Surfing into Iles de la Petite-Terre

March 9, 2017March 10, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ 2 Comments

We left Sainte François at 7am heading offshore to Iles de la Petite-Terre, some 14nm away. We needed a few tacks to get there and we noticed all the day catamarans motored up the coast and then cut across to the Islands under sail, a sensible and scenic way to get there.

We got there around 10.30am and we were confronted with a series of breaking waves over the 2m bar that guarded the only entrance into the lagoon. It looked reasonably scary, even with Chris Doyle’s waypoints and mud map (which turned out to be excellent).

As luck more than good planning would have it, one of the day catamarans arrived shortly after us and we decided we would follow him in. But not too closely as we didn’t want to surf up his bum. Even with a guide boat it was still exciting, as at one stage Dee goes “go, go, go” as the breaking swell threatened to catch us. With the two 75HP engines foing at full tilt we were able to run with the wave as it slipped under us. Then we were in.

The lagoon is absolutely stunning – a picture perfect setting with crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, shaded with palm trees. My idea of heaven.

With a reasonable strong current running through the mooring field, we had trouble picking up one of the National Park moorings until one of the tour boat guys came over in his dinghy and helped us tie on. Then we went for a swim to explore the island. Whilst on the beach we saw a small sand shark swim by and numerous turtles. Back at the boat, we saw a single-handed Polish two ended ketch come in and proceed to the shallows where he got stuck aground. We dinghied over to offer assistance and went off to find the ranger to help pull him off. He claimed his guide-book showed an anchorage there. By the time we got back to him, he had managed to reverse out of his predicament and was busying his anchor. There’s no anchoring in the lagoon as the National Park has provided ample numbers of moorings so we told him no and helped him on a mooring. Next minute we hear shouting from the day catamaran as he has got his spear gun out to catch himself lunch. I’ve got to say that his Polish Guide book is a little out of date perhaps.

Dramas over, we got our snorkels and fins on and went exploring. Before we could even jump in we saw a barracuda, a couple of large jacks and a box fish off the back of our boat. This continued for the rest of the snorkel with another barracuda, a large sting ray and lots of reef fish and coral to look at.

Later in the day, we took the dinghy in and went for a nice sign-posted hike around the lighthouse and out to the western point. Got some nice photos of the view, and the ten million iguanas that sun themselves on the path.

As darkness fell, the fish came out to play. There was a bit of a current running through the mooring field and a school of large fish camped themselves beside the boat and gently swam against the current, occasionally snaffling smaller fish that floated past. Fascinating. We tried dropping a camera over the side on a selfie stick but it was just too dark to pick up anything.

Then at about 8pm we saw a small catamaran come over the bar and into the lagoon. Pretty gutsy (or possibly stupid) effort.

Next morning, we woke to a calm sea with not much action on the bar. This had a huge calming effect on the skipper who quickly ordered stumps to be drawn and off we went across the bar with minimal excitement, heading back to St Francois, via the scenic route along the coast.

A Couple More Saintes

March 9, 2017March 10, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

You feel like you are in the tropics when you motor through a gap in the coral reef and drop anchor in the sheltered lagoon in 2m of crystal clear water with nothing but sand everywhere. Tropical Paradise. St Annes on the south coast of Guadeloupe. The anchorage to the West, which is the place to be is small, but with a cat we could get quite far in and we managed to get a great spot, right next to the blow up water park.

After a quick swim to check the anchor, we dinghied a short way West to the town fishing harbour, which was a bit rundown and smelly, but otherwise a good place to leave the dinghy. Then we walked back East on the beachside broadwalk, past our anchorage and into town. We checked out all the street vendors, selling knick-knacks and deliciously smelling street food, stopping off at a beach side bar with some great music.

Next day, we hopped into the water for a much longer snorkel, and walk along the beaches. We loved all the full restaurants and bars that spilled out onto the beach front. It’s a very popular beach resort town and the various beaches were all packed.

Exercise over, it was back in the dinghy and into town for some internet and mojitos at one of the bars. Loading photos is always a good excuse for a mojito!

In the afternoon, we walked around to Club Med, which is in the next bay East. They have the whole bay with a beautiful beach, quite spectacular. There’s a small anchorage out the front, but we agreed we liked being closer to the colour and movement of the St Anne’s township.

Next morning we decided to change genders and head to St François, a very, very popular anchorage, 8nm further west. We followed the instructions in the guide-book and made our way through the marked channel, right into one of the most beautiful anchorages I have seen. But it’s no secret and there were lots of boats in there as well. After a bit of a motor around we found a spot and dropped anchor in sand in 2m of crystal clear water.

We were right behind a small sandbar, with a few doughnut BBQ/Drinking boats floating around in front. The occasional windsurfer or kite surfer made their ways around us. Also in the anchorage was Gilbert and Isabelle; and Jean-Roch and Marie-Claire. It was good to say hello again, although it was Valentines Day so we were all doing our separate things, being the romantics that we are (Well they are French and some of it surely must have rubbed off on me!).

Dee and I headed off to check out all the restaurants for V Day and settled on a beachside restaurant where we had a nice view out a window to a guy filleting loads of lionfish. Dee was there in a flash checking out how to deal with this invasive species.

After a few days of snorkeling, paddle boarding and checking out the cute little town, we decided to push on and head for Iles de la Petite-Terre.

Nothing Much to Report Here

February 26, 2017March 9, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

The sail across to Marie Galante can best be described as tack, tack, tack, tack……….

Going East into the trade winds is slow going.

We finally made it to the anchorage at St Louis at about 4pm. We picked out our anchorage not far from Balenac and pondered the fact that the water was not as crystal clear as the Cruising Guide suggested. Nice but not exceptional.

We saw Balenac on shore – they had just got back from hiring a car and they told us about the Rhum Factory, where the Rum flowed freely. Given the next day was a Sunday, we decided to walk the 5km to the factory – a bit of morning exercise. We arrived at 10.30am and had a look at the factory, which being Sunday was not operating so we wandered around by ourselves. Then we returned and tasted a few rums, which weren’t bad. My backpack got a little heavier for the return leg, having purchased a 59% knock your socks off white rum – the Labat 59.

The walk back along the beach was a bit longer but much more pleasant. Being Sunday, St Louis was dead so we made the snap decision to pull anchor and head for the main island. We thought we may be able to point as high as St Francois, but in the end we had to settle for St Anne – there would be no tacking this late in the day!

Back in France Again, Again

February 26, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

This is a bit confusing. One minute we are back in France (Martinique) then we are in an ex-British territory (Dominica) then we are back in France yet again (Guadeloupe).

But who am I to complain as the French have made sure you can buy good French wine, champagne with the added bonus of French Rhum, together with all those nice apple tarts and bagets. Yum!

Our first stop in French Territory was the small island group of Les Saintes, a short but exhilarating sail from Portsmouth, especially the last bit where we hit an acceleration zone between the small islands. A hot tip when planning to go to Les Saintes is to get there early as the mooring balls in front of the town fill up early. If you luck out then you can either anchor further around, which is a bit exposed or grab a mooring ball over on Ile A Cabrit, from where you face a lumpy 1nm dinghy ride into town. We were lucky because we got there by 10.30am and got the last mooring off the town – perfect. Check-in was as per Martinique, using a computer screen in a local business.

Then it was off to explore the really cutesy town, with its restaurants that overflow onto the town beach, and a million and one dress shops for Dee to window shop in. We bumped into Aura and BnG who had hired a golf buggy to explore the small island – all that you need.

After a swim in the crystal clear waters off the back of La Mischief, we hopped in A Little Bit of Mischief for the 1nm ride across to Aura for dinner with Kim and Simon. As usual the hospitality and food on Aura was magnificent and we enjoyed our last night together for a while as Aura were making a dash for St Thomas and we were taking a much slower pace.

Next day we organized an island bus trip – 10 euro each, which took us up to the very impressive fort. It had great views over the islands and across to Guadeloupe was full of museum pieces from days gone by.

It took us a good hour to see it all then we drove down to the other end of the island before the driver dropped us off at the protected lagoon on the West side of the island. We worked the length of the beach and I went for a snorkel, before lunch called. Well, we thought it had but when we checked into the one and only restaurant near the lagoon we were told it was “Complet”. At 12.50pm. Theres another tip for Les Saintes – make sure you have your restaurant sorted by 12.30pm at the latest. So we gave up waiting for the bus driver to return and walked the 30 minutes back into town where we found a set of very nice bagets for lunch. Ah, it’s a tough life with soooo many hassles.

We waited for the shops to reopen in the afternoon and did some provisioning in Carrefour before taking an early night before heading off to Mary Galante in the morning after radioing Terrapin so they could come over and grab our mooring ball.

Superbowl and an All You Eat and Drink Beach BBQ – We Are In!

February 18, 2017February 18, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

We left Roseau on Sunday morning bound for Portsmouth, 15nm up the coast. It was a fickle sail/motor as we headed for a rendezvous with Bill on Moontide, in time for the legendary PAYS Sunday night BBQ and Superbowl.

PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security) was founded by the local boat boys to provide security for the bay and to promote Dominica as a sailing destination. I’ve got to say they do a great job and maybe it’s a model other parts of the Caribbean could take on – although being Caribbean newbies it’s a bit early to make any definitive statement on what should happen elsewhere.

Anyway it was great to finally meet Bill who I’ve heard heaps about, his sailing experience and bar attendance being second only to Sir Frances Drake – evidently!

After a few beers and rums on the back of La Mischief, it was off to the PAYS BBQ, an all you can drink and eat affair for 50EC, a bargain especially given the strength of the rum punches. It was a packed affair and even though we got there on time, we got the last bit of space on the last table. The BBQ is PAYS way of raising cash to pay for night patrols, searchlights etc.

Dinner and punches downed, we went into the back room to watch the Superbowl half time show. Unfortunately we couldn’t hear it because of the great band playing at the BBQ but we got the general gist of things. The game resumed and it looked for all money like the Patriots were going to loose big time. With the Patriots falling behind we pulled stumps and headed back to La Mischief. With Dee tucked in, I hopped on the Internet and frantically tried to follow the greatest comeback win in all time. Oh well, who could have predicted that one!

Next day we were off with Providence to do the Indian River tour, the marque eco tour up this end of Dominica. We set off in a small runabout and once in the river, the outboard came up and the oars came out. We got rowed up the creek through the mangroves. This is another of the Pirates Locations and there’s still an old river hut there that the witch used to hang in. The highlight however was the wonderful vegetation, including the small display garden at the end of the creek that we got to wander around.

In the afternoon and the next morning we hung out with Bill and Klara (who swapped boats) before they sailed northwards to Antigua. Then it was off to check out the British Fort that overlooks Prince Rupert Bay. Pretty impressive location for a fort. We had sundowners at Felix Beach Bar with a whole heap of Americans – a lot of whom had been hanging around the Caribbean for 8-9 years. Dominica tends to attract the more adventurous and we got a lot of good info in between downing some of the best rum punches we’ve had so far.

On Wednesday, we organized a full day tour of the North of the island with Armstrong to see the rest of the islands highlights. First up was a waterfall, followed by a walk in what is supposedly the best rainforest in the Caribbean. Then we headed back down the coast to Calibishie, along some wonderfully wild coastline. We stopped for some great ribs at a beach side restaurant, washed down with local beer, before continuing on to see the Chocolate Factory, the Red Rock beach and the cold sulphur springs. After finishing the tour we thought we’d managed to cover most of the island, with the exception of the Carrib villages. Back at the boat – but not for long as PAYS were putting on another BBQ because of the large number of cruisers in the bay – and because Carnivale was coming to Portsmouth on Sunday and they wanted to avoid a clash. It was another great affair with lots of punch consumed.

Next morning it was up Anchor and off to a hot date with Aura on Les Saints.

When Nature Calls

February 13, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

We were excited to leave Martinique and head to Dominica. They say if old Chris Columbus sailed back to the Caribbean today, Dominica would be the only island that he would recognize, because as Frankenfurter says, it’s still a wild and untamed thing, largely devoid of physical signs of tourism.

The sail across the strait was rollicking, the apparent wind touching 30kts a few times with a reasonable swell thrown in for good measure. But distances are short and we soon rounded the impressive Scotts Head at the bottom of Dominica.

Our first stop was Roseau, which a lot of cruisers bypass going straight to Portsmouth. Roseau is convenient to some of the most spectacular spots on top as well as underneath the sea. We picked up a mooring from Marcus (which are the best ones there with large blocks of concrete, connected to chain) in 23m of water and he dinghied us over to Customs. Customs and Immigration were reasonably straightforward costing us 20 euros to check in and out of the country at the same time (as we were staying less than 2 weeks). Then it was off to explore the town and pick up some duty-free grog at Pirates.

Next day it was up early and off to the Boiling Lake with Armstrong. The whole day cost us a 150 East Caribbean Dollars (75AUD, 60USD) each and involved a 6 and a half hour hike up, up, up and down, down, down. We soon wished we’d done a bit more hiking before we tackled this little challenge. The walk was quite spectacular going through untouched rainforest and down into the Valley of Desolation, before chambering up a river valley, down a rope climb and then to the rim of the boiling lake itself, the second largest in the world after Rotorua in NZ. As we approached it started to rain and we got soaked as we ate lunch at the Lake.

That afternoon, Seacat put another Cat on a mooring quite close to us. We asked Marcus about it and he said he never put a boat on our mooring when Seacat had one on that particular mooring but said it would be okay because we were both Cats and would swing the same. I was still a bit nervous but didn’t do anything about it.

Then it was off to the Anchorage Hotel to wait for Klara to arrive. She was flying from Europe via Miami and Puerto Rico – the downside of Dominica is getting there is difficult.

As we were going to bed, the wind dropped off to nothing and we managed to “sail” forward over our mooring and hit the other boat, chipping off a bit of our gelcoat as we hit the sharp metal rub rail of the older Outremer. Bummer. We both put fenders out and we got Marcus to get us another mooring first thing in the morning. The moral of the story is that if you have any doubts then act on them. Otherwise shit happens.

Next day we could hardly walk but there was no rest for the wicked as we headed off on another Armstrong adventure in his minivan. First stop was Emerald Falls where we swam underneath the falls, the cold clear water reinvigorating our weary legs. This was followed by a drive to Fresh Water Lake in the mountains and then off to Titou Falls, where Johnny D. jumped off a cliff in the second Pirates movie. Armstrong did a recreation as did one of the others but Dee and I chickened out and took the stairs down into the pool. Armstrong then swam us through the narrow gorge to the first waterfall and helps us get to a small indent where we could stand by pulling us through the rapidly flowing water on a life buoy. He then managed to somehow climb the waterfall and then jump off it into the pool below next to us. One of the other guys managed to do the same and Dee gave it a shot but there had been a lot of rain and the waterfall was too powerful.

Our last stop of the day was Trafalgar Falls, two very impressive falls, and here we walked/climbed out to the base of the falls over some slippery rocks and sat in the warm sulphur pools at the base of the falls. By the time we scampered back down again it was getting dark and we were glad to get off the rocks whilst we still had a smidgen of light. Another great day on Dominica.

We started to slow down a bit on Day 3, Desmond took us by boat a couple of miles south to do some snorkeling on Champagne Reef where the sulphuric bubbles come out of the seabed. Pretty cool snorkeling over the top of a group of bubbles. The sea life and corals were pretty good also. A real must see. After getting out Desmond took us around the corner to the cute little village of Soufriere, where, in front of the Church, there was some hot springs coming right out the beach into a man-made rock pool where you just lay and soak yourself in a mixture of cool sea water and hot spring water. And there is a bar! It took a lot of talking to convince Dee to leave.

Day 4 was diving day. You have to dive with a local dive operator in Dominica and we booked with Anchorage Hotel as this was the cheapest. They had a great dive boat as well, an 80 foot cat. We did a couple of dives around Champagne Reef and were impressed by the coral and the fish life. Saw a really cool sea snake and some very large crabs. Dee got to try out her new complete set of dive gear she got for Xmas and it worked a treat. Loved the fact that we were back diving in 3mm wetsuits. Perfect.

Diving over, it was off to the opening parade for Mardi Gras. We had a great time checking out all the costumes and the music as well as all the Miss Carnivale entrants, of course. We finished the day with a nice dinner at The Loft with a whole group of yachties.

Then Sunday came and we were off to Portsmouth, a 15nm sail/motor up the west coast. The sailing is superb between the islands but the wind gets a bit fickle sailing in the wind shadow of the islands.

And The Best Thing about Dominica was the friendly people!!!!

Dry January – You’ve got to be Kidding!!!

January 31, 2017February 1, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

Even if we discount NYE, we still managed to pack in a few parties in the rest of January, whilst on Martinique.

Dee’s Birthday,
The day after Dee’s birthday,
Gilbert’s 60^th,
Sherrie’s 40^th and of course
Australia Day.

So here’s how it unfolded….

After recovering from NYE sufficiently well to plot a course to Martinique, off we went from Barbados and had a wonderful sail on a very nice 90-degree reach – so much so thst we just took off and we ended up going far too fast – so half way across we had to reef the mainsail, and once that didn’t do the trick, furl in the genoa all the way in. And yet we were still too fast. We ended up having to loiter to the south of Sainte Anne until daylight fell and we were able to motor in and anchor amongst what seemed like a thousand yachts. Still with all those yachts it was not especially crowded and we were able to pick an anchor spot from numerous possibilities in 3-4m of water. The trick to St Annes is to anchor at the Club Med end as the water is far clearer up this end. St Annes is a really cute town with a nice dinghy dock – a great place to meander around.

16113174_10207499154709919_7513810128727051998_o

Then it was into the dingy and off to the marina in Le Marin, a few miles around the corner and into the bay. It turns out we could have checked in using a computer terminal in Sainte Anne but I needed to find Hubert from Net-Boat who was the lagoon agent to get ourselves organised to get things fixed.

The check-in in Martinique is dead easy so we could go in the next day to Le Marin Marina and get things fixed. The marina is really nice and really big and quite economical at 44 euros a day for us. The water maker pipe that burst was located and fixed, and our hull leak was re-glued and screwed. Interestingly it was the result of using round fenders rather than cylindrical fenders on the wall in Fogo. With the seam of our boat (between the hull and the deck) one third of the wall down, these round fenders tend to push the hull in too much and split the seam. Learn something every day!

We also serviced both our guest toilets with new seals and O-rings and fitted a new kitchen faucet. We also blew some boat dollars at the numerous chandleries. A good service centre as well. A very productive stop.

As well as working we also had some time to play, spending a wonderful Wednesday night listening to a jam session in the Marina bar as musicians and singers came and went singing Blues, Jazz and Reggae. Fantastic. We also caught up with lots of the B50 rally boats who all seemed to be in Martinique when we were there.

Marina work finished for the time being (we had to return when the rub rail replacement came from France), we went out and anchored in the bay so we could use the dingy dock at Leeder Price to do some provisioning – mainly just champagne for Dee’s birthday week. Then it was off to Sainte Annes again to catch up with Aura and their French friends, Gilbert and Isabelle, who in no time at all had invited us onto their Lagoon 450 for a wonderful dinner along with 4 of their other French friends plus Kim and Simon. Their hospitality was exceptional and we had a wonderful night, despite my French being as terrible as ever.

Next day we headed off to Grande Anse D’Arlet in preparation for Dee’s birthday at Ti Sable – a wonderful restaurant with a reggae band playing. We had a great sail between Martinique and Diamond Rock, which was at one stage HMS Diamond Rock when the British installed cannons and a fort to take pop shots at the French.

15972681_10207499337554490_6510118572772805398_o

Grande Anse D’Arlet is a wonderful bay, with a great beach, dinghy dock and cutesy beach bars and shops. On our first night in the bay we dinghied over to Geoff and Linda and had wonderful drinks and a chat on the back of their boat.

16142586_10207499338354510_2647583172405255370_n

Next day it was Dee’s birthday and Simon and Kim duly arrived on the back of La Mischief with a birthday cake and a bottle of bubbles. Definitely a different sort of breakfast.

That just about killed the morning and the afternoon was spent snorkeling and walking on the beach. We showered and went into Ti Sable about 5pm to secure a good seat for 10 with Kim and Simon. Maissie and Jinika Lyka duly arrived, as did Gilbert and Isabelle who also came in to help celebrate. Unfortunately Bill and Jade couldn’t make it because of engine issues and Ken and Jenny came up with a mad scheme to catch a ferry from St Lucia only to be foiled by exorbitant cab fares. It was a great night with great food and Reggae music catching up with old(ish) and new friends.

We had big plans for the day after Dee’s birthday, but alas, Kim swam over to La Mischief and the drinking started and continued throughout the day – with lunch and a bit of swimming off the back of Aura in between. A thoroughly lazy day with Kim. Simon, Gilbert and Isabelle. It was fun to be lead astray.

15975320_10207505071137826_1427220263298995352_o

Come Wednesday it was back to Le Marin to get our rub rail installed. Or so we thought. We found out there was an issue with the Lagoon 421 being superseded by the new Lagoon 42 and we now needed to wait until some third party factory coughed up the necessary parts.

No worries as we took a hire car around Martinique and had a couple of parties to attend to – back to back!

16252164_10207591192770813_3582678362516638875_o

Driving around Martinique is a must do. It’s a beautiful island and only 70km long by 40 wide so very doable in a day. We called into some nice towns and beaches on the Atlantic east coast before stopping for lunch at the St James Rum Distillery and Museum, then we headed across to the Caribbean West coast via some stunning rain forest and a short stop on top of the now extinct volcano that wiped out the old capital of St Pierre, killing all 20,000 residents except for some drunk and disorderly inmate who was shielded deep in a jail cell from the 2000 degree heat that swept through the town and sunk all the ships in the harbour.

16179509_10207591253812339_7835768760875873412_o

16300036_10207591250932267_4361065096805526431_o

We drove through the rebuilt St Pierre, now a small town and no longer the capital, along the Caribbean coast to Fort de France, the current capital, one of the biggest towns in the Caribbean. A great day of sightseeing.

Then it was party time. First off the rack was Gilbert’s big 6-0 party on the back of his beautiful cat. I managed to dinghy back to La Mischief about midnight, avoiding most but not all of the rum that was being consumed into the small hours of the morning.

Then I needed to back up as Sherrie from Element was turning the big 4-0 and we had a great catch-up with some old and new friends until I could stay awake no longer. There was a little bit of a lull for a few days until Australia Day was upon us.

16402668_10207591275172873_5581818485991015627_o

Kim, Simon and I were the only Aussies on board our two rafted up Aussie boats, but we managed to induct various French, Canadian, US, Swede, German, British and South African friends into the strange ways we celebrate Australia Day. Kickoff was at 11am and we had a very large swimming pool out the back with all the pool toys attached, the stereo going with an all Aussie play list (Cold Chisel, ACDC, INXS, Australian Crawl, etc. etc.) a Barbie with sausages and steaks, inserted into bread with caramelized onions and good old tomato sauce, washed down with beer and wine. Gourmet Australian. And to top it all off Kim made a Pavlova – how Aussie is that.

16403011_10207591271932792_5292972201786597363_o Stumps were drawn at about 10:30 pm (although nobody can recall the actual time), which prompted Rob to go for a bit of a swim. Now the thing to know about Rob is he NEVER goes swimming after 3pm – something to do with sharks evidently, but there’s something particular about Australia Day that inspired him (he claims that it was not enough mixer for his rum). His swim started with a classic Back strokers start – you know where they hang above the pool off the blocks – in Rob’s case he was hanging off the side of La Mischief trying to get in his dingy that wasn’t there. Slowly this fact dawned on him, as did his limited options, so drop he did into the sea. Cathy was in their dinghy and we managed to get Rob to swim around to the back of La Mischief to the swim ladder. Brilliant. Except that Rob didn’t like that hull and decided to check out the other hull. Finding no ladder there, he decided to swim back to his boat. Well maybe he did, maybe he didn’t because it wasn’t in the direction he was swimming. The search party convened and set off in pursuit. Rob had the dinghy keys in his pocket, so Cathy rowed after him. Gilbert and I got our dinghies going in hot pursuit and Simon tried his hand at stand up comedy, alternatively paddling and falling off, in mildly hot pursuit. Gilbert managed to find Rob in the dark and steer him towards his boat and its ladder. I towed Cathy back and left her to sort out her aspiring Mark Spitz. It’s not a great Aussie Day Party unless there’s a good story to be told the following day – thanks Rob.

16178907_10207591256532407_1230884138882789877_o Speaking of the following day, it began a little on the slow side. Kim brought over bacon and eggs and we added copious amounts of coffee and somehow the girls managed to find an unopened bottle of Champagne. We were still doing the rafting up thing so it was quite nice to easily wander from boat to boat.

Once we’d got our s@#t together, we managed to part company and head into the Marina one last time to get our rub rail attached. Job done finally.

Then it was off to Trios Islets for a couple of days. We were feeling decidedly lazy so we just went with the Genoa and no main and managed to do 5-6kts for most the way until the last bit where it was on the nose and we motored into a strong breeze. We decided to anchor in Anse Mitan because it looked the most protected but we later agreed that Anse A L’Ane was the cutest little village with a really nice beach and that would be our recommendation.

The next day it was blowing its t#ts off so we decided to take the ferry over to Fort De France and check it out a bit more thoroughly – bit of a mistake as it was a Sunday and everything was shut. Everything. So back we came and did some bar hopping in the dingy, firstly visiting Anse A L’Ane and then checking out the beach bar at a near by Hotel in Anse Mitan.

Next morning it was out with the genoa only strategy for our short 15nm sail to St Pierre. We anchored in 4m and had a nice swim before checking out of Martinique, a bit confusing, as it was identical to the check in procedure using the same computerized form on a computer in a café. The café owner assured me in broken English that it was okay so hopefully it will be okay in Dominica. St Pierre has a nice feel to it with a reasonable number of small shops and restaurants. A nice final stop in Martinique.

Next morning, it was up anchor and off to check out the wildly spectacular Dominica.

Beautiful Barbados

January 16, 2017January 17, 2017 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

The only cruisers that seem to come to Barbados are the ones that cross the Atlantic to get here. That’s because it’s off the beaten track out in the Atlantic to windward of the Windward Islands. But we did cross the Atlantic so there we were.

After turning on the motors to make the 8pm cutoff for Customs and Immigration, we made landfall just before dusk and made our way around the south of the island to the main port of Bridgetown. We got there around 7pm and had to wait for a couple of cruise liners to leave before we could proceed into the Shallow Draft Marina. One of the many advantages of the rally was the quick and (relatively) easy check-in. Jimmy and Pascal were there to greet us and had organized for Customs and Immigration to be right there at the marina. After successfully checking into Barbados and a quick meal on the town, it was up early the next morning and off to the Careenage, which was to be La Mischief’s home in Barbados, in time for the bridge opening at 8am – Barbados time. We arrived with music blaring in preparation for the night’s concert, just off the back of our boat. The Careenage is a wonderful location, right in the centre of town. Coming in was a bit daunting, with about a metre each side as we came through the opening.

We quickly settled into Barbados, swimming and drinking Rum at the Yacht Club on the beautiful beach at Carlyle Bay. The Barbados 50 celebrations were in full swing and we took fu
ll advantage of the concerts and activities. One day we took a local “reggae” bus up the Eastern Coast – now that’s an experience.

Next day, Dee went touring the island with Trevor and Linka whilst I stayed behind to join the rally’s tour of the Mt Gay Rum Distillery. Wasn’t to be missedThe highlight of the Barbados 50 celebrations was a free mega Concert at Kensington Oval. We got there a bit early to make sure we got the lay of the land and after that we ended up outside drinking at one of Barbados’ many, many rum bars. With a few rums under our belts, we wandered back inside and marveled at the oval with the Gary Sobers Stand, the Three W’s Stand, the Joel Garner End, and the Greenidge-Haynes Stand – it’s a pity there were no cricket games scheduled when we were there. But I digress – back to the concert, which was opened by Prince Henry (more commonly known as Harry) and Rhianna singing the National Anthem. Then the music got underway working its way from the 1960s to present day, the highlight that stuck out for me was a jazz saxophonist who was one of the best in the world. We ended up leaving at 2.30am after giving up waiting for Rhianna who came on after we left as the last act.

Fun times over, we set about leaving the boat in the Careenage, the small river basin that runs through the centre of Bridgetown. The only other option was the Shallow Draft Marina, but this wasn’t really a viable option because the local boats leave and go and anchor in Carlyle Bay whenever a southerly pops up and comes straight into the Marina.

Then it was off California and Western Australia.

Coming back straight after X-mas, we spent a few days recuperating at the Barbados Yacht Club, making sure we were ready for a big New Years Eve Celebration. And what a celebration it was!!! Five remaining Rally boats plus Andy and Allison and some lovely bejans that we met in Miami saw in the New Year in style at the Yacht Club that put on an excellent buffet followed by lots of dancing at the beach with an excellent 10 piece band, singing all the stuff we love and an amazing fireworks show.

day, Jan 1^st, we took a taxi up past Port St. George to visit Garry and Marti, who own an old Plantation House called Colleton House whose foundations were laid in 1652. We met Garry (who started Cruising Helmsman magazine in Oz) and Marti, who is from Hungary, in Leros Marina couple of years back. It was great to catch up again. Garry took over the house from his Uncle who ran Oilsearch in Papua New Guinea and he showed us an amazing collection of PNG art in the stables building, better than I’ve seen in a lot of museums. The House itself was started by Sir John Colleton, an English Royalist who fled Cromwell back in the 1600’s.

New Years over, we then got ready to leave the Careenage. Whilst we were away, we had provided a home for a few million mussels and we needed to get a diver down to clear them from our props to make sure we could motor out. We also had left a hose in the water and this took some cleaning with multiple applications of bleach. Assante who left before us had to sail out when they couldn’t engage their motor.

It was good to get out of the Careenage and anchor in Carlyle Bay. We anchored near the cruising club out of range of the discos further up the beach. It was delightful swinging over clear sand with the odd bit of coral. We got visited by the turtles but didn’t get up early enough to see the race horses swimming around the boat.

Talking of race horses, we spent a relaxing afternoon at the races in the historic Garrison Savannah. Didn’t walk away with any fortune but it was an interesting crowd and some of the horses looked magnificent.

There was one more thing I wanted to do on Barbados and that was to see the Concorde that was housed there. It was thrilling to get up close to this magnificent aircraft and see how passengers travelled in first class style. We got to walk around the aircraft and go inside as well. They showed us some great vintage footage as well. The aircraft remains in pristine condition and the tour guide was great.

16143567_10207499464757670_2998687940511867345_o

16107174_10207499468477763_2338383288568963605_o

16003031_10207499445277183_5752674356642515952_n

But our time in Barbados was coming to an end as we looked forward to checking out (some of) the rest of the Caribbean. We had originally decided to head south to Grenada but we’d blown a hose when we turned on the watermaker, and we cou
ldn’t get under the cupboard where the salt water was pouring out, so we decided to head for the Lagoon Agent in Martinique to get everything fixed. A good decision as he traced the problem to an outlet valve that was closed when the boat was left in the Careenage.
So off we went, leaving behind the beautiful people of Barbados, so friendly and helpful and safe.

2016 – 21 Countries

December 5, 2016December 5, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ Leave a comment

Hers a map of La Mischief’s travels in 2016. If I add the USA and Australia to the list we come up with 21 Countries for 2016. You can zoom into the Google Map below to see where we have been.

Across The Pond

November 24, 2016November 25, 2016 ~ stull61 ~ 5 Comments

And then all of a sudden after a few days back in Mindelo, we were about to cross the Atlantic.

Heres a bit of a day by day account of our crossing.

WEDNESDAY (DAY 1)

The morning after the rally’s farewell party, the somewhat seedy skipper and his still faithful crew set off on a 2000nm liver cleansing exercise across the Atlantic. The wind was fairly roaring down the channel as we clocked up 9s and 10s. Several boats got into difficulties in these few initial miles and we heard that Bill and Jade had to turn back with some rigging issues. They joined a few other boats in Mindelo who had a delayed start waiting for crew and/or parts.

We pressed on past the bottom of San Anteo and immediately ran out of wind. On came the motors as we tried to clear the wind shadow that the tall volcanic mountains of San Anteo created. It ended up taking 3-4 hours, during which we had a few false starts, at one stage putting up Hotlips, our parasailor only to find the wind dropping and completely changing direction. We had to get it down hurriedly before we took out Oysterbar who were still travelling in the somewhat more correct direction of Barbados.

We finally made it out of the wind shadow and got on a nice broad reach of 140 degrees on main and jib doing 6-7knots. We stayed like this all night throwing in the occasional gybe to keep on our course.

We had set our course to a waypoint half way across on the same latitude as Barbados according to Jimmy’s advice. He likes us to get down there half to two thirds of the way across so we can duck down further if any tropical depressions rear their ugly head.

Song of the Day: Sail Away by David Grey

THURSDAY (DAY 2)

1859NM to go. 144NM closer than yesterday.

Our broad reach was working well as the wind steadily increased towards the magic 20kts apparent, where we would have to reef. The swell was building past 2m and the sailing was exhilarating as we often cracked 12kts surfing down the waves.

This made fishing difficult and the one Dorado we hooked jumped off as we were going too fast.

Mid morning, we decided to put in the first reef and try to slow down the boat a bit. The apparent wind built to mid-twenties as we screamed down waves at 12kts sometimes. By mid-afternoon we put in the second reef as the true wind was topping 30kts and the swell was over 3m with a couple of monsters over 4m thrown in to make it interesting.

We were sailing close to Stormbreaker and broke up the day chatting on VHF. They told us about Maggie Drum who were passed by a cruise liner, who somewhat mysteriously turned around and came back straight at them. Somewhat alarmed, Maggie Drum got on the VHF and asked if they where about to be run down. The Cruise Ship then told them that a passenger on deck thought Maggie Drum was in distress and tried to get them on the VHF. After no reply, he turned his cruise liner around so he could give assistance. With no-one in distress, all parties adjusted their course and went on their merry ways.

That night Phil managed to surf down a set of three monsters and hit 15kts of boat speed. This was not what we signed up for but at least on a cat we were comfortable to the point we were able to BBQ on the back of La Mischief, albeit hanging on with one hand whilst flipping the meat with the other.

Well at least we thought we were comfortable until Phil went into his room and found a flood of salt water coming in. We thought it was the stanchion initially but we eventually worked out that the seam between the deck and the hulls was leaking. And quite badly. Maybe it was from the pounding we had at Fogo, although we had three large fenders protecting that part of the boat – who knows. Whatever it was Lagoon will be getting a warranty call. Hulls aren’t supposed to leak.

Luckily we had a plumber on board. We had Sten hanging over the side in a big swell with a tube of sikaflex filling in the holes under the rub rail where the water was coming in. He did a great job keeping most of the water out and the next morning we got a mirror down there and filled in the remaining gaps.

Song of the Day: Six Months in a Leaky Boat by Split Enz

FRIDAY (DAY 3)

1694NM to go. 165NM closer than yesterday.

Friday saw the swell dropping a little bit but we were still barreling along at 8kts under 2 reefs. We set about drying out Phil’s room and washing all the salt out of his bedding. The sikiflex patch-up job seems to be working.

We talked to Stormbreaker on the VHF as they were close by and found out that they had a much worse night than us, getting constantly soaked and having gybed twice as a giant wave spun the back of their boat, breaking their gooseneck and two preventers. Ouch. So now they get to sail across the Atlantic without a mainsail, relying instead on their Pacific Booster. Hopefully they will be okay.

We were also a little concerned about Lady Rebel who had broken a traveller and had a rumbling noise coming from their welded in dagger board. It was good to hear later that all was good.

Song of the Day: Riders on the Storm by The Doors

SATURDAY (DAY 4)

1548NM to go. 146NM closer than yesterday.

Saturday began with the wind and swell dropping off enough to pull the two reefs out and run with a full main until everyone got up and had breakfast, before we put up Hotlips. You can tell we are not racing as sleep, breakfast and coffee came first.

With the parasailor up, the boat sat a lot better and the autopilots workload decreased significantly. What a great sail Hotlips is. We were doing 8-9-10s in 10-15 apparent and loving it. With Hotlips up and flying we went on chaffing patrol and covered up anything that could chaff a line.

It did make fishing a bit more difficult at that speed. Luckily we managed to snare a small-medium trevally type fish of the genus “got no idea”. Nothing like it seen in Australian waters but it tasted good and we are all still alive after it fed all five of us.

Another day, another boat problem. This time with the Raymarine chart plotters. Suddenly the chart plotter at the helm couldn’t talk to the chart plotter at the nav station. To get around this problem we made both chart plotters their own master. This seemed to work for a while until the Radar got confused and refused to power up. Bummer, the radar is sort of very handy when we have the parasailor up at night and there are squalls about.

Late in the day we passed by Xada and suspected we might not see another B50 boat on AIS for quite a while. Its a big ocean out here.

Besides the radar problem, the night sail was quite magical. We left the parasailor up under the moon light and cruised along at 6s and 7s. The radar made a couple of brief appearances but generally it was in the naughty corner.

Song of the Day: Radar Love by Golden Earring

SUNDAY (DAY 5)

1384NM to go. 164NM closer than yesterday.

The wind continued to drop out and we were doing 6s and 7s in 6-10kts of apparent. We were passing our days reading, fixing things and organising the boat. Sten’s cooking prowess was on display making all sorts of culinary creations. Dee spent the day going through all the various manuals filing them away in order.

We looked forward to downloading the boat positions to see where everyone was. We also downloaded weather a couple of times a day and the forecasts are starting to look good – touch wood.

We’ve discovered a leak behind the water maker and also have freshwater leaking into the starboard bilge from somewhere unknown. Our resident plumber was onto both jobs today. We were still trying to get the radar to go – we found some corrosion in a SeaTalk box whose cover was left off by some workman in Croatia, letting some water come in when the front windows were left open as the main sail went up after a storm from Brava.

Phil meanwhile was trying everything (short of throwing the bananas overboard) to catch a fish for dinner. Lines were lengthened, lures were interchanged, teasers were deployed – all to no avail.

Song of the Day: Blowin’ In the Wind by Bob Dylan

MONDAY (DAY 6)

1225NM to go. 159NM closer than yesterday.

Our second beautiful night of parasailing as we head down towards the latitude of Barbados. The Radar is making the odd appearance staying on for up to an hour before disappearing once again. The moon is going to be the closest to Earth since 1948 tonight (next one will be in 2034) so we will have good visibility from the supermoon and should be able to spot any potential squalls by just looking.

The wind dropped off for most of the day and our speed was down to 5s and 6s. The sun came out and it was a very pleasant day cruising along with just the Parasailor up.

Our lackadaisical day was broken mid afternoon when not one but three fish jumps on our lines all at once. The Mahi mahi that took our middle line with the teaser on it managed to jump off, but we managed to get the other two on board – one on each hull. The back deck of La Mischief resembled a fish factory as Phil went to town filleting both fish. He was a happy camper after a couple of days of inactivity in the fishing department.

We had a great feed of fish – identity unknown – nice red meat. We left the Mahi Mahi for later.

Song of the Day: Hooked on a Feeling

TUESDAY (DAY 7)

1077NM to go.. 148NM closer than yesterday.

We got a bit of wind in the morning and cranked her up to 7+ knots. We were 20 miles north of Barbados latitude so we decided to change course directly to Barbados whilst ensuring that we gradually slipped South the 20nm required to bring us in line with Barbados.

But by the afternoon the wind had dropped out and we were only doing 5s and the occasional 6. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were all looking forward to crossing the half way point later that night.

The speed seemed to be good for fishing as we got multiple hits on all the lines as we went through a couple of schools of Bonitos. Dee and Phil weren’t keen on Bonitos so back they went to live another day.

Night time came and we got back our radar. Seems to be working now we turned off and unplugged the Raymarine wireless Smartcontroller. Heres hoping as we got a little bit of rain but the radar showed no squalls and Hotlips stayed up for the third night in a row. The wind picked up a bit and we managed to get into the 7s as we head directly to Barbados.

Song of the Day: Ride Like the Wind by Christopher Cross

WEDNESDAY (DAY 8)

935NM to go. 142NM closer than yesterday. Now well over half way there.

The wind continued to drop out and we were down to 5s and 6s. But the weather was nice and the seas slight and we were enjoying the journey, not worrying too much about the destination.

We celebrated going past our half way point by BBQing up some Calamari and downing it with a glass of Spanish Cava each. First and last drink on our crossing.

Mid afternoon seems to be the time to catch fish and this time it was Wahoo Wednesday. Phil was very excited (as we all were) to finally catch one. With jacket potatoes and broccoli we are well that night.

After 4 days and 3 nights we decided to take down the parasailor as there were ominous looking clouds about. Good thing to as we had to avoid a few squalls that night. As they passed we got a bit of wind to sail with before it dropped out again and we motor sailed most of the night.

Song of the Day: Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel

THURSDAY (DAY 9)

811NM to go. 124NM closer than yesterday.

Where has the wind gone?

We got the parasailor up again and spent the day dodging squalls. Our radar was working again (for the moment) so we were able to see them come up behind us and usually cross from North to South. First the wind was light then as a squall approached it picked up and gave us a kick, but usually had us tracking south. We weren’t making much VMG and we were now south of Barbados’ latitude.

Meanwhile we were sailing through lots of sargasso weed and the water was a horrible green colour. Not much good for fishing either with all the weed about.

With a couple of hours of daylight to go, the last of the squalls passed us and we kept our speed up as the angle straightened and our VMG improved. We had tried a barber haul with Hotlines and this allowed us to sail at 140 degrees to the wind, an extra 15 degrees, so we were pleased with this.

We pulled the parasailor down at dusk and managed to go along at 7 knots using the white sails. With the wind with some north in it we had a beautiful reach through the night and made up some of the ground we lost during the day.

Song of the Day: Sailing Nights by Bob Seger

FRIDAY (DAY 10)

671NM to go. 140NM closer than yesterday.

Another good day with the parasailor up all day and all night.

Another two fish added to the ever filling freezer – a small Trivially and a medium sized Mahi Mahi. It was proving a little difficult to get the bigger fish on board when doing 7kts under spinnaker. Phil would disappear down the back steps in his lifejacket and harness and gaff them on board. As well as the two we landed , we hooked a monster but after about 5 minutes he throw the line.

As Andrea and Ian noted in their book “Letters from the Caribbean” , we are also one Sydney to Hobart away from the finish.

With the wind from the North East we needed to deploy the barber haul to go due west. At one stage Sten had La Mischief sailing along with a wind angle of 127 – not bad for a parasailor. Generally we kept it at 140 as its really quite comfortable there.

Song of the Day: “SAIL” by AWOLNATION

SATURDAY (DAY 11)

530NM to go. 141NM closer than yesterday.

In the morning, the water colour is back to a wonderful blue colour after a couple of days of weedy green. It doesn’t last and by the afternoon its back to a weedy green colour.

Its Saturday night so we decide to leave the parasailor up for a second night. We are making some miles in good time now and we start to think about getting to Barbados on Tuesday rather than our previous guesstimate of Wednesday.

Song of the Day: Another Saturday Night by Cat Stevens

SUNDAY (DAY 11)

367NM to go. 163NM closer than yesterday.

I’m up early as I feel the boat accelerate. Looking out the back we see a rain squall approaching. We let the parasailor fly higher and we accelerate to 12kts in 19kt of apparent wind. With Hotlips up on top, La Mischief seems to like it a lot.

We end up having a pretty good 24hours when the position report comes in on email at 1200GMT. We are running forth in the fleet, ahead of a 50 foot Catana and some other multihulls. We are behind a larger Outremer, a 45 foot Neel Tri and a 53 foot Halberg Rasy that has been motoring for 4 of the days. But its not a race! Of course! Thats pretty good considering that we’ve been in light winds -10-15kts – for a lot of the time.

Dee really wanted to get in with enough time to prepare for thanksgiving and it looked like we should be able to do it if we maintained our current pace. We had one reef in the main so squalls shouldn’t worry us and we could even get a lift from them.

Song of the Day: Rainy Day Woman by Bob Dylan

MONDAY (DAY 12)

217NM to go. 150NM closer than yesterday.

After a night where Sten had fun dodging Squalls on the Radar using all the skills from his teenage years playing Space Invaders, we managed to speed up in the morning going Wing on wing with the full main up now up. We went through a couple of squalls but the apparent wind never made it over 16kts.

In the afternoon the wind died off but we made the mistake of not putting up the parasailor. We were still going okay though and we thought we could make Barbados the next afternoon. Then as we crept up behind a squall line the wind completely dropped out and we turned on the motors to do the 6.5kts we needed to accomplish our finishing time. We were still doing okay at 8pm but by midnight we had dropped well below our required pace and the maths no longer added up. So off went the motors and we went wing on wing doing 4s and 5s for the rest of the night.

Song of the Day: On a Slow Boat to China by Jimmy Buffett

TUESDAY (DAY 13)

80NM to go. 137NM closer than yesterday. A couple of hours behind schedule.

As day came we put up the parasailor and off we went at 5s and 6s. We weren’t going to make it in daylight so we contacted Rally Control to see what our options were for coming in at night – something that Jimmy had counselled against. They told us customs went home at 8pm so on went the motors. This was a touch disappointing as I really wanted to sail into Barbados. Before last night we had only done 15 hours of motoring and now we would be motoring for most of the day when we could be pleasantly sailing along at 6kts. Them’s the breaks I suppose.

For a while we had the parasailor up and with the motor on we were doing 7s and 8s. The squalls gave us 20kts of wind and plenty of rain and we loved the fact that it pushed our speed up to 9s and 10s.

Then the squalls went and the wind died to nothing. Down came Hotlips for the last time this crossing and on came the motors. We burnt off a bit of carbon as we motored at 8kts to get in around 6.30pm.

About 2,45pm we spotted a fishing boat and off to the right LAND. We were nearly there – 20nm off the coast.

Four hours later we were parked outside the harbour in the dark waiting for 2 cruise boats to leave. We made it to the shallow draught harbour just after 7 and there were Jimmy and Pascal waiting to greet us and help us with the formalities with Customs and Immigration.

WE MADE IT!

Song of the Day: “Barbados” by The Models

	stull61 on Come Sail Raja Ampat with…
	Randall Bone on Come Sail Raja Ampat with…
	Cameron N on Guggenheim and Cianza
	Gabriel Frost on Sailing Past the Kingdom of…
	Clive Richards on Sharks, Sharks, Sharks
	Barb on Voila 2.0
	stull61 on Voila 2.0
	stull61 on Voila 2.0
	Barbara on Voila 2.0
	lawleydocker@gmail.c… on Voila 2.0