Bequia

We left St. Lucia at 4:55 am on Tuesday morning and had a great sail to Bequia, arriving here at 3:30 pm. We found our friends Paula and Brian from the boat "Magique" sitting here in the bay and joined them last night for sundowners! Paula and Brian are from Saint John, NB and we spent lots of time last spring here and later on in Salt Whistle Bay with them.

We are expecting John today from "Stopp Knot" complete with his crew of 5. (Robin, and 2 sons, Robin's sister Jane from England and her son.) They were to do an overnighter from St. Lucia, so I expect to see their sails come around the corner any minute. They are all here for the annual Bequia Easter Regatta and will provide racer Edgar from Rodney Bay a bed as well. I think it might be nice if we offered one or two of our empty double berths for some of John's company. The race is from April 1 to 5th, so it will be crazy for 5 days and then we'll watch the bay empty and we'll carry on.

Special Guests, and a Hike to a Resort

Today’s blog has three stories, all dealing with our short time here in Soufriere, St. Lucia, beside the Petit Piton.

Last night, we attempted to get our favourite Soufriere boatman, Shane, and his family together on Cat Tales for a meal. However, Shane and his girlfriend Stella are on the outs; so Shane brought his 5 year old son: Sharvon, Shane’s 7 year old cousin by his mother’s sister: Nikki, and his 11 year old niece: Courtney. Dawn began a sweet-n-sour chicken stir fry with rice, while I showed the young-uns around the boat. After that, we provided them with some puzzles from a childrens’ book Dawn had purchased. They were quite fun and funny, although very, very shy. As we started the meal, however, Nicki became withdrawn, and Shane suggested she was used to earlier times and we let her lay down. It was only at the end of the meal that she lost her cookies, and we realized she was very seasick. We feel very bad about it – three adults partying away, and ignoring the fact that a child under our care was unnecessarily going through hell. Well, the other two had a good time, as did we; and we hope we can return some day and make it up to Nikki.

Courtney pictured above.



Nikki and Sharvon, early on when Nikki was feeling fine!




Shane and his son Sharvon



Sharvon doing the Moondance to Michael Jackson...a big hit with the crowd!




Courtney and Sharvon checking out the stir fry from above the stove!


Dawn and I just got back from a hike up to a Canadian restaurant called La Haut. The hike took us 770 feet above the town, along a winding road. Brian and Lorna will remember that they hiked up with us to this restaurant in the spring of 2005. Just like then, the hike was worth it. We had a great meal, a soak in their pool, and a nice read in absolutely beautiful surroundings. It was a great Monday. Some good pictures of the place can be found on their website: http://www.lahaut.com/ , although, I think Dawn also has some pictures to add.






We also wish to share with you a bit of conspicuous consumption that just dropped into the bay. The 387 foot “giga” yacht called just “A” is one of the strangest things we’ve seen so far. You have to go to the link below the picture to see more photos!


After getting back to the boat I googled "A" yachts and found information on it. For example, to fill the fuel tank it would cost approximately 1 million Euros, which would be around 1.4 million dollars US!! Check it out by going to this site: Giga Yacht "A".

Leaving Rodney Bay

We are leaving Rodney Bay this morning for the Pitons, in the southern part of St. Lucia. We'll stay there for the next few days and then we'll be heading for Bequia (10 hour sail) on either Tuesday or Wednesday morning. There are many people heading for Bequia at the same time because of the annual Easter Regatta.

We will be out of Internet range for the next few days and will check in again when we can. I'm NOT going to hook up my ham radio equipment, so I'll wait like a patient pirate and get it done when I sniff out a connection.
Dawn

Anchor Debacle

Last Friday, as we were getting ready to go in to the Marina to meet John and Delberta, the wind was rather strong. Dawn said she would feel more comfortable if we set another anchor. We do this rather often, and it isn’t really a hardship. We simply set the anchor on the bow, motor up to and beside our existing anchor, let her drop, and settle back. I then tighten up on the anchor rode so that the new anchor has a chance to take some of the strain.

We then jumped in the dinghy, and went to the Marina. A few hours later, after we had been back on the boat for about 10 minutes, Dawn called me to the deck to watch a 40’ FP Lavezzi charter boat cut across our bow while anchoring. The charterer evidently had no idea what he was up to. Within seconds, he was settling back towards us, beam on, with our second anchor rode stuck under the front of his rudder. Well, didn’t this get us to screaming – all for naught, as they were all young Parisians, with very little of the English language among them. The little French I own to doesn’t work at times of high stress, either. He motored away in time to miss us, but was tethered between us and our anchor. I let the anchor rode fly, but the end was firmly tied deep in the anchor locker. I had hoped he would simply stop and back up to get the rode to fall from his rudder, but it was not going to happen. As time ran out, and we faced him either pulling my other anchor out or banging into us, I ran back to the cockpit, got my emergency knife, ran forward and cut the rode.

I quickly entered the water to retrieve my anchor, chain, and rode; along with two young bucks from the Lavezzi. Within a minute, the Lavezzi had cleared the area, and the rode disappeared, hopefully having simply run out of the rudder without touching the propeller. There was no way to stop the stunned fellow at the helm. One of the young men from his boat surfaced with my roughly cut and unravelling rode and handed it to me, just as another sailor arrived in his dinghy, having watched the debacle/spectacle, and wanting to help. Well, the sailor, Mike, from the s/v “Idunno” (Yeah, what kinda boat name is that?) helped me reset the second anchor, and left, declining a cold refreshment.

What would have happened if:

1. we didn’t have two anchors out;
2. we were not aboard;
or
3. the anchor rode was all chain and shackled inside the anchor locker as normal?

Initially, I was quite upset; but it took me very little time to realize these people were on vacation and shouldn’t have it ruined by me. Dawn and I were likely greener than they, when we first chartered with Jean Beltrandi and Ken Ward some 20+ years ago: I didn’t know what an anchor snubber was, and we listened to the chain clang at the bow night after night, while Ken tested the anchor twice by hauling the boat up to it in the middle of the night (with the expected results). Anyway, all went well, and when the embarrassed Frenchman swam over to make peace with me, all I could do was say in my poor French that all was well, it was just an accident, and I hoped they just enjoyed the hell out of their short vacation.

Here is a pic of me just finishing the new eye where I had cut the anchor rode.

Lunch & Acrobatics

We often have nothing much happening around here, but yesterday was an exceptionally busy day!

Firstly, we enjoyed lunch with Delberta and John Flood from Fredericton. They arrived in Castries via a cruise ship and were met by an old friend of theirs, Jackie, who has been living in Saint Lucia with her husband for many years. The 3 of them arrived at the Bread Basket at around 11:00 and we had a nice visit until they had to leave at around 1:30. Their ship was scheduled to leave at around 3:00, so they didn't get much time on this beautiful island! Their friend Jackie is originally from Saint John and met her Saint Lucian husband at UNB. They have 5 children, although mostly grown.


At 6:00, the Marina here in Rodney Bay hosted an acrobatics show for everyone. The young french couple and their little girl are working their way around the world on their tip money! We were very impressed with their ability and I think you'll be too! Here is the video I took last evening with my sweet little canon camera!
Click here to see Acrobatics in the Riggin'

My Sister's Special Day!

Happy Birthday to my dear sister Lorna in London Ontario. Love you lots and wish you were here! I bought you a set of goggles that don't leak. You can wear them here on Cat Tales when you come back next winter!

Love,
Dawn

Rodney Bay - Alone again...

Paul sent us an email saying he made it back to Calgary. He says he is waking up, thinking he is still on the boat, feeling the motion, and can’t find the bathroom as easily.

When I traveled to the south end of the island to meet Paul, I saw two mongoose, my first and second in all the trips through the islands. Interestingly, during sundowners last night, Dawn and I saw a few scurrying around the beach on Pigeon Island, kinda in our back yard. The French brought the mongoose to the islands to control the snakes. In St. Lucia, one poisonous variety, the Fer de Lance, still remains, but sticks to the high mountains. Apparently, when the mongoose had the snakes tidied up somewhat, they turned to the wondrous birds of the Caribbean, and by eating both the birds and the eggs, pretty much destroyed that bit of uniqueness. They also controlled the Norway Rat, another species that the Europeans brought over. Since the rats ate sugar cane, this was good for the white sugar barons. However, the removal of the snakes and Norway rats allowed a tree rat to flourish, since the mongoose doesn’t climb too fast or too high. Finally, these cute little playing mongoose are a rabies vector on some islands. Anyway, cute little ferret-like nocturnal creatures; and we saw them playing just at dusk, when the sun was finally out of the way.

I finished a major repair of our windlass. While Paul was here, we managed to get some rope and chain stuck in the chain brake, and the extra power it drew, although not enough to throw the breaker, blew out a major wire with some obvious weak spots. An analysis of the feed and control wires showed many weaknesses, so I remanufactured and reinstalled 5 new #4 wires and a brand new waterproof box for the relay. A very pretty job! That adds to the window, jib, bimini, watermaker, lights, and a couple of other major repairs since getting this far north.

Now for some pics:

Here is one of Pigeon Island taken from the yacht club across the Bay. As John’s guest, we often eat lunch there on Sunday. Our boat is anchored there at this time and will remain right where it is for the next week or two!


Here is a group of completely new friends aboard the Canadian vessel Tarantela. The skipper, Al Shortt, took the picture; while the first mate, Michelle O'Neill, is the very pretty girl on the right in the foreground. We had a lovely evening on their boat while they were enjoying a slip in the marina.


Here is another of Michele and Al. Michele is an O’Neill from Lower St. Marys, Fredericton, NB; and sister to Brenda Cummings, with whom Dawn has taught, and upon whom Laurie had a big crush in grade school. We had a lovely chat with Michele about our families and mutual friends.


Lastly, here is a picture of John Fallon and Rasta John Marley on our boat, enjoying a truly wonderful stirfry that Dawn put together accompanied by John Fallon's famous fried rice. We felt good getting a proper meal into Rasta John, as he is a rather skinny bachelor with a subsistence lifestyle.

To Martinique and Back with Brother Paul

Well, the french islands are noted for their topless beaches and beautiful bodies. Here is a nice shot of topless, but beautiful bodies remains in the eye of the beholder!


We wonder how long this boat has been parked up on the beach! Look how deep the motor is buried!

We walked an hour and a half along the highway with no real shoulders to speak of to get to Saline Bay Beach. After a couple of cold drinks we followed the walking trail back to the boat which was another 2 hours. A cool swim was in order on our return! Here is Paul on the left and Laurie on the right.


On Sunday in Martinique 2 boats came to the beach with a number of crew dressed in matching t-shirts, all set for racing. Notice the poles they wedge into the boat to lean out on to keep the boat flatter and faster.


Yesterday we returned to Saint Lucia (Rodney Bay) and had John Fallon and Jimmy on board for spaghetti. We had a few good laughs and stayed up an hour later than usual. We tend to get to bed around 9:00, but we went crazy last night, making it to 10:30!



This is an older picture of a week ago when John, Laurie, Paul and I all went to the Jump Up in Gros Islet. A jump up is a street party and in this area, they have one every Friday night with loud, nasty rapp music and good eats! It's a must do when you arrive in Rodney Bay!

All for now. Laurie's brother Paul is leaving us tomorrow and we'll be lunching in at the Bread Basket today. Paul arrived here 2 weeks ago a little tense, but is so calm now he's in danger of forgetting to breathe.

Jump Up

We went with John Fallon to the Jump Up in Gros Ilet last night. It was a pretty wild time. Paul thought it was quite fun. We'll have him give you all some more detail later.

We are about to weigh anchor for Martinique. We'll be away from internet and blogging until Thursday or so. We hope all is well at home.

The Pitons are on fire!

Guest Blogger Paul Corbett here!

We left Rodney Bay on Monday afternoon for Marigot Bay, a quiet little beautiful bay with lots of restaurants built on the docks. We joined John Fallon and his current company for dinner at Chateau Mygot. In the morning, we headed south towards the Pitons!
Check out John sitting on Stopp Knot. We were tied to the moorning ball directly in front of him.


The Pitons, a heritage site, are awesome and photos of them don’t in any way do them justice. We sat on the north side of the Petit Piton and watched smoke and flames lick around from the south side at the very top of the mountain. We could only imagine how big the fire was on the non-visible side. Our link to the news of the day was the through the boat boys. The boat boys will help you pick up a compulsory mooring ball, get you fresh food and anything else – for a fee of course. The boat boys were not excited about the fires at all – seeing how there is nothing that can be done. Apparently in drought conditions beer bottles dropped by hikers can start a fire. Check out the smoke at the very top of the Piton pictured below:

Below depicts our hike to the Botanical Gardens in Souffiere.


Here is the flower of the banana plant. You can see where the bananas will eventually form.





I got to meet Dawn and Laurie’s BBB (Best Boat Boy) Shane. Shane has helped D & L the 5 times they have been here and has met all their past company. (Ron and Judy Roy, Hugh and Liz Whalen, Lorna and Brian Jeffrey, and Scott McAllister)

Shane came aboard for a few drinks the first day we arrived and was very engaging. We got to hear a few stories about the “The Great Container Salvage”. I hadn’t heard the news item about a container ship partly sinking and letting loose what Shane said were about 60 containers. He and his Boat Buddies were able to salvage some boxes of peanuts and television sets that had gotten wet. They dried the TV’s out and sprayed them with WD40 on the components and they worked fine. They promptly sold them all. He was sad to say that they opened a floating container that had 2 sports cars in them. The open container filled with seawater and they watched them go to Davy Jones Locker. As Shane got increasingly lit up on several ‘ti punches he told us about the network of smuggling between the islands and the danger to be had.

Not surprising, Shane was back for more drinks the next night and brought with him a 10 pound tuna for us to buy. He offered it to us at a fair price (approximately $25 Canadian dollars/$50 EC's) and cleaned and scaled it and filleted it. It’s enough for approximately 8 servings. He kept every scrap of entrails, head and tail to stew later on at home.


This morning we rounded the Petit Piton and what we thought would be fire devastation is now inconsequential and appears to look unscathed by fire.

The snorkeling at the Pitons has been wonderful and Dawn says where we are today between the Pitons is better than what we’ve seen yet! It’s going to be another day in Paradise!

Paul has arrived in St. Lucia

Laurie's brother Paul arrived here on Sunday after leaving Calgary at suppertime on Saturday night. His wife Alida has stayed home to enjoy the company of her sister and nieces. His flight came in on time but he was a very tired boy having had NO sleep on any of the flights. He flew Calgary to San Fransisco and from there to Miami and Miami to St. Lucia. Laurie and I arranged a taxi for him and Laurie went with Foxy Johnny on the hour and a half drive to the southern tip of the island to the International Airport.

I was out at the boat in the bay awaiting the call from the boys on the VHF radio. When I heard they arrived, I packed up our beer, snacks and headed into the lagoon where many Americans and Canadians gathered to watch the big hockey game! The Bread Basket was closed, but they allowed us to come in complete with snacks and drinks.





Here is a photo of last Wednesday's gals afternoon out! I will not be in attendance for the next two weeks due to Paul's visit, but when we return, I'll do this activity again!


We will be heading to Marigot later today and will do dinner out. After that, we plan to sail to the Pitons and enjoy some snorkelling and maybe get Paul out on a land tour of St. Lucia. On Friday, we plan to return to Rodney Bay where we'll treat Paul to the "Jump Up" (street party). On Saturday, wind permitting, we'll head up to Martinique where we'll NOT get involved in any more Carnivals!

I know, I know...another sunset! We just can't take this stuff for granted!