April 2009

April 2, 2009 - Rodney Bay, St. Lucia to Marin, Martinique -- 27.64 nm

We decided to head North to Martinique as we heard that the strike is over. Anchored in Marin. This is one huge protected anchorage. It has a huge marina, a haul out facility and many other yacht services. There are 400 charter yachts stationed here: The Moorings, Sunsail, Star Voyage, Catana, Tropical Yacht Services, Chimere Yachting and Petit Breton. Well we are back to practicing our French.

Martinique is the largest of the Windward Islands and I am in heaven with the excellent grocery stores that are so close to the docks. They even have a paved sidewalk out to the dingy dock where you can roll the grocery cart down to your dingy (to those of you not cruising, this doesn't sound that exciting but believe me, it is!)

We dingyed over to Ste. Anne for the day. We saw some local sailboat racing on our way over, that was cool to see. We walked around town, above the town is a prominent shrine with a walled path leading up to it which was quite an appropriate walk because it was so close to Easter. Another good field trip. We went out for lunch and then to the beach. This was the busiest beach I have ever seen, it was totally packed with locals and tourists alike and their were cars and loud music everywhere.

Chris replaced the water pump on the port side and the hoses. We can go now if we want to. However we are having a hard time leaving as we are really tucked in and there is no wind or waves , I feel like I am not even on a boat as we barely move. We are sleeping like rocks!! There is a great restaurant at the dock with big huge picnic tables that you can plug your laptop into and no one bugs you, you can stay as long as you want and just hang out.

We rented a car for the day. The roads are great it is just like driving in Europe, it still amazes us how different each island is while at the same time they are so geographically close to each other. Our first stop was Diamond with Diamond Rock (Rocher du Diamante), 577ft high, a volcanic islet seen from the town dock. It was once home to 120 British sailors who, for 17 months in 1804-1805 used it to harass French vessels trying to navigate the passage. Having registered the rock as a fighting ship, the unsinkable HMS Diamond Rock, the British royal navy was finally outwitted when French Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse allegedly cut loose a skiff loaded with rum in the direction of Diamond Rock, and as the isolated British sailors chugged down the hooch, the French forces retook the island.

We thought the sidewalk toilets where you put in 50 cents and the door automatically opens and then it self cleans were pretty funny but they are a great idea. We have met so many nice local people everywhere we have been.

Ryan was carrying around a coconut that he found and a local man who just happened to be carrying a machete! stopped us and cracked it open for him.

We stopped in Case Pilote, a small fishing village that has the oldest church in Martinique.

We stopped in the busy town of Fort de France for lunch and ate in the square of the Palai de Justice – baguette and brie, very francais of us! The Palais de Justice is a courthouse built in 1906, is two blocks northeast of the cathedral and can only be viewed from the outside. The design resembles a French railroad station, as the plaque out front points out. The square fronting the courthouse has a statue of French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher.

Our last stop was in St. Pierre. St. Pierre is a very interesting town. It used to be the capital city before the eruption of Mont Pelee. It is still and active volcano and it destroyed the town in just 10 minutes at the beginning of the 20^th century. The volcano had been smoldering for a while but experts dismissed it as normal. The volcano exploded on May 9th 1902 and St. Pierre was laid to waste within minutes. Of the city 30,000 inhabitants the sole survivor was a prisoner name Cyparis who escaped with only minor burns ironically, he owed his life to having been locked in a tomblike solitary confinement cell at the local jail which you can still go and see. Cyparis joined the PT Barnum circus where he toured as a sideshow act. There are numerous ruins throughout the town. On the northeast side of the theatre you can go into the tiny, thick walled jail cell that housed Cyparis, the town’s sole survivor.

We drove back through Morne Rouge, the mountain road.

April 8, 2009 Marin, Martinique to Petit Anse D'Arlet 16.04nm

Stopped at the gas dock on our way out, pouring rain, can barely see, passing Diamond Rock on our way North.

Anse D'Arlet is a very quaint small fishing village with a beautiful 18th century Catholic Church in the centre of town. Once it finally stopped raining we went to the beach for a while and the kids swam all the way back to the boat.

April 9, 2009 Petit Anse to Grand Anse D'Arlet, Martinique -- 1.729nm

We motored around the bend to Grand Anse, there were many more boats here. This was a very resorty area with a long sandy beach and many cafe where one can buy crepes and espresso, we could have hung out here for a while. But we are on a bit of a schedule. We plan to meet Strider in Trois Ilet and then we need to be in St. Lucia to pick up friends at the airport.

The kids met some local kids and they included them in a game of soccer. Unfortunately, I left Cari's bike in the dingy and when we got back it was gone. We had just bought her new training wheels and just adjusted them and she never had a chance to use them. The good thing is we didn't have to try to shove it back in to the locker!! We used our bikes constantly last summer on the East coast of the United States, but the Caribbean is a different story, there really isn't many places to ride bikes, the roads are either too bad, traffic too bad or it is way too hilly with three kids in tow. We still try to use them as much as we can as we are stowing them, Cari will just go in the bike carrier instead. We have seen alot of shipwrecks along the coast of Martinique, scary!

April 11, 2009 Grand Anse to Trois Ilet, Martinque

We had a very nice sail up the coast, once we got to Trois Ilet, it was very tricky to get into the anchorage. Our chart said one thing and our guide book said another. Which to believe?? Our friends on sv Strider were already anchored and their draft is longer than ours so there must be a way in! We chose to go with the charts when actually you can follow the Chris Doyle guide in - our charts said 1 foot of water but that is wrong. The way we chose had 4 feet of water so we just made it but a longer draft boat would of gone aground.

We met up with our friends on Strider and had a great night.

Trois Ilet is a cute little working town which has a central square that bordered by a little market, a quaint town hall and the church.

We walked around, found the best boulangerie. It was Easter and so everyone was dressed in white and going to church. People were standing outside it was so packed. Actually this church is where the Empress Josephine was baptized in 1763. We found a play area which had soccer, basketball, tennis, track and field, play structure and swings. Needless to say we spent the rest of the day there. Never quite seen this much money in any other Caribbean island. And the best thing was that the Easter Bunny found Stray Kitty.

April 13, 2009- Trois Ilet, Martinique to Pitons, St. Lucia -- 50.2 nm

I saw a whale right beside the boat near St. Lucia, very cool. By the time I yelled enough to get everyone else back on deck, the whale was gone. On our way by the Pitons, we heard sv Artemo on the radio so we called them and decided to stop. We went over for happy hour and dinner and said our good-byes they are heading towards the ABC's so we hope to see them again around Christmas time.

April 14, 2009 Pitons to Vieux Fort, St. Lucia

We caught a large mahi mahi 33 pounds and 59 inches long. It took Chris over an hour to fillet it!! We anchored at Vieux Fort and waited for the West Jet flight to come in. Mike and Lynn were right on time and we had a great dinner of Mahi Mahi Amandine as well as some sashimi.

April 15, 2009 Vieux Fort, St. Lucia to Bequia, St. Vincent -- 50.74 nm

We left early at 0600, we were excited to finally be moving South again. It was a long day's sail but it was fun. As we were coming into Admiralty Bay neither engine would start!! Then the mainsail wouldn’t come down because the reef tape was stuck in the cleat. A little more excitement than one wants coming into a new anchorage. Finally the starboard engine started and were able to anchor in the harbour.

Having a fun time exploring Bequia.

We walked up to Fort Hamilton. The remains of Fort Hamilton are located in Port Elizabeth at the northern end of Admiralty Bay. Essentially a cannon battery and look-out, the fort was constructed by the British in the 1700s. Though little of the fortification remains, you can still see cannons as well as enjoy a lovely panoramic view of the bay. The fort and area is named 'Hamilton' after Alexander Hamilton; founder father of the United States, although he never set foot on the island. His father however lived on Bequia in the Friendship Bay area from 1774 to 1790 when the British worked to expedite British settlement on the island.

We went out for dinner to the Frangipani Hotel for their Thursday night jump up. Both Cari and Ryan fell asleep at the table before any jumping up happened. Well it was a good dinner buffet.

Another day we walked to the other side of the island to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, we stopped at all the establishments on the way back - it was a long hot walk.

April 19, 2009 - Admiralty Bay, Bequia to Blue Lagoon, St. Vincent -- 9nm

Well it was hard to believe that it was time to drop Mike and Lynn off at the airport, where did the time go? We sailed over to Blue Lagoon, St. Vincent. But first, Chris had to fix the head, not a fun job at anytime, but really fun when guests are aboard!!

We followed a very insistent boat boy to a mooring ball as this is another Moorings/Sun Sail base and the anchoring is very limited. Once we were tied on and I had paid him the requisite $10EC, I realized that the boat next to us had out a stern anchor. We could not stay on this mooring ball as we were already on top of this boats stern. We started to untie and the boat boy starts yelling at us to move over to another one which didn't look any better so we went and tried to anchor - 3 times! We finally got it to set as we were in very tight quarters. We have a rule about boat boys that we broke today. It is not to listen to them until we have checked out the anchorage ourselves on our own terms. It is very difficult sometimes as you come into a a new anchorage and they are motoring beside you, yelling at you where to go and pointing. It can put you off.

We rented a taxi for the afternoon and did a bit of site seeing. We went to the Vermont Nature Trail, took a drive through Kingstown, the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Everything was closed though as it was Sunday. Cari started to feel car sick so we cut the trip short and went back to the boat.

Chris made a round of mai tai's but just as I was taking my first sip, I felt the dreaded little bump, we had hit bottom, luckily we noticed a free mooring ball that was not there before and Mike and Ryan acted as boat boys and got in the dingy and helped me tie the lines onto the mooring ball. We thought all was well and good but then had a very angry mooring ball owner motor up to us and demand payment. He thought we were trying to sneak the mooring ball as we refused one earlier and went to anchor then once it started to get dark we took a mooring. None of our explanations would calm him down. Honest that is what happened!!!

April 20, 2009 - Blue Lagoon to Admiralty Bay, Bequia, SVG -- 9.28nm

Went into shore with luggage and Mike and Lynn. Kids swam in the pool with Ryan's new remote control boat. George, our taxi driver picked them up at 1000, said bye went back to pool released mooring lines, that is our last set of visitors for now. I feel homesick for the first time! I'm sad to say bye to our Ottawa friends!

We had an issue with a boat boy in Admiralty Bay. He was harassing us and telling us where we could and could not anchor. We were trying to get as close as possible to shore so we could hook up to the internet, but in Admiralty Bay there are so many mooring balls, little floaty things, fenders and you name it in the water that it is next to impossible to get close to shore. The next day we couldn't get our connection to work so we tried to move around the harbour, we were accosted by the same guy who said we had anchored too close to his mooring ball - which in actual fact was a piece of string almost eroded on a small fender which no boat in their right mind would ever tie on to. We hauled the anchor up again because we didn't want to argue. Turns out all these moorings are illegal anyways but the Bequian government doesn't seem too concerned about it as for some reason they will not monitor them. As it turned out in the end, we found a spot close enough to get our internet connection and chill out for a week and we were given an apology by the boat owner who had let his brother take the boat the last few days and he had been drinking (isn't that a nice thought).

We spent the week doing school in the morning, then going to the beach in the afternoon and the usual trying to get caught up on boat chores. We had one hairy experience when I woke up at 5am hearing a banging, I looked out the window to see a large boat attached to us. Because the wind died we started to swing, the dive boat next to us was on a bow and stern mooring so we met up. We were able to push it off with one engine and Chris in the dingy.

We walked over to Friendship Bay and had a drink at the resort. It is low season now and most places are deserted. There are no boats anchored over here, it seems pretty rough. I'm glad that we stayed in Admiralty Bay and walked over. It has been really rainy and squally here almost every day we get a massive downpour, the boat is starting to feel very wet. The anchorage is also frequented by these wind blasts that come down. It is very calm and then every 10 minutes there is a huge blast of wind, one night we took our hand wind meter out and it registered over 30 knots. I find it very hard to sleep when it happens I wish I could just ignore it, maybe in time!

Provisioning Day! We have heard that Bequia is the best place to provision in all the Grenadines, the kids and I spent the day going back and forth in the dingy - to the Rasta fruit market and the bakery then back to the boat, to the bulk drink store, back to the boat, to the 3 different little grocery stores, back to the boat. Finally by the end of the day we were stocked and ready to move on to Mustique.

April 29, 2009 - Admiralty Bay, Bequia to Brittania Bay, Mustique -- 10nm

It is definitely a lot calmer out in the open then in the harbour, it was gusting to 27 knots as we were trying to get the mainsail up. As soon as we sailed out of the harbour it went down to a pleasant 16 knots! Unfortunately Cari was seasick today, but she is okay. I needed help getting the mooring ball here as there is no rope with an eye attached like what I am used to. Thankfully, a boat next to us saw my struggle and came over and helped me with the mooring lines. There is no anchoring allowed in Britannia Bay, only mooring balls. It is the most expensive mooring balls I've ever seen, $200 EC for 1 night but up to 3 nights, but I guess that is what to expect from Mustique as Mustique is a private island. I think we stay 3 nights!!

Seeing as how Mustique is relatively flat, we decided to haul the bikes out and check out the island that way. We got caught in several downpours, the first one we were by the beach and luckily there was a wooden shelter where we could hide, as there were the poisonous Manicheel trees everywhere, it was not an ideal place to wait out the rain, thank goodness the shelter was there, by the second downpour, we just happened to be by Firefly, so we stopped in for a drink, this being low season, no one was there, thank goodness as we looked like drowned rats, full of mud and soaking wet. (I checked the guide book when we got back to the boat and it says this elegant place required a shirt and tie!!!). Well we were still served and we had a great time chatting to the bar tenders and what a view!! A gorgeous place. By the third downpour, we didn't even stop. Just kept on cyclin'. The kids were pleasantly surprised to see tortoises all over the place, we were able to get a good look at many of them. We biked by some huge mansions, but didn't see any superstars, like Mick Jagger who owns a 6-bedroom, 5- bathroom beachfront compound or Bryan Adams, & Tommy Hilfiger.