The Virgin Islands Re-visited

April 18^th 2014

Position 18° 21.445’ N
              64° 34.830’ W


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A beautiful evening with a new moon

Our passage from Îles des Saintes was according to plan; the weather cooperated for the most part although seas to begin with where rougher than expected. Moderation did occur during the trip and we experienced good lee protection from the islands of Guadeloupe and St. Kitt’s.  

Necker Island

Rounding the NE point of Virgin Gorda

The sights we see

Bitter End Yacht Club



While we were transiting the lee of St. Kitt’s it was time to try our luck with the fishing rod. Lavinia chose the lure, a yellow and green one, she spat on it for good luck and away it went. I let it out to approximately 100 yards behind the boat clear of the turbulent wake water. The drag was set and we both retreated back to navigating the boat from the pilot house. Some time passed, nothing; bemoaning our luck and making mutterings about our friend Bill Miller on ‘Ann Louise’ who had just posted pictures of his catch of a massive wahoo he had caught off the coast of St. Lucia a day or two before. “What were we doing wrong”, “nothing”, I told Lavinia, and be patient. Some more time passed and HT called out that she could hear the reel paying out line…I ran down from the pilot house, there were no other boats around. I took the rod from the holder, struck and began to crank the little blighter in. It was not a big fish, I could feel that…I saw a flash of yellow as I was winding in the line. My first thought was that it was a little chicken dolphin, a Mahi Mahi, they are green and yellow. As the catch became visible at the stern disappointment set in, guess what? We had caught a banana peel. HT immediately owned up that she had, minutes before, eaten a banana and thrown the peel overboard! What are the odds of catching one’s own banana peel 100 yards behind the boat? We laughed and decided that fishing was over on this occasion as the seas were building; we were leaving the lee of St. Kitts now on our way to Sint Eustatius and Saba islands and I don’t relish dealing with a fish in rough conditions. Once past Saba Island we altered course very slightly for Virgin Gorda, we were in the Anegada Passage; had she lain down as forecast or would we have a monotonous bouncy ride? The passage was not too bad and we were able to sleep comfortably during our off watch periods. On my 4 – 7 watch, as dawn arrived, so did a distant view of land; it is easy to imagine being Christopher Columbus at times like this wondering what his thoughts were and the words he may have uttered. We were nearly there. In the morning light of February 26^th I saw the outline of Virgin Gorda, the fat virgin, as Columbus called the island, a welcome sight after an 80 mile, 14 hour journey from Saba. We rounded the north-eastern tip of the island and immediately began to experience the calmer reef protected water, the trip was almost over and a welcome rest waits in North Sound. We entered the marked channel to North Sound and were moored up to one of the Bitter End Yacht Club mooring balls by 08:45. 

After clearing in at Gun Creek we spent two days enjoying the facilities of Bitter End and, of course, a great hamburger at Saba Rock, the best in the Caribbean in my opinion and all this while being surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Virgin Islands. We left Bitter End and North Sound earlier in 2013 on our way south to Trinidad so arriving back here was the completion of our Eastern Caribbean circumnavigation…we did it and we are still in one piece! 

Our next stop would be Spanish Town or as it is known ‘The Valley’, the principal town of Virgin Gorda. We spent only one night and a morning here just enough time to be rocked and rolled all night by the ferry wakes and the swell coming in from the Anegada Passage, miserable! We went into town to the bank ATM, to eat some breakfast plus go to Buck’s grocery store for a few provisions.

The Baths

A short trip west would take us to The Baths where we picked up one of the national park moorings. With snorkel gear donned we set off for the Baths, a short dinghy ride from the mooring field. We snorkelled in the most wonderful water for two hours enjoying the colourful fish and coral marvelling all the time at how clear the water was. A visit here is a must. We pressed on to our final destination of the day Great Harbour, Peter Island. This big bay is an easy in and easy out. There are no reefs to be wary of. Anchoring is permitted and we ventured far into the SW corner where we found flat water, we dropped the hook in 45 feet. There were four other boats in the area but there would have been room for twenty so it was very private. We felt like we were in the wilderness and HT remarked that this was the closest she had come to camping, she has never camped! It is now March 2^nd the weather is perfect and I mean perfect the skies have been blue, the humidity down and the temperatures in the very low 80’s, the Virgins appeal. There are so many anchorages and islands here and it is not hard to see why the area is known as the sailing capital of the world. Even though there are many boats they are absorbed well and it doesn’t seem crowded or at least it doesn’t yet! We Stayed in Great Harbour two days and three nights, we really like this place. We took a dinghy ride to explore east to Deadman's Bay. This is another anchorage although not as protected as Great Harbour, the trade-off is the beach a wonderful stretch of white sand and clear shallow water to swim in. We pulled our dinghy up onto the beach and cleaned the bottom then enjoyed a relaxing swim before our ride back to ‘Partners’. One more candle lit dinner before we depart for Norman Island and our next anchorage in the Bight.

Great Harbour, Peter Island

Waterlemon Bay & Cay

Sugar Mill Ruins

Sugar Mill on St. John

Sugar Mill at Leinster Bay

A Hawksbill Turtle



A cool shady walk

'Rising Sun' (453' long)

David Geffen's yacht 'Rising Sun'

There are times for all of us who are in a special relationship or a marriage, which are brought on by an event, a particular place or a moment of imagination that make all of us want to renew our commitments to each other or our marriage vows. A thought, a warm feeling, something that triggers those thoughts of love and dependency which one has with one’s partner. The same feelings can be applied to nature and, in my case, the reason why I love cruising and the life it allows me. My latest moment was this morning, while ‘Partners’ is still anchored in Great Harbour, Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands. This beautiful protected bay on the north side of the island is a ‘back to nature’ location, no internet, TV, FM radio stations and it is uncrowded with few other boats. The bay is surrounded by high ground covered in vegetation, sound is rare and the lack of it borders on eerie. This setting promotes thought and this morning I woke at 05:15, it was pitch black dark, it was still with not even a ripple on the water or a breath of breeze; these conditions are a rarity in the Caribbean where the trade winds normally blow constantly. Occasionally there is a weather phenomenon which ‘kills’ the wind and allows a morning like today. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, HT was still asleep so I didn’t want to put a light on, I proceeded to the aft doors to the aft deck of ‘Partners’ and upon opening them saw that we were facing in a different direction. Those of you who are familiar with the trade winds know that when one goes to bed facing in a general easterly direction one expects to wake up with the boat facing in a general easterly direction! Today ‘Partners’ was facing 180° from her ‘bedtime’ direction, even the dinghy was alongside instead of streaming off the stern as normal! Zero wind, the morning was so still…nature was ‘chocking’ me, I couldn’t have found a more natural unspoilt spot. As the minutes passed and the black moonless sky started to turn to the dawn hues I could hear the sound of wild goats on the hillside only 200 feet away and a coo of a pigeon waiting for the light. The water is deep here and although we are anchored in 45 feet of water we are only 150 feet from the shore. The aura of this place spawned so many good feelings, freedom as a child playing in the countryside of England, where I grew up, being one with nature and being without a care in the world, it reminded me of and really endorsed the freedom we have as cruisers; so many back to nature thoughts, I was in overload! Some of you reading this may have forgotten the feeling I have just written about here, I feel privileged to be able to remind you all that there are places which allow one’s mind to wonder, that stimulate imagination and provide jaw dropping views of nature’s beauty. As the light came and the early still began to stir, the breeze started to ‘kiss’ the earth gently, slowly bringing everything back to normal. ‘Partners’ began to swing on her anchor back to the ‘correct’ position with her bow pointing in an easterly direction. The dinghy assumed its ‘correct’ stance of streaming off the stern mildly straining at its painter. This morning was my moment to remind myself that I love HT, I thank her for sharing my life, for being my partner and experiencing this life with me…this morning was also the time where I reminded myself of the wonders of nature and the beauty this earth provides… 

While on shore during our working lives, especially in Florida where we lived, we always talked of wanting a home on the water where there would be cooling breezes and fresh air to provide relief from the summer heat and also where there would be tranquil views of the water. Finally we have our waterfront home but with a bonus, a huge bonus in fact, we have a ‘movable’ home on the water which we can relocate at will to a new and exciting spot where we can experience the variety that nature provides. This life is addicting and a little concern creeps in at times like this of whether making the transition back to a land based existence is possible. Obviously, one day, it will have to happen but it won’t be easy or a happy day!  

From Norman Island we cruised across Sir Francis Drake Channel to Tortola and our destination was Marina Cay where we anchored a little west of the mooring field with three other large sailing boats. That evening a short dinghy ride in ‘Junior Partner’ or JP for short, our nickname for ‘Partners’ dinghy, took us to the Cay and their bar which is situated at the top of the island, great views. A live band was playing and they were great…many cruisers were there having a merry time. We drank a few beers tipped the band and took the dinghy ride back to ‘Partners’. In the morning we weighed anchor and cruised west and north to a small isolated anchorage on Great Camanoe Island. The anchorage at Lee Bay has a rocky bottom and after two attempts at getting our anchor to hold we gave up and motored over to Guana Island and the beautiful bay there known as White Bay. White Bay is a long protected bay with a white sand beach and sandy bottom. The bay is full of mooring balls now and although anchoring is allowed the privately owned island does not encourage it. We found a spot on the north end where we were able to anchor but it was a ‘squeeze’. The owners of the island have made an exclusive luxury resort here and have service boats that ferry passengers and supplies back and forth to Tortola continuously during daylight hours; at night the boats are moored on private moorings one of which was close to us, too close unfortunately and although other buoys were available we got the impression that the powers that be wanted to make us feel uncomfortable and chose to put one of the boats as close to us as they could. They succeeded and we had to move. The only available option was to pick up one of their mooring balls! It was getting dark and we didn’t want to be motoring far to find another anchorage so we bit the bullet and coughed up the $30 for the mooring fee. We had not been on the ball for more than five minutes before a young lad approached us to collect our money. He explained that the owners tried to prevent anyone from going ashore on the island but law required that access be granted to anyone up to the high water line. So although discouraged one can walk the beautiful beach and we did! Two mega yachts were anchored out in deep water in the bay and we watched as their crews transported portable cabanas, chairs, large mats and water toys to the beach to be set up to await the pleasure of the owner or guests should they wish to spend some time on the beach. We spent two days in White Bay and both days the ritual was performed. We felt sorry for the crew performing their thankless task as on the second day after spending an hour or more setting up the ‘beach club’ no one came...the owner or guests just decided to do something else! We watched as the crew of three took the dinghy to shore packed everything up and retreated back to the mother ship!  We did not feel welcome on Guana so the next morning we moved on to Cane Garden Bay where we found more mooring balls, they are everywhere now! We were able to anchor with plenty of swinging room here and were comfortable for the first day and night, the second day, however, when the NE swell became more of a N swell and the rolling began was a different story. In the morning we were still okay with only moderate discomfort and were entertained with watching the half dozen or so surfers. Cane Garden is well known as a surfing beach and when the swell is up has a reputation of producing some ‘perfect’ waves. Gradually through the day the swell grew to a point where we wanted to put an end to the rolling so off we went crossing the calm waters, enjoying the gentle ups and downs on the large swell, to Jost van Dyke the third largest island of the BVI group. We decided to anchor in the gin clear water of Manchioneel Bay on the south side of Little Jost van Dyke Island; the spot is isolated with no visible signs of habitation although there is a beach bar on the SW end of the Island. We spent four days here and explored, went ashore to deserted beaches and did our Robinson Crusoe thing; it was a lot of fun! We were joined by Steve and Janice from Sealacious a 37’ Tayana, John and Jo from Out of Africa in their Moody and Chuck and Barb from Tusen Takk II all friends and fellow cruisers that we knew. Chuck and Barb are Krogen owners like us and have a 48’. The first night we were together we all met on Out of Africa for a BBQ which was a blast. The next night we joined up with Chuck and Barb again to dinghy ashore to Foxy's Taboo for dinner where we could sample their famous cocktails and ribs. We had a reservation and arrived just in time to miss a torrential downpour; we were seated and spent little time looking at the menu, we knew what we wanted, we were having ribs, right! We ordered four exotic colourful cocktails and awaited the return of the waitress to take our orders. When she came Chuck spoke up and said “I’m here for those wonderful ribs”, the waitress, her voice laden with apology, replied “I’m sorry but we are out!” I, with disappointment, said “but we had a reservation” and the waitress pointed out very politely “not for ribs though!” We quickly overcame our disappointment and ordered alternatives which without exception we all thoroughly enjoyed. After a really pleasant evening we went back to the dinghy and successfully negotiated the trip back, about a mile, in pitch darkness. Lavinia is always a little concerned taking dinghy rides when she cannot see anything in front of her! We arrived back safely to our calm anchorage said our good nights and retired.

The next morning all of our friends left the bay and sailed off to their next destinations. This is how it is in the cruising community we are all independent, we go our own ways but when we do meet we have a great time with each other then bid farewell until the next time... 

Our next stop was in Great Harbour where we anchored just two nights before clearing out from the BVI’s for the USVI’s. We found Ralphs, a great grocery store, and did some re-provisioning. We have learnt that as cruisers when one sees something that we need one should buy it! It is not always easy to find the things one wants so when the opportunity presents itself it is always sensible to take advantage. Oh, and we paid one more visit to the World Famous Foxy’s and yes, we finally did have our ribs! Sadly Chuck and Barb were not with us this time...next stop Caneel Bay on St. John where we picked up a mooring ball, as members of the National Parks the senior price is only $7.50 per night and these moorings are nicely maintained so provide a peace of mind experience. We took the dinghy around to Cruz Bay and the Customs house where we took care of the clearance formalities...we were back in the US of A. Our next anchorage was Maho Bay where we had spent only one night a year ago. We enjoyed several nights here this time in flat smooth water which is an indescribable blue, just gorgeous! We swam and snorkelled and walked the white sand beach...an idyllic spot. Our last stop on St. John was Leinster Bay and our particular favourite Waterlemon Bay. We picked up a mooring adjacent to Waterlemon Cay where the water is deep and clear but close enough to quickly reach the reef that surrounds Waterlemon Cay. We snorkelled and enjoyed three days here. Seventy five percent of St. John is national park controlled and is pristine. We walked to an old sugar mill where we spoke to two of the volunteers’. One was cooking bread the old fashioned way in an open pan on a fire, the bread was good as was the almond tea she also brewed. We sat with the other lady and asked her many questions. She had lived on St. John for 26 years and obviously loved her ‘home’. She mentioned, during one conversation, that she was disappointed when the busses show up carrying the passengers from the cruise ships that visit St. Thomas, they ferry across from Redhook, that a number of the people seem uninterested in ‘her’ island and she focused on one person who actually asked her which island they were on, they didn’t even know. I think she enjoyed our questions and interest in St. John which, in my opinion, has to go down as one of the must visit islands in the Virgins, in fact in the whole of the Caribbean. In another life while working in Florida I had an assistant Caron who for some time lived on St. John and raised a son here, she always sighed longingly when she remembered her time on St. John, a beautiful place. I know Caron I’ll send more pictures!

Maho Bay

We left Leinster and cruised east around the island travelling then west along the south coast to Redhook Bay on St. Thomas. We spent one night anchored in Muller Bay where we were rocked continuously by the many ferries that use Redhook as their base...not for us; we moved round to Charlotte Amalie and the big open harbour there. We anchored in the eastern part near the main cruise ship dock and the Yacht Haven Grand Marina. The anchoring here is good with a sandy clay bottom that really doesn’t want to give up the anchor as we found out when we left. Charlotte Amalie is a big town by island standard and has every facility. The very nice dinghy dock at Yacht Haven Grand is convenient for Pueblo’s grocery store, K-Mart and all the other stores one could wish for. The marina is also a mall complex with many high end stores and several restaurant choices. The main town is a pleasant easy 1¼ mile walk west along the waterfront where duty free shopping abounds. Altogether this is an easy stop for us cruisers. We took a dinghy excursion to Frenchtown to visit Ace hardware and stumbled across the ‘Rum Shack’ which overlooks Water Island. We decided to have a beer and lunch, I ate a great hamburger and for HT a Sushi platter, we had a wonderful lunch.

HT Having fun on St. Patrick's Day

St. Thomas Regatta

While in Charlotte Amalie we had the pleasure of meeting Brian and Jackie Smillie onboard their 48’ Krogen ‘Gotta Smile’. They were kind enough to invite us for cocktails one evening. They were entering the Caribbean for the first time and intended spending hurricane season in Trinidad like us. We had much to talk about and the evening just wasn’t long enough! We were able to share some information about the Leeward’s and the Windward’s; hopefully it would enhance their cruise south. We told them of our plan to cruise to Culebra and then on to Puerto Rico where we would be flying back to Florida for a family get-together for Easter. Upon mentioning this they volunteered the name of a marina they had stayed at in Fajardo called Sunbay Marina. It sounded perfect for us too so we made reservations for a month stay there to facilitate us leaving ‘Partners’ during our Easter break. We said our goodbyes, they weighed anchor for St. John and we for Culebra, a 20 mile passage to the West. As cruisers we knew our courses would cross again before too long. 

A friend of ours John Perry on board his sailing catamaran ‘Stingo’ was already in Culebra on a mooring ball behind the reef at Ensenada Dakity, part of the larger bay named Ensenada Honda. After a good uneventful cruise in calm conditions we entered Ensenada Honda. Culebra, one of the Spanish Virgins Islands, is a popular haunt of all cruisers; the anchorage is one of the best in the Caribbean and affords flat seas in all conditions. The reef which protects the harbour here is huge and wide so any seas are reduced to a ripple by time they have passed over the coral. Upon entering, the US Coast Guard maintains two well marked buoyed channels here, we were looking through the binoculars to see if we could scope out an available mooring ball and quite coincidently the ball right beside our friend John was open, we took it! John had been in Culebra for some time and had got to know most of the other cruisers moored there. On our first evening there he invited us onboard ‘Stingo’ for sundowners so we could meet everyone else. Eight of us whiled the night away with much laughter and storytelling. There is never a dull moment when a bunch of cruisers get together for sundowners! We spent five days in Culebra. We enjoyed a meal at the Dinghy Dock restaurant with friends Dave and Jane from ‘Greta Mae’, we had first met Dave and Jane in the Windward’s at Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou last July. They told us they were on their way to the East coast of the US with intentions of cruising the NE for the summer. We also hosted a sundowners party onboard ‘Partners’ before our departure...all a fun time. Our last evening was again a visit to ‘Stingo’ to enjoy Johns rendering of Pasta Alfredo...was it good or what; John is a single-hander and I guess as such one learns how to cook! Sadly when we returned to ‘Partners’ we had generator problems and we couldn’t charge our batteries which we had to do to get us through the night. This necessitated us leaving a little ahead of schedule so in the morning after a ‘short’ night (we had to run the main engine to put enough amps back into the batteries for the night) I called up Sunbay and asked them if they could accommodate us a little earlier than expected...no problem! We weren’t due there until the 15^th April and today's the 10^th. The wind had been blowing strongly for the past four days but fortunately a front had killed the gradient wind and the Trades had abated for this trip, we made good way and after a comfortable crossing arrived in Fajardo after 3½ hours. Sunbay is an all inclusive marina where the slip fee includes water, electricity, cable TV and Wi-Fi service. For our 42’ boat the monthly rate is $750! A really good price for the Caribbean we feel.

Sunbay is all that Brian and Jackie ‘cracked’ it up to be, friendly clean and secure; we are comfortable here. There appears to be no swell that enters so we are virtually motionless in our slip. Olga, one of the owners of the marina, greeted us in the office and made sure we had answers to all our questions she really made us feel at home. Olga provided us with a map which, as we were to rent a car, was most helpful. Olga’s husband, the other owner, also built the marina some six years ago so this is a family owner facility and it shows. Another helpful perk is that the marina has in slip fuelling!

I will end here and say that the Virgins will ‘call’ again, the calm protected waters make these islands one of the finest cruising grounds in the world and fortunately there are enough islands, bays and sights to keep us interested, visit after visit, the trip from the south back across Anagada is certainly worth it! After our trip to Florida for Easter we will resume our cruising, we are not sure where we will be off to at this point but we will let you know when we decide!

Is it time for you to plan for a life afloat?

A great view while on one of our walks...

St. Lucia, Martinique & Îles des Saintes

February 17^th 2014

Position 15° 52.304’ N
              61° 35.116’ W


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We cruised north from Grenada and travelled directly to St. Lucia our destination being Marigot Bay famous for where Admiral Rodney used palm fronds lashed to his fleets masts to disguise them and

Approaching St. Lucia the
Pitons are conspicuous

hid from the French. Admiral Rodney eventually defeated the French fleet and Admiral De Grasse in 1746. It is very easy to see how Rodney pulled this off as the sand spit which protrudes from

Our first night in Marigot Bay

the northern side of the bay is covered in palm trees so the fleet being strategically place behind it with their palm frond ‘dressing’ made for the perfect disguise. We spent three days in Marigot, did some hiking and enjoyed a good rest after our trip from Grenada. From Marigot we cruised up to Rodney Bay and anchored in the huge bay for a week we walked through the national park and to the fort on the northern end of the bay. In St. Lucia we met Marty and Deb Campenella who own ‘Bay Pelican’ another 42’ Kadey Krogen, in fact number 76, four on from ‘Partners’. We visited with them in the marina where they are based and were getting some repairs before cruising north to Sainte Anne’s in Martinique. We invited them to ‘Partners’ out at anchor in the bay but unfortunately they couldn’t make it. This is where we met ‘Aquarelle’ with Terry and Evelyn, they did make it for cocktails and we had a very pleasant evening with the two of them. After a short visit to St. Lucia it was time to move on, we will return to spend much more time exploring this big island. The next morning we set off at dawn for our passage to Martinique, a rough trip but we made it safely.

Martinique is the first of the French West Indies Islands we have visited with ‘Partners’. We have visited St. Bart’s while on a Caribbean cruise some years ago. This year it is our plan to spend most of the winter cruising the French islands, Martinique, Iles des Saintes, Guadeloupe, St. Bart’s and Saint Martin. Martinique is a department of France and therefore benefits from many of the things one would be familiar with in Europe, good roads, plentiful consumer goods, well stocked supermarkets and, oh, the wonderful food, wine and coffee! Thankfully a large part of the population speaks English! Lavinia does speak some French which helps; unfortunately I either didn’t pay enough attention in school or am suffering from a bad memory because I don’t. There are a lot of Frenchmen sailing the Caribbean and it seems that most of them are here! The French like the French and as unfamiliar as things generally appear foreign to us they are obviously familiar to the French. The very well stocked chandleries are full of French and German products, the grocery stores only have French items. We have not seen any familiar US or British products, none! In most of the other islands there is a mixture of British, American and European items...our conclusion is that the French do make a point of being French and do not show much tendency towards integration! Le Marin is the centre of yachting here in Martinique. If you need anything it can be found here. Any and all services are available and there is a wide choice of each. One thing which is very apparent is that the businesses here unlike Trinidad, for example, understand instant gratification; the shelves are full, no ordering here. If your heart desires it, the chances are you can get what you want in Le Marin. We had some trouble with our generator, which wouldn’t start! The local Westerbeke dealer came promptly to us in the Le Marin marina where we were able to get a berth at short notice. The diagnosis a 20 amp fuse! While we were marine bound we met three young sailors from ‘Tyke’ an ocean racer cruising sailing boat moored in front of us. They kindly invited us on board to see her and to enjoy sundowners with them. As I have said before this life is not just about freedom and travel but about all the interesting people one meets. The two men were Italian and were the crew, they had a guest crew member who had joined them for the sail north from St. Lucia to here. She was half Italian and half American, spoke perfect English, Italian and French and was pretty! Lucky guys! We left the marina and made the short trip to Sainte Anne.  

Nearby, just along the coast to the South is the small town of Saint Anne’s, a beautiful little enclave mostly unspoiled by tourism and a ‘Mecca’ for us boaters. The azure blue waters and calm anchorage beckon; the narrow streets with their friendly vendors all encourage a visit and exploration. This could be one of those places which is hard to leave...

The priorities, a boulangerie, the vegetable market, a liquor store and beautiful beach are all here. Our first trip ashore was to the beach where we found clear water and fine white sand. It is protected from the wind which allows calm water with no waves, wonderful. Along the half mile long beach are restaurants and bars, not too many just enough for a choice and easy accessibility, we floated in the perfect temperature water for an hour it was pure heaven. The saline content of the water is high and one can float very easily. Now remember that we are in early February, mid-winter for the northern hemisphere, and here we are basking in 84°F sunshine and swimming in 80° water. Our anchorage is in 17’ of clear water where we can see the mostly sandy bottom. Reefs, plus the headland of Saline, gives protection from the prevailing seas and wind, so it is calm. We woke up the next morning to new arrivals ‘Receta’ with Steve and Ann aboard also Terry and Evelyn from ‘Aquarelle’, who we had met in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, both had anchored in the bay. Our great friends Bill & Ann on board ‘Ann Louise’ had arrived back in Trinidad on the 3^rd February after a visit to their home in Georgia for Christmas and New Year and were going to make an attempt, weather permitting, to ‘jump’ the 200+ miles from Chaguaramas, Trinidad to Sainte Anne’s and join us. We were really pulling for them and for the weather to stay travelable so they could get to Martinique, they made it! After the welcoming Bloody Mary’s and breakfast on board ‘Partners’ plans were made for some serious nonstop socializing. With the eight of us here, there is only one word to describe the ensuing days…fun! For the next few days we had some great gatherings. On Monday the 10^th it was time for us to leave, we were sad to say our goodbyes especially to ‘Ann Louise’ as they were going south again back to St. Lucia. Due to the sale of their home they would be leaving from St. Lucia in March to return to the US for the closing. All this meant was that sadly we would be losing our travelling buddies for several months. Our plans will take us to Puerto Rico by mid-April so we can return to Florida and meet our children and grandchildren for Easter. Our goodbye to Bill and Ann included a promise to meet up again ‘somewhere’ south for hurricane season. ‘Receta’ would travel the same route as us stopping at Portsmouth on the island of Dominica and then on to Iles des Saintes and Guadeloupe so we were looking forward to their company. 

Not always great weather in the Caribbean

'Receta' in Portsmouth, Dominica

Approaching Iles des Saintes

Terre-de-Haut

Cruise ship 'Wind Surf'

Our cruise to Dominica was a bit on the rough side with wind at a constant 25knts and seas to about 8’ - 10’. Our stabilizers helped but it was still a trip that could be over as soon as possible. After 4½ hours we were, at last, in the lee of Dominica where miraculously all went calm. After a really pleasant cruise to the northern port of Portsmouth we anchored in 30’ of water but rolled constantly because of the Atlantic swell which was curling round the north end of the island. I woke up at 02:30 and that was it…a long day ensued! Fortunately the passage from Portsmouth to Les Saintes is only 18 nm so with a slight drop in the wind and the sea from yesterday the trip was much shorter and calmer. Oh Les Saintes, these islands are picturesque to look at as one approaches and the archipelago reveals itself, upon arrival one can’t help but smile. The islands are isolated, no big aircraft come here, some tourist arrive by ferry every day from Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe so there are visitors other than cruisers. The islands, however, do cater to cruisers. The main ‘Bourg’ Terre de Haut boarders a protected bay and provides mooring balls at a very reasonable charge. We eagerly motored to our chosen ball and moored up. With the dinghy lowered and equipped with our ships papers we set off to clear in and then walk around to get the lie of the land. Boy, this cruising travelling stuff is fun! Approaching a new island and destination port is always fun and full of mystery and expectation. I used to be concerned about finding customs and immigration, where to dispose of garbage and generally gain the lay of the land...not any more; it is just the cruising life. Everything unfolds and the locals have always been helpful even in the French islands with the language barrier. Most islands will grant three months entry and some six without special request.

Les Saintes are a small cluster of islands that comprise two that are inhabited and several that are not, the whole land mass only covers 4.9 square miles so they are small. The population is about 3,000, 1,900 who live on Terre-de-Haut and the balance on Terre-de-Basse. Scooters and tiny electric cars are the transport of choice, one walks in the road and the vehicular traffic simply winds its way past and between the pedestrians. The pace of life is slow but oh how civilized. The shops all close for 2½ hours at lunch time reopen at 3 then close again around 6. The French locals like a leisurely lunch and really make the time for it. One immediately realizes that there is more to life than the daily rat race. We naturally, after only one day slipped into these ways. The first day I said to HT “let’s get a sandwich for lunch”, well sandwich shops which abound in the States don’t here, each small restaurant, and there are many, post their menu de jour on a blackboard, in beautiful hand writing, which lists the choices of the three courses available for lunch and we quickly realized a sandwich for lunch is not the 'done' thing! Dinner in the evening is another lengthy affair. An early dinner would be at 7 o’clock finishing 3 -4 hours later. The most popular time to sit down is 8.
 
The day after we had arrived ‘Receta’ and George and Jan on ‘Wild Cat’ sailed in. We had not met George and Jan, friends of Steve and Ann on ‘Receta’ so a cocktail evening onboard ‘Receta’ set that to rights. Great hors d'oeuvres were served courtesy of Ann, foodie extraordinaire. We meet such nice people as we cruise, we really do. On Valentine’s Day the 6 of us made a reservation at Les Petits Saintes restaurant, one of the finest in the French West Indies. We finish our outstanding, superb, wonderful etc., etc., meal at 11:30. It ended with Xavier Simon, the chef, coming to talk to

Our table

us and he was gracious enough to explain some of his techniques and ingredients. The meal was truly memorable and the presentation simply both creative and beautifully artistic. For those interested, here is a link to the Hotel and Restaurants website, they have pictures of some of their dishes...http://www.petitssaints.com/photos.html... Having come from Europe where leisurely eating is more widely practiced, my ways had been amended during the 30 plus years I have lived in the USA where customs are different, so this pleasant reminder of the art of food and the way to savour it was fabulous, there is no table turn over here...

We were due to say our goodbyes to Les Saintes today but an undesirable weather report is going to keep us here for another week, oh yes! Sooo, what does this mean? Yep, more buttery croissants, delicious pastries, real bread and baguettes, tasty coffee and oh, that wonderful food. The scenery and water are pretty good too!

The anchorage at Terre-de-Haut can be a little uncomfortable at night as the wind drops and allows ones boat to sit in the small wave troughs, not bad enough to cause a loss of sleeps, however, but still a bit of a nuisance when moving around the boat, also the most uncomfortable rolling is when, with total disregard for the cruising boats in the bay, the high speed ferries speed by to the ferry dock. These boats travel at close to 30 knots and you can imagine the wake that they create, yes, glass breaking rolls ensue...thank heaven we can hear them coming and can prepare and thank goodness they don’t run at night! Iles des Saintes will definitely go down as a special place and one of our favourite destinations.

To close this entry I must pass a compliment to the French islands we have visited so far. They really have gone out of their way to accommodate the cruiser by building sturdy welcoming dinghy docks everywhere, they also provide accessible convenient garbage disposal and are the first islands we have visited that recycle, with containers for disposal on almost every street corner, bravo!

Life is good...     

Windjammer

Lavinia at the windward shore, Pigeon Island



We saw this Windjammer while at Marigot

When one sees the palm trees one
can just imagine Admiral Rodney
inside with this fleet

The fort at Pigeon Island, St. Lucia



Partners in Rodney Bay

Oh, the water!

Jet ski racing at St. Anne's Martinique

 

YT relaxing on the aft deck with a cohiba

The Spice Island

January 10^th 2013

Position 12° 00.423’ N
              61° 43.792’ W

Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada


View Larger Map

Although we did stop briefly in Grenada, as we were travelling south to Trinidad, we did not explore as we had to move on quickly for our rendezvous in Trinidad with Anthony our eldest son. This is the beauty of what we do, we can go wherever we please and stay, most of the time, for as long as we please, so we are back! We initially cruised into Prickly Bay after a fairly pleasant passage from Chaguaramas, Trinidad. The sea swells were close to 10ft from the east, on our starboard beam, but were spaced at about 9-10sec intervals which, with our stabilizers, was okay. There was a 4ft wind chop on top of the swell which gave us an occasional nudge from time to time, all in all though not bad. We both slept during our off watch times which is a good sign. The trip was a good one and with each passage we are building our confidence back, ‘Stonewall Jackson’ has not missed a beat since we installed our day tank back in Tyrrel Bay last July/August. We have now made a trip to Trinidad, then Tobago, there and back to Trinidad, and now this one to Grenada, a total, since leaving Carriacou, of 380 NM. All were 12 – 16 hour runs so were a good test. We seem to have ‘Partners’ running well now and, after the expense and troubles in 2013, are really hoping for a worry free cruising year in 2014…we think we deserve it! There is still one issue to address which is the new battery and inverter installation; I don’t think that the Victron inverter has been programmed correctly as it is not putting out the maximum amps it is capable of, whilst charging. It, therefore, takes longer to replenish our batteries than it should. It also does not seem to charge the engine start and bow thruster battery at as fast a rate as it should. To address these concerns we are going to ask our friend and electrical engineer Alan Reynolds to check everything over for us. He lives in Grenada and will visit us after the Holidays, probably the weekend of January 11^th. 

Meanwhile, we enjoyed Christmas Day in Prickly Bay and ate Christmas Dinner at the Prickly Bay 

Prickly Bay Marina

Marina restaurant, it was very good…turkey, ham, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and lots of vegetables, roast potatoes and gravy. It was a very traditional English style Christmas Dinner. The main entrée was preceded by a choice of lobster bisque or prawn cocktail, we both had the prawn cocktail which consisted of a small salad garnish, three large juicy prawns and Marie Rose sauce, a real favourite of mine. For dessert HT had red velvet cake and cream, I had a banana split, we shared! All of this was washed down with a nice Pinot Grigio and finished off with coffee. This was the first Christmas Dinner in the 22 years HT and I have known each other that she hasn’t cooked Christmas Dinner! It was also the first Christmas that we did not have family around us which was a little sad. Something all of you planning a cruising retirement need to bear in mind. Many cruisers who retain a land based home return there for the Holidays we don’t have another home, ‘Partners’ is it so our options are limited. After we arrived on Christmas Eve morning we went ashore to explore and treat ourselves to some breakfast, guess what! As we were alighting our dinghy at the dinghy dock I saw a familiar face. “Dan", the person looked at me and didn’t immediately respond, “Is your name Dan?” I asked again. He then said “Yes it is”, “Remember me?” Dan was a friend from another life over 20 years ago when I lived on the East coast of Florida in a little town called Flagler Beach. Dan and I knew each other back then but since had gone in different directions. To cut a long story short we agreed to meet on board ‘Partners’ after Christmas Dinner and catch up. Catch up we did and had a fabulous time explaining how, by pure chance, we both arrived at a dinghy dock in a remote bay in Grenada, West Indies at the same time! Amazing. Dan and Barb’s boat is ‘Another Way’ a CSY 37’. We will see them both again before we leave the Island. 

On Boxing Day we decided that the rolling in Prickly Bay was too much so we upped anchor and proceeded to cruise to calmer waters and ended up in Clarkes Court Bay just a couple of miles east, it is still rolly but not quite as bad. We relaxed and enjoyed a quiet sunset and evening enjoying the cool breeze and a Blue Moon with the traditional slice of orange. After a great Mexican salad, it definitely had a ‘kick’, we retired early and slept with the cabin hatch open so we could rest feeling
 the wonderful Caribbean Trade Winds…


Moor Mega Yachts than any other boats! 



Lite up at night

Our first day in this large open bay started with a hearty breakfast omelette to set us up for a day of exploration. We wanted to dinghy around Clarkes Court Bay and ‘get our bearings’. We set off and first went to the head of the bay and located the small grocery store and a couple of bars. We also visited Clarkes Court Marina, a small facility with docks for about 25 boats and the requisite bar restaurant. Fortuitously, while we were there the shopping bus returned with about 8 cruisers on board. We spoke to Trevor the driver who clued us in on his shopping bus schedule which we now know runs on Fridays and Saturdays. He also advised us he does Island tours for a very reasonable price and I think we will do one next week. Our next visit was to Hog Island and the much protected anchorage there. Roger’s beach bar situated on Hog Island enjoys the only sandy beach there but unfortunately is a dump with bottles cans and garbage strewn all over the place. Some people would, I am sure, argue that this is the atmosphere of the place but we didn’t like it. We retreated back into Clarkes Court Bay having decided that the water and breeze was more favourable in Clarkes Court Bay. We motored in the dinghy over to the east side of the bay again and visited Whisper Cove Marina which had a good dinghy dock and a much more inviting bar and restaurant, this could be a haunt! Having pretty much done the circumnavigation of ‘our’ bay we just had to navigate through the cut between Calivigny Island and the mainland to investigate! After carefully following the marked channel we were exposed to the vista of Le Phare Bleu Marina and resort; wow this place is beautiful there is a genuine old lightship moored to the long dock which the European owners have turned into a fine restaurant. Part of the proceeds goes towards the upkeep of the historic ship. On the mainland there is another bar and restaurant which is reasonably priced...we enjoyed lunch here and had a margarita pizza and a Carib beer each for total of EC$56, which we thought was reasonable. The staff were friendly and polite and the service impeccable. The marina also has an Immigration and Customs office for checking in and out. It also has a canvas shop and mechanical repair facility plus other services including a chiropractor, very nice! 

Dec 28^th. Today was a ‘jobs’ day. HT did laundry and then we both cleaned the oily slim which had attached itself to the waterline during our stay in the dirty waters of Chaguaramas. It was stubborn and took us forever. When we had finally finished the two of us decided to carry on and scrub the exhaust stains from the transom and clean the teak swim platform. In other words we had decided to give the exterior of ‘Partners’ a spring clean. In the afternoon I replaced some of the caulking on the foredeck teak deck and one teak screw plug which had popped out. ‘Partners’ is pretty again! The rest of the day we read and relaxed enjoying our surroundings, oh, I forgot we swam and cooled off at the back of the boat in the beautiful 82°F water! We had a Thai chicken stir fry with coconut rice for dinner and some Christmas cake and brandy butter for desert, my favourite! Life is good... 

After nearly a year of cruising these beautiful islands it is easy to take things for granted. Although we have been to quite a lot of the islands once, we are planning subsequent visits this year as we move up the island chain, the first visit really does little more than familiarize one with the basic geography, a second visit reunites one with some of the familiar faces and venues but stimulates much more curiosity and many more questions. The second visit picks up from the familiarity of the first and somehow provides comfort to be more inquisitive. It is the inquisition, not in an aggressive way though, but more of a friendly delving for more, kind of way, that revels the findings and information that provide the lasting memories. The faces seen previously seem friendlier and therefore provide license to ask for more information than during the first encounter; ones memory of the places visited is stimulated to seek and probe for a little more. The second visit makes the experience more indelible and provides a much deeper understanding of the islands culture, its people and history. We have found this when both talking to and listening to other cruisers. When either we or they tell stories about the island visits the words are full of life and are more meaningful and descriptive, often personal to the local people who one becomes friends with. We have, more and more, realized the privilege of our life style where we are able to embed ourselves into the society of an island, drink and breathe the life of the islanders, become part of their unique countries. It is hard to move on sometimes, in fact many cruisers ‘swallow the anchor’, as they say, and never leave, they have found their Shangri-La…  

January 7^th. Today we sortied forth in search of some fresh eggs and bread; we have found that most islands have good bread and eggs. Until now we have not taken the trip into St. George’s and the supermarkets there. We still have supplies from Trinidad and just need a few basics. Where we are is somewhat remote although about a mile ride in the dinghy and a short walk finds us the nearest bus stop. Within the bay there are a couple of local stores with some ‘bare’ essentials. There is also a meat market located at the Whisper Cove Marina run by the marina owner and his lovely wife Mary. A French Canadian couple, he a butcher by trade thus the meat market. All the produce is organic, a little expensive, but highly reliable and very good. We tied up the dinghy at the marina dinghy dock, all the marinas have welcoming dinghy docks, and walked up the steep steps and pathway to find a tidy clean dining area and well stocked bar which overlooked the small very well protected marina. 

Our Cove. We swam from the back of 'Partner' ever
day in this beautiful water.

This was definitely our kind of place…Mary greeted us and immediately made a good impression, she was delightful and friendly, she told us how she and her husband arrived in Grenada and stumbled across this broken down establishment saw the potential and realizing a demand that was not being filled, they bought the place and have stayed ever since, that was four years ago! We entered the small market and ‘Oh my’ what we found was exciting, fresh bright red tomatoes and beautiful crisp lettuce, among other enticing produce and wares. Who would have thought we could get so excited and happy over two little things. Although we didn’t need them now we found that the shop stocked a very good selection of French, German and Italian cheeses, the meat selection was fabulous too. You see our values are different now, what we used to take for granted we are now a little surprised to find. Little things make us happy…we rushed home, sat down on our back porch and ate a lettuce, tomato and cheese sandwich then once finished jumped into the water, we swam in the warm water at the back of ‘Partners’ for a while...a beautiful day. 

We enjoyed a complete island tour last week which took us the length and breadth of the island and took in two rum factories, one the oldest in Grenada which was fascinating. It is still producing but using the same steam powered cane crushing machinery used back in the early 1800’s when the 

This is Clarkes Court Rum factory and dates
from 1935. The weigh platform is the
original one and is still in use today.



Lavinia with Hard Hat!

The pictures above show inside the factory
which is all powered by steam!

Grenadian roundabout.



Left over from the American invasion.

A mud bread oven.



This water wheel provides the power
for the cane crushers. It is the original
one for the 1700's!



The sugar cane after it has been crushed.
It is used for fueling the kilns where the
rum is reduced. 

Rum fermenting...looks awful doesn't it?



HT relaxing.



A beautiful church.

Yum!



Shuffling in the cocoa beans on the
drying racks.

A view from our lunch stop...

factory began. The other, River Distillery, used a water wheel to power their crushers and has been in existence since the 1700's. We had plenty of samples too! Some of the rum we don’t care for, it is like ‘white lightning’, ‘moonshine’, very harsh and throat burning, the stuff that takes ones breath away, also ones equilibrium! As the tour continued what quickly became apparent was how mountainous the island is and also how green; everywhere there is foliage of some sort. We went to Grenada’s spice gardens which we found fascinating plus they explained the islands tag, the ‘Spice Island’. Throughout the day the group sampled some of the island food too and we finished off the tour at the Grenada Chocolate factory where we sampled just a little of their chocolate…all great fun! 

Jim and Tammy Ennd, cruising friends of ours, returned to Grenada after a 6 week hiatus back in the States for the Holidays. They re-launched their sailing boat ‘Sweet Chariot’ and anchored in Mount Hartman Bay, the next bay over from us. We dinghied over to the Sunday jumble sale at Secret Harbour Marina and saw ‘Sweet Chariot’, anchored in the bay. We hadn’t seen Jim and Tammy since leaving Grenada in late August when we left to cruise down to Trinidad. We approached and called out to them, in just a minute two heads appeared. They looked a little flustered and I could tell they were busy with preparation. Having had their boat on the hard for six weeks a lot has to be done to ready her again for passage, sails have to be rigged and set, all sorts of other things need checking and cleaning etc. We invited them over to ‘Partners’ when they we ready so we could catch up. They came the next day and we had a good time telling and hearing stories about both our experiences since the last time we had seen each other. We spent 4 hours talking non-stop; this life is far from a boring existence so a lot happens in four months!

173' long!

Pretty night from our aft deck.

There is always something going on here in Grenada, the southern part of the island very much caters to the cruising community. Every day the restaurants at the different bays compete for the cruiser custom. The result is fairly priced good food and usually a beer ‘come on’ deal i.e. 3 bottles for EC$10 about US$3.70. The other advantage is the choice. From where we are anchored there are four marinas and a couple of local establishments within easy dinghy distance. In the evenings more is available as most of the venues offer pick up and return transportation. Most also have music, either a group playing or a DJ. Talking of music, yesterday Le Phar Bleu Marina held a dinghy concert which was sponsored by Westerhall Rum Company and Island Water World, a marine supplier similar to West Marine. They have an old tug boat which has an open aft deck which is where the band play, alongside was a big steel barge where all the people who did not come in dinghies sat on benches. The rest of us cruisers who did come in their dinghies tied up to the floating barge and rafted back from there. Around 200 people came, the turnout was great, the weather was perfect and above all, the music performed by the group ‘Sabrina and the Navigators’ was outstanding. All this happened out in the middle of the bay. (See The Travels of Partners on Facebook for pictures) These are fun times for us, every day is a blessing we really are grateful for our good fortune of being able to enjoy these, the golden years. As I have said before you should all look forward to retirement, plan for it well, for it is the thing of the future, your time! 

The Minnie Tree!

     


Our perennial Santa!

  

 Our Christmas lights!

  

 



Happy New Year everyone!