Unicorn, Pirate Ship off Rodney Bay.
Jeremy and Kathy on fortress on Pigeon Island.
Rodney Bay, St Lucia.
Marigot Bay.
Water spraying from hot water tank.
Friday, 23 January 2009
St Lucia
Greetings from St Lucia! It’s good to be speaking English again on shore.
We left St Pierre in Martinique on 13th Jan. We anchored for lunch in a small bay just north of the fishing village of Case Pilote. After lunch we continued to the small town of Schoelcher, near the capital of Fort de France. The snorkelling was quite good with various fish, sponges, brain coral and underwater plants. Jeremy accidentally touched a black, spiny sea urchin but seems to have extracted all the spines from his finger. There were many squalls and heavy rain throughout the night so we had plenty of washing water in the dinghy but what we really wanted was drinking water. Amazingly, the dinghy pier at Schoelcher had a tap and we were able to make several trips to it with our containers and fill up the boats’ tanks and plenty of 5litre bottles. Unfortunately, Jeremy’s sun glasses dropped into the sea by the pier. He made sure he had a snorkelling mask on our return and on the 15th dive, he found the sunglasses in the cloudy water under the pier! I would have given up long before. Jeremy did lots of washing with our glut of water so it was well after lunch when we set off for Anse Mitan across Fort de France bay, where we could clear out with customs at the marina there. Well that was what our pilot book said, so imagine our surprise on arrival at Anse Mitan to find the marina and the fuel berth had been washed away in a storm!
The next day we had to go back across the bay to Fort de France and clear out at a chandlers. We took the opportunity to shop at a large supermarket and we were able to send the last blog and check our e-mails. We weighed anchor again and went to Great Anse D’Arlet, where a huge, tall ship was anchored and lots of other yachts. Here we spent our remaining euros on a rare meal out in a delightful beach restaurant looking out to the three lighted masts of the tall ship. The food was Creole in style. I had smoked (quite black in fact) chicken and Jeremy had grilled (partly burned) lobster which might have been walking about in their lobster tank just a few minutes before!
It was a shock to us both when the alarm clock went off at 5.00 the next morning, and Jeremy didn’t feel very well as we found ourselves in the Atlantic swell again for the thirty miles to St Lucia. We spent 5 nights in Rodney Bay, 4 of them on anchor off Pigeon Island, which is now a national park, but once was a British fortress from where the Brits bombarded the French if they dared cross the water from Martinique. On our second day, we explored the park for three hours ending up in a ramshackle, arty beach bar where we sampled the local beer named after St Lucia’s famous landmarks, the Pitons. Jeremy spent a large part of our first day in our wardrobe! No he hasn’t lost his marbles, he had to take out the engine control panel, which you will have already guessed, is located just above our wardrobe, and reseal the panel as there had been a huge ingress of water during the night when monsoon type rain hammered on the roof. The same heavy rain found a way into our cabin and soaked Jeremy’s side of the bed. My job was to collect water from the dinghy (ten gallons) and wash the seat covers from the saloon. Everything dried once the sun came out.
We are trying to get into the habit of tipping for services as this is the custom here. We also have to get used to boat vendors who come along and want to sell you fruit, baskets, take you on a trip etc. etc. Most are polite but some are pushy and others are cheeky, like the two guys last night who had nothing to sell but wanted us to give them something. I suspected they were after drugs but they had to settle for 2 digestive biscuits each! We felt unsafe on anchor in Castries (capital) harbour where we were the only yacht staying overnight. We moved to an anchorage near some charter boats, where the shore was patrolled by dogs but we got out at first light as the cruise ships were coming in. You have to padlock your dinghy to the shore if you leave the boat and padlock it to your boat at night.
At present we are in a beautiful little bay called Marigot Bay. There are lots of other yachts, many for charter and a fair number of boat vendors. It was here that Jeremy discovered a leak in the hot water tank and had to spend most of the day sitting in the cockpit locker cutting off chunks of insulation jacket, finding holes and soldering them. He’s done a great job but the tank will have to be replaced soon. It is 34 years old. Between maintenance and repair jobs we have managed to go snorkelling or swimming. Tomorrow we’ll be passing through the most beautiful part of St Lucia, Soufriere Bay and the Pitons. You’re not allowed to anchor in daylight hours anymore so we’ll take photographs as we sail past and make our way to Vieux Fort before crossing the channel to St Vincent, where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.
We left St Pierre in Martinique on 13th Jan. We anchored for lunch in a small bay just north of the fishing village of Case Pilote. After lunch we continued to the small town of Schoelcher, near the capital of Fort de France. The snorkelling was quite good with various fish, sponges, brain coral and underwater plants. Jeremy accidentally touched a black, spiny sea urchin but seems to have extracted all the spines from his finger. There were many squalls and heavy rain throughout the night so we had plenty of washing water in the dinghy but what we really wanted was drinking water. Amazingly, the dinghy pier at Schoelcher had a tap and we were able to make several trips to it with our containers and fill up the boats’ tanks and plenty of 5litre bottles. Unfortunately, Jeremy’s sun glasses dropped into the sea by the pier. He made sure he had a snorkelling mask on our return and on the 15th dive, he found the sunglasses in the cloudy water under the pier! I would have given up long before. Jeremy did lots of washing with our glut of water so it was well after lunch when we set off for Anse Mitan across Fort de France bay, where we could clear out with customs at the marina there. Well that was what our pilot book said, so imagine our surprise on arrival at Anse Mitan to find the marina and the fuel berth had been washed away in a storm!
The next day we had to go back across the bay to Fort de France and clear out at a chandlers. We took the opportunity to shop at a large supermarket and we were able to send the last blog and check our e-mails. We weighed anchor again and went to Great Anse D’Arlet, where a huge, tall ship was anchored and lots of other yachts. Here we spent our remaining euros on a rare meal out in a delightful beach restaurant looking out to the three lighted masts of the tall ship. The food was Creole in style. I had smoked (quite black in fact) chicken and Jeremy had grilled (partly burned) lobster which might have been walking about in their lobster tank just a few minutes before!
It was a shock to us both when the alarm clock went off at 5.00 the next morning, and Jeremy didn’t feel very well as we found ourselves in the Atlantic swell again for the thirty miles to St Lucia. We spent 5 nights in Rodney Bay, 4 of them on anchor off Pigeon Island, which is now a national park, but once was a British fortress from where the Brits bombarded the French if they dared cross the water from Martinique. On our second day, we explored the park for three hours ending up in a ramshackle, arty beach bar where we sampled the local beer named after St Lucia’s famous landmarks, the Pitons. Jeremy spent a large part of our first day in our wardrobe! No he hasn’t lost his marbles, he had to take out the engine control panel, which you will have already guessed, is located just above our wardrobe, and reseal the panel as there had been a huge ingress of water during the night when monsoon type rain hammered on the roof. The same heavy rain found a way into our cabin and soaked Jeremy’s side of the bed. My job was to collect water from the dinghy (ten gallons) and wash the seat covers from the saloon. Everything dried once the sun came out.
We are trying to get into the habit of tipping for services as this is the custom here. We also have to get used to boat vendors who come along and want to sell you fruit, baskets, take you on a trip etc. etc. Most are polite but some are pushy and others are cheeky, like the two guys last night who had nothing to sell but wanted us to give them something. I suspected they were after drugs but they had to settle for 2 digestive biscuits each! We felt unsafe on anchor in Castries (capital) harbour where we were the only yacht staying overnight. We moved to an anchorage near some charter boats, where the shore was patrolled by dogs but we got out at first light as the cruise ships were coming in. You have to padlock your dinghy to the shore if you leave the boat and padlock it to your boat at night.
At present we are in a beautiful little bay called Marigot Bay. There are lots of other yachts, many for charter and a fair number of boat vendors. It was here that Jeremy discovered a leak in the hot water tank and had to spend most of the day sitting in the cockpit locker cutting off chunks of insulation jacket, finding holes and soldering them. He’s done a great job but the tank will have to be replaced soon. It is 34 years old. Between maintenance and repair jobs we have managed to go snorkelling or swimming. Tomorrow we’ll be passing through the most beautiful part of St Lucia, Soufriere Bay and the Pitons. You’re not allowed to anchor in daylight hours anymore so we’ll take photographs as we sail past and make our way to Vieux Fort before crossing the channel to St Vincent, where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Photos from Martinique
Diamond Rock, once a British ship.
Anse Noir, quiet evening anchorage, at last.
Trois Ilets. rather gusty.
Local Yole sailing.
Kathy and the sundowners, at Trois Ilets
It is now Thursday and, through a series of happenstances (is this a word?), we are in the capital - Fort de France - and have cleared customs for St Lucia, only to find the wind is changing to SE tomorrow. On the way to Anse-Mitan, where we were to clear, we had 43 knots of wind. When we arrived there the marina had been blown away in a previous storm. Crossing to Fort de France this morning in sheltered waters we had 36 knots. SO we are considering whether to go to St Lucia in a head wind! Au revoir pour maintenant.
Martinique
Another weekend and we find ourselves in Martinique. It is a very pretty island, where the language is French. The customs/immigration formalities were very easy, but the next day we were boarded by two gun carrying customs officers who searched Sal Darago. Naturally everything was in order (they did not find my secret supplies of KitKat ;-) ) We had sailed from Barbados on the Tuesday overnight and arrived on Wednesday. To clear customs on the Monday, in Barbados had taken us several hours and it is one of the few places where they are still using four carbon copies. The trip across was very jerky; still no long swell on which one can leisurely sail. We had hoped to go to a Marina in Marin, but they were full and we decided to save the 20 Euros a day by anchoring. The Marin anchorage is huge and very full of yachts - couple that with a huge marina and you can see it was not our image of a quiet, idyllic stopover. Still it did mean that we could purchase courtesy flags, wine, beer and Camembert, as well as some delicious French bread. Also possible was a laundry to wash our bedding, which last saw daylight in El Hierro about five weeks ago.
Another reason for going to Martinique was that a man called Tony Carter does aluminium welding/repairs and we hoped he could help with our snapped pole. We took the pole ashore and left it with him. He asked us to call the next day, Thursday at 1300. We did so only to find the repair would cost 350 Euros. We picked the pole up and returned with it in pieces. We had just finished lunch when we were hailed from a dinghy. It was Jonny and Kate from “Newtsville”, whom we had last seen in Crosshaven, Ireland at the beginning of August. They sailed out of Fleetwood Dock, so you can imagine we had quite a chin wag. Later we popped over to Newtsville which is a much beamier, slightly longer, newer yacht than Sal Darago. It also has many more electronic devices including SSB through which they can send emails at sea.
We left Marin on Friday rather later than expected as Jeremy had had a poorly tummy from eating too much Camembert ( and possibly washing it down with a little too much wine). We were heading for Trois Ilets, passing Diamond Rock (The English set this rock up as a Royal Navy Gun boat – it is a mile off Martinique – and blasted any French shipping that passed close enough. This really annoyed Emperor Napoleon apparently and it all led to the Battle of Trafalgar) {Gosh I sound like Catherine;-) }. It was getting on for four when we passed Anse Noire, a delightful small anchorage with no boats in it. We headed in there, snorkelled, showered and had a candlelit meal in the brilliant moonlight. It was most romantic.
On Saturday we battled Easterly winds of 32 knots (on the nose) to enter Trois Ilets. It’s quite pleasant here with a golf course and the obligatory seaside redevelopment courtesy of the EU, but the shop had no Camembert, so it’s all a bit of a let down. The Mangrove trees abound round here and, in the evening, the noise made by grasshoppers or frogs is quite awesome. It’s quite green, remarkably so after the Canaries, and of course the people are very friendly.
We left Trois Ilets on Sunday morning and had a brisk sail north of the capital Fort de France. The winds died away and we slowly made our way north to the former capital of St Pierre. This small town was happily going about its business on 7 May 1902 when a volcano belched forth a cloud of intense heat and poisonous gases killing all but two of the 30,000 population. The museum has some awesome pictures reminding one of Hiroshima post Atom bomb. They really are very comparable. A few years later the town was being rebuilt. Mind you they all evacuated in 1929, when the volcano showed signs of activity. For the record, of the ten or more ships at anchor, only one somehow escaped burning and sinking. It is a pleasant anchorage (just no access to public water ie no tap on the pier) and there are adequate shops. Kathy and I did the walk round the various sites, including an 800 seater theatre. It was strange walking through the shell of the stalls and peering into the “fosse” of the orchestra having stared, fascinated, at the twisted remains of the musical instruments in the museum earlier.
Kathy and I had our hair cut at the coiffure afterwards (15 euro each!) and after the obligatory shop at the supermarket, returned to Sal Darago for lunch, a siesta, a snorkel, a drink while the sun set behind us and then a salad supper. It is a tough life, believe me.
Another reason for going to Martinique was that a man called Tony Carter does aluminium welding/repairs and we hoped he could help with our snapped pole. We took the pole ashore and left it with him. He asked us to call the next day, Thursday at 1300. We did so only to find the repair would cost 350 Euros. We picked the pole up and returned with it in pieces. We had just finished lunch when we were hailed from a dinghy. It was Jonny and Kate from “Newtsville”, whom we had last seen in Crosshaven, Ireland at the beginning of August. They sailed out of Fleetwood Dock, so you can imagine we had quite a chin wag. Later we popped over to Newtsville which is a much beamier, slightly longer, newer yacht than Sal Darago. It also has many more electronic devices including SSB through which they can send emails at sea.
We left Marin on Friday rather later than expected as Jeremy had had a poorly tummy from eating too much Camembert ( and possibly washing it down with a little too much wine). We were heading for Trois Ilets, passing Diamond Rock (The English set this rock up as a Royal Navy Gun boat – it is a mile off Martinique – and blasted any French shipping that passed close enough. This really annoyed Emperor Napoleon apparently and it all led to the Battle of Trafalgar) {Gosh I sound like Catherine;-) }. It was getting on for four when we passed Anse Noire, a delightful small anchorage with no boats in it. We headed in there, snorkelled, showered and had a candlelit meal in the brilliant moonlight. It was most romantic.
On Saturday we battled Easterly winds of 32 knots (on the nose) to enter Trois Ilets. It’s quite pleasant here with a golf course and the obligatory seaside redevelopment courtesy of the EU, but the shop had no Camembert, so it’s all a bit of a let down. The Mangrove trees abound round here and, in the evening, the noise made by grasshoppers or frogs is quite awesome. It’s quite green, remarkably so after the Canaries, and of course the people are very friendly.
We left Trois Ilets on Sunday morning and had a brisk sail north of the capital Fort de France. The winds died away and we slowly made our way north to the former capital of St Pierre. This small town was happily going about its business on 7 May 1902 when a volcano belched forth a cloud of intense heat and poisonous gases killing all but two of the 30,000 population. The museum has some awesome pictures reminding one of Hiroshima post Atom bomb. They really are very comparable. A few years later the town was being rebuilt. Mind you they all evacuated in 1929, when the volcano showed signs of activity. For the record, of the ten or more ships at anchor, only one somehow escaped burning and sinking. It is a pleasant anchorage (just no access to public water ie no tap on the pier) and there are adequate shops. Kathy and I did the walk round the various sites, including an 800 seater theatre. It was strange walking through the shell of the stalls and peering into the “fosse” of the orchestra having stared, fascinated, at the twisted remains of the musical instruments in the museum earlier.
Kathy and I had our hair cut at the coiffure afterwards (15 euro each!) and after the obligatory shop at the supermarket, returned to Sal Darago for lunch, a siesta, a snorkel, a drink while the sun set behind us and then a salad supper. It is a tough life, believe me.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Still in Barbados
Bardados turned out to be a very relaxing place. It is just like the picture postcard images: blue sky, azure sea, fine, white sand beaches fringed with palm trees and other trees and lots of hot sunshine. It rains heavily sometimes, which is very refreshing, but it stays warm and soon the sun is shining again. What’s more, everyone speaks English! It’s so good that we’re still here!
We have been thoroughly spoilt by Janice and John, friends of Gavin (Jeremy’s brother) and Eileen. They live here from December to May in a fabulous house next to the sea, just north of Bridgetown, called Ocean Blue. Parts of the house or all of it can be rented for holidays if you don’t happen to arrive here on your own boat! Straight away, on our arrival, we were invited to stay there, have showers or whatever we wanted. Once we’d recovered from our marathon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean we met up and had their maid do our laundry for us while we had long, hot showers. Then we were driven around the north and east of the island and treated to our first rum punches and lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Atlantic with a stretch of rain forest on the other side. Soon after New Year we met up again. John and Janice risked a ride in our inflatable dinghy and came on board Sal Darago for drinks and a tour of our “home”, before we all went ashore in the rain, had showers at Ocean Blue and set off for Chris’s Place. The next door neighbour, Katie, drove us all to a wooden shack where we met Perry, and six of us sat round a table outside on the “patio” eating ribs and chips, drinking rum, whiskey or wine and occasionally dancing outside on the wet, concrete yard. Thanks everyone, we had a great time.
Paradise on Earth does have its down side. We are not allowed to anchor anywhere else in Barbados without permission. It is difficult to fill up with water. The yacht club lets you fill containers but it’s a long way by dinghy and you have to land on the beach through the surf, which always means a soaking. There are showers (cold ones) on the beach but you get soaked with seawater returning by dinghy through the surf.
We have met up with yachts from the Canary Islands and spent New Year’s Day with Guido, a single handed sailor from “Hinano”, who brought a bottle of rum with him to celebrate the New Year. Most days are filled with swimming, shopping for food or parts that we need for the boat and eating. Barbados is quite expensive for some items and we wished we had stocked up with more wine (which is very expensive), before leaving the Canaries. Apparently gold and jewels are very cheap here, so send your orders quickly before we leave!
On Tuesday 6th January we hope to sail about 114 miles to Martinique, which is the furthest north we’ll be going in the Caribbean. We’ll have to brush up our French!
Happy New Year to you all.
We have been thoroughly spoilt by Janice and John, friends of Gavin (Jeremy’s brother) and Eileen. They live here from December to May in a fabulous house next to the sea, just north of Bridgetown, called Ocean Blue. Parts of the house or all of it can be rented for holidays if you don’t happen to arrive here on your own boat! Straight away, on our arrival, we were invited to stay there, have showers or whatever we wanted. Once we’d recovered from our marathon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean we met up and had their maid do our laundry for us while we had long, hot showers. Then we were driven around the north and east of the island and treated to our first rum punches and lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Atlantic with a stretch of rain forest on the other side. Soon after New Year we met up again. John and Janice risked a ride in our inflatable dinghy and came on board Sal Darago for drinks and a tour of our “home”, before we all went ashore in the rain, had showers at Ocean Blue and set off for Chris’s Place. The next door neighbour, Katie, drove us all to a wooden shack where we met Perry, and six of us sat round a table outside on the “patio” eating ribs and chips, drinking rum, whiskey or wine and occasionally dancing outside on the wet, concrete yard. Thanks everyone, we had a great time.
Paradise on Earth does have its down side. We are not allowed to anchor anywhere else in Barbados without permission. It is difficult to fill up with water. The yacht club lets you fill containers but it’s a long way by dinghy and you have to land on the beach through the surf, which always means a soaking. There are showers (cold ones) on the beach but you get soaked with seawater returning by dinghy through the surf.
We have met up with yachts from the Canary Islands and spent New Year’s Day with Guido, a single handed sailor from “Hinano”, who brought a bottle of rum with him to celebrate the New Year. Most days are filled with swimming, shopping for food or parts that we need for the boat and eating. Barbados is quite expensive for some items and we wished we had stocked up with more wine (which is very expensive), before leaving the Canaries. Apparently gold and jewels are very cheap here, so send your orders quickly before we leave!
On Tuesday 6th January we hope to sail about 114 miles to Martinique, which is the furthest north we’ll be going in the Caribbean. We’ll have to brush up our French!
Happy New Year to you all.
Pictures
Sunset on anchorage
Kathy and Guido
Barbados anchorage
Snapped spinnaker pole (sorry about orientation!)
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