Ste Anne, Martinique

Laurie here.... We're sitting with Lorna and Brian, as well as friends from other boats - Terry and Kristin from Silk Pajamas and Allister and Ester from Cranstackie (guess on the spelling here) - sitting at a roadside cafe watching a local wedding make its way into the Catholic Church nearby. The people are dressed in an elegant combination of island and continental dress, and a BMW car, decked out in flowers and exercising the robotic roofing system is nearby. Martinique is more European than the english-speaking islands.

We arrived here on Thursday with Peace and Plenty after a very enjoyable 4.5 hour sail from St. Lucia. Dawn and I caught a little (20") ciro mackerel as well as a barracuda about the same size. We were readying to bleed the barracuda when it bit through the net in our catcher and fell to freedom. The mackerel is filleted, with the bits waiting in the refrigerator.

We were here in time on Thursday to catch some old and new friends at a very informal happy hour at an old dock. Myrl and Gerry of Kokopelli were the organizers. We reconnected with them, and were able to meet other members of the new community as well.

Yesterday, we took Cat Tales into Marin to clear customs and get boat parts. We tied P&P's dinghy as well as another neighbour's onto the stern to save them the long, wet ride. Those chores, and getting the french delicacies at the grocery stores, took all day; and when we were back at the boat just in time to drink some of the newly purchased wine and enjoy a rather cloudy sunset.

We intended to have a day of hiking, but it rained a lot last night, and the trails would be muddy. Instead, here we sit, drinking local beer and eating a fantastic sandwich called a Bokit. The bokit seems to be a baked bread, with extra shortening, filled with all the best of any sandwich you can imagine. Not a diet sandwich, so the trails are going to be necessary.

Dawn and I will be staying here for at least a few weeks, hiking and getting some new parts bent on; while P&P are looking for a weather window for their return trip to St. Lucia to meet their company, coming on the 6th.

Heading to Martinique

After checking the weather carefully, we have decided to sail up to Martinique today. The wind direction is a favourable East and the winds light to moderate. Lorna and Brian aboard their boat, Peace & Plenty will be joining us in the sail. Our plans are to stay in Martinique for a few weeks, while Lorna and Brian will return to St. Lucia to entertain and enjoy their company arriving on Jan 7th.

The Internet up in the French islands is a bit sketchy for us sailors who look for free wifi from the boat, so if you don't hear from us for a day or two, don't be alarmed.

Limin' in St. Lucia with Val and Lorna

Today, just a couple days before Christmas, we are tied to a mooring ball in St. Lucia right beside one of the Pitons.  The view is breathtaking!  Just off the back of the boat, the snorkeling is at its best.  Val and I snorkeled along the wall  yesterday checking out all kinds of fish.  Val is a bit of a fish herself and at this moment, she is back in the water enjoying all there is down there!  Lorna and Brian have the mooring ball just behind us. This is truly paradise!  We have been enjoying the beef tenderloin that Val and Rick brought us from Canada!

Tomorrow, we'll head back up into the wind toward Rodney Bay.  After Val and Rick check back into their hotel tomorrow, we have plans to lay around the pool at Rick and Val's hotel and maybe order a bite to eat.  Christmas day, we have reservations at a really nice restaurant right in the Rodney Bay marina overlooking the water and the hundreds of boats tied to docks.  Here are a few pictures taken in St. Lucia.  I'm picking up a wonderful wifi signal today somewhere out there!!

Merry Christmas to everyone at home and away!

Pigeon Island

Rodney Bay (the outside as opposed to the inner lagoon)

Lorna and Brian taking a break on the way to the "top" of Pigeon Island

Manny (Quinn) taking protecting our boat while we're gone!

Val was really impressed by this simple sign in Castries, the capital of St.Lucia

Valerie, lounging on the way to Marigot from Rodney Bay

Lorna and Brian on "Peace and Plenty" sailing gently to Marigot, St. Lucia

St. Lucia with the family

We've been having a great time with Lorna, Brian and Val and Rick. We're going to pick Val and Rick up in the morning and head to Marigot Bay. We'll enjoy a nice meal on the water front and then head for the beautiful Pitons on Saturday morning. Val and Rick will stay on our boat, but Lorna and Brian will be sailing along beside us the entire way and we'll get together for meals and sun downers. We've been enjoying calm weather and hope it continues.

Sorry no pics right now. I'm using my iPad and all pics are on my camera. Lots to learn!!

St. Lucia

Yesterday at 4:30 am we departed St. Vincent and were tossed around by giant waves in the high current at the northern tip of the island. After about an hour, the winds and waves settled down and we began to really enjoy the trip. By this time, we had many layers of salt on the boat and in the cockpit, always an unwelcomed addition. The wind was a little on our nose which caused us to sail into it as high as we could in order to make landfall on St. Lucia. Unfortunately, even this bad angle got worse and worse as we sailed along. We had to tack several times over the course of the day and finally dropped our anchor in Rodney Bay at 5:30, just as the sun was setting. We anchored right in front of "Peace and Plenty", owned by my sister Lorna and her husband Brian! We quickly cleaned up and dashed off to have snacks and wine with them and talked steady for about 3 hours!! We had a lot of catching up to do since they bought the boat and prepared it for the water.

This afternoon, we'll go to Pigeon Island for a walk and then have dinner at Jambe de Bois.

Wind is dropping...we're on the move

Finally, we have had word that the winds will decrease and the seas will flatten somewhat. Our plans are to check out of Bequia in the morning (Thursday) and head north across the channel to St. Vincent. We'll sail to the northern part of St. Vincent, drop anchor in a little bay to sleep overnight and then will make the trip to St. Lucia on Friday.
This afternoon, we're attending a Jam Session at the "Whale Boner" with a few people we have met here, and then on to Mac's Pizzeria for dinner. We'll take any leftovers for our trip tomorrow!

Cheers
Dawn

Waiting it out in Bequia

Since arriving in Bequia, there is no hope of the wind settling down until at least Friday. We could hit the high seas and bang and crash around, or just wait it out. After thinking about it, we have decided to head up to St. Lucia and Friday and hope for a better time out there. Val and Rick arrive on Monday next week, so we should make it just fine. Presently, we're sitting at anchor and bobbing around like we're in a washing machine.

We're running the watermaker for the first time since we left and happy to announce that we have no leaks! So far, so good.

We have several boat chores lined up for the next few days and of course lots to read. We haven't made it to our favourite spot, "Mac's Pizza" yet, so that also goes on the list.

Our friends, Steve and Maria brought us an unlocked "dongle" to use with the computer. It takes a data SIM card and allows one to connect to the Internet through cell phone towers. Going in to see the folks at Digicel to buy a data SIM card is also on the 'do list'. We have a wifi booster and usually pick up a teeny signal from somewhere or another, but it's often weak and will cut out just as you're ready to hit the "send" button! (Oh, just like now...I see my signal is GONE!)

Bequia

Well, just after we posted that it was too windy to sail and we would be sitting tight in Carricou (Grenada), we listened to Denis give the morning weather. He suggested that it might be a bit too much wind to sail, but it would get worse and we might be stuck for a week or more. Our goal is to get to St. Lucia where my sister Lorna and her husband Brian are waiting with their own boat, and my sister Val (and Rick) are flying down for Christmas. We cleared out of Grenada, put up the sails and bounced along for 6 hours until we made it into Bequia. The wind is strong, strong, strong here this morning. We'll wait here until we hear of fair weather and will make the 13 hour run up to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. So, for now, we'll go in and clear into St. Vincent and the Grenadines, tie down our hats and wander around this beautiful spot!

Travelling to Carriacou

We started our day yesterday by hiking out to the Maurice Bishop Highway to get our alternators back, and installing one onto the starboard engine. It was a tough, frustrating, hot, sweaty, dirty, install, and pretty much set my mood for the day. The 3 hours along the side of Grenada was a lovely sail, and should have set me right. Certainly, Dawn didn't deserve my mood, and it made me doubt that I could ever just "live in the present".

When we turned the corner at the top of the big island, we saw Carriacou straight up wind, 25 more nautical miles away, and estimated that it might take us 5 to six hours to sail it. The jump to Carriacou is the most easterly jump in our normal migration, and the wind yesterday was coming north-east. I could motor straight for it, at a hopeful, but bouncy 5 hours, or try to sail the other sides of the triangle at 8 knots to get in before dark. We chose to motor directly, and took all sail down.

We had to take a detour, as well, to get around the exclusion zone of "Kick-em Jenny", the local underwater active volcano. As we turned from the detour, I realized we could motor-sail, but the water was so rough that I could not safely raise the sail. We had determined that a little bit of wax on the foredeck wouldn't hurt, and would help stop the staining in the area, and that didn't help, making the foredeck to slippery to manage sail changes. In the end, we put up with the 5 hours of banging and hanging on, and got to a mooring at Sandy Island just as the sun was setting.

It is true that the sun falls to the horizon like a stone; but that does not mean the sunsets are a blip in time. We enjoyed a fantastic display of sunset during our deserved rum punches, and both our moods improved. I'll try for better self-control today.

As for our efforts to zip up to St. Lucia to visit with Lorna and Brian, and be ready for the Christmas visit of Val and Rick, we're having a bit of a hiccup, with high winds coming in right now, and from the wrong direction, and expected to stay for a week. So, here we sit on a mooring ball at Sandy Island waiting for the next weather window. We'll keep you posted.

arrived safely in Grenada

We checked out of customs and immigration and we still a bit unsure of the weather as they were calling for light winds and in many directions. Well, we decided to give it a go and headed for Scotland Bay. When we were anchoring, Laurie was backing the boat trying to get the anchor to dig in. No go. Up the anchor came and down it went a few yards from the first try. Again, Laurie was backing the boat trying to set the anchor. Suddenly we heard a clunk, clunk, knock, knock from the port engine. Laurie turned the port engine off and jumped into the water to see if we had picked up a rope in our propeller. He quickly determined that we had sheered a pin in the rudder allowing the rudder to swivel 360 degrees, which meant it had banged into the prop. Of course this is one of the rudders that Laurie had painstakingly repaired and was a showpiece to say the least! We didn't have any replacement bolts, but had some similar except that they would have to be sharpened. Out came Laurie's trusty table clamp and drill with appropriate attachments and he went to work crafting the ends to look like they had gone through a pencil sharpener, except a little more blunt. These would go into the side slots of the rudder (inside the boat) and lock the rudder into place so it would stay put and not spin.

All the time Laurie was working on this unscheduled project, I was watching a local powerboat on the beach unloading box after box of stuff and piling it high on the beach. It took me awhile to see that they group also had a couple of diesel jugs nearby and the pile would soon be lighted and we were definitely in the stink/soot/spark zone! We were, however unable to move because of the rudder problem. The pile was soon lit and flames were huge with big gobs floating down everywhere. The wind was wafting high and being carried away from us ever so gently. They continued to 'play' with the fire, throwing diesel onto an already good fire! When they left, the fire was still smoldering. We stayed put and had a quick dinner and off to bed, setting the alarm for 2:45. The smell of smoke was strong all night and sleeping was hot and restless.

In the morning, you could still see flames from the fire (which tells you what kind of rubbish they were burning). We pulled up anchor and headed out through the narrow cut of the Boca against an incoming tide...just our luck!

The first few hours of the trip were squally and unsettled with a lot of freighter traffic. The traffic didn't die off until well after 9:00. We had to change course for 2 freighters and another 2 had to change course for us. That's the part of the trip that is difficult, especially without the technology AIS onboard, that allows the freighters names and other information to be communicated to your boat.

The end result is that we are now in Prickly Bay, Grenada after a 14 hour sail. The latter half of the trip was a dream trip and we arrived just as the sun was setting in the west. We dropped our anchor, backed down on it to set it and poured wine into our glasses to toast a wonderful sunset successful day on the seas!

Leaving Trinidad

It is mid-morning on Monday, and we have returned from two nights at Monos Island, just west of the Boca Passage to the ocean. We've had the canvas man do the last installs on the bimini, picked up a few more gallons of fresh water, done a load of laundry the easy way ashore, and are hanging it all over the boat to dry.

In a few minutes, we'll dinghy over to Customs and Immigration to check out, and then will return to the Boca, to anchor in Scotland Bay to wait for the wee hours of the morning. If all systems are still working, we'll pull out sometime before 4 a.m., and head for Grenada. The weather is not perfect in that we are scheduled to have low winds. Oh well, we'll have a nice motor, and a good check of our systems in low-risk seas. The run is about 80 miles, and should be doable in 16 hours. We've been getting way too much sleep these last few days anyway.

Waiting for traveling weather in Monas Island

Laurie and I are sitting tied to a mooring ball in the heart of the industrial center of Chaguaramas, Trinidad waiting for the proper winds to take us to Grenada. After listening to discussions this morning on weather Ham radio nets, we feel it may be Tuesday before we can get away. Laurie has taken the dinghy this morning over to customs and immigration to let them know that we will be leaving this vicinity and will head over to Monas Island just around the corner to wait there. It's a bit polluted there, but we've been known to get in for a dip while waiting there, whereas here in Chagauramas, it's not fit for swimming, unless you enjoy oil/gas slicks, dead birds and fish floating by and of course the usual styrofoam and plastic containers!

While at Monas Island, we may work on replacing the water intake valve for the toilet. We discovered a leak in the valve which is under the waterline. Laurie will plug the intake hole from the outside and then will take the valve off and replace it with another, mopping up salt water inside as we go. The whole procedure makes me plenty nervous, but he seems to think it's an easy task. Let's just hope the threads he bought fit the existing threads on the through-hull fitting!

We went to a fund raiser/jumble/food fest last night and bought all kinds of things we have no use for! Laurie really should wear his reading glasses when he buys a complete bag of water filters that fit nothing on Cat Tales! We won a $150 TT door prize for the local grocery store. Don't get too excited because that amounts to about 22.00 Canadian. Fun to win all the same!

While out at Monas Island, we'll not have any Internet, so there won't be any signs of us on Facebook or this Blog until sometime Monday.

Have a nice weekend all.

Arizona and arrival in Trinidad

We've been away from home for over a week and it's time for a blog and a few pictures of our adventures.  I think Laurie has Facebooked a few shots.  We flew to Arizona for a few days to visit Kristen and Terry from the boat "Silk Pajamas".  Their boat is stored in St. Lucia and it will be ready for them later this month.  Laurie and I have never been to Arizona, but have always been amazed by the beauty of the mountains and deserts as depicted in various media. 

A common site in Scottsdale

Kristin & Terry

Scottsdale is a lovely little city where walking trails and parks scatter in every direction.  The main streets are dotted with touristy spots that sell all the usual fare; items with cactus or hot peppers on them, or cowboys, Indians, and horses.  Laurie bought a beautiful Stetson sun hat, because he is afraid that his signature pith helmets won't last forever!  What a great hat that is!

The Singing Cowboy

During the evenings at 5:00 sharp, we joined  Kristin and Terry for drinks in their back yard and to watch the sun set.  You don't actually see the horizon from their back yard but the sky was certainly beautiful with the  view of palm trees.   

The view from Kristin and Terry's back yard

Laurie patiently waiting 5:00

Taken out of the car window!

Stopped to go on a wee 40 minute hike along this beautiful lake!

We walked, drove and ate in and out.  Finally it was time to say "Goodbye and we'll see you at Christmas in St. Lucia!" 

We flew all day Monday and were picked up at the airport in Port of Spain, Trinidad at midnight by Blugh our trusty, dependable friend who works with the travel lift at Peak's Boatyard.  When we unlocked the door of Cat Tales, everything looked just fine; no break-ins, no water, no rats, no roaches, and to make Laurie happy  the batteries were working just fine.  So...what were we to do, but toast the day with a glass of wine at 1:30 am!!  

In the morning, we trudged off for 20 minutes in the blazing heat  to Customs and Immigration where they looked at us indifferently and told us that we had cleared at the airport and there was no need to be there.   Funny how the rules change and we were expected to arrive there at the first light of day for the past several years.  We will still go again next year because you never know when it will change back!  Trinidad is certainly the land of paperwork ; there are no breaks if you screw up, and the rules change with the office managers!  So...we smile and do what they say! 

Shawn and Candace,  from Superb Canvas and Sails arrived at our boat this afternoon right after lunch to install the last bits of our bimini.  Imagine, on a Saturday in the Caribbean!!  We have the most beautiful bimini complete with textilene sunscreen across the entire back, and 2 side panels to block out the sun, and last but not least a new windscreen to go all along the front of the boat to keep out the driving rain as well as the seawater when we bash into waves and they bash back!  The panels will all roll up with ties to get them out of the way, or we can choose to remove them altogether.

Superb Sails and Canvas (Trinidad) Candace & Shawn

When Cat Tales was up on the boat lift last May, we had the rudders removed from the boat.  After investigating, Laurie found one rudder cracked along its forward seam, and the other rudder full of water.  He has stripped them of bottom paint, and scraped a lot of gel coat off.  After draining, he has injected 'git rot' and west epoxy and is now adding layers of fibreglass to all the edges.  He has many steps left to go, as well as the usual boat recommissioning and reassembly,  but  we're hopeful to be able to keep our Nov. 29th splash date here at Peake's.  He can probably explain the operation better, but he's presently under the boat out of the rain and working hard!

My sister, Lorna and hubby, Brian are sitting pretty on their new boat up in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.  Laurie and I intend to sail up to St. Lucia by Christmas if all goes well.  Val and her husband, Rick will fly down to meet us for Christmas.  Lorna mentioned that it's a bit strange to hear Christmas tunes blaring out of stores and malls.  I would have to agree!  We've been Christmasing down in the Caribbean since we were in our 20's and I'm still not used to the decorations and music in such a hot climate.  And Santa with short pants on and skinny black legs, in Guadeloupe years ago,  has been etched in my memory forever!

More Summertime Fun!

Also this past "vacation summer" we got some socializing and visiting in:

The off-season started with a stop in Ontario on our way home, to enjoy the joint party for Steve Wojcik's birthday and Brian Jeffrey's retirement. Steve is married to Kendra, our niece, while Brian is Kendra's dad, married to Lorna, Dawn's sister.  Brian and Lorna have purchased a C&C 38 in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia; so you'll be hearing more about them as we continue to blog this sailing season.  We stayed with another of Dawn's sisters: Valerie, who, with husband Rick, treated us absolutely royally during our stay.

Lorna, Brian, Steve & Kendra

 Once home, Laurie made quick arrangements to canoe the Renous River with brothers Mike and Ken.  It was a great 3 day excursion, albeit with some hard work in heavy winds.

Laurie, Mike & Ken

With the "people of the cove" we got together for some fantastic friday night

barbecues.    We had great food, great friends, hilarity, and sometimes a little

drama.

Our travel was minimal, but included a trip to St.Andrews, New Brunswick with Paula and Brian of S/v Magique, who live in Saint John.  Their boat is presently

in Bonaire, near Venezuela, so we missed them in our winter travels along the

Windwards and Leewards.   They try to talk us into catching up with them as the

head west, and we try to convince them to come back east.  Hard to say how this

will end...  While together in St. Andrews, we enjoyed sharing a really cute

cabin at Seaside Beach Resort, supper at Harbour Front Restaurant, hiking along

the old railroad trail beside the sea into Chamcook Bay, a tour and lunch at the

fantastic Kingsbrae Gardens  http://www.kingsbraegarden.com/ , touring museums

and historical sites, and looking into all the neat little shops.  It really was

fun, and something we'll do again.

Brian, Paula & Dawn

We also got to Buctouche to visit with Laurie's Aunt Marian and her family for

her 94th birthday.  Besides enjoying many members of Laurie's mother's family

there, we enjoyed sharing a cabin with his sister, Laurene (Lolly), and biking

some pretty fantastic trails.

Marian and Beth

Brother Paul and his wife Alida, presently living in Calgary, visited us for a few days as well, and it was a good excuse to get together with other friends and family.

Scott, Agi, Paul, Alida & Tina

Dawn did a little kayaking on beautiful mornings in the cove.  She often set out with a party of 4 to 6 other females for some quiet alone time.

The last really big item for the time in New Brunswick (although we're still

here) would be the visit from Steve and Maria of S/v Aspen.  This is the couple

we visited last fall in Colorado.  Aspen is still in Turkey, which has been

their base of sailing and touring operations forthe last sailing season.  They

regaled us with their amazing travels.  I would highly recommend their blog: 

http://syaspen.blogspot.ca/  which includes fantastic pictures of sites in

Turkey, Greece, and Israel during the past year,and of course their adventures

travelling around the world over the last three years.

Laurie, Dawn, Maria & Steve at the "Old Boot Pub" in Gagetown, NB

With most of the work done around here, we are ordering boat parts and filling duffel bags.  Certainly, we'll take time for some more fun.