Catou arrived back in Southampton on 23rd May and
was off-loaded on the 25th May. We just made it up the gangway of the ship
- in time to see Catou in slings and half-way over the side of the ship and
ready for launching. They brought her deck-to-deck level so we could climb
aboard, and by the time we had un-locked her, opened the sea-cocks and
started the engine, the slings had been removed and we were
afloat.
After re-connecting the
back-stays and sorting out some of the rigging, we set off for Lymington some 15
miles away. There was a container ship approaching Southampton docks as we
were leaving - see photos - particularly the last one with Sylvie's _expression_
(I said 'look scared'!). We arrived in Lymington at about
6pm.
Catou was lifted out
the next day for a jet-wash, scrub, scrape, clean and
anti-foul painting. We also decided to have her re-waxed and polished
after her voyage. We discovered that the sterntube bearing was rather worn
and one of the main prop-shaft seals required replacement, so there are a
few jobs to sort out. While she is in Lymington, we also want to have
some of electronics sorted out where we have a couple of issues.
By the end of June, we
hope to have Catou at her new berth in Brixham marina in south
Devon.
Best wishes
Paul &
Sylvie
A few photos that we didn't send with the
blogs
|
Jim Hassall looking very happy with the
sail! |
|
Swimming off Basil's bar, Mustique on
Christmas Eve
with Pam &
Brian |
|
Ben and Sylvie in the
'Trades' |
|
Cockpit on Christmas day in Mustique (Christmas tree
fallen over!) |
|
Saloon on Christmas
day |
|
An amazing sort of 'James Bond 'power boat seen in the
Grenadines |
|
This was our smallest flying
fish! |
|
A colonial Montserrat house before the
volcano |
|
Same house after the ash flow had practically covered
it. |
|
Sylvie on the
helm |
|
The Pied Piper. We couldn't get rid of them! One
almost swam after our dinghy when
leaving |
|
Swimming of
Mustique |
|
St. Lucia's famous
Pitons |
18:20.06N 64:57.13W
18:21.32N 64:35.07W
After our lovely day anchored off Necker island on
Friday we were the only boat there), we heaved up the hook
just after 1500 hrs and set off back to Trellis Bay. Having just very
cautiously worked our way out of the Necker island coral heads and reefs, a
seaplane did one circuit above us and then turned for a final approach and
landing - exactly where we had been anchored a few minutes earlier. Since
it was Good Friday afternoon, Sylvie suggested it might have been the islands
owner visiting for Easter w/end?
We had to motor back to Trellis bay on Beef island since
there was no wind. We were informed that someone else that we knew from
the ARC was going to be in there that night, so we did a circuit of the
anchorage, but no luck in finding them, so we picked up a mooring for the
night. We went ashore to a beach bar for a drink, but since they weren't
serving meals, we set off in pursuit of food - to an island in the middle
of the bay in which we were anchored. This proved a good decision, and we
had a great meal, with a very good live show afterwards. The British owner
of the place turned out to be a fantastic entertainer and musician. He and
a colleague both played the guitar to a very high standard, and after asking if
anyone in the audience would like to volunteer to play the drums, an American
(by the name of Tucker!) stepped forward and proved to be really good. We
had a great evening, and with rock music ringing in our ears, we dinghied
our way back to 'Catou' at some late hour.
Saturday was a lovely morning, so we took advantage of a
morning breeze and set off to circuit an island or two. It was very
gentle breeze, and when we had achieved about 1/2 the distance, the wind died on
us and we had to furls the sails and start the donkey.
Eventually we found an empty bay where we dropped anchor and had a late lunch
and a swim. We managed to contact our friends Robin and Jenny on 'Maymio'
on the VHF and arranged to meet in the early evening. So we motored around
to Road Harbour, picked up a mooring, and after a quick shower, went ashore and
took a taxi around to where Maymio was moored. Poor Robin and Jenny have
had a real ordeal with 'Maymio's' stern gland. After 6 'lift-outs'
they were finally back in the water again, but had problems with the
gland which still needed addressing, so will not able to leave until next
week. We thought they would need cheering up, so said we'd
take them out for dinner. (Actually they looked pretty cheery
considering the events that have happened to them). We had
a lovely evening and said our good-byes to them and wished them a Bon Voyage,
since we have to get 'Catou' to St. Thomas while they are heading off to the
Dominican Republic and then on to Bermuda and possibly Canada. We felt
very envious of them!
We have had a very lazy day today! First thing, we
went ashore to clear out with Customs and Immigration in Road Town. Being
Easter Sunday, everything was closed, so we took a stroll around to have a look
at the town. It really isn't attractive! Somehow I had always
imagined this town to be a quaint old place with some lovely old Caribbean
and colonial architecture - well it isn't! We couldn't get a coffee or a
cold drink, so we went back on board and cast off at about 1000hrs and had a
gentle sail across to Peter island, just cross the channel from Tortola - about
4 miles. We were going into Dead Mans' bay, but we decided that it
wouldn't be sheltered enough from the stronger E'ly winds, so we opted for
another much deeper bay about a mile to leeward on the same island.
We sailed into the bay and found a good sheltered mooring and have since spend
the day 'chilling out', swimming, sleeping and reading.
Tomorrow we head for our final destination, St. Thomas
in the US Virgin Islands. We are leaving 'Catou' there, and she will be
shipped home in the latter part of May (we hope). We have covered over
6000 miles on her since leaving England on 27th June last year. It's been
a great trip and we have managed to accomplish all we set out to do without too
many mishaps. 'Catou' has stood up very well, and the gear, equipment and
engine have all proved most reliable. Our biggest drama was the
'knock-down' in mid-Atlantic, but that was all over in about 6 seconds!
There is a small amount of damage to the for'd cockpit fixed sprayhood , as
a result of the knock-down, but we can get that sorted back in England -
probably won't worry about it until we lay up for next winter. I am only
sorry that we don't have time to sail 'Catou' back across the Atlantic via
Bermuda and the Azores - maybe another trip!
Thanks to all for reading the blog - hope we didn't bore
you all with it.
Best wishes
Sylvie and Paul
|
Waiting for a
call |
|
Mt Pelee in Martinique - doesn't look like it killed
30,000 people! |
18:26.81N 64:31.88W
|
Iguanas in Saba (think they were doing more than
sunbathing!) |
|
'The ladder' in Saba. All imports used to come
up nearly 1000 steps - including a
piano! |
|
'Catou' anchored. Necker island (Mr Branson doesn't
know) |
18:26.81N 64:31.88W
Good Friday 22nd
April Yesterday morning while still in Road harbour,
Tortola, we went ashore and hunted out a cyber cafe where we could go on line
and complete the entry into the U.S. formalities. That done, and a little
shopping we slipped the mooring at midday and had a pleasant gentle sail across
to Virgin Gorda on the other side of the romantically named Sir Francis
Drake channel. At the southern end of Virgin Gorda are an
extraordinary pile of massive heaped up boulders which you can walk,
over, under and through. They were somehow left in their tumbled condition
by volcanic activity millions of years ago. We dropped anchor in a
very crowded bay (we have been spared these crowded conditions
during the last 2 weeks) and snorkeled our way ashore. There are lovely
pools that you can swim in amongst these huge boulders, some of which must weigh
thousands of tonnnes.
We then went back on board and sailed/motored back
across Sir F.D. Sound and around the back of 'Beef Island' to a bay called
Trellis Bay. It was packed with large charter catamarans, but be found a
mooring and secured for the night. We were so tired that we stayed on
board for supper and I slunk off to my bunk at 8pm!
This morning we set off at just after 0700 and motored
to northern end of Virgin Gorda. Not a breath of wind. We were going
to go into a large 'Sound' at the northern end of the island, but it looked so
crowded that we decided to go and take a look at Necker island, just a short
distance to the north. Richard Branson owns this island, and I recall from his
autobiography that he bought it in his very early entrepreneurial days.
Since then, he has built a very palatial-looking establishment on the island and
according to the pilot book, you can rent it for $38,000/day. Anyway,
charter boats are not allowed to anchor here, so we crept our way in very slowly
between the coral heads using visual and chart plotter navigation and dropped
the hook at about 1000 hrs.
We cannot go ashore, so can't give you any juicy details
- but it looks lovely. There is a little sandy Cay close to us with 3 palm
trees on - looking like the classic desert island.
I was studying the chart yesterday and there are some
wonderful names for the features in the BVI. A few of them as
follows:
- Pull and be damn point (there are two of these).
- Dead Chest island.
- Brandywine bay.
- Cistern point (that's for all toilet component exporters).
- Quart-a-Nancy point.
- Broken Jerusalem island.
- Fallen Jerusalem island.
- Mosquito island.
- The Invisibles (Rocks off Necker island).
- Cockroach island.
- Dog island group (consisting of West Dog, Great Dog and George Dog islands).
- Eat Hogs bay.
- Treasure point.
- Privateer bay
- Dead Man bay.
- Throw way wife bay!
Well that's all. We have to start working south
from tomorrow (Saturday) We need to be in the marina in St. Thomas by
Tuesday morning, and we fly out early Wednesday to connect with a flight from
San Juan to St. Lucia and thence home that night on British Airways.
Hope we haven't bored you all to death. Will do
one more blog before we leave.
Paul and Sylvie
--------------------------------------------------
From: <paul {CHANGE TO AT} crabo {DOT} co {DOT} uk>
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 11:09 PM
To: "Angela Bird" <angela {CHANGE TO AT} angelabird {DOT} plus {DOT} com>; "Clunk & David Boakes" <clunkboakes {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} com>; "Denise Taylor" <denise {CHANGE TO AT} crabo {DOT} co {DOT} uk>
Subject: Intermediate blog (BVI arrival)
Didn't have time to do blog last night as we left Saba at 1830. Ran engine for two hours and I took first watch until midnight. By 2030 there was just enough wind to sail, so stopped engine and had a beautifully gentle sail at between 5 - 6 knots. The sea was calm, the breeze warm and the sky was clear.]]>
A full moon rose behind us - almost directly behind Saba and it really was a magical sail. Sadly, the wind died just before midnight, so I waited until Sylvie was up before switching on the engine so she wouldn't be woken early.
Therefore I went to bed with the sound of the engine - instead of the lovely sound of water trickling past the hull while gently sailing along.
Sylvie sighted the Virgin Islands at about 0300 and eventually made it in to Road Harbour and picked up a mooring off the customs office at 1130. It was very hot, but we took the dinghy ashore and cleared customs and immigration and sought out an eating establishment in Road Town. In the meantime, we discovered that a ferry went to and returned from St. Thomas (in USVI) this afternoon, so we booked ourselves a return trip on it (with only 35 minutes there). Reason being that we have to visit the USVI in person to obtain passport entry visas before taking Catou around there next week. (Apparently you can only enter the US by air or commercial boat and NOT by private yacht). After which we are OK to enter with Catou. Anyway, it's a good to be able to get this out of the way now - in only 1/2 an afternoon, and it will give us a full 5 free days to explore the BVI a little.
So, am writing this on the high speed ferry - it's very interesting whizzing through these islands - there are so many of them. It will be fun navigating them during the next few days and exploring some of the BVI. Think we will have to leave the USVI for another day.
There is little wind here, so I think we have done very well on the first half of this trip. We have had some wonderful sailing overall.
When we get back to Road Town later this afternoon, we are motoring around to meet up with Maymio who are a short distance away. They went back in the water this morning - and have had to be taken out again this afternoon! Poor them - an ongoing problem with their stern gland I think - no doubt we will hear more this evening.
In touch soon.
Paul and Sylvie.
P. S. Sign in the ferry toilet:
PLEASE DO NOT THROW ANY TRASH IN TOILET. Thanks very much and have a great day.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
|
Anglican church in Windwardside,
Saba |
|
Pretty mountain path,
Saba |
|
Windwardside.
Saba |
|
View of Statia, St Kitts, Nevis and
Montserrat (80'
away) |
17:36.81N 63:14.85W
I'm still putting in the daily positions (see
above). These should be showing up on the position chart on the mailasail
website, don't know if anyone looks at it, since I'm e-mailing you all
direct.
Statia was pretty, but with everything closed on a
Sunday, we didn't see the best of it. This morning we set off just before
0800 hrs. The extent of the huge oil refinery and terminal became more
obvious as we left the anchorage. There were some very large tankers
waiting to berth alongside the very long oil jetty. We set sail, but it
was a very light wind, so we had to motor sail across the 17 miles to the last
of the Leeward Islands that we are intending to visit - the tiny Dutch island of
Saba. This is a place I have always wanted to see. The pilot book
gave us some interesting information, and it certainly wet our
appetite for an island tour. This island is not always accessible by
yacht. There is little shelter if the wind goes round the wrong way, and
the ocean swells can make it impossible to anchor/moor off due to large
seas building up. However, we were in real luck - the wind was light and
the sea calm and what little shelter was good for us. (We met some Dutch
people only a few days ago who couldn't land here and had to move on to find
better shelter elsewhere). We picked up a mooring at about 1130 and after
attaching the outboard to dinghy, we set off to find the officials, check in -
and explore.
Customs were a jolly lot, (he waved his hand in the air
when we asked about immigration clearance, and said 'don't worry'!) Then to the
other end of the harbour to harbour master + another form + $20, then
yacht registration in yet another building around the harbour + another form +
$12. The harbour master had phoned for a taxi for us. Taxi took us up an
amazingly steep hill to the capital town - and it's name is Bottom !
It was charming, clean, freshly-painted old buildings everywhere with
red-painted roofs. No litter and lovely people. But we were not
stopping in Bottom - we were on the way to the island's other town - called
Windwardside - no marks for guessing on which side of the island that was
on.
The island is a round volcanic mountain top sticking out
of the Caribbean sea. A total of 5 square miles and a peak called Mount
Scenery at just over 3000 ft. From the sea it seems to have nothing but
sheer cliffs everywhere. I quote from a Saba guide ........."for if there
was ever a hidden Shangri-La in the Caribbean, it is Saba" Here! here! ...
and I should know, since I've spent the last 28 years travelling many of them,
but never here until today. Until the 1940's, the island was almost
inaccessable. On the west coast (the Leeward side) there are steps up the
cliff side. Known as Ladder steps, there are apparently close
to 1000 steps (all cut out of the solid rock) up from Ladder Bay.
Boats could only land in calm conditions, and cargo had to be carried by men
waist deep in water to the shore! Everything had to be taken up the
Ladder Steps! The island has a population of 1500, descendants of Dutch,
Scottish and English settlers, and they all speak English. Of course they
became a great seafaring nation, and apparently (so we were told at lunchtime),
there were boat builders up in Windwardside building huge boats and sliding them
down to the sea (not sure about this story yet though - needs to be
verified). Apparently if you Goggle 'Of Saban descent' you can find much
more on this (so our host at lunchtime told us).
Until the 1950's the only way to pass from Bottom
to Windwardside was along a precarious mountain track. Dutch
engineers said a road couldn't be built and went away. A local man called
Joseph Hassel took a correspondence course in road building and with funding
from Holland set too on the project with local people. 'The Road' was
completed in 1958 after several years work. The island is full of Hassels
- the church is full of them (mostly dead there though). I have already
informed my pal Jim Hassall, even though his spelling is different.
Probably some of Jim's ancestors sowing wild oats in this part of the
world. Actually I have come across the name in St. Lucia and one or two
other islands over the years. Our taxi driver was a Wayne Peterson - of
Swedish descent he thought. The island was certainly a haven for pirates,
since for a long time the colonial powers were not interested in it, so it
became a useful hiding place. It it thought that many Sabans
of European ancestry are descended from the Jamaican pirates, who were
mainly originated from England.
So - the taxi took us to Windwardside for a lovely
lunch. Great pub-like restaurant with lots of wonderful memorabilia over
the walls. After lunch Wayne, our taxi-driver drove us to the top of
Hell's Gate on the NE side and we looked down oo the smallest commercial airport
in the world (apparently). Only 400 metres long, it was again built by
locals, after being told that there was nowhere to build an airport.
Apparently it has been described as being like an aircraft carrier to land a
plane on! Later Wayne dropped us about 1/4 of the way up the path (that
goes to the top of Mount Scenery), and we walked back down to
Windwardside along a very steeply descending twisting path of continuous
steps, which passed through the most beautiful wooded mountainside.
It took 15 - 20 minutes back into town and we had time to see one of the little
stone churches (there are 7 in total). This one was an Anglican one.
Very clean and recently painted and preparing for Easter this week, and
surrounded by very pretty stone and wooden houses with low stone walls around
the gardens. Most houses have a balcony to sit on in the
evening. Everywhere was so clean and you felt everyone takes a real
pride in keeping their properties clean and painted.
Eventually we arrived back at the port and took the
dinghy back to 'Catou'. We have decided to stay another day and go
snorkeling off the West Coast tomorrow, since it is apparently excellent.
We will sail late tomorrow night and do 1/2 the crossing to the British Virgin
Islands at night and then arrive the following afternoon. We are hoping to
catch up with our friends, Robin and Jenny on Maymio later in the
week. Poor them, they seem to have had loads of trouble with generator,
engine and now their cutlass bearing/prop shaft. Apparently they tells us
that they have been out of the water 3 times to try and sort various
problems out. No doubt we will hear more.
I've had some real problems sending these blogs over the
sat phone in the last day or two, so will send this alone and then will try
another blog with three photos (about as many as it can send via sat phone I
think)
Not sure if we will do a blog tomorrow. It's early
to bed for a midnight start I think!
17:28.90N 62:59.34W
|
Brimstone Hill Fortress, St
Kitts |
|
Admiral Rodney's HQ in
Statia |
|
Oranjestad,
Statia |
17:28.90N 62:59.34W
Nevis - this island of peace and tranquility. At
2345 hrs it was shattered by some gigantic mega powerful speakers that
started up on the beach about 200 yards away. I think they must have been
aimed at 'Catou'. They were deafening - and they didn't stop until either
3am or 4 am - I was too tired to notice the time. I seriously considered
putting to sea immediately, but in the end we stuck it out.
So, Sunday morning we were up at 0645 and decided to
slip the mooring and set sail, having breakfast on the hoof (fresh mangos
obtained from Thomas the Montserrat taxi driver's Jehovah's witness preacher
man! How's that for a mouthful?). We had a lovely sail (again) up the west
coast of St Kitts. It is a stunningly beautiful island from the sea,
rising to over 3700 ft. It was in fact the very first British Caribbean colony,
settled by Sir Thomas Warner with a few settlers in 1623. Today there are some
beautiful old plantation houses which have been turned into gracious hotels and
inns. If any of you know of National Trust-owned Snowshill Manor in the
Cotswolds, there is a famous and unique collection of artifacts considered
to be of great artistic quality. It was all collected by a man called
Charles Wade, and his family had made their fortune with a sugar
plantation in St. Kitts. Wade sold up and moved to England - probably a wise
decision in hindsight.
St. Kitts has been, until recently one of only
three remaining sugar producing territories in the English speaking
Caribbean (the others being Barbados and Guyana), but St. Kitts closed down
their Sugar factory about 4 years ago (we used to supply them with goods).
As a result, unemployment has soared, drug-related crime
has increased, corruption is rife ... the place is
in a real mess now. Best to look at it from the sea! St Kitts
was one of the islands that the British and French fought over on a regular
basis, taking it from each other several times. The British
build an amazing railway system around the island for collecting the cane.
It was a terrific feat of railway engineering since many bridges had to be
constructed in order to follow the contours of the coastal plains with their
hundreds of years old lava flows. The railway was of narrow gauge
construction. Somehow the gauge used was a very unusual size, and I recall
the English manager of the sugar factory walking me across to a railway siding,
overgrown with cane, just close by the factory, to shown me a
rusting old steam locomotive that was parked there. It didn't look to
me particularly strange, until it was pointed out that it had armor plating
down each side of the old boiler. A little curious in St. Kitts one might
think. It turned out, according to the manager, that the St Kitts sugar
rail gauge was the same as that used in the WWI trenches of northern France.
After the war this loco which had survived, had been shipped out to the
colonies! Well that's what he told me!
2/3rds of the way up the west coast is a huge plug of
lava that sticks out of the gently sloping coastal plains a bit like a
very large mole hill (but it's hundreds of feet high) and is called
Brimstone Hill. The British decided to build a fortress there. When
I was first taken to see it in the early 1980's I thought, 'Oh no, not
another fortress - seen loads before - not another one'. But this
place is truly amazing - the size is quite staggering. It took the British
just over 100 years to build the complete fortress, and the French captured it
almost immediatly, but then the British re-captured it ..... and so on.
Amongst other things, there are the most enormous cannons up there. Heavens
knows how they were dragged up.
Enough of St. Kitts - we didn't even stop there.
We sailed on past to St. Eustatius, an old Dutch colony island that is
known locally as Statia. This tiny island has an amazing history. It
was a huge trading island and in the late 16th century was the largest trading
centre in the Caribbean. According to the pilot book there were up to 300 ships
anchored off the busy harbour in it's heyday. The British were, by
this time fighting the rebel American colonies, and were trying to enforce
embargos - but Statia sold arms and ammunition to the American colonies in their
fight against the British. The island eventually became known as the
Golden Rock because of it's immense wealth. In the late 1770's British
Admiral Rodney captured the island and was billeted here for some
years. He made the rich merchants of the island very
worried. Soon, Rodney noticed that an excessive number of funerals in
ration to the islands population, seemed to be taking place. It was soon
discovered that the merchants were burying all their wealth in the local
graveyard!
Nowadays, Statia has a huge oil refinery as it's
principle industry. As we approached the island we could see about a dozen
tankers, some of them huge and anchored several miles offshore. It seems
amazing for a small island of only a few square miles that such a large-scale
industry can exist. The oil terminal is only about 2 miles to the north of
where we are anchored and at night it looks like a city. The
islands population is a tiny 3400 people.
We had a very hot, but pleasant walk around the upper
town of Oranjestad. Nothing was open (it was Sunday) except a Chinese
bar where we bought a cool drink. Three dogs latched on to us and we
couldn't shake them off. They came into the bar with us, and after we got
rid of two, the original one stuck with us until the very hot and sticky walk
back to the port where our dinghy was. He stood on the concrete quayside,
in two minds about jumping in and swimming after us in the dinghy!!
Supper on board since everywhere was closed.
Sylvie found a lovely Spag Bol in the fridge!
17:08.82N 62:37.81W
|
The remains of Montserrat's capital,
Plymouth |
|
Montserrat's
volcano |
|
Approaching the lone 'rock' of Redonda
|
17:08.82N 62:37.81W
I omitted to mention that as we approached Montserrat
two days ago, we motored into 'Little Bay' (just to the north of Potato
Hill!) and spotted only one other yacht in the bay - and it
turned out to be another Malo yacht (from the same Swedish yard as
'Catou'). There seem to be very few Malos about in the
Caribbean - we only know of 'Maymio' with whom we sailed across in the ARC
in Nov/Dec, and with whom we are hoping to meet up with next week.
This yacht was called 'Dreamcatcher of Jersey', and there seem to be nobody
aboard. However, soon after dropping the hook close by ' Dreamcatcher' we
saw their dinghy coming out - and they were as surprised as us to see another
Malo. So we asked them aboard for a drink, and we ended up having supper
with them, and we reciprocated last night when Sylvie cooked an excellent Thai
chicken curry. As we were eating dinner, the swell was building up and
moving around to the NW so it was rolling into Little Bay and 'Catou' began
to roll and roll at anchor.
By this morning at 0545 hrs, we'd had enough of the
swell! We got up and prepared for sea. 'Dreamcatcher' was doing
exactly the same, so we said our good-byes, as they were heading for Antigua and
we were off to Nevis. They were having to motor into a head sea, while we
set off on yet another fantastic (and fast) broad reach. Nevis is
only about 33 miles to the NW of Montserrat, and half way between the two
islands is a large 1000ft high rock (about 1 mile across) called Redonda.
It has an interesting and colorful history. Phosphates were discovered there in
1865. In 1872 the British decided to take the island over before the
Americans did and it was annexed to Antigua. At one time 100 people worked
on the island, and a cable car system was used for getting phosphates
down the very steep sides of the island to load the ships! It's
just amazing what our ancestors did to make a living! The island was
abandoned by 1930. Back in 1880 the son of an Irish-Montserrat merchant
was crowned king of the island and the title was passed down through a
very dubious lineage which was closely linked to the amount of alcohol
that was consumed by the first and subsequent 'kings'! The third king, Juan II,
tiring of his royal role, abdicated on 1st April 1998 and a certain Robert
Williamson, writer and artist living in Antigua, announced that the role was
passed to him, as he was on the 'short list' - since he was only 5ft 2
inches tall! King Robert was known as "Bob the Bald"
In 1978, when Antigua gained independence from Britain,
they were keen to confirm ownership of Redonda, so a Post Office and letter box
were set up there - and a series of stamps issued! As we sailed by
this morning, we were about 2 miles off (it's quite shallow around the island)
and studied it through binocs. There is still a ruined building visible
high up on the hillside, but how anyone ever got ashore and climbed up it's
apparently vertical cliffs I don't know. An interesting little dot in the
ocean!
We reached the beautiful island of Nevis by late
morning, with it's 3200 ft peak clearly visible today. The island
was, as so many of the islands were, named by Columbus - he thought that the
white clouds that are always surrounding the summit looked like snow - hence the
name Nevis. Almost immediatly we were abeam, the island took our wind and
'Catou' almost stopped dead! So we handed the sails and motored
up the west coast avoiding a number of reefs - and up past the
charming capital of Charlestown. We picked up a mooring just off the white
sandy Pinney's beach just to the north of the town's jetty. I have known
Nevis ever since I first came to the Caribbean in the early 1980's, and it's
always been one of my very favorite islands. Nowadays, I just catch the
ferry across from St. Kitts for a one-day visit each year to see our three
customers on the island. The islands history is closely linked with
sugar. It was one of the major sugar producers, in spite of it's very
small size, and it really has a captivating charm with it's old colonial
buildings and slow way of life. (When I first visited Nevis by air, the
tiny bar at the island's only airport was a wooden building that leant at a
precarious angle. On one occasion I remember, after checking in for a
flight, I went into the bar to buy a cold beer - and two chickens
that had been busy pecking at the wooden floor flew aside for me as I approached
the bar!)
One of Nevis's claims to historical fame was
connected to Britain's naval history. Horatio Nelson, who was stationed in
Antigua with the British fleet met and married a young widow called Fanny
Nisbet. She was the niece of one of the island's plantation owners.
They were married at a house called Montpellier House, just a few yards from the
present plantation house hotel of the same name. You can see
the original marriage entry in the old register of the wonderfully
named Fig Tree church that is in the same parish as Montpellier.
Nelson took his bride back to England, and after his death in
1805, she was paid a life pension by the state and she settled in Exmouth in
South Devon. Lady Nelson was eventually buried in Exmouth
church. Here in Nevis there is a Nelson museum, which is well worth
a visit.
The island has a serious problem with wild 'greenback'
monkeys. There are thousands of them and they used to live in the upper
mountainous area, but since recent hurricanes destroyed much of their food
source, they are in the populated areas now (even in town). They
have become a real pest to the local population - their presence in Nevis
is thanks to the 18th century sailors who brought them as pets from Africa
on the slave ships. There are many old plantation houses and sugar mill
ruins still clearly visible to see on the island. The old machinery
are huge pieces of cast iron - and the manufacturers names are clearly visible -
from Scotland or Birmingham or other big manufacturing centres of Britain's
industrial revolution days.
After our arrival today, we dropped straight into
the lovely water for a swim. I then rang an old Nevisian friend
and he came down to the local beach bar, off which we were moored, and we had
a very relaxed lunch with him. He took Sylvie and I into town
briefly for a small shop and then back out to the boat in
mid-afternoon.
We will leave early for St Eustatius (more commonly
known as simply 'Statia' to everyone in the Caribbean). The island is not far
from here.
Still here in Montserrat. Anchored in 'little bay'
between Rendezvous hill to the north and Potato hill to the south.
And I have spotted a bay just to the south of us called 'Bunkum Bay'! What
a fab name.
We have had a 'meet old contacts' day and a
sightseeing day. Ashore at 8.30 to clear with(1) customs, (2)port authority,
(3)security - and finally (4) immigration - it was madness!
Charming people making mountains of quite un-necessary paperwork - about 5 or 6
times as much as in the French Islands (where you complete 1 form on the
computer in 5 minutes)! Anyway, it was all done with a smile on the
officials' faces, and we sat and talked to the local port policeman while
waiting for the immigration officer (I was sitting at his desk) to arrive
from the airport, while in their designated 40 ft air-conditioned
container!
Once cleared, we looked for a taxi, and soon saw
the immigration officer drive up, so hitched a lift with him to an old
customer's store. After that, we were taken by yet another old customer to
his business, where we spent some time. I had known the family quite well but
that was 15 - 20 years ago when I visited the island on a regular basis.
They then organized a taxi for us, and we went off for lunch in the house of
George Martin (see yesterday's blog). He lives in it for 4 - 6 weeks a
year, and the rest of the time it is a small hotel with 6 rooms. It was
lovely - quite simple and non-ostentatious.
After we saw around the house, our taxi driver took us
on a volcano sightseeing trip. We had to stop for Thomas (our
driver) to pick mangos for us, and then Thomas spotted his local (Jehovah's
witness) minister walking up the road with a large plastic bag - he offered
us some more mangos from the bag. Thomas would stop and talk to passing
friends and acquaintances, and introduce us at the same time. We had a
very amusing time.
Finally we got some amazing views of the volcano (which
is still very active - but not with violent eruptions). We were driven
across a large old boulder-strewn riverbed where a golf course had
once been. Thomas was trying to explain how deep the ash flow that we were
driving across was - he pointed to a roof that was half obscured by ash at
ground level - and then produced a photo of the same old colonial house
taken years ago. The house had been three stories and we were
looking at the very top of the upper-most roof that was
half-buried!
As we drove up a very steep road to get the best view of
the volcano, Thomas suddenly pointed at the area where the steady stream of gas
and smoke was emerging from and exclaimed that there was a sudden surge in
activity (which we could clearly see with a massive 'burst'of grey cloud.)
He was amazed, since it was the largest activity that he had seen this year.
(Maybe he says that to all his customers I say cynically!) I don't
think so - he was just a little concerned about it, and had already noticed
certain roadways being closed off while we were driving about. After an
amazing view of a live and very active volcano, we drove to the MVO (Montserrat
Volcano Observatory ! - didn't you guess?) where we were shown the most amazing
film of the major eruptions since 1995 - and it was scary stuff - this is a BIG
volcano and has gone on for 16 years. Yesterday, as we sailed up the
SW coast, we were just inside the maritime exclusion zone as we sailed up
the SW coast - if I'd been shown that film first, we would have been a
few miles further out!
Must go to bed. It's blowing a hooghly outside and
we are bouncing about all over the place - hope we can sleep until morning. Then
off to Nevis on Saturday.
16:48.13N 62:12.43W
Very sorry that the photos didn't go through last
night. I tried and tried, but the sat phone didn't want to take
them. When I find a reliable wi-fi station ashore, I will send
them.
Thursday 14th April We had
a disturbed night with winds howling down off the mountains surrounding the bay
that we were anchored in in NW Guadeloupe. I was up on deck at 2 am
lashing down the dinghy that had flipped up from it's stowed position on deck,
and checking our anchor and position, to make sure that we were not dragging -
and more worrying, that other boats were not dragging into us. No boats
seemed to drag, so turned in again, and eventually the winds dropped at
dawn.
Most yachties can count the number of really good sails
that they have experienced on two hands. The forecast for today
was for light winds from E'ly direction, so it sounded like quite
an unexciting sail (probably motoring all the way) to come
for our 39 mile trip north to Montserrat. So what a wonderful surprise
when , against all expectations, the forecast was wrong! It remained
cloudy (but the drizzle and rain had finally stopped after two days), so
the temp was still pleasant. After a brief row ashore for breakfast we
weighed anchor at 9.30 am and we soon realised that the
next boat in the anchorage were frantically waving at us - it was our
immediate neighbours from Las Palmas - at the start of the ARC in November
- a Dutch couple who we had only briefly seen after the ARC finished in
December. So we circled their boat for a chat and then set off NNW for the
'Emerald Isle of the Caribbean'. We hoisted sail and soon the wind
freshened until we had a perfect broad reach sail all the way with 15 - 20 knots
of wind on the beam in calm seas. 'Catou' was doing 7 - 8 knots
nearly all the way.
Montserrat is known as 'The Emerald isle of the
Caribbean' - I used to travel here regularly prior to a series of
dreadful natural disasters. On entering the island, your passport was (and
still is) stamped with a green shamrock! A strong Irish connection - which
is still fostered today. 300 years ago the Irish Catholics in St. Kitts
didn't get on with the British Protestants, and ended up in this charming gem of
an island. It developed Irish connections which are still here
today. I used to have a customer called Mr. Dublin, and a buyer at another
company was called Mr. Irish - and there is a Cork Hill and
a Kinsale district and so on.......
In the 1980's the island had a famous recording studio
where the big names in the pop world would come and record their albums.
The studio was owned by Sir George Martin - of Beatles fame, and apparently in
those days is was quite possible to walk round any corner in the island's
capital of Plymouth and bump into Paul MCartney or Mick Jagger or some such pop
idol of the time. Sadly, all those days are long gone now.
Montserrat was hit by one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit any Caribbean
island in the early 1990's (Hurricane Hugo). Winds touched 200 MPH and the
hurricane stopped over the island for nearly 12 hours and blew everything
apart. The next day not a blade of grass - or a leaf on a tree was
left. I remember the owner of the hotel I used to stay in telling me that
the vertical wooden timber pillars holding the hotel bar roof on had been
painted every year for the 16 years that they had been at the hotel, and they
were stripped to bare wood after Hugo had struck!
As with all Caribbean people, the
Montserratians are a very resilient bunch, and they soon started to
re-build their lives and homes. But then an even bigger disaster
struck. In 1995 the dormant volcano in the southern 'Soufriere hills'
began to grumble and soon huge eruptions followed. The lovely capital,
Plymouth was quickly abandoned as the town was filled with ash. Lava
and ash flows spread down from the Soufriere hills and across the southern part
of the island. The whole southern end of the island was abandoned and a
huge exclusion zone was enforced. The population dropped from about 11,000
people in !995 to just over 4,000. Many went to England (Montserrat is one
of the few British colonies left in this region). Eventually in 2003 the
huge volcanic dome collapsed and the volcano showed every sign of going to
sleep. As clear-ups started and some house rebuilding got going, new
eruptions in 2006 and 2008 put paid to further activities - and that's how it
remains today. A new town in the north has developed, and we hope to visit
it tomorrow and meet some old customers while we are here.
As we closed the south coast this afternoon we came up
past the old capital of Plymouth, downwind of the volcano. The scale
of the ash flows and the devastation is amazing to
see. Plymouth has disappeared - just the tops of the
taller modern buildings still show. It's an abandoned ghost town
clinging to the hillside. We have some photos that we will try and
put on the blog very soon. The smell of sulphur, even 1 1/2 miles off the
coast was quite distinct. The whole southern area is like a black/white
moonscape picture amongst the green surrounding hills.
In the early 1990's Sylvie was out here with me in
Montserrat and we went on an expedition right into the Soufriere crater - I
might not have been so enthusiastic if I'd known it was about to blow up
within 3 or 4 years!
Arrived in the anchorage - only one other yacht - and it
was a Malo like ours - so they were most surprised to see us!
So we asked them on board for a drink and then back to their
boat for supper. It is a Malo 42 called 'Dreamcatcher of
Jersey'
Must go to bed!
16:18.36N 61:47.88W
Wednesday 13th
April We rowed ashore for breakfast at 8.00
am, thinking that Terre d'en Haut, capital of Iles des Saintes would be
alive with locals. It was only just waking up. After a night of
drizzle and some heavy rain, we were surprised that it stopped raining when
we went ashore. We found a very suitable boulangerie which also
served breakfast, so we sat and watched the locals for 1/2 hour, and watched the
town wake up and come to life.
We returned on board with a fresh baguette and some
fruit, and weighed anchor at 0945 hrs and motored out through the islands
before hoisting the mainsail. There wasn't much wind to start with, but as
we approached the SW corner of Guadeloupe, the wind picked up and we had a
lovely sail on a broad reach around the corner as we started to work our way up
the west coast of Guadeloupe. As we progressed up the coast, we were in
the lee of the island, so the wind became more 'fluky' and varied, so the race
with a French and Swedish yacht was more fun. We could see Montserrat
very clearly at well over 30 miles - our destination for tomorrow.
We could clearly see the huge volcano in the Soufriere mountains at
the southern end of Montserrat. Difficult to tell if it was ash or cloud
at the top. The volcano is still very much alive. More of that
tomorrow.
The sea was very calm as we sailed northwards up the
Guadeloupe west coast (being in the lee of the island), so we had the
chance to do some cleaning and scrubbing on 'Catou'. Eventually we arrived
at the tiny bay and small 'town' of Deshaies. It is a deep inlet
surrounded by hills and is an attractive fishing village near the NW corner
of the island. Apparently there are 'spectacular botanical garden's'
- so, if it stops raining tomorrow, we will investigate in the
morning. The pilot book warns us of some violent winds dropping off the
mountains and into this bay, so am not sure if I will sleep well
tonight!
After dropping the hook at 1620, we rowed
ashore to explore the town. First stop was a gas station to fill
two of our diesel cans with 40 litres fuel (just as a
precaution). After humping the fuel cans back to the dinghy, which we
had run up onto a nearby beach (the pilot book told us where the gas
station was!) we then we took a stroll around the village. Very
quaint, but Wednesday is a sort of 1/2-day, so many places were
closed. We found the place to check-out of Guadeloupe (immigration) since
we are leaving for Montserrat in the morning. The rain had stopped before
we came ashore, but it started again by the time we rowed back to 'Catou', so we
were soaking by the time we got on board. It had been our intention to go
ashore for a meal, but the weather was very iffy, so we decided to eat on
board.
We have had two full days of totally overcast
weather together with on/off drizzle - it has been wonderful! The
weather has been cool and damp - just suits we northern Europeans sailors in
this part of the world! Forecast is not brill. More cloudy weather
and very light winds - so it could be engine power sadly tomorrow.
|
Mount Pelee, St Pierre, Martinique. Doesn't look like
it could kill 30,000 people in
minutes. |
|
Waiting for a
call! |
|
Main Street, Terre d'en Haut, Iles des
Saintes |
|
Racing a Frenchman up west coast
Guadeloupe. |
15:52.08N 61:35.08W
Tuesday 12th April
After a good night's sleep we awoke to a heavily overcast day. A light
drizzly prevailed. We were in Prince Rupert bay in the NW part of
Dominica. We had a quick breakfast and slipped the mooring that we had picked up
the previous evening.
I love Dominica, and Sylvie and I have visited the
island many times, so we had decided to move on to seek out new lands. We
were keen to see some islands that we don't know, in the limited time that we
have. So we pressed on with the drizzle and no wind! We motored out
of the bay and set the main (just in case we found any wind later). As we
motored clear of the northern part of Dominica a light breeze picked up, but we
had to keep the engine running, since there wasn't enough just to sail. It
was only about 18 miles across to a small group of charming islands called Iles
des Saintes which are situated just off the SW corner off Guadeloupe. As
we approached, the weather cleared a little and with a little more wind we had a
lovely sail in through the SW passage between the islands. We sailed up to
the main 'town' and had to tack the last mile to make the anchorage.
After handing sails, we found a great anchorage close in to the little town
of Bourg de Saintes on the main island of Terre d'en Haut.
It all looked very charming - and the pilot book simply
drools over the place: Irresistable charm...love at first sight....adorable
seaside town....... white sandy beaches....flowers in abundance .... AND it
all seems to be quite true! We dropped the hook at about 12.30pm and after
digging the dinghy out from the depths of a deep locker, blowing it up
and rowing ashore (in the by now, steady light drizzle), we located
the bins to dump our rubbish and settled down to a late lunch in an empty
waterside restaurant.
Since we were still illegal immigrants, we went in
search of the 'Marie' where we completed the necessary immigration formalities
for crew and boat. We then went in search of a boulangerie and some small
shopping items. By this time the drizzle was steadier and heavier, so we
aimed for the dinghy pontoon and rowed back to 'Catou' for a peaceful and wet
afternoon. It was a great shame, since this really does look a very pretty
place, and we had wanted to hire bikes to visit the island. The old church
was pretty, but I slipped on the wet steps outside (no damage done!) as we were
coming out, and there was little else we could do in the rain other than go back
on board. The tourist shops were looking rather sad with no
customers. Most of their trade comes from day visitors coming across from
Guadeloupe on one of several ferries that were moored on the main town
jetty. A few bedraggled tourists who had braved the weather that morning
were sploshing their way back to the ferries. So we climbed into a very
wet dinghy and rowed back.
These islands have always been French. The small
communities that have lived here have mostly relied on fishing as a way of
life. There are strong links to northern France, especially Brittany
apparently. Tomorrow we are heading up the west coast of Guadeloupe
to a small fishing town near the NW corner of the island. We will then
move on to the ' Emerald isle of the Caribbean' -
Montserrat.
We have a couple of photos to add to the blog
today:
|
Ken cleaning Catou's bottom in Rodney
Bay |
|
The scrubbing team. Guess which is
me? |
|
Chart plotter showing our Caribbean route so
far |
|
Church in Bourg de
Saintes |
15:34.80N 61:27.71W
Just a reminder - to get to the blog - it's www.mailasail.com. Then click on web
diaries and blogs, then when you see the list of boat names, just click on
Catou. Up will come a position map. No photos added yet
though. Hope to do so in next couple of days.
Monday 11th April 2011. Yesterday was our
first night at anchor on this trip. As mentioned in yesterday's blog
(No.60), it was in the St Pierre Bay, Martinique - and it was
wonderful. Not a mosquito in sight and a calm night with no wind OR rain
so no getting up to close the windows and skylights. AND it was cool, so we
slept very well. During the last few months we have seen
lots of marine life, but until we arrived in Martinique we hadn't seen a full
sized turtle on our travels - that is until Sylvie spotted one slowly
swimming by as we were about to anchor. It was a memorable
sight.
We weighed anchor at 7am and set the sails just outside
the bay. We were very sheltered by the northern hills of Martinique so
didn't really pick up any wind for nearly 2 hours, so had to keep the engine
running for a couple of hours. Eventually we had a lovely reach sail
across the channel between northern Martinique and southern Dominica. We
had a few tropical squalls and it was heavily overcast all day - it was just
like sailing in the English Channel. And it was cool for a change - we loved
it!
After we passed the southern tip of Dominica, we had to
start the engine as the wind died on us. We were several miles off-shore -
to try and avoid the wind-shadow that Dominica has, but it seems that it is
bigger than we thought! Dominica is the most beautiful and green
island. It is quite unlike any other Caribbean island, with mountains
reaching over 4500 ft. It is most certainly one of my favorite islands in
the region. It's said that if Columbus came back today, it's the only
island that he'd still recognise - it still has so much of it's natural
beauty.
After a fairly uneventful trip we reached our intended
destination in Prince Rupert Bay - where Dominica's second town of Portsmouth is
situated at the north of the island. Surprisingly it has a large American
university here, which helps the local and island economy. I
regularly drive here on my Dominica visits, since we have an important customer
in the town. As we approached the anchoring area, a local boat came out to
offer us a mooring - which we accepted and paid him the US$10 fee - it saves a
lot of work and worry with anchoring. This chap turned out to be very
useful. We were running a bit low in diesel fuel and I had 3 x 20 litre
fuel cans on board, so I asked him if he would run me across to the local Texaco
garage which I knew was close to the beach. I asked him his fee, and he
said $30 - so I offered him EC$50 if he helped me to carry the cans from the
garage - I was very pleased for the assistance, and we sped across to the beach,
filled the cans, and sped back. While Sylvie prepared supper, I syphoned
the fuel cans into the main fuel tank and that will help with our fuel reserves
during the next few days. So once the fuel was transferred and the meal
cooked, we settled down to an aperitif and dinnerwith the smell of ganja wafting
in our direction from somewhere close by! Yah Mon
14:44.69N 61:10.64W
Thursday 7th April. Sylvie and I flew out
to re-join 'Catou' on Thursday. Arriving in the early afternoon in a hot
St Lucia we collected our car and drove to the boat (via a few
customers to drop some catalogues in along the way) at the opposite end of the
island. After a basic food shop, we arrived at our friend Mike's house
(where 'Catou' was safely moored), just as he was arriving home, so after a
brief unpack, we had a couple of cold beers (kindly supplied by Mike, since we
hadn't switched on the fridge yet) and went out for an early meal to the
close-by marina. We crashed out quite early (due to jet-lag) and
after a battle with a hot and humid night + sleep interruption while
opening/closing windows during rain squalls - AND a battle
with mosquitoes, we managed a moderate sleep but were both awake at
0400hrs !
Friday 8th April There was a busy
day. We had to call in on a couple of customers. We also called in
to say hello to Camilla who runs the hotel I always stop at. After being
surprised to see us, she insisted on opening a bottle of champagne, so by the
time we left we didn't feel much like visiting customs and excise - but we had
to - to clear out with the immigration dept, since we were leaving St
Lucia over the w/end. A big shopping expedition followed + a few
other jobs, and we arrived back on board to stow the stores and other
gear. We were so tired that we were in our bunks at 8.45 pm and with the
usual mosquito and rain squall interruptions managed a reasonable night's
sleep.
Saturday 9th April At a somewhat later time
than arranged, Mike's pal Ken + a couple of Rasta friends, boarded Catou and we
cast off to motor outside the marina and into Rodney bay to anchor and
clean Catou's bottom. Though we had lifted, scrubbed and painted her on
the 18th November (just before leaving Las Palmas) the state of Catou's bottom
was bad - very bad, after 4 months in tropical waters. As we maneuvered
off the berth at Mike's house, I could feel she was very weedy. She would
not maneuvered properly and was only doing 1/2 her normal speed. After
anchoring in clear water outside the marina, we dived down to inspect the
hull. It was thick, thick with marine growth, barnacles, weed, and
lots of nasty stuff! Ken, and one of his Rasta pal's (the other stayed on
deck and did nothing other than smoke a spliff!), and myself dived down to
inspect Catou's bottom. It was grim, very grim! we started with the
prop and rudder which were dreadful. Ken had brought along some 9"
scrapers and the barnacles came off by the cloud full as we worked
along, wearing just a face mask (goggles) and a snorkel. As you come up
for air, your arms, shoulders, knuckles, hands or back catch the odd
barnacle still stuck to the hull, and boy, does it hurt. I lashed the
mooring lines around the hull from each side, and they helped as a method of
pulling yourself downwards and fighting against your body's natural
buoyancy. After 3 hours the hull was pretty clean and we were ready to go
back in so Sylvie and I could complete a few last minute things ashore. In
the evening we took Mike out for another meal to thank him for looking after
Catou and turned in at about 10.30pm
Sunday 10th April We were up at about 6am
and started preparing Catou for sea. Mike came aboard fro breakfast at
7am, and, after a clear up and some final jobs, we slipped the moorings outside
Mike's house at 0755 and motored out into Rodney bay. After clearing the
marina, and well out in Rodney bay, we set sail and soon stopped
the engine and had a lovely sail northwards to Martinique, where we had decided
to anchor for the night. We had a fast passage northwards
touching 8.5 knots in moderate seas. It was a great sail, and as we
approached the southern end of Martinique we were clearly able to pick out the
massive 570 ft high Diamond Rock off the south coast of the island.
Now here's an amazing story - The British navy, short of ships in 1804, when
Britain and France were slogging it out in the Napoleonic wars, decided to 'man'
the Diamond rock - to lob some cannon balls at the French fleet. They
renamed the rock 'HMS Diamond Rock' and proceeded to land a full crew of men,
together with cannons (which had to be dragged and heaved up vertical cliffs of
rock) and water and supplies. They sat there for 18 months firing at
any unsuspecting French ships that went by. They shared the rock with
an infestation on snakes. What an amazing thing to do - I imagine that the
French must have had a few pot-shots back at the rock as well - most
uncomfortable it must have been.
Anyway, we sailed north up the west coast of Martinique
and approached St Pierre bay near the northern end of the island at 1500
hrs. St Pierre is famous for one thing - it is the Caribbean's
Pompeii - it sits at the foot of Mount Pelee. On the 8th May 1902,
after a few days of ominous warnings, the whole side of the mountain erupted and
a giant fireball of super-heated gas flowed down over the city killing 30,000
(the entire population). The only survivors were a murderer, locked in the
local jail and a cobbler. 12 ships were also destroyed while at anchor in
the bay. Have to say Mt Pelee doesn't look very threatening from where we
are anchored, but I did look up when I heard a rumble in the late afternoon
(turned out to be a truck moving along the coast road!)
Must go and try and remember how to sent a blog on the
sat phone.
More to follow.
Best wishes
Paul and Sylvie
12:02.60N 61:44.95W
We sailed from Carriacou at about 9 am and had a
wonderful sail for the 35' south from the island, and around an exclusion
zone that marked an undersea volcano just off the north coast of Grenada,
that goes by the wonderful name of Kick 'em Jenny (it's actually named after
a rocky islet close by). From there we sailed down the west
coast of the lovely island of Grenada. It was a perfect day and we
had a lovely sail, until we approached the island's capital of St.
Georges. We dropped the sails and motored into the new marina at the
southern end of the beautiful twin-cratered harbour overlooked by
the town of St. Georges built on the hillside surrounding the
harbour. It really is one of the loveliest harbours in the whole
Caribbean.
We tied up in the marina, made ourselves known, and
tidied up, had a shower and checked out the marina's restaurant for an evening
meal. This was the southern most point that 'Catou' is
visiting. Pam and Brian were booked to fly back to London on the
30th Dec, and Sylvie and I were flying over to Barbados on the same day
- for two days, to collect my suitcase and briefcase which I had left with
friends there.
Before we all flew off though, we hired a car on the
29th, and drove Pam & Brian across the island. We stopped at the Grand
Etang crater lake right in the middle of the island, and after a walk to
the lake, and a visit around some tourist stalls, we continued across to the NE
side of the island and the town of Grenville, and then up to an old plantation
mill called the Belmont Estate for a late lunch. After lunch we
wandered around the estate and saw the cocoa beans being dried in their
huge slide out trays. There is a local chocolate company in Grenada, and they
make the chocolate at the estate. We sampled some in the shop, and bought
some to eat in the car on the way back to St. Georges.
On Thursday, we said good bye to Pam and Brian at the
airport, and left them to check in for their Virgin flight to London, while we
went off to catch a plane to Barbados.
Since then, 'Catou' has been safely tied up in St.
Georges marina here in Grenada. On our return from Barbados, Sylvie
and I set to on board and had an afternoon of cleaning. Sylvie then
left Grenada on 5th Jan to visit some customers in Guadeloupe and Martinique
before flying home on 10th Jan, while I have also had to switch into 'work mode'
(after two months away from the office) and start my January sales trip.
I am booked to visit St. Vincent (by air) on
Sunday 9th Jan for 4 days, and then back to Grenada on 13th. The following
week I shall sail 'Catou' northwards (weather permitting) to St. Lucia
where I intend to leave her for a couple of months, awaiting our next
plans!