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| Cat Tales sitting in beautiful flat water of Anse a l’Anne in Martinique |
We last wrote from rainy Portsmouth, Dominica, just about a month ago. Well, Portsmouth didn’t get much drier. The daily deluges kept us out of the rainforest, eliminating the best hikes of the Island. After about a week of investigating the town and the Cabrits fortress with Rachel and Susan of s/v Aspen1, s/v Prism arrived with Charlie and Anina, and joined our little band. We continued along the similar lines, with shoreside investigations and lunches out. One fantastic find is the newly renovated Chinese/international restaurant at the Riverside Hotel on Moo Cow Road, overlooking the Picard River. We ate there years ago, but then it was messed with by a hurricane, and is now back in operation. Great food, sweet view, and constant babbling brook sounds coming to the table.
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| A tour of a reconstructed Kalinago community in Dominica. |
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| A dugout boat that the tribe dug out by hand. |
Things picked up rather quickly when the special events began to celebrate the Salty Dawg Rally. We got into a couple of tours and joined into a couple of famous PAYS Beach Barbecues. We got to mingle with a lot of interesting people, and even enticed famous Island historian Lennox Honychurch to sit at our table at the banquet. We heard some interesting stories as we quizzed him on various historical and local topics.
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| PAYS BBQ with rum punch included…a dangerous offering! |
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| Poor Rachel slid out on one of our hikes up the mountain and orders up some beer therapy! |
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| An old wheelchair turned into a wheelbarrow! These people are very clever at reuse! |
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| No clothesline? Hey, this works! |
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| Trafalger Falls, southern Dominica |
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| Charlie & Anina (s/v Prism) and Dawn & Laurie (s/v Cat Tales) |
We had intended to at least go to the Saints, and had hopes of making Marie Galante and the west side or Guadeloupe, but we have had a season with too much wind and rain and too few windows of weather suitable of open ocean sailing. Fearing trouble finding enough opportunities to get back to Grenada before season’s end, we headed back south on February 28th. Well, we had a full month in Dominica, so we at least got our fill of that! We enjoy the PAYS characters to no end, and always think of them fondly.
The trip across the open water back to St. Pierre was not as fabulous as the passage a month earlier, but it was easy and enjoyable. Traveling with s/v Prism, we arrived to find s/v Cloud Street waiting for us. They stayed two days before departing for northern destinations and awaiting boat company. We had a great hike with Charlie, Anina, and Joanna to the Depaz Rum Distillery and a lunch, not letting damp weather bother us. After another day, s/v Prism headed to Case Pilot for a mechanic’s appointment, and we were joined by s/v Peacekeeper, with Skip and Kitty. We did a hike just into the back of town, investigating more of the ruins of 1902, followed by what for us was the 3rd fantastic meal in the restaurant Alsace a Kay.
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| Joanna & Bill (s/v Cloud Street), Charlie & Anina (s/v Prism) and of course, Cat Tales dining out at one of our favourite restaurants in St. Pierre |
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| Joanna, Anina and Dawn |
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| This is a section of what is left of the large Insane Asylum in St. Pierre. We found this on our way back from the Rum distillery. There was a spa with water therapy included in the asylum as treatment for the troubled minds. This was the first facility for psychiatric care in the Caribbean, but totally wiped out, with both staff and patients succumbing to the 1902 volcanic eruption. |
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| The only remaining complete structure is the isolation chamber. |
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| On the way to the Depaz Rum distillery |
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| Depaz estate |
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| Looks like Laurie forgot to dress up for Carnival! This was our lunch spot after the 3 hour hike. |
We all found s/v Savannah Sky on a mooring at Z’Abricot, near Fort de France, and got together with them, Skip and Kitty, and Charlie and Anina for a hike and lunch in at Anse a l’Anne. With Savannah Sky leaving for parts north, and Prism leaving for Rodney Bay, Cat Tales and Peacekeeper enjoyed the last two days at Grande Anse D’Arlet, with more hiking and lunching. We then cleared out, said our goodbyes and had a quiet night at Anse Chaudiere, awaiting a 2-day trip back to Bequia, Friday and Saturday, March 7 & 8…
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| Skip (s/v Peacekeeper) while checking out some ruins at the back of St. Pierre |
This little chapel was behind the Bishop’s estate, back of the large Catholic Church. It was probably where the Bishop prayed alone. Other buildings were for servants and slaves, as the area dates back that far for certain.
Inside of the Bishop’s little chapel. We find some new and interesting ruins every time we return to St. Pierre.
Stern view of the Bishop’s estate. This building was obviously reconstructed after the eruption, as reinforcing concrete was used for the upper floor, columns and ceiling.
For the first time in a long time, we put up the main with only one reef in her. We expected light winds and a strong current from the southeast against us. I figured we needed some power to combat the current. The current was no problem, and after strong winds and confused seas at Diamond Rock, we had a fair and constant beam reach all the way to Anse Cochon halfway down the side of St. Lucia. We had chosen to just ‘yellow flag’ St. Lucia as we had been having such bad luck finding weather windows. At daylight on Saturday we raised the sail, but with two reefs, and prepared to tackle wind and currents again for the 60 miles to Bequia. Ten and a half hours later, we dropped anchor, very tired of bracing ourselves. It was mostly nice, with Dawn managing the music and passing out treats to the Captain, but it does wear one down.
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| Sailing from Martinique to St. Lucia |
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St. Lucia to Bequia (a small island owned by St. Vincent)
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| Directly to our favourite anchoring spot in Bequia off a sweet reef accessible with a little swim from our stern. |
TECHNICAL
Amazingly, this last month has gone by with practically nothing going wrong or leaving us concerned. I had scrubbed the waterline over a month ago, and it needs it again, and our new style bottom paint seems to grow grass and slime although the barnacles are under control. I’ve been spending a bit of time each afternoon on that, as it is good exercise and cool to the body. A few nights ago, sitting in swells for a rocky happy hour, a strange squeak from the tiller connector had me digging out tools to get the tiller arm further down the rudder post to stop a minor rub. My technical section has never been shorter, and Dawn, with her constant chores related to kitchen, supplies, social calendar, and passing me tools, may be wondering what use I am on a boat.
As we ready for our second night in Bequia, we have begun our maintenance lists, end of season lists, etc. We’ll have fun here, but there’s work to be done as well.
