Sailing the Windward Islands

Vessel Name: Souverain
Vessel Make/Model: Hallberg Rassy 53
Hailing Port: San Francisco
17 January 2010
16 January 2010
15 January 2010
15 January 2010
15 January 2010
14 January 2010
14 January 2010
14 January 2010
13 January 2010
12 January 2010
11 January 2010
11 January 2010
11 January 2010
11 January 2010
10 January 2010
10 January 2010
09 January 2010
07 January 2010
05 January 2010 | Grenada
04 January 2010 | Barbados
Recent Blog Posts
06 February 2010

Rescue Time

Well, home for some of the crew. I needed to try to find SOME night life. While boarding the dinghy to go back to the boat, some 'kids' came to me and asked, in French, if I could take them back to their boat. I told them, okay, but I need to take Phil and Debra first. Then I would come back to them [...]

06 February 2010

Buying the Restaurant

From our boat we could see a ship onshore(See picture). It's not really a ship it is actually a doctor's office. Off to shore for another dinner in Les Saintes. Last time Phil and I were here we learned a lesson in reservations. The only place a week ago that would have us for dinner was the art gallery. [...]

05 February 2010

Back to The Saints

Even though Bas-Du_Fort was a nice place, we thought Debra would like Les Saintes. It was only three hours away. And it would be a idealistic anchorage to start the trip. When Phil and I did the trip North, it was blowing 24kts and the boat was doing 9.8kts. Now with Debra aboard, the winds were about [...]

04 February 2010

Zoo Rock Cafe -- Deux

Debra felt that our refer was lacking some real 'food'. So off to the market. Phil and I 'thought' that the boat was provisioned with a chicken, two steaks and beer. Debra thought we need some Oranges, grapes, cheeses, carrots, Perrier, and of course, Diet Coke! Debra wanted some 'beef' for dinner. Ah, [...]

03 February 2010

Debra Arrives

Phil and I went out for lunch. Just something simple. We walked by the restaurant called 'Le Pirate Caribeen'. As we looked at the menu outside, this girl comes out and says "Free Drinks". That sounds cool. She hands us a card. Then we get the requirement. We must order an appetizer. Okay, no problem [...]

02 February 2010

Meat!

There are quite a lot of restaurants at the marina. One is called the Zoo Rock Café. Not that the name got us there, but the menu. In French they had 'Brochette'. In English it's 'Sword'. Well, is really was a sword! If you order a 'sword' of beef. The sword of beef would come on a stand with a giant [...]

Rescue Time

06 February 2010
Well, home for some of the crew. I needed to try to find SOME night life. While boarding the dinghy to go back to the boat, some 'kids' came to me and asked, in French, if I could take them back to their boat. I told them, okay, but I need to take Phil and Debra first. Then I would come back to them to take them to their boat. Off I went with Phil and Debra. Once they were aboard, I went back to the dock. There were six of them. I recognized them from the boat near ours that we saw earlier come in and anchor under sail! Very impressive. Since there were six, the plan was to take the three girls first. One was even pregnant! Okay! On the way over the girls told me that they had no dinghy! And they had no engine for the sailboat! BUT THEY HAD RUM! Would I like some rum? Well Duh!! What what about the 'boys'. Oh they will swim back to the boat. They like the challenge! I was a little concerned for the boys, but for the moment, the situation seemed under control. With the the girls back on the boat they started making Ti Punch! Wow! Ti punch tastes a lot different in a restaurant than it does on a sailboat with three girls! The 'Boys' finally showed up swimming to the boat. All the kids spoke English and I felt it as a golden opportunity to get local sailing information. Our original plan was to go to Montserrat tomorrow. But after checking the MVO(Montserrat Volcano Observatory) we found that there was an eruption yesterday. All things considerate, maybe we will skip Montserrat. I was in Montserrat in 1995, two weeks before the volcano blew and wiped out the Southern 2/3 of the island. A lot of what I visited then, is now destroyed. In talking with 'the kids' from Guadeloupe, our second choice is a good one. It called, Deshaies. Which according to the kids is pronounced, "Day-Hay". This French stuff is hard! I also took the opportunity to correct my French. So I asked to help me with 'vin du rouge'. I would say 'van du rouge'. They told me it is pronounced 'ron' not 'van'. Okay. Then it's 'da' not 'du'. Wow, this is completely different that I have been saying. And then "voo"(vous). I finally got it. They were trying to help me with ron-da-voo(rendevous). I said, "No, RED WINE!" Everyone laughed. Now it's "Van-Du-Rouge", not Ron-Da-Voo"! But they did tell me that 'rendevous' works with French girls also! I said Au revoir to my new best friends and headed for my dinghy. But one last 'gift', I broke the stern ladder on their sailboat. Maybe too much Ti Punch! Oh well, maybe Phil's insurance will cover it!

Buying the Restaurant

06 February 2010
From our boat we could see a ship onshore(See picture). It's not really a ship it is actually a doctor's office. Off to shore for another dinner in Les Saintes. Last time Phil and I were here we learned a lesson in reservations. The only place a week ago that would have us for dinner was the art gallery. With Debra aboard we thought it would be a place that she would like. Phil went over to make a reservation. They were already full, or they remembered us from last time and thought it be better if they said no. There was this other place that I wanted to go when we we here a week ago, but wasn't right then. But maybe tonight it might be the right place. Phil wanted to be sure that the steak on the menu was going to be thick. We went in and talked the the owner. Of course no English, but we tried to communicate. The steak on the menu was 'piece du boeuf'. To me it was piece of beef. But Phil was trying to find out what kind of beef. He raised his hand and with two fingers tried to measure the thickness of the beef. The owner reacted similar and raised her hand with her fingers space apart for the thickness of the steak. At first we thought success on a thick steak. But we soon realized that she was just matching our motions. Phil joked that she was measuring the amount of rum she was drinking. After a few more tries, we felt confident that our message was received. Beside of the thickness of steak, we also tried to make dinner reservations. "Je voudrais rentenir une table" or something like that. She starts counting in English. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight" Eight! How about eight? We realized that she was doing what we do in Mexico. "Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho". Well 8 o'clock is late for this us. "Non". So she went through the the same English numbers "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven" Seven! How about seven? "Okay". Done! Reservation for trois at 7:00pm. Of course while Phil and I are trying to make reservations in French, Debra is ahead of us on the street shopping. If you walk down the street and check in every shop, you will find Debra eventually. I'm actually impressed that Debra did not find something to buy in the shops in Terre De Haute! Done with shopping there is time for a cocktail before dinner. There is only one place that was perfect, Sole Mio. They were so nice to us the night before. Debra teased him about the Wifi(again), but he remembered us and gave us a table for drinks. He was proud of the English he knew and blew off his English speaking waitress. He remembered our drink order from the night before. This night had a spectacular sunset. The owner brought his camera out to show us the pictures that he has taken. They were quite outstanding. With the sunset over and dinner time, we moved to the restaurant. Even through I was impressed by the front room of the restaurant, the back room was fun too. With two levels, we had a table on the upper level. When we first sat down, Phil got a disclaimer(in French) not to push his chair too far because might go over the stairs. We had a better plan, to move the table away from the stairs to stop Phil from 'accidentally' falling down the stairs. Time to order. Wine first, of course and then main courses. But I had a trick up my sleeve. I saw on the bar that there was a drink special called "Isla Toile". Which is also the name of the restaurant. I tried to order it, but the waitress didn't understand what I wanted. So I went with her to the bar. When I read the sign again, I realized that the sign was saying the "Isla Toile" special was 'le sangette". So again I was trying to buy the restaurant instead of a glass of Sangria! Dinner was good and time to go home.

Back to The Saints

05 February 2010
Even though Bas-Du_Fort was a nice place, we thought Debra would like Les Saintes. It was only three hours away. And it would be a idealistic anchorage to start the trip. When Phil and I did the trip North, it was blowing 24kts and the boat was doing 9.8kts. Now with Debra aboard, the winds were about 7kts and the boat was doing 3.5kts. Even Debra was getting a little antsy to go faster. We finally made it back to Terre-Du-Haute. After anchoring, first step, WiFi. Okay, really the second step. We knew that we could connect with Hot-hot-hot-spot for US$10-a-day. But Debra spotted a place on shore with FREE Wifi. Off in the dinghy we went. The place is called Sole Mio and it's right on the beach. Now the negotiations began. Debra says that we aren't buying drinks unless we get the 'code' for Wifi. The owner says he won't give the code until we order. He had too many times people from Pointe-Au-Pitre come in and get the code and don't order drinks or food. Who is going to win? The place was too nice, so we ordered drinks and Debra got her WiFi code. Everybody wins. The owner didn't speak English, but he told us his wife did. But we tried and he helped us with our drink order. Mine was easy, Vin-Du-Rouge. But I was still trying to learn more French. So after I finished my red wine, I asked him how to say 'one more'. With all the stupid gender things for French, it seems that even ordering another round is gender based. So to order another glass of wine is "Un Autre Verre". But to order another bottle is "Une Autre Bouteille". Easy! The sunset was starting. So out come the cameras. Even through we see fantastic sunsets all the time, we still take pictures. What I found surprising is the restaurant owner, when the sunset started brought HIS camera out and took pictures. You would think that having a restaurant on the beach that he would be tired of Sunsets. BUT NO!!

Zoo Rock Cafe -- Deux

04 February 2010
Debra felt that our refer was lacking some real 'food'. So off to the market. Phil and I 'thought' that the boat was provisioned with a chicken, two steaks and beer. Debra thought we need some Oranges, grapes, cheeses, carrots, Perrier, and of course, Diet Coke! Debra wanted some 'beef' for dinner. Ah, the sword place is perfect! Phil and I had such a wonderful time there, this should be perfect. But, Murphy sat with us tonight. The meat wasn't as good as the time before. But as good luck had it, there was a live band tonight. What kind of music would a French rock and roll band play. How about Dire Straits, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, La Bamba, Mustang Sally. The crowd was crazy. They only played three French songs. I could tell it was French because I didn't understand the words.

Debra Arrives

03 February 2010
Phil and I went out for lunch. Just something simple. We walked by the restaurant called 'Le Pirate Caribeen'. As we looked at the menu outside, this girl comes out and says "Free Drinks". That sounds cool. She hands us a card. Then we get the requirement. We must order an appetizer. Okay, no problem and we go inside. She then asks a question we haven't been asked before. "Smoking or non-smoking?" She took us to the non-smoking section which is upwind of the smoking section. Just as we sat down, it started raining. No smoke, but we were getting wet. We pulled down the bamboo curtains to stay dry. Now we get the second requirement for the 'free' drinks. We can only have Ti Punch, orange juice, or planter punch. Big choice. Ti Punch is popular in Guadeloupe so we both ordered one. Now the third thing about our 'free' drink. It is served in little glasses and only half full(see picture). Debra was coming in tonight. With all the 'adventure' I had flying around the Caribbean, I was a little worried about Debra's flight. Phil took a taxi to the airport to meet Debra and she was on time. Back to the marina and the boat. And now we start the next part of the trip.

Meat!

02 February 2010
There are quite a lot of restaurants at the marina. One is called the Zoo Rock Café. Not that the name got us there, but the menu. In French they had 'Brochette'. In English it's 'Sword'. Well, is really was a sword! If you order a 'sword' of beef. The sword of beef would come on a stand with a giant sword. Phil and I went to the Zoo Rock Café and had Sword of Beef and a Sword of Mixed Grill. If you like beef it was great. Somehow we messed up the order. I got french fries and Phil got TWO baked potatoes. The Zoo Rock Café was the only place in the marina area that was alive. Even through it was DJ music, they were still playing Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson and The Beatles. It was pretty slow night, but fun.

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