We’re Back in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Saturday provided us a beautiful sail after waiting for weeks for lighter winds and lower waves. Most of the way we traveled around 6+ knots, with wind on the beam and almost no salty water on deck. We got in by 1 pm, and after a lunch, we made it legal at the customs office. This beauty of a monohull followed us and then passed us on the way from Martinique to St. Lucia.

We had last written from Grande Anse D’Arlet, where we were absolutely happy and enjoying the ambiance. However, it was not to last. An official boat came by on our tenth day and gave us an hour to push on. The nearest legal anchorage, they said, was the south wall of Les Anses D’Arlet, just south of Grande Anse D’Arlet, and carrying on to Anse Chaudiere. We followed Clarity out of the bay and went south to Chaudiere. There we stayed a few days, using the Les Anses D’Arlet dock to get ashore for lunches and hikes. Rick and Deb were with us all four days, and were very enjoyable company. I think we all could draft a reasonable map of the area by memory. There was a minor letup in the wind, and we both took it in the early hours to run around by Diamond Rock Lookout and head back to Ste Anne. Sadly, after a couple more days, Clarity up-anchored for a quick run back down to Grenada to meet with a potential buyer for their beautiful Hylas. Their absence was filled with Fred of Dakota Dream; and shortly Steve and Maria abandoned the flat waters of Marin and were alongside as well. We carried on with long walks and lunches. We also got together for a couple of suppers – one pot-luck on Fred’s boat and another wonderful supper on s/v Aquarelle, with Evelyn and Terry. A great surprise was the arrival of s/v Tahona, another 1996 Tobago 35, with young Dutch sailors Waldemar and Vivian. We had some excitement and learning as we toured each other’s boats. Wally and Vivian have a plan to continue fixing up Tahona and heading for the Pacific; where they hope to do some serious exploring before selling her on the far side. Here is a photo of Wally and Vivian aboard their Tobago 35 Tahona.

Back in Rodney, we are awaiting our new mainsail, which waybill-tracking tells us arrived on the Island on Friday. Today, apparently, our customs-clearing agent has been contacted. We will give it a day, get a better lock on the timetable, and possibly move into the marina on Wednesday to take delivery and ‘bend’ her on. Of course, we’ll live an extroverted life along the boardwalk bars and restaurants. Here we are hiking in Rodney Bay with Steve and Maria on s/v Aspen. The hike took us to the battery at Cap Saline, complete with lunch at the Golf Club.

We hope all is well with you and yours. Here is a list of all the places our new sail has visited since leaving South Africa on February 14th! Amazing!

TECHNICAL The big technical issue remains the mainsail renewal. We will have to get into the marina, take down the old sail, remove the battens and see if the fit properly in the new sail. The ‘supposed’ worst case scenario is that I’ll have to move all battens up, cut to fit, and buy a new batten for the bottom. Besides an outlay of money and finding a supplier, I’m going to have some fibreglass splinters just like my Hobie Cat days. We had to change out a starter with a spare, and that means I have both a starter and an alternator going to a Grenada repair shop. Worst case is a new or rebuilt starter for the spare. I was able to purchase for an outrageously low sum an almost new 55 ampere Hitachi alternator that fits on and works great, so the alternator is less of an issue. At the urging of our insurance surveyor, I am educating myself about marine electrical codes, and purchasing some equipment to modernize and make more safe our core electrical system. It primarily means using positive and negative bus bars to collect the wires and making just a couple of connections to the battery banks. It will clean up the wiring and make the addition of more fuses a lot simpler. Besides fusing my positive alternator wires, I’ll also install switches on each to allow me to totally shut off the current during checking and changing alternators. One false move with a live wire, and the alternator is back to the repair shop for new diodes. I am already ahead on some things – all my inputs: two alternators, solar and wind; have their own shunts and ampmeters to allow me to troubleshoot problems. I am getting a quote on a list of electrical parts that is already over $750 US. The tour of the other Tobago, “Tahona”, did not provide much in the ideas of improvements aboard Cat Tales. It appears that there may have been different grades of Tobago sold, with Cat Tales having some superior finishes inside. One of the previous owners of Tahona had repowered with 3-cylinder Yanmars. I am not about to do that, and think it may be the cause of some troubles aboard the boat. A bulkhead had to be moved, and I would suggest construction is not yet completed. I would need to see if the extra 18 horsepower made a significant difference in the boatspeed under power. Peak boatspeed is a pretty hard characteristic in a non-planing hull, and it would take a lot to change that.

Hello from beautiful Grande Anse D’Arlet, on the southwest coast of Martinique

We had arrived in Ste. Anne on January 17th, and the day after, we hauled Steve and Maria’s dinghy into Marin with Cat Tales. We had very little trouble anchoring in the muck, and the four of us made it to the Capitainerie to go through the customs process. Following that, we dropped off our AIS unit (it communicates the names and locations of boats near us to our Raymarine chart plotter, when it works) to Diginav for their electronic wizard to look at, checked out some chandleries, then met Steve and Maria at Le Sextant. Le Sextant is a very sweet restaurant overtop of one of the mechanical shops of the Carenage boatyard. The Canard Confit was the plat du jour, but they no longer included a mini-carafe of house wine with each plate. Oh well, Dawn and I ordered the big glasses of Lorraine draft. After that, we all hit the grocery stores for wine, pate, cheese, and french baking. We went back to Ste Anne and anchored among the 200+ vessels on the flats there (~18-20 feet of water for miles), and plugged into the community with new friends aboard Tangaroa II and Taiga, and old friends aboard Cloud Street. While Steve and Maria were out in the bay, we did some of the usual hikes, ate at the Pte du Saline restaurants, and at the Bou Bou Snack Bar. Believe it or not, Bou Bou now is taking reservations for the tables outside, and it makes it difficult to eat there. After Aspen headed into the flatter waters of Marin, we did a big hike of Creve Coeure with Tangaroa and Taiga and got to know them quite well. They are great people. The last weblog mentions how we hiked the volcano with Joseph and Louise of Tangaroa II. I showed an interest in the vessel Taiga, a 1998 44’ Catana with great aesthetics, and they arranged a lunch aboard for us. We both enjoyed the experience, and Sherri, a former Alaskan lodge host, provided a fantastic meal. By the way, the boat may be for sale, albeit at a higher price than we can afford. After a 2nd trip into Marin for more vittles, beer and wine and another great Sextant lunch (this time with 8 friends), we made plans to go to another anchorage. After a morning at a laundromat, Steve and Maria sailed with us to the west to Anse Chaudiere for the night on January 30th. I got in a good swim there in the crystal clear water, but it was too rolly for Aspen to spend another night. Catamarans can handle more swell because of our second hull stability. We followed them into Grande Anse D’Arlet, and here we sit still. Our AIS was picked up and 174 euros later, it lives!! Yeah! That guy is a genius! We’ve hiked with Steve and Maria to the near bay of Les Ances D’Arlet, with Skip of PeaceKeeper (yes he is a former UN fieldworker), and two more hikes with Debbie and Rick of s/v Clarity. All hikes tend to end at a cute little creperie that serves galette sandwiches and craft IPA beer made on the island. The change in partners for hikes and meals is the result of the schedules and desires of others. We love it here, Steve and Maria prefer a mooring ball in Marin where they are not susceptible to rolling, Skip left to pick up a close friend and head north, and Debbie and Rick are threatening to leave to allow Debbie to shop the streets of Fort de France.

Hiking with Skip s/v Peacekeeper

Cap Solomon hike - we did this one twice, the second time with Rick from s/v Clarity. Every hike ends up with beer and food!

We normally go farther afield than this, and although this anchorage is about as pretty and charming as it gets, it does seem slow and strange for us. We are still using only our old, cut-down mainsail and waiting for the arrival of a new one at Rodney Bay. The new sail is set to be shipped by air today and will be cleared by an agent in St. Lucia. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we’ll be sporting a new crinkly stiff sail (after a hard day of shifting battens, lines, batten-cars, and the sail itself)! Whups, a new wrinkle. As I write this, just finishing up this weblog, a black official boat with Coast Guard markings just approached and told us we had to exit the bay, but could anchor in a designated area in the next bay. We’re going to Les Anses D’Arlet – a similar bay with a similar name, and we’ll decide where to next. Okay, we’ve anchored twice, but seem to be ok. We’re halfway between Anses D’Arlet and Anse Chaudiere along the side of a bit of a cliff. The bottom is rather sketchy and deep, and we have all our chain out. Clarity is attempting to anchor off our stern, and if successful, they’ll be close enough to join us later for a Happy Hour. Time for breakfast.

In the pictures above, you can see Laurie conversing with a baracuda. The cuda wouldn't allow Laurie to swim and rinse after a haircut on the bottom step. Up there somewhere as well is a picture of a lovely craft IPA beer that is made on this island, but served only at the creperie. They have our hearts in their hands as they fetch this for us. The photo of the sailing cruise ship is the Royal Clipper as it exited the bay at sunset. The third photo is a local sailboat called a yole, zipping between closely moored boats in Marin, steered only by an oar. It's always amazing to see these fit individuals manovering these crafts!