THE 500 MILE DASH: St Martin to Grenada in 8 days
6th – 14th April 2012

The idea of sailing from St Martin to Trinidad in one big hit was never going to get up, well not with this brown duck. We can sail hard all day long from from dawn to dusk, but if there’s a decent anchorage within cooee at the end of the day then it has our name on it. So we earmarked the next 8 anchorages and off we went.
After an easy 66 mile sail from St Martin we pulled into White House Bay at the bottom of the island of St Kitts. Five other catamarans were also anchored in the bay but we never saw a human on board any of them. It had been a pleasant day’s sailing passing the playground of the rich and famous, St Barts, the soaring volcanic peaks on the diving mecca of Saba and the lush rolling green hills of northern St Kitts. Arriving just as the sun threatened to kiss the horizon we were glad to stop for the night.

Day two and we were up with the sparrows at 5am and on our way to Dominica, 120 miles to the south east. Taking the passage between St Kitts and it’s neighboring island Nevis seemed the sensible thing to do as we wanted to take advantage of the early morning breeze on the island’s windward side. A clear but chilly morning had greeted us and heading east the rising sun reflected on the water ahead. Watching the local fisherman pull in their traps had us on the lookout for any stray floats in our path. And then it happened. A strange clunk under the hull, the rev of the engine and sure enough we were hitched. Liam pulled the throttles back to neutral and the telltale float reared its’ ugly head from under our port transom. No amount of persuasion with the boathook could dislodge the offending rope, so an early morning dip for the skipper was no longer an option. The current was running at a fair clip and he had a hard time hanging on to the hull to cut the rope free, but after a couple of attempts was back on board with his trophy. Warming up with a hot shower and a steaming cuppa he soon felt brand new and we were on our way once again.
By 2pm the light breeze started to die. The island of Dominica, our planned overnight stop, was still 7 hours away so on went the motors. A couple of miles further ahead lay the the island of Montserrat. Devastated by volcanic eruptions in the mid 90’s which obliterated the hills, towns, homes and 8000 inhabitants of the island’s south west, the ash covered landscape was an eerie reminder of the forces of mother nature.

As we motored past the exclusion zone, acrid smoke from the still belching volcano filled the air. Not only was the smell of sulphur in the air but the waters surrounding the island were affected as well. Earlier, as we neared the area we had turned off our watermaker but all too late to save our precious filters.They instantly turned black and were bin bound shortly there after.
       
   Theses pictures show the massive area covered with ash & lava.The city of Plymouth gone forever.
       
       


Flexible: the capability to adapt to new, different or changing requirements. This little word is one of the most important in a cruiser’s vocabulary. Timing and weather play a major role in our day to day decisions and seeing an approaching line of squalls to the south of us we abruptly scratched Dominica, still 70 miles away, from our anchoring list for the night. The town of Deshaies on Guadeloupe was a mere 30 miles so plan B was put into action and we made a bee line to our revised destination. It was a good decision.
The next few days all rolled into one with us usually covering anywhere between 40 to 70 miles each day. Easter Sunday had crept up on us this year and we celebrated with a lobster dinner while tied to a mooring ball at the south end of Dominica and sadly, the Easter Bunny didn’t find us. Usually we’re not ones for picking up balls but by the time we arrived it was getting late, a bit of a reoccurring pattern there, and checking our depth sounder the sea floor just disappeared into the abyss. From a narrow band of 20 feet deep at the waters edge the bottom fell away to well over 100 feet within a boat length of the shore. After a few circuits of the bay we gave up on the idea of anchoring. Sometimes you just have to bight the bullet and part with a few dollars in the interest of a good night’s sleep.
As we hadn’t checked in to anywhere since leaving St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands 2 weeks ago, we figured that it might be a good idea to put some sort of paper trail in place. Once we got to Martinique, we paid a visit to the Douane (customs) office, filled out the computerised form, printed it off, showed it to the nice officer behind the desk and voila, another speed record was set, in and out in less than ten minutes! You can always trust the French not to beat around the bush.They really do have a great system for their check-ins.


Over the next couple of days we had some fabulous sailing conditions  and with speeds averaging 10kts the old girl really kicked up her skirt. Overnight stops included St Lucia, Bequia and we had considered stopping in Tyrell bay on Canouan  but we found the holding to be very poor so we pushed on to the  the north coast of Grenada.


Mother nature had put on a couple of wonderful displays in the sky during the second half of our trip and the halo around the sun, something you don’t see everyday, had even been reported in the local Trinidad papers we later found out.
  
Arriving into Prickly bay on Granada's’ southern coast as planned on the eight day we treated ourselves to a night out at our favourite Chinese restaurant, and then collapsed into bed ready to have a well earned day off tomorrow. Trinidad was now just a hop skip and a jump away at last!  

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Northbound from Trinidad.

Grenada,Guadeloupe,& Antigua

26th March -1st April 2011

Sporting nice clean hulls and a new bottom paint job after our recent haul out we were all set to head out again. It would be more like a sprint than our usual slower pace as we wanted to get up north quick

new paint job and ready to go

.Our overnight sail from Trinidad to Grenada was ‘ a piece of cake ‘ compared with the reverse route  6 weeks earlier. Again, there were a few rain squalls, the odd trawler to dodge and a little motor sailing due to lack of wind, but the big plus had to be the lack of large swells that had knocked us around during our passage down. Arriving into Prickly Bay Grenada around 10am, we actually felt quite fresh and got on with tidying up the boat as well as ourselves. As we had planned on staying just one night here, the obvious choice for dinner was to visit our favorite Chinese restaurant, the Choo Light. Once again Mrs Choo and her husband did not disappoint our taste buds and we were well topped up on our favorite foods by the time we left. Luckily it was a good 15 min walk back to our dinghy, just enough time to let our dinner settle before climbing into bed that night.
Making a concentrated effort to get as many miles under our keels in a short space of time we opted for another overnight sail. When you are on a roll you might as well keep going so when 0800 came around  the next morning  and we hot-footed it out of bed and pointed GWTW  towards Deshai on the island of Guadeloupe, some 250 miles north. The first 24 hrs saw us sailing fast in flat seas as we  passed the islands of St Vincent, St Lucia and Martinique.

The Caribbean sailing season was quickly coming to a close and most of the charter boats had finished plying these warm southern  waters. Pretty much  it was only cruising boats who were still on the move now, and they too would be heading to a safe haven or, like us,  leaving the Caribbean for the approaching  hurricane season starting in June.  This was  plainly evident having seen only one other boat  sailing  between Grenada and Guadeloupe. As the last rays of sunlight faded that evening  we reflected on the days events, two lures lost and not a fish  in sight.. Liam reckons he  spotted the  elusive Green Flash, though that  remains in dispute as there was no photographic evidence of the event. Shortly after nightfall  the seas began to build and  the wind increased. Things looked to be  shaping up for an uncomfortable night’s sail.

Luckily the previous night’s  weather was not as bad as we’d thought it would be and by 9 am the next day things had calmed down again. We only had 50 miles left  to run and by 1600 were snug on the anchor in Deshai. Having  anchored in this bay  on two previous occasions we  had the check-in formalities down pat.

Not quite the customs office we are normally used to! but then it is French

 
 A quick trip into Le Pelican hand over our 3 euro clearance fee and it was all done in a few minutes. Whilst  in the small shop come-customs office, we bumped into another Aussie couple. Ray and Lea.Hearing Aussie accents always makes our ears prick up. They too    were  anchored out in  the bay,and told us that they  had just purchased their Leopard 38 cat “Equinox 2”  a few months earlier and were also heading north.This was their first sail boat and they were eager to have a chat about the cruising  life so we  found a small side walk bar to shoot the breeze, and get to know them. About an hour later as the necessity for sleep began to take over, we headed back to GWTW for an early dinner and  a soft pillow under our heads.

A gusty 15-20 knot easterly wind greeted us the next morning as we rounded the headland and pushed north toward Antigua. Our GPS told us that the 52 mile sail, in rather lively conditions, would take us just on 6hrs. Along the way we caught up with “Equinox 2”  and took a few pictures of her as she romped along in the big swells. They were headed into English Harbour where as  our course would take us along the eastern shore of the island to some quiet bays which would be new territory for us.As we bid them fair winds and safe sailing over the radio we watched them disappear behind us and  it wasn’t long until they were just a speck on the ocean.
A few hours later we arrived at our destination. Negotiating the outer reefs surrounding Nonsuch Bay was fairly straight forward, however the sad sight of  a yacht lying high and dry on the reef was a stark reminder that one can never be too careful when there are reefs around.



After a small dog leg into the bay, the beautiful calm anchorage sprawled ahead of us. Once again  aqua blue water was lapping on our bows.Lovely new and apparently free  mooring balls were dotted around  the bay. The signage on each buoy specified that they were for use by vessels 60ft and under. We presumed that these had been installed by the  Antigua National Park Trust. With only three other boats for company we spent a relaxing night listening to the waves crash on the distant reefs.
 
Before leaving Antigua we made two more stops ,Jumby bay and Bird Island in North Sound. The later having more free mooring balls and some ok snorkeling. From here we had a 30 mile sail north  to  Antigua’s sister island, the reef strewn  Barbuda .


                                             


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GRENADA AND THE GRENADINES

The Spice Islands Grenada & The Grenadines

18^th – 28^th February 2011

After leaving the lovely anchorage of Petit St Vincent we headed south towards Grenada. Our first stop was, yes you guessed it, to complete the paperwork necessary to enter yet another country.

  Except for a few of the dependencies nearly all the islands of the Caribbean are stand alone countries. It becomes a tad tedious after a while, checking in and out of each one when you only intend to stay  a couple of days at each, and the dollars do start to add up for the entry fees as well.

Grenada and the Grenadines are made up of three main islands, Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, as well as a few smaller ones scattered around the chain. We made a brief stop at .in the town of Hillsborough on Carriacou to take care of the formalities and pick up  a few tasty morsels from Patty’s Deli, just along from immigration, and  then it was time to head out for the 20 mile sail to Prickly Bay on Grenada.

On the way down we passed tiny Sandy Island which apparently has quite good snorkeling. Weather permitting we may stop here once we start heading north again.

                                                         Sandy Island, pretty as a picture

We arrived at Prickly Bay just on dusk and were greeted by the familiar voice of Bridget from White Rose on the radio welcoming us to Grenada. No sooner than we’d finished anchoring than they appeared in their dinghy at the back of GWTW. With smiling faces and hugs and kisses all round we opened a bottle of bubbly to celebrate finally catching our friends. Incidentally, we’d told them when we left Barbados to head up to Antigua that we’d be back down to them in about a week. Well that week blew out a little and 35 days later here we were together again.  

The following morning Peter and Bridget kindly gave us the cook’s tour of St John’s, the capital, which being a Saturday was not as lively as other days and, of course, showed us the whereabouts of the supermarkets and chandleries.

We met up with fellow cruisers Phillip and Sandra from the Swiss yacht Ulani, and also caught up over a “pot luck” dinner on the beach with Lynn and Glenn from Steel Sapphire, who we knew from our Atlantic crossing. They were here still waiting for parts for their autopilot which failed during their crossing.

The weather during our stay in Grenada has been a mixed bag of rain, rain and the occasional spot of sunshine, so land tours were definitely off the agenda. Just venturing out to De Big Fish restaurant only 300 yards away from GWTW was an exercise in precision timing between rain squalls. However, all this rain is not such a bad thing, as necessity, or is that boredom is the mother of invention. With hundreds of gallons of  free water falling from the heavens our water tanks were constantly full thanks to  Liam’s expertise in the GWTW’s tool shed come  plumbing factory up in the bow. In fact he spurred both White Rose and Bondi Tram when they arrived a few days ago, to organize rain catches for their boats. Everyone agrees that the pitter patter on the decks and the tinkle of water in the filling pipes is much better than listening to the throb of the watermaker which can take hours to fill the tanks.

         

                    The rain just kept falling !

Friday night rolled around  and the bar across from Prickly Bay Marina was having a couple of local bands playing so, together with Bondi Tram, we headed over to check out the music. As we arrived the steel drums we being offloaded from the truck and within 15 mins the band were in full swing. The music that these drums make really does sound like all the instruments that you would hear in an orchestra, it just has to be heard to be believed. The setting at the marina was lovely and sitting in the garden under the trees made it a great venue. After staying a while we then strolled down the road to the local Chinese restaurant for an excellent dinner.

There have been plenty of other chances to listen to live music as De Big Fish has entertainment at least three times a week.

Previously White Rose had suggested that we should attend a local Sunday Church service and as the Grand Anse Baptist Church was just a few minutes walk from our anchorage, we decided that on Sunday the 27th we would dress up in our Sunday best and head on down to church for the 10am service.

Our day at church turned out to be very appropriate as on that morning’s radio net we heard the very sad news that our Kiwi friend Maurice, from Baracca, had passed away suddenly during the previous night. At the end of the net Liam played the Rod Stewart song Sailing over the radio in memory of Maurice. Our thoughts along with all our cruising friends are with Heather his wife, and his family back in New Zealand.

Arriving at the church we were welcomed by one of the church officials who invited us to have a seat or to join one of the women’s or men’s discussion groups. We opted just to take a seat and wait for the service. The interior of the small church was nothing like what we were used to back home. There was a band area at the front and also a big screen up on the wall. The parishioners were dressed in their finest, some of the the women wearing hats and all the men in long trousers, even the children were done up to the nines.

                                                       The little church was full of life



    This lady looked beautiful in her outfit


The service began to the sounds of electric guitars, drums and tambourines. The crowd swayed to the beat of the music, some more enthusiastically than others. The Reverend led the  way with the  same very upbeat hymn singing, said a few prayers and asked for any visitors to stand and say hello, so we  did.  Later, at the equivalent of the catholic “peace be with you”  hand shaking , the whole congregation was up and  greeting not just those sitting near, but moving around the church hugging and hand shaking everyone. It was something that was quite overwhelming for us as these ever so happy people took us in their arms to welcome us into their church. This went on for about 15 mins. About half way through the service the Reverend began the sermon, the subject being “Time to Repent”. He was extremely vocal and loud at getting his message across and if he didn’t have high blood pressure at the start we all reckon that he had it by the end of his lecture, I mean sermon!  

The service lasted around two hours, with a Baptism to follow, however we decided not to stay for that. On our walk back to the marina the gentleman sitting in front of us with his family stopped and asked if we would like a lift to the Baptism which was to be held at the beach, we declined his offer and with that he asked if we would like a lift back to the marina. We said that we were happy to walk .

The Grenadian people are certainly friendly and we think the best so far.

                                   We needed a to stop for a drink after all that singing

Later that evening White Rose, GWTW and Bondi Tram gathered together on the beach for a pot luck dinner / wake in honour of Maurice, we figured he would have liked that. As we toasted to his adventurous life the sky turned a beautiful shade of pink.

                                            Toasting to a fellow cruiser and to life itself

Today, Monday the 28^th we are about to leave for our overnight passage to Trinidad. White Rose has been waiting on a new propeller to arrive from the UK for about a week and finally it is here. Earlier this afternoon GWTW towed the “Roses” three miles north to a shallow beach just off the main town of St Georges where Liam and Peter have donned their scuba gear and are fitting the prop as I type.


 

Towing White Rose to shallower water

                                                                                                Bridger looks like a single hander!

In around an hour or so, if all things are hunky dory, the two boats will be heading off for the 80 mile run to Trinidad.