Did the Leprachauns steal the trade winds?

Who Stole the Trade Winds?

Volver set off to sea with a plan to cruise overnight to St. Maarten.  Mother Nature did not co-operate.  She sent us light winds from the South, not the usual 10-15 knot easterlies of the trades and not enough to keep the sails filled while sailing downwind.  The swell, smacking Volver on the bum would cause the boom to swing from side to side as the boat rolled in the light air.  This is hard on your tackle and your nerves.  The first mate tried to serve as human shock absorber, grabbing the mainsheet and trying to ease the boom to each side, but this was a sure step towards shoulder dislocation.  All sailors learn flexibility is the key to happiness, but we had some charts of the Bahamas and Puerto Rico set aside for us at a chandelery in St. M aarten, and had to go pick them up.  So we altered our course to westward to minimize rolling, turned on our engine to assist the light wind, and were snuggled up on a mooring ball outside of Pinney Beach on Nevis by 2230.  Up at 0445 and on the road by 0500.d again by 0500.  

Sunrise through the Narrows, the channel between St. Kitts (left) and Nevis

We spent the next glorious day getting to St. Maarten, albeit in light air.  The capt'n was lamenting the motoring aspect of our journey, but was reminded that motoring brings hot water and power, so we listened to good music; it was a beautiful sunny day, no squalls in sight, and we were crossing the Caribbean sea at a place where we could see Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia, Saba, St. Barts, and St. Maarten!  We decided to practice an attitude of gratitude and were rewarded shortly thereafter by the arrival of a very large pod of dolphins.  Finally, they had time to come and play in our bow wake.  Magnificent!  Capt'n tried to capture on film.  Beauties in motion are hard to film.  And, like with most awe-inspiring sights, film fails, as the feeling is not three dimensional!  

Not Flipper

We enjoyed Philipsburg, which is the epicentre of cruise ship tourism:  4-6 cruise ships a day in the harbour, which is surprisingly clean.  The water was crystal clear.  We could see our entire anchor chain and were able to ascertain that the anchor was well buried, without a need to dive it.  Barry the Cuda came to visit frequently.   

Barry the 2 foot Cuda

We shopped, found the 12 metre bar, home base for the 3 Americas Cup boats (2 Canadian, one American), which was a good place to watch some champions league football games, and readied ourselves for an overnight passage to St. Croix.  

Another light air trip:  this one 95 nm, plus some gybing (zigzagging), for we could not make our course on the rhum line.  We settled into Christiansted, St Croix, which is the main port of entry for cruisers in this, the largest of the USVI.  

St Croix was owned by the Danes until 1917, when it was bought by the US.  There are 5 national park/historic sites comprised of a fort, a church, a scale house for sugar and other traded goods, a market building, where slaves were sold, and a government building, which the US gov't turned over to the territorial USVI gov't for their sole use in 1985.  Residents of the USVI get to vote in US federal elections, but unlike the first mate, who does not live in US/ US territory, they don't have to file taxes with the US!  Are they not hiding money in offshore accounts?  'Splain me this, Lucy?  I mean Barrack!  We digress...

Is there a Leprachaun in the House?  

Of course there is!

We were only settled in the the anchorage for an hour or so when Happy Chaos arrived, having sprinted north from Grenada over a very short timeframe.  They sprinted in order to make it to the St. Paddy's Day parade and party, which is legendary, and sees people arriving from the mainland US to join the party.  Their last name is one of the O' -types, so they can sniff out a St. Paddy's party from across the Caribbean Sea!  You can tell from Sean's socks that he came well prepared.  

You know by the socks that this party was planned for months in advance

Now, apart from the gorgeous weather and the rum, we think St. Croix has got New York and Boston whipped:  the parade is a green, celtic-flavored, carnival! Why the USVI, you ask?  Is there a large population of Irish descendants?  Not so much.  The history we heard from a local woman is of a cement truck filled with rum punch that started dispensing same elixor through the city streets in the 70's and the party evolved from this tradition.  

Dragonfly

Trapeze artistes

There were jumbies, steel pan and high school bands, mas bands, and yes, a rum truck, pay what you can, in benefit of area animal shelters.  

The two capt'ns enjoyed the libations (the first mates drove the dinghies that day) and the party ashore continued on into the night.  The live music was enjoyed from the cockpits of our boats.  

the warm up

The anchorage was a little rolly, being open to the sea and protected by a reef and the marine parks were a little too far to visit by dinghy. There was a horse that came for a swim at first light, and we enjoyed the American and Caribbean culture for a change.  

Oh, no:  not the green rum drink!

Capt'n Morgan came too!

Northward Bound

We set off at first light, minutes behind the Happy family, and had a glorious 45 nm sail, true winds 15-20 knots, at 150 degrees, with benign 4 foot seas, full sail up, and an average speed 6.5 kts.  We sighted the briny breath of whales, then the whales themselves, shortly into our journey.  We think they were grey whales, about 35 feet long, sadly, going the other direction as Volver.   By 1430 hours, Volver was settled at anchor in the Honda Ensenada anchorage of Culebra, one of the "spanish virgin islands," islands of Puerto Rico.  After making it through the most complex customs process of our trip thus far (funny, going from one US territory to another), we are ready to dust off our Spanish (use of our pathetic french language skills seems to have obliterated our clumsy Spanish) and enjoy cruising the Puerto Rican coast, the next leg of our journey home.

Sunset in Culebra

Antigua is for Limin'

Volver enjoyed several days in English Harbour, Antigua.  This beautiful place is part of the National Parks system.  The historic 18th century buildings were restored in 1951.  There are several remnants of fortifications.  Unlike some of the other Caribbean Islands, there was no back and forth between the Brits and the French; Antigua was always a British colony, and it continues to host a large population of Brits, who seem to both live here and visit here in large numbers.   The museum highlighted the maritime activities of English Harbour over time and also the exploits of Lord Nelson.  He was not too popular in the islands, for he was charged with enforcing the Navigation Act, after the Brits outlawed trade with the US after the Revolution.  He managed to marry a Nevisian, but two years later, he was living with his mistress, her husband, and her mother, in England.   Apparently, this was a very minor scandal in the UK, and the couple were looked upon as a guidepost for the latest fashions.  

Approach to Nelson's Dockyard

the nicest Immigration Office around

The Pillars Restaurant

The Pillars

Nelson's Dockyard Museum

The Copper and Lumber Hotel/former lumberyard

Sadly, no longer in business

Freeman's Bay Sunset, view from Volver's dining room

 We enjoyed hiking to Shirley Heights, where the remnants of an officer's quarter, hospital, and signalling station are situated, and is the site of twice weekly parties.  A headache kept us from attending on the designated time, but we could hear both steel pan and reggae bands quite clearly from the anchorage.  There was also a hike across to Fort Berkeley, which branches off to Pidgeon Beach, which is in Falmouth Harbour, the next bay over from English Harbour.   Falmouth Harbour is easily accessed by foot from English Harbour, and caters to the Superyacht market.  

Freeman's Bay from Above (Fort Berkeley is on the spit in the middle)

English Harbour (in foreground) and Falmouth Harbour

Former Officer's Quarters, Shirley Heights

Bath by the Sea, anyone?  Shirley Heights

View over to the Atlantic side of Antigua

Ruins on the hike from Fort Berkeley to Pidgeon Beach

We spent some time at a dock for the first time in 2 months, in Jolly Harbour, Antigua.  There are hot showers that work, a hairdresser, wifi, propane, a decent grocer, a pool and a poolside sports bar, restaurants a laundry (sadly, not a laundromat), power, water and a fuel dock. Oh, don't forget TWO book exchanges!   We used all of these amenities with enthusiasm.  It is a little like being at home, like taking a vacation (except for all the chores, of course!) from our sailing lifestyle. We've been watching movies and listening to music.  We usually don't spare the power to do these things!  There is also a beach nearby, and a stunning anchorage about 1/2 nautical mile away. 

We left the dock and went to Deep Bay, which was beautiful and isolated.  There is a wreck from 1905, the Andes, visible in the shallow anchorage.  Sadly, despite the deep azure color of the sea, the visibility was only 3-4 feet:  when cap't  went to dive our anchor, he could not even see it lying on the bottom in less then 10 feet of water, so we did not bother to snorkel the wreck.  

The Five Islands, from the Sea en route to Deep Bay

We taxied in to St. John and enjoyed the Antigua and Barbuda museum and Cap't picked up his souvenir of the trip, a Windies jersey (West Indian Cricket team).   The town was not sparkling or architecturally interesting but it was vibrant, friendly, and safe!

Capt'n wears his windies jersey while meeting Sir Viv in the St. John Museum

Volver planned to anchor in the Jolly Harbour anchorage and set out to do so on a very windy day.  First mate was getting seasick at anchor, so we hauled it up and headed back to the dock. First mate advised, we must go to happy hour, and be amongst the people.  Capt'n agreed and off we went.  We are used to running into people from various boats we've met around the Caribbean, but not so much used to running into yachties who stayed at the dock in Toronto.  But Dave, Michelle, and mom Shirley G. just about walked by us despite our mad attempts to grab their attention, eventually we prevailed and were able to have a good catch up over two successive nights happy hours and several buckets of Banks beer!  

Happy Hour at the Crow's Nest:  the motley crew

Shirley, Michelle, and Dave G. on their lovely veranda

Volver is off to St. Maarten today, planning an overnight sail.  There is a very benign forecast with perhaps less wind than one would wish for, yet we don't believe it.  Time will tell and so will we!  

4 Countries, 5 Days (this is not the princess's cruise lines)

Volver tried to like Martinique, really, she did.  She sampled 6 anchorages.  St. Anne was lovely, though apart from the beautiful beach, there was little to do.  Our guidebook mentioned trails and trail maps but tourist information was closed on Saturday and Sunday and we reckoned they wouldn't speak English and our French never seems to get us to hiking trails, so we left.  Went to Anse Mitan, where we could only find a spot to anchor near the ferry dock.  The ferry frequently shortcut through the anchorage and slowed just feet away from the dock, causing Volver to rock so hard we thought we were still at sea.  Cooking: out of the question!   Pretty, with a view of the city of Fort de France across the Bay, but again, little to do apart from sit and sip drinks in the Marina bar.  

Hence, we weighed anchor in the morning and headed over to the Fort de France anchorage.  This anchorage is quite nice for an urban area.  It is very small given this is the only city on the island, likely only holding 35 boats.  It is protected from the prevailing East winds by an old Fort, and has a promenade and a park on its shoreside.  The city was not lovely, but was lively enough, with people who live and work there, and little to amuse the many cruise ship passengers.  With great effort, we found a nice bistro with a large TV, and were joined by Roman from Barcelona, who also searched the internet to find a place to watch the Barca v. Man City Champions League game.  We ended up huddled around a table watching the game on his iphone, as the Bistro was playing the Paris St-Germain Game, of course!  Fort de France has a beautiful library, a musee d' ethnographie (en Francais, of course), and good shopping, but not enough to keep us in the city for long.  We returned to St. Pierre, very early this time, to a deserted anchorage, which was packed by evening with boats who were either jumping off to the North, like us, or arriving from there.  On our way in to St. Pierre the first time, we saw a big jumper, a whale's tail, and a boat stopped ahead of us.  On our return approach, we saw 7 boats huddled in a circle, clearly enjoying the whale watching, but they dispersed by the time we got there.  Hopefully, we'll have some true whale's tales in the future.

Perhaps the first mate was grumpy, but the only pictures of Martinique are very industrial scenes, grey, smokestacks, and not worth publishing.  She forgot her camera on the boat whilst going ashore in St. Pierre, which had potential to be photogenic.  St. Pierre is a city that was wiped out by the fire caused by volcanic eruption in 1902, just two years after completion of some major civic projects, including the theatre, completed in 1900.  Sadly, the government of the time wished to avoid panic and mass evacuation, so it failed to inform the citizens of the imminent danger of volcanic eruption, and 30,000 people died.  There are 5 sites of ruins, comprised of burned stone foundations, including the theatre and the prison beside it, that grace the hillside, and make for a nice walk.  There was also allegedly a hiking trail up to a butterfly garden, but we could not do more than get a map of the city out of the French speaking tourist information staff member.  We had a heck of a time finding the customs office/tourist info (one and the same!), as it had moved since our guidebook was written, and we asked 4 people along the way, each sending us in a different direction, if they knew at all, so we did not bother trying the local knowledge route.

We arose before the crack of dawn and crept out of the anchorage in the dark, dashing off to Dominica, where we knew we could head to Bala's Bar at the Fort Young Hotel and catch the Canada-US womens hockey Olympic final.  The first mate only watches one hockey game every 4 years with intention, and this is the game!   We had an exhilarating ride, going through squall after squall, hitting 8.5 knots on the GPS speedometer (accurate!) while overpowered (too much sail up, making the boat less easy to control (stay upright and on course), but we ended up making great time with a third reef, a hankerchief of a jib, doing 6.5 comfortable knots in steady 20 knot winds, gusting to 30 in the squalls, beam reaching.  We completed our 35 nm journey, tidied the boat, launched the dinghy, and made our way to town in time for the 1 pm start of the game.  The Canadian women did not disappoint!  The goaltender for the US team successfully fended off (we think) 26 shots on goal and the Canadians were down 0-2 when they scored their first goal with 3 minutes on the clock in the 3rd period.  They scored again, tying the game and earning a sudden death overtime period.  Another goal and they won the gold.  This game is a good example of why one should never give up hope!

We enjoyed being able to speak English in Dominica, and unlike the first, lengthier visit to Roseau, the Reggae museum/gallery/cafe/bar was open.  The menu was extensive and a little expensive and the food was only okay, but the music was great!  They were selling prints of Marley and Tosh and Sellasie and there were some framed CD covers:  we didn't learn anything in the museum (did we mention the music was great?).  They don't make places like this in the French islands.  Capt'n says that Dominica does not have a very Caribbean feel:  the first mate thinks this is because they are too poor for fripperies like colourful paint and house trim and plaid tablecloths and such.  

Another early morning, another inter-island passage and we were back in Guadeloupe, at the Pidgeon Island anchorage, where we were once more enchanted and delighted.   We'd missed turtles (our taxi driver/tour guide told us they eat them in Dominica) and found them here in droves.  The north also saw the return of Pelicans.   We did not wish to leave, but sadly, we were not yet in the country legally, and hence, we apprehensively returned to Deshaies, our memory for our last two windy nights there still acute.   Fortunately, we experienced a calm night without any complication of dragging boats.

Battery Park at Deshaies

In Deshaies, we did our duty at customs and again fell in love with this charming place!  We walked up to the battery, for we had forgot the camera the first time, and took pictures of the anchorage.  Our guidebook mentioned there was a trail to the Beach to the North of Deshaies, and a nice police officer directed us by road.  Once there, we walked the beautiful beach and found the trailhead, which we took home.  Now, our guidebook failed to mention:  1) the trail is straight up the mountain, although there is sometimes a choice of switchback or straight up, so bring a bottle of water (consider nitroglycerine); 2) sensible shoes only!  no flip flops; 3) ensure you have adequate time before sunset, and consider taking your spot tracking device, as the trail is longer than you imagine and not always well marked; 4) by all means, do not let it rain once you hit the summit, as the trail, the tree roots, and the rocks all become so slippery that you have to navigate your way down the hill by running and grabbing trees along the way.  Do not mistake the odd cacti along the way for a handhold!  Finally, consider leaving the 2 kg pineapple at home.  The capt'n remarked that he was glad to know the trail ended at the town cematery, just in case one of us needed to take a very long rest after this walk!  

Above Ground Cemetary at Deshaies

Despite being completely unprepared, we enjoyed ourselves and were unscathed at trails end.  We came upon a guy and his guitar, playing the blues in the cemetary.  Beauty.  Guadeloupe is truly a special corner of the world!

The Beast (Gros Morne) we conquered

The forecast was for 10-15 knots of east winds with 4-6 foot seas:  more than acceptable for our journey to Antigua.   We chose not to wait for another day (today), when the wind forecast had some south in it, which would have made for a perfect sail.  We suspect this anomolous forecast had something to do with the rest of the weather, for today we are socked in with rain, continuous for hours!  So we made a good choice, had a couple of early squalls and reefed down (we're getting good at this!), but made the 42 nm journey to English Harbour by 1330 hours, under clear blue skies.  We averaged 6.5 knots in 17-18 knots of apparent wind, wind angle of 60-70 degrees, with double reef main and a single reef jib.  An excellent sail.  

Leaving Guadeloupe at sunrise

English Harbour is small, crowded, and so well protected there is no wind, and the boats swing in a disorganized fashion:  leading to a risk of collision unless you leave lots of room around you.  Fortunately, a large Cat was leaving shortly after we pulled in and we took his spot, nestled against the shore, quickly rigged up a spare anchor and set it astern (first time for using every sailing technique you read about!), which keeps the boat from swinging.  It works like a charm!  Anchorage is gorgeous, and we are ready for the next chapter of our adventure!      

Our Antiguan Backyard

Green Flash

Got your attention with that title didn't we!  There are several websites that claim these green rays of light are real rather than illusory, and can occur just at the time of either sunrise or sunset.  We still think this is a myth but patiently assess the conditions and wait at each sunset for a glimpse.  The first mate also was convinced the wild turkeys on the trans-Canada highway that Cap'n kept seeing between Toronto and Ottawa were a myth, until she sighted them.

 Cap'n has a fanciful imagination and likes to pull the wool over first mates eyes.  

Volver has had a busy few days and plans to spend today on the beach with a floating noodle and a novel!  Our last two days in Dominica were action packed.  We did a day long tour of the South Island, hitting Victoria Falls and the Emerald Pool, and dining in Moses's "Rastaraunt" with the crews from Fabuloso, Meridian, and Moon River (Eight adults and six kids).  Since the rainy season is over, Victoria Falls was less overflowing than it would have been two months earlier, making the approach less challenging. 

Maintaining stable footing on the Ascent to Victoria Falls

Stu, our guide, helping the children

There is a long walk up the sides of the riverbed, hopping from stone to stone, carefully avoiding the mossy, slippery ones, and sometimes using your whole body to wedge yourself between two stones to ascend boulders that are taller than you are! 

Now where do we go?

There were many beautiful pools on the way to Victoria Falls

 The path crossed the river several times, and we formed a human chain to get across some of the times. 

Forming a Human Chain for one of the river crossings

 The reward at the end was a dip in Fresh! water.  The catch:  much colder than your average bath, and the falls created a 40 knot wind:  the water hurt your face!

Finally, Glorious Victoria Falls

Moses lives on a rasta farm at the entry to an unofficial path to the falls.  There is a commune-like atmosphere, and many families live and work the farm.  The "Rastaraunt" has only one menu item, the "one pot" and this is a stew made from farm grown foods, with a coconut-based broth.  It was overpriced (and the kids were not amused), but hey you can't blame the guy for exploiting a captive market.  Apparently, a tour of the farm is allegedly included, although not offered to our group.  

The more profitable crop, a sign from a nearby community

They were apparently quite laissez-faire about their most famous crop, when one of our group walked upon them.  From Moses's, we moved on to catch the Emerald Pool before dark.  There was a paved path: hence, and a much less challenging approach.  Still very cold, and beautiful.

The Emerald Pool

The next morning we got up early to replenish fuel and water and made a quick trip to the fish market, where we filled up the freezer with fresh marlin, mahi-mahi, and small tunas for $3-4 a pound!  Freshest fish we have ever purchased and very tasty.  They were also selling Lionfish, which is a predator fish, and is endangering the reefs around the Caribbean.  In the USVI, one is to call environmental services if one is sighted, and there is a bounty offered in the Bahamas for them.  In Dominica, they eat them, and in fact, these scuba divers are allowed to use spear guns in the marine park strictly for catching Lionfish. Desmond says they are tasty, and they are certainly beautiful but sadly destructive, and we did not purchase them.

Lionfish Hunting

In the afternoon,  Desmond from Sea-Cat Yacht Services took us by water taxi to snorkel the Champagne Reef, arriving just as the last of the cruise ship guests were leaving.  The Champagne Reef has vents where volcanic gases are released, and bubbles like champagne.

Champagne reef, Dominica

  There were many fish: in fact, we caught a feeding frenzy, but still no turtles, rays, or octapus close up.  

Nice Coral

Feeding Frenzy

 Then Desmond took us over to the little village of Souffriere, where there is a natural hot springs in red rock/sand, that is sitting by the sea, surrounded by a breakwater!  Nice, mostly fresh water, almost a bath!

Beautiful Church, Soufriere, Dominica

We got a bit of a late start the next day for our 35 nm passage to Martinique, but had a fairly good sail, pretty well the same conditions as our last jaunt between the islands.  Made decent time, and arrived in St. Pierre around 1530 hours.  Sadly, this pretty town is very popular, and there is a very narrow shelf of 25 feet depth for anchoring.  We could only find spots of 50 feet depth or more, and could not get our anchor to set after 4 tries (we pulled up small trees worth of weeds each time), and we decided to move on to Case Pilot, about 10 miles south.  We were following a catamaran who was doing the same thing.  He pulled in, scouted around, and left, so we did not even bother doing so.  The anchorage was very small and exposed, and was sure to be very rolly.  So, we were really racing the clock now, deciding to try to get to Schoeler, an anchorage that is another 10 miles down the coast, by sunset.  We were successful, and found a nice spot right beside the cat we'd been following, set the hook on the first try.  By this time, we were tired, hungry, and a little grumpy, when a fisherman came up and advised, loudly, in French, that we could not anchor there.  First mate was of a mind to tell him we'll move when asked to by the police or coast guard, as we had two charts telling us we were clearly in an acceptable anchorage.  Cap'n says the charts are out of date by the time they are published, so up comes the hook.  It took at least 4 times to get our anchor set, and it was dark, so hand signals were not working, and there was a lot of yelling, which I'm sure our neighbor the cat did not enjoy.  It was 1930 when the first mate rustled up a box of soup and a chunk of brie and 2030 was lights out.  This was not a fun day.  Oh, did we mention than the anchorage was so rolly the cap'n barely slept a wink?

The next day, we were underway by 0630, and arrived in Marin, a yachting town at the south of Martinique, after a long motorsail to windward.  Marin is the only city in Martinique with a large marina (in fact there are only 2 other small marinas in the whole country (population:  400,000 people, zillions of boats!):  750 berths, 200 visitor slips, is the official word, but we could not get one of them, and in fact, the office staff told us the marina is full and there are no transient slips!  We wanted on the dock for two reasons:  one, to have a surge-free sleep, and two, to access shore power, as our batteries have not been holding their charge well, and the manual suggests giving them a 24 hour charge before calling in a technician.  Fortunately, the long motor sail seems to have helped this problem (cleaned off the plates?), and cap'n is no longer worried.

Marin has little to recommend it except it has every service a yachtsperson could need.  There must be 2000 boats in the anchorage.  We plopped our anchor down away from the town in a nook called the "Baie de Cyclone," which is essentially surge free.  The first night, the boat did not move at all.  It was silent.  No wind in the rigging, no lapping of the waves as they hit the dinghy, no beach bars blaring music, no sound of the surf hitting the beach (no beach, there were mangroves), nothing.  Bizarre, especially, when you look around and see a forest of masts!  Each time we went to get a picture it was a bit hazy and grey, so no photographic evidence was obtained.

We did a mega provision.  The French islands are the place to buy cheese, baguettes, olives, coffee, sparkling water, chocolate, those little biscuits with chocolate on top, as well as crisps with weird flavours, like carbonara or poulet roti (thought this would be curry flavoured but roti is french for "roast").  Our theory is that the french love to snack, or alternatively, that they have more money to spend on snack foods than people on the english islands.

Then, we moved around the corner to St. Anne, which is a quaint village, surrounded by beaches.  We can hear the activities at the nearby Club Med at times.  This is a fantastic anchorage.  At least 300 boats here: we counted 16 abreast on one point, as there is a very generous shelf of 10-15 feet depth.  There is a big local spice market.  There are supposed to be trails leading to surrounding beaches, but this far, we have not found them, and tourist info is not open on the weekends, so no maps.

We have not fallen in love with Martinique.  I guess that happens sometimes.  

The good news is we have come as far south as we intend, and we should be nearly done with sailing to windward!  We look forward to some downwind sailing!