Buddy boating with Jay/Joe

Our new buddy boating friend, Jay (on s/v Hurah), will now and forever more be known as Jay/Joe! Since our friend, Dana on Pathfinder, introduced him as Joe, I couldn’t get it right even when Jay introduced himself as “J, as in the letter, ya know”. We are working closely on the Guadeloupe Cruise with another Jay, the Commodore of CCA, so it’s been convenient to have a nick name for the new Jay! Andrew suggested J/J, which is convenient for blog writing.

In any event, we continued to discuss plans with Jay/Joe as we are working our way north, but he decided not to go when we were ready to head off to Dominica. We prefer to sail in 15-20 knots (even if the seas is a little rougher) to motoring in a calm seas, so we left J/J (who is single handling, by the way) in St. Pierre for the 5 1/2 hour sail to Roseau. It was sporty at first (20-25 knot winds, 6-8 foot seas), until we got past Martinique and then it settled into a rather nice sail on the beam. When we got into the lee of Dominica, the wind dropped out entirely and we motored in to pick up a mooring from Sea Cat and stayed overnite; leaving the next morning.

We had an easy 3 hour trip in the lee of Dominica to Portsmouth, the next day. Arriving before noon, we were assisted with the mooring by Alexis from PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services) and rigged the dinghy to take our papers into customs. The really friendly, multi-lingual and helpful gal (Val) at the PAYS office said they could check in for us for $100 EC (or $30 USD, which is probably 10x what it would cost us to do it ourselves), but gave us time to go to the outdoor market and grocery store for some desperately needed supplies. We didn’t find half of what we were looking for so when we got back to the boat and Danny came by in his kyack, we were happy to purchase some fresh papaya, apricot and bananas. 

While running the generator the day prior, we had heard a ticking noise that didn’t sound good so we were using the motor 2x per day to recharge our weak batteries. Fortunately, we were able to get the very able (and one armed) mechanic named Igna, to come look at it our first day in Portsmouth. Igna was delivered to our boat by a helpful friend, hopped aboard more adroitly than many I know with four limbs, and after a quick listen and inspection, told us we were either 1) low on oil, 2) had a clog in the oil system or 3) had a more serious problem. Andrew had checked the oil and knew we were a half quart low, so he filled it up and that seemed to have fixed the problem. Phew!

The best new discovery about Portsmouth this year was Whitney at Maford House Cafe. After paying one of the PAYS guys to take us to a better grocery store and 2 unsuccessful visits to ATM’s before we found one that worked, we found Whitney. She is a refreshingly friendly, Canadian who has had various restaurants in Dominica for 27 years. At the Cafe, she makes fresh bread, cheese cake, etc. and she promises the best fish & chips on the island, which she delivered to us in the pleasantly shaded beer garden out back.

As mentioned, our buddy Jay/Joe chose to make a long trip in one day from St. Pierre, Martinique to Portsmouth, Dominica, in order to avoid the forecasted heavy seas but as the sailing gods would have it, he had a rougher sail than we did. Fortunately, he arrived safely on our second day. We went over for coffee on his boat the next morning and discussed plans for moving on to Guadeloupe, while he generously allowed me to use his Starlink; internet capabilities I have sorely missed since our Wi-Fi puck hasn’t worked since Martinique.

That afternoon, Jay/Joe joined us on the Indian River Tour, where we were rowed by Alexis past the Pirates of Caribbean movie set, through the jungle like vegetation to the rum bar at the end, where Alexis showed us the local crab and made a bird out of fronds for me. That evening, we caught up with friends we’ve been chasing all over the Caribbean (Sue & Denny and their crew Linda & Bob on s/v Evening Star) at Madiba’s for dinner.

The day before we were to leave for Guadeloupe, Jay/Joe did an island tour, Andrew cleaned the boat and I went over to Jay’s boat to use Starlink for a Medicare enrollment conference call. Yes folks, I’m that old! That evening, we enjoyed a PAYS barbeque, where we ran into friends from Trinidad and sat with a sailing couple from Philadelphia (of all places).

On March 8, we were off to Isles des Saintes, Guadeloupe and actually buddy boating with our new found friend, Jay/Joe. After a bit of motoring, we had a great sail with 15-20 knots of wind, 2-4 foot seas and best of all, we caught a yellow fin tuna! 

We arrived in Les Saintes before noon and surprisingly found four moorings available. After we picked up our mooring ball, we launched our dinghy and helped Jay/Joe pick up his ball. He was close enough for us to use his Starlink from our boat!

That afternoon, we took Jay/Joe to town and showed him where to find the grocery store, boulangerie and the butcher, all the key ingredients for a stay in the French islands. We all bought supplies and went back to our respective boats for a quiet evening. 

The next day, we took Jay/Joe to Isle de Cabri for a hike to the top of the fort for the view of the harbor. It was a bit overcast and we couldn’t see the mainland like you would on a clear day but it was magnificent anyway. Afterward, we snorkeled nearby and saw lots of pretty little fish, coral and sea fans.

That evening, Jay/Joe, Andrew and I had dinner at Au Bon Vivre on Terre den Haut to celebrate our buddy boating venture. We all ordered the chef’s surprise, which was 4 courses including a dorado sushi served with gazpacho, tuna in a yogurt soup, red snapper with mashed potatoes & candy onion and a lastly, Carmel flan with a cookie for dessert, that I ate too fast to get a pic! The flavors and portions were perfect and I’d have to say, it was the best meal I’ve had in the Caribbean this season; a fitting finale to our buddy boating venture with Jay/Joe.

The next morning, as we were leaving for Pointe a Pitre, where we’ll begin preparations for the NYYC/CCA Guadeloupe Cruise, Jay/Joe sent over this lovely picture of Billy Ruff’n at the end of a rainbow!

Catching up with friends in Martinique

The sail from St. Lucia to St. Anne, Martinique, must have been classically good or uneventful because I have no notes from it. I would have to check Andrew’s log. In any event, we arrived in St. Anne on 2/24 to hundreds of boats in the harbor, some said between here and nearby Le Marin, there were thousands! (All those little white sticks in the picture above are masts!!) We checked in at Bou Bou bar, which couldn’t have been easier, except that the computer program is all in French, and my French is getting better, but still a challenge. At least we got to have drinks while checking in and the bar tender was super helpful and friendly.

We discovered our friends, Edwin & Karen (s/v Frog’s Leap), were in Le Marin and met them for lunch (raw meat cooked on a stone at L’Annex), and afterward helped them bend their mainsail back on the mast. That’s what sailors do for fun!

The next day, we took the dinghy back on a wet 3 mile ride back to Le Marin to find a Digicel store where we could get a SIM card for our Wi-Fi puck (our version of internet access while trying to avoid the expense of Starlink)! Apparently, the French islands no longer support this technology and we are running out of data on our phones every other day. Looks like Starlink may be in our future!! 

After stops at the boulangerie (for quiche) and the grocery store, we swung by Frog’s Leap at the dock. Edwin was up the mast trying to get his tricolor working and Karen was on a headset below keeping an eye on him.

The following day, we took the dinghy into St. Anne for a visit to another boulangerie (this time for sausage croissant and a baguette) and a stroll through the outdoor market, where we bought shrimp, spinach & fish fritters from one vendor and some passion fruit jam from another. We also made reservations at La Dunnette for dinner that evening with Lawrence & Cindi (s/v Bermudian Escape). Lawrence is from the well known Trimingham family of Bermuda and has signed up for the Guadeloupe cruise we are organizing in March. We hadn’t met them yet and had a really enjoyable evening hearing about Lawrence’s family history in the islands and other sailing stories.

On Feb 28th, Karen & Edwin rented a car and invited us to join them on a road trip to Jardin de Balata and Habitation Clement. The first stop was the botanical garden, which was really nice (but not the best we’ve seen in the islands). The pictures speak for themselves:

The second stop was a rum distillery, which includes a 16 hectare sculpture garden and the former private residence (now open to the public) of the proprietor, who is best known for having hosted Presidents Bush and Mitterrand on this property in the 1990’s. Some more pics to tell that story:

On 2/29, we left St. Anne for Anse du Ford, a small bay about 15 miles up the western coast of Martinique. We had planned to buddy boat with a solo sailor and Salty Dawg named Jay, on s/v Hurah, but his anchor got stuck and we had to proceed without him. The bay had room for about 4 boats due to all the snorkelers and swimmers coming from the busy beach on shore. We settled in to the only remaining spot and after snorkeling to check the anchor, we rowed the dinghy in for lunch.

That evening, we were one of two boats remaining in the bay and with the recent assault on two sailors, we decided to practice one of our safety measures and locked ourselves in the boat. 

The next day, we coordinated our sail to St. Pierre with Jay (s/v Hurah), who had found a diver to unwind his anchor chain and help him raise his anchor. He got an early start and caught up with us just outside our anchorage. We had a nice sail, in sight of each other, and arrived in St. Pierre at roughly the same time. We happened to anchor in front of our friends Dana & Lisa (s/v Pathfinder), who Jay also knew, so that evening we had everyone over for drinks on Billy Ruff’n. 

Andrew and I went to town to make reservations for the gang at our favorite restaurant the next day, and found not only was it permanently closed but nothing was open for dinner that evening (a Saturday night)! Since there were cruise ships in the harbor, we figured all the shops and restaurants open up in the daytime and close at night when the ships leave. Instead, Lisa & Dana were our hosts for drinks on Pathfinder that night, where we took this pic:

Since Andrew and I have another island to go, provisioning to do and a generator to fix before we get to Guadeloupe for our cruise, we left Martinique the next day to continue our way north.

Revisiting our COVID home in St. Lucia

On Feb 15th, we sailed from St.Vincent to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. It took ~ 7 hrs in 15-20 knots of wind with 3-5 foot seas, averaging 7.5 knots. Good sail until we got in the lee of the island and had to turn the motor on. Arrived too late to check in so we anchored off the beach and put our yellow Q flag up. The Q flag is an old tradition still used today to represent a ‘quarantined’ ship that isn’t approved for entry yet. 

Andrew checked in the next day and we brought the boat into a slip in Rodney Bay Marina, a place we considered home for 3 months in March 2020 when COVID hit the island. We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat and catching up with Vision, the Rastafarian fellow that looked after our boat when we left it here for hurricane season in 2020. 

We learned that Vision, who was to do some varnish work for us, had been attacked by a guy with a machete the week prior and got his thumb chopped off! He would need some help getting all the work done and we wanted to support him, so the next day, he showed up with his buddy, Kennedy, dragging a paddle board to use in cleaning the hull of the boat.

Andrew and I were commenting on how not much had changed since 2020, except that everything was open and busy. The floating vegetable guy, Gregory, still visits every day. Our favorite restaurants were all still there; including Elena’s for pizza and ice cream, Bosun’s for curry, Cafe Ole for protein bowls & smoothies, Rituals for sushi and Sea Salt for fish. The one thing that was different was that Elena’s had a new ice cream shop (next to the pizza restaurant) that had bathing suited kids lined up all day, everyday. Since we were having part of the galley varnished, I took a break from cooking and we revisited all of the restaurants at least once.

In the few days we were there at the dock we filed our taxes, finished most of the planning for the upcoming Guadeloupe Cruise that we are organizing and I enjoyed swimming, yoga and kijong with Susie at the pool. 

We met up with our friends, Wendy & Darrell (s/v Siroccho) for pizza one night and enjoyed after dinner drinks and fireworks from the deck of our boat to celebrate St.lucia’s independence, afterwards. We began preparations for our trip to Martinique, when we heard the horrible news about the sailing couple, whose boat was hijacked by escaped convicts off Grande Anse beach in Grenada (a place we have anchored many times recently). The bloodied boat was recovered in St. Vincent, the convicts were recaptured but our fellow Salty Dawg sailors, Kathy & Ralph, were never found. It has shaken the entire sailing community!

We moved off the dock on 2/23 and back out to the Bay for departure the next morning. Wendy & Darrell were still anchored there and invited us to their Tayana 55 for sundowners. It was very similar to our good friends’ (Mike and Mary’s) Hylas 49, Dream Weaver, which made us miss our old boating buddies even more.

The next day, we were to get fuel and head off to St. Anne, Martinique at first light but apparently the sailing Gods had other plans. When we were maneuvering around the gas dock, we heard a bad knock in the engine. After filling up, we went back out to the anchorage so that Andrew could open up the engine compartment and have a look. He found 3 of the 4 bolts that hold the shaft in place had loosened and one was missing! Luckily, he could tighten things up and found replacements so we could get underway only a few hours behind schedule. Good bye for now, St. Lucia!

More adventures in St. Vincent & The Grenadines

The day after our guests left us in Grenada was our 34th wedding anniversary! We caught up with personal business and chased down money from participants in the upcoming Guadeloupe cruise that we volunteered to help organize but other than that, mostly just relaxed and celebrated our marital bliss at Spice Affair that evening. The food was excellent and they surprised us with a free dessert!!

We were supposed to get new batteries installed the following week but after we took up anchor, motored over to Spice Island Marina and started to back into a slip, the shop owner jumped in the skiff (that was to help us with the med moor) and came out to tell us one of the batteries was damaged in transit. That would have been nice to know four weeks ago when they were delivered but oh well, on to Plan B.

We decided to put through a new order and get them installed when we pass through Grenada on our way to Trinidad this April. However, Billy Ruff’n had a more immediate plan. The refrigerator started acting up so it looked like we would be around for at least a few more days to look into that. Fortunately, we knew a good fridge guy (Michael) who was happy to come out to the boat a few days later. 

In the meantime, we called ‘Short Boss’ (our friendly local taxi driver) to help us get dinghy fuel and re-provision. Michael came one afternoon, recharged something and discussed the disadvantages of factory gauge settings with Andrew. They messed around with the gauges for a bit, all the while talking about how Michael was sick of the ungrateful kids at the school where he taught and was planning to retire. I guess they fixed something because we haven’t had issues with the fridge since.

We decided to fuel up, pick up fresh meats & cheeses from Le Boucher in Prickly Bay and head off to Carriacou on Feb. 2nd. Of course, just as we were taking up anchor, a catamaran zoomed past us, headed for the fuel dock, which delayed us for a bit, but so it goes. We were motor-sailing along in 10-15 knots when Andrew noticed the fuel pressure gauge looked low. We continued on under main alone, while Andrew checked and topped off the oil. That afternoon, we anchored in Tyrell Bay and made a plan to see the local mechanic in the morning.

The next morning, as we were having our coffee in the cockpit, John and a man that looked like he must be his brother, came by in their boat offering island tours. We said no thanks and explained our predicament with the engine. They said the guy that we were planning to call “was no mechanic” and we would be better off calling Kelvin, the mechanic at Carriacou Marina. Of course, he wouldn’t be available for a couple of days so we decided to take our chances and move on to Petit Martinique (PM). If we had problems, we wouldn’t be far away. 

We fired up the engine the next day and all systems seemed fine! Off to a new land for us since we’d never been to PM. Approaching the harbor, we saw dozens of beautifully painted and well cared for fishing boats but no sailboats. Off to the north was Petit St. Vincent, a private island with a few sail boats anchored off the beautiful, clean beach. We picked up a free mooring from a restaurant on the beach where we in exchange made reservations for dinner. 

There was music and a PA announcement coming from shore where the locals were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their independence from the British. Men were hanging out drinking, women were in the shops working and children were running around in gangs through the red, yellow and green flag draped streets. We felt a little like invaders on their party so we scouted out our beach landing for dinner that night and took the dinghy over to Petit St. Vincent. No sooner had we landed when a security guy came up to us and said there was a charge for visiting the bar. It was $100 US per person! Apparently, they are discouraging visitors so we went back to the boat for a much better deal on drinks!!

That evening, we were treated to one of the best local Caribbean meals we’ve had to date at Palm Beach restaurant. We were served curried lambi (conch) creole lobster, plantains, rice & peas, salad and eggplant… all every day fare but cooked & flavored to perfection! We were one of two tables served outside, under a hut just beyond the white picket fence on the beach.

The next day we were up early for a short motor sail to Charlestown, Canouan, where we would check in to St. Vincent & The Grenadines. We took the dinghy in to Soho Beach House, which used to be Tamarind Hotel, but is now an international club with properties all over the world. They welcomed us at their bar/restaurant for a nice, albeit expensive lunch of quinoa salad for me and a burger for Andrew. We could see Billy Ruff’n from our table and watched while another boat anchored over our chain and then moved when he figured out he landed too close.

We checked in first thing in the morning and then took off for Mustique, a pleasant ~12 mile, close reach in 15-20 knots and 3-5 foot seas. Arrived around noon and tried to pick up a ball but it was too heavy to bring on board. Fortunately, the Harbor Master arrived in timely fashion to help us out. After a short nap, we rigged the dinghy to go in town for lunch. We walked up a rather steep hill to The View, a restaurant which indeed had a fabulous view of the harbor but wasn’t open for lunch. I thought it was worth the climb but Andrew said he would have preferred to wait for me at Basil’s, where we settled in with some refreshing drinks. We had assorted mini tacos and flatbread, which was the same thing we ordered last time we were here but it was so good, it was worth having again (and again). After lunch, we picked up some fresh King Fish for dinner but never ate it because we had so much leftover from lunch.

We specifically came to Mustique at this time because it was during the Blues Festival, which Mick Jagger, who owns a home here, is known to crash. We didn’t see Mick but the next night, we enjoyed great music & dancing with a fun crowd, as well as another flatbread!

The next morning, I took the dinghy in to pick up some pastries from the bakery for breakfast before we took off for Bequia. We left around 11am and around 2pm, we picked up a mooring off Daffodil’s, since she is known for the best mooring balls and we were expecting some high winds and surge. We defrosted the King Fish and Andrew made an awesome sauce of peppers, onions and I don’t know what else but it was one of the best I’ve had in the Caribbean! 

After a few lazy days of provisioning, reading and relaxing, the winds and roll started to come into the bay. The first day we arrived, there were about 4 boats around us. A few days later, we were surrounded by dozens of boats that had moved overnight from Princess Margaret Beach (on the south end of the bay, where boats looked like they were being tossed on the beach) to the north, where we had been for two days. We hunkered down and got creative with leftovers: King Fish wraps and chicken a La Hilary… that means, whatever I decide to do with leftover chicken.

Once things settled a bit in the harbor, we decided to move to Princess Margaret beach to be closer to the bar that would be showing the Super Bowl on a big screen TV. Unfortunately, it was still too rough to land the dinghy on the beach so we decided to watch using our Wi-Fi booster on the boat. We did land the dinghy on the town dock and enjoyed a decent lunch of Fisherman’s Curry at Frangipani on the Bequia boardwalk, which is the quintessential stone walk along the shore of Admiralty Bay. 

At the restaurant, a young girl came by our table selling coconut water that she was pushing in a baby carriage. She said she was raising money to go to school, but when I inquired about what she wanted to study, she shrugged. I don’t know if it was a line or not but she spent time chatting with us so I bought a bottle. When we were walking back to our dinghy, we passed the young girl crying on the walk. She said she lost her money and her mother was going to give her a whooping. We asked how much she lost and she went through the number of bottles she started with, the number she sold and the money she had in hand to calculate that she was $5 EC short. She’s either got this scam down to perfection or she was really worried so we made her whole.

On the way back to the boat, we saw a dinghy with the name Bolero on it and then found the boat in the harbor. Bolero has been owned for 22 years (and retrofitted twice) by a fellow named Ed, who will be on the cruise we are organizing in Guadeloupe, so I sent him a text to say hello. He graciously invited us over for cocktails that evening and we got a tour of his gorgeous boat and met his fun crew. Unbeknownst to me, Andrew has known of this boat for 50 years and has always wanted to see it below decks. Voila!

Two boats dragged in the middle of the night after breaking free of their moorings; one got saved from floating out to sea by getting hung up on another boats’ dinghy davits and the other got rescued by the coast guard. We figured it was time to move on to Cumberland Bay, St. Vincent, our last stop in this country.

On Feb. 13th, we weighed anchor and set out on the 25 mile sail with 15-20 knots on the nose and lots of water coming over the rail. Naturally, this would be the one time I neglected to secure the hatch over our bunk. We weren’t far into the trip when I heard an unusual sloshing water sound when I went below. Upon investigation, I found our bed soaked in seawater… ugh! 

We arrived in the bay with no further issues and were met by Maurice, a professorial looking and very helpful boat man, who was recommended by a friend. After a few tries, we settled into a med moor right off the shore from a grounded boat. Apparently, this bay got the other nights’ surge as well and the owner of this boat fell asleep drunk and didn’t wake up in time to save his boat. Ominous looking but we felt secure with our anchor and shore ties and very little surge.

Shortly after, we were greeted by everyone with a boat and something to sell but all were polite and friendly so we purchased what we could; including limes & tomato’s as well as purple, pink and green beaded bracelets and turtle necklaces for the grand daughters. 

Maurice arranged for the owner of the restaurant where he works as the promotions guy, to take us in his beat up jalopy car (with bald tires and no door handles) to check out of St. Vincent & The Grenadines in the next town over and then to the Dark Falls. Maurice came along to show us the exotic flowers and the rickety wooden bridge that led to these two 100 foot falls plunging into cold pools. I decided to take a shower in one of them and it was unbelievably refreshing!

That evening, we had a Valentine’s celebration, as the only patrons at Maurice’s friends’ restaurant, with a fresh picked flower (complements of Maurice) and a close up view of the grounded boat. The lobster and tuna were simply prepared with potato salad, plantains and rice and very tasty.

And with that we end our most recent visit to St. Vincent & The Grenadines but we will be back to enjoy the fabulous people, beautiful scenery and of course, the sunsets.