5/20/2017 We were intent on making tracks south so we left Nevis with Slow Dancing at 0300 and motor-sailed to Des Haies, Guadeloupe, arriving at 1640. Although we arrived in late afternoon, we were by no means, the last boats to anchor in the harbor that night. Charter catamarans kept arriving until we thought surely, they couldn't have room to anchor here, especially in the dark. But no, they all dropped anchor, sometimes very close to other boats or with very short scope or both. Some of these charter boats and even the hired "captains" have very scary sailing practices.
5/21/2017 We left Des Haies at 0630 and sailed to Portsmouth, Dominica, arriving at 1510. We had a rough passage in the pass between the islands from the southern end of Guadeloupe to the north end of Dominica. Winds were 18 to 22 knots 50 degrees off the port bow and seas 5 to 6 feet.. That makes it a bit rough in our boat when sailing that close to the wind. Then we went below only to find that the rough passage with the waves breaking over the bow had not only made the trip rough, but gave us a wet bunk!! We took apart the V-berth cushion and dried it out and discovered that when we had repaired the bow running light in St. Martin we hadn't sealed the area where the wire passes through the bulkhead from the chain locker and runs under the headliner back to the electrical panel. Thus, water flowed under the headliner and then dripped down onto the head of the bed on the starboard side as we were heeled over to that side all day. Another lesson learned.... We did laundry and got the boat cleaned up. We went on a long hike on section 13 of the Waitukubuli trail from Pennville to Capuchin. Alexis (one of the PAYS members) drove us to Pennville, stopping at the cold souffriere on the way. We hiked the trail which was well marked and then he picked us up at Capuchin. It was a long day but felt good to get some exercise.
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| The bubbling waters in the cold soufriere |
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| Dan and Greg check out the trail map |
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| All of Dominica is so lush, it is green almost everywhere you look |
We saw In Dreams with Ken and Corinne whom we had met in St. Thomas in Portsmouth also. We all attended the PAYS Sunday night BBQ and had our share of rum punches.
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| One of the local guys entertained us with his Michael Jackson style dancing |
5/25/2017 We left Portsmouth with Slow Dancing and In Dreams and sailed and motor-sailed to Roseau, about a 4 1/2 hour trip. We had the fishing line out but didn't get any bites again. When we arrived we saw Footloose with Glenn aboard. Glenn had been our first buddy boat when we crossed from Florida to Bimini, Bahamas the first time in March of 2014. We took one of Sea Cat's moorings and Mr. Bean agreed to take us for a snorkeling trip the same afternoon. He took us to the Champagne pool where we snorkeled and saw some interesting coral and the bubbles rising from the underwater fumaroles.
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| Sergeant Majors near the Champagne Pool |
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| Mr Bean shows us a gigantic coral |
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| Tube sponges |
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| The bubbles coming up from the sea floor at the Champagne pool |
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| Banded butterfly fish |
Then we went to Scotts Head where we snorkeled over some deep canyons and out to a large reef.
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| Greg snorkels between the cliffs that form a cavern |
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| Sea Plumes |
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| Four-eyed butterfly fish |
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| Trunkfish |
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| White spotted filefish |
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| Barrel sponges |
Finally, we went to Soufriere where there is a little beach bar across from the church. In front of the beach bar they have enclosed a section of the water with large rocks. The water is heated by the sulfur springs from the volcano. We got our rum drinks and sat in the hot sulfur water for a relaxing time after our snorkeling trip. A great spontaneous day with Mr. Bean as our guide for only $20 each.
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| Pretty church in Soufriere, Dominica |
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| The hot sulfur pool in Soufriere |
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| Enjoying our rum drinks after a "hard day of snorkeling" |
5/26/2017 We left the next morning and headed to St. Pierre, Martinique now with a "flotilla" including Slow Dancing, In Dreams, and Footloose. We anchored as usual in Anse Turin and had dinner that night with our whole group at our favorite French restaurant, Le Tamaya.
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| Dinner at Le Tamaya |
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| We celebrated Corinne's birthday |
5/27/2017 We sailed to St. Anne in about a 7 hour trip. We had a great sail from Baie de Fort de France to Diamond Rock at the entrance to the Bay to St. Anne. It is always difficult to sail into St. Anne from the north as the winds are against you. You can choose to go north of Diamond Rock, between it and the shore which means you motor into the wind. Or you can go quite a bit farther south and then tack up into the bay. We chose the latter and the rest of our group motored in between Diamond Rock and the shore. Although we had to cover more ground and we sailed rather than motored, we arrived only 40 minutes after the rest of the group. But we did have to contend with a squall that hit us as we headed in and then had to turn on the engine to avoid a race that was being held in the bay. We made an appointment with Caraibe Greement for a rigging inspection and tuning and went to their dock a couple of days later for that. One of our lifelines broke the day before we went in so we got all the lifelines replaced (they were about 10 years old) and we needed to replace 2 shrouds. They tuned the rigging and we left and went back to our anchor spot the next day.
5/31/2017 At 0717 We left St. Anne and sailed to the Pitons in St. Lucia. We left the rest of our group in St. Anne as we wanted to move south and they wanted/needed to stay a bit longer. We had a fantastic sail. A squall followed us out of the harbor but we managed to stay ahead of it until we turned south and it moved west. We had swells of 5 to 6 feet in the pass and winds of 16 to 20 knots on the beam. We sailed anywhere between 5.8 to 8.2 knots. Some of that was the current pushing us but it felt wonderful. We took a ball at the Pitons for the night and then moved on in the morning.
6/01/2017 We left the Pitons at 0630 and made it to Admiralty Bay, Bequia at 1530. We ran the engine for about 3 hours, making water. Then we had a good sail through the pass between St. Lucia and St. Vincent although we had 5 foot swells. As we got to the north end of St. Vincent, the wind backed and we were on a broad reach. The wind and the waves calmed down as we got in the lee of St. Vincent. Then the wind died and then came back out of the west! We finally gave up trying to figure out how to trim the sails for this crazy wind and turned on the engine for a while. Once we got to the pass to Bequia, we sailed across the pass and into Admiralty Bay. We saw friends on Nancy Lu and Discovery there but had no time to visit as we moved on the next morning. We were trying to catch up to our friends Bill and Joanna on Baidarka to travel together to Tobago.
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| The "cave houses" on Bequia, closed due to failure of construction materials |
6/2/2017 We left Bequia at 0634 and had a great sail all the way to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou. We were making 6 to 7 knots with 13 to18 knots of wind on the beam. We fished while we sailed and caught a Mahi but he was a little one so we had to release him. Good thing we don't have to rely on our fishing skills to eat. We had dinner with Joanna and Bill and Harvey and Rita at a little restaurant one night and spent the rest of our time polishing stainless and working on the blog. We had planned to head to Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago) with Bill and Joanna on Baidarka but they had to return to the States unexpectedly due to a family illness.
6/8/2017 We left Carriacou at 0700 with Nancy Lu who had made it to Tyrell Bay while we were there and got to Mt. Hartman Bay, Grenada at 1515. We sailed down the west side of Grenada although we had wanted to go down the east side for better winds but the seas were up and the winds were a bit high so we took the lee side. Of course, when we rounded the southwest tip of Grenada and headed toward Mt. Hartman Bay, we got a squall as we headed into the channel to the bay. Seems to happen to us every time we come here. Oh well, we got in and anchored safely. Lequesteau was here as was Dea Latis. So we had a Rat Pack reunion (the Rat Pack was our group of about 25 boats that were in Georgetown, Bahamas together waiting for weather to go to the Dominican Republic and on down south) and all went to Taffy's for Fish and Chips Friday. The food was great and the company even better.
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| Our Rat Pack reunion at Taffy's |
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| A cow on the bridge to Hog Island on our way to Taffy's in Woburn |
We re-anchored a bit farther into Mt. Hartman Bay a few days later as we were rolling a bit when farther out and another boat had come in and had anchored too close to us. He had engine trouble and couldn't move. We had interesting birds visit us one day. They hung around a while and then we never saw them again.
We went on the turtle watch one night at the north end of the island. The leatherback turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The researchers are out there patrolling the beach and monitor the turtles and let the visitor groups know when a turtle comes in so we can go watch. They dig a large hole and go into a sort of trance when they begin laying the eggs. We had to stay out of her line of sight and could only use red flashlights. Our pictrures did not come out well as this was around 1:00 a.m. on a night with only a half moon and some cloud cover too. But we got to watch one lay her eggs and then cover them and go back to the sea. We saw another coming ashore and one that was in the middle of laying her eggs as we went by. A long night as we didn't get back to the boat until 4:00 a.m. but definitely an experience we will remember for a long time.
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| One of the researchers lay on the ground and reached under the turtle to count the eggs as she laid them. |
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| The researchers measured the length and width of the turtle. |
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| Öur" turtle was about 5 feet long |
We went into St. George's and met up with Kathy and Mark (Nancy Lu), Ken (In Dreams), Glenn (Footloose), Bob and Anita (Discovery) and Melissa and Dan (Slow Dancing) for lunch one day. They are all staying at Port Louis Marina in town and we walked over to the Grenada Yacht Club for lunch.
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| Saw this boat in Port Louis Marina when we met friends for lunch. Must be our new motor yacht, based on the name! |
We met some new friends, Mary and Nigel on Osprey and their son, Niall at the pool here in Secret Harbor. Friends Greg and Jo on Serenade came in a few days ago and we all walked over to the Jerk Chicken Shack for lunch the week before we left. Best jerk chicken around.
In between our fun activities, we worked hard to get the boat ready for haul. We polished all the stainless, even the little lights inside. We washed all the lines and washed down all the walls, cupboards (inside and out), ceiling and floor. Liz Ann spent several days scrubbing the old oil and galley grease off the galley teak and re-oiling it. Greg pickled the watermaker and we took down all the sails. Oh what fun it is to live with your main salon full of sails! We took inventory of all of our staples and got rid of all the flour, sugar, cereals, and refrigerated foods that would spoil or attract insects while on the hard. We seemed to have a never ending list of things to do before we left but it finally got done.
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| We finally found a cleaner that made a big difference on our stainless lights |
See all you family and friends back home real soon. As for our cruising friends, we hope to see you when we return in October.
