HELLO FROM GUADELOUPE

A drone shot of Cat Tales, pictured in the center, that Steve took, while in Ste Anne.  It makes us look bigger than we are!

We are sitting in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, on the south side of the channel.  Sometimes giant cruise ships drift by us, but mostly it is the large ferries that take mostly tourists to Marie Galante, Basse Terre, and Les Saintes.  We arrived Sunday, after three tough days of travel, with Steve and Marie, with the plan to rent a car and use it to find hikes, see the sites, and conquer the butterfly.  It was last year’s plan, but better late than never.

Cruise ships creeping along behind us arriving at daylight and leaving at dark.

A trip into the Aquarium was interesting to say the least.

Graffiti is all over Point a Pitre.  Makes for very interesting walks around town. 

The December 21st weblog found us in Ste Anne, at the south end of Martinique, enjoying a large crowd of old and new friends.  We carried out two hikes to Saline Bay for exercise and good food, had some Friday happy hours at La Dunette (a restaurant that has seating on a dock that sees the sunset) and made many trips into Marin for boat parts, groceries, and three different fabulous lunches at Le Sextant, a restaurant in the boatyard.  I cannot leave out the fabulous bokits that we regularly enjoyed at Le Snack Bou Bou, which is also the customs office.

Our ‘sailing family’ just newly checked out of Martinique and making plans for the next 3 days sail.  Notice that Fred ate too much for lunch and the bench was complaining!

Fred of Dakota Dream left his boat on the 23rd to go back to Dakota to his large family Christmas.  He left Steve and Maria to guard his boat and exercise whatever needed it.  The four of us actually had a happy hour on it for fun.

Christmas Eve was spent on Jumbie, a 45’ Leopard Cat owned and operated by Kathy and Tom.  The boat’s cockpit and salon is large, and well over 20 of us mixed around the great table of hours-d-oeuvres.  It was a mix of experienced cruisers, less experienced cruisers, and the guests of cruisers, making it full of interesting conversations.  This was quickly followed by an afternoon meal at Le Nouveau Touloulous on the beach.  Twenty-nine of us went often to the buffets and to the bar, enjoyed each other’s company at the long tables, before dismissing ourselves for a nice long, cool swim.  By then, we all needed a full night’s sleep.

New Year’s Eve found us having a party on Fred’s boat, with him arriving just after it all started.  Steve said: “Bring some rums for a tasting.”  “It will be fun”, he also said.  Well, we got into those evil sauces after most of us already had our “portion”, and we all “got a little ahead in our drinking”.  Nobody died.

Maria, Fred and Dawn at the New Year’s Party on Fred’s boat, Dakota Dream.  It was nice of Fred to arrive from the US a half hour into his own party.

Laurie, Fred and Steve

Our trip to the north started on the 3rd, Friday, and we had a lovely sail to St. Pierre, anchoring off of the pretty beach just to the south of the town, still in view of the lovely but deadly volcano.  Both Dakota Dream and Aspen were in accompaniment.   Dawn and I had our first big snorkel, swimming to the beach, walking to the end and swimming back out to a marked wreck.  We soon realized it was prettier at a reef just behind our boat, and retraced our steps.  It was also a lovely evening.  

The trip from St. Pierre across to Dominica started an hour before daylight, with us motoring until well past the north edge of the island.  We actually crossed the open expanse between the islands in the lightest breeze and flattest ocean we’ve ever encountered.  At least we did not have to motor all the way.  Sadly, 60% of the way from the southern tip to Prince Rupert Bay/Portsmouth was done under engine, and often in rain.  Aspen and Dakota Dream, both about an hour ahead of us, carried on to Les Saintes, while we bedded down for the night near the Pays Dock, and waited for morning.  Getting to Pointe-a-Pitre involved 7 more hours of sailing the next day, but very little motoring and truly little trouble.  Parts of the crossing were down-right fun.  When Cat Tales is rigged conservatively, and is still doing 7 knots in the right direction, I call it fun, even if I am being rained on or “a salted”.  Steve and Maria had been at anchor for an hour, while Fred was headed up the other side of the island, headed for Antigua.  He is putting the boat in floating storage while he joins some friends and his wife on a rental boat in Tahiti.

So, tomorrow, Steve runs the 10 kilometres to the airport, and picks up a car.  We’ll spend some time driving east on the flat part of the butterfly, and hopefully find a beach or two for swimming.

TECHNICAL

Fred had brought back a new 30 ampere solar regulator, as well as a clamp-on ampere meter.  I had some fun with those.  I installed a fourth solar panel, taking advantage of the extra capacity in the regulator, and my new batteries came to life.  I also had purchased a third proper deep cycle battery, so that went in place at the same time.  Part of my payment to Fred was one of the three start batteries that had been masquerading as deep cycle batteries.  That actually provided the room for the third new battery.

Something that was a real bummer, was a problem with an alternator.  Sorry to take your time, but I need to download.  My big Chinese alternator, that normally can give us 80 amperes, dropped down to 20 amperes as the batteries were being used up by the water maker.  I took it off, and replaced it with the spare 30 ampere Hitachi, after spending a hot hour cleaning every contact in the electrical circuit.  I looked for repair persons in and around Marin with no luck, and looked for the diode layer and internal regulator for it, and had no luck either.  After humming and hawing, and getting tired or hauling the 25 pound bugger around, I finally paid big money for a replacement, and hauled that big bruiser back to the boat.  I put it on, and it would not work, I traded it at the store, and the second would not work.  With that pointing at me and mine as the problem, I spent a weekend putting on, and taking off alternators in the hot engine room.  While I cooled down, I searched the internet for solutions.  Finally, I thought: “Let’s look at the one I took off, and ask myself some questions”.  There on the back of the old one, was a note written by the repairman in Grenada.  He had made a note to connect it differently.  Ha!  Hitachi alternators like mine are internally regulated, with the shell kept as the negative.  They have a big “E” where you connect the ground, and a “BAT” where you connect the positive.  The new bugger, a Chinese knock-off of a Hitachi, had the same, but I found out that it had an insulated case.  I was to use one of the other posts, that had some rubber washers on it.  The “E” on this bugger is just for decoration???  So I learned something; but why does this knowledge seem sometimes to come so hard?  I put on many miles with 25 pound alternators, and changed them out somewhere around NINE times, hot, sweating, dirty, and bent like a pretzel.

The old alternator, with a clue left by Al Bernadine, Grenada Alternator Repair.  The “E” is  the bottom screw.

I have noticed that I have water in the transmission oil of my starboard sail drive, so I am partially “sea-lubing”.  I’ll pick a day, exercise the oil, and suck as much as I can to replace it with more pure oil.  The repair of the seals will have to wait until April.

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS IN (Caribbean) FRANCE

We last communicated from the waters of Prickly Bay in Grenada, soon after the launch of Cat Tales, and now, 4 short weeks later, we are in St. Anne, Martinique; the land of wine and pate.

We moved the boat to the anchorage outside of St. George before a week was out, as we knew we wanted to test everything before heading north.  Many do use their water makers in the murky waters of Prickly Bay, but I figure there is too big of a chance for either heavy metals and grease from the boatyard damaging the RO membrane or the prefilters being clogged or colonized by baby shrimp.  Well, things worked out fine in the clear waters of our new anchorage.  Actually, a great omen was getting our anchor into a sand pile on the first try - often Dawn gets a sunburn (and a bit cranky) as we try setting the anchor for over an hour in this anchorage.

We shopped at both the last big chandlery and the last good grocery store for a while, and also visited with Steve and Maria of s/v Aspen who were staying on the dock at the local marina, carrying out their own recommissioning.  Fred Johnson of s/v Dakota Dream was also there, and we enjoyed two meals and an afternoon at the marina swimming pool before catching the first weather window to the north.

The trip was very nice, as I (Laurie) ignored the engine noise and coasted through the flat water to Isle De Ronde, an island with a pretty anchorage in between Grenada and Carriacou.  We had a lovely late afternoon and overnight before we up-anchored and carried on.  Dawn and I swam about a quarter-mile to the beach and back, and felt great about our health.  That was significant for me, as it was the first anniversary of my operation, my biggest or most recent reminder of our mortality.  We thought about it a bit during happy hour.

Kickim’ Jenny Rock, off Isle de Ronde

”The Sisters” left white by the birds!

The Sisters in the sunset

The last 2-hour leg to Tyrell Bay was also a fun sail - We had wind, and at a decent angle!  Tyrell itself was nice, though we didn’t stay long.  We walked the road along the shore a couple of times, picked up some fresh produce, and checked out after only 2-3 days.  You just do not know how long before the next weather window, and passing them up can leave you somewhere for quite a while, waiting for the next.  We checked out, and made a run all the way to Bequia, in pretty much ideal conditions for Cat Tales.  True, we motored upwind to Clifton, while we had to make water anyway, and the increased wind angle was part of the improvement!

We anchored in our usual spot, just out from a rock outcrop that separates Lower Bay Beach from Princess Margaret Beach.  About 4 days later, Steve and Maria sailed in to join us.  Predominately, just the four of us enjoyed lunches, suppers, and sunsets on the floating bar for the next week.  Steve kept his eye on the weather, explaining that a window, opening up on Saturday, December 14th, was not just good, but was somewhat alone among relatively bad weather.  As it approached, and stayed unique, we devised a plan to leave at midnight, and sail direct to Ste. Anne; and that is pretty much what we did.

We sailed all night with Aspen and got a nice shot of them in the sunrise just before getting to St. Lucia.

Conch stew and drinks were served aboard Cat Tales the day after our 14.5 hour sail to Martinique.

It was a long night, with no more sleep for anyone among the four of us.  The conditions were very good, but the necessity of accomplishing the 95 miles before another night meant I could not afford to wait for gusts behind St. Vincent or St. Lucia, but had to motor on through.  Good thing we were low on our water supply, and could make use of the power for that.  As we passed Rodney Bay, we got a chance to radio a hello to John Fallon of s/v Stoppknot, and we also were joined for the crossing by Fred of s/v Dakota Dream.  Sadly, this is where the good weather stopped.

The three boats were tossed and blown in three + major squalls, with waves over 8 feet and winds clocking over 40 knots.  I found it exciting and worth doing, sucking up the great waves of water that drenched me in the cockpit, and the torrential rains that tried to rinse the sea back off, until our jib furler jumped out of the furling drumflipped and made it impossible to put any of our jib away.  As the conditions on the trampoline were too dangerous, we limped (at 7.5 + knots) across with as much luff in the jib as possible, and the boat pointing as high as possible.  We found a comparatively flat area behind the first headland of Martinique, and I relaced the furler as Dawn tried to keep the boat as stable as possible and pointing into the wind, and the flailing jib ensured the foredeck was uninhabitable.  It felt like a long time, but was likely less than 10 minutes of work.  With the jib finally rolled away, we motored in relative calm, and easily anchored.  Amazingly, Fred hung with us in his 38’ Leopard Cat, both watching out for us, and documenting some of our troubles with his camera.  Steve and Maria were a 1/2 squall away, letting us know what was coming next.

Hose is now filling that nasty gap that allowed the furling line to jump the drum!

We have made two trips into Marin for parts and groceries:  Once by bus, and once with the dinghy tied to the back of s/v Jumbie (Kathy and Tom), who had to go in for major work.  We have very much enjoyed the Sextant restaurant in the boatyard both times.  We’ve also met new friends and hiked to Saline Bay twice.

Now we’re predominantly just fixing things, hiking a bit, and waiting for Christmas Day, when Dawn has organized another big party at the Touloulou’s Beach Restaurant.  Attendance this time is approaching 30 persons.

We should like to add that, besides the numerous restaurant visits, we have enjoyed, on board, Dawn’s usual one-pot chicken wonders, and Laurie’s favourite recipes of conch stew, plantain salad and callilou soup.  All nutritional and local.

Happy Holidays everyone, and we hope that 2020 is enjoyable for the whole universe.

Happy Hour at LaDunnet in Ste. Anne, organized by Willie and Mark of s/v Liahona. Most of these people will be in attendance for Christmas dinner at Touloulous Beach Bar and Restaurant!

TECHNICAL

Well, the good news is that the starboard engine is working just fine so far, after running it for 20 minutes with mineral spirits in the crankcase, cleaning it out.  This was done on the advice of Roger Michaud at home.  Maybe I should do the port engine?

Bad news is that the battery issue continues to haunt us.  I bought 3 new batteries from Budget Marine: ACDelco ACDM27DC, that Budget said were 100 AH deep cycle batteries.  While trying to find the best way to use them, and how to take care of them, I found definitive proof that they are only heavy-duty marine start batteries.  This explains the lack of depth and storage.  I attempt, when they are showing almost 14V, to run the refrigerator cold plate that takes 27 amperes.  This results in a reading of 11 volts within 7-8 minutes, even though wind and solar are delivering over 13 amperes.  No storage worth talking about.  I have purchased two 75 AH French-made batteries and am trying different ways to make it all work.  Certainly an improvement, and may get us through the season until we can serve our wrath on Budget in Grenada in April.

We had an 80 ampere alternator on the port engine, and enjoyed making water and running the cold plate at the same time with it.  Well, that’s gone as its output has dropped to 19 amperes.  There is no easy way to fix it here, and the replacement is 275 Euros.  We have bent on the spare 35 ampere alternator, and are adjusting our habits until we can find a repair shop.

We’ve also had two more electrical failures:  Our BlueSky 25 ampere MPPT solar regulator seems to have gone insane, judging by the read outs; and my basic digital multimeter will not zero for any electrical parameter.  No real worries, as our friend Fred (many regular readers will remember him as the person who saves boats, motors, and sailors with health problems - “rescue Fred”) is having to go home to Dakota celebrate Christmas with his large family for Xmas.  He will return soon after Xmas with boat parts for himself, Steve of Aspen and us as well.  We will have a new BlueSky 35 ampere regulator, and a new multimeter with a clamp-on DC ampere measuring ability.  That’s Christmas for me!!

In anticipation of the new regulator, I have already purchased another 110 Watt flexible panel for the top of the bimini.  It really does create anticipation, as this may be of real help with refrigeration, with six or so amperes.  On top of this, Fred removed two ancient, heavy but flexible 75 Watt panels that were trapped underneath his previous solar upgrade, and have given them to me.  I’ll ensure that they work, and then attempt to find ways to use them as well.  Of course, that has to wait until my new meter arrives.  Chances are, they will be used at anchor only, and stowed when under way.

As for that furler problem, I have provided a picture of my attempt at alleviation.  A bit of hose and wire-ties makes the gap in the furler cage much smaller, and maybe, with a little more care in furler use, we can minimize chances of getting stuck like that again.

Steve, Fred and Laurie taking a break from boatwork!

Dawn, Fred, Laurie, Maria & Steve in Grenada

Otherwise, things are normal.  I have a continuous list little parts that need to be replace, and I have also noticed the start of tiny barnacles already screaming for attention on Cat Tales’ bottom.

BOATYARD ESCAPE

Cat Tales was launched last Tuesday.  We were ecstatic to be out where there was some wind, and, as far as we knew, all was well.

The flights to Grenada from New Brunswick were at least successful.  We came via Montreal, leaving a layer of snow on the ground in New Brunswick.  In Montreal, we watched the screens, as a snowstorm was crippling Toronto and flights were delayed all morning and afternoon.  Our flight changed from a small commuter flight at 17:00 h to a fully loaded, giant Boeing 777 at 18:00 h.  We sat in row 55, with ten seats per row.  It took off an hour later, after lineups and de-icing, as the worst of the Toronto storm was closing in on Montreal.  The Toronto landing was as normal as a snowstorm landing can be, but it was a half-hour delay while the snow was mucked out from our gate and gate access.  The next morning, we were in the air by 10:30 h, as Toronto was still recovering, and there was again a de-icing lineup.

As the weather predicted, there was not a breath of wind in the boatyard for our work-week, and it was tough.  It was the usual work, with the common unexpected requirements as well.  At night, we buddied up with new friends in the boatyard for meals at the “container park” near the college campus a few nights, but mostly Dawn cooked for just the two of us ate in the Cool Running apartment.

We had one mix-up in the boatyard that required us to stop our work while Cat Tales was moved to allow the launch of a boat behind us.  Just a little annoyance and some time lost...

Once out in Prickly Bay, we had an easy second-half to the launch-day, and just limed - okay, one beer led to several, as the stress-relief was significant.  I didn’t even want to try the dinghy engine, and why bother - it had started on the third pull in the boatyard.  Wednesday morning, Dawn insisted I get it going to ensure we could maintain our evening social plans.  Not only could I not get the damned thing going, but the dinghy was leaking water.  A long story short - we got towed into the chandlery and bought replacements for both.

Since on the water, we have slowly sorted the tools, and the smaller jobs, and are finding patches of floor and other things that had been buried in parts and tools.  Yesterday, Saturday, we took almost the whole day off (after switching alternators on one of the engines) and walked 1.5 hours to Port Louis Marina to have a lunch and some pool time with Steve and Maria (s/v Aspen) and Fred (s/v Dakota Dream).  It was great, and we slept well once we got back.

Not much else to tell, but for some interesting stories.  Here is a picture of a large ketch that had been hauled while we were being launched around the first of February.  We met the couple, and conversed a lot, with some things in common.  We gave them our vinyl-covered “C” cushions from the cockpit, as they had none, and Dawn had “a new plan”.  They had just a couple of jobs to do, and intended to be back in the water in a day or two.  Here the boat sits, 10 months later.  We wonder wether it was a technical issue, or a health issue, or both.  She was a survivor of colon cancer, like me (Laurie); explaining that chemo had been recommended, but she opted for a marijuana-based treatment instead.    She explained that the treatment had kept her cancer-free, until a scope found a new tumour.  I did not  mention the contradiction, and she carried on by saying she was back on the marijuana treatment after the second tumour.

This second picture is of a boat, sunk barely 2000 feet from the boatyard lift.  We had watched for a couple of seasons, as first the dinghy slowly lost air and started to be destroyed at its stern, and then we return to see this.  The story appears to be that a man bought it, but he passed away quite soon after; and his wife just said she could not deal with the boat.  Well, she has turned this asset into a liability; and she now has to deal with a worse problem.  The boat, although older and comparably small, was pretty and in good shape.  It is a reminder to make sure your will is kept up and straight forward - such that anyone could manage it.

TECHNICAL

After spending hours doing maintenance on the batteries, I gave up totally and condemned all five house and the starting battery.   I had done all I could to make them last long:  oversized the bank to decrease the depth of use, increased the solar power available, maintained the water levels, and equalized them regularly.  Still, like all before them, they died at 4 years.   Budget, interestingly, was almost sold out of deep cycles, but we were able to acquire 3 Delco deep cycle and a Delco cranking amp battery.  Our new house bank is less than half of our old bank, at 2526 amp hours, but seems to work the same.  AND they have a 4-year warranty.  Let’s see...

We have yet to test the new boat speed sensor.  We are hopeful that it will allow us to measure the currents with and against the boat as we compare to GPS speeds.  The sensor also provides water temperature, which we expect to be warm ;-).

Dawn worked hard on both domestic issues and the hard work of washing, waxing and polishing, while I sanded down last-year’s gelcoat repairs, re-bedded a through-hull fitting, and recommissioned the engines.

Figuring out what to do with the dinghy and engine was only a little complicated.  Both are 13 years old.  The engine has a scary lower casting crack, and the dinghy was leaking through a seam between the rubber (hypalon) and the aluminum bottom.  Investigations suggested a minimum $1200 repair, with no guarantee, while we had no real idea about the longevity of the rest of the boat.  We purchased a Chinese-manufactured Carib Marine dinghy with a light fibreglass bottom that is not expected to fail in the same manner as an aluminum connection.

Speed and water temperature transducer, newly installed and NOT leaking!!

Cat Tales waiting to be launched from the Spice Island Boat Yard in Grenada

Notice that our new dinghy has no seat, which is apparently difficult for me (Dawn) to remember.  When I unlock the dinghy from the dock and swing around and sit where I always used to sit, it has a new feeling landing on the floor of the dinghy next to the fuel tank!

We are waiting to see how we will fare after last year’s cleaning out of the starboard engine with mineral spirits.

A Woods designed West System 32 foot catamaran that was lengthened to 38 feet, 3 feet each corner.  The new owner, John, is still figuring it all out.

Dawn, taking a break on the shady side of the boat waiting for the lift to arrive to carry Cat Tales to the water.

Steve (s/v Aspen), Fred (s/v Dakota Dream) and Laurie of course from s/v Cat Tales, at the Port Louis Marina after lunch.

Where’s the Weblog?

Past due for sure.  We’re surprised to find that we do not even have an “end of season” blog here.  Well, let’s fill in the blanks.  We had a wonderful end of season, finally making it back to Prickley Bay for haulout, with time to spare to haul everyone we could find to the local brew-pub to dive into the flavours, and then just the two of us having a lovely meal at the beach restaurant “Umbrellas”.  We carried out our usual floating end-of-season work, and got hauled out on April 13^th.  The week on the hard was made easy with, as usual, a stay in the air-conditioned comfort of “Cool Running”, across the street from the boatyard.  Even the technical work was easy, with us not really taking on many serious chores beyond decommissioning.

The trip home was also normal.  Once we arrived, we were once again on flood-watch, as the St. John River system was on the rise.  Ultimately, our lake community suffered a flood of only 8 inches lower than the flood of record, which was just the year before.  Our part in saving homes and property was much smaller this year.  Our friends Hugh and Liz had made major flood-proofing changes to their basement, and abandoned the idea of sandbagging.  We did give our friend Debbi one long-hard day; involving the rotation of all the furniture while we removed the engineered flooring, and re-piling the furniture. 

This is in front of our cottage.  The water continued to rise after this shot.

We also caught a break in our cove when high winds, at the peak elevation of the water, entered the cove with the longest fetch possible.  The break was the last of the lake ice, which, although scarring a few trees, kept the water calm.  The next morning, just after the wind subsided, the ice vanished.  Other properties on the lake, without the ice on the upwind side, were damaged, knocked over, and in some cases blown to smithereens.  Since the water receded, at least 5 different contractors have had a busy summer, raising cottages and summer-homes along the lakeshore.

Debbi's place goes up...high and dry!

Our own property, although the house was high and dry, suffered with issues in the basement, and major damage to the percolation piping of our hybrid wastewater treatment system.  The latter kept me busy for approximately 100 man-hours, distributed through the season, as I did the manual labour pretty much single-handed.  Other work: wood splitting, applying exterior coatings, and carrying out normal maintenance, also kept me busy. 

  Richard Brogan's Independent 20 was launched and hauled by the boys of the community. 

Still, lots of fun here, as we got together at least weekly for barbecues with the gang, a trip to Storeytown for great food and river activity with the same gang, sailing the Hobie 21, family gatherings, etc.  Dawn again enjoyed a night each week with her mother and sisters, a week-long sister get-together in Ontario, and a weekend stay with her good friend upriver. 

With a stick and no hook, the fishing is just as productive.  Laurie enjoying the Miramichi.

We’re now consolidating our notes, packing our clothes, and decommissioning the house for our return trip, with a flight date of November 11^th, 7 days hence.

About 2 weeks ago, we were hit with a raging wind and rain storm.  Our neighbour lost 8 trees.  These ones totally wiped out their grandchildren's playhouse, but not much else.  The work David had to do over the last two weeks just removing trees and stumps was no small thing.

From the left - Paul, Laurie, Ken and Mike: the Corbett boys!  Nice looking bunch of cotton tops!

TECHNICAL

As mentioned, the haul out was pretty normal, but for a trip to the top of the mast for some electrical work, and the renovation of the starboard escape hatch.  Actually, the escape hatch did cause some extra stress.  We removed and dismantled the hatch, but while cleaning it, noticed that the glass was bulging out of the hatch-cover.  Aluminum oxides, the result of saltwater corrosion, was growing under the glass and edge-seal, pushing the assembly apart.  Rather than fix it myself, I had it sent to another boatyard, where a company called “Driftwood” dismantled, cleaned, and recaulked it with an appropriate product.  We managed the rest of the surfaces by cleaning, spraying with zinc chromate, and finishing with the brushing on of a one-part silver primer.  This last bit of treatment had been done the previous season to the port escape hatch, and seemed to do a good job.  Both of these windows, originally manufactured by Goiot, were receiving the treatment after the oxides of corrosion had compromised the seal between the flanges and the boat hulls.

Cat Tales sitting in the Spice Island boatyard waiting just one more week for activity to begin again for another season in the sun!

Busy, Busy in Bequia!

Well, from famine to feast, it seems.  We had a quiet start to our short season down here, with lots of work and little socializing.  While in Bequia, things have been heating up considerably.  Although s/v Fido headed south to meet guests, we replaced them quickly with Al and Michelle of s/v Tarentela and of course with Steve and Maria of Aspen, and also Greg and Kathy of Indigo.  Soon, even more of the old gang arrived: Dream Catcher, Changes, Prism, Oasis, Katahdin, Clarity, and many more.  Jumbie also arrived from Grenada, also having a shorter season for very similar reasons as we are.

We have made the floating bar a major success; especially as again this year, we have too many people to enjoy each others’ cockpits.  The bar swarms with us at least two nights out of three.  We have also done the usual rum shop tours, snorkeling, restaurant visitations, and of course hiking: Ma Peggy’s Rock, the park to the north of Cinnamon Garden, and the top of Mount Pleasant.  The last hike had 23 people.  As well, the girls have started up a women’s lunch here, with good attendance on 3 different Wednesdays and 3 different restaurants.

Twenty three of us headed out for an uphill hike in Bequia!  We split up at noon and went to various restaurants where we undid the benefit of hiking in exchange for beers with lunch!

Dawn and I also went on our own little adventure.  We caught what was supposed to be a perfect weather window for a trip to the Tobago Keys:  low winds and waves for both the trip and for a lovely visit to a special place.  It didn’t work out, however; as the forecasts were terribly wrong.  The sails there and back were bumpy, and the wind and seas grew to the point that the water was in a horrible state in the Keys.  We stayed two nights in sheltered anchorages, and hightailed ‘er back to Bequia.

Yesterday was absolutely unique, however.  Dean of Dream Catcher voiced his wish to book passage on the local tourist boat the Friendship Rose – an old wooden schooner that used to be the mail boat and primary ferry from the main island – to go to Mustique.  The rest of us said he had half an idea, and yesterday, we all jumped on for a full day trip – not upwind to Mustique, where they don’t seem to want us anyway – but across the wind to the Tobago Keys.  It was fantastic, with great sailing, complete with two major squalls, good food and drink, and fantastic camaraderie.  Dawn got into the water for some fantastic photography as well.

Friendship Rose at 7:00 am just before boarding

The crew of Friendship Rose hoisting the sails while we looked on.

The Friendship Rose taken from Cat Tales when we sailed by them on our last trip to Bequia a couple weeks ago.

The twenty of us "little boat sailors", who paid for and jumped aboard the Friendship Rose for a fun filled day of being spoiled rotten!  Would we do it again?  Hell, yes!

A beautiful parrot fish seen at the Tobago Cays

Dawn took this picture of a turtle who really didn't mind spending time in front of her camera!

Steve steering the boat while John, the captain has time to spend with guests.  Laurie is featured in the background.

Steve and Maria (not on their own boat Aspen)

Fran and Chris, (not on their own boat Changes)

Rick (Clarity), Fran (Changes) and Dawn (Cat Tales) doing what they do best...

Laurie and Chris making excellent bookends for these new young sailors!

We are off-loaded from the Friendship Rose to be taken to the beach and/or off to snorkel, and we see that it's our old friend Sekie from Chatham Bay on Union Island operating the tourist boat!  He and his wife operate a restaurant on the beach and we met them years ago and see them from time to time when we return to their little piece of heaven.  So nice to see old friends!

Perfection!

This is pretty much the turning point for us now.  We’ll carry on here possibly until Saturday, when we’ll start back south to Grenada.  We hope to have time in both Chatham Bay and in Tyrell Bay, but need to have a few days in Prickly Bay before our haulout on April 12^th.

If any of you from New Brunswick enjoy this update, and feel like sending us an email update of NB personal happenings (or wherever you are), please do so.  We often arrive home feeling like we know nothing about what’s been happening with most of you, and it is a bit depressing.  Please be advised that we are both well and enjoying life down here.

TECHNICAL

Not much to report on regarding Cat Tales’ condition.  We have been enjoying a great period of mechanical stability.  That being said, it IS time to get the list of projects ready for the season’s end.

Laurie is under the boat cleaning the barnacles and fuzz off the props!

Sweet Bequia...

Again, the blog is overdue.  We are sitting in Bequia taking life very easy. We had a great sail to Carriacou; indeed, although it was fast, a slightly open hatch that we had missed on deck delivered no water to the interior.  Besides the enjoyable sail, there was one bit of overwhelming excitement:  We were trawling one line with a new lure, and got a serious bite.  I wrestled the line in (it was bare line, not on a pole and reel), until we could see that we had a 3.5’ mahi mahi on it, fighting, diving, and slicing from side to side in a 45 degree arc.  I got down to the bottom step, and Dawn passed the gaff hook just as the beauty was within 5’ of the stern.  As I brought it around, he seemed to just spit out the hook, and nonchalantly, swam off to starboard as if he’d had a lovely time teasing us, but remembered some business elsewhere.

We found Carriacou a little lonely.  The usual hangers-on were there, but none of our “tribe” of past friends.  We did renew acquaintance with a slightly older Swiss couple – and I, Laurie, got to work on my French language skills a bit – but the truth was the extra exertion of the partial language barrier, and maybe my poor skills ensured that they preferred the many French friends they already had in the Bay.

We did the usual walks, alone this time, and also bought some conch, half of which is in the freezer.  We also whittled down our boat chores, I wrote a bit, and we read and took on increasingly difficult Sudoku puzzles.  Wind howled most of our visit.

Hiking Carriacou

On February the 25^th, we set sail for Bequia in a so-so weather window; not just because we were a little tired of Tyrell Bay, but because a better weather window seemed to be nowhere in sight.  The promised kind east wind did not arrive at all, and we had blustery wind and waves on the nose for most of the journey.  At one point, while in the shadow of Canouan, we had the boat rigged with two reefs and one engine going well above idle.  The confused waves slapped us silly, and the autohelm could not keep us on course.  The waves slowed us down to the point that the rudders were useless.  After convincing ourselves we were not caught in a great mass of fishing gear, I started the second engine and put both up to 2800 rpm before the rudders and the autohelm could manage their chores.

Two hours from Bequia, tired of hanging on and of engine noise, we decided to sail just to get some feeling of success.  Cat Tales was allowed to take a tack to a position 3 miles west of Bequia, and we enjoyed the sail and tacked back and forth to get closer.  As we had at least two monohulls doing the same thing, we were able to compare strategies.  I could go 15% faster than them, but they could point 10 degrees better and keep a reasonable speed, which averaged us out in performance. 

As usual, we got our anchor down by 5:30, and could have an anchor beer.  We placed our anchor behind s/v Fido, a 50’ Xquisite catamaran that was purchased last year by Fiona and Don of Calgary.

Bequia has a new floating bar!  We have been visiting it most nights after 4 pm, with Fiona and Don, and enjoying acquainting ourselves.  One would think the bar would be populated by people under 30, but we seem to be among the ruling quartile.

Floating bar in Bequia.  Of course it would have its own engine!

I think we need this at Grand Lake!

Bequia has had a little bit of excitement in the weeks before our arrival.  A small boat went out, intending to head south, when a 30 knot gust destroyed their forestay (actually a cast aluminum bow plate failed – cast aluminum?  Curious).  The baby-stay saved the mast, but other boaters who arrived to help could neither save the jib nor the furling foil from bad damage.  Also recently, a large charter cat was 30+ minutes out, with a quasi-professional (idonthinkso) captain put her into motor-cruise, autopilot, and went into the salon to lie down and rest his eyes.  The two guests were in their stateroom, also napping.  The boat came to rest after double-teeing a nice Amel monohull, putting two holes and a deep ugly crack in her.  The “captain” of the cat attempted to leave the bay, but the authorities grabbed him.  Again other cruisers came to the rescue, pulled the booms over (ketch), and hung on to keep the damaged side high in the water as the scuttled her on the town shore for repairs.  The Amel owner, whom we’ve met, is rather overwhelmed by both the damage and the difficulties being thrown up by the insurer (which happens to represent both boats, by the way).

This is just one of many callilou leaves that Laurie washed, diced and chopped for the soup.  There might have been as many as 30 leaves!  Some soup still left in the freezer!  Sorry about the pic being sideways.

Yesterday we joined an organized Rum Shop Tour, and followed a crowd around to six different shops.  It was absolutely fun, and a great way to meet people.  The first was a major hike up the hill, off the road to a place called the “Tree House Bush Bar”, at noon.  The last four rumshops were a bus ride over into Friendship Bay, but also high on the hill.  Great views and good fun.  We finished off with quesadillas back in Admiralty Bay at Mac’s Pizzeria, and got home exhausted at 9 pm.

Michelle and Al of Tarantella arrived in the Bay while we were gone, and we have made arrangements for drinks at the floating bar tonight.

The view from the Treehouse Rum Shop after a uphill hike to get there!

The second rumshop on our tour.  We would have missed this one if it wasn't pointed out as a bar!

This rumshop even had a washroom...bonus!

THE PATIENT

This will not be a continuous addition to our weblog, but is meant to answer a few questions.  I am feeling fine, and really feel I am gaining strength and stamina.  In Carriacou, we culminated our walking with a 3 hour hike with significant climbing involved, and it seemed no problem.  This week I swam continuously for over 1000 feet without too much difficulty, although slowing down when breathless was definitely part of it.  I notice that past injuries are worse than before, however.  A bad knee is now a really bad knee, and I cannot walk long without slipping on my brace.  A locking finger joint is much worse, and a second finger has become locking with great pain.  I’m still hopeful that this stuff goes back to normal, or to a previous status.  Pain from the incision is almost nil, and pain from interior work is long-gone.  There is a bit of searching for a new normal with respect to bathroom habits, but it is not an inconvenience.  Now you know more than you wanted, ha ha!

CAT TALES TECHNICAL

Dawn worked through some raw materials that were placed on board, and created a pile of single-person folding cockpit cushions.  Pretty spiffy.

We installed an oil pressure gauge on the starboard engine and got pressure reading within an acceptable range.  Disappointingly, I could not get the gauge to thread into the port on the port side engine, and gave up.  It has no unhealthy symptoms and I stopped looking for trouble.  Yes, my Yanmars quickly dirty their oil, but I will just accept it at this point, and enjoy the season.

New 900 psi fittings and a new gauge were placed onto the watermaker assembly, but leaks continued.  After consultations on the internet, I simply increased the wraps of Teflon tape, and got that solved.  Next, we found a serious leak at the depth sounder through-hull.  I bought some stuff that was meant to work under water from the chandlery, and spent an hour working in the water sanding the area clean of bottom paint.  Sadly the product did not work well – the bottom of the tube of caulk was hard, and I suspect that the rest of the tube was poor.  It acted mealy as soon as it was in contact with salt water, and made what I call a poor bond to the boat and sounder.  I attempted to stem the tide inside the boat by unscrewing the sounder’s flange, placing both the caulking and two layers of neoprene, and closing the flange down.  It was still leaking hours later, but I gave the flange another turn and it dried up.  I will allow the laminate to dry in Grenada on the hard, then do some glassing to level surfaces inside and out, and reinstall the equipment with 3M 5200.

Good news is that the newly bedded and newly gasketed escape hatch is totally dry.  We might tackle the starboard one before leaving for Canada.  Bad news, is that some leaks showed up in the salon windows during the rough slog from Carriacou to here.  We’re still tracking these down.

I was thinking of rewriting a Jimmy Buffet song about “Boat Drinks” to tell the story of Boat Leaks.   “Boat drinks, Jimmy he sings about boat drinks.  I just wonder what he thinks, there goes my bilge alarm.  Boat leaks, I spend my day looking for boat leaks; no time for drinking or song.  Walking, I start all my days walking – I need to buy some more caulking – there goes that damned alarm...”