44' Luxury Catamaran Mustang Sally

MAYREAU - UNION ISLAND

2008-08-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

June 6, 2008 Mayreau – June 11, 2008 Union Island

After a breezy, short sail from Canouan we arrived at Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau. This was one of the prettiest anchorages we had seen as yet. Unfortunately, other boats thot the anchorage was nice as well, as the little bay was pretty full, but we managed to find a good spot. Salt Whistle Bay is a half moon shaped bay lined with palm trees around the white sandy beach. Behind the beach we could just barely make out thatch roofs that belonged to Salt Whistle Bay Club, a private resort that was not very busy as June is off season. A short path thru the towering palm trees brought us to the windward side of the island with a long beach that collects driftwood that wash ashore and is great for shelling.
Mayreau does not have running water (similar to many of the smaller Caribbean islands) and so they collect rain water in large drums visible beside the house or in back. This also means that any sewage runs downhill in the gutters lining the streets headed for the ocean. The island only got electricity in 2005 and so those who can afford appliances are making good use of it. The main source of employment is tourism due to Salt Whistle Bay Club resort but this sector is growing as the locals are beginning to cater to the cruisers who show up. The locals also fish for their dinner and will sell their catch as well. The guide book had warned us against giving our garbage to any locals who come around in pinieros/pirogues to collect yachties garbage as they do not have any means of disposing the garbage and they will just dump it in the bush. We saw this in many places on the island. What a shame.
We heard that the little village was worth seeing to so we started hiking up a very steep road to the other side of the island and we noticed a cemetery were all of the locals who died on the island were buried. We could see very clearly the families that could afford to bury their family member in a certain fashion or those who could not, and simply dug a shallow grave and covered the body with stones without a marker. There are no grave diggers or groundskeepers in the islands and so the families and their friends all help to dig the grave and build the tombstone or encasement. We walked on a little further and found a very simple but pretty Catholic church, the religious hub of the island, that had a spectacular view of the Tobago Cays, where we were going next.
The locals live in very simple homes, and there were goats and islands dogs everywhere. I just happened to have a bagful of dog treats with me (this is where Doug rolls his eyes) and the island dogs enjoyed them, so did the goats (no surprise there as goats eat everything) but the birds were eating them as well. We came across a very colourful restaurant, like the guide book says the building is “much like an ongoing art form of construction” and the restaurant is a fave hangout for cruisers and locals alike. We thot “Righteous and the Youths” was a perfect place to grab a cold beer and hopefully shoot the breeze with the popular Rastafarian, “Robert the Righteous”, who owns the restaurant. Robert is known as welcoming, friendly and someone with whom you can have a serious discussion on just about any topic. He proved to be all of these things and we enjoyed meeting him very much and could easily see how he influences the local youths to stay out of trouble and make a good life for themselves.
Each evening at Salt Whistle Bay “Walter the Bread Man” comes around in his colourful wooden piniero (pin-yer-o) to each boat taking orders for the next morning’s delivery of fresh baked baguettes which are delivered just in time for morning pots of hot coffee and the baguettes are warm enough that the butter still melts on each slice. Walter’s wife works hard very early every morning to fill the orders and put a little bit of money into the kitty at home. We gladly tried to help out. After our baguette, Rene on Gypsy Blues offered to show us how to crack coconuts. This was a great chance for Doug to try out his never before used machete. Should I be concerned? Rene, Cheryl, Doug & I all traipsed back thru the tall palm trees and started selecting our coconuts for cracking, that is, until the groundskeeper for the Salt Whistle Bay Club very sternly told us we were on private property and should not be there. In short order and after a little schmoozing, “Nicholas”, was showing us just how to crack the perfect coconut and sharing all kinds of great coconut recipes with us. We also had a chance to enjoy an very good impromptu kite surfing show on the beach by some other cruisers before we lifted the anchor and headed to Tobago Cays which are only 3 miles away.
The Tobago Cays are a small group of deserted islands protected by a large reef in the shape of a Horseshoe, hence called Horseshoe Reef. The islands are perfect for windsurfers, kite surfers, hobie cats, pretty much any wind propelled vessel as there are is very little wave action. The reef also protects against any large swells which make for comfortable anchoring, especially for mono hulls, but boats still receive a lovely breeze. On every small island there is a pretty white sand beach with palm trees. When you stick your head outside of your cabin hatch in the morning all there is to see is wide open ocean. The Cays also make for some pretty spectacular star watching at nite as there is no light pollution. One of our favourite things to do after dinner is lay up on the trampolines on the front of the cat and watch for falling stars, of which there are always a few.
The Tobago Cays are a national park and hopefully will remain as they are now, which is undeveloped. It would be terrible shame to see these islands become resorts. The water is so clear and aquamarine here you can’t wait to jump in. The reef is mostly dead but it is still an incredible area to swim, snorkel and relax. Snorkeling for coral and all of the fish that live amongst the coral is not the best, but there are still lots of turtles and rays (both my personal faves). We enjoyed swimming with the turtles in a buoyed off swim area that the turtles just love. There were quite a few there and we got some great underwater pics.
After spending a few leisurely days in the cays we reluctantly lifted “Bruce” up and set sail for Clifton, the capital of Union Island. We entered Clifton Harbour, which is surrounded by another reef, to load up on fresh fruit and veggies as we heard this was the place to do this with the local ladies and their colourful stands all competing for your Eastern Caribbean dollar. The selection of produce was just as good as it had been in Bequia at the Rasta Market and the women were almost as aggressive so I did the same thing I did in the Rasta market. I bought a little bit from each vendor and that seemed to make everyone happy.
We had noticed what was left of a large boat that was in small pieces on the shoreline in the harbor and we learned from the locals that it had been washed up on a reef and this was all that was left of her. All of the other cruisers had also seen the “boat” on the shore and everyone was picking thru the pile looking for boat parts and spare bits of hardware. Typical cruisers. LOL! Everyone is finding all of the little pieces that would cost a pretty penny at the marine stores and there is my Doug doing the same. He wants lifelines off the boat so that we can make some stainless steel locks for our kayaks, that way, no one can steal them off the deck of the cat. This was important as we would be in Venezuela soon where boat crime is pretty bad. One of the locals decided that Doug is “stealing” and should be hauled off to the police. All of the other cruisers are slinking away with their goodies while my guy might end up in a Caribbean jail….great….just great. After some heated discussion with numerous locals and lots of apologizing on Doug’s behalf, he dinghied back to the boat perturbed that he never got those lifelines and a little more perturbed that the other cruisers took off like kids caught in a candy store leaving him to hold the bag of candy. We were both happy that was all that happened.
After that little bit of fun, we both noticed a very kewl island out in the middle of the reef just outside of Clifton Harbour with palm trees and we could see thru our binoculars a big sign that said “Happy Island”. That was just what the doctor ordered right then. We dinghied on over for a little look see and were happy to discover a local Rasta named Janti is operating a bar and restaurant here on the island he created from conch shells, sand and palm trees. This is the perfect place to take your dinghy to, snorkel around the reef surrounding the bar and then enjoy sundowners. If you let Janti know in advance he will have lobster dinner ready for you too! What a difference people can make in your life as we limed with Janti and enjoyed a few rum punches. It was hard to leave Happy Island and we can’t wait to get back there and lime with Janti again.
We took Bruce out of the water again and motor sailed to Chatham Bay were we planned on hangin’ out for a few days before making way to Tyrell Bay on Carriacou. Around the southwestern tip of Union to Chatham Bay we go. Chatham Bay is on the lee side of Union and is a very large protected anchorage surrounded by a lovely sand beach where no one lives except a few locals on the beach in open air huts. One of the local guys we met right away was Bobby, as he paddled out to the cat on his surf board, a really nice young local fellow. He offered to put together a beach BBQ for all of the yachts in the bay and if we needed anything else he made himself available to us.
We decided to poke our heads in on the locals living on the beach and see if anything was happening with them. We met Bobby again and he introduced us to few of his friends. One of these fellows was named “Pleasure the Guitar Man”. We both thot this was quite funny and thot perhaps we should come up with similar names for ourselves. It turned out the Pleasure should really have been called “Wood Man the Carver” as he carved lovely images out of the local trees. One of them in particular caught my eye and we couldn’t help ask about it and its “unusualness”. Pleasure (we learned his real name is Darius) told us this was a carving of his grandfather who has now gone to meet his maker but has never been forgotten as for his virility and popularity with the ladies and as a result fathered many, many children all by different women. This gave Darius a great deal of pride having descended from such great stock.LOL! This unfortunately is how most of the local males think on the islands we have been to. They father many children by many different women who ensure their masculinity and then they go live on a beach somewhere and never see their kids, help to raise them or give any money….but I digress. Doug and I both felt that this carving would be great conversational piece on Mustang Sally as well as a good representation of the local Caribbean male culture. We asked what the carving of his Grandfather might be called and we learned that it has two names. First being “Grandfather” which of course made a lot of sense and actually the second name also made a lot of sense once you gazed upon the carving…..”Tird Leg Man”. The locals had dropped the “H” in third and we in our juvenile minds thot it was quite comical. see pic. Anyway, now Tird Leg Man has a place of honour on MS. We hosted a potluck appetizer party on MS that same nite so that everyone could admire Tird Leg Man and there was a few smart quips smattered thru out the nite about our new acquisition. Tom and Sharon from “Sojourn”, Dave and Donna from “Magic”, Dave and Michelle from “Daniel’s Story” and last but not least, Rene and Cheryl from “Gypsy Blues” all attended the premiere gala event.
The next morning we had plans to sail to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou which is actually part of Grenada, the most northerly island. Before we left, tho, Doug went on a dive with Dave the Diving Dude from Magic. Dave and his wife Donna have been diving for 30 years all over the world…..the Red Sea in the Med was their favourite place. Doug very enjoyed his dive with Dave who likes to poke at eels and other disgusting creatures but was mainly on the hunt for a really big grouper he had spotted the afternoon before but, alas, the big fat grouper failed to make an appearance and the boys came back empty handed. Once Doug was back on board we checked out of The Grenadines and headed for Carriacou where our friends on Meggie were hanging out.
Till next time…fair winds.

ST. LUCIA TO MUSTIQUE

2008-07-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

St. Lucia, May 26, 2008 – Mustique, June 3, 2008
After Martinique we had a great sail to St. Lucia and we were very close hulled and saw 10.2 knots. Woo Hoo!! Mustang Sally had salt water all over her when we arrived in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. St. Lucia is known for being mountainous and lush, with many beautiful white sand beaches. The large island has rainforests at the highest peaks and then gives way to agricultural land. St. Lucia is a famous for the Pitons which are sheer rock faces which seemed to have shot straight out of the ocean depths in a violent volcanic reaction. Petit Piton is 2600’ high while the Gros Piton tops her smaller sister at 2600’. We would be anchoring amongst the Pitons in a few days after we had provisioned (again!) in Rodney Bay.
We purchased lots of beer and wine and some food too!! Enuf to see us thru for awhile as St. Lucia is the last place to provision until St. Vincent, which we would be skipping due to the crime there. So we would not be provisioning again until we arrived in Grenada, a few weeks away. Lucky for me I did not have to buy much in the way fo fruits and veggies as Gregory “The Fruit Man” motored over to us in his boat of many colours, covered in colouful flags of many different nations but other than that the boat was pretty rickety and we could not believe he travels around the island in it. We both realized that Gregory was more expensive than buying at the store but this was an “experience” and part of the thrill of our adventures.
We got MS loaded up and then off we went the next morning to beautiful Marigot Bay, a short 9 nautical mile motor sail. Doug had been to Marigot Bay many years ago (something like 20 yrs) and he had told me how beautiful it had been back then and he was curious to see if it still looked the same. Marigot Bay is truly gorgeous, however, it is a Moorings charter base now and therefore this once fairly undeveloped spot is now a busy hub with “Discovery Harbour” developments which consists of high end restaurants, shops and villas which are quite nice (hey! I like to shop and eat out as much as the next gal) but ruin the natural beauty of this place. Locals certainly can’t afford to eat at the restaurants or shop at the boutiques. At least it provides employment. One after another day charter boats sail in and out of the anchorage as well, so we found it a little too busy for us to stay any more than one day. We prefer secluded anchorages but this was getting increasingly harder and harder to find the further south we went. I must say, however, that we were more than happy that evening to enjoy Happy Hour 2 for 1 drinks (wish they would bring Happy Hour back at home in Canada!). We went to a couple of different establishments and the last one we sampled “J.J.’s Love”, a very strong rum concoction. Let’s just say at the end of that drink I didn’t know who J.J. was but I sure did love him!
Next morning we were on our way to the famous Piton’s located at the southern end of the island, to anchor over nite before sailing to Bequia in The Grenadines where our friends, Meggie and Gypsy Blues, were anxiously awaiting our arrival. We could see the Pitons well before we arrived at them. They are ginormous, monolithic, awe inspiring spectacles. We took a mooring between the Pitons as there is no anchoring as the depth is too great. You can imagine if these rocks shoot straight up from the ocean floor at these heights that the water depth would not be too shallow. We soon learned, however, that there is another very important reason to take a mooring and not to anchor (that is, if you trust the mooring that you are on). The Chris Doyle guidebook said something about wind gusts and current here but they do not go into much detail. Well, a gentle breeze would be caressing MS and then out of nowhere wind gusts on the range of 40-50 knots would hit the cat tugging on her mooring and making the rig shriek. Everything that was not tied down had to be put inside before it blew off the cat. I was sure that we would break free from the mooring and be thrown on to the rocks at the base of the Pitons. In addition to these powerful blasts of wind, an opposing current would push MS on to her mooring ball. It was very worrisome but we soon realized we were safe and so began to enjoy the spectacular scenery and to some extent the wind gusts. It made for a tough nite of sleep tho as every wind gust felt as tho we were coming free of the mooring and we would get up to double check our lines occasionally thru the nite.
Early the next morning (6 a.m. eeek!) we said good bye to the beautiful Pitons and freed MS from her mooring. We kept looking back amazed at the Pitons size and I got a great shot of Lady Katherine, a fellow cat, leaving the Pitons shortly after we did. The pic shows how enormous they are and how teeny lady Katherine looks by comparison.
We pointed MS into the wind, Doug raised our huge mainsail (he is getting big muscles!), we returned MS to our course setting and let the jib out and off we went. We sailed the windward side of St. Vincent with no plans to stop there for the crime is too great. Far too many boat boarding’s, dinghy thefts and troubles on land as well. The island looked great, however, from 2 miles off shore. We had a good romp down the coast line and sailed into the islands again near the south shore of St. Vincent rounding the northern tip of Bequia. Once in the lee of the island the wind dropped to nothing. No worries, a short motor and we would be there, and we were! We arrived at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Enough time to check in with customs, have a swim and then sundowners with our buds. As soon as we got our anchor set, Gypsy Blues called on the VHF and invited us for a Cheryl’s birthday dinner… how did beef tenderloin sound? We have great friends!
Next morning I went for an exploratory power walk….whew! It was tough. Lots of steep hills but many beautiful cottages with flowers everywhere, lots of big smiles and hellos from the locals and I detected a real laid back vibe. The British love Bequia, with good reason, and they owned many charming cottages dotted all over the island. I was happy to be here.
We headed into the famous Bequia Rasta Market that we had heard so much about. Some cruisers had told us they would not shop there as the Rasta’s were far too pushy and they felt intimidated but my good friend Kylie on Meggie said they were awesome and had the best produce going. Doug and I thot we would check it out for ourselves. Wow! What a riot of colour! I hadn’t seen this much fruit and veggies in ages. Each Rasta had his own table full of colour. And the quality was great. Huge avocados, green oranges (yes, green but they taste just like oranges at home! kewl), lots of fresh herbs, (yippee, it had been a while since I had had fresh basil), big, beautiful, red tomatoes without any blemishes, christophene (looks like a green pepper on the outside but tastes & looks like a cucumber on the inside), bananas, the sweetest pineapple we’ve ever had, etc. All of this produce is grown in St. Vincent and shipped by ferry every day. The Rasta’s were fun to deal with. Yes, a wee bit intimidating, but we bought a little from each vendor (one was named Mr. President cuz he looked like a black Abe Lincoln!) and when we caught flak for not buying from a particular vendor I promised him we would be back again and we would buy from him. I told them we were “spreading our love” around. The Rasta’s all seemed happy with that. I am sure we overpaid for our purchases but they seemed very reasonable in comparison with prices at home and it was a wonderful, fun experience.
That nite we had a little reunion party on MS that went on well into the nite and I must say I wasn’t feeling my best the next day. We went for a lovely hike with Mike and Kylie over to Industry Bay on the windward side of the island. I don’t know why they call it Industry Bay as there isn’t anything like industry there at all. Just palm trees, wind, waves and one very kewl, relaxing place to get a cold beer. We watched some local guys climb up the palm trees and cut the coconuts off and crack them open offering us all some of the tasty coconut water inside. You have to be careful with coconut water as it is a natural diuretic and we still had a long walk back! That would not be fun.
After a few more days of the idyllic lifestyle in Bequia we said good bye to Meggie who was on their way to Carriacou, which is part of Grenada but an island just north of it. We sailed along with Gypsy Blues to Mustique, home of the very rich and very private. It was a beautiful 12 mile sail where we took a mooring ball and headed in straight away to the world famous Basil’s Bar for cocktails. Mustique is truly beautiful but unfortunately for us paupers it is also very expensive so one drink at Basil’s for us and back to Gypsy Blues for dinner and drinks.
Next day we had arranged for a waiter named Ozzie from Basil’s Bar to give us a “real” island tour not one of the canned tours everyone else was getting. Ozzie drove us around the island in a “mechanical mule” which is a cross between a tractor and a golf cart and this was the de riguer way to travel on the island. We learned from Ozzie as he drove that Mustique is privately owned by “Mustique Group”, which we assumed the wealthy land owners on the island own large shares of and have all of the say in how the island looks and is managed. Any locals who live on the island have homes provided for them by the company and all of the houses are very nice. They have many staff that keep the island beautiful, free of garbage, with flowers and palm trees all well manicured. The beaches are even raked! The locals all have jobs working for the company with the exception of the fishermen but all of their catch is bought by the fancy restaurants every morning. The island locals have the very best health care provided for by the company. There is a school for the local island children who receive a wonderful education. This is a real gift to these island’s locals as many of the other islands can only afford to send their children to school until grade 6 or sometimes less. The founder of Maxim magazine, who lives on the island, donated the public library. The Mustique Company has hired the best of the best to run and operate the island, for instance they have telecommunications experts, engineering experts, security experts, etc. to keep the island running ship shape. Mustique is definitely in its own beautiful little world.
Ozzie drove us past mansions and told us how Mustique gained notoriety in the ‘50’s when the late Princess Margaret vacationed here. As he drove us past mansions Ozzie would stop the “mule” and tell us who lived there or some local gossip about the people. It was fascinating to be a voyeur but we never went on any private property. We drove past Mick Jagger’s residence, Tommy Hilfiger’s beautiful home; the founder of AOL’s huge mansion, Magic Johnson has a multi level house overlooking the ocean under construction, Lance Armstrong rides his bike on the pretty island roads, Bryan Adams has property here and so does fellow Canadian Shania Twain who rides horses at the equestrian centre. There are far too many rich and wealthy people to list. Just know this…. when Ozzie was driving us back from beautiful Macaroni Beach Tommy Hilfiger and his daughter drove past us not more than 3 feet away! How kewl is that! Apparently, according to Ozzie, Tommy’s daughter has just finished a rehab program….again. Who knew? LOL! This place is too much….wish we had some.
Next day we had plans to sail to Canaoun….tell you all about that next log. Till next time fair winds…..

DOMINICA TO MARTINIQUE

2008-07-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

May 19, 2008, Dominica – May 25, 2008, Martinique

We left Iles Des Saintes after checking out with customs and had another great sail to Portsmouth, Dominica (Dom-a NEEK-ah). We both kept a sharp eye on the surface of the water scanning for water spouts as this stretch was a favourite playground for whales and although we had seen many dolphins we hadn’t seen any whales… yet.
We were excited to be heading to Dominica as we had heard many wonderful things about the island. Our guide book says that if Christopher Columbus were to come back to the Caribbean islands today, Dominica would be the only one he recognized as it still looks very much like it did when he landed. Dominica has not been developed and remains incredibly lush and tropical. The island consists of jagged mountain peaks and deep valleys, rainforests, and waterfalls, along with a boiling lake (kewl!) and numerous crater lakes. There are birds, butterflies, and lots of brightly coloured flowers in abundance. The high mountains attract clouds which mean many quick rain showers but there is also a lot of sunshine which results in many rainbows, as we soon learned. Although we were still far out from the island, we could see huge clouds that covered the mountain peaks. It was an impressive sight as the dark, ominous clouds rolled down the mountain seemingly to engulf Mustang Sally as we approached the most northern city, Portsmouth, and this island that we had heard so much about.
One of the “boat boys”, which we had heard so much about from other yachties, raced out to Mustang Sally in his colourful pirogue with big outboard engines, while we were still about 2 miles from the anchorage. We were a little nervous as we had heard that boat boys can be very aggressive in that they want you to take a mooring ball from them, use them as an agent to check in with customs, buy produce from them, use them as a water taxi, etc. all for a fee. We do these things ourselves and it doesn’t cost us anything that way. However, our travel guide had given us names of reputable boat boys and explained how these guys arrange tours, take your laundry to get washed and return it, and deliver groceries to your boat and numerous other necessities for “yachties”. Eddison was our boat boy and I checked the guide and he was listed as one of the reputable ones to deal with. We yelled at Eddison from our boat to his while still sailing that we would be dealing with him for anything we needed done and once we got anchored we could talk more to him. A little later another boat boy listed in the guide approached us but we felt that we should deal with Eddison as he was the first to approach us and he had motored all the way out to meet us.
Once we were anchored, Eddison came over to the cat and we chatted a bit with him and found him to be smart, helpful and courteous. He was happy to take the beer offered by Doug as well. We made arrangements to do a river tour with him the next morning and a land tour with his friend Boudha in the afternoon, all for a very reasonable price.
We put our dinghy in the water and motored over to customs, which was on the big commercial jetty where bananas and all sorts of other local produce get shipped to other countries by boat. The customs office was located in a pretty tough wharf area and we weren’t sure we were going the right way but we managed to find it and the officials were just that, official. After some rubberstamping we were officially in Dominica. Kewl!
We figured we might as well go for a brief walk thru the town before heading back to the cat and we were also out of beer so we were on a mission to find “Kubuli” which is Dominica’s locally made beer. We asked Eddison why they called the beer Kubuli and he told us that the Carib Indian name for Dominica was “Waitakubuli” which means “tall is her body” and was named so because Dominca is quite long.
Our walk thru town was a little shocking. I had never seen such poverty… yet. Dominica is definitely a third world country. But as we were to learn the next morning when we went on our tour, the island may be financially poor but it is very rich in fruit, produce and spice. No one will ever go hungry in Dominica. You simply have to go for a walk and you can pick fruit from every tree. After we bought our beer we made tracks to the cat for a sundowner and early dinner as we were both tired from our sail and our tour was to start early the next morning.
Eddison arrived at our boat promptly at 8 a.m. with a group of young women who were all from Martinique and were on holidays in Dominica. The girls spoke limited English and so between their English and our limited French we had a good deal of fun trying to figure what each other was saying. Fortunately, Eddison was bilingual and was able to give us the tour in both languages.
Our first tour was the Indian River tour and at the very head of the river Eddison showed us large rusted out hulks of container ships and tug boats that had been swept ashore in previous hurricanes. We also saw the bridge that spanned the river had been destroyed in Hurricane Ivan in 2004. It was only now being replaced by a new bridge and cars had continued to drive on the old, seriously destroyed bridge as they did not have the money to fix the bridge sooner.
Eddison had taken government schooling to become an Indian River guide and as a result he was able to tell us all about the foliage and wild life as we he rowed us up river in his pirogue. The river and the river banks were where several scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean were shot as the river has a spooky, eerie quality with its crazy tree trunks and tree roots sprawling everywhere. As far up the river as we were allowed to travel by boat, there appeared a very kewl outdoor bar made all from bamboo and palm fronds. The flowers here were incredible and we were able to purchase pina coladas and Kubuli’s and tamarind juice.
Once we were back at the foot of the river, Eddison handed us over to his Rasta botanist friend, Boudha. We all piled into Boudha’s van and off we went on a tour of the island, including the Carib Indian village, parts of the rainforest and a hike to Chaudiere Pool. Boudha would pull the van over to the side of the road, run up to a bush or tree, pick something off of the tree and bring back to the van where we could all eat or smell it. This happened every few minutes. We never did stop for lunch as we were all full from all of the fruit we were eating. It was truly amazing. There is so much incredible foliage in Dominica….tons of banana trees, (there are banana plantations everywhere), nutmeg trees, lemon grass, cashew trees, apricot trees, pineapple trees, coconut trees, bay leaf, cinnamon trees, (the bark is the cinnamon, you just grate it, how kewl is that?), basil, everywhere, lemon/lime trees, grapefruit….it goes on and on…..mango, sapodilla, paypaya. We were shocked by the amount of fruits and spice that one island could grow.
The last part of our day was a very steep hike into the rainforest to the Chaudiere Pool where we could all enjoy a swim and if we wanted jump off the top of the falls. The falls were not really big but they were beautiful, plus, this was fresh water. Everyone enjoyed a swim while some jumped from the top and others chickened out (that’d be me) and then we hiked back to the van. It had been a long wonderful day and we all dozed off in the van on the way back.

The next morning we had a pleasant sail to Roseau, Dominica’s capital city. We needed to load up on groceries and after a brief walk into town managed to find a decent “Americanized” (so they think) grocery store. I can’t plan meals the way I used to anymore as you never know what you will find and it is usually pig snout, or chicken claws. I try to find something vaguely familiar and then I throw it in the pressure cooker with a bunch of other things, and cook it for a long time. Surprisingly, it usually tastes pretty good.
The next day had us leaving Dominica and sailing to Martinique. We would like to have spent more time in Dominica but a lot of our friends were in Bequia and we wanted to get together with them. We also felt we were little behind the other boats in getting far enough south before tropical waves and depressions started to form. We hope to see more of Dominica when we are on our way north.
We left Roseau at 0600 and sailed to Fort-de-France, Martinique. The sail started off quite lumpy but with good winds and the first few hours we averaged 8 knots then, once we got behind the lee of the island the winds naturally dissipated and we motored the remainder of the trip. As we got closer to Fort-de France we could see a sailboat which was curiously anchored close to the very rocky lee shore. We watched him for awhile wondering if he needed assistance and sure enuf as we got closer we could see the couple on board waving madly at us. They spoke little English and we weren’t much better with our French but we were able to discern thru hand motions and broken language that their windlass had broken and as a result the older looking French man with the very young looking attractive women could not pull their anchor up. We wondered why he didn’t just pull it up as many sailors have to hand-bob their anchor if the windlass breaks. Yes, it is back breaking but you do what you must. That’s when we learned that he has “mal de couer”, a bad heart and might have a heart attack if he tried to pull it up himself. We both wondered out loud to each other “If he has such a bad heart what was he doing with this very young and very attractive woman on board?” Through our amazing powers of deductions we were able to figure it out! Imagine! We brought Mustang Sally very close, within 6‘, to the stern of the sloop that was by now dragging very near the rocky coastline. Doug jumped overboard and swam to their swim ladder and pulled himself up, while I motored out of the way with Mustang Sally but stayed relatively close and kept an eye of events. Doug and the older French man both pulled up the anchor, but I suspect Doug did most of the pulling. The couple was very grateful and I could see lots of handshaking and relieved laughter on deck. Doug couldn’t help himself and asked the young women if this man was her Father, she giggled and started to blush. You get the drift…..apparently the man was very upset as he was late getting back to his wife. I pulled Mustang Sally along the stern and Doug swam a very short distance back to the cat and climbed on board and away we went. We chuckled about the incident over rum drinks once we got anchored.
The next day was relatively innocuous as we got ourselves checked into customs (you just fill out a form on a computer in a chandlery….quick and easy), we then went shopping for a spear gun so that Doug can spear fish (this is completely legal in the French islands but not other islands) and we loaded up on inexpensive French wine. We were anchored near a few boats that we continued to see as we traveled south and we always exchanged a friendly wave with the people on board. Once back on board we motored over to a lovely little resort beach where we spent an enjoyable day ending with dinner date at a French restaurant.
The next morning while I was power walking on the beach, Doug overheard one of the boats that we were anchored near the day before calling for assistance from the Harbour Captain regarding a missing person. Soon we heard a may day call over the vhf for an overdue swimmer giving a description of the female individual who had been missing since midnite the previous nite in the anchorage we had left just the previous day. After putting two and two together we were able to figure out which women on which boat had been swimming at nite and had not returned. We felt sick. There was little we could do at that point as we were a fair distance away and the French Coast Guard had their helicopter out searching the coastline and the Search and Rescue boats were out as well. Let’s face it, after that length of time in the water without floatation device, it is extremely unlikely that she would have survived. We had just exchanged pleasantries with her the morning before.
The next day we motored to the southern tip of Martinique and anchored at St. Anne which is a very popular resort area with the French. We explored a bit in town and walked thru an incredible cemetery and then enjoyed a beer at a fancy local beach bar. We were both hoping to enjoy a really memorable French dinner but we seemed to have failed to have found a nice restaurant that served anything beside crayfish. The Caribbean French are Creole French and everything is fish or crayfish, which is great (if you like crayfish….we didn’t) but we eat a lot of fish anyway and we were both hoping for some Parisienne cuisine….didn’t happen.
St. Lucia was next and hopefully there we would find some great West Indian food….. til next time….fair winds.

ANTIGUA TO ILES DES SAINTES

2008-06-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Start of the Windwards

April 25, 2008 Antigua – May 18, 2008 Iles Des Saintes

Ron and Ally had left the previous day and we were sailing the west side of Antigua headed back to the south end but not before we visited a couple of spots along the way. Antigua is incredible in that every time we sailed around another point there would be another amazing expanse of white sand. Antigua has more beautiful beaches than any other island we have been to so far. In fact, the guide book tells us that there are 360 beaches to explore! Believe me, if hurricane season wasn’t coming we would have stayed the next year and investigated every single one. Maybe next time around…..
We planned on anchoring a couple of nites at Fort James (which is very close to St. John’s, the capital of Antigua) as this was where the big, world famous and expensive race boats and anyone else who wished to race in the Antigua Race Week (not to be confused with last logs Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta) would end their first nite of racing in the “Race ‘Round the Island”. There would be a huge beach party with live entertainment and we planned on being a part of the action. The first 2 nites we were anchored at Fort James there wasn’t another boat around but the afternoon of the first race, we could see hundreds of boats approaching the anchorage. Lo and behold, we were in the middle of the action as all of the race boats anchored around us and the fun and games started.
We had decided that we were going to enjoy the party as well, so we dinghyed in to the party on the beach and enjoyed a couple of rum drinks and some great music. Everyone was feeling the music and the rum and there was lots of dancing and carrying on. After a while we decided to get something to eat and we had both agreed on “local” food. We wanted to really experience what the locals ate and so we chose a little hut far away from the beautiful restaurants. We could tell it was popular among the locals as they were all lounging about gossiping and drinking the local beer, Wadadli. We reviewed the menu and after a few shudders (yech!), more rum and a few giggles we ordered goat water (goat stew) and pig’s tail (pretty self explanatory). We waited in anticipation for our gastronomic delights to arrive….we were psyched up. When the food came the goat water was a very rich, dark brown with chunks of suspicious looking meat floating about. The pig’s tail looked just like a pig’s tail should but smothered in BBQ sauce, but the bones in the tail moved about much like one of those wooden snakes that wiggles when you move it. Doug felt like Indiana Jones, or something like that, and charged ahead with spoon in hand. We both tried the”goat water” and declared it acceptable but very rich tasting, until that is Doug discovered another kind of meat as well as the goat. We couldn’t figure out what the other meat was….we had seen a few rats around….hmmmm. I lost my nerve when it came to the pig tail….I couldn’t do it. Doug persevered and dug in, shortly after tho’ he couldn’t eat any more of the pig tail. It was grossing him out too much. Needless to say, another wonderful adventure that ended with Doug not feeling so well (really?) and we went back to the cat much earlier than planned.
During all of this adventure and exploration the last couple of months, we had watched as one of our little dogs, Willis, deteriorated. We both knew what was coming but I procrastinated as long as possible, as my little guy, and his brother Rollie, had been with me for 16 years thru thick and thin. I could not imagine not having him in my life anymore. But he got rapidly worse and I could not deny it any longer. It was a very tough time but we felt that he was suffering and so we went to see a very compassionate vet and that afternoon we came back to the boat without our Willis.
That same very tough afternoon we made flight arrangements for me to fly home to Canada. While everything else was going on we had also decided after emailing back and forth with my Mom that it was time for me to come home and visit with my Dad who is ill. I flew out 1 day later to Canada to spend a week with my Dad and my Mom. I also got to get together with my girlfriends one nite and got caught up with my girl gang and strangely enough a firetruck showed up with some firefighters. Hmmm....That was awesome! It was a wonderful week seeing my Dad and my Mom that went far too fast and although I missed Doug I wish I could have stayed longer and hung out with my Pops more.
I flew back to Antigua in time for a couple of days of much needed rest before we sailed further south to Guadeloupe. Coming back, I could see that Falmouth Harbour, which was jam packed with boats when I left, was now empty, with only 1-2 boats other than Mustang Sally. Everyone was making the trek south to get out of the dreaded hurricane zone and we were slightly behind schedule. I also noticed that the boat was a lot quieter now that my little Willis was gone and I couldn’t imagine leaving Antigua without him. It was very hard.
Three days after I got back from home we sailed to Guadeloupe, the next island south of Antigua. Guadeloupe is actually comprised of two massive islands, Basse-Terre and Grand Terre which are joined by an isthmus, so the island from the sky resembles a butterfly, I am told. Guadeloupe is dominated by mountain ranges which are inactive volcanoes, most notably La Soufriere. We enjoyed a lovely sail, close hulled at first with winds blowing 12-15 knots. Mustang Sally was averaging 7.5-8 knots but then the winds died and the seas were relatively flat and it was scorching hot. We landed in Deshais (Day-hay), which is on the northwestern coast of the island. Doug washed the cat off with our new wash down hose using the fresh water from our newly installed water maker. How wonderful to be able to wash all of the salt off your boat after a wet sail. We had never been able to do this before and we were both pleased as this meant no more salt water getting inside the cat and also that Doug could rinse off the stainless steel on the deck to prevent rusting from the corrosive salt.
We both enjoyed a swim and dinghyed to shore to check in with French customs, which was a very fast, simple and pleasant experience. We walked around the lovely little French town but unfortunately, all of the restaurants and boutiques were closed. We are pretty accustomed to the French way by now, of closing thru out most of the afternoon but this was 5 p.m. and everything should have been open. Must have been a holiday. Too bad for us as it meant no French wine or baguette at a little café so we went back to the cat and enjoyed a big BBQ steak dinner with our own wine to celebrate our arrival in Gaudeloupe. Poor us…..
The next morning we awoke to the sounds of lots of beautiful birds singing and chirping. For some reason there are hardly any birds in the northeastern Caribbean (probably a shortage of fresh water as the eastern Caribbean is very arid) and I had been told that the further south that we went we would see and hear a lot more birds. I had really missed the sound of the birds and was happy to hear them sing again. I decided to go for run to stretch my legs and enjoyed the small town of Deshais with lots of colourful flowers and pretty, well kept, pastel coloured houses. I said “Bonjour” to everyone I passed and received a pleasant greeting back….huh…imagine…. French people actually being nice. I knew it couldn’t last for long so as soon as I got back to the cat we lifted anchor and slowly motored down the western coast. I enjoyed one of the best seats in the house, the port bow seat. I stared into the water which was so flat and calm I could see the rays of the sun slanting thru the water many feet down.
We had noticed in Antigua and even more so here in Guadeloupe, the proliferation of palm trees. Yes, there were palm trees in the Virgin Islands and in St Martin, but not like this. This is what we had always imagined the Caribbean to look like. We learned from other cruisers that the further south we travelled it would become even more lush, particularly Dominica (Dom-a-NEEK-ah), which was the next island after Guadeloupe and Iles des Saintes.
The next day we continued to motor close to the western coast of Guadeloupe taking our time and enjoying the scenery. We took a mooring ball in Basseterre for the nite readying for our next day’s sail to Iles Des Saintes. The sailing between islands was like a dream come true. The longest trip between any of the Windward Islands was 35 miles, which is a half sail for Mustang Sally. The sailing is the best too, sailing beam reach or broad reach all the way. No complaints here!
The sail to Iles des Saintes was leisurely and we anchored in the bay of the beautiful fishing village. It was very hot with little wind as we explored the pretty village and I got to practice my French, which although was not great, was good enough that the locals could understand me fairly well. After walking thru the lovely village we headed back to the cat for a cooling swim, nap and then a sundowner.
The next day we hiked up to Fort Napoleon. This fort was spectacular. Probably the best reconstructed and cared for fort we had ever seen. The hike was a steep walk thru the outskirts of the village and we enjoyed the gorgeous foliage… wild hibiscus, flamboyance, heliconia, etc. At the fort they had collected whalebones from a whale that had been found on one of the beaches a few years back. Apparently, the whale had been struck by a boat and come to the beach to die. Also, we learned that the French don’t think much of Christopher Columbus, I would even go so far as to say that they are anti-Columbus. One quote from one of the historical documents at the fort said that the best thing Columbus ever did was to sail back to Spain. Hmmm? Where do these people think they would be if it wasn’t for Columbus? Certainly not on that beautiful island in the Caribbean!
We had considered having dinner out at one of the French restaurants but the Euro is excessively expensive so we decided to ixne that idea and moved the cat to Pain de Sucre, which is a mini piton at 200 feet high. We had a lovely dinner aboard. We woke the next morning to a gentle breeze on our faces, and the sound of the surf on the beach. Not a bad start to a day I’d say. We kayaked, explored in the dinghy and swam. Doug also spent time hunting for lobster, but he was unsuccessful and, we had to have something besides lobster for dinner. I had gone for a hike that morning and discovered a lovely beach and while I was there very dressed up people on scooters started to arrive. On one of the scooters was an older woman, who I assume was the mother, and on the seat behind her, hanging on, was a young woman in a short white satin dress with a white veil. How kewl! Wedding on the beach and so simple. They had a BBQ planned for after as well.
We were checking out the next morning and to make tracks for Dominica. Can’t wait.
Til next time, fair winds…..

Antigua Classic Yacht Week

2008-05-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

March 23rd, St Martin – April 25th, Antigua

Our wonderful guests have left us and now we have until April 16th before we have other guests who will be arriving in Antigua. So, we had some time to get some tasks done on the boat, (St Martin is the perfect place to do this). But first on my list of priorities was dinner at our most favourite restaurant, Tropicana. We must go to Tropicana every time we are in St Martin. The food is very French, meaning decadent and the service is surprisingly good for a French restaurant :) and so far our favourite in all of the Caribbean.

We were able to catch up with some friends we had not seen in awhile while we were in St Martin. Seems like everyone was in the lagoon waiting for the swell to subside before heading further south, so, it was like a reunion of cruisers. There were many potlucks and cocktail parties on each other’s boat. In fact, we met up with one lady, Joanne, and met her man Dave, who was aboard her yacht “Walkabout”. We last saw Joanne on the Alligator River while transiting north thru North Carolina headed for Canada last spring on our monohull, “L’Attitude”. We waited out a gale with Joanne back then for 3 days and now we were waiting out high winds again combined with this incredible swell, which was then followed by another swell. Everyone was wearing foul weather gear everywhere they went. So much for tropical weather! Sad to say, that due to the poor weather this past winter a lot of cruisers packed it in and headed home for good.

While eating ribs one nite, one of Doug’s molars cracked. The next morning we were referred to a dentist who fixed him up. We figured that we should also get our teeth cleaned. I was first for my cleaning and the dentist was a wonderful man, although he doesn’t have the equipment I was used to at home…. we are spoiled at home and don’t know it. He kept trying to jam his big ham hock of a hand in my mouth all the while telling me that I needed to open my mouth wider (I know a lot of people would differ with me but I actually have a small mouth!) . All this was going on while I was holding the saliva sucker thingie, and choking on my own saliva because I didn’t know where the puddle in my mouth was forming. There was also a loud, sharp pinging in my ear and I couldn’t figure out what it was….I thot my ear drum would explode. I figured it out…. the dentist’s watch alarm was going off right beside my ear and he couldn’t hear it because of the dental machinery running….oh and the gagging. Oh well, my teeth got cleaned, no fluoride or polishing but just the basics. What was I expecting? Doug didn’t fare much better.

Cap’n Doug was very busy the 2 ½ weeks we stayed in St Martin, waiting for weather. He installed a water maker, which now means unlimited fresh water!! WooHoo! He also worked on numerous other projects. We had our mechanic, Pedro, fine tune our engines, took the dogs to the vet for a checkup, more dog grooming, did a big provisioning to stock the boat right up, and then fueled up. We sailed to Tintamarre which is an island at the north end of St. Martin, enjoyed a nite and day of rest and relaxation and then lifted anchor at 4 p.m. to sail overnite to Antigua. We were both excited as we had not sailed that far south yet and Antigua would be a whole new experience for the two of us and our two small dogs, Willis and Rollie.

The weather was predicted to be 6’ seas, and winds 10-12 knots beam reach. Ha! Try very rough seas, more like 10’ and winds right on the nose. Made for a very lumpy nite, motor sailing for the first half until we past St. Barths and then we were able to shut off the engines and sail her which is a much faster option for us. Mustang Sally is fast when sailing but slogs along when motoring in lumpy seas. All in all it was a good nite and we landed at Jolly Harbour, Antigua at 7 a.m. Customs didn’t open until 8 a.m. so we hovered around the harbor eating breakfast, waiting to get checked in. We both really liked the looks of Antigua, so far. The properties were cared for, with beautiful palm trees, hibiscus, flamboyance, etc., and it seemed that there was some real infrastructure here…..and no garbage everywhere like some other islands.

We had an uncomfortable bit of dealing with customs when it came to declaring our two dogs, Willis and Rollie. Even tho all of our paperwork was in order for both boys (this paperwork cost a lot of $$, ask my vet who is a wealthy man), customs informed me (which I knew already but was unable to comply) that I should have emailed them 24 hours in advance to notify the federal vet of our exact time of arrival, so the federal vet could come and “inspect” the boys and make sure they were fit to “land”. Excuse me? Did I fail to mention that we just sailed over nite from St Martin, where email and phones are out of the question? It was a Saturday and the fed vet had better things to do with her personal time than to come and inspect two dogs right then. So both boys were not able to “land” until Monday, which thanks goodness they have some experience in and we managed just fine on the cat until Monday.

Our friends on “Gypsy Blues”, Rene and Cheryl, were anchored in Jolly Harbour so we enjoyed some of their wonderful hospitality again and had dinner and drinks and lots of laughs, as always. They were heading off the next day for Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, as the Classic Yacht Race Week was about to start. Quite a few of our good friends would be there, Joel and Kathy on “Triumph”, and Mike and Kylie on “Meggie”. We hadn’t seen Mike and Kylie in over one year so we were really excited to see them and catch up. Classic Race Week means lots of after race parties, a chance to race on one of the yachts as crew (kewl) and see these beautiful historical yachts in action. In fact, we were excited that “Meggie” would be racing in the vintage division for her size. We would be joining everybody as soon as the vet had inspected the dogs.

Monday morning came, and so did the vet, she came, she took our money and she looked at the dogs and left. Off we went to join the gang in Falmouth. We had a pretty rough sail there as the seas were coming round the headland and were quite lumpy with big steep waves, but we got to Falmouth just the same. We had dinner with “Triumph” that nite which was great. Then as we were heading back to the dinghy dock we ran in to Mike and Kylie from “Meggie” on the street outside the popular local hang out “The Mad Mongoose”. There were lots hugs with everyone talking over each other as it had been so long since we had last seen each other and there was lot’s to catch up on. Paul and Leanne were friends of Mike and Kylie’s from home (Thornbury, Ontario), which was also very close to our home port, and they were down visiting and also to help as crew for race week onboard “Meggie”. Everyone loaded into our dinghy and we headed back to Mustang Sally to show her off as Mike and Kylie had not yet seen her. Needless to say, the night went quite late as we got each other caught up on everything happening in our lives and all of the adventures everyone had been on and the kewl places that they had been to.

The next nite we hosted dinner aboard “Mustang Sally” with “Gypsy Blues”, whom we owed many dinners too and were playing catch up with, and “Triumph” too. It was another great nite getting caught up with friends.

The next day Doug’s Dad, Ron, and his wife, Allyson, were flying in and we were excited to have them stay with us for 9 days, especially throughout the Classic Race Week, as Ron is a Classic Yacht nut, and also because we had not seen them since the past summer and we were really looking forward to hanging out with them two of them.

Once Ron and Ally arrived, we got them settled on the cat, enjoyed a cold drink and then headed back to the walk docks and admire all of the beautiful yachts. The historical yachts “Ranger”, “Velsheda”, “Ellinora” and “Adela” (all of varying length but 135’ and longer) were all present and shined to a high polish not to mention countless other classics in their various classes. “Meggie” lovingly restored, by Mike and Kylie (see cruising World’s article entitled “Meggie’s Youthful Makeover”, November 2007 issue) is a 30’ Bermuda Choy Lee and she was at the dock as well, looking bright and perky beside all of the big guys. The 4 of us enjoyed a wonderful meal ashore at a lovely, elegant restaurant (a real treat for Doug and me) and wrapped up the evening with night caps on board the cat.

The next day, the four of us joined Joel and Kathy aboard “Triumph” and with picnic lunch in hand we motored out to watch the races. This was fantastic as most people don’t actually get to see the whole race because it is outside the very protected harbour. Even then, if people came out on their boats to watch they would only see the start and finish. “Triumph” has two big powerful engines and we were able to motor alongside the yachts at 10-12 knots and see all of the action. Even at that speed we still could not stay caught up but it sure gave us the best seats in the house. Everyone was very excited but no one more than Ron who would intermittently shout out, “Can you believe we are here watching this? This is once in a life time stuff!” After the race there was a party with free rum drinks and had a fabulous local band, “Itchy Feet” which had everyone up dancing. What a great nite dancing amongst these beautiful boats. We went to bed pretty tired but happy that nite, replaying portions of the race thru our head.

Next day, Ally and I headed to the local grocery store which is always an interesting event. You can ever plan what you are going to buy; you just buy whatever is available and think up what to do with it all back at the boat. This makes it fun and interesting. We bought some local lamb chops and a variety of good stuff and lugged it all back to the dinghy, so that we were set for the rest of their stay with us. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, reading, sunning and resting up after our big nite and in anticipation of another party at the Antigua Yacht Club that nite. What a tough life!

Next day we were on “Triumph” again to watch the races but with a whole slew of people aboard this time as everyone realized that this was the place to be. It as another incredibly exciting day of racing and just the thrill of seeing these magnificent yachts with their crews of 45 or more running around like mad, racing against each other was overwhelming.

After the end of the races a few days later, we sailed to Green Isle for a relaxing evening at this gorgeous anchorage. This is where we saw a Wharram (James Wharram is famous for designing a certain type of catamaran, think Polynesian boat) catamaran that Doug and I had seen many times in our travels but most recently in the lagoon in St Martin. Sadly, she was hard aground on top of a reef that was on the windward side of the island and although the winds were down significantly that day it was not hard to see that she was getting damaged already, but when the winds came back up she would be broken to bits. What a sad shame.

The next day was Ron and Ally’s last full day with us so we sailed to Jumby Bay on beautiful Long Island. This anchorage was spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure of spending our last day there with Ron and Ally.

We were very sad to see Ron and Ally leave as we loved their easy going relaxed company and the many laughs we had over dinners.

Till next time......

The Big Swell

2008-05-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Big Swell

After the Barrie gang left us we had 10 days to relax and get ourselves to St. Martin where we would provision the cat again for our next guests, which would be a gang of 6 coming to enjoy beautiful St. Martin and St. Barths from various parts of north east US.

We thought we would have lots of time to get some tasks done in St Martin prior to our guest’s arrival but the weather this winter in the Caribbean has been rough. High winds (30-40 knots regularly) with lots of rain, torrential rain. As a result, we waited for a weather window to cross the Anegada passage(passage between British Virgins and St Martin, a.k.a. the “O My Godda” passage, as it can be very rough) for 6 days before we felt it would be comfortable passage to sail to St Martin from the BVI. The Anegada passage is only a 90 nautical miles crossing from the most northerly island of the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda, which is usually a 12 hour trip depending on winds and how fast a boat can sail/motor. However, the prevailing winds are out of the east here in the Caribbean and we are also heading east, so the wind is right on our nose, making sailing pretty much impossible. Because the winds had been so strong for so long, the waves also out of the east were pretty sizable at 10- 12’, and to add to this, there was a large swell (8’) running out of the north. These things on their own are not so bad but together are a recipe for a miserable crossing with very confused seas….something I personally am not fond of. So we waited……finally, when we left, the seas had lied down and the winds dropped to 12-15 knots. We had an uneventful crossing but, unfortunately, it was a motor the whole way.

We arrived in Philipsburg harbor on the Dutch side and spent the next few days enjoying the fabulous shopping and the great bars. What fun to behave like a tourist! We also provisioned the boat for our guests with fresh fish, thick slabs of meat and lots and LOTS of wine and French cheeses and baguette. Yum!

Our guests came aboard Mustang Sally at noon on Saturday, tucked their bags into their cabins, got comfortable and we enjoyed a lovely lunch before we lifted the anchor and set sail (motor sail, we were heading east again!) to the beautiful Anse de Columbier (Columbier Bay)western side of the island of St Barths. After a few hours of enjoying the sail we took a mooring ball and our guests were more than happy to have a swim, take advantage of our water toys, relax, and enjoy themselves.

The next day after a big breakfast we sailed to Grande Saline beach. Just another incredibly beautiful beach, where the sand is white and the water azure blue….and some people are NAKED!! Oh the French!! LOL! Everyone took the opportunity to walk the beach, enjoy a swim and snorkel and then lunch before we had a lovely downwind sail to Gustavia Harbour, the charming little main town of St. Barths.

Next day after a quick stroll of Gustavia and the millionaire’s row of mega yachts tied stern to along the quay we sailed to Ile de Forchue, one of my favourite places. Once we were securely tied to the mooring ball everyone enjoyed a refreshing snorkel and some kayaking while Fred, the local barracuda kept an eye on us and begged for scraps from the back of the cat, just like a neighbourhood dog. Not much later 3 of our guests, the adventurous, Eric, his lovely bride, Judy and their good friend, Jobie, decided to hike to the top of one of the large hills on the island (in the hot baking sun!), while Greg, his better half, Mary Beth and Jobie’s husband Mike stayed behind to enjoy cocktails and play Scrabble. We stayed at Ile de Forchue over nite and enjoyed the isolation and “Marslike” desolation of the island, caused by goats which ate all of the vegetation and then starved to death, leaving only red rubble in their wake.

We set sail early the next morning to sail around the southern tip of St. Martin headed for the French side of island to the capital of Marigot where we checked back in to the country and then head up the northwest coast of St Martin, planning stops at Friars Bay, Grand Case, the secluded Tintamarre, Ile de Pinel and finally Orient Beach.

After checking in with customs, we anchored in Friars Bay, looking forward to a fun nite with our guests…. that is until the French coast guard pulled alongside our cat with a strong suggestion (not really a suggestion if you’re readin’ my mail) to move into the lagoon for protection due to a 20 foot swell out of the north which was to arrive that nite and would steadily build over the course of the next 3-4 days. A swell of that magnitude is similar to a small tsunami and could cause severe damage to shorelines and any buildings, boats or people near the coast. There had never been a swell this size in 42 years! Swells are caused by large storms on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Large waves form and roll unheeded to the south, getting bigger as they go. Once they reach more shallow waters, such as the coastlines of the Caribbean islands they become huge as they no longer have the depth of the water to roll in. The French bridge, which is on a schedule to open, was opened early and often to let boat traffic into the lagoon regardless of the delay to car traffic. All boats were directed to the lagoon and all water activities were banned, coastal roads were closed and buildings all along the beaches and coasts were boarded up with some low lying areas completely evacuated. We considered ourselves very lucky to have been in St. Martin when this occurred as the lagoon is considered one of the safest places to be in all of the Caribbean in severe weather.

Unfortunately tho, this meant that the remainder of our guests stay aboard Mustang Sally would be in the lagoon. Not a great place to swim due to the great number of anchored boats and certainly not a very pretty place with more of an industrial feel, as there are many rusted out hulks of work boats. For safety reasons tho, we had to make the best of situation, which we did, by listening to music, playing Scrabble, reading books, engaging in some serious discussion and some not so serious, soaking up sun on the trampolines and eating lots of good food, not to mention imbibing in some of that wine mentioned earlier. We never felt the effects of the swell in the lagoon other than murkier water than normal, but instead, heard and read about the damage. The swell peaked at 13’ in St. Martin which was significant enough to cause some damage but thankfully not as much as was feared if the swell had reached 20’. Other more northerly islands suffered more damage than St. Martin.

We felt sad to see our guests go at the end of their stay with us and although our travel plans to show them all of the beautiful sites were scuttled we still had a great time with them and hope to see them back again so we can show them more than just the lagoon or perhaps other islands.

Till next time….. fair winds.

Barrie Babe's Birthday Cruise

2008-03-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Playing catch up again….and probably always will. Today is March 27th (all ready!) and we are in St Martin but this log will catch you up on what we were up to when the gang of 4, Mike and Christie, and Mike and Christine (I know, it’s hard to keep straight), from our home town, Barrie, Ontario who came to visit from February 24th thru to March 5th.

This cruise was called the birthday cruise as many of my gal pals from home, me included, will be hitting the big 4-0 this year and as we can’t all be together on each other’s actual birthdays so I decided to have a birthday bash while a few were here. I should clarify that Christie was not close to approaching 40 (bitch) but she was more than happy to join in the party. We did a fine job of celebrating. Way to go girls!! The guys didn’t mind at all either!

So, on the 24th of February we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our guests by ferry in Sopers Hole, Tortola. Mustang Sally was loaded with all kinds of thick cuts of meat and fresh fish for the BBQ, cheeses, pates and lots of fresh fruit….not to mention all the wine and beer our lockers could hold. Everyone arrived as scheduled and it was a very kewl feeling to see them on top of the ferry waving like maniacs at us, while we were waving like raving idiots from Mustang Sally back to them. I think the other ferry passengers were snickering at our displays of emotion. Too bad for them and their boring existence!! Unfortunately, Christine’s checked bag was lost. Oh well, this was to be expected if flying thru Puerto Rico and we had encouraged our guests to travel light with carry on only. Maybe they had to check the bag due to all of the goodies they were bringing from home for us? Hmmmm. Seriously tho, when travelling down for a visit on our catamaran, you really don’t need to bring much. Just a couple of bathing suits, flip flops, a sundress for the ladies and t shirts and shorts for the gents. Turned out that Christine didn’t really miss her bag at all after the week was out.

We barely got everyone on board with drinks in hand and appetizers on the table and slipped off the mooring ball headed for the Willy-T’s on Norman Island! No time to waste! WooHoo! It was Sunday nite and we knew that the Willy-T’s would be rocking. We motored as fast as Mustang Sally could go as it was already 7 p.m. and we didn’t want to miss a minute of action. I should know by now that the party doesn’t really start until we get there. Don’t get me wrong, the party is always good at the Willy-T’s but it seems to get kicked up a notch when we show up. With our posse nothing could stop us, and nothing did!!

The next morning was foggy. Not the weather tho, it was gorgeous as usual. It was our heads that were foggy from the nite before! Nothing that Eggs Benny and Mimosas couldn’t cure!! After brekkie we headed to Treasure Point (also on Norman Island) for some serious snorkeling and to further clear any lingering cobwebs. It was the first time for a few to try snorkeling (let’s face it, not much good snorkeling at home on the great lakes)and with noodles for some and a little practice session we all got underway to see the beautiful world that awaits us just below the surface.

Once we all had our fill, we were off to secluded Key Bay on Peter Island. Key Bay is a good spot to chill and relax after a nite of partying. There was only one other boat in the anchorage and so it was close to perfect. We spent the rest of the day sunning, swimming and reading, that is, until the crew on the other boat, Winsome, dinghied over to ask for a small bag of ice for their cocktails. How could we refuse? So, we invited Rolland, Cindy, Adrian and Dave aboard with their cocktails to join us for sundowners. Before you know it, we had a regular party going on. So much for a quiet nite…..

The next morning, we said good bye to the crew on Winsome and had a beautiful close reach to The Baths on Virgin Gorda. Our gang swam into to see the huge granite boulders and everyone appropriately oohed and aahed as we followed the trail that leads thru the boulders. (I would talk more about The Baths but I have written about them many times before in previous logs).
Once back on board we headed to Marina Cay to catch Michael Beans Pirate Show at the Happy Arrr Bar. We had all practiced blowing the conch horn earlier in the day and Cap’n Doug and I had tutored everyone on pirate lore in preparation for the show. We wanted to win shots of rum and maybe even the coveted bottle of Pussers Rum! Doug, Christie and me answered some of the pirate questions correctly and so at one time all three of us were up on stage doing shots together! How fun! Christie was also “volunteered” for the conch blowing contest as she had displayed the most skill at this time honored sundown tradition (?!), and although she didn’t win the contest she got an “A” for effort and many admiring looks from her fellow competitors and audience members who could hardly focus on the task at hand. Way to distract Christie!! This show never fails to send us all back to the cat half in the bag and so to make up for not winning the coveted bottle of Pussers we cracked open our liquor stores and broke out the Pussers Rum and drank some anyway in Cap’n Dougs delicious Painkillers.

We must have looked like a fun bunch on Mustang Sally as we had visitors again that nite from the boat anchored beside us. Bob (who is an acquaintance of ours) and two of his buddies that he was teaching to sail thot they would come around and say hi. Cap’n Doug swears that all the pretty girls on board bring the riff raff around! Needless to say, we had a very late dinner of BBQ shish ka bobs and off to bed quite late to see what the next day would bring us.

Turned out, the next day brought fog again, again not the weather. After a scrumptious breakfast, that not all could enjoy, as it seemed some were a little more sensitive to the gentle sway of the cat after the previous nites libations, we headed out, bound for Gorda Sound. We were happy to leave Marina Cay as the wind had piped up and there was quite a swell rolling thru the anchorage despite the protective reef. Again, we enjoyed an exhilarating close reach with the wind blowing a steady 18-20 knots, while Mustang Sally, even while loaded for bear with all of our provisions and 6 people aboard still hauled ass at 11 knots. The sun was high in the blue sky and conditions couldn’t have been more perfect for our sail. Mike and Mike enjoyed the best seats in the house for the ride of their lives. The two each chose bow seats to really feel the salt spray and enjoy the view. Unfortunately what they didn’t know was at this point of sail they would get a lot more than just salt spray. Depending on which tack we were on, each of the Mike’s received torrents of water crashing over him. Cap’n Doug, who was at the helm and the 3 ladies, who were sunning themselves on the sun pads high and dry in the cockpit, watched with tons of enthusiasm as each wave crashed over the Mike’s. With Cap’n Doug yelling “Here’s come a REALLY big one, Mike’s gonna get it!” the three girls would point, scream and laugh every time. After a few hours, I got to wondering why the guys didn’t come back to the cockpit and dry out. I mentioned that perhaps the guys didn’t feel safe enough to maneuver to the cockpit from the bow seats. Hmmmm. Sure enough when we sailed back into the lee of the island the guys came back to the cockpit, cursing us for leaving them stuck up there. Between the salt covered deck and the how fast the cat was moving, they didn’t feel it was safe enough to leave the bow seats and seek shelter. The poor Mike’s were freezing but after toweling off and sitting in the warm sun out of the wind with a bit o’ rum in their glass they were warm and happy as clams again in no time.

We anchored in the lee of Prickly Pear Island where there was a small white sandy beach surrounded by very steep rock face and we it had all to ourselves. Kudos to Cap’n Doug for spotting it! We all swam into the beach, which wasn’t far, and Mike M. got a fire ready for later on that evening. What a more perfect idea than a fire on the beach at nite! Though, after everyone helped make a delish dinner we are all too tired to head to the beach and enjoy the fire we had planned :(. All of the partying and sailing had caught up with us. Oh well! A good nites sleep would have us all feeling rested and we could party hard again the next day!
The next morning we got a mooring ball in front of the pretty and isolated Saba Rock. As everyone was feeling up to snuff after their good nites sleep, I brilliantly thot we should go for a wee hike and show them some of the posh and laid back Bitter End Yacht Club, as well as some of Biras Creek resort . It was a hot hike with the sun beating down on us and so, we felt we deserved a hearty lunch at the Bitter End Pub with some refreshments. Ahhhh! Perhaps a nap is in order now…..

That nite the gang got a bit dressed up and we dinghied into Saba Rock for their fabulous buffet of 3 different roasts to dine on (lamb, prime rib, and ham! Yum! )plus a great salad bar and all the side dishes to boot. We always receive great service from the David, the general manager, and his staff at Saba Rock and we were not disappointed again. After our bellies were full with food and wine, we enjoyed a nightcap and happily hit the hay.

Cap’n Doug and I wanted to take the gang and show them some world class snorkeling so we headed out the next morning with our waypoint set for Monkey Point on Guana Island. We made Bloody Caesars, cranked the tunes and had a fabulous downwind sail where this time it was safe for everyone to be up on the sun pads on the trampolines and the bow seats, without getting wet. Everyone kept their eyes peeled for dolphins but we didn’t see any :(. The snorkeling was pretty good tho at Monkey Point altho not as good as we have seen it before but we still enjoyed the swim, the sun and the chance to chill before we shared another delicious meal together. We managed to crank it up a notch that nite and just the 6 of us partied together without any unexpected visitors.

Another downwind sail the next morning after brekkie, this time headed for Cane Garden Bay on the north side of Tortola. After a wee bit of provisioning at Bobby’s Market, (more beer and wine) we planned on lying on the beach whilst drinking Margaritas. Mustang Sally doesn’t often moor in Cane Garden Bay due to the amount of crime. The young locals think it’s fun to untie painter lines on dinghy’s at the dinghy dock and watch them float out to the Atlantic Ocean past Jost Van Dyke. Or worse, the older local youth actually steal the dinghies with their expensive outboards. We had heard many stories to this effect on the Caribbean Safety and Security Net on our single side band radio as well as read many stories in the Caribbean Compass newspaper, so we were well aware of the dangers. We felt safe enough as we always lock our dinghy with heavy chain and a stout lock and we have an alarm system onboard Mustang Sally, but that doesn’t mean we want to visit these types of places regularly. We reasoned, however, that it might be fun for the gang to see this popular hangout and as it was Friday to see Quito and The Edge play at the popular Quito’s Bar and restaurant that nite. Sure enough while we were laying on the beach lounge chairs we heard some people who had been swimming in the water yelling at local kids who were sitting inside dinghies untying painter lines tied to the dock. The swimmers were lucky they noticed what was going on as their dinghy just happened to float past them while they swam in the bay. Mike C. ran down to the dinghy dock to deal with these kids but they seemed to be oblivious of the damage they were causing and smugly replied that the dinghies had all come free on their own because they must not have been tied properly. The local officials did little but to come and speak briefly to the boys and then back their stories up. We decided shortly after that that we didn’t need to spend our good money in a place that does nothing to protect its visitors and we made tracks for Diamond Key on Jost Van Dyke, where we would anchor over nite, which was just fine with all of us. We enjoyed a big pasta dinner and red wine and “sort of” behaved that nite.

Next morning we hiked to the Bubbly Pool. We were hoping for a good north swell as this is what really makes the Bubbly Pool so famous. The waves which travel from the north Atlantic are forced thru a small crevice which forces incredible suction and huge wave action in a relatively small pool of water. It’s a hoot and never fails to produce lots of laughter. The waves weren’t as big as we hoped but everyone got the idea and still enjoyed the medium sized waves that did come crashing thru.

After our hike back to the dinghy we were ready for a swim again. A short motor had us at the breathtaking Sandy Spit with its white sand and palm trees. Almost everyone swam ashore while the dinghy brought the cooler bag with coldies and pretzels (Hey, ya gotta have coldies, its hot here in the tropics!). We walked around the island, which doesn’t take long, and then plunked our butts in the white sand to enjoy the sun and the view and thank our lucky stars that we get to visit paradise.

After we managed to get the sand out of our shorts and everyone had their fill of the deserted island we enjoyed a short sail with jib only to Great Harbour, also on Jost Van Dyke. We then dinghied into shore and enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the “The Settlement” while fulfilling a little retail therapy request at Foxy’s store (you can’t go home empty handed!). Our gang of 6 was on a mission to find good fresh lobster for dinner that nite so, we scouted out the restaurants in Great Harbor based on price and weight and settled on Ali Baba’s for dinner where we had a delicious Caribbean dinner with lots of local colour and flavour. We had been invited over to our friend Ed’s beautiful catamaran, Shearwater, for after dinner cocktails which we were more than happy to oblige. Our gang had not yet met our friend Ed whom we had only met a few weeks prior. It’s like that here in the cruiser world, you become fast friends quite easily with people as you already have a lot in common and it’s a small world, and there was no exception with Ed. We made plans to party with Ed the next day at White Bay, which was just around the corner, to help us celebrate our “birthdays” at Soggy Dollar.

Mike and Christie and Mike and Christine were only with us for another 2 full days so we thot it would be a nice idea to hang out at the relaxing and beautiful White Bay beach for their last days. They happily agreed when they saw how beautiful it really is. We had plans to hang out and kayak and swim in the morning and then hit the Soggy Dollar for the afternoon before heading back to the cat for steak dinner and Pineapple Rum birthday cake. What a more perfect birthday I could not imagine! Ed was true to his word and joined us at the Soggy for numerous Painkillers and Carib’s. After awhile, a swim was in order so we headed back to Mustang Sally and cooled off in the water before making a big batch of margaritas. Uh- oh! That spells trouble with a capital T! And it proved to be true; as we partied well into the nite with the tunes cranked and we all thoroughly enjoyed our steak dinner and birthday cake while wearing “Happy Birthday” tiaras for the ladies. Cap’n Doug and Mike M. made sure Ed got home safely in the dinghy much, much later that nite.

The next day was the last full day and everyone wisely chose to take it easy this day as no one wanted to spend a very long travel day the next day with hangovers. We hung out at Ivan’s Stress Free Bar and had burgers for lunch and spent the after chillin’ on the beach trying hard to absorb as much of the sun and sand as possible as to take with them in their heads to remember on the cold days still to come at home.

The girls were in the galley for the last time preparing our last delicious meal together and I was feeling quite melancholy as that was what I loved and missed so much about home was just hanging with the femmes in the kitchen and gossiping and laughing while preparing appetizers or dinner and sipping wine. Over dinner everyone spent a lot of time reminiscing about the last 10 days and how much fun it was, bursting out in laughter when we remembered something especially funny.

The next morning we motored over to Sopers Hole where we would see them off on the ferry that first brought them to us. Hardly anyone was talking and it was obvious that it no one was really looking forward to the long day of travel ahead of them and getting back to the grind at home. Christine’s luggage was waiting, intact, for her at the ferry dock where it had spent the last 9 days. Sheesh! We said good bye at the ferry terminal with big hugs all around and me bawling as usual (never good at goodbyes!). When Doug and I saw that the ferry was ready to leave the dock we slipped Mustang Sally off her mooring so we could be beside the ferry as she transited out of the anchorage and we waved goodbye like idiots, again.