Blogging is over

Unfortunetely Blogspot has become very difficult to deal with on up loading photos. Add the complication even finding an internet connection and dealing with power management on a boat without a generator I have decided to make the rest of my posts on Facebook. Sorry mom but if you want to follow along your going to have to enter the big world of Facebook.

Pradise found!

I can't seem to upload photos all of the sudden which is why I didn't post this blog two days ago. So, I'm just gonna go ahead and post it now with no pix until i can figure out why. Hopefully pix will come soon.

Sailing to Dominica was smooth and nice. We only stayed one night even though we had plans for two. We got word from another sailor that was several islands ahead of us there was a strong northeast wind coming through and we should seek out a good lil hidie hole. Unfortunetely we were in the perfect position that no matter what way we ran there wasn’t a great alternative for seeking really good shelter. After hours of scouring the charts and getting more accurate weather reports we found out our original report was pesamistic in her forecast and caused us a great deal of alarm for no reason. So, we defaulted back to our original plan of going to Les Saintes. However, there are some stronger winds coming, not a Noreaster by any means, which led to our decision to leave Dominica a day earlier and move on to Les Saintes.

Before we snuck out of Dominica we did make room to sneak in a river boat tour of the rainforest. We did it early in the morning when lots of birds and fish were active. It was beautiful. The tour guide rowed us up the river for little more than a mile. Iguana’s, birds, fish, lots of tropical flowers, baby birds still in the nest….everything you wanted a two hour tour to be. Nothing spectacular but, really a pleasant way to spend the morning. Dominica is known as a poor island. People still live in huts, the dock we stepped on to had cabinet doors (with the door knobs still attached) screwed down to fill in the gaps where boards were missing. Goats, dogs, chickens, cats…you name it running wild on the streets. The people speak English and are very friendly but you have to be prepared for it. I guess that’s true of a lot of these islands. There is plenty of beauty to behold if you don’t mind looking past the human factor. Just the way it is in the islands.

Something else that strikes me odd about the islands is how an island 20 miles away can be dirt poor and most of its residents NEVER leave their 20 square mile island and then the next island is sophisticated, clean, organized, well traveled and has wealth. The contrast is amazing. Not leaving the island would be like you and me never leaving the city we were born in, not even to go visit a friend. Strikes me odd. Plus, these locals that never leave their small piece of dirt in the middle of a huge ocean are being visited by strangers that are globe trotting. Ironic isn't it?!

After the mad scramble of trying to find a “hurricane hole” to hunker down in for the big blow and then realizing it was all for not, our sail to Les Saintes was just the opposite. The wind was blowing at perfect angle, the weather was perfect and it was only a short 20 mile sail from Dominica to Les Saintes. I got several cat naps while Michael drove the boat to keep his mind of the sea sickness. That makes two trips back to back with no sickness and great sailing...nice!

Les Saintes as the name implies is another French Island. Even though Martinique didn’t hit our top 10 list, this place….this place is different. It has a touristy feel that we are all familiar with but, not too touristy. It’s still quaint, quiet and civilized. It also has easily accessed INTERNET!!!!!!! Too good to be true.  Les Saintes is supposed to be a scuba diving haven. I snorkeled today just a hundred yards from where we dropped anchor and saw more interesting things than I have on all of our other dives combined so far. If the weather holds we are going into town tomorrow and getting our diving lined up for the week.

We arrived in Les Saintes with enough time before dark to launch the dinghy, take a swim, clean up and then go into town. We walked the streets with beer in hand while taking in all the new sights and looking for dinner. I have been hunting for a good French Bouillabaisse for three islands now. The captain is a pizza nut. He gets pizza about 50% of the time we go out. I think because on the islands where you don’t speak the language it is a fairly safe bet that you will get something that you like. Plus it’s usually reasonably priced. Needless to say our pizza was good and still dreaming of my bouillabaisse. Lol.

This morning I got up and jogged the island. This has become one of my new favorite things to do. You get to see so much more than you would if you were just walking. Plus it’s my time to get away from the guys.  I jogged up to the top of one of the hills. There was a huge Christ on the Cross at the top. Apparently it is lit up at night and overlooks the harbor. I’ll have to do some research on it and find out its history. It was a great place to get some quiet time. Afterwards I found the perfect little outdoor café overlooking the bay. I ordered my Café American longe au croissant and just sat there people watching and took in the morning. It’s more fun people watching in a foreign country. Not only are things and people different from our norm but, there is an anonymity to it because of the language barrier.

The Capt and Michael have hit the end of each other’s patience. Last night the Capt threw down the gauntlet and told Michael they either needed to figure out a way to get around their conflict or leave the boat. Whoa! The tension has been building and I guess this was coming. So, my jog served two purposes this morning. One; I got my quiet time and found my little piece of heaven. Two; the other two had time to talk and clear the air a little. Michael is still on board….as of now, seven days remaining before he departs in Antigua and counting.

I am not sure if I have already made it clear when I am heading to FL. Originally I was scheduled to leave out of St Lucia on the 7th. That was just for the sake of booking a ticket and having some sort of plan. As expected the plan has changed and I will be leaving from Antigua also. However, I will fly out on the 19^th. T-minus 13 days for me…hopefully the Captain doesn’t make me walk the plank before then! Lol.

The hop over to Dominica

The Depaz Rhum factory! Yummy samples.

Even though the wind was howling until late last night it finally did lay down. I know it was making Michael very nervous about greeting the morning and taking on the challenge of another rough crossing after the chum fest he put on last time. Just to be safe he took enough Dramamine to put a horse to sleep. He also chose to take the helm to help keep his mind off of the motion sickness but it wasn’t too rough and he was fine. Perhaps we were due a little good luck after yesterday’s trials and tribulations. It was a perfect 15 knot wind coming out of the perfect NE direction for a smooth sail. We even hit a speedy 8+ knots once or twice. Lol.

Even with all of that, it was a long day. Started sailing about 0730 and dropped anchor at 1800. Basically something that would have taken a powerboat an hour or hour and a half to finish. If in a Cabo we could have gone for breakfast, done our deep dive, had a leisurely lunch and still pulled in the harbor an hour before we actually did. No biggie though. This is all about slowing down and learning a new way of life for me. I have enjoyed learning how to sail and what all of the different rigging does on board. We even tried to put out the Jenaker today. Ya know, that BIG colorful sail you see on the front of sailboats sometimes. We didn’t have the ideal conditions for it but the exercise of putting it up and down and actually seeing it work was interesting. Seeing that big colorful bubble pull you along was very soothing. I could have grabbed a book, felt the breeze and fallen asleep in its shade if the wind conditions would have allowed it. It wasn’t to be today, perhaps next time.

G man chillaxin while cruising up the Dominica coast with the rainbow over the rainforest.

Lots of rainbows over all the islands.

We jumped all the way to the top of Dominica to a harbor called Portsmouth. Because we have some weather coming and we want to spend as much time in Les Saintes as possible we are going to spend the night here and make another jump first thing in the morning to Les Saintes. Besides, we need to land somewhere that we can spend a few days because…huh….we have some outboard motor repairs to take care of. Lol.

 The pictures below are of the local fisherman bringing in a catch. They had been doing it slightly offshore but on this day they did it right on the beach near our anchorage. They bring in Mullet, Flying fish and Menhaden. All bait from where we come from but, in Martinique the are table fare. Not sure how they cook them.

See all that fish...they are fliers.

Men heaving the net.

Last night on Martinique

Well as many well intentioned plans go….our last day on Martinique didn’t turn out to be anything like we thought it would. After the week of trying to find our favorite morning hot spot for coffee and french pastries we finally find one that hit the mark, except for the internet aspect, of course. We had plans to go into town, get breakfast, clear out of customs, send some emails, get a few provisions, fill the water tanks, do our deep dive and then prep the boat for our early morning leave. Ah, yeah right. We go into town and get our breakfast. That part went correctly. Then we went to customs and cleared out. That part went well….so we thought at the time.

The next priority was trying to find a water source to fill the water tanks on the boat. The cruiser’s Guide we have to us to go inquire at the town hall. The ladies at the town hall had to call an English translator to figure out what we were saying. The phone translator led us to the chamber of commerce which then turned us towards Restaurante’ Marie Chantall’s. The owner, Marie, led me to the back of the vegetable market that is located below her restaurant to the spigot ….which was 200 yards from the dock…that didn’t have a threaded nozzle to attach a REALLY long hose that we didn’t have anyway. Add all of that to the fact that it is blowing 25 knots today. I’ve already mentioned in another blog the limited maneuvering capability of a 50ft single engine boat, add 25 knots of wind while trying to dock and it could be troublesome. So, we hesitantly made the decision to scrap the diving for the day to make our water situation improve. So much for the afternoon nap I was hoping to squeeze in too. The plan was to take the four five-gallon water jugs that we have on board and start fetching the water by hand and transport it to the boat by dinghy. 250 gallons worth…. Ugh! Not ideal but, ya gotta have water.

So, the water hauling starts. We drop Michael off at the water spigot with the water jugs. While Michael is filling water bottles the captain and I decide we can be really efficient by filling our empty dinghy gas tanks at the same time. After all, it’s just a short dinghy ride away. Michael is busy filling water bottles and the skipper is filling three of the four gas containers. The forth I was using to run the dinghy engine at the time. I figure that I can be EVEN MORE efficient if I dock the dinghy, unhook the one remaining fuel tank that the dinghy is currently using and fill it up at the same time the skipper is filling the others. You know me; I’m always trying to be helpful, right?! Please remember for the rest of the story to keep in mind that not only are we in a foreign country, almost no one speaks English… especially, the gas station attendant.

As I look at the gas pump to make the seemingly simple decision of what type of fuel to put in the tank I see two types. One pump has the words that resemble gasoline and the other has the same but it also has “super” in front of it. Anyone that knows anything about outboard engines knows that you do not put Super Gasoline in them. I fill my one tank; hook it back up to the boat and away we go back to Michael who is waiting with the first round of full water bottles. But, something is wrong…uh oh…now something seems very wrong. How come the dinghy engine is running rougher than a cobb? It’s smoking like a wet fire. Hmmmm, bad French fuel? Did those damn French screwed us again?! An hour later we decide to take off the 15hp engine on the dinghy and put on the back up engine, only 5hp. After all we have GOT to finish this task and prepared the boat for tomorrow’s sail.

The engine swap is made and we are off, at a much slower pace, on our second of NINE trips needed to fill the tanks. Did I already say UGH?! As we are pulling away from the boat and heading to shore we are flagged down by the boat that had just pulled into the bay and anchored next to us. WTH? We are hours behind schedule and having engine problems. What could they want? We pull up and they inform us that their anchor windlass is broken.  It’s an older Italian couple who speaks very broken English and they wanted us to help pull up their 60 feet of anchor chain and then wanted help re-anchoring in shallower water. Funny thing is that we tell them we have problems of our own. She say’s “yes, we saw you but, pulling up this anchor is very hard.” HELLO Captain Obvious! The captain and I put our heads together and decide that this job……is better left to the young man we see on the next boat! Lol. YES WE DID! We motor over to another boat, tell them story of the poor weak old couple and ask him to lend a hand because ours were already full. Now, of course we wouldn’t be gentleman if we didn’t at least offer to give him a ride over there would we?!

So, a long story short, we put the recently purchased bad French gas on the 5hp engine and it too makes it run like shit. Obviously it’s the gas and not something wrong with the engines. At this point everyone is losing their patience. Tempers are flaring and words are being exchanged that will require apologies later in the evening over a rum punch. Not only have we lost a day of fun but, now we’re officially workn’ our ass off and things aren’t going our way! So, I tell the captain that at the next harbor that has water at the dock…WITH a hose attached, I will be glad to pay for it. We get enough water to make due and decide to go talk to the local fisherman to see where they are buying their fuel for their boats. We luck out and find one of them who happens speak English. He even walks the captain over to the gas station to show him the two different types of fuel they have. The “Super”…which in Martinique is your basic everyday regular unleaded gasoline and the other….that I used….is your basic everyday DEISEL!!!!!! Dohhh!! I just pulled a Homer Simpson.  

The topper is that in the middle of all of this the captain happens to ask, “What’s the date today? The fourth? We’re leaving tomorrow on the fifth, right?” “Noooo Capt, today is the third and tomorrow is the fourth. Why?”. “Well, I put on the clearing papers we are leaving tomorrow ….on the fifth”. So to all my dear relatives, I’ll let ya know where to send the bond money later. Lol 

Night all....

St Pierre, Martinique

Hey Y'all,

Sorry for the long delay in posts. The French are so laid back on this island and just really don't put a high priority on internet or being connected. The cafe's (the two that are here) don't have internet connection and the one restaurant in town that does opens at 930am and closes at 3pm....sometimes, if they don't close sooner. I have heard rumor that French law requires that no one works more than 35 hours a week??? Whether it's true or not, I don't know but, it sure seems like it.

30 Jan 2001 - The weather finally seems to have broken. I have been here since the 17^th and every day it has been blowing 25 to 30 knots and rains at least 8 times and as many as 12 times a day. Even though the rain showers don’t last more than 10 minutes at the most, it makes you put your plans, dinner, sleeping, whatever on hold for that period of time. We don’t have a generator so that means no air conditioning. Although you don’t really need it because it’s mid 80’s during the day and mid 70’s at night. However, that means you sleep with your hatch open and two to three times a night you have to wake up and both close the hatch because of the rain and then open the hatch because it has gotten stuffy in the cabin. So anyway, we haven’t had that in two days and the weather has been PERFECT!!

The local sailing team...cool huh?!

My current home.

We ended our stay in Fort de France today and sailed to the northern jumping off point of Sainte Pierre on Martinique. I don’t think I would ever go back to Fort de France unless I had to. Even though it is more civilized than other small Caribbean towns I've been on so far, it just isn’t focused on the yachties, restaurants or other things I enjoy. Like I said in my other blog it’s a little too much downtown Detroit for me.

One of the reef inhabitants.

coral in St Pierre.

The colors of the reef are amazing.

So, as I am reading about our next stop of St Pierre I am seeing….rum distilleries within walking distance, waterfalls with a short car ride, two dive shops with TWELVE local dive sites, two laundry mats and lots of restaurants. Sounds like heaven and we are planning on staying here a few days for sure. St Pierre is located at the base of Mount Pelle’ which is a local volcano. In 1902 a newly elected governor of the then capitol city ignored the volcano’s warning signs for more than a week and never evacuated the town of 30,000 people. Well, long story short only two, yes that’s right, two people survived the blast. It wiped the entire town out except for a cobbler who hid in his cellar and a prisoner who was in a stone dungeon. It also sunk twelve ships in the harbor that I am now sitting and writing this blog from. They are all sprinkled around the harbor. The water is crystal clear and the wrecks are supposed to be in 30-100 ft of water….perfect for diving. So again, we may stay here quite a while.

The skipper and the Russian have found some peace today. Michael was much less disagreeable today for some reason. It made the whole trip to Martinique more enjoyable and things seemed like they were the first few days I was on the boat.

3 Feb 2011 - Been here at St. Pierre for a few days now. We have gotten tired of moving so fast and want to stay here a bit. Looks like we may move again tomorrow and jump islands to Dominica. 5 days here has given us a little time to rest and just get used to an area. When you only stay for two days you can't really get your bearings on a place because so much of your time is spent finding necessities and then preparing to move again. So far we have found our laundry spot, grocery, tourist office, the museum and have done three dives since we have been here. Planning on doing a big dive today, 50 meters deep, which is about 165 ft. That's very, very deep for those who don't know. Most of the diving we do in the states is about 100 - 110 ft. We are gonna do almost half again that distance. Don't worry mom, obviously we are taking lots of precautions. :) The skipper is a dive master and has done lots of dives this deep before. We have been talking about it a preparing for it for days now. We are diving on one of the biggest wrecks that sunk in the harbor during the volcano eruption.

St Pierre with Mount Pelee that erupted in 1902.

Part of the remaining ruins from the eruptoin.

The sole survivor. Convicted of murder, put in jail and one of the only two survivors from the blast. The stone cell he was in saved him from the lava. However, he was severally burned from the gases and steam. Later in life he worked for the Barnum Circus (I think sold) to display his burns.

The skipper and I walked the 2 miles up hill to the local Depaz Rum Distillery. In the heat of the day it seemed longer than two miles. Of course, no one spoke english so out tour was self guided. haha. They had a tasting at the end which was nice but, the cut the Americans off after just a couple of samplings. We couldn't figure out whether they didn't want to serve us or if it was quiting time. Maybe a little of both. The skipper bought a bottle. I voted not to buy since we once again recieved the Le France' attitude. On the way home we tried to hitch a ride with no luck but, it was all down hill. The skipper has very bad ankles and was practically crippled by the time we got back to the boat. It was said that the reason Mt Pelee erupted on the island in 1902 was because this is the spot that the last of the Carib indians we captured and before they were all gone they cast curses on anyone who inhabits the island there after. So, skipper was trying his hand at curse casting as each frenchman past us in his car and didn't stop. "May your brakes not work going down hill"...."may your wife have a headache for three weeks!"....ha ha. It kept us laughing on the walk back.

I took the boys out for a nice dinner last night. We had anticipated that being on a French island the level of food would be much higher that the others. Good cuisine has been hard to find. Once again, most everything shuts down about 4pm, even the restaurants. We did find one however, and what a treat it was. It turned out to be that gourmet French we were looking for. I had a filet mignon with foie gras on top of it.....it was to die for. The Capt had the fatty duck and the Michael had the mahi mahi....all three meals with made to order and made the whole stop here worth it! It was so good that it made the crew nervous because they asked several times during the meal what I expected from them when we got back to the boat. Lol.

Hello from 125'. This is the shell of one of the 1902 sunken ships.

Pretty fishies.

Cool little puffer fish. Note his triangular shape. He was defending his rock.

Martinique

Micheal taking his first dive.

Fresh Lobster!!!

The cat getting his own drink of water. He will also lay in the sink with the faucet turned ON! Crazy Cat

So we stayed in Le Marin on the southern tip of Martinique for only a couple of days. We were thinking that the big city of Fort De France would be a place that we could stay for a while. We have some minor boat repairs to do and Michael wanted to see a big city for a change. On the way to Fort De France we passed Diamond Rock, a spectacular spit of land that jets up out of the Ocean 300ft. It is supposed to be good to dive on. You're not allowed to anchor on it and the moorings set out were intended for smaller boats or maybe even fish traps. At least that was our deduction since we really didn't know what that French guy was shouting at us when we grabbed the buoy. lol. So, we circled it, took in the views and continued our sail toward Fort De France.

The stud in front of Diamond Rock

Diamond rock

Since we had diving on the brain and this leeward side of the island the waves were cooperating we decided to stop in a little cove, Anse de Arlet', that was marked on the chart and went diving. I will say, it was my WOW experience diving. The visibility was 75 ft or so and when the sun came out the reef light up to the point it was almost neon. I wish I had my underwater camera settings set properly so you could get the full effect. It was spectacular.

The moray eel that we visited. Can you tell he was excited to see us?!

Some coral and fuana.

Loving life!

Even though we were tired after the dive we weighed anchor and set sail to finish our leg of the journey into Fort de France. It's a huge bay, probably the size of the Charleston Harbor. We anchored right in front of the big city docks where all of the ferry's come in to drop off day passengers. Lots of colorful tents, lights and boats. It's a beautiful view from the water. I'm not sure if I mentioned that in Le Marin we went to a local grocery store and practically filled the bilge with wine. It was soooo cheap. $3-8 per bottle. Feeling to need to lighten the load now that we filled every crevasse with wine we popped a few corks We popped a french wine and practiced what few french phrases we knew and took in the sunset.

Fort de France as we set anchor, opened wine and took in the sunset.

It's odd, the fort in the port of Fort de France is actually named Fort Louis??? Go figure.

The next morning we did a wrecky of the F de F and actually didn't find it all that appealing. Sort of like a downtown Detroit. All the wealth is in the suburbs and it's not geared towards the yachties like the other small towns are. Laundry is miles away, Internet is next to impossible to find and it's French. Most people aren't that friendly. I think we are going to leave tomorrow and move on to St Pierre on the northern tip.

Michael has a very harsh accent and when he tries to communicate with other Caribs it has been difficult for him. I keep offering advice on how to pronounce words and such. The other day I was buying a diving guide to the Caribbean and the French woman couldn't understand me....she looked at Michael and said in English "his accent is VERY bad!" Michael just about fell over laughing so hard. It made his trip to know that I was considered having an accent here.

The Captain and Michael are having a hard time getting along. Michael's consistent I Know It All attitude is driving us crazy and things may be coming to a head soon. The captain is encouraging me to extend my trip so he is making sailing plans around my flight arrangements. I was supposed to fly home from St Lucia on the 7th of Feb but, I have decided to extend my trip by one week and fly out of Antigua. I've been here for 12 days now and it does not seem like I have been here that long. It truly is amazing how easy it is to fill the day with activities. One of our main goals is to get to Les Saintes which is a very small island above Dominica and below Antigua. It is supposed to be world class diving. Every sailor we have spoke to that has been there simply raves about it. Heading in that direction will also allow us to slow down and spend more than 2 or 3 days in one spot. So, that the basic outline at the moment. We will see if it changes or not.

Take care and will write more later. Love yall.

Moving North

The last day at Rodney Bay was very low key. We did a little shopping, cleared customs, and prepared the boat for sail. We also bbq’d some chicken on the grill. After dinner Michael and I played Rummy til about midnight, he’s addicted. We had a fairly early wakeup call from the captain. He wanted to get under sail by 0800 to make sure we would pull into Martinique by night fall. We actually did a little better and were sailing by 0715. The winds were less than desirable but, the next two days were forecasted to be even worse. ENE at 25-30 knots which not only made it really rough but the direction wouldn’t let us shut the engine down. We had to motor sail the whole 32 mile crossing. The waves were between 8-12ft and it seemed like every 12^th wave or so would bust over the bow. Life jackets and safety harnesses were ordered by the captain as a just in case safety measure. It’s been a while since I’ve been in 12 ft seas and add the fact I’ve never been in a sail boat when it’s leaning at 40 degrees…..Holy SHIT was it unnerving for the first hour. I’ve been doing almost all of the steering and handling of the helm so far. It took me a while to settle into it today. If a power boat is leaning at 40 degrees and then a 10-12ft wave came up on the pitching side it would be every man for himself and grab on to anything that is nailed down and hope the boat rights its self.  Not so with a sail boat, it’s standard protocol. With five thousand pounds of lead in the keel I’m told a sail boat can actually lay on its side with the sail in the water and right its self…..as the captains also says to me “let’s hope we don’t have to test that today”. Ahhh, YEAH! Especially while I’m driving! So, after an hour of learning to trust the boat and get comfortable with its characteristics, it actually became a little fun. The waves crashing over the bow, riding the big rolls, gusts of 30+ filling the sails….very exhilarating. Michael, who has a fair amount of sailing experience, on the other hand didn’t find it so fun. As soon as we rounded the tip of St. Lucia where the seas picked up he lost his breakfast and didn’t stop throwing up for 5 hours! His skin color was greener than the sea. The poor guy just couldn’t get his sea legs and was literally paralyzed. He couldn’t move anything except his head and that was just enough to put it in the bucket. Of course the Captain and I had to have a little fun with him….right?! Yeah, we did, we went there. The camera came out and the suggestions of left over marlin steaks we had in the fridge and offers of rum punches were injected into the conversation throughout the day. Lol. Instead of the Russian Comet he is now the Russian Vomit.

About 1230 we were all glad to pull into Le Marin on the southern tip Martinique. The anchorage was very, very tight quarters. I have never seen and sail boat anchorage with so many sail boats moored in such a small area. My guess would be close to a thousand boats. Add the fact that even though we were on the leeward side of the island the wind was still gusting 25+ made me weaving the boat in and out of tight and shallow areas, while we were trying to find a hole big enough for us to fit in made the last half hour a little stressful. With a sail boat you only have one very small engine. It’s not like a twin engine power boat with 1,600hp that can stop, spin and back up on a dime. We actually tried to set the anchor once unsuccessfully and had to go find a different spot. Once you commit to setting the anchor on a 50 ft. single engine boat you have to let the wind blow you out of control while you are waiting for the anchor to set. If the anchor doesn’t grab not only are you waaaay out of position and have to regain control of the boat but, you have 100 ft of anchor chain that you have to retrieve while you are dodging boats, anchor lines, buoys and shallow areas. I wanted to learn how to handle a sail boat….today I got thrown into the fire.

Martinique is one of the areas that we can dive by ourselves. We are trying to see if the weather will even allow us to get in the water. That’s the mission at the moment. I picked up a tourist book today and saw that they offer rappelling overtop of the islands rain forest waterfalls. If our scuba trip gets scrapped then that may be my back up plan.

 I have several other blogs to put up but I had no idea that the Caribbean doesn't use the internet like the rest of the world and it is HARD AS HELL to find it. More soon.