On our own again

We have been travelling with Dawn and Laurie on Cat Tales and Steve and Maria on Aspen and Al and Michelle on Tarantella and four boats and eight people are a lot to try to keep organized and happy. Everyone wants to entertain and the good food both on the boats and off has been amazing. We have a few good hikes too ...try to walk off the calories.  As of this Sat.am we are alone for the first time since mid Dec. Cat Tales and Aspen have gone north to Dominica, Tarantella headed south to St.Lucia on Wednesday when the rest of us headed north. So Brian and I will explore St Pierre in the northern end of Martinique then gunkhole our way back south to St.Anne Martinique. We will meet up with Dawn and Laurie again there in a couple weeks to start the trek south. 

Flowers just growing along the side of the road. This is a Flamboyant blossom.

Who's Prettier? (That's a rhetorical question!) Brian 

Cat Tales off the stern of Peace and Plenty at Anse A L'ane 

We arrived here in St Pierre yesterday before noon......I do love these 4 hour sails! It was quite a smooth ride without any waves over the deck so no need to wash down. We all headed into town to check out a craft brewery but actually found it to be a lovely air conditioned restaurant that served draft beer. We enjoyed a rather fancy higher than usual priced lunch. We called it our Valentine treat since none of us will probably do anything special tomorrow. 

St Pierre is a very unique city at the north west part of Martinique. It was known as "The Paris of The Caribbean" until the volcano of Mt.Pelee erupted in May 1902. The entire city of 30,000 was lost with only a couple survivors. Many of the ruins remain and we saw some of that yesterday and will continue for the next week or so. 

It looks so peaceful, now, 114 years later!

Looking down into the ruins and we are anchored just off that road.

We are all walking up to view the ruins of a huge theatre tha had been rebuilt after a hurricane in 1900 but never re-opened because of bankruptcy only to be destroyed by the volcano.

We still have no good wifi on the boat in the French Islands so we only catch up and post as we get to a cafe. 

Dawn and I laughing at something????

Just an hour or so ago Brian and I helped a family on a catamaran. They had just anchored ahead of us and we thought they were way too close. She saw us looking at them and said (not called they were so close) that they would only be there for a short while. Her husband had just gone to shore with their little boy. Not 15 mins later she was coming at us sideways. Brian and I hopped in our dinghy and helped her relocate as her husband returned. No harm done. Just another fun day in the anchorage. 

Back in Martinique

We left Bequia at 3:00am on a full moon night for a 70 mile journey to Rodney Bay St.Lucia. The night unfortunately was cloudy with a light shower so .....so much for our moon light sail! As we were upping anchor we see the lights of two more boats also leaving. It got a bit crazy as four boats tried to come into the wind to raise the sails in the dark. But all was well and we were off. The four boats kept in radio contact the whole way and the faster two ...not CT or P&P gave us wind and shower conditions as we proceeded. We had a lot of wind between the islands as always and almost no wind at times and along the coast of St Lucia the most lovely sail not hurrying so we would arrive after customs check in time to avoid costly overtime. Arriving in Rodney Bay at 5:00 P.M. was like coming home. 

We have spent most of our time here and know so many people. It was a quick week and I organized the ladies lunch on Wed for a group of 25. We made plans to leave on Tues. So Monday Brian and I went to town to get a few last minute groceries and check out at customs. We went into the town dock for the grocery store and lunch, but it was so crowded we decided against it and went back to the marina and tied up at our friends My Island Girl. Barabra came racing out of the boat telling us Cat Tales' Laurie was hailing on the VHF looking for us ...our boat was adrift in the anchorage and 10 feet from our friend Stopp Knott. We race back a 10-15 min dinghy ride to find Laurie in his dinghy being a human fender and Dawn on our bow with a line to the local fruit vendor boat ... he, trying to pull us forward. I started the engine and pulled us forward as Brian tied off our dinghy and raced aboard to lift our anchor. Once we were free and caught our breath we reanchored. John of Stopp Knott arrived at that time having heard in the marina about the goings on. We had reanchored two days before after having to go the dock to reinstall the wind generator. So we were two days dug in, so we thought, Brian had dove on the anchor, you just never know. Thank goodness Dawn and Laurie were there to see us go. More than enough excitement for all of us. But no damage done to either boats just some frayed nerves!

We left the next morning for Martinique and had a lovely sail again. This whole season has been filled with good sails. Finally for the first time we saw Dolphins. There were 5-6 off our starboard stern and although I tried to get a picture and I can't even find them. They weren't exactly frolicking beside us but there just the same. The day after our arrival Laurie took Cat Tales into the town of Le Marin where we all stocked up on beer,wine and groceries. He towed our dinghy behind and we had a busy day. The boat stores here are so amazing. We found bits we had been looking for for weeks. 

The dolphins are out there somewhere. 

We have a busy social life here with lots of get togethers,dinners,hikes and fun. 

Time in Bequia

We arrived in Bequia on Jan 10 and plan to depart this Sunday Jan 24 th. When we arrived Dawn had a list of three places where we had to eat on the island. (The Auberge for BLT - bacon, lobster and tomato; The Green Bolly - roti; Mac's Pizzeria) Pretty funny when your visit is planned around good places to eat. Last night we completed the list so we are free to go. We managed to fit in a couple more spots to eat along the way. We have had excellent places to snorkel,hike and explore and eat. 

There is reef just off the side of the boat for an easy swim to explore. We have visited it a few times and seen new things each time. Check out Dawn and Laurie's blog from Cat Tales for better underwater shots. They seem to be able to get sharper shots with the same camera. The site is corbettgonesailing.blogspot.com  and they identify each picture more accurately. 

Inshore Lizardfish ... We think?

Intermediate aged, Blue Tang

Squid

Spotted Sea Snake

Large spotted snorkeller

Oh my there she is again! It was calm and little current that day. 

We have had many good hikes ....some where we knew where we were going and some not. But always an adventure. Last week the climb to Peggy's Rock was quite intense and unfortunately with the incline and the heat I was unable to get to the peak. Brian being the gallant gentleman wouldn't leave me alone so we sat on a rock look out over the ocean and watched the boats come and go. As a large black cloud approached we hurried down the mountain before the footing got too slick. We waited for the rest under our umbrellas. Then continued with a 3/4 of an hour walk back to town. So a hike is just not the hill or mountain it is the additional hike to get to and from the hike. We are always happy to be travelling with Dawn and Laurie because they push us past our comfort zone and explore what we might have missed by ourselves. The day before yesterday Laurie pulls out the map and says let's try this route. So six of us trundle off into the unknown. After four hours of highway, paths in the forest, up hills and down valleys with beautiful views we made our way back. Along the way we met a few people to ask directions but really the locals don't walk anywhere so no one really knew where we wanted to go. Just keep on this road and probably 15 minutes or so you'll find the town. Well that was 15 min of drive time we figured. But we made it safe and sound with only a few aches and pains to complain about. There is always a good cheap lunch a cold beer at the end. 

St Vincent in the distance.

A great spot for a relax before starting to find the way down the mountain. 

Along the side of the beach and a rock face into the ocean they have built a walkway with stairs and a boardwalk to get from one beach to the next. It has really made travel ashore easier. Whereas before you would have to dinghy to the next beach or walk the road behind. There has been quite a roll since we arrived and the surge on the beach quite large. Great for a fun beach day for the young. 

We barely kept dry on that spot. 

We just missed that wave too. 

The trip north to Rodney Bay St Lucia will be one of our longer sails of about 74 miles. We plan to leave at about 3:00am to ensure getting to the anchorage in daylight. This weekend will be a full moon so that will add to the fun. 

An island tour of Grenada and return to Bequia

We made arrangements with another boat who had company aboard to join in on their tour. There were 9 people on a three day old mini tour bus. Our driver Cuddy was well versed on the history and the  flora and fauna of the island. We left at 9 am and returned at 5:30. We saw the capital of St Georges and each of the parishes with one city (or town really) in each.This is St Georges where you can see where the cruise ships would dock. 

Along the highway we passed several spots where there were these petroglyphs. 

The rum factory.....

We toured a rum factory using the old style water wheel from the 1700's for crushing the sugar cane to make the most vile rum we had ever tasted. My throat hurt until the next day.

Then a tour of one of the chocolate factories where they used old equipment but produced the finest smooth chocolate. My throat didn't hurt at all with that.

 

This is what the chocolate looks like on the trees. The big red pods where the cocoa beans are growing. 

Nutmeg is grown abundantly on the island and bagged up for shipment around the world. Brian's nose twitched at the sites and smells of the processing of the spices reminding him of his many years at McCormick Canada. We weren't allowed any pictures there but it was all hand sorted and bagged. Quite a time consuming process. 

Along the highway were several colorful displays of their national pride. Independence Day for Grenada is in Feb and the parties begin. 

We drove through the rain forest and stopped at a waterfall where one of the locals jumped into the pool. But I'm not a quick enough shot for that. It was a beautiful lush spot.

Some of the produce along the way. 

We stopped for lunch at a resort on the northern end of the island. A beautiful beach and an amazing view!

In the rain forest we stopped where the driver coaxed a monkey out of the forest by honking the horn and he ate bananas right out of our hands. Well not my hands but someone's hand.

When the bananas were gone so was the monkey. 

We have now sailed from Grenada up to Bequia where we are planning to stay about two weeks. But we have had trouble with the phone data plan and have had no communication this week. Today we will go in for free wifi at a restaurant to post this and catch up. I know the hell here never ends.

Stay tuned for some fun snorkel shots next time. Don't want to make this too long or bore you. 

A lot to cover

Sorry it has been so long since our last post but we have been really busy having fun! You don't have to get much for Christmas to be excited. Dawn gave me a plunger to go with my new buckets for laundry and I gave her three microfibre cleaning cloths tied with Christmas ribbon.She was excited!  ( (thanks Vicki) 

Our time in Carricou was busy with wining and dining on several boats and enjoying the Christmas festivities. We decided to move south to Genada just after Christmas.

 

We had a lovely sail between many small islands to the south west side in Grenada for our first stop.  Dragons Bay was a small bay with mooring balls. Thanks Doug your lasso method it worked perfectly. There are amazing underwater sculptures and thankfully the water was just clear enough for a beautiful snorkel to discover these beauties. Nothing is marked so you just keep swimming until you stumble on another. The man at the desk at the typewriter was my first one to spy and although I knew what I was looking for it still startled me. Unfortunately the anchorage was very rolly and the anchor ball banged on the hull all night. Not much sleep on this monohull. Cat Tales fared better but not by much we were told. By morning we found that the mooring line had wrapped around our keel and actually cut into the lead of the aft end a bit! Something to fix when we haul out. Oh boy! Miraculously by the time we wanted to leave it had unravelled itself.

There were 28 figures in a circle holding hands.

We then moved around the corner to St Georges and anchored in a fairly busy spot. There was a lot of traffic but very interesting. We were quite close to the cruise ship docks and they are so impressive all lit up. 

While in St Georges... the capital,we got groceries,laundry,shopped in a huge chandlery,hiked,toured and had many good lunches. It is a lovely city very clean and a mix of old and new. The whole island seems so much more prosperous than St Lucia. Brian and Laurie toured a fort while Dawn and I toured a mall. Funny I took no pictures of the mall. With two ships in town it was very busy . I can't imagine when there are 5 ships in.

When we came into Prickley Bay and toured the boat yard and the nearby hotel we were very impressed. The price is less than Rodney Bay and Air Canada has a direct flight once a week. We made our reservation today to haul out and store here for the summer.  The place is a bee hive of activity with shopping buses picking you up at each marina, dominoes, trivia etc. A boat jumble ( a garage sale ) was held yesterday morning and we sold 80.00 EC of stuff to be glad to get off the boat. Only bought one insulated coffee mug. 

We have had the personal tour guides of Dawn and Laurie and seen so much and had a lot of fun. Today was a "beach day " to the University Club for a great lunch and the afternoon at their pool. No charge except for lunch of course. A fresh water shower completed the perfect day. Wednesday we are taking an island tour for the complete package. 

We plan to start our trek north on Thursday to visit friends back in St Lucia. We will be sad to leave those friends and connections we have made there but it's always time for a change and meet new people.