Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Granada, St Vincent, St Lucia and Martinique


We have been on the move.

We left Granada and sailed and motor-sailed up to Carriucou Island Saturday morning. Motor-sailing is what you do when the winds die and you are not making enough progress. You start the motor but leave the sails up to give a little lift from what wind there is. When the winds pick up you shut off the motor and continue sailing. We have a 4 knot rule. If our speed drops below 4 knots, about 4.5 mph, we start thinking about motoring. We were in the wind shadow of the island so the winds were up and down so we ended up motor-sailing about half the time. The passage between islands was rough and we took a lot of water on the deck and we found upon arrival that one of our stanchions was leaking. The stanchions are the posts that hold up the lifelines marking the boundaries of the boat, as in “stay inside the lifeline” or you are swimming. We re-bedded all of the stations in Trinidad and one had to be redone. Since then it has not leaked. We are closer to having a dry boat. In Carriucou we checked out the changes since we were here two years ago including the new grocery store and they have finished the new marina and boatyard. Tuesday we checked out of the country and headed up to Union Island which is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines. It was only an eleven mile trip. We went ashore to the bar/restaurant to see about checking in. The Customs and Immigration office is on the other side of the island but you can hire one of the restaurant employees to act as your agent and go to the office and check you and the boat into the country. For a fee of course, but it is about the same as the cost of taking a bus to the offices. While there we saw several large yachts and a small sailing cruise ship anchor in the bay. One morning the waitress said that it was Ed Scheeran (musician) and his friends off one of the yachts that were in for dinner. The weather was supposed to stay favorable and we decided to try going to Tobago Cays again. Last year we went there twice but it was so windy we bailed out both times. This time we were lucky. We did several hikes on the small islands seeing several iguanas and I was able to go out to the reef to snorkel. The coral on the reef is in pretty poor shape but there were still a lot of fish. The Cays are a Marine Park so there is a charge for staying there but worth the cost. You cannot go a day without seeing several turtles around your boat. Several days of this and it was time to move on.


Bloody Bay, Union Island








We left in the morning at first light to sail up to Willilabou Bay on the island of St Vincent. We had stayed in this bay last year, which is a location for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It also has an Immigration and Customs office so were able to check out. We had set our next harbor to be St Anne in Martinique but we were planning to do it in two hops. We planned to sail up to the Pitons in St Lucia and take a mooring (no anchoring allowed) without checking in and leave in the morning. We had such a good sail that we arrived too early to stop and decided to continue up to Margot Bay where we had spent several weeks last year. With a combination of sailing and motor-sailing we arrive there earlier then necessary so we continued up to Rodney Bay and anchored for the night. It was a pretty good day, traveling 58 miles in ten hours, arriving in time to have a rum drink and watch the sunset. In the morning we pulled anchor and sailed off to St Anne Martinique.

We had a wild ride across the pass with winds in the 20-27 knot range and 6-9 foot seas. We spent a lot of time climbing the swell and then dropping off the other side which was sending water flying everywhere. We, however, were dry and comfortable in our enclosed cockpit. About halfway across the winds died a bit and the tide changed and the seas calmed down. It is amazing the effects of wind and current on the sea state. We arrived in St Anne and set the anchor. Last year when we stopped here the anchorage was very crowded but this year there are about half as many boats but still close to a hundred. The inner harbor at La Marin is not as crowded this year either but still more boats in one place then I have seen anywhere else. It is a very popular destination. We went ashore to check in to find the cafe was closed on Wednesday. In the French Islands all you have to do to check in is to go to a designated cafe or business that has a computer and fill out the form and have the employee sign and stamp it. The other islands still use paperwork in triplicate with very overused carbon paper to make the copies. If you are too young to remember carbon paper just Google it. We went in the next day to check in and ran into our friends Stephen and Jody form Blue Pelican on their way to catch a bus and Dean and Kim from Dream Catcher. We had met Stephen and Jody about nine years ago when they were in a boatyard in Oriental NC the same time we were there. They have a sistership to Hi Flite down to the same blue hull paint. Since seeing them they have sailed the East Coast of the US, the Bahamas, The Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, home to Australia, the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and were just finishing their eight year circumnavigation. These Pearson 424’s are good boats. We spent a lot of time with them hearing their stories, comparing boats and Stephen was over one day to help tune Hi Flite’s rigging. They were deciding what their next move will be and it seems they have decided to stop for a haul-out to paint the bottom and then across the Caribbean Sea, through the Canal again and sail back to Australia. We have more modest plans. We spent a lot of time with Dean and Kim from Dream Catcher. We first met them when we were in Nassau for repairs and they were starting their cruising. Since then we have run into them numerous times.

While in St Anne we made several trips to La Marin by dinghy and bus. La Marin is the town inside the bay with the marinas, marine stores, shops, restaurants and grocery stores. One day the six of us and Craig and Billie from Flying Loon took the hike to Saline Beach. The hike is beautiful following along the shoreline and through the forest and the beach is your classic Caribbean crescent sand beach. The interesting part of the hike is that it takes you through the nude beach. I will not comment on this other then to say there are things that can never be un-seen. We have been having a bit of a rainy spell with short rain squalls passing through several times a day and overnight. One day the six of us, Hi Flite, Dream Catcher and Blue Pelican, rented a car and when sightseeing on the island. It is a beautiful place. We stopped for lunch in St Joseph and after checking out their replica of Notre Dame Cathedral we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. We stopped at the Clement rum distillery but skipped the tour and just opted for the tasting room. The distillery is an old plantation with several tours including their newer art displays. When they said it took about two hours for the tour we decided to save the money and maybe do it another time. With as many cruisers as there are here there are many social events and we spent several Friday evenings in town sharing drinks and stories with cruisers from Canada, The US, and most any other English speaking countries. The other nationalities were doing the same at other venues. We again became regulars at the bakeries buying baguettes and a variety of pastries. It was a different experience from last year when we looked at the number of boats here and left as soon as we could.


Movie Set

Movie Set

Saline Beach, Martinique.



It was not all life in paradise. I was still having fuel issues so I spent a day changing a fuel filter and then figuring out what I had done wrong that the engine would not run. It took a while but I finally found my mistake. Another learning experience, I am in no way a diesel mechanic. Our other problem came up when I tried to use the generator to charge the batteries. It is again not producing electricity. It did this in Granada and after several tries we found a mechanic that was able to get it working. Evidently the salt water and salt air have corroded much of the wiring and electronics. It runs great, just to power output. With the cloudy days we have been having the batteries were very low and running the engine was not keeping them adequately charged. Time for a more radical solution. Generators in Martinique are of European design and produce 240 volts. Just South of us in St Lucia they use 110 volts. After a couple of emails to Island Water World we were able to reserve their last generator. Now we just had to backtrack to Rodney Bay to pick it up. Generally checking into and out of a country on a weekend involves an overtime fee. Not in the French islands however. Sunday afternoon we made the dinghy trip into town. I checked us out and Cori picked up more supplies including the bakery. Monday morning we said good bye to our friends, pulled anchor and had a great sail down to Rodney Bay. We anchored, had a late lunch, and went ashore to check in and pick up the generator. We are now the proud owners of a Honda eu2200i generator. We spent the day onboard running the generator giving the batteries a nice deep charge. In the afternoon we had another boat come in and anchor right in front of us. There is no shortage of space but evidently sitting on top of our anchor was the preferred spot. After a while I went out and made a bit of a fuss, I’m not sure they understood what I was saying but after a visiting with a neighbor boat then pulled their anchor and re-anchored a little further away. This morning Cori took her kayak to some of the beach area but came back reporting that the beach combing wasn’t any good. I took care of a couple of preventive maintenance items and relaxed with a book about Blackbeard the Pirate. We have made a trip into shore to check out with Immigration and Customs, pick up some provisions and duty free alcohol and are preparing to leave in the morning to go back to Martinique.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Christmas in the Caribbean


We would like to wish all of our friends and followers a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are still in Granada, but not for much longer. When we check into the country we are given a thirty day clearance for the boat. After that there is an additional charge. Our thirty days are nearly up and it is time to move on. Our first move will be to the island of Carriacou, which is part of Granada. We will check out there and move North to the Grenadines.

We have had some down time and also have been busy. Cori has been busy adding sunshade material to our cockpit enclosure which means she has been using her sewing machine. In order to run the sewing machine we need to run the generator to provide 110 volts and keep the batteries charged. We had been informed over the summer that the generator was not running and we brought parts with us from the States. Unfortunately the shop that was doing the repair was not able to find the problems. It had gotten splashed by saltwater and combined with the salt air it had a corrosion problem. Evidently most of the wiring had gotten corroded. We were about ready to give up on it and were making plans on where up-island we would be able to buy a replacement. Our friend Sperry got the name of another repairman and several hours after delivering it to him he reported that it was fixed and running. The batteries are happy, the sewing got done and we are enjoying our cockpit much more than previously. Before the enclosure every time it rained, which will happen several times a day, everything in the cockpit would get wet and we would have to duck below to wait it out, only to emerge into a wet cockpit. Now we are able to sit out and watch the rain. Speaking of rain, we have found a couple of leaks and have been tearing things apart to get at them. So far we have been successful, but this being a boat more will show up over time. Just one of the realities of living on a boat She has also been working on refinishing some of the woodwork. There is no end to the projects on a boat. One of the definitions of cruising is “repairing boats in exotic places” and there is far too much truth to that.

It hasn’t been all work. Christmas day we went for a local pig roast with a group of cruisers. One day we did some exploring the island and checked out another waterfall and a local museum. We made a couple of trips into the city which is always an adventure with the maxi-taxis. New Years Eve we went to a gathering of cruisers on nearby Hog Island but chose not to stay late. There were fireworks in the next bay but just out of sight for us. There are activities organized by the cruisers most days so we have spent time ashore for various music gatherings, pool tournaments and beach-time. Cori has spent several days with Sperry preparing what they call “sea eggs” which is the roe from sea urchins cooked and stuffed back into a sea urchin shell. It has been windy, 15-20+ knots most days, so there are days when we just stayed on the boat. One of those windy days, after a quick trip to shore, we had another boat drag down on us. It is a weird experience watching a boat with no-one on it coming your way. It seems to happen in slow motion. We heard a noise and saw the boat, Old Bob, bounce off the boat in front of us coming our way. We started grabbing fenders to try to keep it off but it turned at a 90 degree angle to us and then started to try T-boning us. Their bowsprit missed our headsail but was rubbing against the bow pulpit. We were able to hold it off and walk down the deck holding it off until it cleared our stern. After us it was heading to the boatyard when a group of cruisers arrived and managed to maneuver it to the seawall and get it tied up. We only got some scratches to the bow pulpit where a chain rubbed, nothing bent and no other damage. Luckily we had just arrived back from shore. If it had happened a little earlier we would not have been there to fend off.






The forecasts are for the winds and waves to drop in the next few days so we are using that as an opportunity to move on.