Hi Flite: Long overdue update

I will start out by apologizing for the length and not posting before this. We have not been able to get much of a signal even when ashore to be able to upload.

We were ready to leave Rodney Bay in St Lucia but had a small problem. The engine would not start, nothing happened when I hit the starter. I must have done something wrong when reconnecting the battery, if so it wouldn’t be the first time. I rechecked the starting battery and it appeared that I had not connected all of the cables, there are three on the positive connection and I had only two. One of the cables had fallen out of sight when I had them off to be cleaned. Once connected still nothing. A lot of head scratching was going on until I noticed the lights on the combiner. The combiner is what separates the starting battery from the house bank. It allows the house bank to drop while in use and the starting battery stays at full charge. Our starting battery was low so pushing the button to combine the two allows the starter to pull from the house bank. When the button is pushed the lights on the unit will change and they were not changing. By flipping the switch on the combiner the lights switched and the engine started. Electrical gremlins are a bear to track down. With the engine started, two hours late, we were ready to pull anchor. We motored out of the bay and set out typical sails, reefed headsail and the mizzen. We haven’t used the mainsail since Granada. We had winds of 15-17 knots with gusts into the 20’s. We started out going into the waves and swell from the ocean but about half way to Martinique they settled down and we had an exhilarating ride across the passage between islands. We sailed up the west coast for a bit and dropped anchor in the little harbor of Petite Anse, we didn’t see a reason to go back to St Anne so we bypassed it. The annoying bit was when we went to start the engine to motor into the harbor the starting battery would not turn it over so we had to hit the combiner button to pull from the house bank. This sudden pull from them caused the electronics to shut down, not a good thing. Once anchored we were hailed on the radio by Dean and Kim on Dream Catcher who were anchored around the corner in the next bay. Once checked in with Immigration and Customs we sat down with them for a beer. There was an odd swell coming in from the southwest causing some rolling that we did not expect, otherwise a peaceful night

The next morning, Friday, we were planning to go ashore at a small beach to search for sea glass. There is a possibility in many of these islands to have your dinghy stolen. We have a quarter inch cable that we padlock to the dock when we are ashore and at night we use our spinnaker halyard to raise the dinghy out of the water. The saying in the islands is to “raise it or lose it”. This morning there was a bit of water in the dinghy I wanted to drain before lowering into the water. I carefully climbed down into the boat and pulled the drain plug. Once the water had drained I put the plug back in but got off center in the boat. Remember, it is hanging from a single point. Getting off center caused the dinghy to tilt to the side and I wasn’t able to re-balance it. Mostly because I was now in the water. It had tipped enough that I couldn’t stay in and went for a swim. I have fallen off docks but have never fallen overboard before, a new first. Yay me! After Cori lowered the swim ladder I was able to climb back aboard. We dinghied over to the beach to collect sea glass for the rest of the morning. In the afternoon we walked around to Grand Anse beach to meet up with Dean and Kim for lunch and then some Ti Punch on board Dream Catcher. Saturday was spent searching for more sea glass with a break midday for lunch and WiFi. That evening we planned out the next week and decided to move up to Fort du France, the largest city on the island, and go in search of a starting battery. Ours was not doing the job anymore and I am not comfortable using the house bank for starting. We decided to make the move the next day, Sunday, so we could be ashore and at the chandlery first thing in the morning. At 9:00 am in the morning we went to pull the anchor and the windlass was not working. This had happened last year and I had an idea what it was. I decided to wait until we were in Fort du France to deal with it. I then brought in the 100 feet of chain and the anchor by hand, not a pleasant job, and we were off. It was only an eight mile trip so we motored and let the batteries charge. Once at Fort du France anchorage we choose our spot and dropped the anchor, again letting out 100 feet of chain. There is formula for how much chain to put out in relation to the depth of the water and we like to have a 5:1 ratio. Once we set and settled in it turned out we were too close to another boat. Time to pull anchor, by hand, and do it again. This time we were sitting comfortably among the other boats and called it good. After waiting to be sure that we were properly set and not about to drag the anchor we launched the dinghy to go ashore and find the chandlery (ship store). Of course we took advantage of being ashore to treat ourselves with some ice cream and WiFi. Back on the boat we were treated to music from a concert that was being held in the park for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.

In the morning we dinghied back into town and went straight to the store. With our non-existent French and the clerks limited English we learned they did not have what we needed. It was possible there was a shop in the more industrial part of the harbor that may have it.. We started walking. Eventually we found the store and as we try to explain to the clerk what we were looking for, using a picture of a battery I had pulled up on my phone, he pointed to the display we were standing next to, a rack of starting batteries. We verified the price and that they would take our old battery and headed back to the boat. Once there I disconnected and pulled the battery making sure to keep the cables together so they would all be reconnected properly. Something I should have done last time. We were able to dinghy around to the next bay where the store was and traded our money and an old battery for a new one. Back at the boat I reinstalled the battery. We had lunch and decided we still had time to get to St Pierre, our next planned stop. We were close to the ferry dock and the wake from them causes a lot of rolling. We new it would be more pleasant in another anchorage. We started the motor, easily with the new battery, and started to pull the anchor, by hand again. There are a group of people that tend to anchor very close to their neighbors and we had one of them in from of us, right above our anchor. As I pulled in the chain we kept inching closer to them. I got their attention and he was ready with a boat hook to try to fend us off if we got too close. They swung a little off to the side and we broke the anchor free and motored away. We decided to motor for the day so the batteries could get a charge and we could run the water maker. We were running low on fresh water. When we arrived at St Pierre we chose to anchor a bit away from the town in a less crowded area, I wanted to set the anchor and be done with it. Last time we were here it took us two tries to get properly situated. In the morning, Cori took the kayak to shore to search for sea glass and I stayed onboard to service the windlass and make more water. The next morning we went ashore to check out the town, the bakery was still in the same place with delicious treats and a WiFi connection. We checked with the Park service about a hiking trail they have on their map only to be told it is closed and there are no plans to reopen it. After hitting the market for fresh fruit we went back to the boat and hung out for the afternoon watching the people on the beach in front of us. The next morning we went to shore to look for sea glass, it is everywhere. We filled several bags and called it quits at lunchtime, having a sandwich at our favorite bakery. Back at the boat I got out my snorkeling gear and we went over to a wreck that was close to us. The water was a bit stirred up so the clarity was not too good and it was deeper than I dive so the pictures did not turn out very good. We then headed to the beach to check it out. It is very popular and is your classic volcanic island black sand. I was able to get a couple of pictures of Hi Flite and then back to the boat. Friday, I brought Cori into shore to look for more sea glass and I went to check out. We were going to leave in the morning.

We have been having a week of fair weather with light winds and a lot of boats have been moving around. We decided to make our next move before it kicked up again. At 4:00 am the alarm went of and by 4:45 we were underway. We motored until light and then set the sails for the trip across the opening. There is always more wind between islands and we wanted to be ready for it. We had 12-15 knots of wind for a great sail. As soon as we got to Dominica the wind died, the island was blocking it. We started the motor and continued on. We had set Portsmouth as our destination for the night and arrived about 3:00 pm. We set the anchor and relaxed. We were planning to leave first thing in the morning so we didn’t bother to go ashore and check in. In the morning we pulled anchor, using the windlass, and were off again. Our destination was an island group off of Guadalupe called The Saints. We had winds 15-18 knots and held a steady 6-7 knots of speed, which is pretty good. We arrived at The Saints along with several other boats and started looking for a place to anchor or to pick up a mooring. The water is deep so there are limited spots to anchor so most people take a mooring. There were no moorings available and the only spot I would consider for anchoring was too rough with the swell coming in. We decided to continue on to Guadalupe. We just had to decide the destination and the route. We had been to the anchorages on the west side so we decided to head to Pointe A Pitre, in the center of the islands south side. It was a rough and rolling ride pointing just off the wind but had to run the motor to make any speed. We motor-sailed this way until entering the harbor. Pointe A Pitre is the largest city and the capital. It is also a major shipping port. We maneuvered around looking for a spot to anchor among the number of boats that are here. We finally chose a spot and dropped anchor at about 6:00 pm. It had been a long day, nine hours and 48 miles. In the morning we went to the marina to check in and then checked out the shops. This is a big marina and there are a variety of ship stores, touristy shops, groceries and restaurants. In the evening we heard music and drumming into the night. We thought it might be something to do with Carnival. Looking it up it seems that Carnival is celebrated over a two month period and this evening was one of the music and parade events. In the morning we took the dinghy into town to check it out. There were two markets where we docked, a produce and fish market. We bought some produce, we have been eating a lot of fresh produce this season since it is available everywhere we have gone. We crossed through the park to the Catholic Church to check that out and then through the flower market to the covered market. There was a cruise ship in so the markets were all busy. It makes for a very colorful scene. We wandered around the town a bit and then called it a day. The winds have been kicking up and it was a rough and wet ride across the harbor to the boat. The weather forecasts for the rest of the week were for strong winds from the east, the trade winds, so we spent a lot of time on the boat since the harbor was a rough ride back and forth. My phone also decided to die. It just turned itself off and has not restarted. It is an older iPhone 6 that we have converted as our “island” phone for the season. T-Mobile has an agreement with the phone companies in the Caribbean and with their SIM card we have phone and data service and can use it as a hot spot for our other devices. Now it is dead. I have put the SIM card in my iPad and we are using that as a hot spot but are no longer able to make phone calls or send messages except with certain messaging apps. We can wait until we get back to replace the phone since I am not going to try buying one here. In the US we use AT&T which we suspend while out of the country.

Valentines day arrived and I was able to give Cori her Valentine. It usually causes a lot of laughs. We have an anniversary card, a valentines card and a birthday card on board that on the appropriate day I give her, then file it away until I need it next year. We took the dinghy for a ride up the river. There is a river that splits the island in half and it is a short ride to the other side of the island. It comes out on the north end of the island in a large grove of mangroves with narrow waterways snaking back into the groves. A perfect place to dinghy around. We also found why we had water in the dinghy every morning, we have a leak, actually two leaks. Something we will need to contact the manufacturer about since it is an aluminum hull with inflatable tubes and the hull should not leak. We will probably have it repaired when we get back to Trinidad. While visiting with Stephen and Jody on Blue Pelican Jody mentioned to Cori that she keeps a can of duck confit on board for special occasions. Cori had picked one up and that was the plan for dinner. We need to find where in the US we can buy more, it was awesome! We spent the next day refueling. We carry 80 gallons of diesel and an additional 15 gallons in jerry jugs. We emptied the jugs into the tank and then made two trips to refill them and add them to the tank. This filled the main tank since we had only used a little more then a half tank so far. It was a couple of rough rides back and forth from the marina fuel dock since the winds are still kicking up the waves in the harbor. Saturday we decided to make the run to the grocery store, there is a large one within walking distance of the marina where we park the dinghy. As we started out we ran into John and Elizabeth from Pelican, we had not seen or heard of them since having dinner the last night in Trinidad. They were just coming back from the store and we agreed to meet up with them later for drinks. At the store we ran into John and Linda from Blue Moon who had left Trinidad before us. It is a small cruising community at times. Sunday morning I went into the marina to check out of the country and then get ready to leave in the morning. The winds were supposed to be lighter and from a better direction.

We had sat down with the calendar and had planned out our next couple of months. We had started out this season with plans to go up to Antigua and then turn around but have decided to put that on hold until next year. We decided to call it quits for the season a month earlier then we had planned and are now beginning the return back to Trinidad.

We pulled anchor in the morning and set a course back to Portsmouth in Dominica. We had a ride with the waves 4-6 foot but with winds at 15-25 knots causing us to beat into it and roll side to side. We were able to hold 6-7 knots of speed all the way however. Once in the harbor we dropped anchor had a drink to celebrate as the sun went down and got ready to do it again in the morning. We didn’t bother to check in since we would be leaving first thing in the morning again. In the morning it was almost a repeat of our trip up with the island and the mountains blocking the wind so we motored until we reached the bottom of the island and then sailed to Martinique with the same conditions as the day before. We arrived just in time because the forecast is for the winds and waves to pick up again making traveling uncomfortable. We are back in St Pierre, one of our favorite anchorages and will stay here for several days. In the morning, Wednesday, we went to get checked in and then we hit the beach looking for sea glass. This is Cori’s favorite spot for collecting sea glass. I even got into it filling a bag to overflowing before calling it quits. Cori continued for a couple more hours. In the evening I heard a strange noise on the deck. A flying fish had landed on the deck and was flopping around making a racket. In the morning I found another one in the dinghy. These are the only fish we have caught this year. Thursday we did a few minor projects on board and then went for a dinghy ride to check out the areas north and south of us. Today Cori is back on the beach collecting sea glass and I am out on the boat running the generator and making water and obviously updating the blog. Later I will dinghy back to town to get a fast WiFi signal and upload this update.