Monday, May 26, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Volcanos, British Admirals, and French pasteries
Montserrat is a beautiful small island with roughly 4,500 inhabitants eeking out a meager living from the fertile soil left behind from the ash flow of a volcanic eruption. We sailed there from the island country of Nevis, just to the south of St. Kitts. We found the local people to be very friendly and welcoming and eager to show us their island and it's laid back lifestyle.
Much of these islands economy is based on tourism so they understand the necessity of courtesy and safety to the visitor. They have broad-based public transportation in the forms of taxis, gua-guas (small private busses), and public busses, which seem to be privately-owned small businesses of the driver. Many times these small busses are elaborately painted and personalized with anything from religious themes to fantasy animals or natural visions airbrushed completely over the outside of the bus. Other times, one fears they might not make it to the next street corner without a mechanical breakdown of some sort. But that has yet to happen to us. I hope I'm not putting a jinx on that by discussing! We often take an afternoon on the public transportation to ride around a new island to try to get the lay of the land and experience a bit of the local culture. Other times, we'll split a private van or small taxi to give us a personal tour to something of particular interest. This was the case of the volcano tour.
The six of us still together (Jake/Carol, David/Vicky and Suz and Rick) all wanted to see the volcano on the island and so we negotiated a driver to give us a tour up to the viewing area so we could see what it looked like. The volcano on Montserrat is considered still active even though it is not currently spewing anything but steam and smelly sulphurous gasses presently.
Up until the last eruption in 1995, many wealthy American, Canadian, and Europeans invested in island homesites and build luxury villas and vacation places on the lush hillsides and in the fertile valleys of this beautiful tropical island. Then, unexpectedly, in 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted, sending a terrible ash and water flow down the valleys and into the capital town of Plymouth, destroying it under several feet of protoplastic debris. Almost daily, continuous eruptions sent volcanic dust into the air, further polluting the area. Many of the luxury homes were destroyed and the islands residency dropped from over 11,000 to its present day 4500. The government closed off the areas most effected by the debris and declared those areas unsafe to live within, yet many owners still found a mortgage booklet in their possession which the bank needed kept up to date with payments. What a horrible situation these folks have had to endure. Most insurance companies don't cover such "acts of God" on their homeowners policies so even the homes which were left untouched by the direct damage were deemed unsafe to inhabit by the local Government.
In 2003, the huge volcanic dome collapsed and this sent some hope to the island people that the worst was over. The government has slightly eased restrictions on habitation of these homes but much of the area is still not habitable. It is such an eerie feeling to visit the area, see beautiful homes with manicured yards, obviously kept up by someone who cared, next to a place completely destroyed by the previous ash flow. As you might expect, there is a major volcano observatory near the mountain to "keep and eye" on seismic activities, and so far the volcano shows little sign of re-igniting.
We were taken down a road near the flow area, and walked through an abandoned home. It was very surreal as there were still books on the bookshelves, some dishes in the kitchen, receipt books from bank activities, all dated prior to the eruption. There was evidence of some looting but much of what was left was of little value to anyone. We thought we were entering the home on the main floor until we realized we were actually walking into the house through a second floor balcony porch door. The entire first floor was under a sea of dried mud and completely invisible. Even inside the home where the stairs went down to the first floor, the mud had filled in the stairway so one couldn't descend. We were told by our driver that the owner of this particular home had "gone mad" after loosing everything to the volcano. It was very sad, indeed.
Within a couple of days, one boat in our group (Jake and Carol/Offline) decided to continue to move south as the other two boats sailed from Montserrat to the island of Antigua. We had heard that Antigua is one of the most peasant and beautiful island in the Leeward chain and we weren't disappointed. The sail was a bit "on the nose" as we had to travel into the northeasterly winds a bit to make landfall, yet we arrived after a days sail from Montserrat to find a perfectly secure harbor and anchorage on the northwestern shore called Jolly Harbor. We stayed in Jolly Harbor for a couple of days enjoying the boatyard, purchasing and making minor repairs to our boats, before heading on down the coast to the most famous harbor on the island, English Harbor. This harbor is steeped in history and filled with historical buildings and remnants of the earlier days on the seas.
Antigua, formerly British controlled, is independent yet fiercely proud of its colonial heritage. The famous British Naval hero, Admiral Lord Nelson, commanded this port's harbor for several years in the mid 1700's when the island was the main hub for the lesser Antilles. We spend a day wandering about the harbor enjoying the restored buildings and well versed placards explaining the various sites. The harbor was extremely well protected from the seas, as you might expect, and was highly defensible because of its narrow entrance. Because the harbor is so well protected from the seas, and it is surrounded on three sides with mangroves, it is considered a substantial hurricane hole and many boats chose this harbor, as well as others on Antigua, to leave their boat for hurricane season. Some just put down a couple of stern anchors and tie the bows into the mangroves, hoping for the best, while others actually have their boats hauled out and welded and chained to steel frames on concrete pads to try to protect from a possible hurricane. We investigated the costs of doing so as we had heard that this island has a terrific record of protection and minimal damage overe the years because of their preventative techniques. This may be a place we choose to put our boat some summer, "on the hard", as it is called.
Antigua is the sailing center of this region and hosts several notable races/regattas over the season and the final one, the Antigua sailing week, is considered the last event of the winter sailing season. After which, the shops, restaurants, and tourist related activities consider closing or discounting their products into "low season" pricing. We found the best grocery store since we left Miami on the island, the biggest chandlery (boat supply store) and the prettiest yachts to be seen anywhere we've traveled so far. One of the islands most famous events is the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in April. We just missed it but were pleased to see so many of these fabulous old wooden yachts still around various harbors. Their sleek lines and gleaming woodwork is a sight to behold.
After a couple of more days on the island we decided to move off down island again to Guadeloupe. We had the absolutely best sailing day of the entire trip coming form Antigua to Guadeloupe. The winds were perfect, about 15-20 knots, from the right direction, off our starboard beam, and the seas were relatively calm with negligible swells or wind chop. We averaged around 6.5 knots and made well over 7 knots for prolonged periods. This is what sailing is meant to be! We made the trip 42 mile trip in just under 6 hours and thoroughly enjoyed the day afloat. After having several days when one does more bouncing and bashing, it is a day like this which keeps your spirits high. Kind of like how that one perfect golf shot reconfirms one's interest in continuing the game's efforts.
Once we arrived at Guadeloupe, we headed to a small harbor on the northwestern corner to clear into customs. This is a former French controlled island. It is remarkable how different cultures approach the bureaucracy surrounding customs and immigration. Each country has it's own twist on how it must be done, some much more formal than others. The French seem to take a more laid back approach to this procedure. When we sought out the customs official at the harbor, we found his office closed with a sign saying, in effect, don't worry, you will have other opportunities to check in. We didn't worry and wandered about the small town for the rest if the afternoon.
The hnnext morning, we went back ashore and sought out the first bakery we could find for fresh croissants and baguettes, after all, we were in French country! The pastries didn't disappoint and we enjoyed a morning ashore shopping and poking about in the little tourist shops along the main drag. Just before noon, we decided to move along and headed back to the boat to make way down the coast toward the southern end of the island. There is a small island offshore of Guadeloupe, called Pigeon Island, which is home to the Cousteau National Park. Yes, that "Cousteau". We decided to stop there and jump into the blue to take a snorkel stop and were not disappointed. It was as one might imagine, the coral and fish life were abundant and stunningly colorful. David and Vicky donned their scuba gear and did a dive while Suz and Rick snorkeled above. We spent an absolutely special day off that island and recommend it to any underwater enthusiast. From Pigeoon Island, it is a mere stone's throw to the mainland again, so we motored across to the harbor and dropped the hook in about 12 feet of water for the stay. We went ashore and, naturally, found dive shop after dive shop along the beach. We decided to do some more investigating into purchasing somje used dive equipment to add to our almost complete set ups and found a really good buy on a couple of dive vests (BCD's) to add to our dive locker. Soon, we'll be able to join David and Vicky down under at these sites.
There remains more to see on this island, and although it is not promoted as loudly as others along the chain, we are starting to figure that they want to keep this place a bit of a special secret. There is a rain forest with 300 foot waterfalls which we would like to see and other natural attractions to be enjoyed. Time will help us decide what we will get to complete this trip and what will have to wait for another day.
One issue is beginning to re-surface. "Time" is beginning to become a factor in our travel plans. It has not become a major issue, yet. But it is something we are becoming more aware of as the days continue to click off. We will need to be out of the hurricane zone before July 1, and that means a couple of hundred miles further south within 5 weeks. Not a big undertaking, but something we are becoming more acutely aware of. Then, we'll need to decide what our next move will be. Plan I: has us staying afloat in Venezuelan waters and exploring that region for the summer. Then heading back up the chain slowly investigating everything we missed on the way down. Plan 2: has us putting the boat up on the hard down there this summer and returning to Steamboat Springs to do some building on our property on Deer Mountain, to return next winter to continue sailing north. Plan C calls for us to put the boat on the market this summer, return to SS and do the major build-out on the property, awaiting our little Allergic to Cities company to mature into a going enterprise, when we could purchase a different boat later to return for more cruising life. All have desirable appeal to us for various reasons. What to do.... what to do.
Found an interesting quote in one of the cruising magazines:"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did. So throw off your bowlines, sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream."
Mark Twain
Sounds like good advise from a sage storyteller, to me. Perhaps those of you considering doing something "out of the ordinary" might re-read the above and give it a moment of reflection. Can't hurt.
Much of these islands economy is based on tourism so they understand the necessity of courtesy and safety to the visitor. They have broad-based public transportation in the forms of taxis, gua-guas (small private busses), and public busses, which seem to be privately-owned small businesses of the driver. Many times these small busses are elaborately painted and personalized with anything from religious themes to fantasy animals or natural visions airbrushed completely over the outside of the bus. Other times, one fears they might not make it to the next street corner without a mechanical breakdown of some sort. But that has yet to happen to us. I hope I'm not putting a jinx on that by discussing! We often take an afternoon on the public transportation to ride around a new island to try to get the lay of the land and experience a bit of the local culture. Other times, we'll split a private van or small taxi to give us a personal tour to something of particular interest. This was the case of the volcano tour.
The six of us still together (Jake/Carol, David/Vicky and Suz and Rick) all wanted to see the volcano on the island and so we negotiated a driver to give us a tour up to the viewing area so we could see what it looked like. The volcano on Montserrat is considered still active even though it is not currently spewing anything but steam and smelly sulphurous gasses presently.
Up until the last eruption in 1995, many wealthy American, Canadian, and Europeans invested in island homesites and build luxury villas and vacation places on the lush hillsides and in the fertile valleys of this beautiful tropical island. Then, unexpectedly, in 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted, sending a terrible ash and water flow down the valleys and into the capital town of Plymouth, destroying it under several feet of protoplastic debris. Almost daily, continuous eruptions sent volcanic dust into the air, further polluting the area. Many of the luxury homes were destroyed and the islands residency dropped from over 11,000 to its present day 4500. The government closed off the areas most effected by the debris and declared those areas unsafe to live within, yet many owners still found a mortgage booklet in their possession which the bank needed kept up to date with payments. What a horrible situation these folks have had to endure. Most insurance companies don't cover such "acts of God" on their homeowners policies so even the homes which were left untouched by the direct damage were deemed unsafe to inhabit by the local Government.
In 2003, the huge volcanic dome collapsed and this sent some hope to the island people that the worst was over. The government has slightly eased restrictions on habitation of these homes but much of the area is still not habitable. It is such an eerie feeling to visit the area, see beautiful homes with manicured yards, obviously kept up by someone who cared, next to a place completely destroyed by the previous ash flow. As you might expect, there is a major volcano observatory near the mountain to "keep and eye" on seismic activities, and so far the volcano shows little sign of re-igniting.
We were taken down a road near the flow area, and walked through an abandoned home. It was very surreal as there were still books on the bookshelves, some dishes in the kitchen, receipt books from bank activities, all dated prior to the eruption. There was evidence of some looting but much of what was left was of little value to anyone. We thought we were entering the home on the main floor until we realized we were actually walking into the house through a second floor balcony porch door. The entire first floor was under a sea of dried mud and completely invisible. Even inside the home where the stairs went down to the first floor, the mud had filled in the stairway so one couldn't descend. We were told by our driver that the owner of this particular home had "gone mad" after loosing everything to the volcano. It was very sad, indeed.
Within a couple of days, one boat in our group (Jake and Carol/Offline) decided to continue to move south as the other two boats sailed from Montserrat to the island of Antigua. We had heard that Antigua is one of the most peasant and beautiful island in the Leeward chain and we weren't disappointed. The sail was a bit "on the nose" as we had to travel into the northeasterly winds a bit to make landfall, yet we arrived after a days sail from Montserrat to find a perfectly secure harbor and anchorage on the northwestern shore called Jolly Harbor. We stayed in Jolly Harbor for a couple of days enjoying the boatyard, purchasing and making minor repairs to our boats, before heading on down the coast to the most famous harbor on the island, English Harbor. This harbor is steeped in history and filled with historical buildings and remnants of the earlier days on the seas.
Antigua, formerly British controlled, is independent yet fiercely proud of its colonial heritage. The famous British Naval hero, Admiral Lord Nelson, commanded this port's harbor for several years in the mid 1700's when the island was the main hub for the lesser Antilles. We spend a day wandering about the harbor enjoying the restored buildings and well versed placards explaining the various sites. The harbor was extremely well protected from the seas, as you might expect, and was highly defensible because of its narrow entrance. Because the harbor is so well protected from the seas, and it is surrounded on three sides with mangroves, it is considered a substantial hurricane hole and many boats chose this harbor, as well as others on Antigua, to leave their boat for hurricane season. Some just put down a couple of stern anchors and tie the bows into the mangroves, hoping for the best, while others actually have their boats hauled out and welded and chained to steel frames on concrete pads to try to protect from a possible hurricane. We investigated the costs of doing so as we had heard that this island has a terrific record of protection and minimal damage overe the years because of their preventative techniques. This may be a place we choose to put our boat some summer, "on the hard", as it is called.
Antigua is the sailing center of this region and hosts several notable races/regattas over the season and the final one, the Antigua sailing week, is considered the last event of the winter sailing season. After which, the shops, restaurants, and tourist related activities consider closing or discounting their products into "low season" pricing. We found the best grocery store since we left Miami on the island, the biggest chandlery (boat supply store) and the prettiest yachts to be seen anywhere we've traveled so far. One of the islands most famous events is the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in April. We just missed it but were pleased to see so many of these fabulous old wooden yachts still around various harbors. Their sleek lines and gleaming woodwork is a sight to behold.
After a couple of more days on the island we decided to move off down island again to Guadeloupe. We had the absolutely best sailing day of the entire trip coming form Antigua to Guadeloupe. The winds were perfect, about 15-20 knots, from the right direction, off our starboard beam, and the seas were relatively calm with negligible swells or wind chop. We averaged around 6.5 knots and made well over 7 knots for prolonged periods. This is what sailing is meant to be! We made the trip 42 mile trip in just under 6 hours and thoroughly enjoyed the day afloat. After having several days when one does more bouncing and bashing, it is a day like this which keeps your spirits high. Kind of like how that one perfect golf shot reconfirms one's interest in continuing the game's efforts.
Once we arrived at Guadeloupe, we headed to a small harbor on the northwestern corner to clear into customs. This is a former French controlled island. It is remarkable how different cultures approach the bureaucracy surrounding customs and immigration. Each country has it's own twist on how it must be done, some much more formal than others. The French seem to take a more laid back approach to this procedure. When we sought out the customs official at the harbor, we found his office closed with a sign saying, in effect, don't worry, you will have other opportunities to check in. We didn't worry and wandered about the small town for the rest if the afternoon.
The hnnext morning, we went back ashore and sought out the first bakery we could find for fresh croissants and baguettes, after all, we were in French country! The pastries didn't disappoint and we enjoyed a morning ashore shopping and poking about in the little tourist shops along the main drag. Just before noon, we decided to move along and headed back to the boat to make way down the coast toward the southern end of the island. There is a small island offshore of Guadeloupe, called Pigeon Island, which is home to the Cousteau National Park. Yes, that "Cousteau". We decided to stop there and jump into the blue to take a snorkel stop and were not disappointed. It was as one might imagine, the coral and fish life were abundant and stunningly colorful. David and Vicky donned their scuba gear and did a dive while Suz and Rick snorkeled above. We spent an absolutely special day off that island and recommend it to any underwater enthusiast. From Pigeoon Island, it is a mere stone's throw to the mainland again, so we motored across to the harbor and dropped the hook in about 12 feet of water for the stay. We went ashore and, naturally, found dive shop after dive shop along the beach. We decided to do some more investigating into purchasing somje used dive equipment to add to our almost complete set ups and found a really good buy on a couple of dive vests (BCD's) to add to our dive locker. Soon, we'll be able to join David and Vicky down under at these sites.
There remains more to see on this island, and although it is not promoted as loudly as others along the chain, we are starting to figure that they want to keep this place a bit of a special secret. There is a rain forest with 300 foot waterfalls which we would like to see and other natural attractions to be enjoyed. Time will help us decide what we will get to complete this trip and what will have to wait for another day.
One issue is beginning to re-surface. "Time" is beginning to become a factor in our travel plans. It has not become a major issue, yet. But it is something we are becoming more aware of as the days continue to click off. We will need to be out of the hurricane zone before July 1, and that means a couple of hundred miles further south within 5 weeks. Not a big undertaking, but something we are becoming more acutely aware of. Then, we'll need to decide what our next move will be. Plan I: has us staying afloat in Venezuelan waters and exploring that region for the summer. Then heading back up the chain slowly investigating everything we missed on the way down. Plan 2: has us putting the boat up on the hard down there this summer and returning to Steamboat Springs to do some building on our property on Deer Mountain, to return next winter to continue sailing north. Plan C calls for us to put the boat on the market this summer, return to SS and do the major build-out on the property, awaiting our little Allergic to Cities company to mature into a going enterprise, when we could purchase a different boat later to return for more cruising life. All have desirable appeal to us for various reasons. What to do.... what to do.
Found an interesting quote in one of the cruising magazines:"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did. So throw off your bowlines, sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream."
Mark Twain
Sounds like good advise from a sage storyteller, to me. Perhaps those of you considering doing something "out of the ordinary" might re-read the above and give it a moment of reflection. Can't hurt.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Movin' on Down the Chain
St. Martin was certainly a beautiful island but just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, we're imagining. We spent one night anchored in the main harbor at Marigot, then decided to move to something a bit more remote.
At Marigot, we explored the main town on the French side, mostly touristy spots and fancy shops offering jewelry and duty free stuff. The entire island of St. Martin (French side)/Sint Maarten (Dutch side) is duty free so there may be some bargains to be had. I say "may be" because the old saying goes "duty free does not mean profit free." We found that to be true in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI and expected the same to be true in St. Martin. We did find a delightful authentic French Bakery near the dingy dock which we enjoyed two mornings for fresh bread and pastry breakfasts. What a treat!
The first day after our arrival, we took the local bus to the Dutch side (Sint Maarten) with David and Vicky so David could check out some camera at the duty free places. We wandered around there all afternoon and did the typical touristy shopping thing, getting it completely out of our system.
That night, we enjoyed a quiet dinner in Marigot at a sidewalk café. The next day was Carnival day on the Dutch side so the party was on! We had experienced this at Junkanoo in Nassau so we opted out but our friends David/Vicky, Jake/Carol, and Richard/Leila decided to go to the parade and get into the festivities. It seems we made the right decision to not go as they were all a bit "under the weather" the next morning. Sounded lie they had a grand time from the reports, however.
The next morning we decided that the anchorage at Marigot, although pleasant, was a bit too crowded for us Allergic to City types and moved to a quieter anchorage a bit up the coast. We found a beautiful anchorage at Grand Case just an hour up the coast and found it to be quiet, yet offered a variety of shops and restaurants to review.. We actually took the local bus up to the beach town earlier in the morning to check it out before we moved the boat and after exploring the little village, we found it to be "just our style". We moved the boat up there in the afternoon and had a lovely quiet evening alone in a very pretty bay with few other boats. We found a neat bar with live jazz (two guitarists) who were quite good and enjoyed them for a couple of hours before wandering off down the street to another establishment where we found a French band trying to play American rock and roll, It was very comical because event though they were pretty fair musically, they were missing the basic rock and roll "feel".
Plus, they probably didn't understand the lyrics they were singing either. So it was more comedy show for us but the local French kids thought they might as well have been the Beatles!
They next night we were joined by Richard and Leila and David and Vicky in the anchorage. They had also finally had enough of Marigot harbor and sought out something less congested. We spent the day lounging on the beach and relaxing together, catching up on their partying at the Carnival event. Sounded very familiar to the Junkanoo in Nassau.
The next morning we decidd it was time to move out and head to our next destination, the beautiful French speaking island of Saint Barthelemy (St. Bart's). This island is notorious as a home to the rich and famous and their prices reflected that to us in no time. As most of the islands we have visited have been inhabited by dark skinned locals (either Spanish or African descent), this island was noticeably white. The shops were all very upscale (i.e.. Cartier, Dior, etc.) and all duty free. It was certainly THE place to be if one wished to buy a fancy watch or jewelry. We both thought how much fun our daughter Amy would have enjoyed the shopping, even if it were only of the "window" shopping variety.
We did a little wandering about the main drag until cocktail time and stopped into a local pub for "happy hour". Turned out that the place was purported to be the bar where Jimmy Buffett wrote the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise." We had been told he had once owned a bar on the island but later found out that it was this place that he used to frequent while anchoring off shore. The beers were $5 each (even at happy hour!) so we didn't last long there. We returned to our boat for the night after wandering through the local grocery store. The store had everything you might imagine the upscale yachties might need from fine Russian caviar to cases of Dom Perignon champagne. We bought a jar of jelly which looked good and headed off to the boat.
The next morning David and Vicky and us headed to the tiny island of Saba. We had a terrific downwind sail and really enjoyed letting the boat stretch out across the big rollers. We actually saw the knotmeter hit 9.6kts, a new speed record for us. Saba is a spectacular volcanic island rising straight up out of the sea, with steep cliffs all around. The original access was via 1000 steps carved into the cliff up to the little town at the top of the island. In recent years the locals have developed a more moderate access via another point on the island but our anchorage was too rolly for us to even attempt to get our dingies ashore, so we stayed on our boats for the night and decided to move on in the morning light.
We awoke around 5am as the sun was beginning to shine and after bouncing around for about an hour decided that we had had enough and headed off toward the island of Saint Christopher (St. Kitts), with a possible stop over at Saint Eustatius (Statia) if the wind direction was favor table. It5 wasn't so we continued on to St. Kitts and after a long day of motor sailing, we arrived at anchorage around 5pm, pretty exhausted from the waves and windy day on the sea.
St.Kitts is an autonomous island originally part of the French, then British protectorates. The people of the island are extremely proud of their island and go out of their way to help you find your way around and make you feel welcome. We Reunited with our friends from Offline, here and the 6 of us hired a local taxi lady to give us a tour of the island. It took us all day as she proudly showed us the entire island including some of the native plants, fruits and vegetables. We especially enjoyed touring the fort which is under reconstruction. After having visited several old Spanish forts on the trip we all thought we had probably seen enough forts for a lifetime, but this one was so interesting and special we all remarked at how glad we were to have toured it.
We returned back to town in time for happy hour and enjoyed a couple of coldies together before independently returning to our boats for the night. In a while we will weigh (pull up) our anchors and head off to the neighboring island of Nevis. It is a small island which is part of St. Kitts government. We plan on staying there for one night, then head off to Montserrat, the recently active volcanic island just to the south. Volcanologists are predicting another major spew in the very near future (Days? Weeks? Months?) so we will be on the lookout for any activity which might be of concern. The government has a 3 mile proximity limit to the dome side of the island so we'll have to go the other way to get near land. We likely won't stay there too long before heading off to Antigua, then to Guadeloupe, one of the larger islands in the chain.
So as you can see, we've got lots of ground to cover in the near future and need to keep moving if we wish to meet our deadline of July 1 to be out of the hurricane zone and keep our insurance policiy in effect. At present our plan is to put our boat on the hard (up on land) for the summer hurricane season in Venezuela, then return to Steamboat Springs for July through October, then come back down and head off again next winter. But the question then becomes: "to where?". Stay tuned.
At Marigot, we explored the main town on the French side, mostly touristy spots and fancy shops offering jewelry and duty free stuff. The entire island of St. Martin (French side)/Sint Maarten (Dutch side) is duty free so there may be some bargains to be had. I say "may be" because the old saying goes "duty free does not mean profit free." We found that to be true in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI and expected the same to be true in St. Martin. We did find a delightful authentic French Bakery near the dingy dock which we enjoyed two mornings for fresh bread and pastry breakfasts. What a treat!
The first day after our arrival, we took the local bus to the Dutch side (Sint Maarten) with David and Vicky so David could check out some camera at the duty free places. We wandered around there all afternoon and did the typical touristy shopping thing, getting it completely out of our system.
That night, we enjoyed a quiet dinner in Marigot at a sidewalk café. The next day was Carnival day on the Dutch side so the party was on! We had experienced this at Junkanoo in Nassau so we opted out but our friends David/Vicky, Jake/Carol, and Richard/Leila decided to go to the parade and get into the festivities. It seems we made the right decision to not go as they were all a bit "under the weather" the next morning. Sounded lie they had a grand time from the reports, however.
The next morning we decided that the anchorage at Marigot, although pleasant, was a bit too crowded for us Allergic to City types and moved to a quieter anchorage a bit up the coast. We found a beautiful anchorage at Grand Case just an hour up the coast and found it to be quiet, yet offered a variety of shops and restaurants to review.. We actually took the local bus up to the beach town earlier in the morning to check it out before we moved the boat and after exploring the little village, we found it to be "just our style". We moved the boat up there in the afternoon and had a lovely quiet evening alone in a very pretty bay with few other boats. We found a neat bar with live jazz (two guitarists) who were quite good and enjoyed them for a couple of hours before wandering off down the street to another establishment where we found a French band trying to play American rock and roll, It was very comical because event though they were pretty fair musically, they were missing the basic rock and roll "feel".
Plus, they probably didn't understand the lyrics they were singing either. So it was more comedy show for us but the local French kids thought they might as well have been the Beatles!
They next night we were joined by Richard and Leila and David and Vicky in the anchorage. They had also finally had enough of Marigot harbor and sought out something less congested. We spent the day lounging on the beach and relaxing together, catching up on their partying at the Carnival event. Sounded very familiar to the Junkanoo in Nassau.
The next morning we decidd it was time to move out and head to our next destination, the beautiful French speaking island of Saint Barthelemy (St. Bart's). This island is notorious as a home to the rich and famous and their prices reflected that to us in no time. As most of the islands we have visited have been inhabited by dark skinned locals (either Spanish or African descent), this island was noticeably white. The shops were all very upscale (i.e.. Cartier, Dior, etc.) and all duty free. It was certainly THE place to be if one wished to buy a fancy watch or jewelry. We both thought how much fun our daughter Amy would have enjoyed the shopping, even if it were only of the "window" shopping variety.
We did a little wandering about the main drag until cocktail time and stopped into a local pub for "happy hour". Turned out that the place was purported to be the bar where Jimmy Buffett wrote the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise." We had been told he had once owned a bar on the island but later found out that it was this place that he used to frequent while anchoring off shore. The beers were $5 each (even at happy hour!) so we didn't last long there. We returned to our boat for the night after wandering through the local grocery store. The store had everything you might imagine the upscale yachties might need from fine Russian caviar to cases of Dom Perignon champagne. We bought a jar of jelly which looked good and headed off to the boat.
The next morning David and Vicky and us headed to the tiny island of Saba. We had a terrific downwind sail and really enjoyed letting the boat stretch out across the big rollers. We actually saw the knotmeter hit 9.6kts, a new speed record for us. Saba is a spectacular volcanic island rising straight up out of the sea, with steep cliffs all around. The original access was via 1000 steps carved into the cliff up to the little town at the top of the island. In recent years the locals have developed a more moderate access via another point on the island but our anchorage was too rolly for us to even attempt to get our dingies ashore, so we stayed on our boats for the night and decided to move on in the morning light.
We awoke around 5am as the sun was beginning to shine and after bouncing around for about an hour decided that we had had enough and headed off toward the island of Saint Christopher (St. Kitts), with a possible stop over at Saint Eustatius (Statia) if the wind direction was favor table. It5 wasn't so we continued on to St. Kitts and after a long day of motor sailing, we arrived at anchorage around 5pm, pretty exhausted from the waves and windy day on the sea.
St.Kitts is an autonomous island originally part of the French, then British protectorates. The people of the island are extremely proud of their island and go out of their way to help you find your way around and make you feel welcome. We Reunited with our friends from Offline, here and the 6 of us hired a local taxi lady to give us a tour of the island. It took us all day as she proudly showed us the entire island including some of the native plants, fruits and vegetables. We especially enjoyed touring the fort which is under reconstruction. After having visited several old Spanish forts on the trip we all thought we had probably seen enough forts for a lifetime, but this one was so interesting and special we all remarked at how glad we were to have toured it.
We returned back to town in time for happy hour and enjoyed a couple of coldies together before independently returning to our boats for the night. In a while we will weigh (pull up) our anchors and head off to the neighboring island of Nevis. It is a small island which is part of St. Kitts government. We plan on staying there for one night, then head off to Montserrat, the recently active volcanic island just to the south. Volcanologists are predicting another major spew in the very near future (Days? Weeks? Months?) so we will be on the lookout for any activity which might be of concern. The government has a 3 mile proximity limit to the dome side of the island so we'll have to go the other way to get near land. We likely won't stay there too long before heading off to Antigua, then to Guadeloupe, one of the larger islands in the chain.
So as you can see, we've got lots of ground to cover in the near future and need to keep moving if we wish to meet our deadline of July 1 to be out of the hurricane zone and keep our insurance policiy in effect. At present our plan is to put our boat on the hard (up on land) for the summer hurricane season in Venezuela, then return to Steamboat Springs for July through October, then come back down and head off again next winter. But the question then becomes: "to where?". Stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A Simple Sail Turned Most Difficult
St. Martin/Sint Maarten, the island controlled half by the French and half by the Dutch, is a beautiful place. We arrived here after what was supposed to be a rather simple passage from Virgin Gorda, BVI's on this past Sunday. The passage was about 80 miles and was begun at around 2:30 pm with an expected trip time of 20 hours.
We left the BVI island of Virgin Gorda from the Bitter End, motor-sailing past Necker Island, owned by billionaire Richard Branson, of Virgin Airways, etc. It was a cloudy day as we left and the forecast called for moderate winds (8-12 kts) with seas of 4 to 6 feet. It also forecast the weather would be worsening on Monday afternoon. So the three amigo boats headed off together anticipating a rather typical pass to St. Martin. Once out of sight of land we enjoyed a fantastic dolphin show on our bow around sunset and had up to ten dolphins swirling around between the hulls of our boat, zooming up and down in and out just missing the bottom of our hulls as they played in our wakes.
After a dinner, one of our favorite salads, the Nor'easter, we settled in for a couple of hours of what we hoped would be quiet sailing. At around 8pm, the big colorful Genaker sail (kind of like a spinnaker) decided to come unfurled at the top and began wildly slapping about in the rigging behind causing much noise and grave concern for it's being able to stay in one piece as it flogged about in the guy wires. We had to act quickly if we could save it and the only solution to keeping it in one piece was to try to lower it onto the boat and stash it in a forward locker hatch until we could sort it all out in calmer seas. The seas were not friendly at this point and were bucking the deck around fiercely as Rick donned his life jacket and strapped it's safety harness onto the lifelines strung from the bow to the stern of each side. The lifelines allow one to move about the decks while remaining fixed to the boat via a harness on the life jacket. The principal is that if one is pitched overboard at least they would still be attached to the boat. Getting them back aboard would be difficult at best but having to find them in the water, overboard in the dark, would be practically impossible. The conditions were not good to be forward of the cockpit for any reason,let alone one calling for emergency action and gymnastic climbing and heavy lifting. Rick carefully inched his way around the cockpit and up to the mast where the lines were cleated, holding the Genaker halyard and the sail aloft. Initially, lowering the halyard and the sail a bit made conditions worse as the flopping sail tried to tangle itself around the mast and stays holding the mast in place. Suz maneuvered the boat away from the wind allowing the wind to move the sail away from the mast as Rick continued to lower the sail closer to the deck. It became evident that any additional lowering would allow the sail to drop into the seas, making it nearly impossible to retrieve it once water soaked. Cleating the halyard, Rick cautiously moved down from the mast and around the deck to where the sail was flapping off the side of the boat. Sitting on the tramp, he was able to pull the sail aboard as he stuffed it into an opened locker hatch. Unfortunately, the top third was still hanging above the locker and I had to quickly improvise with some lines to keep it from re-deploying before I went back up to the mast to lower the rest of the sail for storing. Once down, the final third was retrieved and stashed away, while Rick inched back to the safety of the cockpit, exhausted and soaked from the spray and rain. Oh yeah, had I mentioned that it had since decided to start to rain and we were now under a passing squall. Whew! What an ordeal. Lesson learned! We should never move with a sail unintended to be deployed during a trip. The Geneker is a specialty sail used specifically for downwind sailing, something we wouldn't be doing during that trip.. We had put it up the morning before, anticipating using it when all six of us sailed back downwind to check out of customs. After our return from checking out, I had left it up not wanting to deal with the extra hassle of putting it down and storing it away for the passage. I thought about the possibility of it deploying but decided that was unlikely. WRONG decision made too late! Fortunately, all turned out OK but it provided a very scary 30 minutes.
After that excitement, Rick went below to try to relax for a few hours, anticipating taking the first late watch from midnight to 4 or so. Before he went below, we dropped the mainsail after the rain squalls continued to pass over our boat with winds up to 25v kts. The winds continued to maintain a constant 15-20 kts and the wave heights began to pick up to around 6 to 8 Rick tried unsuccessfully to get much sleep below. Finally falling under somewhere around 11:30 he was able to sleep until 12:45 when he came up to relieve Suz. She reported consistent wind in a very manageable sailing range so we hoisted the main again to try to counteract the mounting wave heights. Having sails up, seems to stabilize the boats motion and we wanted some relief from the pounding we were getting from the on-the-nose wave action. It helped but not much. It was a very bumpy, motion-filled night.
Rick did his watch from around 1 pm until around 4:30 when the exhaustion from the sail ordeal caused him to yield his watch a half hour early as he went back down below to get a couple hours of shut-eye. We have an agreement that a watch can be switched for any reason, no reason needed, but here seemed no reason necessary after the earlier experience. At around 7am Rick reappeared to take over from Suz and she gratefully collapsed onto the cushions in the cockpit for some rest as he took the helm. We were still a couple of hours out of St. Martin yet we knew the worst was past. We would be at anchor in a couple of hours. Pulling into the harbor at St. Martin, was welcome and we quickly found a suitable anchorage spot and dropped the hook for some rest.
As usual, Suz did her watches in Yeoman-like fashion and even negotiated a cruise ship passing a bit closer than we like, sometime around dawn. She had to call them on the VHF and make sure they were aware of the three of us out there. They came back to her and after she asked them if we needed to do any course changes to accommodate them, we made a 30 degree change of course and they passed us without incident. Unfortunately, the wet rainy passage, coupled with the overdrive excitement of the sail ordeal, seemed to have taken its course on Suz as she seemed to feel flu-like symptoms the entire day of arrival and still isn't 100% but is definitely on thew mend.
Having not yet cleared into the country through customs on Sunday, our arrival morning, we stayed aboard and cleaned the boat, rested, and relaxed. Monday morning we arose, went ashore, cleared in, went to the first French bakery we could find and enjoyed fresh pastries for breakfast. Afterward, David and Vicky and Suz and I took a local bus to the Dutch side of the island where we spent the day wandering around, window-shopping and enjoying the sights of a new place. We returned around 5 pm and enjoyed a simple dinner ashore. Into bed early last night allowed us to get up-and-at-em this morning.
We seem to arrive into these islands on their holiday season as today most stores are closed on the Dutch side as it is their Carnival week. Then tomorrow is the Dutch Queen' s (second!) birthday (she gets to have two since she's the Queen!) so everything will still be closed. Then on Thursday, it's May Day, another holiday for both sides of the islands. We hope to leave for St. Bart's (only 18 miles away) Thursday so we spent much of the day today seeking out a couple of boat parts we need to replace. No luck, but the repairs are superficial so not a biggie. We'll get them fixed when we can find the parts elsewhere.
Hopefully our next leg will be uneventful, but we now know, more than ever, not to ever expect anything to be simple at sea.
We left the BVI island of Virgin Gorda from the Bitter End, motor-sailing past Necker Island, owned by billionaire Richard Branson, of Virgin Airways, etc. It was a cloudy day as we left and the forecast called for moderate winds (8-12 kts) with seas of 4 to 6 feet. It also forecast the weather would be worsening on Monday afternoon. So the three amigo boats headed off together anticipating a rather typical pass to St. Martin. Once out of sight of land we enjoyed a fantastic dolphin show on our bow around sunset and had up to ten dolphins swirling around between the hulls of our boat, zooming up and down in and out just missing the bottom of our hulls as they played in our wakes.
After a dinner, one of our favorite salads, the Nor'easter, we settled in for a couple of hours of what we hoped would be quiet sailing. At around 8pm, the big colorful Genaker sail (kind of like a spinnaker) decided to come unfurled at the top and began wildly slapping about in the rigging behind causing much noise and grave concern for it's being able to stay in one piece as it flogged about in the guy wires. We had to act quickly if we could save it and the only solution to keeping it in one piece was to try to lower it onto the boat and stash it in a forward locker hatch until we could sort it all out in calmer seas. The seas were not friendly at this point and were bucking the deck around fiercely as Rick donned his life jacket and strapped it's safety harness onto the lifelines strung from the bow to the stern of each side. The lifelines allow one to move about the decks while remaining fixed to the boat via a harness on the life jacket. The principal is that if one is pitched overboard at least they would still be attached to the boat. Getting them back aboard would be difficult at best but having to find them in the water, overboard in the dark, would be practically impossible. The conditions were not good to be forward of the cockpit for any reason,let alone one calling for emergency action and gymnastic climbing and heavy lifting. Rick carefully inched his way around the cockpit and up to the mast where the lines were cleated, holding the Genaker halyard and the sail aloft. Initially, lowering the halyard and the sail a bit made conditions worse as the flopping sail tried to tangle itself around the mast and stays holding the mast in place. Suz maneuvered the boat away from the wind allowing the wind to move the sail away from the mast as Rick continued to lower the sail closer to the deck. It became evident that any additional lowering would allow the sail to drop into the seas, making it nearly impossible to retrieve it once water soaked. Cleating the halyard, Rick cautiously moved down from the mast and around the deck to where the sail was flapping off the side of the boat. Sitting on the tramp, he was able to pull the sail aboard as he stuffed it into an opened locker hatch. Unfortunately, the top third was still hanging above the locker and I had to quickly improvise with some lines to keep it from re-deploying before I went back up to the mast to lower the rest of the sail for storing. Once down, the final third was retrieved and stashed away, while Rick inched back to the safety of the cockpit, exhausted and soaked from the spray and rain. Oh yeah, had I mentioned that it had since decided to start to rain and we were now under a passing squall. Whew! What an ordeal. Lesson learned! We should never move with a sail unintended to be deployed during a trip. The Geneker is a specialty sail used specifically for downwind sailing, something we wouldn't be doing during that trip.. We had put it up the morning before, anticipating using it when all six of us sailed back downwind to check out of customs. After our return from checking out, I had left it up not wanting to deal with the extra hassle of putting it down and storing it away for the passage. I thought about the possibility of it deploying but decided that was unlikely. WRONG decision made too late! Fortunately, all turned out OK but it provided a very scary 30 minutes.
After that excitement, Rick went below to try to relax for a few hours, anticipating taking the first late watch from midnight to 4 or so. Before he went below, we dropped the mainsail after the rain squalls continued to pass over our boat with winds up to 25v kts. The winds continued to maintain a constant 15-20 kts and the wave heights began to pick up to around 6 to 8 Rick tried unsuccessfully to get much sleep below. Finally falling under somewhere around 11:30 he was able to sleep until 12:45 when he came up to relieve Suz. She reported consistent wind in a very manageable sailing range so we hoisted the main again to try to counteract the mounting wave heights. Having sails up, seems to stabilize the boats motion and we wanted some relief from the pounding we were getting from the on-the-nose wave action. It helped but not much. It was a very bumpy, motion-filled night.
Rick did his watch from around 1 pm until around 4:30 when the exhaustion from the sail ordeal caused him to yield his watch a half hour early as he went back down below to get a couple hours of shut-eye. We have an agreement that a watch can be switched for any reason, no reason needed, but here seemed no reason necessary after the earlier experience. At around 7am Rick reappeared to take over from Suz and she gratefully collapsed onto the cushions in the cockpit for some rest as he took the helm. We were still a couple of hours out of St. Martin yet we knew the worst was past. We would be at anchor in a couple of hours. Pulling into the harbor at St. Martin, was welcome and we quickly found a suitable anchorage spot and dropped the hook for some rest.
As usual, Suz did her watches in Yeoman-like fashion and even negotiated a cruise ship passing a bit closer than we like, sometime around dawn. She had to call them on the VHF and make sure they were aware of the three of us out there. They came back to her and after she asked them if we needed to do any course changes to accommodate them, we made a 30 degree change of course and they passed us without incident. Unfortunately, the wet rainy passage, coupled with the overdrive excitement of the sail ordeal, seemed to have taken its course on Suz as she seemed to feel flu-like symptoms the entire day of arrival and still isn't 100% but is definitely on thew mend.
Having not yet cleared into the country through customs on Sunday, our arrival morning, we stayed aboard and cleaned the boat, rested, and relaxed. Monday morning we arose, went ashore, cleared in, went to the first French bakery we could find and enjoyed fresh pastries for breakfast. Afterward, David and Vicky and Suz and I took a local bus to the Dutch side of the island where we spent the day wandering around, window-shopping and enjoying the sights of a new place. We returned around 5 pm and enjoyed a simple dinner ashore. Into bed early last night allowed us to get up-and-at-em this morning.
We seem to arrive into these islands on their holiday season as today most stores are closed on the Dutch side as it is their Carnival week. Then tomorrow is the Dutch Queen' s (second!) birthday (she gets to have two since she's the Queen!) so everything will still be closed. Then on Thursday, it's May Day, another holiday for both sides of the islands. We hope to leave for St. Bart's (only 18 miles away) Thursday so we spent much of the day today seeking out a couple of boat parts we need to replace. No luck, but the repairs are superficial so not a biggie. We'll get them fixed when we can find the parts elsewhere.
Hopefully our next leg will be uneventful, but we now know, more than ever, not to ever expect anything to be simple at sea.
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