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7/12/09 We went for a sail up the coast of Barbados with some of the locals had a great lunch and returned. On the return trip we were motor sailing and ran out of fuel in the tank we were using and so had to sail in to anchor. Just after we ran out fuel the Coast Guard came up alongside and asked us 20 questions, where we were from, where were we going, how many on board.... Then yesterday we cleared out and were 45 minutes out, when we had a call on the radio saying that we hadn't taken all our papers from immigration (they forgot to give them to us, and they had done the same thing to at least one other boat we know of), so we had to turn around and go back to the port and pick them up. It was a bit of a pain, as the trip between Barbados and Grenada is an overnight trip and we didn't really want to waste a couple of hours for some paper, but we needed it to get in to our next port. We arrived in Grenada this morning, cleared customs and caught up with some well deserved rest. 3/3/10 OK, OK, so I've been slack with updates, so I'll give you the higlights of the trip so far. We spent four days in Grenada and stocked up a bit, as it was much cheaper than Barbados (Now that we are cruising we have slipped into tightwad mode again). We left with the wind against us a bit and we really missed being able to use the Mizzen (back sail), particularly when we also had to fight a current between the islands. We only just made it into a bay on a small island just North of Grenada before nightfall. The following day we made into Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou where we stayed for three days. We ran into out friends from Gryphon II here and it was lovely to catch up with them. On the 15th of December we left Tyrrel Bay and cleared into Union Island where we came across the first of the "boat boys" (men selling stuff from boats), they can be quite aggressive with their sales technique and the first half a dozen or so tried to charge us about EC$18 a gallon for diesel, when the rate in the petrol station in town was les than EC$10 a gallon. Eventually one of them realised we weren't willing to be ripped off. He came back and sold it to us for EC$10 a gallon, the person who owned the petrol station gave him some money for the business and we slipped him some extra for his trouble as well. We left the same day and went to Tobago Cays, which was one of the highlights of out trip. We anchored near an island , protected from the big ocean swells by a reef. The water was clear and it was a turtle sanctuary. On my first snorkel into the island I saw half a dozen turtles. Even Shelley was enjoying the water and was in and out like a yoyo. After a couple of days there we then headed onto Bequia, where we stayed for three days. It took about 5 or 6 trys to anchor, we found the holding very difficult. Ashore there were lots of bars and restaurants, with a little bit of stocking up available, but it was a bit pricey. We had been warned that the wind could really accelerate down the hill here into the bay, but saw no evidence of that.  To the North of Bequia is St Vincent, we didn't want to stop here because there have recently been some quite nasty and violent robberies of cruisers. Just North of St Vincent is St Lucia, which we were told is quite commercial. After St Lucia is the French Island of Martinique which was quite a way to the East, so we decided to crunch some miles and head for Dominica. It turned into a beautiful night and was the first night we chose to sleep in the cockpit while we were off watch and is a very pleasant way to cruise on short hops. We arrived at Roseau about lunch time the next day, and decided that we didn't like the anchorage, it wasn't well protected and we would have had to take up a mooring ball. So we headed for and anchorage at the Northern end of the island called Prince Rupert Bay. This was a beautiful, well protected bay. We anchored and cleared in and out of customs at the same time (you can do that here if you are staying no longer than a couple of weeks). The next day we went into town and had a look around. The people appear poor, but are very friendly. We got on a bus and went to the other side of the island, which is one of the best ways we have found to get a look around. It took us a couple of hours though to find a bus to bring us back. The next day we left and headed up to our first French Islands, Les Saintes, which is part of Guadeloupe. We had to anchor under sail because the engine wouldn't start. My mechanical skills proved as handy as ever, when I finally figured out that the engine stop cable hadn't been pushed back in when I had turned the engine off. Dohh!!! I went ashore to check in at customs and couldn't. They were closed for the Christmas/New Year break! The town was very pretty, with small roads and most people were on bikes or scooters. The next day, Christmas eve, we sailed up to Guadeloupe and stayed in a Marina so we could have WiFi to call our families for Christmas. We asked for a mooring and ended up not on a swing mooring, but tethered to a mooring ball at each corner of the boat. We then found that the WiFi was "broken" and we had to go to an internet cafe! After spending a few days here, looking around the old town and doing a little stocking up, we headed off. To leave, we went North through a canal that split the island in two. There were a couple of bridges that we had to go through and they only open at 5 a.m. , so we anchored nearby and had an early start. The bridge opened on time, and we had no problems, even though we were worried about the depths, as we were told there may only be 6 inches under the keel at times. The shallowest we saw was about seven feet.  At Antigua we checked in at Jolly Harbour. We found the staff to be a little pompous, but as we were laid back and went with the flow, we had no problems. We spent a couple of nights here, took the local bus to St John and got one of our phones unlocked and the screen replaced on the other one. We found that our friends Ed and Linda from Dreamtime were around at Falmouth Harbour, so we headed around there and had a great time catching up with them. At their suggestion we went to Green Island which is on the Eastern side of Antigua and is a very pretty spot, not crowded and some reefs to snorkel on. Eventually though, we had to leave, so we headed back to Jolly Harbour, checked out and sailed overnight to St Martin.  St Martin is half French and half Dutch, we chose to enter on the French side as it is cheaper. Once you are on the island you can travel freely back and forth. While we were there we had our autopilot fixed under warranty, replace a couple of slides for our Harken Battcars and had our double braided anchor line professionally spliced (I didn't want to trust our safety to my splicing). We managed to sell our outboard and upgrade to a slightly bigger one. In St Martin you really need an outboard, I was rowing up to six miles a day, depending on how many trips ashore we were doing, and in the heat you were always sticky by the time you arrived. I also found it difficult rowing until I went to a doctor who diagnosed me with arthritis and a friend some anti inflamatory drugs that work really well. We found St Martin to be a very social place, with quite a few boats in the lagoon and an active morning radio net. We met up with some Aussie boats here, Ghost, Meander, Boundless 1, Executive and we caught up again with Julianna 2. We even mixed with an american "Chicky Babe" Diane and here husband Bill from Argonaut and were forced to drink copious quantities of rum by a couple of Brits, Nathan and Ashley on Tosca.   Eventually all our chores were done and we had to leave, and after an overnight sail we found ourselves in the British Virgin Islands. The swimming and snorkelling here was great and we were in the water everyday (great excuse to scrape the barnacles from the bottom of the boat)   .
We had to tie stern to the shore in one of the bays, and we had to go and help one of the charter boats of the rocks when he didn't get it right, and made friends with a few others when we took lines to the shore for them. While we were there we made inquiries to find work on the charter boats, but found that we needed pieces of paper to say that I could sail and that Shelley could cook, and apparently work permits would have cost about US$5000. Shelley's take For me the Virgin Islands are the jewel of the Caribbean this time round. Beautiful bays, clear warm water, white sandy beaches, coral reefs, caves, plentiful and varied fish life, fabulous wreck diving, friendly people and plenty of sunshine. With a festival for just about every event, it presents a good party atmosphere and plenty to do. Sounds like a commercial, but we've been enjoying ourselves. There is a rich history in Piracy. Place names like Tortola, Ballast Bay, Deadman's Bay, Pirates Bight, Dead Chest, Privateer Bay, The Indians, Gallows Bay, Smugglers Cove, Bones Bight, Devil's Bay conjure all manner of smuggling and piracy tales. It certainly inspired Robert Louis Stevenson with 'Treasure Island'. The Virgin Islands are split between the British Virgins (BVI's) and US Virgins (USVI's). BVI's are charter boat city. There are whole marinas dedicated to charter boats - hundreds of them. Most boats sailing in these waters are bareboat or crewed charters. We've been witness to some interesting mooring and anchoring techniques. So saying, stuff happens and most of the people who charter a boat only do so a couple of weeks a year - mishaps are expected. But some of them shouldn't be allowed behind the helm. Marno has had to help rescue one off the rocks and several to anchor and up anchor. It's been a laugh, and we tend to be ready with our fenders should we see one pass or anchor too close. Our next stop, unless we get a better offer, will be Puerto Rico. |
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