St. Pierre,

Martinique
14.45.555N
61.10.660W

Our sail started off slow but ended up rather exhilarating.

We hoisted our anchors at 7 am and made our way out of Portsmouth, Dominica. It was a long open harbor and took almost a half hour just to leave. We turned and either hoisted or unfurled our main sails and then returned to our course for leaving.

We motored out a ways and then slowed to see what the wind was doing. Then we continued our motoring for the next couple of hours. Once, before we reached the end of the island, the winds teased us and we unfurled our jib and shut off the engine. We sailed along briskly for about a half hour and then it was back to motoring as the on shore breeze was stronger than the trades and made for a stalemate where we were located.

We saw a couple of dolphins, the first for quite some time now and we had a stowaway for a short time hiding on one of our back seats protected by a fender.

Near the southern end of Dominica, we could see wind on the water. The rest of our sail was between 6-8kts all the way to Martinique. Of course, Orpailleur left us in their wake. We used the autopilot for most of the way but towards the end we each took a turn at hand steering and made some noticeable headway on Gerry/Nicky. For the briefest of times, we played who goes where with another boat approaching on a collision course with us. Dale was on the wheel but I saw the boat under our jib. The other guy was on a starboard tack, so Dale turned up wind. The other boat must not have thought that we were going to turn in time so he turned in the same direction, then we all did it again in the opposite direction. Then one more time just for the sheer terror of it. Finally, we passed starboard to starboard and with a respectable amount of space between us.

As we approached the harbor in St. Pierre, a large black cloud passed over the town and out to where we were. We slowed our speed and waited for the rain to pass. On our previous trip down island, I had placed a waypoint near where we needed to go. Today, it was easy to just turn on the autopilot and plug in the waypoint and slowly make our way into the anchorage while keeping a sharp lookout for any other boats doing the same thing.

We reached our waypoint as the rain subsided. We still had about another half mile to travel but at least the rain was gone. We entered the anchorage and remembered that you were practically on the beach before you ever reached anchoring depths. Our first attempt Dale wasn’t comfortable with. Our second left me anxious about being too close to another boat, we finally circled around and dropped a 3rd time just a little behind where our second attempt was so that we settled behind the boat I was concerned about. Gerry & Nicky anchored somewhere near where we tried the first time. They didn’t drag but Gerry said that he wasn’t real comfortable about the feel of it either and that they would stay where they were.

We finished our day with a quick dinner of stuffed baked potatoes. I had already finished cooking when the microwave just turned off. At first I thought that because I had left the door open, the light turned off automatically after a period of time. When I saw that the whole oven had turned off, I thought of a circuit breaker tripping. When that wasn’t the case, I called my handy, dandy repair man who said that he’d try to fit me into his schedule tomorrow sometime.
Our biggest concern right now is: how do we get the dang thing out so that he can look at it. It’s definitely a project that needs the light of day to shed some light on the situation.

There’s always fun in the sun.

Portsmouth,
Dominica
15.34.872N
61.27.829W

What a long day. A great day but long nevertheless.

It began at 7 am when Dale started the genset so that it could run its full course before we headed out for an island tour. We had not toured Dominica on our first trip down, so we were anxious to see what we had missed.

Jeffrey, our boat boy, had arranged for Andrew to pick us up at 8 am but when we arrived at the docks, he made his apologies and said that he had hired Michael “Budda” to be our guide for the day. This turned out to be to our advantage as Budda is a botonist and was very knowledgeable about the plants and flowers that Nicky and I were interested in.

We headed north around the island and Budda would stop periodically to pick a few leaves of bay, lemon grass, citronella, anise or point to custard apples, bread fruit, bread nuts, nutmeg, cocoa, apricots, bananas, red bananas, grapefruit, pineapple and a host of various trees or flowers. I think I snapped 200 photos today.

We toured a Caribe Indian village, an emerald pool at the base of a waterfall and had a lunch of local cuisine. We walked through rainforests where we saw and heard various birds and Budda would tell us stories of various politicians that had run amok or tales his grandmother had told him when he was a child.

He spoke highly of a woman who had lived to be 120+ years old and said that it was the government that had killed her. His reasoning was stretched but we got the drift. Due to her age, she came to the attention of the government. They wanted to take care of their “national treasure.” Budda never said that she was a Rasta but he said that she believed in the natural way of life and never ate anything that had chemicals added to it. At some point, medical workers trimmed her long toenails and trimmed them too short. This caused an infection that led to her loosing her feet, then her legs and eventually her life.

We felt that Budda was an excellent guide. At one point a man was walking along the path with a lighted cigarette. Budda was very polite when he told the man that smoking was not allowed in the rainforest as the trees were volatile (there were large no smoking signs everywhere). The man seemed extremely put out but did douse his cigarette until we were out of sight. Budda scooped up a small bit of sap from the tree we were standing next to and told me to smell it. It smelled almost like kerosene. He took a lighter and touched the sap, it ignited immediately and burned like a candle before he snuffed it out.

Budda also told us of his own personal experiences where his father is a black man and his mother is a Caribe Indian. Of the four children from this union, one looks Indian, the other three are black; Budda being one of them. He told us that the Caribes have a long standing hatred of blacks and that his father was not allowed to live with his mother in the Caribe village. Once the children were out of school, the 3 blacks were no longer welcome in their own village. It’s obvious that he is very hurt, to the point of being bitter, over this situation.

I was extremely impressed with our island tour and commented to Dale on a couple of occasions that once you get out of the main villages, the island was cleaner than most of them down here.
Budda dropped us off at the bank (per our request) and Andrew picked us up once again to take us back to our respective boats. As it was almost 6 pm, we made a mad dash to “Big Papa’s” to retrieve our laundry and have dinner. It has been a very long day, but not one I would have wanted to miss.

Tomorrow, we’ll hoist our anchors and point our bows south again towards Martinique.

Portsmouth,

Dominica
15.34.872N
61.27.829W

Dale & Gerry made their way into the customs dock this morning about 8, while Nicky and I stayed on our respective boats and blogged it. They came back a bit later and said that the immigration official wasn’t in and they had to return to the offices after lunch when he came back.

Until then, Gerry & Nicky went in to check out the laundry facilities and the possibility of an internet connection. As luck would have it, right about the time that they returned with news of a WiFi connection, my computer picked up the signal. Apparently, the electricity was down in town earlier in the morning and when it came back on, so did the internet possibilities.

In the meantime, Dale tried to track down a leak in our water system. When the pump is on, it cycles about once every minute. We’ve also noticed that our bilge pump cycles more often. The only problem, the water system is fresh but the bilge water seems to be salt. He’s working on the problem.

I continued to blog it. For some crazy reason, I take an inordinate amount of time to create these posts. Then I have to edit, then re-edit when the spell check uses the wrong word, and choose pictures and then wait forever and a day to upload them. Once I found out that I could upload pictures from this connection, I went back to my last posts and added the photos that I had wanted to originally. That is, after I read and answered all of our e-mail. Can I help it if it takes me all day?

At 4 pm, Andrew, one of Jeffrey’s guides, came by to pick us up from our boat. The waves coming into the harbor made it pretty confusing to say the least. I dang near went in the drink just getting into his boat. Then we went over to Orpailleur where I threatened to take their picture if they fell in, knowing full well that Nicky’s camera was poised on me during my less than graceful crossing. Once we were all aboard, off we went to the opposite side of the harbor where we were deposited for the guys to go buy our tickets at the gas station across the street for the Indian River Tour. Nicky and I checked out the local crafts. When they returned, we all crawled back into the boat and made our way up the river.

Talk about a trip back in time. I think I mentioned last year that a curve in this river was used in the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Where the witch’s cabin was. In any event. It’s a pretty cool ride. Andrew told us that although Dominica has boa constrictors, they usually don’t attack humans but prey on the local iguanas instead. There’s no doubt in my mind that a boa constrictor would find this area a nice hunting ground. As it was, Andrew pointed out the iguanas in the trees, the various birds and bird nests, the land crabs watching us glide by, as well as the various trees, bushes and flowers.

Dale and Gerry took turns remembering the Disney ride through the jungle and kept saying that around the next corner was where the elephants would squirt us or the hippo would appear from under the water.

One thing that was different from last year, was the end of the ride where a tall, thatched roof building once stood. Inside you could buy extraordinarily strong (rum) Dynamite Punch. Seems the owners either didn’t pay their taxes or didn’t pay their rent and their building was torn down. Looks like someone else is now trying to build on their property and has started with the thatched roof and a little stand selling, you guessed it, Dynamite Punch.

Portsmouth,

Dominica
15.34.872N
61.27.829W

With clocks properly set, we all got up and lifted our anchors at 6:45 am this morning. Normally we like to leave at 7 but since we were dodging a couple of rain showers, it seemed to be in our best interests to leave when we could see. However, as sometimes is the case, there was no wind beneath the clouds. We ended up motoring off and on to the end of the island which was clouded in a fine mist that lasted until the island was out of sight.

Once we passed the southern tip of Guadeloupe, the trades filled in and we started to sail. It was a decent little romp until again, we saw a black cloud looming ahead of us. We brought in our jib to be on the safe side, turned on the radar and plunged into it. Luckily, what little winds were associated with the shower were hardly over 20 kts and soon we exited out the other side and continued to motor the last hour into Dominica.

Well before the harbor entrance and in the pouring rain, Albert, one of the many “boat boys” came roaring up to us in his boat to welcome us to Dominica. We thanked him for his greeting and told him that we had used Jeffrey on Sea Bird last year and would be using him again this year. Orpailleur got the same greeting and unfortunately for Albert, he had the same reply from them as well.

We rounded the headland that protects the northern side of the bay and entered into Portsmouth. There were certainly a lot more boats in this year than there were last but there was room for us in 20’ of water and close to where we wanted to be. I’m sure that Albert had telephoned Jeffrey because we had just dropped our anchor when he pulled up in his colorful boat to welcome us back and ask what he could do for us. We told him that we were interested in the Indian River Tour and possibly one of the tours to the rainforest. No problem mon, 4 o’clock tomorrow, he’d send a boat to pick us up for the Indian River Tour.

Since it was my turn to cook dinner, I went below to start on my lasagna when Dale called me back up. He had found a flying fish plastered to the side of the boat. Quite possibly the smallest one I’ve ever seen. I had been telling Nicky just the other day that we had seen a squadron of small ones that looked like fairies on the water with their wings glistening in the sunlight. This one was much smaller than those. When Gerry came over later, we sent the little guy’s body home with him.

At dinner later, I did my best to fill them up and I guess I must have succeeded since both Gerry & Nicky went home with left over lasagna. Either that or it wasn’t very good and they didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Nah! Nicky would tell me in a most definitive manner that it was not fit for human consumption. And she didn’t, so it must have been edible.

Pigeon Island,
Guadeloupe
16.10.366N
61.46.789W

What time is it anyway?

In spite of the fact that Nicky likes to ease into the morning the way that I do, Orpailleur took off bright and early this morning. We fell in behind, passed the fisherman casting their nets in the early morning light and followed them to our predestined site of Pigeon Island where the Cousteau Underwater Park is located. We sailed the 8 miles there but due to the light winds associated with the morning, we didn’t really get up and go until mid-morning. Once the winds picked up, we scooted right along loosing our “race” with Orpailleur once again. When I asked about this, Dale says its because they have new sails, a battened main and they are probably better sailors than we are. We anchored in the bay across from the park and once secure in our holding, changed into our bathing suits and headed across to the park.

We took the dinghies to the far side where it is shallow and tied to a couple of mooring balls before slipping over the sides and snorkeling around the smaller of the two islands that make up the park. This was a marvelous area and once again, I wished we had brought our scuba gear.

The area where we first started was sandy, with some coral heads and large rocks. We swam between the two islands where it was even more shallow with lots of coral and then along the wall that rose up to make the island. At one spot in about 30 feet of water, I found a statue of a man waving. I tried to free dive down to get a better snap shot. We’ll see if it will upload.

We saw loads of barrell sponges and lots of different types of coral. We swam through clouds of sergeant majors, blue chromises, and goatfish.

I chased a juvenile French angelfish, some foureye butterfly fish and a filefish of some sort with the camera. Dale spotted a flounder that I was able to take a picture of since it wasn’t moving and a black durgon that I wasn’t quick enough to catch. It was a great time. I was delighted to see that when I turned around to see where Gerry & Nicky were, they were right behind us.

Nicky had invited us over for dinner this evening and I had already prepared the salad I was contributing to the meal when Gerry called to ask what time we had. We told him and discovered that they were working an hour ahead of us. We scrambled around checking our various clocks on the wall, on the alarm clock, the chart plotter, etc. All indicated the same time. When we arrived, we learned that they had adjusted their clocks for daylight savings time, which doesn’t effect the Caribbean. Nicky was upset that she had given up an hour of sleep that she didn’t need to. At least now, we’re all working in the same time zone.

Deshaies

Guadeloupe
16.18.376N
61.47.864W

What a Great Sail!

We were ready to leave Antigua at 6:45am but since we had told our neighbors that we would leave at 7, we sat in the cockpit and enjoyed the quiet morning starting to come to life. At 7am, we started the process of lifting the anchor, which can be noisy if you’re anywhere near. This was all the alarm clock our neighbors needed and came up to find us creeping slowly towards them. Sure enough, they had to start their engine and move forward a little to let us retrieve our anchor.

We motored to the entrance of the harbor, turned into the wind and unfurled the main sail to the first reefing point. We turned back toward the entrance and motored out beyond the lee of the island, unfurled the headsail and turned off the engine. We had perfect sailing conditions. The seas were down and the trades were averaging about 15-18 kts all day. The skies were blue except for a couple of white fluffy clouds over the islands. This is what sailing is all about.

At one point during our sail, Dale jumped up and started shouting about seeing a marlin jump out of the water just in front of our boat. He was all excited and said that if it had been 10 seconds later, it would have run into us it was so close. I hadn’t seen it but could tell something had caught his attention. He rummaged around for the cheat sheet on fish that we keep in the cockpit (in case he actually catches something on the line he sometimes drags behind us) and decided that it had to be a white marlin due to its sail size.

He also witnessed a flying fish crash and burn. These little fish often entertain us on long voyages when they launch out of the water and fly over the waves for extended periods of time. They manage to do this by flicking their tails on the crests of the waves to lengthen their flights before diving back into the sea. We’ve watched these little squadrons on just about every leg of our trip. Sometimes having to toss them back into the sea when they tried to fly through the cockpit but slammed into the enclosure. Today apparently, one of the little daredevils, took off, but when it came time to flick his tail on the wave, he misjudged and the wave flicked him which caused him to fly tail over gills into the water sideways.

In spite of the 1-1.5 kt current against us, we slipped into Deshaies, Guadeloupe, about 6 hours after we started, averaging about 6 kts over the course of the trip. We anchored slightly to the port side of Orpailleur and Gerry & Nicky came over to greet us. The guys talked about our various mechanical difficulties and Nicky and I talked about the horrendous crossings we each experienced the day that our paths separated.

As I mentioned before, Orpailleur had lost engine power and had to sail the rest of their trip. They, like us, were making a trip up wind which meant that they were tacking back and forth to their destination in huge seas and then once reached, had to tack back and forth to enter the harbor which was filled with anchored boats, not all of whom had their anchor lights on and the moon hadn't come up yet. They also have headsets, so with Gerry standing on the bow, Nicky sailed according to his directions and tried to keep the wind in their sails. They had quite the time, tacking back and forth among the boats that they could see and the occasional one that they couldn’t. They were able to work their way in to reach a depth of 50 feet, then let out every inch of chain that they had and prayed that they would stay put for the remainder of the night. Luckily they did.

The next day, Gerry tore apart his engine and discovered that they had a bad fuel injector. They rented a car and explored the island via the looking for parts tour. What they found was a diesel mechanic who cleaned their injector and then sold them a refurbished one. Gerry put everything back together and they were able to move to a more secure location within the harbor where we found them. They’ll just use the engine to enter and leave harbors until we can reach Martinique where we know they have a Yanmar dealer.

At least we all back together again.

Falmouth Harbour

Antigua
17.00.708N
61.46.523W

While Dale checked us out of customs and paid our refrigeration bill, I found an internet café and camped out for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. Unfortunately, it was a slow connection and I couldn’t get any of my pictures to load.

We saw Brian & Lisa off Wasabe walking down the street and called them in to join us. We had spoken to them briefly when they arrived via the radio and had promised to catch up with them today. Brian had his computer and logged in while Lisa made the introductions to their new buddy boat named Jalapeño. They told us that they had seen a sign indicating that tonight was sushi night at the marina so, they made reservations on behalf of us all, including Steve and Vicky on True Companions. We caught up between the distractions of working on the computer and then said good bye until we were scheduled to meet up again on True Companions at sundown.

We stopped and greeted our new neighbors on TaiTai, an older, very British couple, who may have anchored over the top of our anchor and have to either pull up or fend off as we leave early tomorrow. They were very nice and said that they thought they might have to move if we left before them. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to sneak by without having to disturb them.

At sundown, Brian brought their parrot Gypsy along for the ride. She’s a beautiful red parrot with a purple breast and bright yellow and purple tail feathers (although she’s kept clipped pretty short). She was looking much better than the last time we saw her when she was going through a molting period (supposedly throwing a temper tantrum while Lisa was off the boat). Gypsy seems to like Dale, or at least his glasses and rubbed her beak all over his shoulder; ‘claiming him’ according to Brian. I hope that I’ll be able to load the picture of her when it comes time to post this section. She really is a beautiful bird.

Later we made our way over to the yacht club for shushi and enjoyed a very tasty and expensive meal. Dale likes sushi as does Brian & Lisa; I like steak. Personally, I think I got the better deal.

Tomorrow will begin with another fairly early morning as Dale wants to get underway by 7am. Hopefully, the sailing will be better than when we arrived.

Falmouth Harbour,
Antigua
17.00.708N
61.46.523W

A quick check of our sat e-mail this morning brought some alarming news. Gerry and Nicky sailed past Montserrat and continued to Guadeloupe. However, they lost their engine power along the way which forced them to continue under sail and into a new harbor late at night. Today they tore their engine apart to ascertain the problem and discovered that they have a bad fuel injector.

Dale checked us into customs and then dropped by the refrigeration people to confirm that we had arrived as scheduled. We were 4th on the list and were told that they would try to make sure we were seen today. Dale got back to the boat and wanted to move us in a little closer to the marinas. We chose a spot just up from where we had originally anchored and already the roll disappeared. We got out the hose and gave the inside of the cockpit a quick wipe down to get all of the salt off. We’re hoping for a little rain shower will pass our way to get the rest of the salt off the outside of the boat.

In the light of day, we recognized that we were amongst the very elite in sailing. The Maltese Falcon (the largest 3 masted sailboat) and a huge ketch are tied in slips just in front of us. Also, as we had surmised, many of the larger racing yachts are in from the Heineken Race and also at the marinas with a couple anchored out with the rest of us mere mortals.

Early afternoon we were contacted to head into the fuel pier and pick up Richard, the refrigeration repair guy. He had fixed our refrigerator last year about this time and we kidded him that we were back for our annual maintenance. He brought a young apprentice with him and with Dale’s assistance, they tore the salon apart to access the compressor and pump. The long and short of it was: faulty wiring.

The culprit was a short in an unknown splice in the wire leading from the compressor to the pump that led through a strake beneath the floor boards at the level of the bilge (which means that it was not visible.) Richard discovered this with his multimeter and the fact that one end was black and the other end was white. We dug out some string, attached it at one end and started pulling. Sure enough the rusty splice came out and promptly fell apart in Dale’s hands. Why anyone would put an unprotected electrical component in a place that is bound to get wet is anybody’s guess. In fact, Richard said that we were lucky that we hadn’t had a fire or explosion considering the potent ional for spilt fuel or oil in the area.

Once this was discovered, Richard told Dale to just re-splice the wire, adding the necessary heat shrink material for protection, then lead it back through again. Dale not only put heat shrink material on each individual wire, he put heat shrink material on the bundle as extra protection. A couple of hours later, we had the salon put back together and the refrigerator going. Now we’re wondering what else is lurking in inaccessible areas.

Steve & Vicky on True Companions and Brian & Lisa on Wasabe heard us talking on the radio earlier in the day and contacted us to get together with them in the evening. We had last seen True Companions in Grenada and Wasabe in Trini. As much as we would have liked to visit with each of them, we’re still exhausted today. So we declined the invitations and promised to get together tomorrow as a check of the weather had 9’ seas and we’re going to wait until they decrease a bit before heading back out again.

In the meantime, we offered to run down a fuel injector for Gerry and found out that we could get one here in 24 hours if necessary. However, Gerry & Nicky are taking a tour of Guadeloupe and will look for one there. Hopefully, they’ll let us know in time should they want us to bring one with us when we leave.

Since we’re going to be here another day, I’ll head into a marina tomorrow and see if I can find an internet café.

Falmouth Harbour,
Antigua
17.00.670N
61.46.670W

Happy Birthday Gary! You know you’re getting older . . . when your knees buckle and your belt won’t!

At 6:13am we lifted our anchor, unfurled our main to the first reefing point, radioed our good-bys to Gerry & Nicky who would be continuing on to Montserrat, and made our way out around the north of Nevis. We anticipated that this would give us a better sailing angle to Antigua.

On this adventure we tried the southern channel between the protective reefs and made our way clear of them according to our chart plotter. Of course the second we turned to find our angle of sail was the first time we saw shallow water. The charts showed a shallow spot behind us, so we figured that it must have been a shifting sand bar and headed out a little further. This time the anticipated depth was reflected on the depth sounder so we continued on.

Alas, this ended up being a very uncomfortable trip. The forecast was for 4-6’ swell, E winds at 15kts. The reality was 4-6’, heavy on the 6’ with the occasional 8’ thrown in for good measure. The winds were more South of East and directly on the nose at 20-25. It was going to be a pinch in any event but with what we encountered, we rolled in the main, continued motoring and had to hand steer the whole way.

It was a challenge to ride the waves without pounding or getting more water in the boat than around the boat. To do this we found the best way to keep from going too far off course was to steer downwind going up the wave and upwind going down the backside of the wave. The trick was timing this during what little interval we had between the waves. Most times it worked but there were sets of larger than normal waves mixed in with the average ones that forced us to alternate between the two methods of piloting and proved to us that not all of our water tight hatches - - actually are. This also gave us our workout for the day.

We ended up taking 2 hour shifts because we’d get so tired. At one point, Dale misinterpreted the chart plotter and steered us closer to the island. This actually helped us in the long run as it put us closer into the island’s lee, knocking down the wave heights a bit to increase our speed but did make the route a bit longer considering we were already racing the sun into a new harbor.

When we rounded to the south of Antigua where Falmouth was in sight, the waves were back up again and seemed even larger than they were originally. A dismasted sailboat grounded on a reef was a visual reminder that things could still go wrong.

The sun had already set and we had done our best to memorize the charts and cruising guide suggestions as we entered into Falmouth Harbour. There was enough light to recognize the buoys that lay up ahead marking the channel and even though they didn’t match the charts, I trusted Dale’s knowledge of navigational aides. Apparently more buoys have been added to help guide the mega yachts to the two marinas within. It looked as if all of the big boys from the Heineken Races had come here to rest.

It was well past dusk as we entered the channel and then picked a spot near one of the outlying boats anchored off the channel. We dropped our anchor in 20’ of water, made a quick dinner, sent an e-mail to Orpailleur to let them know we had made it and called it a night. The Palace is covered in salt that needs to be rinsed off and already we can tell that it’s a little rolly where we are but that all can wait for tomorrow.

Photo of Gypsy Palace taken by Orpailleur on the way from St. Barts to Nevis.

Charlestown Harbour,
Nevis
17.08.998N
62.37.865W

At 3am this morning, we slipped our mooring and fell in behind Orpailleur leaving the anchorage in St. Barts. Our plan was to get out of the protected area and if the winds were as predicted, we would sail to Antigua. Our Plan B was to sail to St. Kitts or Nevis. Within the hour we opted for Plan B. The winds never did swing east and the 10-15 kts were actually more like 20-25. It was a boisterous ride no matter which way you looked at it. I had things falling that have never fallen, even in squalls.

Once we got in the lee of St. Kitts, we lost most of the winds and what was left was directly on the nose. So we motor sailed. When the waves started to beat us up and required tacking just to get a more comfortable ride, Dale and I opted to cut the engine again and sail. We were in luck, some of the winds whipping around the mountains we could actually use. Gerry & Nicky can pinch higher than we can, so while we let the sails spill air for a while, they caught up and left us in their wake.

By late morning, we were actually doing quite well and were enjoying the beautiful day. Early afternoon we found Orpailleur anchored in Charlestown, Nevis, so we angled to the side of them and dropped our hook. Gerry was already in the water and graciously swam over and checked to make sure that it was set properly. Once satisfied that we were going anywhere, we set about tidying up our mess.

As is our custom, we run the refrigerator 3 times a day, usually right after lunch so that I’m not going into it right after its been chilled. Only this time, instead of the plate cooling, it actually heated up. I called my handy, dandy repair man who took it in stride without too much of a retort. Of course that began to gradually change when it clearly wasn’t the water filter and started looking more like the cooling pump had died. Since the air conditioning pump is the same as the refrigerator pump, he disconnected both of them, swapped their attachment points and tried again. This time we had arcing in the compressor area. Not good! He checked his wiring, discovered that 2 were misconnected and tried again. Arcing big time! Really Not Good! He stared at the offending component and did the only thing left to do: called Gerry and told him that we were going to have to break off and head to Antigua regardless of which direction the wind was blowing. We needed our annual refrigerator repair.

Now could this have happened while we were cooling our jets in St. Martin where there are plenty of repair services? No. Could it have waited for another 2 weeks when we’re in Grenada where again there are plenty of repair services? Of course not. Could it have happened yesterday when Wayne on Take Time was in the anchorage and probably knows exactly how to fix the dang thing? Nope! Never in a million years! It has to happen when we’re on a tiny island off the beaten track.

It will take us all day to get to Antigua from here. Dale e-mailed the facility that did the repair last year and hopefully, they’ll be standing by to attack the demon the next day. Gerry & Nicky will continue on and hopefully we’ll be able to catch up with them before they have their boat hauled in Tyrell Bay. We promised them a place to sleep while they are on the hard.

In the meantime, Dale reconnected the original pump to the air conditioner and fired up the generator. Yep! It still worked. Must be the compressor or the control relay in the compressor. We started putting things back together and with all of the water hoses on and off, we now have an air bubble in our watermaker. Dale’s exhausted, we’ll worry about that little problem tomorrow.

Now you know this didn’t happen when the refrigerator was near empty. It’s stuffed to the gills. So I’ve emptied the ice maker’s supply of ice in a couple of zip locks and dropped one in each side of the refrigerator and freezer. I’m actually trying to make a piece of block ice while we’re at anchor, so that it won’t spill while we’re underway tomorrow. Wish me luck and say a prayer that Antigua will have the part on hand and I won’t need to have a barbeque and invite the whole anchorage.

Photo of Gypsy Palace taken by Orpailleur.

Colombier,
St. Barthelemy
17.55.351N
62.52.241W

As planned, we rose somewhat early and hoisted our anchor by 8 am so that we could meander through the anchorage to the channel leading to the bridge on the French side of the lagoon. It is a fairly long, narrow channel with one 30 degree turn and another 90 degree turn. Drifting to either side of the channel meant going aground. The only time things got a little interesting was when the boat behind me decided that I was going too slow and passed me in the channel. Dale, riding point, suggested we speed up a little but not too much. We were using the buoy markers, since our chart plotter wasn’t even close to being right. We stayed in the channel, avoided the shallow spots and made it to the bridge seconds before it was due to open. We were about the 8th boat in line. As Gerry & Nicky made their way through the bridge, Nicky crawled out of the cockpit, turned around and snapped a photo of us.

We exited the bridge channel, turned immediately right to avoid the sand bar directly in front of the channel (nothing is ever easy) and then made our way to Rainbow Rider. We had been trying to hail them on the radio with no luck. Ever since we had dinner together the other night, I’ve been trying to give Linda a book I have that she hadn’t read. So we did the next best thing; a fly by. We maneuvered upwind of them, turned to pass them port to port, got as close as we could, then tossed the book into their cockpit. Gary came out looking like he was going to rip us a new one. Then confused when he recognized who it was and saw us circle behind them. Dale yelled over that we had just completed an underway book replenishment exercise. Looking around they found the book. We waved our good bys, continued around the front of them, then caught up with Orpailleur who were just unfurling their jib.

We had made the conscious decision to go out the French side bridge and around the northern side of St. Martin instead of the Dutch side which was actually closer to our destination but would require pinching hard to get to our destination on St. Barts. The northern route was longer but had a better angle on the wind. Of course this was all calculated on the forecasted wind direction/speed and wave height/interval. We unfurled our jib and motor sailed with Orpailleur along the northern coast, turned along the eastern coast and right into a band of rain showers. In came the sails and we continued our motoring.

Once the rain showers passed, Dale asked me what I wanted to do since the winds were coming from much further south than we had expected and meant that we weren’t going to there from here. I prefer to sail, even if it means tacking a few times. Orpailleur continued motoring, we took off for Puerto Rico. Once we had passed the rocks we needed to dodge, we tacked back until we came close to the backside of same rocks we had dodged the first time. We tacked back out again and then back in.

Normally, I really enjoy sailing up wind. Today, it just seemed frustrating. Dale and I usually work pretty good together. Today when I was handling the lines, Dale said to ease the main; I eased the jib. When Dale was handling the sheets through a tack, twice they tangled on cleats; never have they tangled on cleats before. We got within a few miles, furled the sails and turned on the engine.

As we entered the anchorage on St. Barts, we didn’t see Orpailleur at first but did see Take Time. We haven’t seen Wayne and Carol since Trini. As soon as we had secured to a mooring, we gave them a hail and invited them over. What a wonderful afternoon. They even gave us some new places to see in Antigua.

Dale changed the zinks on the propeller shaft after they left and I paddled around the boat a few times to cool off and look at all of the star fish on the bottom. Gerry swam over to discuss options for tomorrow. Except for the wind speed/direction and wave height, the forecast was ‘spot on’ today. Maybe we should have a Plan B in case the same happens tomorrow when we leave at 3 am. We decided that St. Kitts was an easy alternative and possibly Nevis, since none of us have ever been there. Montserrat was discussed but I’m a little nervous about anchoring anywhere near an active volcano. So now I’m off to bed. Three am comes early these days.

Photo: Of us coming through French side bridge from the camera of Orpailleur.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

We made an early trip into the French side this morning to check out of customs. That way, tomorrow morning when we leave, we’ll just pull chocks and go.

On our way back, we perused the straw market one more time. Nicky picked up lots of exotic spices that I’d never even heard of before. When I asked Nicky what she was going to use them for, she told me about a few recipes she has that called for them. I think the lady selling the spices was impressed with Nicky’s knowledge since she readily agreed and added a few other ideas. I bought a mixed blend that can be used on steaks. Guess I’m not so exotic.

We stopped by the bakery for a couple of croissants then returned to our respective boats until early afternoon, when we promised to meet again to go to the airport to visit with Lynn & Peter, our previous landlords and marina mates in Orange Park.

Gerry & Nicky rented a car for the afternoon. We got to the airport early and grabbed a couple of seats in the restaurant overlooking the arrival area. Dale & I have always enjoyed people watching and apparently, so do Gerry & Nicky. From our perch, we could see that once people cleared their baggage from customs, they were directed through a hallway created with glass panels. Depending upon which line they were in, they would walk down the hallway and turn left or down another hallway and turn right. Both lines met back at a central door that emptied into the arrival lobby where they could be greeted. By the time Lynn & Peter actually arrived, we had nick named a few groups of people we witnessed.

There were the turtles, the group of people that would make their way to the central door, then stop and peer around it. It was as if they were afraid of what lay around the next corner. Gerry made the observation that it wasn’t like they could actually turn around and go back the way they had come.

Then we had the sprinters. This was the group of people that once their baggage was cleared, they practically ran down the hallway, through the door, then hit their stride out the chute of welcoming arms. If someone were waiting for these people, they would have to tackle them to say hello.

Then there were the same ones you curse on the freeway. They enter the on-ramp, drive to the end and stop. Everyone behind them have to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting them. Well, apparently they travel and do the same thing. They’d enter the hallway, guide their rolling luggage or trolleys to the central door, turn and enter the chute of welcoming arms, get to the end and stop. Everyone behind them has to slam on the brakes and wait for these people to decide whether to defecate or abdicate.

We also had a couple of single entries that were humorus. One in which a young mother came out the central door and gave her infant baby to a couple of waiting grandmothers, then went back in. The grandmothers were so delighted, they hardly registered when the parents finally were able to make it through.

The best I think were the 4 ladies dressed in hot pink T-shirts that read: ‘My friend Michele is 50 today’. Michele came out wearing a hot pink T-shirt that read: ‘I’m Michele and I’m 50 today’ plus she was wearing a good sized tiara. The mere fact that she was doing all of this was great but the fact that she was doing it with flair was priceless.

By the time Lynn & Peter arrived, we only had 15 minutes to spend with them before they were whisked away for their cruise on a 3 masted sailing ship back to the BVI’s. We caught up as best we could then wished them well. Tomorrow we all sail. Lynn & Peter to the west. The rest of us to the east. Fair winds to all!!

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

About 5 am this morning, I woke up to hear the wind starting to pipe up. I got up and went topside to make sure the bay was staying in place and that no one had moved during the night. With the occasional gust really whipping, I turned on the instruments to get an idea of what was going on. I saw a range of between 6 - 33 kts and coming from a range of 45 degrees on the compass. I really feel sorry for the people racing. There are going to be more blown sails and broken masts in conditions like this.

We made a trip into town for some fresh fruit/veggie shopping then agreed to meet up with Gerry & Nicky at Shrimpy’s to make our internet connections. That’s when things really livened up. We had a fight at Shrimpy’s OK corral over dinghy parking.

As luck would have it, we had set up our computers looking out towards the dinghy dock. I glanced up and saw a man untie Gerry & Nicky’s dink and cast it adrift. Naturally, I told them and Gerry ran out a caught it before it drifted away. He came back in saying that the man was angry about dinghies tied too close to his fishing boat and smacking it with their engines. We continued to watch as the man went a got a pair of bolt cutters and cut the cables holding two other dinks. He then towed the two dinks out of the little marina, across the anchorage and out of sight. With the space now available, the next dink that came in tied up in the exact same place.

When the man came back, he went for his bolt cutters again and Dale went for the people who had left their dink and were at another table in Shrimpy’s. The dink owner, ran outside as the man untied the rope and threw the line in the dink. The dink owner started waving his arms and yelling that he was coming to move the dink but the man looked straight at him and then cut his cable with an unmistakable flair. That was it! A little shoving back and forth and a much heated discussion and the dink owner retrieved his dink and the man retreated into Shrimpy’s for another beer. Dale wandered down to the Harbor Patrol and suggested that they take a look into the situation.

Now, as the two men were in the same café, the heated exchange continued. About this time Don & Diane on Cloud Nine appeared with several people carrying suitcases. They walked out to the pier and looked around. Don bent down and picked up what remained of his cable, Diane assumed that universal “I’m not happy” hands on the hips stance and their guests looked dumbfounded. Another man who had watched the whole thing, turned and pointed towards Shrimpy’s so the whole circus started in our direction again.

Don confronted the man (cutter) and the original dink owner (cuttee) joined in the discussion. The cutter called the marina manager. Finally the cutter threw a punch at the cuttee and missed, then the cuttee threw a punch that connected and drew blood. Somebody called the police. A few minutes later, the police arrived and called the EMS technicians; there was blood after all (and I heard some missing teeth.) The Harbor Patrol Sheriff finally sauntered down.
I felt kind of sorry for the cops. They were trying to listen to everyone’s story and everyone is pointing and talking at the same time. Finally, as things started to quiet down. I saw them. Two more people looking dog tired, walked out to the end of the pier, looking first one way, then the other, then for some crazy reason they looked on the other side of the dock, like the dink sprouted wings or something (Cloud Nine had done the same thing) and the guy who had told Cloud Nine where they could find their dink approached the new people. Sure enough, he turned and pointed to the cops. It just got better and better.

In the end, the cops sorted the whole thing out and the dinks were returned to the rightful owners. No charges were filed against any of the thrown punches or stolen property and the marina agreed to pick up the medical bill for the missing teeth of the man to whom they had given permission to cut the cables.

If you really think about it, justice was served in the end.

Photo: A typical day at the dinghy dock in front of Shrimpy's. From the camera of Orpailleur.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

Today was field day on the Palace. I’m one of those kind of people that likes to live comfortably. I keep my kitchen and bathrooms clean and chase after the dust bunnies when I see one but more often than not, the clutter starts to build. After being in St. Thomas and St. Martin, my souvenir shopping was just tucked into places where they wouldn’t fall if we listed; now they’ve been relegated to their assigned spots until the end of the cruise. Dale tidied up his area, I cleaned up the stateroom and we both attacked the salon.

The Palace was clean and dancing in winds that ranged from 5 to 25 inside of the lagoon today. We’d heard that one of the boats lost it’s mast yesterday in the Heineken Regatta and wondered how things were going today with such extreme changes in velocity and direction.

Our show and tell with Bob & Lorilei went well and we invited Gerry & Nicky to come over afterwards to join us for hors d’oeuvres. They were gracious enough to wait until after Bob & Lorilei left to ooh and aah and tease us about it being the 1st time in a month that we had made the bed (it’s best on a boat in this heat and humidity to leave the bed open and just fold the linens at the end of the bed).

As the sun sank beyond the horizon, we brought out the Mexican Dominos and started to teach Gerry & Nicky the game. We told them that it was part of being a cruiser. We were corrected and told that they are not cruisers, they are passage makers. OK then, they still needed to learn the game to take to all of the distant anchorages that they would be visiting. It’s just one of those things we all do when it’s raining, the boat’s already been scrubbed, and you can’t do anything else.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

This morning bright and early, the guys decided to make a run to Budget Marine and then over to the French side to extend our papers. I was in the process of running the genset and catching up on my blog when I heard Nicky approach. She came aboard slightly exasperated.

Apparently, she made the classic mistake of disconnecting the dinghy from the big boat before she had started the engine. When it was clear that the engine wasn’t going to start right away, she was already too far from the big boat to grab a line. The bad part of the whole thing was that they had removed their remaining oar when they lost its partner. So poor Nicky was trying to start a sticky motor while drifting in the anchorage without any oars. She had visions of landing on a little peninsula called ‘Witches Tit’ and having to be rescued from there. I predicted the headlines would read: “English Woman Rescued from Wild Goats on Witches Tit,” she wasn’t impressed. Obviously, she was eventually able to start the engine and make her way over; embarrassed and probably a little unnerved.

The guys returned and told us how there was a long line at the customs office and that they were told that they didn’t have to extend. I hope the same guy is on duty when we do check out; I prefer having all of our paperwork in perfect order when we’re in foreign countries.

Gerry & Nicky left the Palace and made their way to Shrimpy’s to log onto the internet while Dale & I dropped by Westerleigh to see the Palace’s sistership. Bob & Lorilei have made many of the same modifications that we did, plus a few. I was particularly impressed with their use of black plexiglass to create cupboards in the galley where we had just added a fiddle to keep things in place. They appeared to be easy enough to do and certainly made the galley less cluttered looking. They also removed the settee in the forward stateroom and added another locker like the one already there, which doubled the storage space. She also took out the cabinet in the master head and replaced it with one that doesn’t protrude over the sink so much. All of them good ideas. A couple of which may be future projects on the Palace.

The really bad thing is that now we are doing the same nickel tour for them tomorrow and the Palace is a lot more cluttered than theirs. Dale and Nicky reminded me that we live on our boat, whereas they only spend a few months of the year on theirs. Still, these are very spacious boats when they aren’t stuffed to the gills and they had a naked boat compared to ours. Oh well, I love the Palace and as soon as we get home most everything will be taken off again anyway.

We finished the day with dinner at one of the French restaurants with Gerry & Nicky and Gary & Linda who thought that they were going to head back to California for hurricane season but have since decided that they would go to the ABC’s instead. Cruisers’ plans are always cast in Jello and warm Jello at that.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

The extended crew of Orpailleur stopped by this morning at 7:00 to pick up the CD of photos I made for them before heading to the airport and the first leg of their trip back to England. We really enjoyed Mark & Sue’s visit with Gerry & Nicky and wish them well with the upcoming wedding of their eldest daughter.

At about 9 am, we lowered the dink and headed into the French side of the lagoon and met up with Gerry & Nicky for breakfast of croissants and pastries at an outside café. Our big discussion today was the change in the weather forecast. We had anticipated leaving first thing tomorrow morning for St. Barts, then on to Antigua, however, a new weather pattern is developing which would produce 20-25kts winds and 7-9’ seas. Not what we wanted to be in. That would leave us socked in at St. Barts where we really didn’t want to be for any long period of time. So . . . We decided to stay here until it passes. Race week in St. Martin, hummmm. That would be a first too.

With the decision made to linger longer in St. Martin, we strolled along the quayside occasionally perusing the straw market, then over to the little mall. Passing by the customs office, we realized that we needed to have our papers updated to extend our stay.

We returned to the boats where Dale and I both finished the books we had been reading and were in the process of laying down for a nap when Linda & Gary dropped by and invited us and Orpailleur to go with them to one of the race parties and then on to a piano bar later. Sounds like a plan!

At the appointed hour, we met with Gerry & Nicky as they exchanged charts of the Bahamas with some German sailors for charts of the southern Caribbean. Now that they had charts of where they were going and a little beer money, we stopped in a place called Shrimpy’s where we ate peri-peri. For those of you who have ever had New Orleans barbequed shrimp, peri-peri is very similar but originates from South Africa. Spicy shrimp, yum! Also, it appears that Shrimpy’s is an internet hotspot, so we’ll be heading back tomorrow to upload these posts.
When Gerry & Nicky headed back to their boat early, we continued on with the intention of meeting Gary & Linda at either the race party or the piano bar. We stopped by the race party which was packed with people. Not wanting to venture any further into the thick of it to find them, we continued on to the piano bar that they had told us about.

We arrived early and when the piano player and singer entered there were 3 bartenders and 4 patrons. Clearly they were unimpressed. Just as we were about to call it a night, people started arriving. The race parties must have been closing down. Linda, Gary and an entourage of 8 more entered and clearly they were the party people. The bar livened up and the dancing started in earnest. Dale and I joined in the fun and did our best to cut a rug. We got back to the boat about 11:30pm, the latest we’ve been out in a long time and we still had the genset to run. At midnight, we turned everything off and promised ourselves that we would run it extra long tomorrow.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

Today was Orpailleur’s car trip around the island, so Dale and I made a quick trip to the pharmacy to stock up on our prescriptions, then returned to the boat and read the rest of the day.

At one point, we had spoken with Linda & Gary on RainbowRider and thought that we would get together with them for lunch but the quick repair on their dinghy ended up running much longer than they had originally planned so we scrubbed those plans with ones of getting together for dinner tomorrow night instead.

The husband and wife crew of another boat by the name of Westerleigh dropped by. They have 98’ Hunter Passage 450. We talked a bit about the boats and tentatively arranged to get together with them sometime tomorrow as well to show and tell the ‘upgrades’ we’ve made to our respective boats.

As planned, we met up with Gerry, Nicky, Mark & Rose on the French side of the lagoon for dinner this evening. The Tropicana served an excellent meal and even more excellent desserts. We enjoyed our last night together with Mark & Rose and wish them well on their trip back to England. They’ll fly from here to San Juan where they have a 7 hour layover before taking the next leg to Barbados. They’ll spend the night at a hotel on Barbados, then fly back to England on the 1st of March.

Tonight I made up a CD copy of all of the pictures I’ve been taking since they got here to take with them tomorrow morning. I’m sure they had a wonderful time with their long time friends, Gerry & Nicky, and will take home many more memories of their time in the islands than they will photos.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

Well once again, Dale was right. After surviving a horrid night of swells, he got up early to query the cruisers’ net about customs and going through the bridge. Apparently, they’d had heard the question before. Yes, we could go through without the customs shuffle I was expecting. So, as 9:30 approached, we hoisted our anchor and joined the line to go through the bridge. So did just about every other boat in the anchorage, including some of the big boys in for the race. I tried to keep a margin of safety between us and the big guy in front but apparently a couple of other boats thought that they were already racing and tried to nose in; only one made it. The other guy had to circle around and try to cut someone else off. The sphincter factor was already up a notch entering a new place in 25 kts of wind but with boats powered with an overdose of competitiveness, pucker power was clearly going to rule the day.

As the bridge opened, we started through. Most turned right heading to one or another of the marinas that catered to the mega yachts. We turned left and headed to France; or at least the French side of the lagoon. I have never in my life seen so many boats anchored in one spot so haphazardly; Dutch or French. Dale was on the front with his head set on but with the wind blowing so strongly, I had a hard time hearing him. When I asked that he cup his hand around the mouthpiece to block the wind, I nearly blew an eardrum when he cupped his hand around the mouthpiece and shouted instructions.

We ended up anchoring pretty much on the imaginary Franco-Dutch border through the lagoon as we lined up on the flags I could see on the shore. Orpailleur anchored a bit behind us. Well, at least that’s where they started. Once the anchors were down. I went down for a nap as well. I had been up and down all night with the swells and other boats coming in from the French side to either motor by us or anchor near us.

I heard Gerry come by and speak with Dale at one point but didn’t hear the conversation. A couple of hours later, when we went topside, they were gone. Dale said that he figured that Gerry had moved the boat to be closer to the dinghy dock to keep from getting drenched. In the lagoon, we were out of the swell but the wind still caused enough waves inside to make any distance in a dinghy, a wet ride. As we made our way to the dinghy dock, Dale wondered aloud why Gerry had moved his boat to a spot that was surely more exposed to the fetch than where he had been. I reminded him, it was a shorter dinghy ride.

As luck would have it, we spotted them as we approached the docks and waved them over to say hi. You can imagine our surprise when Gerry said that he had not moved his boat and that it certainly couldn’t have drug anchor the way that it had been set. We believed him. He sets his anchor the same way we set ours; drop, back, set, power back and wait for the bow to dip and watch for the spring forward. It’s set. He was so convincing in his statement, perhaps being so tired when we anchored this morning, we had been mistaken in our judgment of distance. Nope! When we returned to our boat later, Orpailleur was gone again. We saw Gerry in his dink talking with a catamaran owner and pulled over to find out what happened. Sure enough it had dragged anchor.

As close as we can figure, shortly after they left, the anchor pulled up the huge hunk of grass, weeds and mud it had grabbed onto. On its journey across the harbor, it kissed at least one boat gently and continued to collect an assortment of grass, weeds, mud, sand and gunk. An announcement was broadcast on a channel we didn’t have scanned in and 3 other boaters chased it down and deployed the secondary anchor.

When Gerry pulled up his primary anchor, it looked like the creature from the black lagoon. They took a couple pics showing what looked like a 4-5 foot tangle of muck and mire where their anchor should have been. What a mess. But then again, how lucky that the cruising community looks out for one another.

We dinghied to the Dutch side for dinner this evening and slowly putt-putted by the mega yachts lined up in the marinas. Dale & Gerry barely contained their drool, each picking out various “dream” boats; winch envy I’d call it. The tenders on these mega yachts (their version of a dinghy) cost more than our ‘big’ boats. I could go on and on about the differences but you know what? I noticed that they were rocking in the swell last night, just like us.

Simpson Bay
Sint Maartin
18.02.084N
64.06.160W

We got a good night’s sleep last night and started the morning raring to go. Surprisingly, there were many, many more boats in the anchorage than we had first assumed. They hadn’t been showing their anchor lights, so it was a good thing that we had stayed on the outside and not gotten ourselves mixed up in the crowd.

The crew of Orpailleur was moving a little more slowly though so we took off ahead of them. When they arrived, Nicky took the opportunity to tease that I had already made my first purchase at the straw market.

We walked en masse to the customs and immigration office and filled out the necessary paperwork to be allowed access into the country. Being a Sunday morning, the shops were slowly opening and we walked through the town of Marigot pointing out the necessary banks, pharmacy, internet café’s and watering holes.

We took a break at one of the bayside restaurants for a snack and then walked to the bridge that opens into the lagoon. The ladies hit the supermarket just shy of the bridge and the guys went on to scope out the path we’d be taking when it opened at 5:30. With that done, we headed back to where we had left the dinghies. This, of course, was right beside the straw market, so the guys found a watering hole to sit a spell and allowed us to shop without the usual comments of “where are you going to put it” and the “why do need that.”

I think all of us made some type of purchase before we made it around to where the guys were sitting. When we joined them for lunch, we ended up pushing a gentlemen farther and farther toward the center. At one point, one of us commented that it would be easier for him to join us than for him to keep moving further away. Much to our surprise, he did! It ended up that he is a CPA/attorney and was in town for a week working up interest in a new fertilizer that he was taking public. He was very excited about his product and told us all about how it was made and what kinds of yields it was producing. If all that he told us is true, it should be a great boon to the agriculture community. I told him I could use a thimble full for my roses; he promised to send me just about that amount. However, I had to promise to grow one rose with the product and one rose without.

After lunch, we all made our way back to the boats and much to my surprise, Rainbow Rider was anchored right behind us. I jumped into the dinghy and took off to see Linda. She & Gary and their guests, Donna & Toby, had just gotten back from Orient Beach where they had been frolicking around naked. Unfortunately for Linda, she now has parts that are sunburned that should never be sunburned. I didn’t ask about everyone else, they all appeared to have had more than their share of the sun today. We caught up slightly before I left, promising them that Donna & Toby could come look at the Palace before they left, as they were looking to move to a larger boat and were thinking about a Hunter. (Note: the first time I’ve ever hugged an almost naked woman! There are still firsts in life, even at this age!)

I made my way back to the Palace and took a little nap before big rolls from the ocean starting rocking us violently. We knew that the Atlantic swell was supposed to pick up but I guess we figured that we’d go into the inner anchorage when it happened. However, as 5:00 approached and it was time to move in, the swell was making it more dangerous. Both we and Orpailleur draw 5.5 - 6 ft. The channel is 7 foot. With the swell, water was drawn out before racing back through. Gerry had been leery about the channel before but now he just said no and said he was heading for the other side.

Once the decision was made, I jumped back into the dinghy to go tell Linda & Gary our plans (since they weren’t answering the radio) but when I got there, only Donna & Toby were on board. I told them that we were heading to the other side and if they wanted to see the boat, they had to do it right then. They hopped into the dinghy and back to the Palace we went. Dale conducted the nickel tour, they hopped back into the dink, and then I took them back to Rainbow Rider. Once deposited, I headed back to the Palace, Dale & I raised the dink, and we were underway within minutes.

I couldn’t believe that at 5:00 in the afternoon, we decided to go around the island to an anchorage we’ve never been to before and try to get there before dark. We did it! We were doing 6.5 - 7kts all the way but we made it as the sun was setting.

On the way around, the swell was definitely hitting the 8’ mark. Pretty exciting. When we arrived, we found several mega yachts and several of the boats that will be participating the Heineken Regatta. We anchored right next to one named Creightons. I’m not sure if it was the bright yellow color or the way we were being blown more towards them than where I thought we should be tending, but the old saying reared its ugly head: If Mama’s not happy, no one’s happy. Just as dark was really descending, I told Dale that I wanted to move. I’m sure that he wasn’t pleased, but he did it anyway. When he asked me why, my only reason was liability. They were here first; if any damage occurred in the wee hours of the morning, we’d be responsible. We hoisted the anchor, circled around and dropped again where we had been resting, so that when the rode was deployed we dropped behind the racer. I’m sure that I was being overly cautious but now that the wind has piped up and we’re dancing all over the place, I don’t worry that we’ll accidentally bump into them. I wonder if all of the attorneys I’ve worked for realize that I’ve been ruined for life.

Now that we’re here and at least a little more comfortable from the nasty swells, I think we’ll have to either rent a car or dink through the inner harbor back to the French side to clear customs before they’ll let us through the Dutch side’s bridge. Dale says I’m over rationalizing things again. I say that until we’re administratively pure, they won’t let us through. Two of the three guide books aren’t real clear; the third (and oldest of the three) agrees with me. There’s a cruiser’s net in the morning, so he’ll ask there.

I think tomorrow I’ll make the suggestion that only one boat asks the question. That way if we get thrown in jail, Orpailleur can make a run for it and clear properly, then come back and bail us out.

Marigot Bay,
St. Martin
18.04.288N
63.05.753W

We were up by 4:30 am and the mooring lines were dropped by 5am. With Orpailleur right behind us, we cautiously made our way out of the mooring field, across the bay and through the channel. We turned right, added more throttle and maneuvered between Virgin Gorda and Necker Islands. Once clear of all reefs, we throttled up to 6 kts and programmed our autopilot to go to the waypoint previously set for Marigot Bay in St. Martin.

Just before sunrise, we noticed that the running light on our bow decided to be temperamental and quit working. We knew that it just needed to be taken apart and cleaned but as long as we made it to St. Martin before sunset, we figured that it wouldn’t be a problem.

We watched the sun rise as we passed the eastern most tip of Virgin Gorda and noticed that Orpailleur was falling behind, so we slowed our speed to keep pace with them. They point higher than we do when sailing but we motor faster than they do. At 10 am, I did a quick calculation and estimated that we wouldn’t be making landfall before nightfall.

At 1pm Dale called Land Ho. As luck would have it, St. Martin was just where the GPS said it would be but when I relayed the info to Orpailleur, Gerry said that he was wondering when we would notice the land on the horizon.

As we continued on our track, Dale and I kept watching a cloud with a flat bottom. There was something about it that kept drawing our attention. A few minutes later we saw several funnel clouds starting to form. Needless to say, we kept our eyes on that cloud for the rest of the day. Only 3 funnels ever made it to the water and none that we could tell became water spouts.

As the sun set at 6:30 we could see our destination but we still weren’t going to make it into the bay until 7:00pm and well after dark. It seems that my waypoint (taken from a guidebook on our first trip here) was way more conservative than it needed to be.

With Dale on the bow with a high powered flashlight and me steering according to the chart plotter, we made our way in and realized that we were way past where we had intended to enter and had to backtrack across the bay to where we wanted to anchor. Although we are in less than 20 feet of water, I have the feeling that when we see where we are in the morning, we’re probably going to be way farther out than where we want to be. The only boats out here are the big boys in for the Heineken Race starting the 1st of March and everyone else than entered after dark. I guess we all think the same thing: get to the nearest boat and anchor behind them in as shallow of water as you can and figure it all out in the morning light.

We had a quick dinner of grilled chicken alfredo and are making a few notes in our respective journals before hitting the hay. Gerry and Nicky are anchored slightly behind us and to our starboard quarter; its already quiet on their boat.

Leverick Bay,
Virgin Gorda
18.30.016N
64.23.179W

After a leisurely morning, we motor sailed to Spanish Town to clear out of customs. No dinghy dock this time; we had to beach our dinghies in the sandy cove near the ferry docks, then wait in a line for about half and hour before anyone showed up at the window. The French couple ahead of us said that they had been waiting for over an hour. They could hear the officials talking in another room but they never looked around the corner to where quite a crowd had gathered.

Once our paperwork was in order, we set off to motor sail to Leverick Bay. However, when we turned the northern corner, the wind was directly on our noses and we had to roll in the jib and power our way through to our destination.

We grabbed the outermost mooring, while Orpailleur pulled up to the fuel station at the marina. There was another boat on the dock with them. We couldn’t help but take a photo to show the differences in size. Keep in mind Orpailleur is a 43’+ sailboat. Nicky said that they were very gracious and even said hello to them.

Dale did his usual check of fluids, belts, and electrical components prior to undertaking a major transit, so I dinghied in to pay our mooring fees, then check out the local pantry and the Pussers right next door. I picked up a souvenir shirt and hat for him since the last Pussers’ shirt he has is several years old.

I came back and deposited what little groceries I could find, then headed over to Orpailleur with my laundry to pick up Nicky and hers before making the trek back in. Gerry had already taken Mark & Rose in to do a little sight seeing. While Nicky & I did laundry (with Rose’s assistance when they returned), Gerry & Mark checked out the local watering hole. When I figured Dale had probably finished all of his maintenance checks, I went back and picked him up to pay for the last round of drinks the guys had been kindly providing us while we folded clothes.

It’s going to be an early morning for us, so we returned to our respective boats for a quick dinner before bed. The mooring we chose is close to the internet hotspot, so when Dale hit the rack, I took the opportunity to sit in the cockpit and upload my posts with pictures for free!!! It makes it so much easier this way. Tomorrow, before the roosters’ crow, we’ll start our transit to St. Martin across the Anegada Passage.

Trellis Bay
Beef Island
18.26.857N
64.31.924W

We eased into this morning and really didn’t have any particular plans except to make our way to Trellis Bay. Last year when we were here, the moorings in Trellis were gone by afternoon if you didn’t get there early. So we disengaged our stern anchor via the dinghy (with no drama), while Gerry helped to hold the Palace in place. Then we pulled up on our primary anchor and slipped into the center of the harbor while Gerry let go his piling and did the same.

We unfurled our main and as soon as Orpailleur was clear, we made our way slowly out into Sir Francis Drake’s Passage. We had 14-18 kt winds slightly north of east which demanded that we claw our way to our destination. Of course, when two boats are going in the same direction, it’s a race; whether the other guy knows it or not. It was a great day of sailing in spite of the fact that Orpailleur beat us by a quarter mile or more. I couldn’t believe how well they could point. We thought we were good but they left us in their wake. I’m still not convinced that they weren’t motor sailing part of the way. We slipped into Trellis with our tail between our legs and made reservations at The Last Resort for dinner for all of us.

After getting ourselves together, we dinghied into the little shops here and had a look. The guys found a place to have a couple of beers and entertain themselves while Nicky, Rose and I perused the handicrafts. We found them later cutting a beer can in half. Gerry had told Dale that the Brits have invented a way of making sure that each can of draught beer pours with a head on it by placing a widget inside each can. Sure enough, there was a little bobber looking widget in the can that supposedly released an additional amount of gas as soon as the can was opened. Per Gerry, the guy who has the patent on the widget gets a penny per widget. Does anyone besides the wives of these men see the irony in an engineer, journalist and doctor cutting open a beer can to discuss the merits of another inventing a contraption to put extra gas in beer and how said inventor could have put his ingenuity to better use?

A few hours later, we ended our day with dinner and dancing at The Last Resort, a little restaurant on a piece of land hardly big enough to call an island at the end of a runway of the local airfield. The band played loud and a just a little too fast to dance to but we gave it our best shot. Although the crowd was quiet to begin with, we were all up and dancing by the end of the evening. A fun time had by all.

Photos: Stolen from Nicky's blogspot because she had better ones !