Grown Ups Gap Year

Now the girls have finished University it is our turn for a gap year! #grownupsgapyear

Vessel Name: Mirage
Vessel Make/Model: Moody 38CC - 1993
Hailing Port: Poole, Dorset, UK
Crew: Sally and Paul
Extra: After the girls had finished university we decided it is our turn for a gap year.
04 August 2020
29 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
25 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
22 July 2020
15 July 2020
11 July 2020
05 June 2020
29 May 2020
19 May 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
12 May 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
04 May 2020
11 April 2020 | Guadeloupe
03 March 2020
Recent Blog Posts
04 August 2020

Falmouth to Studland

We spent two nights on a mooring buoy in Falmouth but wished we could have stayed longer and had a slow passage home to Poole. However we are getting Mirage lifted out of the water as soon as practicable and we do this near to where we live. To get to the boat yard we have to go up the local river that [...]

02 August 2020

Azores to Falmouth - the arrival

With the final 400 NM we were typically doing 140 NM a day or better until the last night on the way to Lizard Point and the entry to Falmouth. The wind was around 20 knots for most of the time but the wave grew bigger during the first 200NM and became steeper once we had crossed the continental shelf. These [...]

29 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean

Azores to Falmouth Update 2

Day 4 brought the strong winds we had been expecting but we had kept ourselves further south than the shortest route to help keep out the strongest. The day was a mix of drizzle and sunshine but still warm enough to keep the shorts on & we carried on sailing at a good pace crossing the 800NM to go [...]

25 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean

Azores to Falmouth Update

We left just after 10am on Wed 23rd to sail the 1156NM to Falmouth. The weather did its best to give us a good send off but the wind was missing! We were waved goodbye by the boats from Praia do Vitoria and help with our lines by some friends we had met there. With the lack of wind we needed to motor [...]

22 July 2020

Terceira

We did an overnight sail to Terceira Island (Ilha Terceira) from Sao Jorge to ensure we arrived in the daylight. Our destination was the marina at Praia da Vitória. This is known to be the cheapest in the Azores but is also a good departure place from the Azores to the UK. The sail took us initially [...]

15 July 2020

São Jorge

We left Horta for São Jorge at 08:30 to sail the 22NM. We knew it was going to be a slow sail as the wind was light and we also only had the genoa which when on its own isn't the ideal sail for an upwind sail. With her clean bottom however Mirage didn't disgrace herself and we managed the sail in just [...]

St Lucia

13 February 2020
Paul Kember
We left St Vincent just after first light with the plan on sailing to Vieux Fort on the South West corner of St Lucia as this is the nearest anchorage to the international airport, for collecting Becs, Sally's daughter, from the airport. However, with the wind direction and 3 knot side current and sailing as hard into wind as Mirage can we were unable to cross to St Lucia and Vieux Fort without motoring into the wind and tide for most of the journey, so we made the decision to make the detour to Sourfriere further down the west coast to ensure we were able to meet Becs on time at the airport. Sailing along the west coast the scenery was fabulous especially the dramatic scenery of the tall mountains and the imposing Pitons as we approached the moorings. St Lucia is the largest of the windward islands in the Caribbean so it can generate it's own weather system and the lushness of the island bears this out along with the larger number of crops that we can see being grown on the sides of the extinct, hopefully, volcanoes.

Fact of the day is that St Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman. I did not believe this when I first read it, but it is true! There are some countries named after legendary figures and goddesses but Saint Lucia is the only one named after a real life person. It was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse. (Saint Lucy was a young Christian lady from Syracuse, Sicily.)

Sourfriere is inside the St Lucia maritime natural park and UNESCO World Heritage Site and the use of mooring buoys is mandatory for all yachts and the first time we had to use a buoy on this entire trip. Being old hands with mooring buoys this is not a problem, however as we approached to moorings it became apparent that the use of a mooring buoy required the use of a local 'boat boy' and then his continued 'support' for the whole visit! Although we don't mind using the boat boys we would rather use them on our terms and not theirs! However, with time at a premium, needing to pick Becs up we were a bit at their mercy. So after a lot of bartering we finally agreed on a price for the mooring as well as the help mooring (even though I re-secured us), being taxied ashore and shown where customs were, arranging a return taxi trip for us to collect Becs up and the return boat taxi upon our return. Clearing customs and immigration went smoothly and in the meantime Sally readied the forward cabin for Becs arrival.

The trip to collect Becs went very smoothly although 15 mins after the agreed time. From the moment we got in the boat taxi and then into the actual taxi it was a continuous sell to book an island tour.... guided hike up the Pitons, visit the mud springs, have a swim in the hot waterfall .... etc. which became a bit tiresome as time went on. Becs flight had landed early and she was already on the ground before we even left the anchorage. As we headed to the airport we received a few messages from Becs saying that immigration at the airport would not let her into St Lucia until they knew where she was going and giving our boat name was not enough! Poor thing this was quite a stressful start start to her holiday, finally after we had told her where we were moored she was then initially told she had to wait for our arrival. We suspect that they get suspicious of young people arriving here and never wanting to leave! After a change of shift the staff allowed her to meet us outside the arrivals terminal. So with much hugging and a quick luggage load we were underway again back to Mirage still with a bit of the hard sell but this time with Becs as the target!

Once on board we introduced Becs to the delights of cruising. Refreshing her on the use of heads, water and power conservation, movement around the boat, need to secure door and cupboards, gas safety, etc. Becs had brought with her a few goodies and small value spares and upgrades for the boat such as a cooling fan for the fridge compressor, better fuse for the solar panel (I have done some wiring upgrades on the Solar Panel regulator output to reduce cables losses) and more solar lights for use in the boat. The first solar light was a present from friends Sally and Phil and has been a god send, so we decided to get a couple of extra ones. With a tired Becs we didn't have a late night but as the sun set we did have a fantastic view of the Pitons. It was a beautifully calm evening so we fortunately had no swell but we suggested she had a sickness tablet just in case. After supper she retired early as she was still on UK time 4 hrs ahead of us and had an early start from London that morning.

We had an early morning wake up call from our boat boy asking about trips and bread. We had already decided that the next morning we would head off to Rodney bay and do our island exploration without the hassle of the boat boys and look at using the local buses. We agreed to him delivering us fresh bread which turned out to be the most expensive small, stale baguette we have tasted costing the equivalent of £7! He was most insistent that we take his mobile number, so we could contact him if we returned there. We understand why they are so persistent, they have to earn a living some how. Its a very competitive environment and the boat boys organise everything. They have a pecking order and its agreed that nobody else approaches your boat once you have one. We had two arguing over us as we arrived into the bay and although young he did look after us well.

We sailed north to Rodney Bay, only 13NM away. With Becs helming us out of the mooring we soon set sail and sailed the remainder of the western coast of St Lucia to Rodney Bay on a starboard tack. We had near perfect sailing conditions with beautiful blue skies and good winds. We passed the islands oil terminal, then the capital Castries which at the time had 4 cruise liners visiting, as well as a couple of the smaller anchorages on this coast. Again the scenery was very lush and mountainous and with a fast sail to Rodney bay we had arrived in no time at all and anchored securely overlooking Pigeon Island to the North, the main bay to the east and Gros Islet to the South. After all three of us had a swim to check the anchor and then lunch we dinghied into Rodney Bay Marina and the shops. Rodney Bay has one of the largest marinas in the Caribbean built in an artificial lagoon as well as being a hub for tourism in general with hotels and resorts, duty free shopping malls, etc. The bay was named after Admiral George Rodney RN who built a fort to protect the British Navy when anchored in the bay from the French ships 30 miles north in Martinique and to enable him the spy on their activities. The ARC arrived here after their race across from Gran Canaria before Christmas.

Whilst in St Lucia it was my birthday and after opening my cards we had arranged to visit the near-by Pigeon Island with fellow Moody Owners Tracy and Richard. So with a fully loaded dinghy we made our way to Pigeon Island for a days exploring. Pigeon Island was originally an island, hence the name, however, the island was artificially joined to the western coast of mainland in 1972 by a man-made causeway built from dirt excavated to form the Rodney Bay Marina. Pigeon Island is a 44-acre (180,000 m2) nature reserve islet on the northern side of the bay so would give us plenty to explore, as well as use one of the two beaches whilst there.

We motored our dinghy over to the little dock on the fort grounds, tied up and was greeted by a park official who then walked with us to the main gate entrance where we purchased our tickets and we were off on our way to explore. The buildings and ruins were similar to some of the forts we’ve visited before and we read that Fort Rodney dated back to around 1750 and had a main fortress, barracks and now some rusting cannons. The grounds are beautiful with lots of flowers and big shade trees. There are two peaks to hike up to on the island. The highest point for Fort Rodney is 225 ft and for Signal Peak it is 330 ft. Signal Peak required a bit of a rock scramble to reach the top but once at the top the views were absolutely amazing enabling you to see the majority of the west coast as well as the north coast. The photos don't really do it justice. With suitable photos taken we headed to the fort and missed being at the top of Signal Peak when a short sharp shower hit the island but using trees for shelter we missed getting too wet. The path to the fort although uphill was an easy walk, nice and smooth for most of the way with a a staircase for the final climb to reach the top.

In 1937 Pigeon Island was leased to Josset Agnes Hutchinson, an actress from England but when the US established a Naval Base at Rodney Bay in 1940 she left the island not returning until 1947 when the navel station was closed. When she returned she helped to establish a thriving yachting industry that is very obvious in the area as well as entertaining many guests and giving the island the reputation of being a paradise island. She relinquished the lease in 1970 to go back to England and retire. Remnants of her house still mostly stand on the property but are crumbling away. The island also had a whaling station established on it in the early 1900's and one of the RN lime kilns was modified to process whale oil in the 1920's. When world wide whaling legislation to control whaling in 1952 came into force the whaling stopped and we found very little evidence of this as we walked around.

We had a great day exploring every nook and cranny that we could not wanting to miss out on anything. At the end of our hike we stopped for a picnic and then were rewarded with a beautiful beach to swim, cool off and rinse all of the grime off from our explorations, followed by a fresh water cool shower near the beach. What a fun day! Finally returning to Mirage with our friends for late surprise afternoon Birthday tea. Sally had made me a Birthday cake, flapjack and rice crispy cakes, whilst I had gone ashore early that morning for water and fuel! She was disappointed that the icing had melted with the heat whilst out and the sparklers didn't want to light but to me this all added to the charm and excitement of a 50th Birthday, at anchor, watching a spectacular sunset, surrounded by my wife, Becs and friends as the sun set directly behind a small rocky outcrop that sits in the bay.

The following day, with an earlier start than usual and with our friends Tracy and Richard, we headed ashore to collect the hire car we had ordered for the day. St Lucia is 27 miles long and 14 miles wide, with a shape that is said to resemble a mango and the plan was to see as much as we could rather than do as much as we could! Tourism and bananas are the main industry earners for St Lucia and during our day we passed many many many banana plantations on our drive!

The main road on the island is a bit like a '6' with us starting on the top of the '6'. Our proposed route was to head down to the capital then cross to the east coast and follow the road down to the south and the airport before following the road on the west side back to Rodney Bay, so essentially a whistle stop tour of the island stopping as we went. With all the formalities completed we were off along the busy roads heading south to Castries, the capital and as we passed the port we could see the PO cruise liner Britannia alongside dwarfing everything else in the harbour. You are able to anchor right up in the harbour, as one small cameraman was but the noise and pollution would have put us off. The roadside as we drove through the capital was lined with local market stalls selling everything including the kitchen sink and no doubt the target of cruise liner passengers!

As we drove around the island we went over one of the higher passes with views of banana plantations all around. The bunches of bananas are covered with plastic bags for three reasons: to provide a suitable micro-climate for the bananas to ripen more quickly, to protect the bananas (at least to some degree) from insects and other pests, and to prevent the bananas from being bruised when it is windy and leaves may brush against the bunch. We hoped that they then harvest them with the plastic bags intact to prevent them flying elsewhere in the strong trade wind.

We stopped for our packed lunch at Latille Waterfalls not planned as we came across this place by accident. Latille waterfalls and garden is a 20 ft waterfall that cascades into a deep pool, in which we could have swum but the clarity was a bit off putting as we had the rest of the day still exploring. We did notice a pump and pipe work from the pool at the bottom back to the top and we wondered if this was switched on when cruise liners were visiting to make the whole scene more dramatic, but maybe I am just a cynic! There were further smaller waterfalls and pools further down the water-course and we were able to spot a lot of different plants and insects around the area along with a net hammock that Sally tried. Becs spotted humming birds and we also saw bright red dragonflies and there are supposed to be three species of Hummingbird and Dragonfly in the garden. The final feature we tried was the small pond with toe nibbling fish that crowded around your feet to nibble the dead skin off, very ticklish when it was only a few fish but more bearable with the 20 plus that came for their dinner, needless to say mine seemed to attract the most! We were joined by a young Kiwi family whose father was working locally and they were living aboard on their cameraman in Rodney Bay Marina.They were fascinated by the fish and claimed that my feet must be the dirtiest as they liked mine so much!

Again during the afternoon we stopped at various places including a small fishing bay, the large sandy beach on the southern coast by the airport (very popular with the locals) known as Sandy Beach for a very obvious reason as well as Vieux Fort and Laborie which were two smaller towns on the south west coast.

One of the last stops, whilst it was still light was to view the two Pitons. We had previously seen both from the sea and this gave us the other perspective. The walk up the smaller Piton takes around 5 hours so we didn't do it this time and an official guide is mandatory. There is always next time! There are two Pitons, Gros Piton and Petit Piton. Gros Piton is the second-highest peak on Saint Lucia, after Mount Gimie and we had a great vantage point from an observation point by the road and this is the Piton that can be hiked. Petit Piton has been closed to walkers due to erosion and rock falls and is the more northerly of the two. Both are within the UNESCO World Heritage Site previously mentioned and as we drove further along the coast we came across other view points of them. To round off the great day we had a celebratory belated birthday meal at a restaurant at the Rodney Bay Marina, pizza of course as I was choosing.

We do have days off so one of the days we simply caught up on chores on Mirage, including a small repair on the dinghy, before heading ashore in the late afternoon for a walk along the local beach and a drink at the local beach bar and listening to the music as nearly every bar seems to have a budding DJ.

I have also helped Tracy and Richard upgrade their solar panel from 2 x 50W panels to 1 x 250W panel as they were having difficulty keeping their batteries fully charged without running the engine. They moved into the marina for a few nights to make full use of the utilities whilst they performed the necessary upgrades. This was fabulous for us too as we were able to blag the shower facility codes and enjoyed the use of hot showers for several days! Whilst I was helping them Sally and Becs visited Castries Port, St Lucia's capital by local bus and found it heaving with cruise liner passengers. Everywhere they went they were asked how long they were staying and if they were from a cruise liner. Once it was established that they weren't, the market traders were more friendly as the general consensus from locals were that the cruise liners do not bring money to the local economy. Other than some who take in tours or purchase a few tourist trinkets they generally don't spend much money. This is understandable as they don't need to buy food and may not even be allowed to take fruit back on board for risk of infestations. This is resented as the comment was that the cruise liner passengers aren't interested in the culture and history of the island and their people but again if you are visiting 6 islands in a 7-day period they can become a bit samey when viewed in such a short period due to the small amount of the island you can actually get to see. We were all then treated to a fabulous evening on board Zephyr, with Tracy and Richard hosting us with rum cocktails, a delicious chilli supper and lots of laughter!

We have also had to repair the slip ring in the wind generator as we noticed a change in sound by the wind generator. Usually when we short the output if the wind generator, a switch I put in, it stops the blades from rotating however this was also no longer the case. After removing the wind generator I found that the contacts on the slip ring were no longer being made on the positive output and there was also noticeable carbon build up on the negative, probably as a result of electrical arcing. So after cleaning the carbon from both slip ring groves and using a couple of cable ties to ensure the slip ring contacts remained connected to prevent future arching we re-assembled the wind generator. In the fading light we remounted the wind turbine and the testing proved successful and lets hope it continues to function for the remainder of the trip.

On Becs final evening we went ashore for a lovely meal at a small restaurant called 'La Mesa' where we all had a fantastic Argentinian burger and chips. A good indication to the quality was when we were asked how we wanted the burger cooked! Needless to say the portions were so large that we struggled to eat it all and sadly for us we had no room for dessert.

As Becs flight home wasn't until the evening we tried to make the most of her final day. We dingied into the marina fully loaded with Becs suitcase, flight bag, our beach bag, shower bag, two 25L water containers and fuel can. As you can imagine with wind against tide gusting above 20 knots this was a slow and choppy ride. We were very impressed with how well Becs adapted to life at anchor and giggled her way through most of our adventures ashore wrapped up in a shower curtain to keep her dry. Leaving Becs bags on Zephyr we walked from the Marina into the town and along to the far side of Rodney Bay for her final swim and sunbathe. After a picnic lunch we returned to the Marina to shower and meet up with Tracy and Richard for a cuppa. We had arranged for a taxi to collect and take Becs to the airport from the Marina and it was an emotional farewell for the girls. The 9 days passed us by very quickly and we hope that she enjoyed her Caribbean adventure!

Our thoughts are with Debbie and Martin who we met in Porto Santo.
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