Yacht Larus
A slow circumnavigation
| Vessel Name: | Larus |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Slipper 42 |
| Hailing Port: | Southampton |
| Crew: | Tim Chapman and Nancy Martiniuk |
| About: | Sailing together since 1988 |
| Home Page: | Http://www.sailblogs.com/member/yachtlarus |
18 June 2016
Blog is moving
There is no perfect blog site for those of us who have almost permanent internet challenges, however we're moving from Sailblogs now to a new blog site. The posts here will remain but all future posts will be at;
21 February 2016
Every cloud has a silver lining
It came to light during the Boat show that the boat's insurers were insisting that the delivery skipper had an Ocean endorsement on their Yachtmaster ticket. Tim doesn't have this. He's had his Yachtmaster for over 20 years and in those days Yachtmaster Offshore was the highest level of certification. [...]
03 December 2015 | Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI
Blog 78 - Cruising once again
Having just reread our last blog, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that it was pretty much spot on.
03 June 2015 | Antigua
Work, Work and more work.
It is an awfully long time since our last blog and we really haven't been doing much other than working.
27 October 2014
On the hard Chaguaramas and crusing in Tobago
Spring this year, April to July, found us working pretty hard. Summer found us spending our hard earned gains treating Larus and ourselves to some TLC. While Tim and I visited friends and family in Canada and the UK, we left Larus on the hard in Coral Cove Marina, Chaguaramas, Trinidad in the care [...]
19 October 2014 | Trinidad
New paint job
Couldn't resist painting the boat at Trinidad prices. Looking gorgeous in a slightly warmer shade of white. Also rolled on 4 more coats of Coppercoat for good measure.
04 July 2014 | Bequia
We’re still here!
And by ‘here’ I mean, Guadeloupe, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Marten and the British Virgin Islands. We have been working quite a lot over the last few months, and are currently in the Grenadines doing nothing but looking after Larus and pleasing ourselves.
02 March 2014 | Chaguaramas, Trinidad
The Run Up to Carnival
Trinidad is obsessed with Carnival. I've read that between Carnivals, the Trini's are either reminiscing about the previous Carnival or planning for the next.
24 January 2014 | Bequia
Charters and Bequia
Both Tim and I have been out on charter. I worked for two weeks in Guadeloupe on a 70' Flagship catamaran while Tim got called out to a short notice charter in the BVI.
Antigua to Trinidad June 15th to 24th
Left Antigua Saturday, 15 June, with the intention of sailing over night to Grenada with one stop as required. Yeah, right. Best laid plans and all.
Big seas and strong winds 30+ knots and up to 38. Opted for Deshaies, Gualdeloupe for the night.
Sun 16/Mon 17 June
Anchored off Pigeon Island to visit the shops early Monday morning.
If you go by sea from Deshaies to Pigeon Island, it's only 8 miles. The roads are VERY windy.
Leader Price (my favourite shop) and Carrefour. Lots of skim milk powder and Moutard a la Ancienne from the Leader Price, which is just the best mustard I have ever had.
While waiting for the Leader Price to open, we went for a walk. You can see the anchorage in the distance.
A roadside view. I'm astounded at how strange and wonderful everything still is to us.
Road side fruit and veg stand.
Frangipane. Tim knew what this tree was when I didn't. I was that impressed, I took a pic.
We were back on board by 0845 and on our way to Isle de Saints by 9. Hard sail to The Saints. Not as much wind as yesterday, but as we approached the island the seas got bigger and more confused.
We spent three nights (17, 18, 19) in Isle di Saints, dolphins, hot, humid, rain, thunder and lightning.
Love love love the first translation.
They just sound better in French, don't they?
Isle de Saints streets.
And looking the other way toward the anchorage. Everything feels very small here. There are no tall buildings, two stories at most, and only a few streets that run parallel to the harbour.
One of the local supermarkets.
Beautiful duck egg blue land crab. I actually dropped the white blossom near his hole, but he did scoot out and get it.
If I was a stealthier photographer, you would have seen a little crab at every hole. This is a front garden.
We from the more northern latitudes are more likely to see this sort of plant in a pot in our living room.
Thursday 18 - left for Martinique.
Dolphins.
Dolphins off Dominica whizzing back and forth under our bow. The water was the clearest we have seen.
Fort de France - arrived 2330. Loud loud jazz which thankfully stopped at 0000.
Friday 19th -shopped and did repairs. Bus ride to Marin. So built up one would expect to find in France. Box type strip malls everywhere.
Back at anchorage, the music started at 12.00 very loud hip hop dj stuff. Moved to Grande Anse d'Arlet. Hippy boat, which arrived specifically for the music festival, booed and laughed, good naturedly, as we left.
Grande Anse d'Arle. Must go back though I suspect it is very crowded in peak season. Wonderful water so clear you could see the chain lying on the bottom.
Saturday 20th. An 0900 start for an overnight sail to Union Island. Planned to leave about 6 for Trinidad to arrive Monday morning to be able to check in after 8 and not pay overtime fee.
Ugh. Sailed too fast for Union Island (can't arrive there in the dark, difficult unfamiliar anchorage) so changed destination for Bequia (where we can arrive in the dark, easy and very open anchorage) and a midnight arrival.
Really enjoyed watching a brown booby use us to flush out his dinner.
He swooped all around Larus watching for startled flying fish. Once he missed and remained poised in the water, wings half furled, then he stuck his head under, look right then left, leapt and pounced just a few feet away and came up with a fish. It hadn't occurred to me that they could see underwater, but of course they can!
The sailing was still very fast until we started to clear St Lucia, and found 2 knots of tide against us. Behind the islands are very fickle winds. It drives Tim mad, the shifting light winds. He's up down, up down, fine tuning only to have it shift again.
Arrived off Bequia at about midnight and, just as a forescast predicted, the winds came up. Worst ever because of big horrible seas in the channel between St Vincent and Bequia. Short and sharp, it was all over in about 20 minutes when we turned into Admiralty Bay.
Anchored and slept.
Sunday 23. Left at 10 expecting more of the same sailing conditions, but it was quite the opposite.
See? Speed over the ground (SOG) 5.8 knots and the wind between 15 and 20 knots from the port quarter.
Wonderful wonderful sailing to Trinidad. The variable current is with us. The seas are flat, the wind is moderate and our heading puts us on a beam reach. At 0600 in the evening we have 12 hours to go.
Slept twice that day.
Sunrise off Trinidad. I love the 'black and white' thing that happens when taking a pic into the sun.
Arriving Trinidad through the Bocas.
Chaguaramas is a commercial port. Sadly it has the dirtiest water we have ever seen, short of the oil spill in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria last autumn.
Dead ahead are the marinas, most of the facilities and the anchorage.
The dock at Power Boat Marina - to the right...
... and to the left.
Chaguaramas anchorage and Tim - on the plane in our old dinghy but with the new outboard. With only one person in it, you can get it on the plane as long as you sit well forward.
After this we did our STCW95 course at the University of Trinidad, but that will go in the next blog. :D
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