Bienvenue A Guadeloupe

Pop Quiz:  All correct answers will be rewarded with a Hershey bar upon our return!


Which of the following two boats would benefit from a consultation with a naval architect?

Is this a cruise ship or a sailboat?

Not confused about it's naval orientation

Volver had a fairly uneventful overnight journey to Guadeloupe.  The guidebook mentions to be careful to avoid hitting Montserrat, which is directly in the line of navigation between Nevis and Guadeloupe.  This is not so hard, as half of the island is lit like an arbor de Noel (the other half is pitch black, as the volcano has necessitated evacuation).   However, there is no mention of the need to avoid Redonda, which is directly in the way of getting past Montserrat.  Hint, hint:  if any country would like to claim sovereignty over a peice of rock, we recommend building something on it, (like Canada is doing in the arctic).  Anything will do,  but in this case, we suggest a lighthouse, lit navigational buoys, or even reflective tape!  A million stars were out that night, but they did not make up for the absence of Mr. Moon, who did not join us until 11:30 pm:  his light was sorely missed.  Volver is quite grateful for the accuracy of the charts on our chartplotter, particularly since our paper charts note the last survey of St. Kitts and Nevis was completed in the time of Sir Francis Drake (okay, we made that up, but it does state it was the 19th Century).  We were able to sail our course half way (after motorsailing the half of the passage), and we arrived in the very busy, though not too crowded, anchorage of Deshaies by 0800.   Once again, we entertained our British neighbours with our fine display of marital harmony, as it was very gusty while we were trying to anchor, necessitating the need for speed to keep from getting blown into your neighbouring boats, whilst desiring the boat to be stopped so as to avoid running over your anchor while dropping it!   Best to drive around in circles until we get it right.  Glad we could add some fun to their morning!   


Deshaies is a fishing village, quaint, and appears to attract both tourists and locals, who come for the fish and produce markets, as well as the view and the beachfront restos.  Being one of the northernmost anchorages of Guadeloupe, it is a jumping off place for many places North, and many boats arrive late, stay overnight, and leave early in the morning.  As at our last four anchorages, we are awoken here by the soothing sounds of the surf each morning, and there is live music most nights.   We were treated to a live latin Sunday brunch performance at Hemingways;  the music carries nicely to our boat.  

Deshaies Anchorage

There are currently 6! Salty Dog boats in this anchorage.  One must have arrived later in the evening last night, after Wayne and Mary from Meander invited the rest of us and a South African boat/couple over for happy hour.  It was nice to reacquaint/meet new people and we learned good cruising tidbits from people who've been here before.


When Volver arrived in Nevis, we felt as though we finally arrived in the REAL Caribbean.  Here, we feel like we have arrived in the REAL French West Indies.   Like us, people here are mostly unilingual.   Even the tourist information staff only speak "un peu de Anglais." Fortunately, Chick and Cheryl from Great Habit are in the process of selling their boat and generously gave us their copy of "French for Cruisers," which we are studying each morning.  We try to spend a few minutes each day only speaking French, albeit quite badly.   We do appreciate that Charles has taught us to swear:  just take any word associated with the Catholic church, and say it with attitude, but we think this may be just a Quebecois thing.  We have learned that it usually works when paying to  try giving the nice people 50 euros and hope you get some change!


We visited the spectacular Botanical Gardens.  The guidebook did not lie when it advised of a 1.5 km walk straight uphill to get there.   One can phone for a shuttle, should one have phone service, but as the nearest place to buy a SIM card is 6 km away, we do not.   It was good to get some exercise.   Yesterdays walk was thwarted when the trail turned out to be hoping from slippery rock to slippery rock up a river until you find the waterfall.  Now is not the time for breaking an ankle or a wrist!  As for the trip uphill, we nearly did not make it after the cap'n announced that there was a werewolf between us and the gardens.  The fearless first mate blazed a trail, onward and upward, to discover a bull, chained to the side of the road by his horns, yowling in an otherworldly fashion.  Mystery solved:  fears resolved.  The cap'n may have watched too much Buffy in his youth (he says, "of course, Buffy was hot").

Flamingos at the Botanical Gardens

Besides a gorgeous display of tropical plants, including many trees colonized by orchids,  there was wildlife.  The Australian lorakeets were no dummies.  As soon as you  take your 50 euro cent coin out they know they are about to get some nectar, and instantly they swarm you:  too colorful to be a scene from Hitchcock, but also less pleasant than alarming!  Try and look like you are having fun with those sharp beaks and feet clinging to you!  

Lorakeets or Lovebirds?

Four can feed at once

The parrots were nicer, they also spoke French!

Beauty

Comment Ca Va?  Tres Bien, et Tu?

This hummingbird was not shy!

And for the child in everyone, babies never disappoint!

We tried to rent a car to go exploring the waterfalls in the National Park of the Basse Terre mountains, but the gent at the local rental agent advised that "peut etre" (maybe, maybe not) he would have a car on monday.  We've decided to go to a bigger city and rent from the Hertz, so that even if we have to sign a contract in French, if something was to go wrong, our insurance co. can talk to Hertz in English.


We planned to move on today but had a very eventful night, with little sleep, so it became a no-brainer to stay another day.  The winds piped up to 25-30 knots with 35 knot gusts.  Not only was it very noisy, but we watched about 7-8 boats from the northern side of the anchorage (where we had heard there are rocks and poor holding) leave at 0330 due to dragging their anchors.   Then our neighbour started to drag out to sea and we were left with the dilemma of whether or not we should launch our 4 Hp dinghy and go knock on their hull to let them know, not being confident our little engine had the power to keep the wind from blowing us to Mexico.  We were relieved to see someone up on their deck, which obviated our need to make that decision.  Still not sleeping early in the dawn, we watched a catamaran and a backwards monohull drift out to the sea together in an unwanted coupling, likely having got their anchor chains wrapped around each other.    Eventually, they disentangled:  only one of them returned to the anchorage.  We can see a lot of boats with damage:  broken wind generators and stanchions.  All this was after a Bavaria 40 went out to sea yesterday and came back without a mast.  We don't know the detes, but the talk of the happy hour was that they were dismasted at sea.  Although the first mate battened all the hatches this a.m, just in case we needed to get safely to sea, we plan to stay put as long as our anchor/rode continue to perform nicely (thank you to Ron for selling us his trusty CQR:  the pivoting shank is most helpful, as Volver skates around like a drunk on ice).  

We'll wrap up on a lighter note, with a top 10 list.  Here are the top 10 ways you know you are a cruiser:

10.  You have developed a method of collecting rainwater for your solar shower.

9.    You are completely independent of visiting a marina or yacht club for shower or power.  In fact, you have learned to lather up in the cockpit despite having made acquaintance with the people in the boat beside you!

8. Despite your sincere attempts at hygenic practices, your sense of smell has been trained to be less acute and you accept that everyday is a bad hair day.

7.  You secretly laugh when well meaning wait staff tries to sell you fancy water imported from France:  not only do you drink the local water, you drink it from a hose!

6.  You are able to ferret out a book exchange in unlikely places (thank you, St. Barth's port authority!).  Ditto for WiFi.

5.  Out of necessity, turtle watching has become your new favorite spectator sport (they have some great yoga moves)!

4.  You walk into every supermarche you pass, just in case you find something you "need."

3.  You seek garbage disposal and laundry facilities with the same enthusiasm that you formerly reserved for seeking out the best beach bar. You know the difference between a laundry and a laundromat (hint:  someone else folds your small things in the former).

2.  You truly are tired (and usually are in bed) by "Cruiser's Midnight (9 pm)!

1. The restos you eat at all serve:  Rice and Peas, Rice and Peas, Rice and Peas!

Au Revoir pour Maintenant!  

Farewell to Nevis, for now!

Volver has enjoyed the quiet island (pop'n:  12000) of Nevis for the past week, and is preparing to set sail for Guadeloupe.  We hoped to break the 70 nm journey up into two stints of 35 nm, stopping overnight in Montserrat (the volcano is currently inactive!), but the seas are kicking up, so it is advisable for the boat with a seasick first mate to change plans and make an overnight passage to Guadeloupe.  We have checked out with customs, and are partially prepared:  the hatches are being battened, the passage meal is made, and we are stopping at the Double Deuce Beach Bar for some lunch and WiFi, and will take them up on their website's claim of helping with the acquisition of water.  There is no marina to easily access fuel and water, despite having 100 mooring balls!  We finally used the new wagon to acquire fuel and it was very effective!

Fuel Acquisition the hard way

There are lots of animals.   Here are some egrets at the site of some plantation ruins we visited when we took a taxi tour around the island with David, the Rasta Reggae artist, who treated us to his own music along the way.

A Mosquito problem waiting to happen

We had our first monkey siting at the Golden Rock Resort, which is a former plantation, now a small, quiet resort, with beautiful landscaping.  The new owners have an interest in art, and are starting to furnish it with some funky modern peices.  

Lounge at Golden Rock

the Dining area at Golden Rock

Ruins at Golden Rock (the honeymoon suite is in the former windmill that powered the sugar refining process)

We digress:  here is a monkey!

Shy Green Vervet monkey

We met Chick and Cheryl from PEI and enjoyed Happy Hour on their boat, Great Habit.  The four of us took a guided hiking tour through Gingerland, which is the area that has historically been the bread basket for both St. Kitts and Nevis.  Our tour guide, Earla, was very knowledgeable about local history, and she focussed on the foods and agricultural practices in the area.  There is a problem with the monkeys, who are not native to the islands, but are thought to have been imported in the 17th century by the (darn) French, who kept them as pets.  They are quite the nuisance to the farmers, for they take one bite out of a fruit or veg and throw it on the ground.  Earla advised that fortunately, there is always a goat, sheep, or donkey around to eat the rest, but it certainly cuts into productivity for the farmers!  

Rasta horse in Gingerland

There were stunning views during our walk around Gingerland.  We could see Antigua, Montserrat, and Redonda, as well as Nevis Peak (which is really three peaks).  Redonda is a rock that is in the middle of the triangle created by Montserrat, Antigua, and Nevis.  Apparently, Montserrat and Antigua are both laying claim to the rock, even though there is nothing on it, and no apparent potential for income generation or inhabitation.  Nevis has only gained independence from the British in 1973, and have no interest in it.  It seems as though it is most proximal to Monserrat, by the map.  

Redonda, with Monserrat in the background

Sheep in the Gingerland cemetary

We've truly enjoyed our time here.  The sea is clear, the land is beautiful, the people are genuinely friendly, the food is good, and there were no Megayachts until yesterday.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Mural in Octagon, local bar/resto, Charlestown, Nevis

Warning:  this blog entry may be characterized as having too many pictures!  Yet Volver has had some fairly photogenic days since our last entry!

We left Grand Case and went around the corner to Anse Marsel.  The guidebook did little justice to the quiet beauty of this small anchorage, which was replete with turtles, and where we could check out with customs and immigration.  It did have two big hotels and the beach was dominated by their beach bars but we enjoyed our night there, despite sleeping little, because there was so little wind the boat kept riding noisily on top of her anchor chain, right beside our heads!

We woke at 5 am, unsure if we were going to make the trip to Nevis or not, and left in the dark, shortly after 6.  The seas were much closer to 7 ft than 5, and we decided to stop into St. Barth's after watching this beautiful sunrise!

Sunrise over St. Barth's

St. Barth's was not really our cup of tea.  We only went to the capital city of Gustavia, and think the anchorage around the corner, Anse du Colombier, would be more our speed, as it is a marine park, where there is no anchoring and more turtles than people.  The anchorage in Gustavia is really crowded, and rolly, and the shops have nice familiar names, like Gucci, and Dior.  Not the kind of shopping we prefer, like good bakeries and produce stands!  And after our very early lunch in the anchorage, and considering our plan to get up at 5 am again, we wanted an early dinner in town but could not find a resto that was serving food before 6:30.

Jam-packed anchorage in Gustavia, St. Barth's

There were some creative shops, including this one, with manical mannequins that we enjoyed!

HaHa

Pucker Up, Baby!

Double Exposure?  No, the mannequins went inside to join Bob for lunch break!

New City Hall, Gustavia

Yesterday, another day of wakening at dawn and leaving in the twilight.  We left the "renaissance" islands, heading to the islands that Chris Doyle, author of a popular guidebook calls, the "islands that touch the clouds.  These are Saba, St. Eustace, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat.  Of these, the only island that has a GREAT anchorage is Nevis, hence our choice.

We lost the race to St. Kitts to this 115 foot sloop, the Manutara, shown here stealthily passing us, although we put up a good fight, and the Cap'n says we checked their PHRF rating and he is convinced we won on corrected time.  St. Eustace is in the background.

St Kitt's:  hiding in the clouds

Approaching Nevis (it peaked out of the clouds once since our arrival yesterday!)

View from our new home #1:  the Four Seasons Beach Bar

View from our new home #2:  not one but 5 beach bars for us Plebes!

The Cap'n has fallen in love with Nevis and is ready to move here!  Unfortunately, last night, there was a big fire in town, and it turns out it was the treasury building that burned down.  No job for Cappy!  Haha, he does not want one anyway! 

We feel the same as this taxi driver

We'll sign off for now.  Plan to stay for a week or so, will likely make some day trips over to St. Kitt's before heading south.  

St. Martin the French

Volver had a good trip from Anguilla to Marigot Bay in St. Martin, despite having a limited sail plan (no lazy jacks on the main and since we really are lazy Jacks we didn't relish the idea of flaking the main after use in 20 knot winds).  The journey was short and it marked a first for us in the caribbean:  we went out and were not caught in a squall (they usually come just when you want to moor, whether this be at a dock (hardest), mooring ball (not as challenging), or at anchor (easiest).   We went to the marina for the first night, which offered 2/4 of the luxuries we were counting on:  laundry and water yes, hot shower (no, the pay showers were freezing!  better the scrub in the cockpit with the room temperature fresh water on board), wifi, offered but neither of us could connect.  

Marigot is the favorite "large city" we have visited thus far.  Great shopping, cafes, markets and a proper village with sidewalks.  We enjoyed it quite a bit, although the anchorage was a little rolly.  We discovered the joys of the "lolos," which are a cluster of restos offering creole food for reasonable prices.  Very good local chow, with lots of locals enjoying, unlike the pricier marina area, which can look empty unless there are cruise ships about. 

We found ourselves surrounded by eight boats with Canadian flags one day!  Go Canada! 

Then we were off to Grand Case, which the guidebook describes as the culinary epicentre of St. Martin.  There is a long beach, a large anchorage, a little rolly at times, especially during the frequent 30 knot gusts (good anchor holding, no evidence of dragging), and a single street that is lined on both sides my many restos, cafes, and beach bars. 

Beach bars of Grand Case

Reef along the rock

We went to snorkel the reef in between squalls today.  Visibility only fair, there was quite the surf coming in between the island and the reef, which is a marine park.  There were some interesting fish, and some coral.  The first mate found it helpful to use a lifejacket in the strong current.  Remind me to do that more often!  It appeals to the chief safety officer in me.  Speaking of safety, here is a shout out to Brian and the team at the GTAA.  The two safety vests are being put to good use.  At night, put on the binnacle, one is assured of finding their boat in even the most crowded anchorage, with the weakest flashlight around.  Sometimes the first mate wears the 2nd one, assuring both of us we won't get T-Boned by a local in a hurry (this happened to someone last year) but causing the cap'n some embarrassment.  

Headlamps are also good for dark dinghy rides!

We have a pet turtle at our boat.  No, we don't feed it.  And it is very camera shy:  as soon as it pokes its head up close enough for us to take it's photo and we grab the camera, it takes a dive!  

We were hoping to leave today, Sunday, but the weather window looks like Wednesday will be the better day, with a forecast of 10-15 knots and 5-7 foot seas.  We don't know if we'll go to St. Barth's, to St. Kitts, to St Eustatia, or to Guadeloupe and the Saints (16, 70, or 130 nautical miles, respectively!).  I guess we'll sort that out in the next couple days.  We do have to go around the corner to Anse Marcel to check out with immigration and this limits our departure time.  It would be nice to stick around Grand Case for tuesday night, when they close the street for Harmony night (lots of live bands).

Happy New Year from St Maarten!

Volver arrived safely after a fairly long but uneventful overnight motorsail to windward.  St Maarten is the place for shopping and provisioning.  There is an American hardware store (ACE) with American prices! and there are vegetables and other luxuries galore!  There are many megayachts based here, and others come to provision before going off to prettier places. 



Our Neighbors in Simpson Bay Lagoon

We spent an uneventful New Years Eve in the Simpson Bay Lagoon, on the Dutch side. We did bar hop, and at the St Maarten Yacht club the first mate met Paul, who is on the steering committee for the Heineken Regatta, scheduled for 62 days from now (there is a large digital clock counting down the days, hours, and minutes:  clearly the raison d'etre of the yacht club).  Paul insisted he will personally sign our application form, should we choose to participate.  I advised him that Volver has an arch and jerry cans on the rails, and he and his friend John assured me there is a special class for cruising boats, which they called the "agricultural class".  Bovine racing, anyone?  Anyway, they were fun, we'll think about it.  All in all, we were fairly underwhelmed by the celebrations, but at least we made it up past "cruisers midnight (9 o'clock) and were awake for the fireworks.   We've heard the party was much better at St Barts. 

We did enjoy taking a long dinghy ride across the large lagoon (12 sq. miles) to Marigot Bay, on the French side, where we shopped with the cruise ship people (sarongs and t-shirts all around after sunset) and enjoyed a fabulous tropical French meal.  the French side is very different!  The Dutch side is quite American in flavour, a little run down, cars everywhere, no sidewalks, but Marigot Bay town was clean, lots of sidewalks and cafes in a central village.  Nice.  We ran into fellow Salty Dawg Archie there, and had a nice catch up, as we had not seen him since Hampton.  He is making his way home to St Lucia, after three years of cruising the coasts of eastern Canada and the US.  He had a break-in while he was at a mooring ball, through his front hatch that was closed but unlatched.  A good warning for us:  we did not lock a thing for the 6 weeks we were in the BVI, but know it is time to be more cautious

Somewhere, over the rainbow

As a result of the sun and the constant rain, there are rainbows, everday, often full on from start to stop, which we don't tend to see on land, yet no pot of gold, nor leprachauns have yet to be sighted from Volver.  We will post the pics when it happens.  You will hear it first from us, your news source for treasure. 



As usual, nothing works.  Capt'n spent hours yesterday fixing the dinghy engine. Sewing machine broken again (no technician in the Caribbean), first mates computer disabled.   There were more pics on her computer destined for the blog, will sort later.  Took the half made boom tent in to the sail loft and will have to return in 4 days time to retrieve it.  In the interim, we are done with this city life, and will go to Anguilla for a few days.  We want to be somewhere you can swim and snorkel and hike.  The captain did see a small ray trying to fly out of the water and we saw a mountain goat (on the witches tit) and turtles, but mostly this is a citified spot, with a major airport too close (reminding the Captain of his past life).  At least we have seen none of the feared disease carrying mosquitos.   

We are hale and hearty and wish all our friends and family a happy and healthy year in 2014!  

Greetings from Anguilla!

Volver arrived safely in the lovely harbour of Road Bay, Anguilla to find fine sandy beaches, many beach bars and restos, and squalls aplenty.  As usual.  Also as expected, one always motors more than they anticipate and eat out more than planned.  Our journey here was not bad:  2/3 of our 15 nm (nautical mile) trip was made with jib alone, the other 1/3 was motoring to windward.  We left our sail cover at the sail loft in St. Maarten, and we do not wish to lower our mainsail (raising it is not a problem!) without our lazy jacks, for it is a huge endeavour to contain a large, loose sail in high winds, and we expect it to interfere with docking or anchoring. 

 

Front Row Seat:  Just us and the fishing boats in Road Bay

So we have not cooked a single thing since here.  As is often the case, we are out and about and end up finding a place for a late lunch.  Then, despite our best intentions to cook a fabulous meal each day, we end up eating cheese and crackers for dinner (or if we are flush, in the cap'ns eye, we'll have crisps on board).  Today is no different.  Despite having a menu of thai green curry shrimp, we ended up going on a high speed boat to Sandy Island, a marine park, where we enjoyed the sun, and the surf, and less so, paying for the privilege of using a beach chair and eating overpriced food and drink.  Unfortunately, the winds and the surf were so high that snorkeling was prohibitive, I guess, unless you were tethered to your dinghy, which we did not bring! 

Sandy Island Lunch

Approach to Sandy Island, from the shuttle

There are great marine parks around.  There is only one where you are allowed to anchor at overnight and the winds are up again.  We saw a Canadian boat anchor outside of Sandy Island but the sailors did not leave their boat and come ashore, which must have been their plan.  They kept going up and checking on the anchor.  We don't blame them in this wind, which is why we paid for the shuttle.  We are a little disappointed in the lack of shelter for these marine parks.  The first mate really wants to snorkel from the dinghy and try out her new dinghy ladder, so she can hoist her hulk up without embarrassment.  We watched people from a megayacht trying to jump into the dinghy from the surf (someone just hoist her up by the bum, please!):  why don't they have a dinghy ladder, all that money? 

 

The Beach bars are fine.  There was live music all the time on the weekend and most nights of the week.  The food has been touted as exceptional but thus far not met expectations.  The best meals we have had on our whole trip have been made in the galley of  Volver.  Currently, enjoying the happy hour bevvies at Roy's and MUST make our way home and back to take advantage of the very large book exchange!  The first mate has ten books set aside to pick up!   There is a lot of waiting, sometimes for weather, sometimes for bridges, sometimes for happy hours.  We pity the sailor who does not read. 

 

Volver returns to France tomorrow, to Marigot Bay, SXM (the airport code for St. Maarten, which seems to permeate the island).  We have a reserve at the marina, first marina since dec. 23 when we didn't stay, and we hope to water, launder, and wash in hot water for a really long time, as well as use the free wifi.  Charging batteries in a quiet manner and buying groceries, as well as basking in the French seaside ambiance.  We have to pick up our boom shade from the sail loft, and hope to download some good TV shows we've been missing.  Love Ray Donovan, don't want to miss a second season.  As for the future, the winds are up again.  20-25 knots, 7-10 foot seas.  We may spend a bit more time in French St. Martin before heading off to St. Barths.