Another And Then blog....

We finished all our boat chores that needed to be done before starting the northern trek and decided Sat. was the day. We motored around the lower tip of the island and spent a night in St Georges harbour. It is always a bit of a hard anchorage to get a good bite on the anchor. We thought we were safely ensconced but after a couple hours we noticed we had drug a bit. Brian swam on the anchor and found by the trails in the rubbly coral we had indeed drug about 15 ft. It was nearly dark and very calm so decided to stay put and wait and see. Brian sat up in the cockpit with the hand held GPS and checked every hour or so. We stayed put but made for a long night with little sleep. 

We left around 8:00 heading for Tyrell Bay Carricou, also part of Grenada. We motor sailed up the west coast until we cleared the main island. Wouldn't you know it but the starboard cam cleat on the traveler stopped holding the line! No big deal, we can use an adjacent jam cleat. Why do these things happen just after you leave the land of decent chandeliers? The sail was quite nice and we were heeled over just enough for the weight of the dishes in the latched cupboard to pop open and eject about half the dishes onto the floor of the galley. I did know Corelle was not unbreakable but Wow did it shatter. Only three cereal bowls were the casualties. But a mess to clean up and now days later we are still finding the odd shard. 

And then...

We are approaching the island of Carricou and the auto helm quit. It does that from time to time when the waves and swells are quite heavy. Brian asked me to put on the engine to help with control. But no water came out the exhaust. Which means the motor will overheat and destroy itself. So we are approaching the harbour and no motor and the wind dies completely. We radioed to Cat Tales who were just ahead of us. We decided we would raft together and get in close enough for Brian to manually drop the anchor. But we were too far out for such a task. The winds were picking up again. As we were deciding what to do next the bow line connecting us broke taking with it the first section of the life lines (high on the replacement list anyway). As it broke something hit the back of my hand causing a nasty bruise.  We released the rest of the lines and put out the jib and started tacking into the harbour. It is a very large open harbour and lots of room for anchoring. For those of you who are laughing by now you know I hate to anchor in tight spots. Others do not even think it's a tight spot. Cat Tales again connected us and steered us to a perfect anchor spot. 

Upon inspection of the motor it was determined the impeller had blown into about as many pieces as the dishes. ( quite remarkable, should have taken a picture, no idea if all the bits were found) The entry to that part of the engine is where the broken dishes were. A quick clean up and fix and we running again. The "anchor down beverage" was delayed about 1.5 hours!

Yesterday Monday we checked out of Grenada and had a lovely sail to Bequai....100% issue free. 

We made our plans to leave at 3:00 am today for the longest leg of the journey to Rodney Bay, St Lucia. But there was a crazy lightening show all night and although no rain YET. We had weather word from St Lucia it was terrible there with 35 knot gusts. Put our friend John Fallon on Stopp Knott on the beach. We was not taking on water with the last news. So we are sitting and rolling in Bequia until it is safe to go. It's been raining very steadily since about 6:00am. We have two new leaks. 

So we will try again at 3:00am. 

Greetings from Grenada

We have arrived in Grenada after a very busy summer at home with visits to the east and the west and Algonquin Park. Over the summer we built decks,driveways,walkways,gardens and planted many trees. Hopefully at least half the trees will survive their first winter.  

We had a bit of trouble on our flight with the airline detecting a Galaxy7 phone on board. After two hours we were taken off the flight and rescreened while they searched the plane. Nothing was found but we missed our connecting flight to Grenada. We had to find a hotel in Miami at our expense ...not their fault they said. But we managed and actually had a very restful night in Miami after we bought a bottle of red wine and found a Subway right next to the hotel. I, Lorna, broke a piece off a tooth the night before leaving also and had to fit an emergency repair into our already too busy getting out the door plan. But all was well and repaired.

When we arrived in Grenada it was a quick and easy trip through the airport and a 15 min taxi ride with a brief stop at a small store for bread, eggs and cold beer. The small apartment style hotel was ready for us with the AC turned up. 

When we got to the boat the next morning we found everything very well and clean and dry. Always a gamble. We were unsure if we could launch on Friday after losing a day but we managed. We have been sitting in the bay since and getting small jobs done in a leisurely fashion. We have had time for a few dominoes games. Today, the champ Brian, is the guy to beat. 

We have had some strange things happen since our arrival. We had trouble when we left in April with the jib (the small front sail) not wanting to come down so the sail repair company came on board after we left and took down the sail and fixed the roller furller. We found a few small plastic looking balls on the deck when we got here. Wondering if the workers had dropped some ball bearings while aboard

 or if they had come out of our rigging somewhere, somehow we gathered them up in a baggy and took them in for inspection. The gal emailed us yesterday to tell us they were lizard eggs. She was quite funny and told us it was good they didn't hatch because we would have had babies to feed. Fortunately we have no sign of lizards dead or alive aboard. 

The swim ladder was swarming with tiny minnows the other morning. Below them were schools of the next size up waiting for dinner. Who knows what was below them. Then there were jelly fish going by for a day or so. No swimming for me that day. But they are all gone now. The water is extremely warm it seems. The metal on the boarding ladder is warmer than the air. 

The super moon has been just beautiful and we have spent the last couple nights up on the front deck enjoying the breeze and the sky. The picture really doesn't do it justice. 

Dawn and Laurie on Cat Tales arrived on Monday afternoon. But my sister Dawn arrived with a sore shoulder so we have tried to assist. Brian was over there yesterday morning and helped Laurie with the heavy two man jobs and I helped Dawn get some groceries. 

So as you can see all is well on Peace and Plenty. 

Working toward going home.

We haul out on April 15 and fly on the 19. Looking forward to getting back to our new house that we barely moved in before we left in Nov. but decks,driveways and landscaping await us there. 

Looking back on our pictures and just have to share some great shots under and above water in Bequia.

A selfie on the sail from Admiralty Bay in Bequai to Tyrell Bay in Carricou. A cold miserable day but a great sail. 

Admiralty Bay from the towers after a great hike. 

We are currently sitting in Prickly Bay, Grenada and working away on the jobs to be ready to haul out. Since we will not be going to a dock for a few days as we have in the past our way of tackling the jobs is a little different. Since we do not have an abundance of fresh water at our disposal all the cleaning of the decks and canvas will have to wait. We just hope we have scheduled enough on the hard as we are running out of things to do in the bay. 

We spent an afternoon last week on Grand Anse beach, just south of St. George on the west coast and oh my what a gorgeous spot. Anyone looking for a land holiday and a visit .....hint hint Van Waes check it out. 

Our dinghy the only one pulled up on the beach. Notice how crowded it is. 

Don't sit under the almond tree with anyone else but me .....

Almond tree ready to produce its crop. 

A resort on the beach. 

The captain enjoying the new auto helm. On our last sail. 

We had a lovely last sail.....just the kind of a day you want to finish on. Speed was a consistent 7-8 knots with 18-20 knot winds. 

We were thinking the other night about how far we have gone this year and by rough estimate using this chart we figure we went 690 nautical miles. Compared to last year when we went 42 ....remember the rigging problems. We are pretty happy. 

So as we wrap up the season we certainly view it as a great one seeing so many new places and meeting so many new people. That's what it's all about. 

Three islands ....time to catch up.

We had a lovely stay in Martinique and finally it was time to leave. We heard of a Sunday lunch buffet and had to try it before we left our friends. It was excellent food and all drinks included for 35 Euro. The  salad bar alone would have been sufficient but fresh grilled steak,ribs,and chicken were at the next station. We certainly got our money worth. There were 14 of us. 

Thankfully we had a little walk to the dinghies along a very busy beach on a Sunday afternoon.

We left the following day for the short sail back to Rodney Bay St Lucia. Enough of the French food,good wine and cheeses. Our sail was uneventful and sort of feels like home coming into Rodney Bay. But after a few days the noise of the jet skis wears thin. But not before a hike. We took a bus to the capital Castries and hiked up to the Vigie lighthouse. We visited with James one of the lighthouse keepers and saw some beautiful vistas. Each ship large or small must make contact with the Vigie Light to get clearance to enter the harbour. 

This is looking down into Casteries harbour where the cruise ships dock. 

We visited some abandoned barricks and had an interesting history lesson at the archives.

Now some of the barricks have been revitalized to hold offices and embassies. The Mexican and the French were two we saw. 

 We had a great visit with our friends John and Sue from Saltscar III and finally bid them a fond farewell to head south. But the boat gremlins had other plans. As we started the engine the alternator was not doing its job. No charge was going to the batteries. Fortunately Brian had a spare and he proceeded to install it. But after finding it was slightly different than the old he was not confident he had installed it correctly. So we contacted Dawn and Laurie who had left the bay just before us that we wouldn't be catching up today. We put a call into a fellow that works on motors and only left a message. But as we all know the VHF radio is never private (thankfully) and friends were providing all kinds of advice. A fellow on a Canadian vessel Pilgrim came over and offered a hand. He was an electrical engineer with IBM for 30 years. He confirmed just a mixed wire and had us up and operational in about 15 mins. We left later that day and caught up to Cat Tales at an anchorage called Canaries. It was our jump off spot for an 11 hour sail at 5:30 am and unfortunately we motor sailed almost the entire way. But we did have one exciting surprise. Brian spotted a whale ahead of us and we came along side .... we really think he was sleeping. We were no more than 20-30 feet away. Dawn and Laurie were behind us they also had a show. 

It is really hard to get a good picture of a moving object on a moving boat with your hands shaking I was so excited. This is the only shot I got. 

We arrived in Bequia about 5:00.  We have had a lovely week here. It has been very windy for the past two days. We will leave on Tues for Carriacou part of Grenada to start to prepare for haul out. When we leave to head further south we will break company with my sister Dawn and her husband Laurie on Cat Tales. It has been a most special winter spending as much time together as we have. They have pushed us to hike to heights I wouldn't have without them and always a wealth of knowledge as we still learn the Caribbean ways. 

Oh yes while here I had a birthday. I was spoiled totally and had a lovely day. Thanks for all the Facebook greetings. 

Anse Mitan - Ste Anne

Well we have been in Ste Anne for a week now so we are behind in the blog. Our apologies!

We had a quick run around the Baie De Fort De France then straight to Ste Anne. 

Trying something new here. This is taken from our cruising guide and gives an overview of the island. We have been from top to bottom on the west side. 

This is the Bay of Fort de France.

We spent two nights anchored off of Pointe du Bout. Which is in the bottom, middle of the with the North Cardinal bouy and red navigation bouy. We didn't get off the boat except to swim. It was quiet and peaceful. We decided to take a motor tour of the bay so we went due north to the Fort and entered the harbour. Other than watching over your shoulder for ferries about to run you down it was uneventful. Once in the harbour it was a bit congested but we wanted to see where the marina was located. It's not likely we'll ever go there. Since we were in the industrial harbour we were dwarfed by container ships, bulk carriers and of course a monster cruise ship. (Sorry photos seem to be lost) We proceeded along the north coast and the water got rather shallow so our wariness got deeper. You can see a line of red bouys in the upper right of the chart. We motored as far as the northernmost then turned, threw out the jib and sailed across at about 5 knots. It was great with next to no fetch and no other traffic. Once across we angled ourselves into Trois Ilets. There to stay for one night. We thought we would have a great night's sleep with the wind blowing into the fore hatch like air conditioning. Wouldn't you know it would go dead calm! Then we were concerned about mosquitos as we were close to the mangroves. But the screens in and the coil burning we were fine. 

Trois Islets is a quaint town that hasn't been overrun with tourists.

The anchorage seems to be filled with boats that are left to die!

Maybe not so old? Sure makes you wonder.

Moving on, we heard the weather forecast for more wind and building seas for the weekend so we decided to leave Trois Islet and sail directly to Ste Anne. The reason being that to get there you have to come around the end of the island and beat your way into the prevailing wind and sea. As mentioned before it was dead calm and that lasted until we cleared the south end of the Baie de Fort de France. As we motored along we were overtaken by a horde of jet skis. It looked like a scene from Water World! (I don't think too many people saw that movie with Kevin Costner) there were 20 or so. 

We managed to sail down the West coast on a nice reach out past Diamond Rock then tacked (yes we tacked) a couple of times to close on Ste Anne. All-in-all a great day. 

Since we have been here we have played dominos on Bay Pelican with Aquarelle. Walked to Pointe Saline and toured in a rented car with Dream Maker. They had to pick up a part in Forte De France so we hitched along and spent the day going out to Presquile de la Caravelle (the long peninsula on the East coast) where we had a fabulous lunch at a beachfront restaurant, visited a rum factory and went shopping at a huge mall!

Ours is the silver one.

Bougenvalia, love these plants. The white dot in the middle is the actual flower.

Waiting for our table on a swing. 

Bill and Cathy of Dream Maker, A little sampling of the product with Lorna.

Same vintage as me! At a fraction of the price! Lorna wouldn't let me buy it. Actually it's rum Agricole made without molasses. Can't say we appreciate it so much!

By North American standards this is a large mall. Largest in the Caribbean. We don't plan to confirm that.

Time to wrap up. It was a beach day yesterday and today it's dominos on Aquarelle at 1:00.

Keep on keeping on!

Au Revoir Saint Pierre et Bonjour Anse Mitan. .....Brian here

Well after three days of hiking throughout St.Pierre if was time to go. We walked from the south end where a statue of The Virgin Mary gazes down on the anchorage to the North side where the Depaz Distillery continues to operates on the flank of mount Pellee amongst fields of sugar cane. Everything between had been destroyed by the eruption of May 8, 1902. There are many poignant reminders of the power of nature and the foolishness of man. There is not enough room here to explore the previous statement fully. We recommend doing some internet research or better still come and see for yourself.

The Virgin. She was knocked off her pedestal in the eruption and replaced several years after. Curiously, the statue is well flood lit at night but to walk to it there are no signs. We just started on a road walking uphill and came across the stations of the cross which just stopped. Then at the end of the road we turned right and decided we were going in the wrong direction so we turned around and walked uphill until the pavement stopped. Then we turned around again and followed the road past where we turned figuring it would lead us back down the hill to the sea. Well it just petered out and there she was down a dirt path guarded by goats!

The View we saw.

1902

Now for the RUM!

Mount Pelle amongst the sugar cane and the estate property.

This estate was wiped out but has obviously rebounded after 114 years. They had a very informative museum with a self guided tour. Some sampling was provided as well. Enough said! But no purchases were made. 

In Between!

Ruins!

May 8, 1902 was a Thursday, in fact is was "Assecention Day" according to the Roman Catholic Faith. So when the disaster struck many of the estimated 30,000 victims would have been in church. As a Christian I would say; "What a way to go", considering that "to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of The Lord"! The pryroplastic blast would have killed most of them instantly. Only two people were known to have survived. Following are some pictures of places of worship and a cemetery that shows the brute force of that day.

From closest to furthermost from the mountain:

This was not an insignificant structure.

Closer to the Centre of town this church is still being restored.

The stained glass is spectacular but rather secular as well. The bells are rung on the hour.

A memorial and just two of the many tortured graves.

Saint Pierre has never recovered. Today it has a population of about 5000. 

One other worthwhile adventure was a walk to the Earth Sciences Centre that is built on the slopes of Mount Pelee. It is dedicated to research and understanding of volcanic activity. They continue to monitor Pelee and provide educational opportunities. One film in particular explained the plate tectonics and how the islands were formed. It's amazing that you don't know, what you don't know! 

Now for our trip to Anse Mitan.

We had intended to sail leisurely down the west coast and observe the towns along the way. What actually happened...have we ever mentioned that all plans made down here are done in sand at low tide?...first of all, no wind, second of all, numerous showers, third of all,a when the wind and showers combined it was on the nose. Consequently we did our best "trawler" imitation and motored the whole day! Well the batteries sure enjoyed it so all was not lost except a few burned up dinosaurs. Thank goodness for good canvas!

Ta Ta for now!