Still at the Saintes

As the title says, we're still enjoying these little islands in the sea, just south of the big butterfly that is Guadeloupe.   This also means you still have to wait for pictures.

The arrival had us here just after 2 in the afternoon, but all the mooring balls were gone.  As Peace and Plenty are presently traveling without a depth sounder, we motored around to find a safe piece of property where they could drop the hook and still have safe "swinging" room.  We got them situated, and then ourselves, in among the moorings and in a good flat piece of water near the shore.  We were just about to have our anchor beer when things took a turn for the worse.  An official-looking launch came out with a little man in it who yelled in two languages for us to up anchor and vamoose.  He guided us both to a patch of water well out from the town for our anchors.  I hate, and indeed seldom anchor in 11 metres, but we both got our anchors down and they held fabulously.  The obvious downside was the swells and chop that literally kicked Cat Tales sideways every two seconds.  I considered renaming her "Lurch".  However, imagine what these were doing to the very tender C&C 38 beside us.  Lorna was quite sure she was at the end of her patience, by morning.  When friends aboard s/v Changes and s/v Baidarka called saying mooring were available, we made our windlasses rather hot hauling up all that chain and made some waves of our own in to town.  We're still 4 minutes by dinghy to the dock, and there are still lurches aboard, but one can consider it life.

Yesterday was further taken up by the clearance, a cute french lunch, and the obligatory tour around town and shopping for the ladies in the various boutiques.  For those of you not familiar with this little town, it revolves around the 4 catamaran ferries that arrive each day from the main island, primary loaded with European French, and we suppose all the supplies the locals try to sell them.  We're a minor bycatch of that.

Today was quite fun.  The four of us walked to the beach at Baie de Pompiere, on the east side, slung some hammocks, and just chilled.  Well, the wind was so strong that it was chilly, but, well, down to +25 C with the wind chill.  We had a big Heineken and a Bokit each, and made our way back to town after lunch, and back to the boat for rest and chores.

Tonight we have a meeting at the pizza joint with 5 boats involved.  It can't start until 7pm, as this is France, and civilized French people don't talk about eating before then, you know.  They provide free wifi at the restaurant, and it is there that this blog will be posted!

Arrival in les saints

We had a glorious sail, strong but steady winds with the large primary waves ten seconds apart.  The consistent swells made all the difference.  We hope to post some video when a connection allows.  Now in les Saintes and will enjoy for the next few days.  Internet is always sketchy here so we will be in touch when we can.  

Pics from Dominica

We were recently blocked from Blogger but with some help from our friend Steve back in St. Lucia, the problem is solved.  He was able to log into our account from there since I was able to use it on that island.  He then went in and made the change to the settings we required and ...voila!  Thanks Steve!

Here are the pictures that I was unable to put up the other day:

Laurie loves this Pastafarian boat!

Lorna standing in front of one of the renovated buildings at Fort Shirley

Laurie waiting patiently on an old cannon for hiking buddies, Lorna and Brian

The boat boys here in the bay have strung a water hose out to a mooring ball and outfitted it with a tap!  All you have to do is tie to the ball and unwrap the hose and turn it on!  Water on tap!  Fill your tanks for only 50 EC!

Lorna and Brian enjoying the Beach BBQ put on by the PAYS members in the bay. (Portsmouth Area Yacht Security)

A couple of our PAYS friends working hard at the BBQ to keep us all happy!

Sunday night BBQ

This huge moth flew in and got many of the girlies in a flutter.  Once it finally landed on this guy's shoulder, he sat there for the rest of the evening!  He apparently picked the right guy to land on!

Laurie and our friend Andrew, both working hard for tomorrow's hangover!

Dominica

Hi everyone, I had a few pictures all set to put up, but I have run into a Google Road-block. Because I'm signing in from an "unusual" location, I have to reset my password and the only way this is possible is to have a code sent to my home cell phone which is of course NOT working down in the islands! So, for now, because I have already set up blogger to accept an email message, I'll try this method instead, but of course text only and NO pics! May have to go to FaceBook to get these pictures up.

We arrived in Dominica a couple of days ago and have done a bit of hiking and renewing old friendships with the great boat boys here. We attended the Sunday night BBQ and enjoyed the company of Silk Pajamas, Peace and Plenty and Queen Emma. We have had a slow day today but will step it up a bit tomorrow with a hike to Chaudiere Falls. We'll stay until the end of the week and then head for the Saintes.

A hike to an Orchid Nursery

A few days ago, Lorna and Brian suggested we take a bus from the marina towards Castries and walk from the round-about on a flat but busy road out to the Orchid Propagation Farm.  We put the word out and within an hour, we had 12 cruisers piling into a van (called a bus here).  There were only a couple of locals on the bus at the time and when the last one got out, she was heard saying, "Get me off this crazy bus"!!  We had all been laughing and everyone kept handing me their cameras to take pictures of the group.  In the picture below, only 8 people are visible.  Denis (our weatherman) from Tiger Lily with Maria and Steve from s/v Aspen are in the front row.  Brian from Peace and Plenty, Michele from s/v Tarentela, and Laurie from Cat Tales is in the next row.  Sitting in the back are Lorna, also from Peace and Plenty, and Arleen from Tiger Lily II.  Up front with me were 3 more cruisers!  2 EC dollars a head makes for pretty convenient travel.  (Divide by 2.7 to get CAD)

12 of us on the same "bus" heading for the Orchid Propagation Farm

Orchids in full bloom!  Beautiful!!

Our guide did a wonderful job telling us the different stages of development of the many types of orchids produced

The greenhouse had state of the art climate control.  When the temperature reached 28 degrees the shade panels automatically closed to keep the hot sun from baking the tender plants. 

 

 

A few mornings ago, we had torrential rains followed by beautiful sunshine.  This is Silk Pajamas on the left with Kristin and Terry on-board! 

We had a bit of excitement walking back from the farm, when a young local man attempted to snatch a purse from one of the women in the back of our group.  She refused to let go and the young man was quickly chased off by Laurie.  He ran right out of his flip-flops and disappeared like a young "Ben Johnson".  We contacted police, but no one showed up or called.  The woman ended up with a scratched elbow since he actually took her to the ground and drug her on the pavement with the end of her purse.  He picked the wrong gal to play with that day!

Tomorrow we're planning to sail to Martinique if Denis tells us in the morning that the weather is suitable.  The winds have been howling and the seas might still be a bit too wild, so we'll decide in the morning.  They're calling for rain on Monday and Tuesday.  Besides Denis, we use Wind GURU to help us make a decision: http://www.windguru.cz/int/  When you're on this page, click on 'spot menu' and choose Caribbean and then choose Martinique and then Martinique again.  The site is designed for kite surfers, but it gives us a nice indication of the winds on the windward side of the islands which helps with the passages between the islands.

The Round the World ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) began their journey around the world today at noon.  Over 30 boats were moving around in the bay until the start gun fired and they were off.  We could see them head south towards Marigot for about an hour.  They will take a turn WEST towards Panama this afternoon and will be sailing for days and days before they see land again.  I'm glad I'm just considering this little trip to Martinique to pick up wine and fancy cheese!

JANUARY 1st, 2014!

Happy New Year everyone.  We do hope you feel great today, and will only feel better for the rest of the year.

Laurie here.  We're having a slow day today.  I have awaken with a hangover that one should not take to sea, myself.  Dawn has cooked a great plate of french toast, and with a banana and coffee we have started the day.  Not that it will be much for us.  I am contemplating significant time in the hammock, until the sun comes around to the stern of the boat and drives me out of it.  

For New Years celebrations, we could choose between an expensive, but not notably good quality meal, a dinghy drift in a dangerous harbour, or what we actually did.  We went into the marina boardwalk at 5 pm, took up residence at the bar, and sat with the crews of Stopp Knot, Aspen, Tarantella, Peace & Plenty, Tiger Lily II, and Bay Pelican.   We intended to stay for just a special drink or two, but everyone bought a pail of beer or two (5 bottles and ice), and we had to stay until they were completed.  It was quite good fun, if a little loud.  Still, we broke up early, around 7 pm, then Lorna and Brian hosted Dawn and me aboard P &P for a lovely steak dinner.  Dawn and I were still back aboard Cat Tales before all the resorts lit up the sky, primarily to protect our little boats from idiots with emergency flares.  None came too close, but we couldn't have risked it.

Happy Hour on the Boardwalk of Rodney Bay Marina, St. Lucia

Since last weblog, we've hiked Pigeon Island with Lorna and Brian, hiked to Cas-en-Bas on the east coast with a big crowd, and worked on the boat.   We have our bathroom door being re-coated by a local friend, replaced the windlass solenoid (6 trips into that little cubby hole called the anchor locker - I better never put on any weight or lose any more flexibility), purchased and installed new anchor chain, did a bit of gelcoating over some blemishes, and cleaned both primary fuel filter housings (Racor 500s).  Of course, we've socialized with John of Stopp Knot, Steve and Maria of Aspen, Al and Michele of Tarantella, and of course more time with Brian and Lorna.

Lorna and Maria on hike to and from Cas en Bas on the windy side of the island

Michele hiking with horses for rent in the background

Well earned lunch and beers after the hike.  BBQ was on that day and it was outstanding!  Dinner was canceled.

Laurie worked the better half of yesterday to clean 2 diesel filter housings.  He was pleased with the results.

Ahh...nice and clean again!

It has been fun, but now we'd like a weather window to get out of here and sail to Martinique.  The foolishness with tourists on jet skis, water skis, and polypropylene Hobies, and the locals whizzing around us like we were traffic cones does tend to wear on us.  We also watch dim tourists take these paddle-boards (you stand up and paddle a stable surfboard) straight past us downwind, and then watch the surprise as they try to paddle the silly things back upwind.     Every day the resorts have to fetch some back to shore. 

Rasta John was paddling to the other side of the bay and was very happy to be offered a tow.  He sells hats and other 'goodies' to the tourists!

Rasta John bailing...a constant occupation in his little boat!

We watched people play with this toy all day off the Landings Resort beach.  If you recall, Rick Mercer had a segment on his tv show with him trying it out!

Denis of the FOD weather net says it is going to blow at least until Tuesday, so it looks like more hiking locally, and more opportunity to work on the boat...but not today!

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays from Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Arundle and other Norwegian explorers suggest that an adventure is something you have when you are not prepared.  Whether or not that is true, we've had some adventures of late.

Although we could have been quite happy if we had stayed in Bequia, the reports from Denis, our weather adviser, and the other weather sources suggested that we could indeed travel on Monday and Tuesday; so we did.  With s/v Peace & Plenty (P&P), we checked out of Customs and Immigration early Monday and prepared to make sail north.  Our first step was to lift two anchors off the bottom, as the high winds had us deploying both heavy anchors and all our chain.  Since Dawn had bruised her shoulder, it was my job to work the windlass - but the windlass would not work.  I troubleshooted it with three trips to the hot, dirty little locker under the windlass; and once more, the solenoid that makes the contacts for the biggest electric motor on the boat was not working.  So, I had to muscle up 230 feet of 10mm chain and two 45 lb anchors and sort them in the locker.

After that, the two boats had a lovely sail (with some motoring as the volcano hid us from the wind) up to a beautiful bay called Chateaubelaire, about 1.5 hours short of the north tip of the island.  The young harbourmaster, George, came zooming up to us in his little red kayak and guided us to a location along a very beautiful shore and cliff, where we could spend the night.  I attempted to tip George for both boats, with 15 EC dollars, a wine cork to put in the kayak bung hole, and a repair kit to stop the leak under his seat.  However, before I could make it clear that he was being rewarded in full, he had zoomed over to welcome Brian and got $20 more and a beer.  Indeed a nice day for him!  Dawn and I also bought a half dozen grapefruit from him for $10 more, and have since found they are seedy and tasteless - but maybe they'll improve if we leave the remainder for a week or so.

We all retired early, and attempted to sleep.  Dawn and I had no problems there, but it was reported that Peace & Plenty suffered some rolling, and Brian spent most of the night in the cockpit.  Monohulls are prone to rolling back and forth if swells are present.  Multihulls seldom feel the roll.  Regardless, we were under way outside the bay by 6:15 am.  Doyle's Guide for the trip beyond St. Vincent says to reduce sail significantly, showing only a sliver of jib, and then stick your nose out beyond the volcano and increase sail as conditions allow.  I was lulled by past easy conditions here, and by a weather report that suggested winds at least below 20 knots.  I noticed a squall at the tip of the island, but thought it was just the typical cloud and rain often caused by the steep 3000 foot volcano.  Still, we were well reefed down, and supposedly safe for up to 30 knots.  Well, we got 44 knots, and for over 45 minutes it didn't drop below 38 knots.  I put the double-reefed main all the way over, and the sheet out, and had only 1/3 of the jib out.  I also went into the wind as far as I could, trying to depower the main, as it was too windy to attempt to reduce sail further.  I should have turned around and got behind the mountain and started over with less sail, but I was unsure if the rig could have stood the changes while we turned.  At any rate, P&P disappeared behind us, and we just kind of held on.  I did my holding on outside in the pelting waves, and Dawn held on inside, quite dry. 

Amazingly, we came out of it without any problems, as far as we can tell.  A strange bit of black plastic fell from the rigging, and I'll have to see where it might have originated in the next few days.  I suspect it is a furling bushing, making a trip to a rigging shop in Martinique part of our future.

We continued across to St. Lucia without further incident as the wind slowly fell to below 20 knots.  We maintained our reduced sails and moved along at around 5.5 knots, while P&P motor-sailed and made up the difference.  After a minor gust that rolled off St. Lucia's Pitons, the wind stayed low, and at times we also motor-sailed.  Both boats were quite messed up from the wind and the salt; and we were looking longingly at a squall in front of us that seemed to be moving at the same speed as we were.  The rinsing would have been appreciated by both boats.  A few times, we caught up to some bits of rain, but never enough to cause the salt to run off the sails, biminis, and decks.  We did notice, however, that there were rivers of fresh water interspersed with the salt water, full of coconuts, litter, and even tree trunks.  Brian called us by radio and suggested we take another look at the island, about a mile away.  The cliffs, in most places well over 100 feet high, had ribbons of waterfalls.  We began to wonder if catching up to this particular squall was very clever. 

We did catch some rain, and soon had more than we wanted, as we approached Rodney Bay.  Still, it abated, we both anchored at about 3:30, and I took Brian into Customs and Immigration.  Not unexpectedly, it being Christmas Eve, they shut the doors on us and told us to come back in the morning.  Brian and I realized we had some spare time and visited John Fallon on StoppKnot on the dock, and assisted him with the bottom third of a wonderful old bottle of dark Barbados rum.

We returned to the boat in a whipping rain and lightning storm.  For 6-8 hours, the lightning lit up the bay brighter than daylight once or more per minute.  One sailor noted that the garden solar lights favoured by the sailors would shut off with every flash, then return on a little brighter for the first instant.  Regardless, the crews on both boats slept rather well as the winds and rain tested our anchors, spinning us over 120 degrees of arc.  In all the time we have spent here, thunder and lightning are not part of weather here during the winter months.  Apparently exceptions prevail.

Although we woke up refreshed, and even enjoyed Christmas day with a leaden sky, we soon got news of the damage ashore.  There is significant infrastructure damage.  Indeed, many people spent their Christmas Eve in their places of work or in strangers' homes, as roads and bridges were swept away.  We are aware of a few deaths, including a young police officer who was rescuing someone when a wall let go.  As it is, water supply systems are not expected to be running for days, with intakes plugged and possibly even swept away.

Laurie & John on the left and Brian and Lorna on the right arriving for Christmas dinner

Check out Brian and Lorna's new dinghy!  They had the navy chaps made in Bequia to match their new bimini.

Lorna and Brian (Peace and Plenty) and John Fallon joined us on our boat for Christmas dinner last night.  We cooked a butterball turkey breast we had picked up in Trinidad and kept frozen in our teeny freezer!  Lots of fun with much reminiscing of past Christmases spent with John aboard his boat Stopp Knot.

On a hike in Bequia, Laurie found a prize on the trail.

Don't get too excited, he wasn't entertained with it for long!

When we get home, we never complain about the quality of the stores in Canada!

Peace & Plenty showing off their new bimini and dodger.  They can both stand up inside now and it feels like a new room has been added to their boat.  The workmanship in Bequia was superb!

There goes the neighborhood.  This monster just anchored right beside us here in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia