
Finally, many of our pictures were taken by other folks. We make no apology for selecting the very best!
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We left Falmouth December 29th for Jolly Harbour, Antigua and continued the following day to Cocoa Point, Barbuda. Barbuda will be remembered as another spot with spectacular beaches.
We celebrated the arrival of 2009 in Barbuda on board Bonanza with fresh fish (pompano) caught by Dreammaker on the sail over from Antigua. Since cruisers midnight is 9PM, we decided to celebrate the New Year based on GMT, which was 8PM local time. We enjoyed a great bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne from Guadeloupe. Thank god for the French islands. Good thing we celebrated early, since we both were asleep at midnight for the first time in nearly half a century!
On Saturday January 3rd, we went in to St. John's and returned to discover the boat coated with volcanic ash. While Montserrat is downwind from Antigua, the upper level winds run the opposite way. If the ash cloud gets high enough, Antigua gets a dose of ash. Thankfully it was short lived, but left us in the unique position of hoping for rain in Antigua!
We rented a car and toured Antigua for a day. Great beaches and the landscaping and architecture at the Stanford cricket grounds are outstanding.
We left Antigua early on January 7th, stopping overnight in St. Kitts and continuing on to St. Maarten the following day. We anchored in Simpson Bay in time to await the scheduled 5PM opening of the bridge to let us (and our escorting mega yachts) into the lagoon.
Bizarre - We cleared in on the Dutch side and anchored under the Witch's Tit on the Dutch / French border enjoying French baguettes and Dutch duty free. Like a Heineken two-four (330 ml cans) is $17 US! Grocery shopping is better than home. Funny though, the Dutch side is the worst served place from an internet and WiFi perspective - but the French side cafes have great connectivity. Go figure.
Gourmets of the Caribbean struck again, this time for lunch on January 9th at La Main a la Pate in Marigot, St. Martin. Leona and Michelle dove into buckets of PEI mussels, while Roy sampled a crème brulee foie gras. Bill went for the seafood.
We hauled out on Tuesday January 13th to refresh the bottom paint and lube the aging feathering prop and launched on Friday morning. We finally washed away the remnants of Montserrat ash!
We had a chance to visit Destination Fox Harbour Too at Isla del Sol marina. The furnishings, layout, decoration and fittings of this 161 foot beauty are absolutely spectacular. There were 20 or so of these mega yachts on the north docks alone!
And there are two other marinas with more mega yachts plus a couple anchored outside that can't fit through the bridge into the lagoon.
On Sunday the 18th we headed over to Maho Beach to watch the planes land - some 50 feet overhead. Hundreds of people hang around the two bars on either side of the runway or in the middle on the beach at the very beginning of the runway. They actually post the arrival times on a surfboard on the beach!
But, the piece de resistance is takeoff. The planes spool up at the airport fence - folks hang onto the fence or stand on the beach to see if they will be blown out to sea - or at least sand-blasted. Can you believe it?
On Tuesday we sailed over to Anguilla to see Kitty and Andy, friends from Halifax who now live there. Andy kindly took the day off and toured the six of us (Bonanza, Daniell Storey and Voyageur C) around the island to see some of the upscale resorts and fabulous beaches. We started at a rum factory, had a delightful lunch along the way and capped the day with a great dinner at their place. Thanks for your hospitality to our extended family!
On Friday at 3AM we left Anguilla for Virgin Gorda with Daniell Storey. After an uneventful 12 hour motor sail we arrived at Leverick Bay. Since then we have made major passages (up to 8 miles) around the BVI - just chillin' out. (Actually, it is chilly here. Leona just noted cabin temperature of only 80F at 5PM!)
We plan to wander around the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico for the next month or so before resuming the trip toward the DR and Cuba.
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Fair Winds
We finally left Le Marin, Martinique with a full load of wine, cheese and sausage on December 14th bound for Xmas festivities in Antigua. After an overnight stop in rolly, shifty St. Pierre we crossed over to Dominica and trundled up the coast to Portsmouth. Leona will attest that the 25 mile crossing was one of the wettest, bumpiest we've had so far.
Portsmouth was great - we rendezvoused with Nancy Dawson (Randy and Sue). Some will recall that we crossed over to the Abacos with Nancy Dawson in January 2006 on our first trip south. They are smart, Nancy Dawson has been in the East Caribbean ever since. After a rum reunion that evening, we took the local bus into Roseau the following day. On the bus we met a lady who travels the Islands on a small freighter selling Dominican produce to other less favored places. A very take charge type, she stopped the bus at a roadside stand, insisting that we try fried plantain. It was great, and she insisted on paying. Dominica is like that - minimally touristy, rather poor but proud people who are very concerned that you have a good time on their Island.
The following day, we were off to Bourg de Saintes, a really neat town with a not very great anchorage. As you can see, Leona enjoyed the many small shops with unique craft items for sale. This commenced the déjà vue part of our trip, since we had chartered out of Guadeloupe years ago, visiting the Saints and English Harbour, Antigua.
Next it was off to Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe. We met up with there with Wanderlust. Bill in the midst of replacing a head gasket (ultimately a new head) so we expect to meet up again up Island. (Who says we travel in packs?) Point a Pitre is the home of the Cora super market - the alleged biggest in the Caribbean and on a French island to boot - we could not miss that, After a quick shopping excursion, we upped anchor to move up to a position close to the South bridge on the Riviere Salee before dark.
If you look at Guadeloupe on a map, it resembles a butterfly. The Riviere Salee is a mangrove channel that runs right up the middle of the butterfly. Although it is relatively shallow (we saw 8' minimum near the first anchorage with about 18" of tide) the real challenge is the bridge opening times. You must be underway prior to the DAILY 5 AM opening of the south bridge. If no one is underway, the bridge does not open. The south bound traffic (in our case a cat and another mono-hull) has priority, then we (all alone) headed north. Immediately the bright city lights are behind us, and we are in pitch dark mangrove swamp. The navigation buoys (thankfully) are all lit, but the flash pattern involves long enough periods of darkness that you lose sight of the buoy. Twenty minutes later the second bridge opens when they see your nav lights approach. Both bridges have a narrow 24' channel and are at an angle to the channel. The rumored mooring buoys at each end of the bridge run were not in evidence. We anchored in the channel north of the north bridge to wait for daylight so we could run the rest of the channel which included the reported shallowest part - which we never found.
We arrived in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua on the 19th, two days ahead of the fabled Christmas Winds which have blown ever since. Bill bought a mooring buoy for a week as a Christmas gift for himself!
On Sunday nights, a visit to the party on Shirley Heights is mandatory, so away we went. Along with a gang of cruisers we knew, we met Paul and Cheryl Shard (Distant Shores TV show) and later toured their new boat, Distant Shores, a Southerly 42 that draws as little as 2' 8" with the board up. She is definitely an exploring monohull.
Gourmets of the Caribbean struck again with an excellent dinner at Trappas.
Until now, we never realized that yachts with masts over 100 feet are required to show a red light at the masthead, just like a hydro tower. Lesson learned - each of the three marinas here has half a dozen red lights at night. The mega yachts here are awesome - of the thirty or so that would cause a stir in Halifax Harbour a few could easily be confused with a cruise ship. Some are plastic boxes, others are testament to awesome design and craftsmanship. The highlight was watching the Maltese Falcon get underway UNDER SAIL from Antigua Yacht Club Marina, heading out of the harbour into the 20 - 25 K G30 winds and 9 foot seas. We'll stay parked, thank you.
Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour is a real treat, and is only a five minute walk from here. We attended the Xmas Day party, which featured copious quantities of champagne (well, some was real champagne.) with the proceeds going to local charity. This is how you lay down a foundation for Xmas Dinner?
Guess Who's Coming To (Xmas) Dinner?
Three days before Christmas we were three boats in Falmouth Harbour with loose plans for Christmas dinner together - Voyageur C, Dream Maker and Bonanza. Then Cheetah II arrived on the 24th from around the corner at Jolly Harbour. Also Bill and Cathy from Dream Maker met Peter & Katrina a German couple on Endless who had recently crossed over from Europe and didn't know anyone here. Christmas morning we awoke to discover Daniell Storey anchored behind us.
We twelve from six boats had a gastronomical orgy aboard Dream Maker - the neat part is that no one planned it, no one knew everyone else prior to dinner and we all had a great time! (Albeit a few of us tossed and turned the night away - perhaps we over dined.)
Cruising is unpredictable, the people are wonderful and that's what makes it all so neat. It's like a big family where you don't know all your relatives. When you meet you already have much in common.
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For xmas dinner, we had the rack of lamb we got in Rousseau - it was delicious. Wish we'd bought two.
Happy Old Year's Night! Hope you get some sleep in Falmouth Harbour.
sb/rs
We had a plan to be in Antigua for Christmas since some of the boats we know would be there. (It's about 180 miles or 4 long days away.) In truth, boats we know are everywhere and it would be hard to anchor somewhere that we don't know anyone. Our schedule is falling apart, due largely to sitting here in Martinique with one anchor fluke stuck in the pate and the other in a delightful brie. And the wine...Ah Well!
It's not all wine and roses - the temperature in Nevis dropped to 68F the other night - if we'd been there we could have sold our floater coats for a fortune.
When we returned from Barbados, we moved the boat around to St. George's and spent four days. We met up with Wanderlust and celebrated a reunion with Judy and the gang. We crossed to Carriacou on the 18th and then on to Clifton, Union Island on the 19th. We spent five nights in Clifton waiting for improved weather. While there we teamed up with Barb & Chris on Moon Sail did a little hiking and enjoyed a great meal of Tapas at the Anchorage Yacht Club. We also checked out Happy Island, a bar/ restaurant built on the reef out of conch and concrete which you can see in our header picture..
Next stop was the magnificent Tobago Cays - more hiking and dinghy exploration. Lots of turtles and spectacular views.
We arrived in Admiralty Bay, Bequia on the 27th. We pulled up beside an IP40 flying a Canadian flag - it was Bonanza with Roy and Michelle whom we had last seen in Salinas, PR. Our next Gourmets of the Caribbean experience was a superb meal at the Auberge Francois with Roy and Michelle. Leona started us off with her lobster for an appetizer.
Michelle and Leona enjoyed hiking around the island while Roy and I enjoyed doing nothing - maybe a little boat work. Leona and I also took a day trip by ferry to the capital of Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Kingstown and enjoyed a day wandering around. The other benefit was cheaper groceries as well as a much larger selection than on Bequia.
On December 3rd Voyageur C and Bonanza spent a very rolly night on a noisy mooring ball in Kearton, St. Vincent. You probably won't find Kearton on the map - however parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here. Our moorings were too close together so Bonanza moved. While Michelle tried to lasso (Calgary girl) the mooring, the fellow we rented the mooring from swam out a couple of hundred yards to help secure Bonanza.
After a less than adequate night's sleep we moved to Marigot, St. Lucia and a secure quiet mooring ball. That evening we adopted our Gourmet's of the Caribbean persona and had yet another fabulous meal at the Rain Forest Hideaway. We felt pretty special pulling in to the mini harbour with the maitre'd taking our painter and helping the ladies onto the dock. Later we were outclassed by the spiffy runabouts pulling into the dock and disgorging the rich and famous of St. Lucia dressed to the nines. (But we all got the same food and service.)
Next stop was Rodney Bay, St. Lucia for 2 nights, leaving just ahead of the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) which will bring 200+ boats into the Rodney Bay Marina. These boats all left Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canaries) on November 23rd.
We arrived here in Le Marin on December 7th. This is a great place to provision and a very secure and sheltered anchorage. Oh, those French. There are no fees to pay and you check in by computer. However, it cost us $59 CDN to do laundry. We plan to make it back on wine - there is a great variety under $10 CDN. Cheese, pate and pastry will also help offset the laundry costs. The moral: Bring an appetite, forget the clothes!
We shared a car rental with Bonanza. One highlight was driving to the foot of Mt. Pelee, the volcano that erupted in 1802 wiping out the then capital of St. Pierre and killing 30,000 people. Evidently the only survivor was in jail! Gourmets of the Caribbean struck again, with a delightful lunch at La Tartine in St. Pierre.
Once you leave the small towns and get close to Fort de France you realize you are in Europe rather than the Caribbean with strip malls, freeways and terrible traffic. Somehow the French islands retain the colonizing country feel and are certainly more affluent. (Being a department of France trumps being a member of the Commonwealth.)
Oh yeah! I almost forgot one of the cardinal duties of the Caribbean cruiser. No matter what time of day, no Rum Distillery shall be left untested. Our search for the ultimate rum took us to St. James and to Neisson in Martinique. (Even Leona is sampling the rhum!) The best rum? Research is still under way.
We had planned to leave today, but....
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S/V Salt & Light
