Rodney Bay,
St. Lucia
14.04.473N
60.56.990W

First thing this morning, Dale & Gerry went and stood in line for the customs office to open in order to check us into the country. Once again, it was 8am ‘island time’, which means it was closer to 9am by the time the doors were actually opened.

I had stayed on the boat to run the genset, try to upload my blog posts and to be prepared to move us forward in case the boat behind us wanted to get underway before Dale returned. As it turned out, I ran topside when I saw the couple on their deck but he shouted over that they had changed their minds due to the winds being unfavorable for the northern transit they had wanted to make. That and it was raining.

Dale & Gerry came back saying they had run into Mike & Terri at the marina, who had agreed to join us for our island tour. What a treat, they are really great people.

We had the Indian fast food called a roti (curried chicken & potatoes in a burrito bundle) for lunch, then the guys took off to “work” on Mike’s watermaker. Nicky and I dug out our sewing machines and did our own work. Mine consisted of trying to recover our dinghy seat cushion which is taking a beating considering how well Dale secures the dinghy with cross ropes. The job is easier said than done. I’ve got it almost finished but with the tour tomorrow, I’m not sure when I’ll actually get it done.

The guys returned with the news of ‘no joy’ on the watermaker. They had discovered that the filters had been put in backwards but other than that, they were only able to ascertain that it was a problem with the pressure.

I put my sewing aside early, since we had made arrangements to go into an Indian restaurant called Razmataz. Indian cuisine was the theme of the day, I guess. Gerry & Nicky guided us through the menu and we had a very tasty and spicy dinner. Curries and chilies were in almost every dish; only the mint yogurt put out the flames.

Odd choice of words, now that I re-read them. Just after I wrote that paragraph, I heard a muffled pop. Seconds later, a boat in front and to the right of us quite a bit away was fully engulfed in fire. I called to Dale, then hailed the marina on the radio. As it was a little after 11:30 pm, so I wasn’t sure anyone would answer. Thank heavens they did and I was able to tell them they had a boat on fire at the end of their dock. Fire engines arrived within minutes. There were at least 2 and possibly 3 more muffled pops after the fire engines arrived. It was a difficult fire to put out as it kept coming back and to this minute, there are a few flames that keep popping back up. Unfortunately, the boat appears to have been burned to the water line in about 30 minutes. Hard to tell from here. Hopefully no one was on board.

It’s amazing what you see when you’re a night owl trying to get a decent internet connection.

Rodney Bay,
St. Lucia
14.04.473N
60.56.990W

Dale’s tummy wasn’t feeling too well this morning, so Nicky and I decided that there was no need for the guys to come in with us to return the rental car and do our grocery shopping,. We took off in the ‘banana fender’ (as it was called today) with thoughts of doing a couple of quick errands and returning before they had time to complain.

We dropped by Foreclosure to say hello and explain that we had been running in different directions for the last couple of days, then tied the dinghy at the dock and took the car back to the rental agency where we waited for someone to return to the office. Clearly they were open as the hurricane shutters were rolled up and a folding sign was placed outside the door. After about 15 minutes we checked with the establishment next door to see if maybe they knew if the woman who worked there had a habit of heading off for a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. Nope, no information. After about 30 minutes and seeing several people walk down the street with grocery bags in their arms, we knew that a store was somewhere near, so I left Nicky in the car while I went in search of the store to pick up the bread we both needed.

Somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour after we arrived, the woman showed up with others in tow (apparently clients). At least I had been able to find some bread. We made our way back to the dinghy and our respective boats.

We hoisted anchors and slowly made our way out of the anchorage. Orpailleur was held up because of another boat resting over their anchor. Considering how they had to dance around the other (unattended) boat to retrieve theirs, they were lucky the anchors hadn’t tangled.
We made our way out to the St. Anne anchorage and unfurled our sails. By the time we reached the end of the anchorage we were doing over 5 kts and didn’t slow down until we made it to St. Lucia. We saw speeds up to 8 kts; not that we were racing or anything but Dale & I did hand steer all the way and at least stayed in the competition. At one point on the transit, there were 4 boats all vying for the same air.

We reached Rodney Bay exhausted but in good spirits. We were transiting the narrow channel that leads to the marina inside the lagoon when the approaching dinghy waved us down. It was Mike & Terri from MTNest with Brad, one of their guests they had aboard about this time last year that we had met. We made some hasty arrangements to get together later and continued on our way into the fuel dock.

I’ve gotten pretty good at holding the Palace in place while waiting in line for fuel and today was no exception. Except that it took forever. We watched as the power boat fueled and paid their bill but after that, we couldn’t figure out what was taking so long. The closest we could figure was that they were simply chit chatting with people on the dock, ignorant of the line forming behind them. Finally, the station attendant motioned for us to go ahead of the power boat on what was left of the dock.

From previous experience, we knew not to throw a bow line to anyone standing on the dock in case they tug too forcefully. Thank heavens, Dale repositioned the line from the bow to amid ship because sure as shooting, even though he told the guy to use it as a spring line to keep us from drifting down on the powerboat behind us, the attendant caught the line and secured it to the nearest cleat which didn’t keep us from smacking the powerboat’s anchor with our dinghy hanging from the davits. Of course it acted like an overgrown fender but with two kids sitting on the bow of the powerboat, I was furious; with myself and with the attendant. I should have allowed more room for the dinghy which ultimately would have forced the attendant to use the farthest cleat to secure us to. As it was, it was the powerboat’s owner that gave us a helping hand to secure the Palace to the dock more securely.

Our normal place to anchor in the tiny lagoon even further in was crowded, so we ended up anchoring to the outside of the marina. It’s busier with buzzing dinghies and sounds from the local establishments but it has free WiFi, so who can complain.

We finished our day by going over to MTNest and enjoying the sunset, the music and the company. Brad & Angie, whom we had met last year, are flying out tomorrow but it was good to see them again.

Gerry & Dale have decided that Mike needs more help on his watermaker problem and have volunteered to take a look at it tomorrow. These guys actually get a kick out of working on mechanical things. Maybe they just get a kick out of working on other people’s things. Boys and their toys.

Le Marin,
Martinique
14.27.688N
60.52.108W


Thank heavens this morning I was able to sleep in. At 8 am, Dale started the genset and took off for the town to check us into customs with Gerry. Then they were off shopping for guy things.

While they were gone I was in charge of running the refrigerator and making water, which of course I did. I was also able to take a leisurely shower and wash my hair. Then I brought out the guide books and figured out where the botanical gardens were that Nicky and I wanted to go see.

When the guys came back, they had the usual assortment of oil, wire and various metal things but Gerry came back with a bright yellow dinghy as well. It seems, he’s tired of getting wet on his dinghy rides and decided to buy another one with a higher bow. Nicky immediately dubbed it the Custard Bullet.

So we left the men behind playing with their new toys while we went in search of a rental car and map. After 3 tries, we found one that was fairly reasonable and off we went. I had asked Nicky to drive figuring that on a French island they would drive on the left hand side of the road but when we picked up the car we discovered that no, they drove on the right hand side of the road. It didn’t matter, we were off on our own and having a blast. There were several round abouts along the way and the car couldn’t get out of its own way if it had to but the hardest part was getting onto the freeway from all of the little one way roads. Once found, it was rather simple to make our way to the Jardin de Balata.

We took a leisurely stroll through the gardens, starting with the hummingbird feeders that lined the porch of the reception area. Then through the gardens filled with bromeliads, palm trees, ferns, water gardens, gingers, haliconias and orchids. We should have picked up some lunch before hand but ended up having some ice cream to tide us over until dinner time.

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at the Eglise de Balata, the twin to the famous Basilica de Sacre Cour located in Paris. Nicky had been to the original church and said that this one was just like it only smaller. A wedding was being prepared for and we caught a glimpse of the bride before we left.

On the way back, we noticed that there was a pottery village that was just a little off our route on the way back to the boats, so . . . Of course, we sought it out. It ended up being down a dirt road but was a great find. True to it’s name, it was a collection of artisians in separate little shops all located in the same area. We wandered through each one and found a couple of little pieces that caught our eye.

Back at LeMarin, we found the guys patiently waiting for us at the local pub. We teased Dale for the better part of the evening that I was having a delivery made to the marina tomorrow with all of my purchases from the pottery village. He went along with it but I don’t think that he actually believed that I’d order something that had to be delivered by a truck.

Earlier in the day Nicky had loaned me her washing machine (a diaper pail that sits on a motorized agitator) so that I could do all of my delicates. While we were gone, Dale had been kind enough to wash them for me (I think that he just wanted to play with a new machine) and they were soaking in rinse water when I got back to the boat this evening. So in the dark of the night, I hung up all of my delicates to greet the morning’s sun. Nothing like a 21 panty salute first thing in the morning.

Tomorrow we’re off for St. Lucia after we drop off the rental car and make a quick stop at the local grocery. If the Cooper factor is in effect tomorrow, we’ll have to do something drastic like offer a rum drink to King Neptune or something. These nasty transits are for the birds.

Le Marin,

Martinique
14.27.688N
60.52.108W

I am pleased to tell you that I did not break the microwave but I did learn that I can not use it continuously for half an hour. Dale believes that there is an overheat switch that shuts down the appliance until it cools and that is what happened last evening. As a result, this morning, it miraculously worked without further fiddling around with it.

About 7:45am, we lifted our anchors and made our way south again towards Cul-de-sac du Marin on the south coast of Martinique. It proved to be a really nasty transit.

We essentially motored the entire way due to the rain showers predicted in the morning hours. The rain showers did arrive, were fairly short lived and certainly nothing to write about. However the 20+ kt winds that may have been embedded within them proved to be something else. They were on the backside of the showers and continued for the remainder of the day. We had one gust to 30 kts but generally they stayed in the 23-28 kts range. Both of our boats can sail in winds such as these and at one point we did turn off the engines for a short time. However, for some crazy reason, which we have dubbed the “Cooper factor” the winds never died down and even shifted to be directly on the nose where they stayed for the rest of our journey.

Of course, after a couple of hours of 20+kt winds, the seas whipped up and ended up being our nemesis. As we rounded the southern coast, the waves were wicked. Four to six foot and close. Near HMS Diamond Rock, the depths came up from over 1000’ to about 200’, so that added to the mix and made those particular seas confused. We tried to tack to get the best possible ride but it was rough no matter what route we tried.

What seemed like forever to achieve, we finally entered the channel, made our way past the Club Med at the point and entered into the bay at Le Marin. Normally, we’ve anchored in St. Anne in the past and dinghied into Marin but Gerry & Nicky preferred not to dinghy the 2+ miles, as they would be soaked to the bone by the time they arrived.

We wiggled our way through the reefs in the anchorage, saw Foreclosure (no one was on deck) picked a couple of anchor spots, changed our mind, moved into shallower water, circled around a few times and eventually settled into about 12’ and dropped the hook. Orpailleur was aft and slightly to our port.

We sat in the cockpit for about an hour to make sure that we were secure, then lowered the dink and made our way into the marinas to show Gerry & Nicky around. Dale was excited to show Gerry the Yanmar engines dangling in a nearby window which, of course, they both oo’d and ah’d. For sure, Gerry would be able to find any parts he needed there.

We walked up the nearby hill to a restaurant that Dale & I had gone to back in December. We had a great dinner, then returned to our respective boats where Dale & I discovered that our starting battery was not holding a charge. I told Dale that this is the first time something has gone bad in a place where we could actually do something about it. Guess what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Well sort of. It was also a unanimous vote that the guys will putter around on the boat doing their thing while Nicky and I will rent a car and go see the Botanical Gardens to the north of here. Should be a fun day.

Photo: Orpailleur making their way to Le Marin

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.