Leaving Dominica

 We are under way  from Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica to St. Pierre, Martinique; having weighed anchor at 7 a.m.  The wind, rather light, is finding its way between the jagged peaks miles away, and causing Cat Tales to move between 3 knots and 7 knots, at times.  Dawn just yelled out 7.6 knots, making a liar out of me.  The boat flaps sails, goes silent, speeds up and the sound of the short waves going by gets louder, then it repeats.

We are fishing, with no luck so far.  I didn't start fishing until after Denis' weather net, as I didn't want a repeat of the last catch, when I struggled with it during the "show".

We had a great two weeks in Dominica.  The first was during Yachtie Appreciation week, and for the most time with lots of friends including Dan and Cindy of Sitatunga, Steve and Maria of Aspen, and new friends Gil and Diana of Sarenada - from north of Toronto.  We took in the first Sunday barbecue, enjoyed the town of Portsmouth, and hiked Section 12 of the Waitukubuli Trail.  The Trail hike was the toughest, most ambitious hike Dawn and I have done, taking 5 hours with tremendous variations in altitude and attention to be paid to almost every footfall.  A 5 foot boa constrictor under foot improved our concentration.

The group resting before tackling the next section of the trail.

Slippery and very steep.  Five hours up and down was getting a bit long!

Every mile or so, we'd spot a bench.  Laurie's hogging this one!

Steep, steep, steep!

We're still smiling because we've only been hiking for 2 hours, with 3 to go!

Dawn and I also enjoyed 4 days if hiking the Cabrits Park, which is made up of an old fortification - and excitedly found some of the old ruins that we have been searching for over the years.  We include a pic of an artist's  rendition of the Cabrits so you can see what we are talking about.  What the artist does not show is the reforestation that has occurred since the last cannon was fired.

The ruins at Fort Shirley being taken over by the trees and growth.

Fort Shirley, now called the Cabrits Park, showing how expansive it all was.  Great hiking, every year.

Dawn and I also finished off yesterday an effort to get to the top of the mountains behind Portsmouth.  We came to the top of a true mountain, but the forest was so thick we have no clue where we were.  Time to bring some GPS equipment on our hikes.  We walked part way with a friendly farmer who shared the water from a few coconuts with us on our return down the mountain.

This trail had lots of coconuts that litter the path and then sprout to grow another palm!

This farmer called himself Dadwah, King of Peace.  We met him yesterday on the way up a mountain.  We'll look for him again next year.  You cannot imagine the difficult terrain he farms.

I got involved in an effort to create some brochures for one of the boat boys, and pressed into action both Dawn and brother Kenneth (for the French translations).  However, the result was fabulous, and we hope that it improves the life of the fellow and his partner, a taxi/tour driver.  I also wrote up some stuff for the Caribbean Compass, to help promote the area.  This was all made rather difficult by a mishap on the first Sunday, when, arriving back from the barbecue (the one with complimentary rum), Dawn missed her step and fell into the water at the back of Cat Tales.  I was able to find an old camera for sale in town, but so far it is not even close to the quality of the older one we had, given to her by her colleagues before heading south.  By the way, her underwater camera broke in Bequia (not rum related).

Dan and Cindy at the complementary dinner at Fort Shirley.  Notice Laurie photo bombing this one.  He volunteered to bar tend for the boys, when other work had to be done.  Talk about the 'fox in charge of the hen house'!

Our plan is to stay overnight in St. Pierre, check in to the country and do some internet if we can, then head to Anses d'Arlet for rest, relaxation and some snorkelling.  After that, hopefully still enjoying this lull in the winds, we'll get back to St. Anne and Marin to pick up boat parts we ordered a few weeks ago.  We spoke with Brian on the ham radio during Denis' weather broadcast, and he and Lorna are still in St. Anne.

Loved Martinique, but Now in Dominica

Yesterday was a fantastic sail; made more so because our weatherman gave us expectations of sea-state that should rattle your teeth.

We woke up at 5:45 am in St. Pierre, and, with s/v Aspen, were underway at 6:15 when we could finally had enough light to see the fish traps to avoid them.  It was a half hour of motoring through flat calm water, while we straightened our lines and sails, then we started the 25 - 30 miles of open water with a beam reach.  Surprisingly, the big, square waves turned out to be rather benign, and the wind seldom got up over 16 knots.  With it curling around our loose sails, however, we reached along at 5-8 knots all morning.  The afternoon was even more pleasant, as most of the waves disappeared behind Dominica, and the wind was constant for 80% of the trip up to Prince Rupert Bay.  We had a lovely lunch of chicken and cheese in a fresh baguette, enjoyed a coffee, and later a nice cold beer; all the while chatting to Steve and Maria on Channel 6, VHF.  (I took a video, and hope to share it if we ever get good bandwidth)   We arrived at about 3 p.m., and have had the opportunity of saying hello to a few of our old PAYS (Portsmouth Area Yacht Security organization of yacht service people) friends.

s/v Seranada as we passed them heading to Dominica

s/v Seranada as it looks like it's being swallowed up by a swell!

We left St. Pierre to Lorna and Brian from s/v Peace and Plenty, who had large plans to explore the region after the rest of us sung its praises probably too much.  Hopefully, they will be posting an entertaining blog about the visits to the Earth Sciences Centre (where the Mount Pele Explosion is so well explained), the Depaz rum distillery (where they get a great tour and possibly a lunch), and the numerous hikes in and around the old town.

The group of us enjoying a meal at a beach restaurant in Anse a L'Ane, Martinique

A 'ti punch party on Cat Tales; French rum, sugar cane syrup to taste and lime!  Brian and Catherine are out of camera range.

Martinique was a lot of fun, enjoyed with s/v Peace and Plenty, s/v Charlotte D., s/v Tarentella, and s/v Aspen, with hiking, sundowners, lunches ashore, etc; in three different anchorages.  We also spent time with s/v Aviva, and a few others.  Among the pictures in this weblog are some of a party on s/v Sitatunga with Dan and Cindy, while we were still anchored in Rodney Bay.  The pictures are not here just to show how much fun we are having, but because Sitatunga is an interesting boat.  She was welded together in the Rift Valley of Africa, and named after an African marsh antelope.  Dan found her many years ago in a boatyard in Ontario, all rusty and with significant vegetation growing on deck and out of the scuppers.  When he attempted to purchase her, he found out that the boat was snuck into Canada without duty being paid, and she apparently was used to get a family's wealth out of Africa during tough times.  He has a lot of experience in keeping the old girl going (the boat, not Cindy - who goes and goes just fine) and in sailing her around this big Caribbean pond.  The interior of the boat is lovely dark wood and good joinery. 

The Mighty Sitatunga

Dan and Cindy aboard their boat, Sitatunga

Eating area of s/v Sitatunga!  Looks like we're in a restaurant!

Steve and Maria (Aspen) and Brian (Peace & Plenty)

The sun spoiled this picture of Cindy, however, it shows off their really neat boat!

We are enjoying a quiet, rainy day here in Dominica, waiting for the evening, when the locals have a big barbecue party arranged for us. Our other plans for the weeks here just are not yet made.  By the way, Sitatunga just showed up out of the fog, after sailing all night.

Martinique

Dawn here...

We left St. Lucia on Friday last week and haven't had any internet since.  Today, we'll post this short blog from a little restaurant in the little village of St. Anne, in Martinique. 

We are going to stay here for a couple more days and then we'll say goodbye to Lorna and Brian of Peace and Plenty and will head north to Dominica with Steve and Maria (Aspen).  Lorna and Brian have tons of friends here and they've had a full season of sailing and just want to stay put for awhile.  They will eventually have to head all the way back to Grenada for haul-out this year, so they have lots of sailing ahead of them!  We'll spend a week or two up in Dominica with Aspen and then we'll be saying goodbye to them as well.  They are hauling out in Puerto Rico this year, so they'll head north and we'll head back south.  We may or may not see Lorna and Brian again on the trip south because they haul out about 3 weeks before we do and so they'll be just that much ahead of us as we both sail southbound.

We have so many friends in this bay that it's difficult to see everyone.  We organized a hike yesterday on a lovely shaded  and flat walk for 14 of us and we enjoyed lunch at the other end (Grande Anse des Salines) and then hiked back.  Peter from s/v Charlotte D had suffered Chickungunya virus (mosquito spread) in November and was still suffering big time from joint pains.  He started the walk a full hour before us and made it to the beach restaurants just ahead of all the rest of us.  We have to spray ourselves with OFF several times a day in order to avoid being bitten by a mosquito.  It's a daytime mosquito that's the problem, not the nighttime ones.  Apparently, they have little white stripes on their legs, but who can see that in time?!  Of course, the new and improved Zeta virus is also making its rounds.  Peter was bed ridden for 10 days in November and he says that never again does he want to go through that!

We spent a few hours in the Chandleries here and found many of our boat parts and pieces here for our French made bateau!  It's nice to see our swim ladder steps sitting on the shelf.  Laurie replaced them today and finally got rid of the wooden one he made last year when we couldn't find the proper replacement!

We, of course, are enjoying French wines, cheeses and pate here on Martinique.  Meals out in restaurants are different than on the English islands so it's quite a treat for us!!

We are looking ahead for our trip to Dominica.  Tuesday or Wednesday seems to have real nice weather shaping up, so you may hear from us up there next week.

Technical (Laurie)

I've been doing some gelcoat repair on the outside of the boat using gelcoat we purchased in Canada many years ago, and some MEK hardener we borrowed from Brian.  90% of the work has been great, with the other ten percent rained on each time I get it set up.  In the place of the wax additive that comes in styrene, I've been placing wax paper over each repair to keep the oxygen out of the gelcoat, and when it does not rain, it works well.

I've ordered new saildrive membranes, and will pick them up on our way back down the islands.  Very expensive, but long overdue.  I'll attempt their installation in May on the hard.  Also in the works, our 1996 Furuno radar was blowing fuses.  It stopped blowing fuses, but now the antenna does not spin under its cover.  A flat calm with no wind and no rain allowed Brian to crank me up the mast to inspect, then dismantle the antenna; and now it and the head/display is sitting in Diginav to be assessed.  If it is no good, I will only have mixed emotions.  Part of me says with AIS already displayed on our monitor and with us travelling very few hours in the dark each year, it is not worth replacing.  However, another part of me says get a new one that connects with our new Raymarine chartplotter so we have more gadgets to play with.

One gadget that also got replaced this week was the wind transducer at the top of the mast.  With Brian on deck doing the hard work of winching me up the mast, I got to the top and replaced it.  I was absolutely drained to have to pay 384 Euro dollars for it, but the old one had been acting up and was not repairable in any meaningful way.  Luckily, I did not have to rerun any wire or replace the housing.  I did have to spend some time up at the top to calibrate it, and to make it waterproof using butyl tape.  Brian also said he now had real respect for all the times so far that Dawn has cranked me to the top of the mast.  The primary reason she bowed out is because her ribs still hurt from leaning over the stern over a week ago to net the two rainbow runners we caught.  

Aside from the two pending projects mentioned above, my repair list is down to about 7 items.  That is rather normal - a safe average that means I am keeping up.