Friday 13 June 2008

St Lucia to Tobago Cays

Unfortunately, our whole St Lucia experience was only 12 hours long, we pulled into Marigot bay, in the late afternoon, had a swim, a beer, dinner, and a good nights sleep before heading off early the next morning for St Vincent. Marigot Bay is an absolutely beautiful setting. It is a deeply indented harbour so is very sheltered with steep hills coming right out of the water. It seems to be a rather exclusive area. We didn’t feel we could afford the time here as our weather reports indicated Tropical wave formations off the coast of Africa therefore we felt we should be moving further south closer to the southern end of the hurricane zone. Our visit to St Vincent was even shorter, sailing along the western shore, we ducked into Wallilabou bay just after lunch, to see the set from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. This is the scene in the beginning of the movie where the pirate skeletons are hanging in the arch and Jack Sparrows sad little boat sinks. The dock and some of the town are still standing, as well the rock arch is impressive. By nightfall we were safely anchored in Bequia. Port Elizabeth in Admiralty Bay Bequia, is a typical West Indian town, complete with produce market, taxi stand , a bunch of rum shops, restaurants, internet cafes, and a couple of dive operations. Port Elizabeth also has a couple of reasonably well stocked boat stores, so a few boat parts were able to be had. We visited the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, where they raise turtles until they are around five or six years old and then release them into the wild. The animals are marked with 2 holes punched in the back of their shells and from what they can tell, their survival rate is good. In the wild only around 1 in 3000 gets to reproductive age which is 25 years old. It was a good field trip, it is good to see an effort is being made to increase the numbers of these amazing creature. Although there are rumours that without more funding this sanctuary could be in jeopardy. Ethan, from Salt and Light celebrated his 6th Birthday while in Bequia. It started with the field trip to the turtle sanctuary, then lunch at a local bbq and then the big event, a treasure hunt on the beach where a chest full of pirate booty was found along with a treasure map leading the band of marauders to Macs Pizza for the rest of the party. Steve, Kathy, and Emmett, from Uliad joined the party as well. Happy Birthday Ethan! The older two kids, Liam and Michaela, and the dad from Salt and Light took a SCUBA diving course on Bequia. So one afternoon the crew of High Five and the crew of Salt and Light enjoyed a dive near Moon hole, on the western tip of the island. As always, the kids young and younger had a great time. Bequia is one of those places that makes time stand still, a year could go by and you would not realize it. We do not have another year, so the morning after our dive we left Salt and Light to finish their course and we headed south to the Tobago Cays to meet up with Losloper, our friends from Calgary. They are soon headed to Grenada to put their boat on the hard and head back to Calgary for work and school. The West end of the Tobago cays are protected by a series of large reefs, and although you look out at the open Atlantic Ocean, you are well sheltered from the swells. It is a national Park and is well protected. No fishing, lobstering, shell collecting, or littering allowed. Boat boys zip around offering T-shirts, garbage disposal, and Wally, who was introduced to us by Losloper arrives every morning with fresh croissant and baguettes. There is a large area of “turtle grass” similar to what we call “eel grass” in BC that is roped off, not allowing boats to anchor. Here we were able to swim with at least 6 or 8 different Green Turtles. They would eat, and swim around, pretty unconcerned about the 5 of us watching them. If you got too close, they would just swim away a few feet and continue eating. Although they appear unstreamlined, they are capable of blinding speed when necessary. A few snorkel trips on the outer reef showed us a multitude of tropical fish. Tying to the bouy just outside the cut in the reef, Magnus Gary and Janine jumped in. The reef drops off from the surface to a dark blue abyss, dramatically reminding us that we are not always at the top of the food chain. That and a little bit of current had us head back to the protected waters inside the reef for more exploring. The spectacular colours of the fish continue to amaze us. A small eel was spotted amongst the coral, as well as a lobster and some very large parrot fish. This was Loslopers last day in the cays, they left early the next morning for Union island, and then Grenada. For us it was one more swim with the turtles and then off around the corner to Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau. A picture postcard bay, well protected, rimmed with white sand beaches and palm trees, eight or 10 boats bob peacefully at anchor. There is a strong French influence here so the only thing hard on the eyes is the occasional very large Frenchman in a very small speedo or nothing at all! Some people really need a mirror! We were joined on our second day here by our newly dive certified friends on Salt & Light.

St Lucia to Tobago Cays

Unfortunately, our whole St Lucia experience was only 12 hours long, we pulled into Marigot bay, in the late afternoon, had a swim, a beer, dinner, and a good nights sleep before heading off early the next morning for St Vincent. Marigot Bay is an absolutely beautiful setting. It is a deeply indented harbour so is very sheltered with steep hills coming right out of the water. It seems to be a rather exclusive area. We didn’t feel we could afford the time here as our weather reports indicated Tropical wave formations off the coast of Africa therefore we felt we should be moving further south closer to the southern end of the hurricane zone. Our visit to St Vincent was even shorter, sailing along the western shore, we ducked into Wallilabou bay just after lunch, to see the set from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. This is the scene in the beginning of the movie where the pirate skeletons are hanging in the arch and Jack Sparrows sad little boat sinks. The dock and some of the town are still standing, as well the rock arch is impressive. By nightfall we were safely anchored in Bequia. Port Elizabeth in Admiralty Bay Bequia, is a typical West Indian town, complete with produce market, taxi stand , a bunch of rum shops, restaurants, internet cafes, and a couple of dive operations. Port Elizabeth also has a couple of reasonably well stocked boat stores, so a few boat parts were able to be had. We visited the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, where they raise turtles until they are around five or six years old and then release them into the wild. The animals are marked with 2 holes punched in the back of their shells and from what they can tell, their survival rate is good. In the wild only around 1 in 3000 gets to reproductive age which is 25 years old. It was a good field trip, it is good to see an effort is being made to increase the numbers of these amazing creature. Although there are rumours that without more funding this sanctuary could be in jeopardy. Ethan, from Salt and Light celebrated his 6th Birthday while in Bequia. It started with the field trip to the turtle sanctuary, then lunch at a local bbq and then the big event, a treasure hunt on the beach where a chest full of pirate booty was found along with a treasure map leading the band of marauders to Macs Pizza for the rest of the party. Steve, Kathy, and Emmett, from Uliad joined the party as well. Happy Birthday Ethan! The older two kids, Liam and Michaela, and the dad from Salt and Light took a SCUBA diving course on Bequia. So one afternoon the crew of High Five and the crew of Salt and Light enjoyed a dive near Moon hole, on the western tip of the island. As always, the kids young and younger had a great time. Bequia is one of those places that makes time stand still, a year could go by and you would not realize it. We do not have another year, so the morning after our dive we left Salt and Light to finish their course and we headed south to the Tobago Cays to meet up with Losloper, our friends from Calgary. They are soon headed to Grenada to put their boat on the hard and head back to Calgary for work and school. The West end of the Tobago cays are protected by a series of large reefs, and although you look out at the open Atlantic Ocean, you are well sheltered from the swells. It is a national Park and is well protected. No fishing, lobstering, shell collecting, or littering allowed. Boat boys zip around offering T-shirts, garbage disposal, and Wally, who was introduced to us by Losloper arrives every morning with fresh croissant and baguettes. There is a large area of “turtle grass” similar to what we call “eel grass” in BC that is roped off, not allowing boats to anchor. Here we were able to swim with at least 6 or 8 different Green Turtles. They would eat, and swim around, pretty unconcerned about the 5 of us watching them. If you got too close, they would just swim away a few feet and continue eating. Although they appear unstreamlined, they are capable of blinding speed when necessary. A few snorkel trips on the outer reef showed us a multitude of tropical fish. Tying to the bouy just outside the cut in the reef, Magnus Gary and Janine jumped in. The reef drops off from the surface to a dark blue abyss, dramatically reminding us that we are not always at the top of the food chain. That and a little bit of current had us head back to the protected waters inside the reef for more exploring. The spectacular colours of the fish continue to amaze us. A small eel was spotted amongst the coral, as well as a lobster and some very large parrot fish. This was Loslopers last day in the cays, they left early the next morning for Union island, and then Grenada. For us it was one more swim with the turtles and then off around the corner to Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau. A picture postcard bay, well protected, rimmed with white sand beaches and palm trees, eight or 10 boats bob peacefully at anchor. There is a strong French influence here so the only thing hard on the eyes is the occasional very large Frenchman in a very small speedo or nothing at all! Some people really need a mirror! We were joined on our second day here by our newly dive certified friends on Salt & Light.

Reality Sucks

REALITY SUCKS Well it is official our vagrant sailing lifestyle is going to be put on hold for a while. Gary has accepted a movie job, and will be back at work in Vancouver the beginning of August. Our plan is to return to the boat after Christmas and continue sailing the first half of 2009. We would love to stay out, but at this time, the realities of the world will not allow us. We plan to put the boat up at Grenada Marine around the last week of July and fly home to Vancouver, buy some shoes and go back to work. This last year has been the adventure of a lifetime, our boys have grown, learned, and flourished in this environment. We as parents have had the opportunity to really get to know our kids, without all the pressures of urban life upon us. It truly has changed us all. We do look forward to seeing all our friends and family back in Vancouver. We also look forward to coming back to High Five and continuing this amazing adventure.

Reality Sucks

REALITY SUCKS Well it is official our vagrant sailing lifestyle is going to be put on hold for a while. Gary has accepted a movie job, and will be back at work in Vancouver the beginning of August. Our plan is to return to the boat after Christmas and continue sailing the first half of 2009. We would love to stay out, but at this time, the realities of the world will not allow us. We plan to put the boat up at Grenada Marine around the last week of July and fly home to Vancouver, buy some shoes and go back to work. This last year has been the adventure of a lifetime, our boys have grown, learned, and flourished in this environment. We as parents have had the opportunity to really get to know our kids, without all the pressures of urban life upon us. It truly has changed us all. We do look forward to seeing all our friends and family back in Vancouver. We also look forward to coming back to High Five and continuing this amazing adventure.

Monday 2 June 2008

Guadaloupe to Dominica

The marina in Guadaloupe is home to several huge French multi-hulls, and a few transient open 40 ‘s and 50’s. For the non-sailors, these are very sexy state of the art racing machines. Very interesting to see up close. Some of our friends were headed for the Iles de Saints, we had been here already with Doug and Suzanne but as this was on our way south, off we went. Many of these islands are little blobs of Europe scattered throughout the West Indies, stinky cheese, cheap wine and expensive everything else. Iles de Saints is no exception. They are all very beautiful and deserve more time than we were able to afford them. From the Saints we sailed to Dominica, which in contrast to the “Joi de Europe” is much more of a third world country. We were lucky and caught a black fin tuna on the crossing. Doug and Suzanne had left us with a bit of luck. As we got close to the bay, a small wooden boat zipped up along side with a local man, who we would later know as Jerome, waving and yelling, offering us a mooring ball, and anything else we needed. After we were safely anchored, several other locals came by on various craft such as kayaks and surf boards, selling us fruit, and offering services. Albert had befriended our friends Salt and Light. Both Albert and Jerome were very determined to sell us various tours of the island. The local guides have formed an association, which supplies mooring balls, tours, fuel, water and anything else you could want as well as a night time security patrol of the anchorage. Since a few locals were jailed a few years ago there have been no problems with petty theft or harassment. The first day we took a tour up the Indian River with Albert. After leaving the ocean, he rowed the 10 of us up through the swamp forest. Along the river we saw birds and fish as well as a few of the locations from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. Our guide, as well as many of the locals were employed by the movie. I’m glad that the locals were treated well by the film company. All the locals we met were proud that their town was in the movie and many were able to be employed by Disney. Albert’s knowledge of the flora and fauna of the Indian River was excellent. At the head of the river there is a Restaurant/Bar that has a garden with many examples of local plants. The flowers were spectacular with lots of brightly coloured hummingbirds buzzing around them. It was here we met Greg, our bartender who as it turned out would be our Guide for the next day’s adventure. We were back to the boat at 7pm for a quiet night, to rest before our next adventure. We lent the DVD of the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to Albert as he was not able to get the movie in Dominica. He and his 2 kids really enjoyed the movie they actually watched it at night and were up at 5am to watch it again the next morning before returning it! The next morning Jerome picked us all up at 9am and shuttled us to the beach where Greg and his van met us, for our tour of the north part of the island. Volcanic in origin, it is steep and lush green. Bananas and limes are their primary cash crops. Plantations consume a lot of the countryside. Greg knew incredible amounts about the local flora, every so often he would stop and pick stuff off a tree for us to sample. Mangos are everywhere now, as well as nutmeg, lemongrass (growing as weeds at the side of the road), tamarind, grapefruit, oranges, papaya and limes. Along the way we saw the local fishing villages, and Greg very proudly showed us his house which is part of a government initiative, he bought the land and house for $85,000 and pays $400 a month as mortgage. He took us to a pair of 100’ waterfalls, where we could stand underneath and rinse the salt and sand from our bodies and hair. A local Caribe family had a small roadside stand that offered crafts, spices, and a few fruits and vegetables. Similar to indigenous populations throughout the “new world”, after their discovery they were virtually exterminated by disease and warfare.
We had a late lunch at a restaurant owned and operated by local Dominicans, Randy and his wife. Randy had spent several years in the USA where he had worked mostly as a chef but also as a Chippendale dancer. We were given some mangos and bananas from the backyard tree, as well as some herbs for Richard to grow on the boat (he misses gardening). We then finished our tour. Jerome met us back at the beach and motored us slowly back to our boats in the dark, We were all full and tired. Further south along the coast of Dominica, we anchored off a black sand beach that Greg had showed us the previous day. Snorkeling along in the shallow water we found some great sea glass. Sea glass is broken bottles and ceramic that has been polished by the waves and sand until it is very smooth. Connoisseurs of sea glass can date many of the finds back close to a hundred years. We collected a large Ziploc full of shiny smooth gems. From here we traveled to Roseau, the capital of Dominica. Upon entering the bay we were again met by a small wooden fishing boat. Our host this time was Octavius of Sea Cat Tours. We tied to his mooring buoy and were told he could provide us with all we needed. There was a local soccer game that night that Octavius need to get to, he invited us to go see it but we were not up to it. The next day after some school we headed in to explore the town. The kids on Salt & Light were in need of some new clothes as they keep on growing, so we were on a mission to find these. It was more interesting to walk through the city than to wade through a mall like you would at home but there is not the choices that we have in north America so we were not very successful. It was another example of how our lives back home are made much easier by all the amenities and conveniences. Leaving Dominica we spent the next few days on Martinique. Legend has it that before the last local Caribs were killed at St Pierre, in 1658 they invoked horrible curses upon their murderers. 344 years later Mt Pele erupted and destroyed the village of St Pierre, killing 30,000 people in a matter of minutes. Twelve ships in the bay were also destroyed. History states that only 2 people survived the eruption, a cobbler who happened to be in his cellar and a murderer who was locked in a stone prison cell. We explored the town and climbed through the ruins of the prison and theater.
Marinique is very European, baguettes, espresso, Renaults, and Citroens, with a busy modern infrastructure. Customs and immigration in St Pierre is handled by the local internet café. Sipping on a cold bierre Janine filled out an online form, which the waitress/owner/customs officer then stamped, signed and then offered to pour us another glass (Robin I think Canada customs could take a lesson). A marked contrast to many other countries. Life cruising has been described as “fixing your boat in exotic ports around the world”. Martinique was no exception. After passing the 570’ Diamond Rock, which oddly enough was once commissioned as a warship in the British Navy, Marina Marin was our home for 2 days. Fred from Tillicum helped us sort out some electrical problems, install a new battery charger/monitor, and recharge our fridge, which seemed to be the root of the problem. Refrigeration on a boat in the tropics is difficult. The compressor has trouble cooling with 95 degree air and 82 degree water. Fred was able to sort things out pretty quick. It seems these cooling problems are not unique to High Five. With the fridge cold, and all of our Euros gone we bid au revoir to Martinique the last of the French islands and headed south toward St Lucia.

Guadaloupe to Dominica

The marina in Guadaloupe is home to several huge French multi-hulls, and a few transient open 40 ‘s and 50’s. For the non-sailors, these are very sexy state of the art racing machines. Very interesting to see up close. Some of our friends were headed for the Iles de Saints, we had been here already with Doug and Suzanne but as this was on our way south, off we went. Many of these islands are little blobs of Europe scattered throughout the West Indies, stinky cheese, cheap wine and expensive everything else. Iles de Saints is no exception. They are all very beautiful and deserve more time than we were able to afford them. From the Saints we sailed to Dominica, which in contrast to the “Joi de Europe” is much more of a third world country. We were lucky and caught a black fin tuna on the crossing. Doug and Suzanne had left us with a bit of luck. As we got close to the bay, a small wooden boat zipped up along side with a local man, who we would later know as Jerome, waving and yelling, offering us a mooring ball, and anything else we needed. After we were safely anchored, several other locals came by on various craft such as kayaks and surf boards, selling us fruit, and offering services. Albert had befriended our friends Salt and Light. Both Albert and Jerome were very determined to sell us various tours of the island. The local guides have formed an association, which supplies mooring balls, tours, fuel, water and anything else you could want as well as a night time security patrol of the anchorage. Since a few locals were jailed a few years ago there have been no problems with petty theft or harassment. The first day we took a tour up the Indian River with Albert. After leaving the ocean, he rowed the 10 of us up through the swamp forest. Along the river we saw birds and fish as well as a few of the locations from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. Our guide, as well as many of the locals were employed by the movie. I’m glad that the locals were treated well by the film company. All the locals we met were proud that their town was in the movie and many were able to be employed by Disney. Albert’s knowledge of the flora and fauna of the Indian River was excellent. At the head of the river there is a Restaurant/Bar that has a garden with many examples of local plants. The flowers were spectacular with lots of brightly coloured hummingbirds buzzing around them. It was here we met Greg, our bartender who as it turned out would be our Guide for the next day’s adventure. We were back to the boat at 7pm for a quiet night, to rest before our next adventure. We lent the DVD of the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to Albert as he was not able to get the movie in Dominica. He and his 2 kids really enjoyed the movie they actually watched it at night and were up at 5am to watch it again the next morning before returning it! The next morning Jerome picked us all up at 9am and shuttled us to the beach where Greg and his van met us, for our tour of the north part of the island. Volcanic in origin, it is steep and lush green. Bananas and limes are their primary cash crops. Plantations consume a lot of the countryside. Greg knew incredible amounts about the local flora, every so often he would stop and pick stuff off a tree for us to sample. Mangos are everywhere now, as well as nutmeg, lemongrass (growing as weeds at the side of the road), tamarind, grapefruit, oranges, papaya and limes. Along the way we saw the local fishing villages, and Greg very proudly showed us his house which is part of a government initiative, he bought the land and house for $85,000 and pays $400 a month as mortgage. He took us to a pair of 100’ waterfalls, where we could stand underneath and rinse the salt and sand from our bodies and hair. A local Caribe family had a small roadside stand that offered crafts, spices, and a few fruits and vegetables. Similar to indigenous populations throughout the “new world”, after their discovery they were virtually exterminated by disease and warfare.
We had a late lunch at a restaurant owned and operated by local Dominicans, Randy and his wife. Randy had spent several years in the USA where he had worked mostly as a chef but also as a Chippendale dancer. We were given some mangos and bananas from the backyard tree, as well as some herbs for Richard to grow on the boat (he misses gardening). We then finished our tour. Jerome met us back at the beach and motored us slowly back to our boats in the dark, We were all full and tired. Further south along the coast of Dominica, we anchored off a black sand beach that Greg had showed us the previous day. Snorkeling along in the shallow water we found some great sea glass. Sea glass is broken bottles and ceramic that has been polished by the waves and sand until it is very smooth. Connoisseurs of sea glass can date many of the finds back close to a hundred years. We collected a large Ziploc full of shiny smooth gems. From here we traveled to Roseau, the capital of Dominica. Upon entering the bay we were again met by a small wooden fishing boat. Our host this time was Octavius of Sea Cat Tours. We tied to his mooring buoy and were told he could provide us with all we needed. There was a local soccer game that night that Octavius need to get to, he invited us to go see it but we were not up to it. The next day after some school we headed in to explore the town. The kids on Salt & Light were in need of some new clothes as they keep on growing, so we were on a mission to find these. It was more interesting to walk through the city than to wade through a mall like you would at home but there is not the choices that we have in north America so we were not very successful. It was another example of how our lives back home are made much easier by all the amenities and conveniences. Leaving Dominica we spent the next few days on Martinique. Legend has it that before the last local Caribs were killed at St Pierre, in 1658 they invoked horrible curses upon their murderers. 344 years later Mt Pele erupted and destroyed the village of St Pierre, killing 30,000 people in a matter of minutes. Twelve ships in the bay were also destroyed. History states that only 2 people survived the eruption, a cobbler who happened to be in his cellar and a murderer who was locked in a stone prison cell. We explored the town and climbed through the ruins of the prison and theater.
Marinique is very European, baguettes, espresso, Renaults, and Citroens, with a busy modern infrastructure. Customs and immigration in St Pierre is handled by the local internet café. Sipping on a cold bierre Janine filled out an online form, which the waitress/owner/customs officer then stamped, signed and then offered to pour us another glass (Robin I think Canada customs could take a lesson). A marked contrast to many other countries. Life cruising has been described as “fixing your boat in exotic ports around the world”. Martinique was no exception. After passing the 570’ Diamond Rock, which oddly enough was once commissioned as a warship in the British Navy, Marina Marin was our home for 2 days. Fred from Tillicum helped us sort out some electrical problems, install a new battery charger/monitor, and recharge our fridge, which seemed to be the root of the problem. Refrigeration on a boat in the tropics is difficult. The compressor has trouble cooling with 95 degree air and 82 degree water. Fred was able to sort things out pretty quick. It seems these cooling problems are not unique to High Five. With the fridge cold, and all of our Euros gone we bid au revoir to Martinique the last of the French islands and headed south toward St Lucia.