Georg
03/23/2012, Saint Pierre, Martinique

So we ended up at the north end of Martinique today - Saint Pierre to be exact ..(you know the town that was covered by Mt PELE a hundred +- years ago bla bla bla)
Checking out was kind of a hustle ..as they close at 14:30 and I didn't know until 14:15 or so ....

Anyway we made it and are ready to leave for Dominica tomorrow morning. Forecast is good so we should have a nice sail.

March 2012-May 2012

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Georg
03/22/2012, Martinique

Highlights for today:
- We got new speakers for the cockpit in Fort de France (the "old" marine speakers lasted only one year ???) .. music is nearly as important as wind when sailing ....
- The ferry boat across the bay to Fort de France had engine issues on the way
back - we were probably the only ones that found this amusing :-)
(we could have easy sailed across but where to lazy to pull the anchor & the ferry was only 2-3 Euros and runs every hour)
Fort de France did not impress us much last year and nothing seemed different this time around ... whenever we walk around town during the day we wonder how save this place would be at night .....

The new speakers are already installed and are working fabulous !!!

March 2012-May 2012

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Georg
03/21/2012, Anse Mitan , Martinique

So we are back in French Country again - Martinique - we cheated a bit by not checking into "France" for the first night - but really "nobody" seems to care about this here anyway

French country:
= lots of good food for Georg
= hardly anything to eat for Jill
= lots of smoking
but it also means lots of cute boutiques for Jill to shop :-)

"We" missed a Pan-Pan call yesterday on the way up to Martinique .... I didn't really understand what they said the first time around.... As it turned out we passed a guy with engine problems about 3 miles to the west of us .. not sure if we could have helped much, as his fishing boat was about our size.....
The second time the coast guard issued the pan- pan call I did hear it clearly but by then we where already way past him ...
The guy actually talked on the VHF to the coast guard after the second Pan-Pan call and mentioned two sailboats passing him , so he did have a working VHF radio. I really didn't understand why he didn't try to contact "us" directly on channel 16 when we where closer ...

Anyway the Coastguard did say they would try to send out somebody to help the guy ...

Maritime rules are kind of tricky - we definitely should have tried contact or help the guy (and I would have if I would have heard the message clearly - sorry dude - we where going 7+ knot's on a beautiful close haul and we had the music way way to loud....)
on the other hand he had not issued a emergency (SOS) call yet - therefore the coastguard would not do much to help yet ....

Way back on my first sailing trip in the Mediterranean, I experienced once a situation, where a sail boat got stuck (ran aground) in the entrance to the marina during a storm... "Inexperienced" as we where (not much has changed since then really) we ran to the local coastguard office and told them about the situation - thinking they would get up and help the fellow ASAP - all we got was
- Did he issue an SOS ?
- Without an SOS we won't do anything

On another note- we also found out last night, that we can not watch a movie and have the new fresh water pump running at the same time ...
I assume the voltage drops below he threshold of the pump for a millisecond or so when it turns on and it shuts off :-( ...
Darn smart pumps !
I don't think it's the wiring at this point - most likely our house batteries are getting close to the end of there life .......

PS The current Location is = At the Restaurant having dinner and a bier (make it two) :-)
The Picture shows Jill in her lates addition to here wardrobe in here new hammock ...

March 2012-May 2012

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Georg
03/19/2012, Rodney Bay

So Jill took off all day long to hang out with here friend ....Girl Time I guess...
I in the meantime did some boat cleaning ... Tony really did not do a good job this year .. he left the boat a mess with varnish drops everywhere and the cleaning crew just ignored it ???? I will have to have serious talk with Tony in mid May when I return to Trindiad (well as serious as it get's when in Trinidad :-))
So I have been scrubbing the boat every day a bunsch of hours (Anybody who knows me knows how much of a cleaning Guy I am ...)

I already checked us out of St Lucia for tomorrows crossing to Martinique = this most likley means now Interent for the next few days)

I just found this Picture of our Cat Jezebelle= Jez = The Cat that was supposed to be a female, that turned out to be male - well luckely we have the power to FIX this = It's Jezebelle again ....

March 2012-May 2012

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georg
03/18/2012, Rodney Bay St Lucia

I just finished installing the new freshwater pump ... I had all parts required for the switch - so that worked out well...
In the process I also found a leak in one of the plastic tee's on the pressure side ...They used plastic barb fittings .. they have to get loose at one point ..I re tighten them and for now the leak seems to be gone, but it would be better to replace them at one point ... not something I'm looking forward to...
I still think I have a water leak in the forward tank when full ... but that's something for next fall .. for now everything looks "perfect"
So I finished way ahead of "schedule" with lots of projects still on my list ...
Now at my age you need to start thinking about yourself once in a while , therefore I'll call it a day and will take the rest of the day off :-)

The Picture shows the new water Pump on the right hand side - The pump on the left is our Joke of bilge pump (Not sure if it's original or not - but Sailboats are notorious for having way to small bilge pumps) This thing should pump 2.8Gallons/min - the only way this will save your boat from sinking, is if the Ocean chokes up laughing at you trying to pump out a the smallest of holes in your hull with that "toy"
( I do have a much bigger pump to be installed soon, but so far I have not been able not find a decent way to route the 2" discharge hose for it ...)

March 2012-May 2012

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Georg
03/17/2012, Rodney Bay St Lucia

Jill had made some friends last year at Marigot Bay and revisited them over the past couple of days
Today I met her husband Junior (he's not that little ..but that's his name for those who wonder) and I asked him if he would like to join us on the short sail to Rodney Bay .. He had nothing better to do so off we go...

It actually turned out to be a much better sail then expected :-)

March 2012-May 2012

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