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.

Extending stay in Rodney Bay

Apparently you cannot clear customs on the weekend. So, we have extended our stay here on the northern tip of St. Lucia in Rodney Bay and have plans to leave first light Tuesday. The crossing from St. Lucia to the French island of Martinique will be my first open water sail. Till now we have been sliding up the east coast of St Lucia a few miles offshore. Tuesday will be about 35 miles between the two islands. Skipper says it will take about 8 hours. Really?! Eight hours?! Let's just give it a little more throttle and get there in an hour. lol. It's into the wind the whole way. Learning how to sail has been interesting. Lots to learn. I've been doing the steering and navigating while Steve and Michael have been handling the sails, sheets and winches. Since our sailings have been short so far we haven't been doing a lot of Jibing-?. But, when the wind really blows and  grabs the sail it will lean the boat on its side and you feel all that power in the steering wheel.....it's pretty neat. The sheets (lines to the sail) draw tight around the winches and they make the popping and snapping noises from pressure on the sail pulls. Makes you think it's going to rip the winch right off the boat.

I forget to mention it again until I just got reminded on Facebook why I've been so tired. I got an ear infection and went to a local clinic for some antibiotics. They gave me some ear drops too. The Doc said I cleaned my ears a little too good before I left and it irritated my middle ear. The medical facility here was first rate and very professional. Reasonable prices too. I was expecting to pay a premium but, to my surprise it only cost $70 for the visit.

Everything here revolves around the yachts and sailors. Dinghy docks, restaurants with special spots to hook up your computer and just all of the little things to make life a little easier for the boaters. Of course they are doing it to get our $$ but, that’s why we are here.

We stayed up late last night playing cards on the boat. I taught Steve and Mike how to play Rummy while drinking rum drinks. I always thought rummy was an easy game but, I didn't realize how difficult rummy is to teach....at least to a couple of knuckle heads. ha ha. "Pick up a card to start your turn, play your runs or matches and then discard to end your turn" was said over and over AND OVER AGAIN! Maybe it was the rum....I don't know. It was a night full of laughs. During the game Mike had to go take a suppository. He hasn't taken a crap since he's been here even after several try’s with laxatives. This of course, with game night and rum drinks flowing you can imagine the teasing and torture we gave him. The worst part about it, even that didn't work! The next step was for him to go to the medical facility. However, I am happy to report that without any medical assistance he finally had his "happy ending" as we have labeled it. lol

Today Mike and Steve did a practice dive down the anchor chain. Mike hasn't dove before and needed to get familiar with his systems before Martinique. He is sooooo hard headed but, they got through it successfully. Mike has a natural tendency to argue about something before he even thinks about it. Even over the simplest of things. Plus he refuses to admit that he doesn't know something. I don't mean once in a while....EVERYTHING! I've never seen anything like it.

Us - "Do you know how to equalize your ears?"

Michael - "Of course I do, yes I am very good at this"...as he enters the water...."how do you do that again?"

Us - "have you locked the forward hatches"

Michael - "Yes! Of course I did"

I go and double check them,  not one was closed or locked....WTH???????

Will post more with pix tomorrow, getting dark here and need to get back to the boat.

Rodney Bay

Words to live by and the new moto of my life. Lol.

I went for a jog this morning to see some landscape outside of a marina. The island is very mountainous and the first hill was a KILLER. But when I got to the top it paid off. There were hundreds of acres of banana trees and sugar cane. Beautiful. I wish I would have taken the camera. I actually felt good and ran quite a bit further than normal. My turn around point was a sugar cane stand. You know the type, a lil shack on the side of the road and a woman there to cut and slice it fresh right in front of you. Mmmmmm. Nothing like a little sugar burst to help me climb those mountains on the way back.



Coral from our previous day's snorkeling trip.



Capt Steve at the cliff side while snorkeling. Shear cliffs 400-700 ft. straight down, awesome views!

Once back, a little swim, shower and then rum drinks at the local cabana. The owner of the cabana happens to be Indian and lived in the states for 30 years. The Captain’s wife is Indian too, although she is not with us it gave us common ground for conversation and of course…..in an hour Doreen, her brother Jai, sister Gloria and the crew are exchanging information and planning a BBQ in a couple of weeks on our way back through. Gloria even went out with Michael and I last night and showed us around some local pubs off of the beaten path. Low key night over all but, it’s always fun to make new friends and contacts in exotic places. We needed the early night after several late nights in a row and we are planning on sailing on up to Rodney Bay.  An early morning of massages, make ready, filling of water tanks. Its odd to have to pay for water. Something we all take for granted in the states. It’s not much, .35EC per gallon (about .15 cents) but, when you fill up with fuel and then take on 300 gallons of water it all adds up.

The rainbow at Marigot Bay...Life is good!

Arrival at Rodney Bay and….. yet again another beauty. Rodney Bay is the biggest port of Entry (Why I didn’t fly in here???? Delta???) and it shows. There is an international marina company called IGY that I am familiar with which recently purchased the Rodney Bay Marina. Recent renovations have made it very Florida-like. Composite/Aluminum docks, Mega Yachts, slips for about 400 boats, a major marina complex with 3 or 4 restaurants, etc. There is even a Sandals resort across the bay. I saw a boat from Gulf Breeze, FL! For those who don’t know that’s right next to Destin, FL. The couple was very nice and we talked about an hour since they haven’t been home in 5 or 6 years. The Cinnamon Girl weighed anchor outside the marina to save on expense. You can see the terrible view we have.

View from out anchorage at Rodney Bay.

It is interesting how tight the sailing community is. I always heard about it but, didn’t realize how tight. As you pull in and become recognized the other s/v’s dinghy’s are launched to come pay you a visit. I mean they really seek each other out.  While doing a “wrecky” of the harbor to find clear and safe anchorage, South African for doing a reconnaissance of an area, we saw several boats that the skipper knew. He saw a few as recently as a week ago and other not for years. We heard rumor that an old acquaintance of the skippers was in the marina, s/v Unique which is single handed by a 61 year old French Canadian, Diana. To hear her speak English is sweeter than honey. It’s like a massage for the ears. We went to visit with gifts of wine and ended up making dinner plans and then the street party. Diane was moored in the marina and of course she knew several other yachties who all came along for the fun too.

THE BEST snapper I've ever tasted.

Street Party St Lucia style.

Capt Steve, Diane and Michael.

Taking a local bus ride here is easy, clean and cheap. Cost is only $1.50EC (about .60 cents) the whole crew hopped a bus to the street party and what a great time. It was the first public place that there were lots of non-natives, bout a 50/50 ratio. Exactly what all of you in the snow are dreaming of. Live island music, cool enough to wear a long sleeve shirt and be very comfortable, lobsters on the grill as soon as you walk up, grilled chickens, livers, gizzards galore. I choose the red snapper on the grill. It was unF’n believable. At a place like this you would expect a paper plate and walking around while picking at your food. Not here, served proper like on real plates, real silver and a place at a table help open for you. The fish had a flavor that I never had before so I can’t tell you what was in it but, take my word it was to die for. The night was full of dancing to everything from Michael Jackson to Bob Marley.

We finally got our dives tanks. They need a little TLC so tomorrow will be filling dive tanks, cleaning the boat, and ummm, who knows, maybe a nap. J OH! I forgot, had my first experience with a foreign medical facility. Nothing big so don’t worry. I’ll tell you about it in the next blog. My battery is about to die.

How all St Lucian's get their water...collecting rain water. Imagine that.

Diane's boat "for sale by owner"....Ya don't say, hmmm, let me tell ya about this guy I know! lol
Can you say tax deductable vacation??!!!! he he

Marigot Bay

Putting up a quickie today....no pix til tomorrow. We are still at Marigot Bay on St Lucia. I have massage scheduled this morning and then we are making way for the most nothern point of St Lucia and the biggest city, Rodney Bay. We did a lot of snorkling yesterday. Most of the coral reefs here are dead and the water viz wasn't too good. I got a few pix that I'll post. The most interesting thing was the HUGE rocks submerged and the change in depth  very close to shore. The cracks and cliffs underwater were less than 20 feet from shore and the water depth would vary from 5-10ft down to 50ft in just a few short yards from the shore. Made if feel like you could "fall in" so to speak. I can't wait to go diving. We are picking up the extras tanks this morning....finally.

Moving to Rodney Bay for some street festival they are supposed to have tonight. We are all excited about that. That's all for now.

The trip has begun!!!



Marigot Bay....Beautiful

The trip has begun!!! And…where to start with the details. I guess I’ll give ya right from the moment of impact. Landing on an island this small with a large commercial plane was interesting. As a non-pilot type, you know that point at which you think the wheels are going to meet the ground and then it really turns out to be another couple of hundred yards or so. Well, that point on an island this small is still over water. When you are expecting touch down and still see water under you…you start to sit very erect in the seat straining to look out the window and wondering where in the hell is the run way. Off course it was a safe landing but, its gets your attention right from the very first moment of the trip, that’s for sure.

The chart room...or space....ok, let's call it a crack.lol

my cockpit of my new home. Yep, there are rednecks from South Africa too!

After clearing customs I didn’t have access to the captain’s phone number due to a technical difficulty. (I accidently deleted it from my downloaded emails…oops). So, no worries, I knew that if I went to the Fisherman’s Wharf  that I cold hail the boat from another boats VHF radio. If I could find someone willing help out this person that everything non-verbal SCREAMED tourist. My four bags of gear, long sleeves, pale skin and clearly lost.  But my new found friend Lincoln, a local fisherman, and I hit it off talking about the tuna run that is happening near the island at the moment. Lincoln hailed Cinnamon Girl for me and wouldn’t even take my tip. “We don’t take tips from our own kind” he said. That kind made me feel good. At least I didn’t stand out quite as much as I thought. My dinghy ride was short and sweet since Capt Steve anchored close. We rounded the jetty and Cinnamon Girl came into view. It then that it finally hit me, I’m here. It looked so good sitting there in the Caribbean blue water. You could feel the humidity in the air, the sun was out, and the boat looked exactly like I thought it would. I’m sure a few of you would raise an eye brow if you were about to spend a chunk of time on her but, after all, this is a serious globetrotting sailing vessel. Those usually don’t look like the yachts I sell. A bit cluttered from trying to smash as much equipment and living conveniences into as little space as possible. Just the fact that I was finally here and the adventure has become reality made me take a deep breath and put on a huge smile.

Welcome aboard....can you hand me the screw driver? Ugh, what?

As I’m boarding I see floor torn up in the salon, the hole in the counter where the sink used to be and tools laying around. I just said to myself “of course….it’s a boat right?”! Lol. It didn’t matter, at that point nothing was going to ruin my mood and the captain was already preparing me his special rum punch as a welcome aboard offering. Now let me tell ya somethin’, these are NO ordinary rum drinks. Of course there was a generous portion of local St Lucian rum “Bounty” but, Steve has this whole ritual of preparing the drink going on. Four different kinds of fruit juices (pineapple, lime juice, ginger ale, guava) and then the added bonus fresh shaved, not ground, nutmeg on top. The little shaved curls of nutmeg not only make it look good and taste good but, let you know “this drink is special for you”. I am talkn bout make ya slap yo momma good! Especially after chomping at the bit to get your sabbatical started and long day of traveling.

The Capt's special rum drink. Notice the grater and jar of nutmeg, mmmmm
They have become the staple.

The crew of Cinnamon Girl is Capt Steve the South African, Michael the Russian born Chicagoan and Felix the Feline….and of course myself. The personality have meshed fairly well so far. Capt Steve is fairly level headed guy that is just trying to make the golden age of his life count by doing what he loves most. The kind of guy that I can easily spend time with and enjoy his company, take instruction from and become friends with. Michael is another story. He is as stubborn as they come. The captain who has sailed around the world on this boat will tell him how to do it one way and the he has to make an attempt to do it his way first. It’s quite comical to watch the two interact.  Michael also always feels the need to answer the questions that you ask of other people. It drives me a little crazy. His good side…he takes criticism very well and can laugh at himself which makes him bearable.

Ahhh, rum drink of course and planning the course. Does it get any better?

First mate Felix.

I arrived on Monday afternoon. The typical party ensued upon my arrival after putting the sink and boat back together. Good rum drinks were followed by even better Scotch and then it happened....Steve broke out the guitar and I dug out the harmonica. Oh yeah, it was on! We stayed up to the wee hours of the night serineding the whole sailors cove. Needless to say others sailors stopped by the next day to see how we were feeling the next and ask about our evening. In the short time I have been here it has amazed me how quickly the transient sailors bond with one another. Birds of a feather never met a stranger I guess.

The Wait….After my arrival I found out the weather has been shit for some time. We have been held up anchor with no definite plans because the forecast hasn’t promising. Plus, it’s been blowing 30-35 knots. After two days of sitting on the boat….you know me…. Michael and I needed to get off the boat and do a little sightseeing. We went into town, cruised the market and then hiked 4 miles one way up to the old light house. The views were unbelievable. We could see all of these different storm cells circling the island. Very cool. The light house itself doesn’t work but it is still manned as an emergency radio station where all traveling vessels need to log in and out. We met the attendant, Alan, who has worked there for 29 years! On our way home we stopped by the local fish market and picked us up a fresh black fin Tuna for dinner. YOU KNOW IT!!! The sushi rice I brought with me was on the stove as soon as we got back. We invited our neighboring sailor Jack over. He is 8 months into a single handed circumnavigation. He is planning on three years…..whoa!

FINALLY! 4 or 5 miles in boat shoes....worth it. You should see the view from up here.

Fresh fruit from the island.

THE man, Capt Jack who is doing the globe! Sushi and beers are a common language through out the world!

We decided to make a break for it and head north no matter what the weather is on Wednesday. We would be traveling on leeward side of the island anyway so, raise the sails…we are getting underway. We are at the bottom of the island of St Lucia at a place called Vieux Fort. We decided to stay on St Lucia to try and track down some extra dive tanks by moving 20 miles north to Marigot Bay. Vieux Fort was a dump, wild dogs/goats/chickens running everywhere, poverty stricken and a little scary to walk around. Marigot Bay just 20 miles north on the same island was the exact opposite. It was first class all the way, major yachts in harbor of 100’ plus, classy restaurants, water taxi’s everywhere, fresh local foods and sundries were being brought boat side several times every hour. It has been awesome. Plus, we passed some killer scenery on the way. The St Lucia Islands have these two HUGE rock formations that shoot just about straight up into the air called Pitons. They are nothing short of spectacular when you are sailing within a mile of them. We are going to stay here at Marigot Bay for a couple of nights and take in the sights. I think the rum drinks won’t be flowing quite as freely tonight. The capt woke up “pissed” as they say in South Africa. In the states we just call it “still being drunk”. Lol.

Capt Greg and the Pitons on St Lucia. What a day.

Had to be here moment. The tourist boat in the back ground was turning around and started to
take pictures of us. Well, Capt Steve gave them something to take pictures about.

So, as you can tell. The trip has been started off with a bang. We will have dive tanks in a day or two and now the weather is forecasted to lie down a bit and …… I’M IN THE F’N CARIBBEAN!!!! LOL.  Take care everyone. Will post again in a few days.

Going where the wind blows me.

YES I AM! I'm shoving off and sailing away.....at least for a little while. My sights are focused on being gone until sometime in April but, my fall back plan is to be back by mid-February in case there is mutiny on the ship. Some of you have known about this wild hair scheme of mine and others are just finding out about it for the first time. In either case, I'm sure the thought going through your head is "he's doing WHAT??” My thoughts are that since the last few years have been....let's say, less than rewarding and having gone through several life changing events I decided there's no time like the present and cease the day (Do I get bonus points for using multiple cliché’s in one sentence?). I'm young enough, healthy enough and for the first time I'm single enough to make this become a reality. So, using the magic of Google I found a few prospective owners looking for someone to help them crew their sail boat to places unknown and Voila! I'm off to the Windward Islands. That's the Southern Caribbean Islands known as the Lesser Antilles for ye land lubbers (Click the link for a tidbit of knowledge on the area). For those of you who know me....you probably caught it, yes I did say SAIL BOAT. Even though you know me a yacht broker and power boater I've always dreamed about learning how to handle a sail boat and having the range to go where ever the wind blows. I love my horsepower but, come on...how cool is this? Ya know, learning how to sail, jumping off the deep end, and throwing caution to the wind.....(more points. lol).

I leave in three days, Monday 17 Jan 2011, to my stepping off point of St. Lucia. I have NO regrets of once again leaving behind my beloved childhood home of Elyria, OH....currently home of the frigid white stuff. In St. Lucia I have plans to meet my 48 ft. custom yacht, Cinnamon Girl, captained by Steve Van Rensburg. The guy Mr. Google found for me. It does seem a little strange to be meeting some guy for the first time that I primarily have only had email communications with. I've done my homework but still, I'm basically showing up with several suitcases full of belongings and saying "here I am" and hope for the best. lol. As far as I'm concerned it's all part of the adventure. I'm excited about the exposure to new people, places and things that just may teach me a lil something about the world and perhaps myself. It's been years since I've felt this sense of adventure and thinking it will recharge my batteries. I'm looking at this trip as an escape......from reality, myself, women, economy, the list goes on and I'm sure many of you know what I am talking about. I'm hoping for a fresh perspective or at least a chance to freshen up my attitude. Only God knows whats to come....speaking of which, maybe part of the trip is for he and I to get reacquainted too?

So, whether your captivated by the chance of doing something like this yourself and want to live vicariously or perplexed and wondering why in the hell I'm doing this, I invite you to "Follow" (see the link above to Follow) my shenanigans through the Caribbean. Maybe you'll find something you've lost too.




Trading the "Great White North" for the Lesser Antilles. Yahoo!

 



This snow is for the birds...wait, by the looks of this feeder maybe its not even for them. brrrr.