Montserrat An Elusive Target

Dawn and I enjoyed the view of this beautiful island from Pinney's Beach yesterday, and got up and under way by 7 am towards Montserrat. The clouds were dark, and totally enclosed the volcano's cone. The forecast was for 16-18 knots from the east, and we had to motor in low wind conditions for 20 minutes. The wind had a lot of south in it initially, but we thought it might improve to the east as we got out from under Nevis. It didn't happen. The wind grew to above 20 knots, with stronger gusts,
and the wind direction stayed 135 degrees magnetic (almost on the nose). By 11, we were only 1/4 way across (half way to the Kingdom of Redonda, to those who know about these things), and the waves were building. We had tacked to the east to get over the 20m shallows, but found the deep water waves were no better. We tried motor-sailing at a different angle, and found that we could not do 5 knots, and that the boat was falling hard off the tops of the waves. Deciding that there was no easy way
to make safe harbour in Montserrat by nightfall, we turned around and headed back to Nevis.

Sounds like a waste of a day, right? Well, not exactly. We caught a cute little ciro mackerel, and filetted and cooked it. It, in a whole wheat bun, went well with the red wine we have been consoling ourselves with. The trip back was a blast, too; with us hitting 8.7 knots surfing downwind on those big breakers with nothing but two handkerchiefs up for sails.

We're back at Pinney's Beach, looking at this beautiful mountain island in bright sunlight, with just a tight little cloud around the cone. The wind is strong, and the wind generator is making awful noise, as we bob more than usual in the surf twisting around the south of the island. The only mean stuff is what we are saying about those who create these weather forecasts: They were a minimum of 30 degrees off the wind direction, and 30 % off the wind strength. Somebody could get hurt!!

We're fine, but we have also heard some disturbing news about our local environment. Jeanne Chown, who intends to come aboard in a week in Guadeloupe and travel to St. Lucia with us, tells us that the socio-political problems in Guadeloupe are dire, with general strikes, gangs, and social and racial unrest - all related to the global economic situation. Dominica may also be affected. This leaves us in a bad way, both in our ability to pick up and enjoy the company of Jeanne and Doug in a week,
and in our travels in general. Somehow, we thought like others: We could go to sea and turn our backs on the global economic situation. It ain't so.

Hopefully, it isn't as bad as we are imagining it, and we just have to do a good passage to find safe islands. In the interim, we're safe and happy. We'll keep you posted. If you know something we don't about Guadeloupe, Dominica, or other islands, keep us posted.

Laurie & Dawn

Hike up to the "Source"

Yesterday, Dawn and I joined Walter and his crew (Madness, Leeanne and Ken)on a hike up the south side of Nevis. The trail follows an old water pipe that travels over rough terrain to a source of water high in the mountain. Appropriately, the trail and the destination are called "The Source". It was the steepest, most demanding hike we have had in the Caribbean, but in regular fashion, we did it in sandals and flip-flops (Dawn in the flip-flops). We ended up walking along muddy ledges through
the thick of the rainforest, with outrageous drops 6" to one side. It was fabulous, with thick greenery everywhere: Elephant ear ferns, many types of palms, giant banyans and silk cotton trees.

We ended the hike mid-afternoon at the Golden Rock estate, now an upscale hotel and restaurant. They served us a beautiful meal - we took a bit of a break from being stingy.

Today, we sail around to Pinney's beach and Charleston, where we hope to get our papers to sail to Monserrat.

Nevis

Good morning,
Dawn here:
We sailed here (Nevis)yesterday after a 2 hour tour of St. Kitts. Since we were there in 2005, there has been so much development, it's unbelievable! The customs officer showed us some of the plans and was he was quite pleased with all the work and opportunities for the island. It may become another one of those Mega Yacht places, complete with the prices to go with it, much like St. Barths and parts of St. Martin.

We arrived in Oualie Bay and met up with Walter on "Madness"!! How mad is that? His company had gone off for a hike for the day so he jumped in his dinghy and delivered a round of Carib anchoring beer. This cove is absolutely beautiful. It has very pretty little cottages on the sandy beached shore with lots of palm trees and mountains in the background. If anyone ever wanted to come visit us and wish to NOT do the boat thing, it would be great place to book in and do day sails with us. The
name of the resort is called Oualie Resort. I have no idea how expensive it is, but after talking to a patron last night at the restaurant, she said it would only be about a 3 star, but they come every year because of the quaintness of the place. They rent a car and really get around.

Today, we'll do an early morning hike with Walter, Ken and Leeanne up to "The Source" which is, I believe a waterfall. They said it could be fairly aggressive, so I'll let you know if my legs still work at the end of the day!

Hopefully by the afternoon, we will have sailed to Pinney Beach, just a few miles around the corner. It's a long, long sandy beach with beach bars and restaurants. Within the next couple of days, we plan to head for Monsterrat.

Take care all,
Dawn

St. Kitts

St. Kitts is short for Saint Christopher. Is he the patron saint of travelers? Keeping with the pattern of providing a small bit of history with each island, here is a gory detail. It was originally settled by both French and English, who got along just long enough to organize a slaughter of the 2000 Carib Indians that had been living here for centuries. The Carib had been enjoying the place after having killed all the Awarak males they found. The Awarak had been here for a long time, but just
were not great fighters. Looks like the new arrivals tend to have the upper hand - maybe St. Christopher is on their side after all.

Our trip from Statia was short at 4-5 hours, but it was annoying as it was all upwind in strong winds and steep waves, and much of it was behind the high mountains of St. Kitts where wind shifts and high gusts were common. We went into Basseterre to clear in, which was simple enough given the 4 big cruise ships, many ship boats ferrying tourists, 4 big cattlemarans unloading more well fed tourists, and the docks were not dinghy friendly. We moved on out of Basseterre almost immediately, so we could
carry on one more hour down the coast to Whitehouse Bay to visit with our friends aboard Madness.

We had a nice evening with Madness, and also enjoyed snorkeling with Walter and Leeanne, yesterday. Leeanne's husband Ken stayed aboard, still nursing a cut toe he got in St. Martin. We found a rather large wreck, complete with a 6' propeller. The wreck was interesting, and made more interesting by the life around it. We dove down, looking into nooks and crannies, pestering young spiny lobster.

Walter and crew left soon after that for Nevis, just an hour or so away; and we had a quiet night. We watched Moulin Rouge, but found it a big disappointment - not sure what we expected, and not sure what the point of the movie was. We understand some people really loved it. The only thing that piqued our interest is the drinking of Absinthe in the movie. Probably better that it isn't available.

Today is Monday, and we're taking it easy again. We'll move the boat back to Basseterre and hopefully will send this tonight. Tomorrow, we'll go ashore to look around Basseterre, then check out and move the boat to Nevis.

St. Eustatius

We're sitting on a mooring ball outside the capital and only port, Orangsted. The shore is a long row of battered rock foundations, with a few habitable buildings. Behind this is a road, and behind the road is a steep cliff. The modern town starts up on the cliff. Beyond the town is a massive green volcano, rising 2000 feet, with a jagged cone, called the quill (an english form of the dutch word meaning pit).

St. Eustatius is typically referred to as Statia. The whole island has a population of only 2300. In the 1700's the Dutch ran the place as a free port, and funnelled tremendous volumes of trade between the warring european nations and then to the blocaded american ports during the revolution. The shops that sat on the rock foundations held fine fabrics, silver, gold, household supplies, guns, sugar, tobacco, and sadly slaves, waiting for buyers. The population of 8000 mixed Dutch, English and
Jewish merchants were fabulously wealthy, but were regularly brutalized by the navies, pirates, and privateers that roamed the waters. These groups would steal and resell all the goods and slaves, and set fire to the place. Each time, they rebuilt, and resumed business; and hundreds of merchant ships would soon be back in harbour, running little boats to and fro.

Yesterday, Dawn and I cut short our morning coffee, and were hiking by 9:00. We stuck to rather steep trails through the growth maintained by volunteers organized by the National Park. We made it into the volcanic funnel after a reasonably tough climb by 11:00. The inside of the volcano holds an evergreen forest within its steep walls. Leaving the funnel, we hiked up and down the cone along a rough trail that took us to the far side of the volcano to a steep white wall of limestone, and further
to a developing botanical garden. We were at the garden by 2:30, but were just too hot and tired to enjoy it. Maybe some other year. We hitchhiked on the lower road the rest of the way around the volcano, and ended up in a burger joint with fish burgers and beers.

During the hike, we saw hundreds of hermit crabs dragging their shells around, many lizards, and interesting trees and flowers. We didn't see the Antillean Iguana or the Red-Bellied Racer Snake, two species we were really looking for. There were wild, homeless chickens, and during our ride back on the narrow eastern road, our vehicle was blocked by a herd of wild donkeys. Our driver, a National Parks employee, answered many questions we had about the island, parks and trails.

We have also seen enough of the little town and the fort(s), and will be checking out for St. Kitts after coffee. We just heard by SSB radio, that our friends aboard Madness are still there.

Arrived in St. Eustatius

Hi everyone:
We have just arrived in Statia at 3:30 pm and are tied up to one of their mandatory 10 dollar mooring balls. We'll be heading in to check in with customs and pay the usual fees. Sailing was a bit tight and bangy into the wind, but all is well with Cat Tales and crew. More tomorrow.

Cheers,
D and L

Delay in leaving ST. MARTIN

We told you yesterday that we would be leavening St. Martin on Wednesday (today) but because the wind is coming from the SE instead of the more typical East, we have decided to sit tight in Tintamare and leave tomorrow morning for Statia (short for Sint Eustatius). It will be much easier tomorrow to get there on the East wind that is predicted. So here we sit, watching the 'cattlemarans' come and go with the tourists. This morning at 10:00 am, we were reading and doing soduko puzzles when 5 giant
cats landed here and anchored all around us. Hundreds of people were suddenly in the water swimming, snorkelling and walking the beach. The whistles blew and they were ALL gone...just an hour after arriving!

Tiko Tiko is here now though, on its daily nude run from Orient Beach. It is a 46 foot catamaran of the same make as ours, but ours is a tiny 35 feet. Tiko Tiko is run by a couple who take their clients to the beach, set up umbrellas, provide them with drinks and snacks, floating devices to play on, while they return to the boat to cook a glorious meal. I can smell it now and believe me, it smells good! Shortly, they'll go get their people and feed them and return them back to the beach where
they'll be shown how to do the famous mud bath, which is to mix the clay mud with salt water and spread it over themselves to let dry in the sun. When they wash it off in the ocean they'll feel wonderfully exfoliated. They'll be here for most of the day. Tiko Tiko will return tomorrow and march through the same routine. The big 'cattlemarans' are filled with completely clothed people, so it's always interesting to see their reactions!

Anyway, it's time for me to hook up the Ham Radio to this computer and get this blog out before I get our lunch prepared.

Dawn (and Laurie)

Leaving St. Martin

It is 11:45 on Tuesday, and we are at anchor at Anse Marcel, having just cleared out of customs for this island. We've spent a fairly busy day or so, with propane, diesel, gas, groceries, refreshments, systems checks, and repairing of some blocks and the wind generator tower base. Frankly, if we had to cross that lagoon by dinghy one more time, it would be too much. (The hell here never ends...)

We'll spend an overnight at Orient Bay, and if the weather is reasonable, we are headed to St. Eustatius Wednesday morning. We are budgetting for a 7 hour crossing, allowing all the sailing and anchoring to be done in daylight. Hopefully, we'll meet up with Walter and his company on Madness as they cruise the islands.

For some reason, my eamil with winlink as been a bit unpredictable, so we'll try to update when we can. A special hello to Peter Grassman who has been enjoying the blog and hello to everyone else!!
D & L

Preparing For Travel

Lorna and Brian are safely back in cold, cold, Canada.

We're making preparations to travel. We intend to get fuel, propane, and other necessities on Monday, check out Monday or Tuesday, spend a few last hours on a beach here, and then start down the chain. Of course, I also must work on my wind generator mast that flew off its mount during the trip from St. Barths. I think I can fix it quickly, but I need a flat anchorage and some extra hands to catch parts. Today is a light day, with only laundry and lounging.

Our route is down through Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Nevis, Monseratt, and Guadeloupe; connecting with Jeanne and Doug there on February 7th. I'm studying the books to determine where we'll stop and what we'll pass by. Saba, for instance, requires perfect weather and a calm sea state; Monseratt requires a quiet volcano; we'd rather not jump around too many ports and customs offices when time will not allow significant exploration. Jeanne and Doug will fly out of St. Lucia, so they will be
onboard to help move the boat from Island to Island. I have my meds ready for them!

We are trying to coordinate our trip with Madness and crew, who are doing many of the same islands over a circular tour, but they will start today, while we'll leave Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll catch up with them with a morning scheduled chat on SSB, and try to meet them down island. The winds are down, but the seastate is up, with 8 foot waves on an 8 second frequency. Here at Orient Bay, the waves crash on the outside reef, roar through, and create a 1-2 knot current under our boat and around
Green Cay to the far opening. Likely the same current causes the monster waves we saw yesterday at the mouth of the Bay. Waves against current cause some spectacular breakers.

We're not unhappy to miss the departure with Madness, expecting the sea state to improve over time. Well, back to the books.

Laurie

Back in Grande Case, St. Martin

Laurie here.

We are sitting in Grande Case again, just chilling out before we head back to Marigot tomorrow in preparation for catching Brian and Lorna's flight home. We heard in both emails and the morning Ham net that Canada is in a major deep freeze. We wouldn't wish that on you folks. The high winds are causing the boat to rock, but it is still a nice place to hang out. The anchor is holding us well.

Our trip back from St. Barts was not without incident. We had spent the night in Baie de Columbier, rather sheltered and flat, but with wild winds. We had been here in a charter boat many years earlier with good friends, and named the bay "360 Bay", because the turbulence caused by the hills tended to spin the boats. We left early in the morning, with winds on the unsheltered water a steady 22 knots. We put up the smallest bit of mainsail, but flew all of our jib. On the broad reach back to
northern St. Martin, we spent a lot of time around 8 knots in the high waves and were back off the coast of Tintamarre in less than two hours.

The trip was very shaky, with lots of spray. There were times when it felt like we were free-falling in the cockpit. It was during one of these times that the windmill mast jumped right off its deck mount. We did our best to control the tower, while Dawn fetched me a harness and lashing. We figured that the most stability on board would be while the boat continued on its 8 knot course; so I crawled out and started to lash it down while we bounced along. It took a while, but the only casualty
was my stomach. I was queasy for a half hour after crawling back into the cockpit, but recovered to enjoy the rest of the sail. We'll reconstruct the mount the next time we get reasonably flat water. Just one of those things, I guess. I fix or renovate something aboard every day.

We also pulled a trick on ourselves upon our return. We could clear customs in Anse Marcel, just next door to Grande Case, so we thought we'd just anchor in Grande Case and walk or bus around. Well, Brian and I started out, and soon found that it is a round-about trip through the mountains, with the last mountain climb into a rather deluxe and restricted resort. While Lorna and Dawn went shopping, we bussed to the base of the mountain, climbed/walked over the mountain and down, did our paperwork,
but took a taxi back. Good, but unexpected exercise.

Last night, we went ashore to a restaurant called "California", and ate an expensive french meal with a close and wonderful view of the surf. We followed that with a stop at a little shop that provides "Ti Punch" for only a dollar. This morning, we confess that finding one dollar drinks is like pulling another trick on ourselves.

Tonight, our plans are to go ashore for another meal, this time a low-budget affair. We'll try to be good.

St. Barths with Lorna and Brian

After spending a Saturday night at Orient Beach, we headed across the water for a rollicking upwind sail to St. Barth’s. The wind was about 20 knots, and the seas were running at about 7 to 8 feet, not a good combination for an upwind run. Lorna spent her time on the crossing curled up on the couch on meds, while I stayed inside to remain dry. Laurie and Brian chose to be outside where they were hit with splashes of water every so often. No complaints from them.

Over here, the boats are in the form of Mega Yachts, and the prices match! We went from the land of 2 dollar beers, to 5 dollar beers, everything else falls into place. I must say, that the rich trade quality books at the book swap in the customs office and it’s always easy to pick up a few really good titles to add to the library on the boat!



We walked through town with our lunch packed with eyes wide open looking at how the other half lives. We made our way to Shell Beach where we spent much time looking for a particular type of shell for Lorna to use at home for her Domino game. Of course, of all the shells there, the one we were looking for was rare. We laid out my sarong and spread out our lunch of pate, French bread, 2 different cheeses along with some anti pasto we actually brought from the Superstore at home! We were nicely munching when a rogue wave marched right up the beach and totally swamped our meal. After a good laugh, we dumped salt water off all the bits and continued with lunch. Laundry is in order for today, which includes my sarong!





After Shell Beach, we headed across the island to watch the small planes fly in through a small crotch in the mountains. They have to come down really fast to hit the runway and must stop short of the beach. We watched from the beach at the craziest landings ever! Any pilot who can land a plane here can land one anywhere!

Today, we’ll snorkel on a wreck and then check out and head back to St. Martins tomorrow morning for the rest of the week.

We haven’t always had an Internet connection so our Blogging is a bit sporadic, so don’t think we’re ignoring you and having so much fun we can’t take time to write!

Dawn

On Wednesday, we dinghied over to the Dutch side, tied up to the Turtle Pier bar and wandered to the end of the airport runway to the Sunset Beach Bar for a great view of the planes coming and going over the beach. At one point, as a plane took off, we had to shelter ourselves and hang onto our hats in the sand storm caused by the jet propulsion. You might Google YouTube Videos on this phenomenon.

After we walked back to the dinghy, we attended a Cruisers social at the Turtle Pier bar which brought out cruisers from far and wide. The beer prices were great and the complimentary conch fritters were awesome! After that, we dinghied to a high class restaurant, complete with table cloths. Dinner was Lorna and Brian’s treat and was exceptional! Ahhhh, the French do it up right!!

Yesterday, after a short walk around Marigot, we decided to catch a bus over to the Dutch side of the island to check out Phillipsburg, the “Cruise Ship capital of the world”!! There were 4 cruise ships in port so we wandered the streets with the cruise ship people which brought all the vendors out asking for our business. We were in the market for a bongo drum and a hammock, as Laurie had suggested that he would like to hang the hammock on the boat, and bang on his drum all day, and of course, request bar service while he did it! Mission accomplished. We were able to find those 2 items along with ankle bracelets for both Lorna and I along with a dress for Lorna and a straw hat for me! Laurie and Brian waited patiently (most of the time) outside the shops sipping cold dollar beers while Lorna and I did all the work!

Today, Lorna and I will shop Marigot, while Laurie and Brian will go to the chandleriers for boat parts and expensive gizmos. But tomorrow is the big day when we head out to the Cruisers monthly “jumble”. All cruisers are invited and anyone with anything to swap or sell should get there a bit earlier to set up. We of course have lots to sell as we found goodies up in Norman’s Bite in the BVI’s, and have our old speakers and a fan to unload. Hopefully, we’ll leave with less than we brought.

Check out Laurie's next car for Flower's Cove!

Grand Case is Grand

Lorna here:
I forgot to mention in the previous blog how much better my cold is and how it didn't bother me on the flight. Thank you Dr L.for your time and attention.

We moved to Grand Case late Sunday afternoon and been enjoying it very much. It is a small seaside village on the north side of the island on the French side. We are anchored in a bay with about 20 boats from many different countries. Monday am we took the dingy to shore and shopped for some supplies and browsed the little French boutiques. Later in the day we dinghied over to Creole Rock for snorkeling and say at least 20 species of fish. Dawn was told an octopus had been spotted there but no sighting
for us. She did however, see a 2 foot long barracuda, which she did not trouble. Started the first game of dominoes and will probably conclude today.

Tuesday, at the same beach, we swam to shore and walked the beach, but no booty yet. We stopped at a beach bar for a beer before swimming back to the boat and then dinghied into town for dinner. Excellent BBQ of ribs and chicken rice and salad for 7.00 US. We continued to walk around where the town was active and for about a mile stretch there were probably 20 or more restaurants. A single lane of traffic wove through the walkers. A great place to people watch.

It is very windy here this am and Laurie is busy doing chores and Brian has already finished 1 book and Dawn and I just chat and continue to catch up as sisters do. We will move around to Marigot Bay today for an afternoon at the Sunset Beach Bar to watch the planes taxi in right over your head.

So as you can see we are very busy here...the hell here never ends. Love to all, we don't miss you yet and sure don't miss work but we toast all our frozen friends often.

hello all and good day Bob

We are having a great time with very warm temperatures and warm but not hot nights. At 9:00 am it was 29 degrees but a light breeze. We are anchored off Orient Beach and yesterday swam to shore with aid of flippers and snorkels. No reef to explore but did see a sting ray and a large star fish. When we got to the beach it was a beautiful couple miles of white sand dotted by resorts each with their distinctive coloured umbrellas to identify one from the next. Yes Orient Beach is the nude beach and
we walked through with all our clothes firmly in place. Quite an interesting walk lots to see and some you wished you didn't see. We will spend one more night here before going to Grand Case. That is another beach with more snorkeling and a town near by. We will be needing provisions.. the beer is running low. There is also a street party there on Tuesday that we will try to catch.

For the first couple days we were anchored off Tintamar Island and we swam to shore and explored the uninhabited island. There were a lot of gorgeous boats anchored there but then a couple of old wrecks too.

As we sit here this AM we are unable to get a signal for sending or receiving mail so when this actually can be sent is unknown but it Sunday Morning Jan 4th. Lorna

Brian here. Funny thing about being on Orient Beach, there are a lot of people who distain the use of clothing or bathing suits. It seems they want to tempt the ravages of the sun on their skin. Some observations, size doesn't matter, and I mean in everything, you see them all. I don't think I am in such bad shape after all. I have come to the same conclusion I had years ago concerning Skin Magazines and that is that people in general and women in particular are far more interesting with some
clothes on! What a beautiful place! Turquoise water, white sand beach, green mountains, it's 11:10 A.M. and 30.6C, sun beaming down from a clear blue sky, some cotton batten clouds wisping by, a gentle roll to the boat...to quote a famous blogger..."the hell here never ends!!"

Hello From St.Martin from the Jeffreys

We arrived with no difficulty whatsoever and on time complete with the beef! Dawn was very pleased! All was lovely upon arrival, moored in a little bay in time for sundown and sundowners. This morning we have been very lazy as we munched on baguettes and it is a bit overcast but warm and we aren't going to work, so all is. Dawn and Laurie are taking very good care of us. We are going to sail to Tintimar, an island off the west side of St. Martin for some beach and snorkel time. Last night, New
Year's day, there was a beach bar that had a big party and music blasting for hours. At about 9:00 we had an amazing display of fireworks. They lasted for about 15 min or so. Quite a first night greeting for us.

Lorna and Brian