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.

A fabulous time with Dick & Cathy

On Jan.13, 2024, we were preparing for a visit from our good friends Dick R. and Cathy P., when a fuel leak was detected in the bilge, just as the boating gods would have it! Fortunately, Andrew was able to trouble shoot it, thinking he may have over filled the day fuel tank since its’ gauges and refueling system weren’t working properly. The boat didn’t smell too much like diesel when our guests arrived (at least not to us)!! We celebrated their arrival (in the rain; of course, the first deluge in weeks) with dinner at Victory Bar & Restaurant at Port Louis Marina.

The next day, after a banana pancake breakfast on board, we took the dinghy to St. George’s, where we walked up to the fort, the fresh market, the Chocolate Store and my favorite shop in the islands (Art Fabrik, which was closed… ugh)! We picked up fresh ingredients for Andrew to make his fish in vanilla cream sauce specialty that he created last season after having it at a French restaurant in Martinique.

The weather looked “sporty” with 20-25 on the nose going north and 6-8 foot seas, but knowing we had competent sailors on board with us, we set out for Carriacou the next day. Andrew said it would take 4-5 hours but with the conditions as they were, it took 7! We arrived at Paradise Beach around 5pm, too late (and too rough) to snorkel but we jumped in for a quick swim, took naps and enjoyed cocktails before dinner. I made a chicken curry that I got from the book “ Embarrassment of Mangos”, which tuned out pretty good (if I may say so)!!

The following day, we moved the boat to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou to check out of Grenada and head to The Grenadines. Hoping to show Dick & Cathy a bit of the town, we decided to walk from the ferry dock to the Customs dock and back. It was a long, hot walk and by the time we arrived, the Customs agents were taking lunch. Fortunately, there is a good restaurant right there, where we enjoyed cold beers and fish & chips. We were still waiting for Customs after lunch but eventually got thru and went back to the boat. Cathy prepared a very yummy cassoulet that evening for dinner.

We woke up the next morning to a squall, waited for the storm to pass and set off for Union Island where we had to check in to The Grenadines. We had almost made it to Clifton when the engine surged and then shut off! Remember that day fuel tank from earlier? It’s supposed to auto fill but we had turned it off since it wasn’t working properly. We didn’t check the gauge before we left and ran out of fuel! Once again, Andrew’s skills came to the rescue and he was able to re-fill the day tank, re-prime and restart the engine but by then we had sailed almost all the way to Chatham Bay and decided to anchor there. We bought a ridiculously over priced, (but fresh, at least I hope) tuna from Dr. G, who was right on us in his skiff with an offer to take our papers to customs as well. But we knew Seckie, from last season, who runs a restaurant in Chatham Bay with his wife, Vanessa, and he was able to take our papers over to Clifton for Customs, so we could settle in for cocktails and a swim. We saw Leon (s/v Nomad, from last season in Antigua) on the AIS and Daryl & Wendy (s/v Scirocco, from this season in Trinidad) in the harbor, so we invited them all to join us at Seckie & Vanessa’s for dinner that evening on the beach.

With the wind still howling out of the north, the next day we decided on a short hop to Mayreau, where we initially anchored in the ill-defined ferry channel. After the first ferry blared its’ horn and put up a good wake close to our stern on the way in and then across our bow on the way out, we got the picture and moved (even though there were at least 3 other boats closer to where we thought the channel was. I guess they weren’t on board to intimidate!). Safely out of the way of boat traffic, we took the dinghy in for a walk about on the island. First stop was Lola’s Bar by the dinghy dock, then a walk to Ranch Escapade on the western beach, overlooking Tobago Cays. It’s a beautiful spot we found last year for pina coladas but this time we stayed for lunch too. Back on board that afternoon we had swims, naps, reading time & cocktails before Andrew whipped up some tuna ceviche for dinner.

One of our main objectives was to get Dick & Cathy to the northern most Grenadine island of Bequia but we were waiting for a good day for the long(ish) run. The next day, it blew a pretty solid 20 knots but with enough wind coming out of the east, we could reach a good long way before we had to motor sail into the wind to make Admiralty Bay. On the way, we had leftover ceviche wraps, a new invention for offshore provisioning.

On arrival, we grabbed a mooring from Daffodil, and set the dinghy to go into town. We walked around, visited the gourmet grocery, Bequia clothing and a few other shops before opting for a cold drink overlooking Elizabeth Harbor upstairs at The Chameleon Cafe. That evening, we had dinner at Open Deck (off Daffodils), where the ladies ordered deliciously tender octopus and the guys had lamb ragou (reportedly very good as well); probably the best meal we’d had so far despite very good eating every day!!

The next day we did almost nothing, which was perfect given the traveling we had been doing. We got some laundry done, the boys bought cigars in town, we swam, napped, read and ate all our meals on board. 

Some of us stayed up a bit too late and we got a late start the next morning but it was gusty and rainy and nothing to rush out in. We were headed for Tobago Cays but the weather was not cooperating! We wanted to take Dick & Cathy snorkeling to see the turtles in the sanctuary there but the conditions were not good. I went in the choppy, cloudy water with Dick and saw maybe two turtles when last time I was here, they were all over the place. However, it may be the wrong season too since I saw far more giant starfish this time (in January) than I did last time (in April). Because the weather remained crappy, we decided to have our lobster dinner delivered on board instead of going into the beach, which was a brilliant decision, especially when it started pouring right after the meal arrived!! I don’t have a lot of pictures but this is the one I regret not taking the most: we had 6 large stuffed lobsters halves, fried plantains, baked potatoes, grilled vegetables and banana bread for dessert and it was scrumptuous!! 

It was time to head further south, check out of The Grenadines and sail back to Grenada. It blew gusts to 30 knots for two days as we made our way back. We arrived at Prickly Bay on 1/24, after a nice downwind sail from Union Island. The morning of the 25th, we had lobster scrambled eggs (it was supposed to be a frittata but I messed up) on the boat before catching a cab to St. George’s to check in. We found Art Fabrik open this time and enjoyed lunch and splits at The West Indies Brewery to celebrate Dick & Cathy’s last evening on board. The next day, they flew out on the 4pm flight right over our heads in Prickly Bay. It was a fabulous, fine eating and sailing adventure and we are so glad they made the trip!!!

Two weeks in Grenada

12/4/23 - For the last few weeks, Andrew and I have been hanging out in Grenada with no major boat issues other than monitoring the charge held by the house batteries to see if they need to be replaced. At first, we were anchored off Grande Anse Beach outside of Port Louis Marina in St. George’s, where we caught up with good friends Edwin & Karen on s/v Frog’s Leap, while they made a pit stop to buy and install a new windvane. We enjoyed cocktails and the beautiful sunset together!

On Thanksgiving Day, we made plans to meet up with our Canadian friends, Mike & Alison on s/v Zola, at a French restaurant on Coconut Beach. When we got there, we didn’t find the French restaurant but we found our friends at a table in a lively Caribbean place. The food was good but clearly not French! Apparently, the French restaurant was around the corner on the beach.

On Nov 24th, we moved the boat around the southeast corner of the island to True Blue Bay, where we found a nice protected anchorage with no swell and only one other boat. We were a short dinghy ride from the very cute True Blue Bay Marina & Boutique Resort, complete with dock space for a boat or two, a few moorings, a nice restaurant & bar, bakery, pool, spa and a very rickety dock! 

Everyday we came to shore, we walked like drunks on the shaky dock and tried not to entertain the naked couple sitting in the cockpit of their boat at the dock, as if there were nothing unusual going on. They tried to hide things with their computers, books or knitting, but they weren’t fooling us!

Andrew and I had a nice lunch and brunch at the resorts’ Dodgy Dock Restaurant, admiring Billy Ruff’n in the distance and always entertained by the birds trying to share our meal. On board, we entertained ourselves by using up all our data, primarily to watch the Eagles beat Buffalo, and then had to find a ride to the mall to re-up our hotspot.

We arranged an island tour with a taxi driver named Albert, whom we had met last spring. He took us to his favorite stops, where people he knew offered him free drinks and referrals for cab rides, I suppose! I enjoyed letting a guide feed the Mona monkey (only found in Grenada and the African country where they originated) on my shoulder and swimming in the waterfall at Annandale Falls. 

Andrew and I both enjoyed the tour of the Rivers Rum Distillery, where they still make rum mostly the way it was made in the mid 1800’s, using the original sugar cane press and ladling the slurry by hand. The result is 150 proof ‘fire water’ that you are not allowed to take on an airplane… We bought two bottles!

We took Albert off his normal route to the western shore to visit Mt. Edgecomb Plantation, a boutique hotel & restaurant with an infinity pool and a fabulous view of the Caribbean Sea. The food was good, albeit the menu was limited and Albert was intent on telling us that we could have had much better food & selection with larger proportions for half the price, if we had gone for lunch where he normally takes his clients (and he’s probably right). Oh well, you never know if you don’t go (and the view alone was worth it)!

The next day, Andrew and I had a most excellent full body massage at the Spa at True Blue Bay, followed by a walk to St. George’s University campus, where I have decided to go to medical school (in my next life). On the way to the campus, I met a local artist, selling his paintings on the street and visited The Container Park, a fast food court on the waterfront, with every kind of meal a group of international students could possibly want. I returned to the boat with chicken & lamb schwarma from the best Lebanese restaurant in Grenada.

One day when Andrew preferred to keep himself occupied with a head (“bathroom” for you landlubbers) project, I took the opportunity to go snorkeling at the world famous Moliniere Underwater Sculpture Park, which apparently has 31 new statutes this year, joining the 75 already in place. It was pretty cool but unfortunately the only underwater evidence I have is a video on our Go Pro, which I am technologically unable to post here. Below is a picture of the boat we went in and a picture of some scuba divers we went with, which we thought were whales when they surfaced next to the boat.

On Dec 1st, we moved to another new (for us) anchorage at Calivigny Cut, off Clark’s Court Bay, on the southern end of the island, where we anchored next to our friends, Darell & Wendy on s/v Sirocco. The breeze there was awesome, with the wind generator and batteries fully supporting our power needs, and there was no swell, given we were in the lee of a reef. 

We dinghied in to Whisper Cove Marina & restaurant for a lunch of pumpkin & ginger soup w/ fresh marlin salad and then over to the sailmaker’s loft and The Treasure Trove (boater’s candy shop) in Woburn Bay. The moonlit evenings were beautiful as was the lit up resort on the shore of the Cut.

One day, Andrew and I dinghied in to the other side of the cut where Phare Blue Bay Resort has a Santa Claus welcoming you to the marina, a restaurant, pool, coffee shop and the Meat & Meet Gourmet Food Store. We stocked up with $100 worth of pate, cheese, French bread and chicken tornanados. The next day, Wendy and I returned to enjoy a drink at the the pool and the Christmas Bazaar, offering beautiful fabrics, hand made jewelry and locally written books for sale. I couldn’t resist the book titled “White Spice”, particularly when I found out the author, D. E. Ambrose, went to Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, where both my parents graduated. Small world!

Currently, we are one week away from flying home for the holidays. We are in Prickly Bay, where we have access to more good restaurants, a brewery, half- price pizza night, a laundromat, a small grocery and a butcher. We will spend the time getting some service providers out to the boat to review boat projects and maintenance while we are away. In the meantime, the weather is 79-83 degrees, mostly sunny, occasional showers and always a steady breeze! Not a bad place to wait out the winter!!