Sailing down the Windward Islands

The colours of Martinique!

On March 17, 2015 we sailed nearly due South to Martinique, the first island of the Windward Chain. After Martinique the islands take a slight westward turn to St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, The chain of islands make an arc that reaches toward the East in the Leewards then turns to head West once you’re in the Windwards. See the map. The Trade Winds blow from the East so as you go down the chain theoretically you will sail a close reach until you reach Martinique then a broad reach as you head towards Grenada. Broad reaches are really really nice! In reality the winds rarely blow directly from East they blow ENE or ESE and as luck would have it it seems to always be blowing from whichever way you’re heading. :-)  But on the day we left for Martinique we had one of those blissful sails with winds 15g18 kts (15 gusting to 18 knots) ENE that had us broad reaching the 35 NM into St Pierre. With only the mainsail raised we glided past Mt Pelee and into our first port in the French island of Martinique. (Until some friendly soul comes from the US we won’t get our repaired jib furler back.)

I ask, now that we’re in Martinique, just where do you buy “a sweat stained Bogart suit and an African Parakeet”? (from Jimmy Buffet’s "Migration")

4800 feet high, ominous Mt Pelee 

The coastal city of St Pierre under the volcano of Mt Pelee is the Pompeii of the New World. At 8am on May 8,1902, Mt Pelee erupted on an Easter Sunday killing 28,000 people and burying the city that many called the Paris of the Caribbean. Nearly everyone in the most populous and wealthiest city of the Caribbean died that day. If the Federal Flood following Katrina was a political killing of the citizens of New Orleans, the destruction and death in St Pierre was the same on a much much higher order. Martinique was in the midst of an important election, election day was to be May11, and politicking was more important than heeding the signs of escaping insects, snakes and birds as well as rumbles and mud flows that had occurred throughout April. The powers that be needed the conservative city of St Pierre to go to the poles and prevent the Socialists from wresting control of government from the powerful plantation party that was in place. Therefore the citizens were assured that no eruption was imminent. 

the cell that saved Auguste Ciparis

One of the few people to survive was a prisoner, Auguste Ciparis. His cell faced away form the flow and had only a tiny opening. Found buried under many feet of ash after four days, his sentence (for assault) was suspended and he spent the rest of his life touring with Barnum and Baileys Circus.  

Even now, over a hundred years later, the town echoes with the tragedy of that day. Only about 6,000 people live in a city that was once home to nearly 30,000. Mostly empty buildings with just part of a wall or two are a major sight everywhere you look and a once thriving harbour is now home only to small fishing boats and cruisers like us. 

Entrance stairs are all that's left of St Pierre's magnificent theatre

French Goodies

We sailed from St. Pierre after just a couple of days and headed South along the coast to Martinique’s capital city, Fort de France. Here we anchored in one of the nicest city anchorages we’ve seen. We were right under the massive walls of Fort St. Louis. We had a fabulous waterfront dingy dock next to a park and the modern city of Fort de France to explore. However, of all the places in Martinique nowhere is as lovely as the town of St. Anne on the South coast. The French islands are not tourism junkies. Both islands, Martinique and Guadeloupe, are Departments of France (like being a state in the US) with all the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship. They are the largest and most prosperous of the Eastern Caribbean Islands with tourism making up only a small part of their economy and the cruising community virtually ignored. WiFi is spotty for visitors and dinghy docks are often difficult to access. You need to at least try and speak French and everything closes on Sunday. On the other hand bread, cheese, paté, good highways and an easy system of clearing in and out get high marks. But St. Anne has it all! Plus a beautiful wide open anchorage and a great beach. We loved it here and the madras fabrics are an inspiration for my next Mardi Gras costume! 

The anchorage in beautiful St Anne, Martinique

Diamond rock on the coast of Martinique was commissioned as a ship by the British navy and attacked by French Admiral Villeneuve in one of the stranger battles during the Napoleonic Wars!

Diamond Rock

who passes up a banana train tour!

Sailing along in Martinique with friends Bill and Maureen Woodroffe on S/V Kalunamoo was fun. All of the French villages are charming. We rented a car for several days and visited rum distilleries, the birthplace of Empress Josephine and a banana plantation among other things. Kalunamoo is a 47’ Vagabond ketch not quite the Wanderer from Captain Ron but a very close first cousin. Like many cruisers we’ve met this year they came down from the East Coast with the Salty Dawg Rally. These rallys are a great way to get to the Caribbean. Many boats (I think I heard 67 this year)  travel "alone but together" with weather routing and daily checkins offering safety and companionship on the 1500 mile journey from Hampton Roads, VA to Virgin Gorda, BVI. The Papa of the rallys is the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) that crosses the Atlantic from the Canaries to St Lucia every year in October. We see loads of European boats who have sailed 2700 NM across the Atlantic and entered the Caribbean this way. Each year about 200 boats participate.

Buying from the vegetable boat in Rodney Bay

After nearly a month in French Martinique, enjoying the charming villages and daily fresh baguettes, we continued our journey and headed for our next port of call in St. Lucia. St. Lucia is part of the British Commonwealth of nations but an independent country. St. Lucia, Dominica and St. Vincent are the poorest of the islands. The last blog told of Dominica’s success in using eco-toursim and cruisers to make modest economic gains. That island doesn’t lend itself to vast resorts with white sand beaches so after much trial they are moving in a different direction and cruisers have responded positively. St. Lucia went the other way. It opened itself up to many fabulous resorts on the order of Sandals. Here guests don’t have to see the down and dirty in the island but rather spend their days in a more pampered environment. A high poverty and crime rate make this one of the hot crime spots on the Cruisers Safety and Security Net. Dinghy thefts and even boardings have made cruisers leery and for the first time ever we locked ourselves in the boat each night. Our first stop was Rodney Bay. After some unpleasant notoriety they have instituted a more robust security system both in the marina and the anchorage. Not one incident has been reported since the change which is a great thing as Rodney Bay is home to the ARC and many cruisers use it as a home port. We certainly found it amazing with a swimming pool, good groceries and duty free shopping as well as several beaches and a historic fort to hike up for great views and plenty of cardio exercise. 

Marigot Bay at sunset with LaDivinia moored right behind us for the very last time.

10 MN South was the lovely and well protected Bay of Marigot (seems nearly every island has a Marigot). This one also has a 5 star Capella Resort and for the $30US price of a mooring you get the use of the resort pools, bars, restaurants, gym and spa services. This is where our friends from LaDivina met up with us as they moved back up the island chain to leave their boat in St. Martin. Amazing how quickly those 2 days flew by but spending one of them just being lazy around the Capella pool with poolside drinks and lunch sure was great.

4 intrepid sailors - Roy & I with Dave and Jane and just one more cocktail!

Approaching the Pitons

Our last stop in St. Lucia was an anchorage between the Pitons. They are part of a World Heritage Site that comprises the Piton Mitan volcanic ridge. Truly a magnificent backdrop for a night at anchor. Unfortunately, the weather was not the best so we’ll plan a longer visit for them and the nearby town of Soufriere on our trip North next year.

On to St. Vincent and the Grenadines...

from the movie

The real thing

A 34 NM lumpy sail which ended up being a beat into the wind brought us to St. Vincent and the town of Wallilabou. St. Vincent has not figured out the tourism market at all and many cruisers sail right by it or only stop for an overnight, not even getting off of the boat. While it is not a hot crime spot on the CSSN, it isn’t known for safety either.  Unlike St. Lucia there is little organised cruising support, tours and restaurants. The one bright spot is Wallilabou Bay. Pirates of the Caribbean set up shop here for the first movie and returned for the other two. The set Disney built along the bay front is still worth a visit. Owners of the restaurant there have done a lot with a little and cruisers can feel safe tying up to the mooring balls with the help of the boat boys who act as line handlers and water taxies. But there are few boats and many hungry guys so a cruiser can easily feel intimidated by the 5 or 6 vendors coming up and wanting to do a little business. 

Pirates of the Caribbean set at Wallilabou St Vincent

Suggestion to cruisers - spend 10 to 15EC with each one. It's not that much money to you and it goes a long way. 

Note to everyone else: EC = Eastern Caribbean Currency. $1US = $2.7EC

Another hike another swinging bridge

We ended up meeting a boat with a mate from St. Martinville!. So we stayed an extra day and the 4 of us shared the island tour with a visit to a waterfall, lunch and a drive through the marijuana towns. Yes, St. Vincent is managing its economic problems by ignoring the sizeable established business of growing and exporting weed. 

The “twins” Ron and Ronnie, referenced in Doyle’s Cruising Guide, are very good, responsible and hard working. Ron met our boat and helped us with the mooring and tying our stern to the dock. He wasn’t pushy but offered either a short or long tour for the next day. We decided on the long one. Ronnie then took over as our guide along with Cecil Doyle, an ex-policeman, as our driver. They were wonderful, can’t say enough about how much fun we had and how beautiful the island is. The trip to the waterfall was great and ended in a refreshing swim. Lunch was delicious overlooking Cumberland Bay - they really went all out to make sure we had a good time. Later that evening Ronnie came to the boat with a gift from Cecil, our driver, he’s also a farmer and sent over eggs, tomatoes and cabbage plus this wonderful bar of spiced chocolate. Ronnie showed us how to make a drink out of it that’s quite popular throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines. It was a wonderful stay and made us want to help make this a regular stop for all cruisers.

FUN FACT: St. Vincent and Belize have a linked heritage. While other islands were being settled by Europeans St. Vincent was still a Carib held island. So when s slave ship sunk in 1635 off of St. Vincent the slaves who survived and made it ashore eventually married into the Carib tribe. The combination was especially fierce and were called Black Caribs (regular Carib indians are light brown in colour and have slight Asian features). The British eventually settled the island and the violent Black Caribs were subdued and relocated to Honduras, some making their way into present day Belize! We now call them the Garifuna, though Roy says, as a kid, he knew them as Caribs.

Now we’re anchored in Bequia (pronounced Beckway). St. Vincent is more than the main island it is really SVG, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Grenadines are supposedly the high point of the Caribbean islands. We plan to stay awhile with lots of time to explore.

Rum - Yum!

Traditional West Indian Rum Punch

One part sour (fresh lime juice)

Two parts sweet (cane syrup)

Three parts strong(rum, of course)

Four parts weak(fresh fruit juice or water or a combination)

5 drops of Angostura Bitters (they're made in Trinidad)

Grated Nutmeg

Served Well Chilled with lots of Ice

Dominica - Island Paradise and Johnny Depp

Dominica (pronounced Dom in eee ca, stress the eee) is the last island in the part of the Lessor Antilles that's know as the Leeward Islands. Tomorrow, Mar 17, 2015, when we leave here we'll cross the Dominica Channel and sail to Martinique, the first island of the Windwards. But back to Johnny Depp and Dominica right?

Rugged Coast of Dominica

Well for starters its where much of Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Dead Man's Chest, was filmed. All the parts that show lush jungle, mountains and chasms were here. The parts with the white sand beaches were filmed in the Exumas, part of the Bahamas. Movie's, being magic, manage to squash lots of that together and make it look like its on one island. But while Dominica has lush rain forests it also has five active volcanoes so there are absolutely no white sand beaches. The beaches are the brownish to black sands that are a result of volcanic action. This is the loveliest and lushest island we've been to. Greenery erupts everywhere – huge trees with buttress roots the size of a small house, two story tall tree ferns, hanging vines that Tarzan would have loved, 140 species of ferns plus birds and butterflies. The roads are lined with colourful plants like crotons, ginger, heliconia, hibiscus, red and pink dracaena. It's as if the tropical greenhouse at Banting's Nursery ran wild.

Swinging Bridge and river crossing

45° up AND 45° sideways!
(Is it called hiking if you're crawling?)

 In our desire to experience all we can, we've done stuff I would NEVER EVER have imagined doing. We've crossed swinging bridges over deep chasms, we've climbed the ridge of a mountain to an overlook high, high, high above the harbour. We've hiked up and down mountains to four of the 7 waterfalls and crossed rivers clinging to rocks and fallen logs. We're saving the sulphur springs and boiling lake until our return next year! But, visiting Ti Tu Gorge we swam in a slot cavern to a waterfall, climbed through that waterfall to visit another waterfall. (You saw Orlando Boom and crew fall into this gorge and swim in this river when breaking out of the bone cage). We also had the fun of being rowed up Indian River, just like Capt Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Black Pearl, and saw the house of the witch. In real life it's nearly as mysterious, magical and beautiful as in the movie.

Witch's House

Indian River

Columbus visited this island in 1493 on his 2nd voyage, his first landing of the voyage; and, as he landed on a Sunday, he named it "dies Dominica" for the day of the week. When Columbus explained this island to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain he took a sheet of paper and crumbled it up to show the rugged peaks, deep valleys and gorges of the island. It's history like much of the Caribbean is tied to the wars of the European nations. For 100 years after its discovery it became the last home of the Carib indians who held on to it with a ferocity that kept the Spanish at bay. They live here to this day. While the vast majority of Dominicans are of African descent this is the one place where there is a sizeable population (about 3,000) of the pre-columbian natives that we call Caribs. in 1903 a special Carib Territory was set up for them by the British crown. Today most of them live here in 8 villages.

Carib's still make dugouts from the Gommier Tree

Gommier Tree

It was French small landholders from Guadeloupe and Martinique who first settled the Northern part of the island and started growing coffee and sugar. Eventually slaves were imported and sugar was planted and Dominica became a French colony. During the 7 Years War (French and Indian War to us Americans) Dominica was fought over as the English tried to stop the French from owning the 3 islands in the middle of the island chain. In 1763 when hostilities ceased Dominica was ceded to England and they established their own plantations overlaying the French culture with British overtones including a legislative assembly. Today while English is the official language of the island and every one speaks it, the locals speak to each other in a French creole patois.

An hour hike got us to this waterfall in Syndicate Forest

When Britain passed the Brown Privilege Bill many slaves from the French neighbouring islands fled to Dominica and by 1838 Dominica had the only legislative assembly in the British colonies to have elected a majority of African legislators. The planter class was not happy with this situation and eventually Dominica became a Crown Colony with direct rule from England. In the 20th Century as England shed it's colonial nature Dominica became the Commonwealth of Dominica on Nov 3, 1978.
Today it is still recovering from the effects of hurricanes and the collapse of the banana market in the 1990s. But the small farmers, often Rastafarians, have become the vegetable source to all the other Leeward islands. We've been eating Dominica produce since we arrived in St. Martin.

Rastafarian Farms produce a plethora of organic fruits and vegetables

All locally grown!

 Dominica depends on tourism. It is not an easy island to visit, so more than most other islands, it has encouraged the cruising sailors to come. About 10 years ago Dominica decided to refurbish its image and make the island attractive to boaters by establishing a simplified clearance procedure and even more important, the boat boys organised!

Boat Boys of the Caribbean~

Titus, our "boat boy"

Unlike in the US this is not a tern of disrespect. In the poorer Caribbean islands it was and is difficult to find even the most basic necessities. Since cruisers need access to fresh water, fuel and food not to mention help with boat problems, the local men found ways to deliver these services. As you can imagine competition among the locals for these cruising dollars was fierce. They approach boats coming into a harbour vying for the chance to earn a few bucks. The idea was that the first boy to reach a boat would provide services and keep the others away. This didn't often work, as we saw in Ile a Vache, Haiti last year. The cruisers felt intimidated and as crime started it's awful rise in the Caribbean cruisers stopped coming to these islands. Crime, especially dinghy theft, is now prevalent and we cruisers know to "lock it or lose it". But in Dominica the Boat Boys organised PAYS, Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services. In the Northern harbour of Portsmouth it is better organised, but there is something similar in the southern anchorage of Roseau. They have full page ads with their pictures in the cruising guide. They have a system to allocate which "boy" gets which boat. By now each "boy" is often a small business with the guys on the water being your first contact but with vans and tour guides for your inland hikes. In Portsmouth as their boats, all brightly coloured with the name of the company in bold letters, whiz around the harbour any of them will look over, wave and make sure you don't need anything. They provide security, often going out at night to capture boats adrift who made the mistake of not getting a mooring. Their services are funded by the moorings and water buoy but mainly by a Sunday night BBQ held for the cruisers, $20 for a great dinner with music, dancing and lots of good times. After being on your own in each new island their attentions spoil you so that you never want to leave!

  

Roy's birthday March 6, celebrated in the PAYS Event Shed with Cruising Friends

Old French Plantation House

People of Dominica werewonderful but a real shout out to our guide Gordon who gave me a hand in the rivers, encouraged and cajoled me over log bridges and, when necessary, boasted me up rock inclines - can't believe I don't have his photo!

Now here's Ti Tu Gorge – a slot canyon with a river at the bottom fed by waterfalls

 

The Entrance from Above

Swimming against the current into the gorge.

Looking Up - This is where the bone cages came crashing down

 Getting to the first waterfall and coming through the second.

Jibs and Anchors and Guadeloupe

Well here we are swinging at anchor in one of the loveliest parts of the Caribbean, Iles des Saintes. Cruisers say that once you're here you know what it means to "go cruising". We know that the cruising lifestyle DOES NOT mean you are on a perpetual vacation. Time on the water can seem to stretch out like long slow rollers or go to quickly like the small waves at the seaside. Today it feels like forever...

Sailboats on mooring in the harbor at Iles Des Saintes

We are tired and bleary eyed from being on anchor watch all night and now at 1:30 in the afternoon we know it will probably continue until early tomorrow morning. All we can see of the Saints is blustery white caps, several boats dragging and rain squalls. But worse is what happened as we were approaching the islands. During what should have been an easy 25NM crossing from Point a Pitre Guadeloupe to Iles des Saints our jib reefing/furling mechanism blew out.





What's a jib reefing/furling mechanism you are probably asking.

The Reefing/Furling Mechanism - broken

~Most modern boats have a gismo that allows you to keep your jib (that's the forward sail) always raised but not always flying out there. The sail rolls around the forestay, a wire cable which goes from the bow up to the top of the mast. The really good ones also allow you to reef your jib and are called a reefer/furling thingy. This means that you can roll out as little or as much of the sail as you want. When the wind is really high you might only want enough sail to steady you and keep you moving forward. That's what we were doing when the reefer/furler gave out. This let all the jib out which was more sail than we wanted but also meant that we would have to roll it up by hand from a pitching deck before we could enter the anchorage and get our anchor down. As we approached Iles Des Saintes, Roy got his life jacket on and snapped a connecting line from the jacket to the deck's safety webbing, then made his way forward until he reached the jib. It took him awhile with vice grip in hand to get the sail furled (rolled in). Meanwhile I kept the boat pointed downwind to minimise the seas and wind while he worked.


Once anchored he went to take a look at the problem. We were hoping that the furling line, which is the line that controls rolling the jib in and out, had broken. This had happened once before and while it would have been a surprise as Roy had inspected that line just a few days ago, its what we figured had happened. This was a new reefer/furler that had been replaced in Feb of 2012. It has a lifetime warranty so clearly we didn't think the problem was there. But it is and now, unless we can find a way to fix it down island, we need to send the whole thing back to the States! Meanwhile we'll be sailing with just the main sail. C'est La Vie!

Winding street in Bourg des Saintes

Once anchored the wind continued to increase and by last night was accompanied by squalls. The Caribbean version of a cold front. One of the many fronts that have been plaguing the East Coast made it down to the islands. Because it's so windy, we are not willing to leave the boat in case we drag or, more likely, someone drags into us. Luckily we had a little time ashore yesterday to enjoy this pretty, pretty little town. Which brings up another important part of cruising.



Anchoring, anchors and what makes a good anchorage.

~Anchoring itself is an art form I've come to believe. The anchor(s) you carry must hold you safely in place through all kinds of upheaval. You want your anchorage to offer protection from wind and swells, with a bottom that has good holding for the anchor and not too deep so you can dive the anchor and see that it's set properly. While you can control the anchor you carry (we carry two for different bottoms and greater holding) and learn good techniques for getting the anchor to hold you often have to take what you can get when it comes to an anchorage.

Making the problem worse is that all over the Eastern Caribbean harbours have put in mooring fields in the most desirable part of the anchorage. Good for the harbour as they can charge for the mooring ball, good the the vacationing cruiser as he doesn't have to be good at anchoring (and so many aren't), but awful for the live aboard cruiser who rarely has the budget to pay for a mooring every night of his life. This is exactly the case here in Iles des Saintes. The 80 or so mooring balls fill up fast and at $12. a night, are a little costly. There is a place to anchor but its exposed to wind and seas plus the depth runs 35 to 40 ft. This is something Roy & I have had to adjust to. We were used to anchoring in 12 to 15 ft of lovely clear water until we arrived in the Virgins. After that anything less than 30 ft was a plus.

Here's the anchoring technique we use. I'm on the wheel after Roy has selected the spot, he goes up to the anchor and as the boat slows he drops it with enough chain to reach the bottom. I then slowly backup as he plays out the rest of the "rode", that's the nautical term for the combination of chain and line that attaches the anchor to the boat. You need enough chain to keep your anchor at the right angle to bite into the bottom and stay there. The anchor should "set" so that the more it's pulled by the force of the boat the more it digs into the bottom. Optimally you want a 6:1 ratio of the amount of rode to the depth of the water plus the height of the bow above the water (5ft). if we are anchoring in 20 ft we want to have a minimum of 150 ft of rode out. After I've backed down and the Roy feels the anchor is set he instructs me to increase the engine speed so that we force the anchor down, down, down into whatever the bottom is. I used to then snorkel over the anchor and check that it wasn't hooked on coral or something else that could give but in 30 to 40 ft of water that does't work so well. So now we wait and watch. And I should add, hope no inexperienced sailor anchors too close to us (you can swing into each other) or anchors over our anchor meaning that if we need to leave first we can't.

Deshaies, Guadeloupe

Rum offerings on grave sites in Deshaies

Hiking along the river

~Guadeloupe has been very nice - it's French you know. So lots of crusty baguettes, croissants and pain de chocolate for breakfast. Fricassees, cassoulet, pate, terrines and great cheeses are in every little market. It's also the largest island after Trinidad (which is or isn't part of the Lessor Antilles), the largest island with the largest population. The coastal towns are picturesque in their Frenchiness with small winding streets filled with sidewalk cafes and small wooden houses climbing up the hills. We particularly loved our port of entry, Deshaies (pronounced day-ay). Not only was it charming, including other cruisers to have fun with, but we had just started watching a BBC production named "Death in Paradise" when we arrived and recognised the town. The show, now in it's 4th season, is filmed there!

Market in Point a Pitre

Rum Box!

Martine and Cedric our wonderful hosts.

Once we tore ourselves away from Deshaies we headed down the coast with stops at Pigeon Island for a chance to snorkel in the Jacques Cousteau Nature Preserve. Then on to a rolly two night stop in the capital, Basse Terre, and finally around the southern coast and to the oldest and largest city of Guadeloupe, Pointe a Pitre. Here Martine and Cedric, folks we'd met back in St Kitts, were waiting. How wonderful to have locals show you around! They couldn't have been more generous. When our friends from LaDivina arrived with their onboard guests we just continued having fun. Cedric and Martine took us to their house for dinner and to visit a rum distillery. We discovered that not just wine can come in boxes and they introduced us to our new favourite drink, Ti'Punch. Roy & I hosted Mardi Gras aboard Wahoo complete with Jambalaya (I'd been hoarding my Louisiana smoke sausage just for this), King Cake and beads.

Looks like home - except for the palm trees

Part of the fermentation process

We could just wander all over and even taste the raw rum

He didn't drink ALL of those!

Classic Ti'Punch Recipe

1-1/2 oz Rum Agricole 

(This is a special rum mostly from the French islands that is made from pressing water out of  sugar cane not after processing the sugar cane into molasses as is done in the English Islands)

1/4 oz cane syrup or cane sugar

(this is NOT Keens syrup but more a simple syrup)

1/4 oz freshly squeezed lime

You mix the cane syrup 

and the lime juice then you add the rum and lastly, maybe ice.

Served before dinner as an aperitif not after dinner as a digestive

This is a highly individualised drink and the recipe is just a starting point. Usually limes, sugar or cane syrup and rum are set out on the table. Everyone takes his own special Ti'Punch glass, bigger than a jigger - smaller than a rock glass, and starts mixing.

A bowl of ice on the table is nice for us Americans who like ours a little chilled. Don't add much it messes with the flavour.

Flying the Colours - Mardi Gras Aboard Wahoo