Christmas in the Islands

Upon arrival to the beautiful island of Antigua, one of our favorite stopovers, we enjoyed many new things which we had missed last visit in May. The steel drum BBQ party at Shirley Heights mentioned in the last blog was one of these memorable evenings.

Seasonally, we arrived this time officially during “tourist season”. But we were very surprised at the lack of tourists. It seems the world economy has been seriously affected as well. Beachfront hotels with glorious beaches, normally swarming with tourists, are shuttered and empty, looking like they are waiting for an incoming hurricane. Sailing around the island we estimated about one in five hotels to be open with any sizeable clientele. The locals are putting on their best, bravest faces, yet it is evident in discussing the realities of the economy that this means a huge drop in their income for the year. Being from a resort community, we can certainly sympathize with their plight.

A few days following the Shirley Heights BBQ party, we sailed around the island to a beautiful anchorage called Green Island. A large reef surrounded the anchorage, which afforded some terrific snorkeling, much like in the Tobago Cays further down at the Grenadine Islands. We enjoyed a couple of delightful days there with our friends from Magic and Matsu and stayed a few days before returning to the anchorage at English Harbor.

Suz and I had been to English Harbour before and wished to return to another of our favorite Antiguan spots, Jolly Harbuor. The others were first timers to this neat place and wished to continue their exploration of that area so, a few days before Christmas, we sailed off alone up and around the west side of Antigua. We anchored in a familiar spot and enjoyed some time alone there before returning to the group on Christmas Eve day. We had planned a Christmas feast to include the six couples, which had done the most traveling together and had purchased some turkeys in Martinique a few weeks prior in anticipation of the holiday party.

As one might expect, the festivities actually began Christmas Eve and lasted well through Boxing Day, which is celebrated the day after Christmas in many of these former British islands. The actual Christmas day festivities started with an afternoon at the famous Nelson’s Dockyard with a live band supplying surprisingly good reggae music and various qualities of Champagne, donated by the cruising community. The champagne was available by the bottle, to be purchased out of a huge bathtub affair to benefit the local Antiguan charities. The local folks all come to share this celebration with the boaters and the party really is going full blast by suppertime. They have a big grill going where various meats are being BBQ’d for purchase as well.

Our actual Christmas feast was a thing we’ll recall for years to come as each couple brought something either assigned or chosen from their holiday “family favorites”. We brought a special cranberry relish. It is always well received and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Other dishes included: 2 medium sized whole turkeys, English-style roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, fresh ambrosia citrus salad, Waldorf salad, roasted Brussel sprouts with parmesan cheese, steamed broccoli, two styles of stuffing, candied Caribbean style yams, and two delicious pies, one a traditional mincemeat, the other a Canadian maple syrup tart similar to what we know as pecan pie without the pecans. All in all, everyone pushed away from the tables over-stuffed and ready to dance off a few of these newly consumed calories.

The next morning, the group reconvened at the dockyard to recall the previous night’s fun and some to continue the party. Since it was Carol’s birthday, Jake suggested a Bloody Mary might be just the elixir for the morning-after palate. We joined them for “just one” and after a short pub-crawl style afternoon, we quietly slipped off to our boat for a night of quiet.

The next day, several of us relocated to Jolly Harbor in preparation to move on from Antigua early next week. The weather seems to be favorable for a mid-week move, so most are planning on a jump either to Barbuda (30 miles away) or St. Martin (45 miles away). We have planned to see Barbuda as it is reported to be quite a special place with unique bird habitat and outstanding reefs for snorkeling. From there we will head over to St. Martin for a quick layover before continuing to the Virgins where we need to be in time to meet our friends Joe and MK Ghiglia on January 7. They will be with us for 10 days. Then, a few days later, daughter Nancy will arrive for her week aboard.

Some of you know we have accepted a sale contract on our boat and will be delivering her for survey and sea trial in Tortola in mid-January. If all proves acceptable (and what’s not to like about this beautiful boat?!?!) she will be handed over to her new owners February 10 at Tortola, BVI. So our next month will be especially meaningful as we prepare to leave one adventure to begin another.

We have a busy month coming up, which sadly will see the parting of several of our cruising friends. Keesje II (Peter and Wendy), Daniell Storey (Dave and Michelle), and Matsu (Tim and Linda) will all be off on their own from the rest of us as they either start back south or stay behind for whatever desired reason. It will be a bittersweet goodbye as we part, but the memories we’ve made together will remain life long.

Pics from Antigua

Tim and Linda

The Path to Shirley Heights and the town festival

Steel Drum Band at Shirley Heights

Our New Boat! (???)

Gotta Be Sticker-less in the Saintes

English Harbour - Antigua

English and Falmoputh Harbours

St. Lucia to Martinique to Antigua

I think I spoke too soon about the good luck we’ve been having concerning boat repairs. Sometimes just saying how lucky one is, seem to make things bite you in the butt. It’s our pesky generator this time. This piece of equipment re-powers the batteries, which in turn, run all the electrical systems on the boat. Fortunately, most boats have redundant sources of power and ours is no exception. We have two powerful alternators on each primary engine, as well as the faulty generator. The down side to using these optional sources is that the main engines must be started (or at least one of them) to produce power to re-charge the batteries. These much larger motors consume much more fuel and provide considerably less power for the energy consumed. So, although running the mains to re-charge the battery bank is an option, it is not the most efficient way to supply electricity to your power supply.

Before going further into the generator issue, let’s back up and review our experiences at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. Rodney Bay is a major cruisers stopover spot, complete with major repair facilities, a huge marina with multiple slips for boats to dock, and lots of shopping opportunities for all things boaters need. Upon our approach to the anchorage, Suz mentioned that she was concerned that somehow part of one of her teeth had either broken off or a larger filing had come out as there was a definite missing part in her mouth. Concerns like this do not go lightly in the cruising community as dental assistance on some of the islands must be pretty primitive. We, however, were soon to be in a large city where a dentist should certainly be available. We checked our cruising guide and found a dentist advertised in the town we were to anchor, and planned on heading that way first thing in the morning to check it out.

When we arrived at the address, we found a modern office building, and a neat and clean dental reception area with receptionists who spoke flawless English, even though this was a French-speaking island. They were just opening the office for the day as we arrived and our inquiries about the availability of an examination were greeted with a “no problem” response. They would simply call the dentist and she would come immediately to the office to see Suz. No waiting, no appointment. Once the dentist arrived, Suz was escorted into the examination room where… oh well… I’ll let Suz tell the rest of the story…
A very efficient dental assistant sat me in the chair and explained that I had lost a part of my tooth. By this time, the dentist had arrived. She was a very well spoken St. Lucian who had studied both in Cuba and the US(FL and CA). I was very curious about this as we had high hopes of somehow visiting Cuba while out at sea but looks like that will have to wait. At any rate, she felt she had gotten the best of both worlds. In Cuba, she felt that she had gotten a lot of training as the locals were more than ready to be available for any medical help they could get asap as it is socialized medicine and there are long waits. So, even though she was a novice, they didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact. In the US, she had more technical training. This seemed like a well rounded education to me. She went into more detail than the assistant saying that my filling was large and, of course, old and making sure I understood exactly what my options were going to be. One option was to get a crown and I wish we were going to be there long enough to do that as it is half to one third the cost of the same ordeal in the US. And, I felt she was very capable of doing the crown. But, we were not going to be in St. Lucia long enough. Within fifteen minutes she did a bonding procedure and I was out the door. I was very impressed with the professionalism of the office and the dentist. It was a very pleasant experience.


We had completed a beautiful sail from Rodney Bay to the south coast of Martinique to the port town of Le Marin where we had decided to stay for a night or two to explore the southern coast of this beautiful French island. All of our traveling companion boats had done this passage together and had settled into the congested anchorage at Le Marin on Friday night. Depending on changes in the weather and what we found ashore to delay our northern path, we all decided to stay at least one night to see what the port town had to offer us cruisers. We went ashore to look around, found a very nice internet connection spot conveniently located inside the local pub, and several large marine stores, a couple of very large grocery discount stores, and a few trendy boutiques; something for everyone.

We shopped a bit for groceries to re-provision the pantry and re-stocked the beer closet (always an important responsibility! That night we had cocktail hour at a new friend’s boat, Boadventura. These folks are another Brit couple whom we met at the Grenada Marina and stayed at the same hotel in Grenada awaiting our boats being re-launched upon our arrival in early November. A very nice couple who had recently retired from the wine business after 40 years as a wine merchant in England. When we returned to our boat to make ourselves some supper, we decided to watch the sunset from our elevated back cockpit seat. We decided to run the gen-set to up the battery bank’s charge while we enjoyed our “sundowners” (this is a common boating phrase meaning: “happy hour cocktails”). As we were sitting there, Suz noticed an unusual smell of hot or burning rubber. We walked up to the front of the boat to check on the generator and found it smoking badly from the exhaust ports. Quickly heading for the cabin to shut it down, we arrived at the switch just in time to witness the automatic overheating shut-off switch go into action. Upon opening the Generator hatch for further inspection, we discovered the engine had run itself out of coolant water, blown the radiator cap and split a connecting hose down the side from the excessive heat; not a good sight. Since by now it was nearly dark, we deferred further inspection for morning light and retired to the inside to imagine the worst for the generator engine.

In the morning, our friends Dave and Tim arrived to assist in diagnostics of our mechanical situation. With these two very mechanically adept mariners assisting, we prepared a list of parts which needed to be replaced in an attempt to get it going again. Being Saturday, we weren’t too optimistic about the availabilities of these various hoses and such. But lo and behold, I was able to find all but one of the parts right at the harbor where we were anchored. Returning to the boat, Dave did most of the re-installing (he actually ENJOYS! doing this stuff) as I watched and learned. After the final part was installed we cranked it up and thankfully, she ran, sounded like it, should but was not drawing cooling water from the sea. We further inspected the water pump and such and determined it was fine but somehow the feed line wasn’t pulling water into the engine. After a long exhausting day, we decided she needed professional help and that would have to come further up the chain of islands. I got on the phone and found that Antigua has a several solid repair yards available and, since we had already decided to spend a good deal of time on this our favorite island of the entire Caribbean, we would wait for our arrival there to engage the services of a repair technician.

That night, we entertained Dave and Donna for supper aboard our boat as a thank you for Dave’s sweaty work performance in the forward hatch. We BBQ’d some chicken and ribs and Suz made some good old fashioned potato salad. Everyone enjoyed a fine meal and headed off to bed before too long.

Sunday morning we decided to “yank the anc” and head off to another spot. We moved on up the island to Fort d’France, the capitol city of Martinique. We anchored under the former French fort and enjoyed a couple of days in this large island town, spending one day searching out additional parts for another unsuccessful attempt at fixing the generator problem ourselves. We also spent a night wandering the town seeing their holiday lighting and watching the town come alive as the sun went further into the sea. We were all becoming somewhat restless after a couple of days in this large city and we, being actually “allergic to cities”, made the decision to pull up again and head off to the top of this beautiful island to the town of St. Pierre. This is the city which was destroyed in the volcanic eruption early in the 1900’s. We had visited here on our trip south and it really was an interesting stopover this time, as well.

We only stayed one night at St. Pierre as the weather looked promising for the jump across to Iles d’ Saintes, off of Guadeloupe, the next northerly island. This too was a favorite place last season and we hoped to spend a few days or a week there. We found the small anchorage we so enjoyed last season very untenable due to swells so we had to anchor at a different bay which was just OK. We did enjoy fresh baguettes from the local bakery each morning, remembering how good they are fresh from the oven. After two days, three of the five traveling companion boats (us included) decided to take advantage of a short weather opportunity to continue north toward Antigua. It would take two days of sailing but if the weather forecast was accurate, we would have a descent sail in mid-sized seas (6-9 ft. waves.)

We left early the next morning and headed out under a promising blue sky dawn in light winds. Rounding the point of the island we found, as expected, a more brisk wind and larger seas. The sailing was superb all day and we made terrific time across the passage to Guadeloupe and up the western coastline to a small anchorage half-way up. We all settled in for the night without checking in with customs. Since were not leaving our boats or going ashore, we didn’t have the legal need to clear in/out of customs. During the day, we all received, independently, new weather reports, which showed deteriorating weather for l’Saintes islands. Upon arrival that night, we invited the other two boats over to ours for a Margarita night to celebrate our wisdom in leaving when we did, as the two boats who opted to stay just a “few more days” appeared to be stuck for maybe a week or two.

First light the next morning, we pulled anchors and headed on across the passage between Guadeloupe and Antigua. Again, it was one of the best sailing days we’d had all season and although the seas were taller (9-12ft) they were well spaced so it felt more like a roll than a smash as we passed through them. We averaged over 7kts for the 6 hour leg and arrived happily into Antigua a couple of hours ahead of our ETA. We anchored at English Harbour and cleared customs at once and were snug at anchorage by 4pm, just in time to enjoy another gorgeous Caribbean sunset. Are they ever NOT glorious?!?!

The next day was Sunday, so we couldn’t do any generator repair arranging, but we made all the plans to do so early on Monday. We did, however, attend a weekly celebration at an old British outpost way up on top of the harbor called Shirley Heights. This is a party for tourists and locals alike which features a steel drum band in the afternoon and an electric Reggae band after dark. A big BBQ is offered along with the usual refreshments. The six of us (Dave and Donna, Tim and Linda and us) chose to take the “shortcut route” up a long, very steep path through some rather thick vegetation, rather than spend cash for a taxi. It took us about a half hour to get up there, but we were rewarded with some spectacular sights along the walk. Once there, we all enjoyed the music and food and then decided to return down the same path in the dark! Not the easiest route, nor perhaps the wisest decision we ever made, but no injuries were had.

Early Monday, we moved the boat around the corner of the island to Falmouth Harbor to connect with the mechanics for the needed repairs. We needed to dock the boat at a marina so that the mechanics could easily come aboard and assess the situation. We were lucky to find a space on a dock as the previous week had been the big Super Yacht Regatta where gazillion dollar boats come into Antigua for a “race”. The opulance of these yachts was something to behold. It was interesting to consider the fact that these vessels were simply their owner’s boats or toys. We wondered aloud about their other “toys”, and what their primary residences, let alone their second, third and how many other homes they may have.

The mechanics were efficient and we decided to remove the generator form the forward hold to allow them to do the work in their shop. After a few hours of preparing to remove the engine from the boat, we hoisted it out with our main halyard (the rope which lifts the main sail) and placed it on a cart on the dock. This was done with no fewer than six of us doing various duties to insure safe and secure removal from the tight-fitting hold. The engine is now in their hands and once they diagnose and identify a parts list, I will need to get on-line and source these replacement parts, have them air shipped via FED-X to the island and they will do the repairs. Then, we will need to put everything back where it was in the boat and hope it all works. I will be heading over the repair place in a few minutes to see what they’ve discovered and then hopefully be able to begin the sourcing process.

Since we have intended to stay here through Christmas, hopefully with our other cruising friends catching up with us by then, the timing for the repairs should work out fine, if all goes as expected. We just returned from the repair facility and they have reassembled the generator and have it ready to re-install in the morning. We will then fire it up and if all goes well, we'll be making electricity in no time at all. If not... well, let's just go with "it should be ready to go in the morning!" Keep you fingers crossed!

Thanksgiving Pictures

More Pics

   Happy Campers

   St. Vincent - The Pitons in the distance

  Dave and Donna from Magic

    Clifton Harbor Island Beach Bar - Union Island 

Union Island shops

Time to Move On Again!

After six glorious days floating and relaxing in Friendship Bay, Bequia, until just before Thanksgiving, we decided to strike out on what we dubbed a “camping trip”. Since we had to miss the Tobago Cays on our way north from Grenada this trip, we decided to revisit that lovely set of islands for a few days of world-class snorkeling and exploring.

It was an easy day sail back to the south to the Cays, where we anchored in the gin-clear water among some twenty or so other boats. The Toabago Cays is a National Park for the St. Vincent and Grenadines, as it is one of the most spectacularly beautiful areas we’ve ever seen. It is a reasonable large area so we didn’t feel crowded at all. The Cays, or islands, are enclosed by a horseshoe shaped reef which protects them from the brunt of the Atlantic, just on the other side of the reef system, due east. It seems very odd to see large waves approach from the open ocean from the east, then watch them hit the reef and dissolve into mere ripples as they approach your boat. Because of this reef, the anchorage is very still and quiet although the wind continues to come in, unabated at a good clip. This allows for a bug free anchorage and a constant cooling breeze.

One thing we remembered from our visit here last Spring, was that there are many large sea turtles in the anchorage. They seem to “welcome” each boat into their chosen spot by coming near the boat, surfacing to get a breath, then diving below the surface into the safety of the depth below. Then, several times during one’s stay, they would resurface, from nowhere, to “check us out” then scurry below again as if we’d frightened them. They truly are curious and beautiful sea creatures.

Early in this season’s travels, we reunited with a couple of boats we’d just begun to know last season. When we arrived in the Tobago Cays, we found them again and settled in near them at anchor. They had traveled with us to Friendship Bay, Bequia, and were part of an original consideration for a Thanksgiving get together. They had gotten itchy to move from Bequia before we were ready, and had moved back down to the Tobago Cays since they had missed them as well this year. Once we settled in, we were all together for cocktails and dinner aboard the English monohull Magic (Dave and Donna) with another English couple, Linda and Tim (of Matsu) to plan a Thanksgiving round up. Interestingly, Dave and Donna had been living in Minnesota for several years prior to coming sailing, and had found Thanksgiving to be one of their favorite “adopted” holidays.

The Thanksgiving party was planned as a pot luck on Matsu, a beautiful 50’ wooden monohull. One couple had found a turkey breast and was bringing that, Suz and I made a lovely chicken & pasta salad, Another couple made some bread and hummus for appetizers, The host and hostess made some delicious chicken pot pies with stuffing as well as a superb cranberry/sweet potato/bread pudding and some chocolate brownies for dessert. There were mashed potatoes and gravy as well as some cranberry relish. All inj all, it was the traditional American style Thanksgiving pig-out. Everyone left for home thoroughly sated and was ready for bed before long.

The following days were spent reef snorkeling and hiking the cays. We swam with some nurse sharks at one site and saw a school(?) of small squid at another. Each snorkel place was special in its own right and we felt glad that we made the decision to go “camping” back down in the Cays. It really felt like we had gone to a National Park for a good re-connection with nature.

Friday morning we decided to head over to another of our favorite spots, Salt Whistle Bay on the island Mayreau. The others were still deciding when and where to head and wound up following us as we left the Cays. Once inside Salt Whistle bay, we found the anchorage to be untenable with rollers, so we rounded the small island to different bay and found calmer waters for the night’s anchorage.

In the morning, it was decided that a return trip to Union Island was the right choice for clearance out of the country, even though we would be back-tracking an additional 10 miles or so to get clearance. As Union Island, and its port town of Clifton, is not one of our favorite spots and we regretted returning to that port, even for a short stop. We arrived at Clifton and proceeded to clear customs and did some quick provisioning for some necessities like beer and bread. We were back aboard before noon and quickly began our windward slog into the waves back toward Bequia.

This trip turned into what we have to term a real “exhauster”. The wind and waves were coming from the worst possible angles and sailing or motoring into them both made for a very long and uncomfortable passage. When we finally arrived into Admiralty Bay, Beqia in the dark (something we never like to do!) around 8pm and were glad to take a mooring ball for the night as we both were near exhaustion after the long day. Anchoring in the dark can be quite the experience as it is never quite as comforting as planting the hook in the light and “seeing” that you are securely down. Therefore, a ball was the right answer after that tough day bouncing about. We crawled into bed soon after a snack and slept hard all night long.

We planned on stopping in Bequia for the night, as weather was kicking up for the next few days, allowing us only one short window to get north before weather forced a possible week-long delay in northbound travel. When we arose early that morning, we were not sure we felt ready for another day of pounding through the seas, and considered waiting for the next good window to move on. Yet, after a cup of coffee and a clearer head, we decided we had been on BEquia long enough already and should push on , knowing that if the trip became to bad, we could always turn around and return to wait out the storm. The trip to St. Lucia, two islands up the chain proved much kinder than the one the previous day. Although we had to go further, and across a large open-to-the-Atlantic passage, we maintained good speed and direction to minimize the larger uncomfortable swells.

Since St. Vincent, the in-between island, has a reputation among cruisers for being somewhat unfriendly and somewhat sketchy in terms of security, we decided to forgo a visit there and sail past it to the former French Island of St. Lucia. We all arrived in St. Lucia after a long, but more pleasant sailing day where Mother Nature really displayed some of her finest works. As we passed th beautiful Piton mountains, rainbows abounded as squalls surrounded us, in the distance, with dramatic dark clouds, while whales rose off our port side close enough to nearly touch. We were so surprised to see them that unfortunately they were gone before our cameras could be turned on! We arrived into Marigot Bay on St. Bequia near dark after a much more relaxing day “out there”. We will head ashore here to clear into the country before heading north to Rodney Bay later today. Our intent is to stay in Rodney Bay for a few days as it is a major cruisers hub for food provisioning and boat repairs, the former we need, the latter, thankfully, we don’t. We have only had to make minor fixes on the boat so far, nothing unusual. We hope this trend continues as floating problems cause major concern since one never knows to what extent the problem may manifest. As an example, on the long arduous trip from Union Island, Suz, during our periodic checking of the engine compartments, found a water drip in one engine. We shut down that engine and since the seas were so rough it was decided to forgo restarting it until we could go below without upchucking to inspect the source of the leak. Since it was not a major spraying, we knew it was not likely something major, so it could wait until the morning. That morning we found a hose clamp totally loose on a part the marina had replaced for us this summer. The installer had neglected to tighten a hose clamp and this allowed for water to seep through the fitting. A quick tightening and we were ready to go once again. Simple fix, good news. These kind of repairs quickly surpress the anxiety of a blown engine block which is also considered during times of uncertain repair needs. As non-mechanic types we like these easy fixes!

More Bequia

Bequia

So here we sit.

We arrived into Bequia last Wednesday, almost a week ago, expecting to stay only a couple of nights. We found a beautiful bay anchorage at Friendship Bay on the south coast of this most comfortable, tiny island. There is a rather posh resort about 200 yards off our port side, ashore, where guests must be paying upwards of $500 per day for a room. We sit out here, at no daily fee, enjoying the same view, the same breeze, and the same superb white sand beach and crystal clear water. It seems somewhat surreal.

Upon our arrival to Bequia, we had heard that a rather uncomfortable NW’ly swell was heading toward the island and that boats in the main anchorage at Admiralty Bay around the corner of the island would be open to seas between them and this large swell. It was expected that the swell, anticipated to be upwards of 13 feet would arrive on Friday last, so we stayed in the more protected anchorage we chose upon arrival. For those unclear about what a swell is, most swells are just rolling waves which are natural in the open sea. The anticipated swell we had been warned about consisted of a rather over-zealous version of the normally sized ones. For this version, think of a mini-tsunami, like the one which devastated the Indian Ocean’s mainland after the horrible under sea earthquake a few years ago. Friday came and went, however, and no damaging swells occurred on the island so we decided to stay put in this idyllic spot we had chosen for a couple of more days. The internet was free and the connectivity was strong, the beach was white sand, the snorkeling was superb and we felt somewhat mesmerized by the location’s splendor.

Since Thanksgiving was coming, many of the boaters have begun to try to make some sort of plans for the holiday. We decided that since our anchorage was so nice, we’d just stay put until Wednesday, then move around the point to the larger and more populated Admiralty Bay for the feast day. No matter what George Bush says, down here, weather is always the great decider. With an appealing weather window opening of late, some of the boats have made decisions to move on sooner that Thanksgiving so the anticipated Turkey Day celebration seems somewhat anticlimactic at this point. We will stay on the island until Friday. However, then move north to St. Vincent to a harbor called Wallibalou, another of the outrageously beautiful sites used for the filming of the last Pirates of the Caribbean film. From there, we will continue north to St. Lucia hoping to arrive sometime early next week.

There is talk amongst the cruising community about attempting to get a gathering together at Antigua for the Christmas holiday, but after watching the plans for Thanksgiving unravel so quickly, I hold less hope for a holiday gathering to happen there either. So, the old phrase, one must be his own captain, continues to hold true out here. Plans, no matter how well intended seem to be always the second import to the opportunities presented when the weather turns, either good or bad.

Before our arrival into Bequia, we stayed at Carriacou for about a week before heading off to Union Island where we checked in, then anchored at an adjoining island we enjoyed so much onj our way down, Mayreau. It was at a pretty spot called Saline Bay. Nice anchorage but the rain was relentless. Oddly, when we returned to Grenada in November, we found the rain clouds seemed to act like we were the character “Pigpen” from the old Charlie Brown comic strip. They always seemed to be following us around. So we left Saline Bay when we heard that the weather had improved north of us. After a rough 7 hour passage across the open Atlantic waters between Mayreau and Bequia we arrived into Friendship Bay where we still sit, comfortably at anchor.

We have really enjoyed our stay here in Bequia, as the weather has been perfect and the island very friendly and accommodating to the cruising community. Yesterday, we took a rather strenuous hike around the coastline of this end f the island to a point where one could view the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas at once. It was quite a breathtaking site. We have also found our way into the town nearby to purchase provisions, even stopping for lunch at a quite good pizza joint where we enjoyed a good conversation with another cruising couple we met last year who also are from Colorado, Margo and Bob from Ivory Star. Tomorrow, we’ll head, via local bus, back into the town to re-provision, then return to our boat for Thanksgiving.

Non-cruising friends often ask: “What do you DO all day?”, as if we must feel bored not having to fill our days with the usual work-a-day activities. Since we’ve been back, we’ve made several boat repairs, done a thorough cleaning of the entire boat (as we found mealy moth infestation upon our return to Grenada!), we’ve enjoyed some shopping for food and boat parts, snorkeled a few times, hiked a bit and spent time catching up on some intended reading. Not quite the grind, many of us are used to, but still we keep active.

We are finding that we enjoy the exploring and adventure more that the repeat of re-visiting familiar places. We regret we weren’t able to go west to Bonaire and up across the big Caribbean to the Virgins but the return trip north, this way, will allow us a chance to visit some islands we either skipped past on the way south or where we felt we’d like to make a more thorough exploration. Stay tuned…

New function added to view Map of our journeys

Hello all! Please note the message at the top right of this blog... and the interactive map at the bottom of the page. Please enjoy! Now you can track where we've been!

Love Rick and Suz

Back to Grenada... back off the hard.

Life in the tropics sounds so idyllic. Lush vegetation... cool ocean breezes... clear azure water everywhere... happy, industrious locals eager to complete your every request in a timely and professional manner. Some of the above is very true. Some is a bit of a stretch and some is a ball-faced exaggeration. Guess which is which.

Our return trip to the boat was just ahead of the approaching snow storms readying to hit our Steamboat Springs home. Whew! We escaped just in time! Making our return from Colorado, via Savannah to visit Suz' Pop for a week, we arrived at Miami International for what we found out would be the inaugural direct flight from Miami to Grenada. Once at our departure gate, we found a festive atmosphere of balloons, wine & cheese, snacks, lots of formally dressed dignitaries making speeches into a portable PA system set up in the seating area. It seems this direct flight has been a long time in the making and this, being the first one, is a pretty big deal to the Grenadian government.

Once airborne, we settled in for the 3.5 hour flight and were surprised to be greeted individually by some of the dignitaries whom were returning home from the Miami festivities. Then Ministers of Finance, Tourism, and someone else slowly made their way through the plane greeting each of us and welcoming us to their homeland, Grenada. It was pretty interesting as it was like some of our US cabinet members were traveling on the same plane as we were to make us feel welcome for our visit to the US!

landing at Grenada International, we deplaned into the hot humid evening air and walked the short distance to the terminal where we were met with more balloons, a steel local children’s drum band some rum punch and a festive atmosphere which indicated that more Grenadian dignitary speeches would be forthcoming. We waited patiently in line to clear through the customs gates, all the while enjoying our rum punches and the short walk to retrieve our bags from the luggage carousel.

Once our bags were found we loaded them atop each other to roll them out of the terminal. Once outside we were to find our hotel’s driver, Mr. Boney. Sure enough, he was waiting for us and quickly loaded our stuff into his van for the 15 minute trip to our lovely hotel. It was about 10pm when we left the airport, and although we ate some food in the Miami airport, we were still a bit hungry. He informed us that the staff had placed a fresh fruit plate, a large bottle of water and a couple of beers in our room fridge for our arrival. A really nice welcome back to Grenada, we thought.

The next morning we arose fairly early due to the time changes and were anxious to get to the boatyard and see what shape the boat would be in. The hotel shuttled us to the boat yard and as we approached the gate we could see her sitting patiently on the hard awaiting our return. A bit dirty, a lot dusty, but a good sight for us both to behold. We noticed that the bottom painting had not been done yet and wondered aloud what else hadn’t been completed prior to our arrival. We had frequently emailed with the yard manager and been thorough about our needs and our return dates and somehow expected all to be completed as discussed prior to our arrival. Much of the mechanical work had been done but the cosmetic stuff had yet to be started. These processes take a few days to complete and we felt disappointed we would need to stay out of the water until they were done. It would only be a matter of a couple of days, however and we were finally ready to launch. Overall, the interior of the boat was the worst as some mildew had found a good breeding ground and made substantial headway into turning our cleanly left boat into a rather nasty haven for microbial growth. A generous dose of Clorox mixed with sufficient elbow grease lubricated with ample amounts of sweat and we had the back in clean shape and ready for another season afloat.

The outside was found to be badly needing waxing and polishing and the bottom paint still needed to be applied. This process, we learned, was much like rolling the house walls with a paint roller. Not a difficult chore, but with some expertise needed to be certain. We watched this process and felt we could do it ourselves next time. The paint used is quite expensive as it is designed to flake off when a barnacle attaches itself to the bottom. These little creatures try to hitch a ride with one’s boat by affixing themselves to anything underwater. They continue to grow if unchecked and will completely cover the underside of the hull in time. Over time the speed of the boat is greatly diminished because of the new roughness of the surface. Therefore, bottom painting is a main project at any boatyard. The paint, because of its flakey layering characteristics is outrageously expensive ($150-350/gallon depending on the quality) and several coats are the norm for correct application. Therefore, although you want to get a good job, using too much paint becomes a double-edged sword. Our twin hulled catamarans bottoms were cleaned, sanded and then painted with two coats of the good stuff and it looked like a million bucks when completed. Fortunately, the bill came too less than that.

Once the sails were rehung and the rigging checked, we were ready to schedule our launch time. “Too late today, tomorrow we do it, mon.” Thursday we awoke, anxious to get afloat again. But we knew we had several last minute things aboard which need to be done prior to splashing into the sea. Our time was set for just after lunch. At two, the big crane lumbered down the lot toward our boat and stopped as it hovered over the boat like a huge praying mantis with cables lowered around the hulls and tighten together, she was ready to lift, drive back through the crowded boatyard, out the launching dock and be gently lowered into the water. But wait… the crane operator calls up to me, “have you cleared your bills with the office yet?” Seems they’ve been left holding an empty bag sometime in the past and the drive knows to see paid receipts before the boat gets wet. I expected to make my final payment to them as the boat was being driven to the dock, but they won’t even pick it off the ground without completion of this detail. Not to worry, Master Card and I are becoming quite close these days. One quick swipe and away we go.

Now that the boat is back in the water we both sigh a huge relief and feel so much more relaxed than when we were working up in the air out of the water, on land. Just the gentle rocking of the boat on the waves puts us at a bit of rest again. Hard to believe it’s been five months since we sat in here cockpit on the water. It feels right.

We stayed in the boatyard harbor for that night, since it was getting a bit late to travel, and decided we’d head away the next day or so after we’d done our initial provisioning and stocked the fridge and freezer with essentials. It took us a two more days to complete the shopping, as everything takes longer down here. Still can’t find any tomatoes or head lettuce but everything else seems to be pretty well available. The food prices are not appreciably different than shopping in Steamboat, we think, although the meat quality and variety is definitely lacking. We did find a good deal on chicken breasts and stocked up a bunch to keep frozen and use, as we need them.

We finally left the boatyard harbor and moved up coast to another pretty bay and anchored there to begin to settle back in to life aboard and found it much like remembering how to ride a bicycle. Another day ashore to try to find tomatoes and lettuce without luck and another bay up the Grenada coast when we hear a familiar voice on the radio. It is our friends Jake and Carol from Offline, just pulling into Grenada from Trinidad where they’d left their boat for the summer. A quick rendezvous over the squawk box and we find we’ll anchor near each other and get together for dinner later that night.

Great to reconnect with them after a long summer, catch up on their happenings and on ours and we find it’s much like returning from summer vacation to one’s school year friends. They had just heard of the tragic cruiser’s shooting off the coast of Venezuela the day before and were equally alarmed at the event. Seems some pirate-types stopped some cruisers and asked for water. When the gent returned from below with water he was shot and killed. Someone else on the cruising boat grabbed a shotgun and killed one of the gunmen and injured another before the bad guys fled. These incidents, although rare, seem to continue to happen and will certainly trigger a rather rapid exodus of boaters from the waters around Venezuela. It only takes a couple of thugs to wreck it for everyone else. Due to this experience, our friends had independently agreed with us to abandon our plans to visit some of the most beautiful places in the area (those off that same coast of Venezuela) and not visit the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. Very unfortunate but a decision we all feel is appropriate under the circumstances. We now intend on retrace our steps northward, back up the lovely Windward and Leeward islands visiting and exploring some of the stuff we hurried past last spring, back to the US coastal waters, pausing for perhaps a couple of months in the virgin Islands to entertain our families and friends who can get to us.

We are presently in Carricou after a pleasant 6-hour sail from Grenada this morning. We intend on staying here a day or so watching the weather and waiting to continue north once it is confirmed amicable for passage. The boat is handling very well and our sailing skills seem to have improved even with out practice! It feels good to be back in the water that is for sure. And one other thing… as we toasted our reunited friendships last night, the toast went up… “It’s Good to be Us!”

Off the sailboat back to the Steamboat.

After nearly eight months afloat and approximately 4500 miles traveled, we have left the catamaran on the hard at Grenada Marine for the hurricane season and have returned to Colorado to our home in the mountains in Steamboat Springs, fondly referred to as "the 'boat". So we now find ourselves with the mixed emotions of sadness, leaving our newfound lifestyle on the water, saying goodbye to our newly made friends, and returning to a community we "grew up in", seeing the changes happen here on land, which we find less than pleasing. We knew big building projects were approved in town, but not having seen them sprout up made their full grown appearance to us quite startling. But as they say, you can't stop progress. We just wonder if this growth really IS progress or simply as sign of overt greed. This being said, we will try to not dwell on the down-side of our return too much, yet express the gratitude we feel for having been able to experience our sailing and travel experiences over the past year.

Rounding the tip of Grenada, heading toward our chosen hurricane hole harbor, we found large seas and rough travel which were so opposed to our earlier trip down to Grenada, where we experienced outstanding sailing conditions and remarkable speeds for our little boat. The half day trip around the tip brought back memories of earlier ocean conditions and reminded us not to become complacent about moving about the seas. Mother Nature seems to always know just when to play the "don't be smug" card and bring one back down to earth about what power she holds. We safely made the approach trip and entered a calm harbor for a couple nights with our new Dominican Republic friends Louis and Sophia on Fruko where we planned to hole up for a couple of days before making the final entry into the marina where we would leave the boat for the summer. The harbor is a newly made complex which included a neat restaurant, some townhouses for sale, a North Atlantic Light ship anchored on the docks as the office, and a very protected slip space which served well for our initial clean up efforts on the boat.

Since we had an appointment to have the boat hauled out of the water on Monday at 10:30 am, we knew we needed to be close enough that we could get into that harbor regardless of weather. Therefore, we chose Le Phare Bleu (the blue lighthouse) as our final layover. Louis and Sophia were seeking a place to haul their boat so they accompanied us to take a look at our chosen haul out location. Le Phare Bleu proved a perfect place to relax and get a few things done prior to hauling and we wasted no time getting busy cleaning out the interior and sorting out stuff to throw away or take home with us. It also provided us with a nice place to relax and socialize prior to the arduous task ahead once the boat was actually on land and chained down for the season. The restaurant was having a 13th birthday party for a local boy and he had invited all of his school mates for the celebration. The party was raucous and fun to watch as the kids interacted and we quickly reaffirmed that kids are kids regardless of their nationality. The music for the party was provided by a local steel drum band. These musicians were part of a music club which acted like an alternative activity for the kids to try to keep them "out of trouble", much like a 4-H club might be to American kids. They were very good at their musical skills and we enjoyed listening and watching the others enjoy the affair. It was clear that the band members were from a much lesser socio-economic class than the partiers, yet the interaction between the kids was terrific. During their break from entertaining, the band kids joined in with the party guests and played in the water aboard the many available floating toys and kayaks and such. We got quite a bit of pre-cleaning done at the marina so Monday morning we were all set to head off to Grenada Marina to prepare to have the boat hauled out of the water fort the season.

We left the calm of Le Phare Bleu early to be sure to be ready when our haul time arrived. We made the two hour trip in three since the seas were still kicked up pretty good, but were there in time to make our scheduled appointment. They, on the other hand, were not so well prepared. We soon found that our appointment was moved back to 1 pm so we waited patiently for that time. Once we docked the boat in the slip the big lift was moved over the boat and the slings were attached under the boat. Before long she was airborne and moving across the land under this giant four wheeled device to her summer resting place further into the boat yard. We watched as the workers placed huge blocks under the keels and made sure the boat was well balanced on land before removing the crane and driving it away to do haul the next boat out. Once it was settled, a rather rickety ladder was placed against the transom of one hull so we could climb back aboard to continue prepping the boat for storage. The temp in the yard was nearing 100 degrees and the humidity was the same but we kept busy doing our various chores to be sure the boat would be safe and secure for the months on land. We took all of the food stores we couldn't eat and gave them to the front desk crew who happily accepted them to distribute to the workers of the yard for them to take home. We imagined the amount of goodies which were distributed over this pre-hurricane period to be huge as the yard had over 200 vessels already up on blocks. Regardless, we needed to remove anything from the boat which the bugs might find inviting while we were gone.

Since we knew the yard would be less than ideal for overnight stays, we had made arrangements at a neighboring hotel/resort for the two nights we would be there before flying off to the states. This proved to be a wonderful decision as every night, upon completion of our cleaning chores, we were ready for a nice dinner and a cool room to enjoy for the night. Both of these were easily accomplished by the resort. The restaurant was superb and the lodging was beautiful. The resort was an Eco-lodge, catering to nature folks seeking daily nature tours around the island. We thoroughly enjoyed the two nights we stayed there and will certainly use their facilities on the return leg of our trip next fall, when we return to prep the boat for splashing back into the ocean for next winter's journeys.

Our flight back to the states was uneventful and on time, even though we were not anxious to make the journey. We both commented that this was the first time in our lives we had not felt excited to be returning to our beautiful adopted home state of Colorado. We landed at Denver and daughter Jenny picked us up and we were whisked off to their Denver home for dinner and reunion laughs and hugs. The next night we spent with daughter Ellie and her husband in their new home up near Boulder. Was a great way to get back into the stateside family lifestyle.

So now we are back in our mountain home doing renovations to our "rental" home, prepping it to sell and finding the efforts more difficult than expected. It seems the poor real estate economy has finally settled into our small resort town and prices are falling quickly with buyers far and few. So time will tell how well the remodeling effort will be received.

A few reflections on our trip:
1. The hardest part of our trip was, indeed, pushing off from the dock the first time and tying up at the haul out marina at the end.
2. We learned a lot about sailing, about each other, ourselves individually and as a couple, and a tremendous amount about the people in the beautiful paces we visited. Most of all, we learned that the material things we were accustomed to at home, were pretty unnecessary in the big picture.
3. We found we could survive nicely without hearing the evening news.
4. The ocean is a powerful element and an accurate weather forecast is one of the best pieces of information one can come across. We also learned that getting an accurate forecast is nearly impossible.
5. We recommend this lifestyle to anyone willing to push themselves a bit, willing to experience alternative cultures, able to cope with regularly perishing food stores, able to fix things which WILL break, and willing to laugh at the most inappropriate times, to break the tension.

We hope you have enjoyed reading our tales of this trip and will tune in next fall when we return to this adventure, God willing.

Until then, fair winds to one and all.

Coming to an end... and FAST!

We have less than a week left in this leg of our adventure and are saddened to see it wrapping up. We came across to Grenada, our last open water passage this season in record time, making a new speed record for s/v Allergic to Cities. We had perfect conditions with medium to strong winds at 15-20 kts steady, with a following sea and light swells (2-4 ft). We did see a couple of bigger gusts (up to 25 kts) but they were short lived and didn't cause us to put a reef in our main (shorten our sails). We were sailing for much of the time at over 8 kts and for sustained times at speeds over 10 kts, with a new speed record for us at 10.7kts (not from surfing down waves!).

As mentioned in the last blog, we greatly enjoyed the island of Bequia and found it to be a pleasant region with a quiet anchorage. We spent time ashore wandering about the small town and perusing the many model boat building shops. This area is renowned for model boat building and we soon found out why. As a woodworker, I was duly impressed with the details these builders were able to include in their models. Most of their boats were of the sailing variety but some represented larger cruising mega-yachts. All of these boat models sell for more than $1000 each and are quite beautiful. At Bequia we found an active farmer's vegetable market run by Rastafarians. These Rasta guys were noticeably aggressive in their sales tactics and the negotiations involved heavy bargaining and equally aggressive refusal of a purchase. Vicky found their tactics so intolerable she refused to return after her initial visit. They did have a good variety of fresh produce, however and once one figured out the routine, negotiations were made much simpler. Basically it went like this: When one walks into the market, several sellers rush to approach and try to sell various products. All speaking at once and confusing one thoroughly. If the buyer doesn't immediately "take charge" of the situation, chaos ensues and a purchase decision is made very difficult. If however, the buyers says quickly, "OK, I'll deal with this guy first then I'll see if I need anything else, so everyone else just wait!" then all goes well. Otherwise, pandemonium continues until they either confuse you into buying something or you leave without your intended purchase. It's really quite comical.

After a few days, we left Bequia with Nebula for the little island of Mayreau in the Tobago Cay area. We had hoped to stop off at Mustique, home of many of the "rich and famous" crowd. Several celebrities (for example: Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Rachael Welch) and famous monarchs (the late Princess Margaret) have vacation homes on this private island and one never know when they might bump shoulders with someone famous here. But the winds were coming from the wrong direction and short of making a rather circuitous sailing route to get there, we decided to leave the rich and famous alone for this trip and we headed directly to Canauan, the next island in the chain. Windfreak decided to stay in Bequia for a couple of more days so we parted, thinking our traveling with them was over. It was a sad goodbye as we have become fast friends over the past many months of traveling together. Hugs all around, we pulled anchor and headed off.

Arriving at Canouan, we decided we could skip this island as a layover and continued on to the next island destination, Mayreau. Pulling into this pristine, white beach bay, we noticed a group of people in the water near the beach obviously having a party. One guy was in a dingy, acting as the bartender, while the others stood around the dingy conversing and drinking and generally having a good time. Since we have a shallow draft in our catamaran, we pulled up close to the beach as usual for a more wave less anchorage, and realized the guy in the dingy was our friend Jake from Offline. After anchoring and doing our boat anchoring chores, we joined in the festivities. The drinks were strong so the night was short and we crashed into bed early on. The next day we hiked along the Atlantic side of the island and saw some beautiful sights along the way. We came back to the small resort near the anchorage and all ordered cheeseburgers, hoping for the "real thing" as most times the product is less than ideal. We were again disappointed as the meat seemed to be a soy product and was overcooked, to boot! We laid about for the rest of the day, after completing some additional, obligatory, never-ending boat chores.

Most all of the group, including our other buddy boat friends Offline and Nebula, left with us the next morning for the Tabago Cays. This area has to be the most beautiful area of our entire trip. The waters around the cays is the clear blue of post cards and the sandy beaches are unequalled anywhere we've been. The Tobago Cays are a National Park of the Grenadines and rightly so are a protected area. No fishing, unattended scuba diving, anchoring on coral beds, etc. are the rule. The coral formations abound and are spectacular in size, colors and abundance of fish and sea creatures. We spent a lot of time with our snorkels on and swam with sea turtles regularly and really enjoyed this area to the max. It goes at the top of our list of recommended places to visit. Certainly we could have stayed here for many more days but felt pressed to get closer to Grenada due to anticipated upcoming weather conditions which might make our passage across difficult.

As a side note, the day we arrived from Mayreau, Windfreak called us on the VHF and said they were approaching the Tabago Cays and asked if we were there. "Of course, we said, so another reunion gathering was had beachside with the entire traveling group at the cays. Then, after just two days at this paradise, we said goodbye, once again, to Windfreak, and pulled out for Union Island to clear customs for our next country. Union Island was noted to all of us as a "don't go" place, due to various crime-related reasons, but Offline had been there recently and found it to be an acceptable stop for clearing customs. So, along with Nebula, we cleared in and out the same day and headed off to the next island of Petit Martinique, checked in and bought a few essentials (beer!) and headed across the bay to another cute island called Petit St.Vincent.

Petit St. Vincent is a private island with a posh resort on shore, which allows cruisers to come ashore if their guest list is not too full. So that afternoon, we dingied ashore to walk the long sand beach which surrounds the island. As we walked along, we came across some of the resorts fine guest amenities. About every 100 yards or so, right next to the water's edge would be a small thatch-roof cabana with a rope hammock underneath, and two chaise lounge style chairs and a small side table with a small cooler of ice water and two glasses. We stopped at one such hut and enjoyed the hammock for a bit before continuing on around the island, imagining what a place like this would cost for a vacation retreat. Returning to the main dock area, we went up to the restaurant for our evening cocktail hour and found a charming bartender at a beautiful empty bar area, delighted to serve us our beers. We sat on the deck and enjoyed the views for a while before returning to the boat for dinner and the rest of the evening. Their restaurant was beautiful and the menu looked very inviting except for the prices. So back to the good ship Allergic to Cities we went for some good ol' home cookin'.

The next morning we decided to continue south and, along with Nebula, headed to Carriacou where we had heard provisioning was good at the main harbor. We stopped there and went ashore to find not-so-well-stocked markets so away we went, down the coast and around the tip to a nice spot called Tyrell Bay. Here we again rendezvoused with Offline and a couple of other boats we've bumped into all the way south from Florida. We stayed one night and since the weather looked good to us for the pass to Grenada, we took off in the morning, leaving the others still at anchor at Tyrell. We imagine we will see them once and finally, over in Grenada once all arrive from that passage, whenever they make it.

So now we are in Grenada, our haul-out country. We are slowly moving south around the island toward St. David's Harbor where we need to be ready to haul on Monday morning at 10:30am. We plan on being tied to a dock for Saturday and Sunday for some major boat wash up with plenty of fresh water. We traveled to the storage yard today with a local delivery lady from one of the boat chandleries, Island Water World. She was very talkative and gave us a nice overview of Grenadian life and showed us around the lower part of the island as we drove along the steep winding roads. The haul out yard seems well equipped and safe so we feel good about storing the boat there for the summer. They have all sorts of trades people on hand to do whatever repairs or installations requested or required, so we intend on taking advantage of a few of those services being done on the boat while we're back in Colorado. Nothing major, as the boat has done extremely well throughout this 4000 mile trip. We had no major breakdowns, mostly menial fixes which I was able to do, some with help from new friend David. Things like loose wiring, blown fuses, hatch hinges breaking, and the like, made up the bulk of our "problems".
This leg of our adventure is entering its final chapter, now that we are at Grenada. As I write this we are sitting at anchor, in a tropical rainstorm. Hard rain comes down in sheets on our boat, nicely washing the salt water off of everything. We will move around the southern tip of the island toward our haul out facility later today. The plan is to tie up to a nearby marina dock for Saturday and Sunday, where fresh water will be abundant so we can give the boat a complete wash down in preparation of hauling. We will also do oil changes on all three engines including the generator. Once we are up "on the hard" at St. David's Bay, we will have electricity and more fresh water available for final clean up but we know our time will be very limited then as we fly out early on Wednesday morning. There will be a list of things we will have the marina technicians do while we are gone, but the more we can do, the cheaper this lay up will be. We have a hotel booked for Monday and Tuesday nights, near the marina, so long hot showers and motionless sleeping will be in order then.

So off we go, only one or two more stops and we will be back in Colorado. We are sure we will feel odd stepping off the boat with suitcases in hand. We sure hope that this separation will be short and that come next Halloween-time, we will again be back aboard s/v Allergic to Cities, ready for the next chapter of the sailing/traveling adventure to begin. I will post just one mire blog, once we get back to Steamboat Springs with our final thoughts and then this site will set dormant until we return next fall. Stay tuned...