Moved on to Dominica

We had wonderful few days in St Pierre Martinique. We found a new spot to anchor and made for a much more pleasant stay. St Pierre is a very deep anchorage and holding a little tough. But we had a perfect spot and quite calm waters making it a great place to swim to a reef for some good snorkelling. We saw many interesting things and some large fish for a small spot. We took all our gear to shore and had a picnic and beach day which is always pleasant with a big shady tree. We were next to busy roadway and a tunnel. Why does everyone have to blow the horn while going through a tunnel? 

There were some interesting "art work" sort of totem poles with eyes on top at the tunnel. Not sure of the significance if any but cool. 

Our boat is only one you see. 

These eyes kept a good watch out for us. 

We crossed over to Dominica on Sunday Feb 12. We had more wind and waves than we bargained for and got pretty beat up. Including a squall with winds to 36 knots. But arrived safe and sound in the day light and reunited with Cat Tales. We re were welcomed with a meal of Dorado. It was delicious and great to see them again. 

Look at the water on the floor. 

But a beautiful sight were the Dolphins that followed us for a good 10 mins and at that time it was so calm Brian walked to the bow and took pictures. There were about a dozen in all. 

This week in Portsmouth has been Yatchie Appreciation Week and lots of BBQs and special events all week. We have taken in many events and have done a couple hikes on our own. This is a wonderful to hike and the trails are well laid out. Some hikes are much more challenging than I would wish for such as the one we did on Friday. It was wild! We left at 9:30 and walked on the road for about an hour to get to the trail start. Then It was straight up and down mountains and some points I was scared to death. But with the help of 7 other hikers I managed. Brian must have had some inside knowledge as he was up most of the night before with a gastro thing and couldn't join in. At one point there was a rope with knots dangling down the side of the hill and I really thought I couldn't do that but actually it was easy. I wished there had been more ropes. At least three of us fell on more than one occasion. Swinging from a tree hand hold was a good safety tool. Near the end was a suspension bridge to cross a small river. I am not good with heights either. But I just kept my head down and barrelled across it. I knew if I looked around or thought about it too much I would have been a goner!  Needless to say when it was over I was done! Mentally and physically! I can scratch that off my to do list! They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger I am stronger. 

 You can see the others down below. 

A view from a lookout of Prince Rupert Bay.

It was very busy here with about 150 or so boats at the peak of the festivities. 

Dominica is a very beautiful island with lots of quick showers and lots of rainbows. 

 This is a view of the bay today from Fort Shirley and more than half the boats have moved on. 

Today's hikers ....we really weren't into it and cut short after about an hour and a half and made our way to a nice road side Roti place for lunch. 

We will leave towards the end of this week starting a slow trek south. Dawn and Laurie have company coming next week and we will probably have some fun with them. 

On Our Way North

We have spent couple of weeks in St Anne and Le Marin getting work done and spending a lot of time socializing with friends. We had two wonderful birthday parties at two great restaurants. We played a couple games of dominoes with new people. Often on a Sunday afternoon when a restaurant isn't too busy they open up a space for us to play. More often than not they sell a few beers and we don't leave a mess. So everyone is happy. We had 15 people at two tables last Sunday afternoon. We had a lovely dinner with our oldest friends... The Perrys, Marsha  just turned 80 and Bob is 85. Bob has not been feeling well this winter and it's tough to get on and off his boat and it would be even more difficult for them to get onto ours for dinner. So I made a big chicken stew in the pressure cooker and we took it to them. Their daughter and son in law are also visiting from New York and it was a very enjoyable evening all around. Bob certainly enjoyed the company and a change of pace. 

Since we are in a department (province) of France the food in restaurants is amazing and inexpensive but in the grocery stores not so much. As I shopped for the things I needed for the stew I was amazed and dismayed with what I found. I like celery in the stew with the leaves adding a lot of flavour. This sad specimen was the best I could find. I paid almost 5.00 CAN equivalent. I should have held it upright for the picture to show the true droopy condition. But on a good note I got 2.5 kg of chicken legs for only 7.00 CAN . Top it off with carrots and potatoes from Canada and good McCormick spices it was perfect. Mushrooms are totally unheard of here unless in a can :( . Dawn and I shared this large jar of freeze dried mushrooms at the beginning of the season. We paid 90 EC about 45$ CAN for the most tasteless rubber you ever tried to eat. I am learning just give up on what you can't readily find. 

Yes it was partly cut away. Paying by the kilo you just take what you need I guess. It was almost 2 feet long. 

 Brian is getting better use of the jar than we did the mushrooms. 

They also have a water service in St Anne and for .07 of a Euro per liter Chris the water guy delivers water to your boat. So for 7 euro we topped up our tank before leaving. A wonderful service for people like us who don't have a water maker. 

Brian worked hard on the alternator situation and with the help of another cruiser confirmed his findings that our brand new alternator is shot along with our old regulator. Another cruiser loaned us his regulator for the testing and then sold it to us when all was working. Thanks Pierre and Charlie! Now we must replace our new spare with yet another spare. Hoping the manufacturer offers some help on it. The raw water pump ...well there is another 600.00 problem! 

Last night we had three couples in for sundowners and snacks. These are some of the people we met our first year out and have remained good friends. Today we left St Anne.

We started off on a leisurely sail up the coast with 12-18 knot winds and had a most pleasant sail around Diamond Rock. Sometimes it can be very confused seas but today on main sail only with two reefs we were doing about 8 knots and barely a splash over the bow. We continued onto Anse Mitan anchorage across the bay from the capital Fort de France. The winds usually howl across this bay and today was no exception. We were splashed and salty after a couple tacks ( yes we tacked!) Before we were settled in at anchor we had a small shower to help with the salt. Since we are moving along later this week I will save the real clean up for later. Tomorrow we will take the ferry across to the capital, Fort de France, and do a little shopping and sight seeing. It is a lovely old city. Looking forward to it. 

We plan to carry on to Dominica by the weekend. The boat boys of Prince Rupert Bay anchorage are having Cruisers Appreciation week. I say boat boys but these are men who in an orderly manner wait for incoming boats to greet,offer their services for tours etc and generally are very welcoming. They also do night patrols of the bay to ensure safety. Sunday nights they put on a BBQ with potent rum punch followed by dancing on the sand. Monday is generally referred to as "recovery day". A few years ago Dominica was not a safe island for cruisers to visit but this group of men turned it around and made it not just a safe place but a very hospitable place to visit. The island is very lush and beautiful and much less developed than many other islands. We will have lots of hiking and snorkelling opportunities over the next week. The week of parties will be a lot of fun too. 

To answer our survey last blog..... We had so many people tell us how much they enjoyed it and keep it up was unanimouse. So here I go again. Thanks all. 

Boat work

After we parted company with Dawn and Laurie and we headed south back to St Lucia for a boat survey. We can hardly believe it has been five years. But Facebook has a way of keeping track and it 5 years this week since we left St Lucia with a boat sale in our future. The fellow who has done a survey on the boat in the past did it again. He found no issues except some expired flares and a dry fire extinguisher. He asked when the lifelines were due to be replaced and we said shortly when back in Martinique. He gave us the "None too soon look!" But I'll finish that thought in short order. We sat in     St Lucia with all our work done and awaited for a replacement bank card for me. It was coming UPS and arrived very quickly and we were off. Many thanks to our daughter Kendra and BMO. Now when will Brian's card arrive?

The trip to Martinique is usually quite pleasant and this time was no exception. We barely took a wave over the deck and almost salt free. A delight!  After spending a few days out in the bay we had to make our way into Le Marin to have the life line work done. I really do not like the trip of about 2-3 miles because of a lot of reefs and a busy channel. But I decided I would drive the boat in and try to get over my irrational fears. The anchorage was not as busy as usual and we found an excellent place to anchor and all was well. We took all the life lines off and delivered them into the rigger for duplication. They were ready by Friday morning and almost all were a perfect fit. One lower piece was a bit short and he replaced it very quickly. While Brian waited and found more to buy. The boat chandlers here are like none other we have seen. Having the work done here was also a huge saving over the quotes from Grenada and St Lucia. 

The old life lines, using that term is a bit of a stretch. I'm not sure they would have saved anyone if put to the test. 

The new shiny ones. They don't recommend plastic covering any more. 

While we were waiting around in Le Marin we were able to top up the groceries and wine with an easy dingy ride back and forth. We are now well stocked for the next while. There are so many excellent restaurants on the French islands and we checked out a few this past week. 

We are now back out in St Anne waiting for Brian's bank card to be sent via St Lucia. Having it sent here means it goes to France first and then it can only be picked up at the customs office at the airport. Hopefully we will have an another sail boat coming over here to bring it to us and not have to make the trip back. In the mean while we have been dealing with alternator issues for the whole season. I won't get into any details because trust me it will wrong information. Laurie and Brian did a major job on it in early Jan and it has failed again. The wiring is suspect as well as the regulator. But Brian keeps at it. We do have a Honda generator in case of emergency ..... if the batteries went too low to either start the engine or run the windless to anchor. 

The usual flurry of social events are in full swing. We have a birthday party. tonight and another tomorrow thankfully at two different restaurants. Neither of which we have been to this season. 

We plan to head north to Dominica and meet up Dawn and Laurie early Feb. for the last half of the winter. 

This is a Yolle. A tradional sailing vessel from Martinique. Just for fun I believe. 

 Sunset in St Anne.

We have a survey of our own to propose...we really wonder how many are reading the blog these days??? We do post the odd picture on Facebook but could do more. Often it is tough to write a blog thinking ... We really haven't done anything exciting.  Then it is tough to find good enough internet to send it. So let us know by email ...jeffreybs@hotmail.com or on Facebook. Thanks!

Alone Again

We have had the best couple months sailing,exploring,hiking,eating and drinking with my sister Dawn and her husband Laurie on Cat Tales. We have been together since mid Nov and this past Tues we parted company as they headed north and we south. We will reconnect in Feb in Dominica. But for now we are anchored in Rodney Bay, St Lucia, you know when you have spent too long here when you walk through the marina grounds and you know so many people. The boat maintenance guy Vision calls out Welcome Back to St Lucia. It always feels like coming home. We have many friends who arrive after Christmas and we will catch up with them here too. We need to get the boat surveyed for insurance this spring .... Amazing it's our fifth season. 

To back track we spent a month in Martinique the land of great food and cheap wine. Thank goodness we had many taxing hikes to compensate. We spent a great Christmas Day with a group of 30 or so and then some time on the beach. 

This is our salon Christmas morning. 

On a hike around to Point Saline it looks desert like not at all tropical. 

Just a  walk trough the water to continue. It's weird because the water is so clear its hard to tell how deep it is until you're in it. 

 

This is Petite Anse

We had a couple nights in Anse Chaudiere where the water is crystal clear and some excellent snorkelling from the back of the boat. After so many rainy windy days it was a joy to have calm waters. For the first time we saw dolphins frolicking and jumping along side the boat. I have a video but it is to large to post. I'll try to figure how to take a short clip from it. It was very exciting for us. 

After a hike to Petie Anse we took the bus back to the anchorage and the hairpin turns were crazy. This car had to back up to let the bus make the turn. It was a brand new large bus.... too big for the road. Apparently what they get in France all the dependents get too. Never mind the roads were built for mini cars. This one was like our highway busses, brand new (no graffiti or stains on the upholstery and the A/C worked too!).

Dawn and I waiting for Laurie to return from scoping out the next segment of the hike.....for another day. 

Why can't we grow them like this in Canada along the roadside here. 

The World Arc 2017/18 left Rodney Bay at noon today. About 20 boats heading out for 15 months and 26,000 nautical miles. 

We seem to be in Big Boat Bay....haven't seen so many Mega Yatchs in one place for a long time. At night they are lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. Quite lovely to see. 

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.