Friday the 13th came early

On Wednesday, Jan. 11th we left Montserrat for Guadeloupe, a butterfly shaped, French speaking country south of Antigua. We arrived in Deshaies, too late in the afternoon to check-in at the oddly located Customs computer in the back of a T-shirt shop, so we anchored off of the little town snug in the bay.

The next morning, we had our first truly French croissants & baguettes at the boulangerie across from the dinghy dock with our friends on Dream Weaver, who were leaving that day for Pigeon Island, another anchorage in Guadeloupe about 10 miles south. I was beginning to get strange messages from Verizon about being charged for $500 worth of data overages, which was odd because I had an international plan with unlimited 3G data. Since we had been to Deshaies before (in 2020) and we wanted to catch up with Mike & Mary (on Dream Weaver) and their buddy boat, Act III, we checked in at the T-shirt shop, did a little provisioning and headed back out for Pigeon Island ourselves. 

Here’s where I started feeling a little unlucky! We were about 2 miles out, just as Andrew was about to ask me to look out for… thump, thump, thump… Fishing POTS… we had snagged one. Andrew donned his snorkel gear to check it out and confirmed that it was wrapped around our prop. We didn’t want to cut it, knowing that it was someone’s livelihood, and it was a little rough for Andrew to try to unwrap it without scuba gear, so I made a pan pan call on the VHF. Someone (we later found out was the French Coast Guard) who thankfully spoke reasonably good English, responded and offered to put out an official pan pan call (in English and French) and try to contact a few dive shops to see if we could get assistance. Two sailboats, that were 50 minutes to 2 hrs out, respectively, responded to the pan pan call, so we decided to wait for a bit.

After drifting out to sea with a tail of fishing line behind us for about an hour, Andrew was ready to jump in with the knife. He was about to go under when I saw a dive boat roaring in our direction. They had heard the pan pan, were working in our area and came out to help, despite having paying customers that wanted to go diving. It took longer for the driver of the boat to get in his scuba gear than it did for him to clear the pot lines and give us a thumbs up to try the engine. I just wish I had the presence of mind to get a picture of our hero but the boat looked something like the one below. I did take the time to give him a healthy tip!

All systems going, we were on our way again when a message came thru from Verizon… I was being cut off until I paid the now $1,000 worth of data overages! Ugh, it’s not even Friday the 13th yet!! We continued on to the anchorage called Bouillante, off of Pigeon Island, where there is an excellent Jacques Cousteau Underwater Park, that we intended to snorkel. We anchored near our friends on Dream Weaver and Act III, and joined a Salty Dawg party on s/v Lucky that evening. Although I wasn’t feeling that lucky that day, the dancing and singing on board certainly took the edge off. Only the videos do it justice (and I can’t post those on my low budget blog) but here is some of the gang enjoying the evening.

On Friday the 13th, before we went snorkeling, I made my way to Act III to use their Starlink communications system to look into my Verizon problem. With the use of their onboard Wi-Fi and my friends phone, I was able to get a human being to talk to that eventually figured out that the messages I was getting were a “bug” in the system and would have to be re-programmed! I didn’t push my luck to ask what they would pay me for testing their system, but I thanked my lucky stars that my comms were back and we survived the day!!

Buddy boating with Dream Weaver & Act III

It all started with a party on s/v Lucky on Friday the 13th. Crew from five boats converged on a gorgeous Leopard 45 catamaran in Pigeon Bay owned by the lovely Kat & Ted Grant. We had a fabulous time singing oldies and dancing like it was 1999, apparently after a few drinks! Only the videos do it justice, so you’ll have to trust me, it was fun!!

The next morning, I went snorkeling with Mike & Mary (from s/v Dream Weaver) and a few other Salty Dawg crew. The water was cold and clear and the fish were in all sizes and colors. Fortunately, nothing big enough to eat me! After snorkeling, we went about some chores at the laundromat and grocery store. Even the simplest things can be challenging, especially in the French speaking countries, when you don’t know where anything is, cannot read all the signs and sometimes, the locals don’t want to suffer through your butchering their language, but I tried anyway. I’ve been taking Duolingo online since we were in these islands in 2020 and probably should be doing better than I am (but I’m definitely better than I was)!! At any rate, we found the hidden cut to the laundry and after doing our chores, followed a local as he sailed out of it using his rowboat paddle as a sail.

Another buddy boat, Valianna, from last season (and earlier this season), showed up in the harbor over night so we got to catch up with them on board Dream Weaver that afternoon.

The next day, Dream Weaver, Act III and Billy Ruff’n were to sail to Marina Bas du Fort in Pointe a Pitre, a ~ 40 mile jaunt to the ‘crotch’ of the butterfly shaped island. The wind was on the nose so we motored sailed most of the way. Jean Mark, the dock master at the Marina was incredibly friendly and helpful. Without reservations, he helped all 3 of us med moor, one right next to the other, on their packed docks.

The docks are supposed to be secured behind a big metal gate, which never seemed to be locked, but felt safe enough. The Marina campus is quite large and conveniently complete with lots of shops, restaurants and services (like car rental agencies, a grocery store and marine store). Our first night there, the traveling pack enjoyed Desperado beers and dinner at Le 9 in the Marina.

The next afternoon, Mike and I went to town in search of a Digitel store to look into sims cards for his phone and our Wi-Fi booster. This is what boaters (without Starlink systems) to keep communications up to par the further you go down the islands. The ladies, Mary (on Dream Weaver) and Barb and Teara (on Act III) joined us in town. Mike walked back to the Marina and the ladies got to visit the spice market, enjoy lunch and shop without any men pushing us to move on! On the walk back, we got to see some wonderful street art.

We had hoped to rent a car and visit the largest waterfall in Guadeloupe but we couldn’t find any available. It was a good thing because we found out from a cab driver (Antoinette) that you couldn’t walk up to the falls due to a recent avalanche and could only see it from afar (assuming we found it on our own). Instead, Antoinette offered to take all 8 of us on a tour of Grand Terre, the other side of the butterfly from the waterfalls. We started the day at Cimetiere de Morne-a-l’eau, a vast and beautiful cemetery with black & white tiled tombs covering the hill as far as you can see, some with personalized artifacts, like a plastic sewing machine, scissors & thread for the seamstress and a plastic calculator for the accountant.

The next stop was Le Monde Rum Distillery, where we saw the instruments of rum making and bottling, including a wind mill sprouting tropical plants that was once used to generated power for the distillery.

Our driver, Antoinette, masterfully negotiated the pot holes and speeding traffic as we made our way to St. Francois, the eastern most point of Guadeloupe, where we soaked up the beautiful views of the unusual shaped volcanic rocks jutting out of the ocean water as it crashed onto the soft beaches. There we had lunch at a nearby barbecue hut where we had BoKits (a local specialty sandwich made of fried dough stuffed with the barbecue of your choice and salad) and homemade jus drinks. The sandwiches were huge and delicious!

After lunch, we drove to St. Anne beach where we visited another spice market and had some beers and Ti-punch while watching the local kids race their sailboats off shore. 

That evening, we started an epic domino game on Act III. We played on two tables and switched the high and low scorers after 4 rounds to play another 4 rounds. I think it took 3 hours before we quit to finish the game another day.

On 1/18, our merry band of buddies sailed to Isles de Saintes, an island that is part of Guadeloupe, about 20 miles away. Dream Weaver found a mooring ball right off the main town of Bourges de Saintes. Act III and Billy Ruff’n picked up moorings at the nearby island of Ilet a Cabri. The plan was to spend one night there and have Dream Weaver scout for moorings the next day when boats start to move about. The plan worked perfectly! We were settled onto moorings off the main town before noon the next day. From there, we could easily dinghy in and scope out dinner reservations for the gang the next night at one of the best restaurants in town. That evening, all of the Salty Dawgs in the harbor were invited to s/v Lucky for a pot luck dinner. Another fun evening was had!

The next day, we hiked over to Marigot Bay, a pretty fishing village, to scope out another anchorage. It was a nice hike but the anchorage was too rolly to consider moving. We walked back to town for salads with smoked fish and lobster at Le cafe de Marine, next to the dinghy dock, for lunch with a view of Billy Ruff’n in the harbor. We had an excellent dinner at Ti Kaz-la that evening with the gang from s/v Dream Weaver and s/v Act III.

On 1/21, Doug, a Salty Dawger on s/v Frolic, led a group of us in yoga in the park in the morning and Dream Weaver left for Martinique in the afternoon. Act III is leaving tomorrow to pick up crew in Pointe a Pitre so Andrew and I are left to our own devices for entertainment until we make new friends or old ones arrive!

The beautiful island of Montserrat

On Jan. 8th, 2023, we left Antigua for Montserrat, an island that we didn’t have the chance to visit when we in the Caribbean in 2019-20. We arrived in the only feasible anchorage of Little Bay and anchored next to a huge cliff that looked like it was going to shed part of its’ wall at any moment! We were too late to go to customs so we just settled in to watch the sunset.

The next morning, we checked in with Customs. You never know what you’re going to get with these operations. Sometimes it’s quick and perfunctory, other times it looks like the agents are looking for anything to do but help you! There was a lot of paper rustling, stamping of stamps, reading of materials, and checking of documents, even after we had already entered all of our information in the electronic system. I think they were training a few of the people that day.

At any rate, we were going to walk through town but it turns out there wasn’t much onshore but Moose’s local bar and a few unopened restaurants on the beach. A cabby, who had offered his services as soon as we exited customs, provided a ride to the next town of Brades, where we stopped in the bank and then walked, visiting the local grocery, the hardware and the Tourism Bureau on our way back to Little Bay. It was a hilly two mile trek. By the time we returned, the Summer Breeze Restaurant was open and we enjoyed a pina colada, curry shrimp & Indian chili at the bar with the locals.

Some new Salty Dawg friends, Stephanie & Jim on s/v Hero, arrived in Little Bay before dark and we confirmed a plan to do an island tour the next day. Jermaine Wade from Fabulous Tours was our guide. He was more expensive than the cabby but very knowledgeable and we found out later, totally worth the extra expense! 

Our first stop was the Montserrat Cultural Center, donated by Sir George Martin, the Beetles manager that did a lot of recording (and apparently carousing) on the island in the ‘70’s. This facility is used for events and government functions and houses artifacts from the musical heyday. Here you can compare your hand size to the likes of Gordon Mathew Thomas Sumner (aka “Sting”) and Eric Clapton, among others.

Next, we drove through the northern communities that were rebuilt by various countries after the volcano that destroyed half of the island in 1997. Jermaine could tell us who built them by the color of the roof and/or the style of the house.

We hiked to the top of Silver Hills to see the fabulous view of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea on either side of the island.

And, we went to the Volcano Observatory, a bunker like structure where you can see the volcano (and a movie about it’s history) as scientists monitor and study it 24 hours a day.

The emotional highlight of the tour was visiting what Jermaine called the modern day, Pompeii. We drove through the restricted zone where you see the ruins of the capital city of Plymouth, which was totally covered in up to 60 feet of ash after the eruption in ‘97. Here you could see buried store fronts, hotels & schools, as Jermaine explained where he was (as an 11 year old boy) when it all happened. He pointed out his school, his home and where he and his friends would gather, as we looked on to nothing but overgrown weeds, ruins and miles of new black ash beaches.

After visiting the ruins, Jermaine cheered us up with a visit to JD’s Bakery & Bar, where The proprietor, Gun, cooked up some good old ‘bush’ rum for us. It’s a homemade concoction that they’ll put just about anything in to spice it up! After The rum we needed something in our stomachs and stopped at The Attic, where the simple menu included “chicken lunch”, “rib lunch” and “fish lunch”. This made choosing easy and we thoroughly enjoyed at least one of each!! We finished off the most excellent “Fabulous Tour” at Summer Breeze with a Caribbean staple, rum punch, where we toasted our new friend, Jermaine Wade from Fabulous Tours!!