MsChievous

Eating out is always an adventure in a foreign land. Saturday, Susie found a Mexican restaurant in the marina that had gorgeous online photos of their delectable entrees. Nothing that we couldn’t get at home, but we hadn’t eaten Mexican in a while ( except for Susie's great tacos). When we sat down at the restaurant, though, the menu had none of these items. Oh, well, there were other interesting options so we wouldn’t go hungry. After (!) we had ordered and tasted the wine, THEN the waitress told us that about a third of the menu wasn’t available…. (Our restaurant last night was much better run!)

The adventure last night was in the drinks Susie made before we left the boat. She tried to replicate the cucumber sour we had in Martinique. We had bought some basil from a boat vendor and had been steeping it in some gin. We peeled and pureed a couple cucumbers, added the gin and some lime juice, sugar and seltzer. Voila! (It was pretty good but a lot of work. We then found cucumber juice on Amazon…or may use Effin cucumber vodka at home.)

Along with eating and drinking, breathing is regarded as important for health. However, at the moment, it may not be too healthy in the Caribbean. The Sahara dust has blown in, and some countries have issued health alerts. (Maybe this why we brought masks with us??) It’s so thick that (big) islands are only visible 3 miles off, and it’s tough to pick out a sailboat on the horizon from a mile away. Freighters – 5 miles if you’re lucky. We’re still breathing though!

Good crossing from St. Lucia to St. Vincent: windy but manageable.

Our ensign (national flag) has taken a beating this year. They usually last a couple of seasons, but the higher winds we’ve encountered this year have taken their toll, much more so than on other national flags we've seen. That’s probably because other countries’ are usually a single piece of printed fabric, whereas all the US flags we’ve had are sewn together from multiple pieces of cloth. The stars stay put in the blue field, but the white and red stripes are individually sewn into the flag, and neither the stitching nor the fabric hold up to days and days of 25+ knot winds. (The stars don’t unravel, though.) And these are marine ensigns and not cheap….

Is this all a sign of climate change, Chinese dominance in manufacturing consumer goods, or a commentary on the (unravelling) state of our union?

Had a marvelous lunch at our favorite restaurant in Marin, Martinique, yesterday. (SA: terrine de foie gras, barrata; JA: stuffed crab, raw thin marlin slices over a soft cheese; both: scrumptious cod fritters. Drinks: cucumber sour!) Heading out this morning (Friday) for St. Lucia. We have an island tour planned and hope to enjoy the marina's swimming pool too!

Susie solved a problem that had been perplexing us since we got to the Caribbean: if we were to swim off the dinghy, how would we get back in?? (The tubes are big, and the freeboard is over a foot.) We considered a variety of steps/stairs, but nothing fit. A common problem was your legs disappearing under the dinghy when you tried to stand. Susie came up with idea of using a cargo or climbing net made of nylon webbing. They're not expensive (Amazon, of course), so we tried one out yesterday. Although photos of the boarding process were prohibited from being posted by the Admiralty, it worked! Now we have increased freedom as to where we can snorkel. Hooray! (However, Susie's arms are tired today!)

After baguette French toast this morning, we headed south to Dominica. The forecast was for winds 14-18 knots and seas of 6 ft. Halfway there, the winds jumped to 25 knots gusting to 32 and seas rose to 10 feet. We shortened sail (relatively easy and quick), and we sped along albeit with bounces and splashes. We're now snug in Portsmouth, Dominica, looking forward to the Sunday night barbecue and a cessation of the intermittent showers.

To celebrate, Susie created a new cocktail, loosely based on one made by her friend Julia. It starts with Champagne, then gin and a ginger syrup from Martinique, garnished with a lime wedge and a piece of candied ginger. Tasty and refreshing!

(The photo is looking down from Fort Napoleon into the Ile de Saintes harbor from where we departed this morning. )

We had a great two weeks home for Summit's 7th (!!) birthday, seeing family and friends and enduring two dumpings, the second of which caused us to scramble and change our return flights - but we made it back to Antigua . There were, of course, lots of boat projects in our bags, but I wasn't expecting the cooling (water) pump in the refrigeration system to fail (kaput!!) right after we bought the voyage's last month of groceries (of course...). I was able to substitute a shower sump pump (with accommodation for different size tubing!) for 48 hours til the chandlery opened. All is running well now - phew!

We are now in the Ile de Saintes, just south of the main island of Guadeloupe. (Yes, the first thing i did on getting up at 6:20 this morning was to dinghy in to the patisserie to get croissants and a baguette. Love these French islands!)

The young English friends we've made have moved on to Nevis on their way home and posted photos of climbing the STEEP! mountain. This inspired us to adventure out, too: we rented a golf cart to explore Terre de Hauts today. (High and dry and NOT pulling ourselves up muddy vertical inclines! More power to them!) Currently sipping a pre-lunch mojito at a very nice resort at the end of the (only) road. Ah, the life of a septuagenerian. Dinner out tonight (French, mai oui!). On to Dominica Friday.

Last night in the islands before we head home for a few days. Susie does great Italian dinners, but we're eating out tonight. (Last night, too - great Mexican wraps aka burritos and margaritas that took us down for the count!) Finished up our pre-departure projects today and had a refreshing dip in the pool. Dinner tomorrow will be the best MIA has to offer... Looking forward to - briefly- seeing family and friends, doing taxes (not!), and then returning to the tropical isles!

We've been having such a good time on Antigua that I forgot to keep posting! The clearance was tortuous (2 hours and most of the forms filled out online - and printed - were ignored!) but things got better quickly. English Harbour and Falmouth were filled with megayachts, and we got to see some behomoth beauties sailing. We went to a community BBQ (with reggae and steel drum band) atop a beautiful vantage point (Shirley Heighrs) with two other Hylas owners and ran into other friends we had made several islands ago. They are a delightful young British couple who sailed across the pond earlier this year, and we shared the wild beauty of Antigua's (shallow, reef-strewn) North Sound a few days later. We're now heading to the marina where we'll leave MsChievous for 10 days while we head home for a "vacation" and Summit's birthday.