05/03/2012, Turtle Beach Tobago
The first 5 hours going towards Tobago were a bit a struggle, as we were going 7-7.5 knots on nice close haul, we also had 1-2 knots of current against us pushing us slightly towards the west ...( It looked like we were just making the south end of Tobago= nothing extra as far as the direction goes)
Once the currents shifted, we were making much better progress and were also making better direction towards the east.
All in all it was a beautiful night sail with a single sail trim at the beginning and then 10 hours of turning the dial on the autopilot up and down a few degrees
Winds were at a steady 11-15 knts
2 days before full moon - great visibility - but I didn't see anybody :-(
- It doesn't get much better then that.
We hit one big squall about 15 miles off the coast of Tobago .... I was trying to avoid it but didn't succeed - so we got wet
Of course right at the moment when the squall hit, I noticed some light ahead of us - after turning the AIS on I realized that we were heading towards a650 feet monster (He must have seen us for miles I assume) ... My "lets avoid this Squall Maneuver" must have put us right onto a possible collision course ... I'm sure he was not thrilled watching me do this.
Once I realized what was going on, I changed course clearly to make sure he could stay on his....
After that around 3-AM Jill took over and sailed us as fast as possible to Tobago (She likes to go fast ....)
We dropped anchor in Tobago around 8:00 AM
Now we had to get a taxi across the island to see custom and immigration...
Luckily there were some ganja/Rasta guys hanging out - one of them had to drive to town so we got a ride for $10 TT ( cab back was $60 TT = long live the Ganja guys !)
Trinidad / Tobago officials are PAPER CRAZY as we all know.. but here on Tobago they put it over the top I think ...
So the Island is split into two portions , with the dividing line going through the middle... each controlled by there own Immigration/ customs office.
So in order for you to see both parts , you need to check in/ check out of each office before crossing that line - and then we have to do the same again when heading to Trinidad ....means at least 4 visits!! (check in to south, check out of south, check into north, check out of north)
- all done with three paper copies - so much for saving the rain forest
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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05/02/2012, Union Island
After spending two beautiful nights at the tobago keys we sailed the short distance south to union island this morning.
Without internet for the past days, I needed to confirm our weather window for the +- 100 mile run to Tobago .
As it turns out the forecast was still on "schedule" for tonights departure
I'll check out with customs and Immigration in a little bit and then we will head out around 5PM
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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05/01/2012
Lazy me ... somehow I could not find the time anymore to write the blog
Currently we are in the Tobago Keys ... This is our second day
We do our usual :
Me: nothing
Jill: Snorkeling until the sun goes down
So here is a short recap of what happened over the past week or so
A) we did sail from Rodney bay to Marigot Bay with Jill's friend and some of here girl friends ( Some of the visitors might had one or two too many.. but all in all we had fun)
We did spend a few nights in Bequia and visited Mustique ( didn't pay the Mooring fee 200 EC(+- 80 US) for 3 nights or so ???? - for that money you better find us - no reason for us to walk to the harbor master)
We had to stop in Cannoaun to get cash for the Key's ...
On the way back to the boat we met some nice folks from the US that were about to go on a10 day charter .. we started talking - sharing some of our "knowledge" (as little as it is) about the Islands and soon enough they invited us to have dinner with them at the hotel - and they ended up paying for it = I just love talking to strangers at the bar for no reason ....
Super nice folks .. not sure if we will see them again, as both of us are on a " thight " schedule at this point..
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/21/2012, Rodney Bay St Lucia
So yesterday we sailed up north from the Saints to Point a Pietre on the main land of Guadeloupe .. The winds were as expected on our nose, but we managed to do some nice close hauls
So for the 24H sail to St Lucia I was really looking forward to the first leg between Guadeloupe and Dominica , as we would be going the OTHER direction
= beam reach pretty much ...
Guess what - the winds also seemed to have some commitment in the south for this day and therefore had turned south
= close haul all the way = I was mentally not prepared of that
F%#@* Winds - just like riding a damn bicycle again ..
At the end it was not that bad and we had a nice sail to Dominica ...
Next Problem - Massive cloud formations hanging to the east of Dominica and the rest of the south
Did I read the weather forecast correct ?
I was about to abandon the idea to sail direct to St Lucia because of it (can you imagine Jills disappointment ??? ) when we came up with a compromise
How about we stop a Dominica , double check the weather over the Internet just to make sure ...
Lucky us, because of our long range Wifi antenna on the boat, we didn't even have to stop going - I was able to pick up the hotspot from 5 miles off shore and could confirm what I remember = lot's of rain on the east side of the islands but decent condition on the west side
On we go ....
As it turned out the forecast was dead on - actually the conditions were slightly better then I expected ( we didn't get wet until Jill had here shift at 3 AM , where she had to "survive" two squalls while I was sleeping below)
We dropped sails pretty much 24 Hours after we started in Point a Pietre
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/20/2012, Point A Pietre Guadeloupe
So we spent a wonderful week with Becky around Guadeloupe
We didn't make it to all locations I had planned, but never less, the two "girls" managed to find some of the better snorkeling spots we've seen in the Caribbean on the way...
For those who don't know Becky, her upbeat and positive attitude made the week fly by and help during some "hard" times , when the food was just not up to par for example (You got it right - those are our biggest problems these days)
Becky has her own special way of coming up with "new" foreign words - and she does it all the time and is not shy about it too :-)
Her special vocabulary of "Becky" German words is quite amusing (actually here German is very good)
Now my own French skills don't allow me to understand if she actually does the same in French -but based on the looks of some of the French "Islander's" when listening to her words I'm convinced that she also has created a full set of Becky French words....
Today April 20th we dingy'd over to the marina at 5:30AM to send her off on her way to the east coast ...
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/13/2012, Deshalies
We went to the airport last night to pickup Becky ... No mishaps on this pickup this time - what a surprise
This morning we ended up going to town around 8 to get a Baguette (who ever invented the Baguette should get an a world wide award)
(Nothing better then grabbing a freshly baked 1m long piece of bread in the morning)
Then we motored out of the windy channel towards the open water ( takes about 45min) .. once outside the reef we noticed a few snorkeling boats with tourists and decided to do a little side tour to check out the spot
As it turns out this is one of the best spots we've seen around here ( according to the expert Jill) So Becky and Jill stayed in the Water for some time and enjoyed it.
In the early afternoon we left and started our nice sail westward towards Deshalies ... unfortunately with no Wind ???? (yesterday we had to motor 2 Hours into 15 knts of wind... and I was really looking forward to sail in the other direction today - Well so much for that !)
- Sometimes sailing reminds me of riding a bicycle= ALWAYS INTO THE WIND IT SEEMS
On the way to Deshalies we must have picked up a fishing ball = I noticed low speed and it just didn't feel right when using the engine..
When we dropped Anchor in Deshalies and I asked Jill to back up a bit I heard this strange noise (and so did Jill and she put the gear in neutral ASAP)
I Jumped into the water and saw a big piece of bamboo wrapped around our Keel and two fishing balls.
We must have dragged this thing for a while and when we backed up our Prop knife must have cut one of the lines (that's the noise we both heard)
!!! YOU NEED TO HAVE A PROP CUTTER AROUND HERE !!!!
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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