Saint Somewhere

Jimmy Buffet says it so well if I just change one little word. “I need to sail to St Somewhere”. And we did plus a few more of those warm Caribbean islands. 

St Martin, St Barts, St Kitts, the Saints, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines. They stretch like emeralds on a turquoise sea. A perfect curve dividing the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. Trade winds blow, palm trees wave and the Southern Cross hangs low in the sky telling you why you came this way. 

The islands are just far enough apart that as one sinks out of sight on your stern the other is coming into view on your bow. In general the weather gods have been good with 18-24 kts of ESE winds and 3-5 ft seas. This usually had us motor-sailing on a close reach with just the Genoa flying. The seas often made for a bumpy passage but in 4-5 hours it’s done and you’re in another part of Paradise. 

After Nevis it was Antigua & Barbuda with visits to our favorite places in Falmouth and English Harbor. We also made our first visit to Antigua’s sister island Barbuda known for the frigate rookery and her pink sand beaches. Unfortunately an unexpected West wind made landing the dink too difficult but we enjoyed an island tour with a visit to the rookery, some caves and lunch.

Baby Frigates at home on Barbuda, literally hundreds of Frigates nest here

Most of the European wars of the 16th, 17th and 18th Century affected the Caribbean as England, France and Spain vied for control of the vast wealth brought in not only by silver and gold but also by sugar. Nowhere was more wealthy than the sugar islands of Jamaica, Hispaniola, St Kitts, Guadeloupe and Martinique. The British found a way to keep their fleet in the Caribbean without having to return regularly to Europe for repairs. The Island of Antigua had a perfect harbor, deep enough and situated so that it gave protection from hurricanes and also hid the fleet from the French and Spanish. That harbor is English Harbor.

Pillars that once supported the sail loft for the British fleet.
Long boats came in to this slip and sails where lifted into the loft for repairs

 In Antigua we had fun in the sun with our friends on Seascape and Symphony including some beachy days at Pigeon Beach including Roy’s birthday lunch at Catherine’s right on the beach.  Dinner overlooking Falmouth Harbor at Cloggy's during the golden hours had us enjoying the moment but also remembering similar evenings with sailing buds Jane and Dave in 2015 and 2016. Of course, we had to re-visit Shirley Heights for the 20 piece Pan Band. 

Coggy's with Shane & Tanya from Seascape

Birthday Oysters

View of English & Falmouth Harbors (English in foreground)

Time moved on and so did we. As is the way with cruising life our departure for Guadeloupe meant going three separate ways as both Seascape and Symphony had guests arriving. We knew somewhere down island our waves would cross again.

Next Island Guadeloupe First stop Deshaies, a seaside French village so perfect it’s the home of “Death in Paradise”. This is a BBC production popular enough to be in its 12th season. Here we missed an opportunity to swim with dolphins. On arrival we saw an entire pod had decided to come into the harbor and play with the cruisers. Can’t believe we were too lazy to get the dinghy down and join the fun. (Is this what happens to septuagenarian cruisers, yikes!!!) Roy coined the word “ertia” as oppose inertia and we have been making sure we have more “ertia” ever since.

The restaurant where everyone gathers
 both on the show and in realty

The rectory doubles as the Honoré Police Station on TV

A green flash in the making

We ended our Guadeloupe visit by heading to The Saints, a group of tiny islands on the Southern tip of Guadeloupe. Such a beautiful place, with everything you want from a French Caribbean beach town. We enjoyed every moment and  more “ertia” finally got us to have a pretty good snorkeling trip. 

Endless rivers and falls 

Titus at the PAYS BBQ

 Next stop was Dominica, this is NOT the Dominican Republic. It’s the most undeveloped  and rugged of the islands. So fun to meet up with Titus again. He has been our PAYS guy there on every visit. We were delighted to see him and have him take care of us once more. The PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services) guys do a superb job of taking care of the cruisers in Portsmouth Harbor even to having a floating water station for those of us without water makers.   Their ability and foresight in 2009 rescued Dominica from its frightful reputation for crime which used to make it an island every cruiser skipped. Nowadays, it's a favorite  stop on everyone’s agenda. 

The witches house, a leftover artifact from Pirates in the Caribbean (filmed partially in Dominica)

 

After 3 weeks it was on to another French island, Martinique. Oh boy, oh boy, we arranged to meet our friend Harvey Atkinson on SV Almacanta as he sailed up the island chain with a friend from his home on Carriacou. We met up in St Pierre in the shadow of the volcano, Mt Pelée. It's devastating eruption destroyed the town and killed most of the inhabitants and also destroyed many of the ships in the harbor where we were quietly swinging  at anchor.

 We had met Harvey (middle) and Rita, shortly after their arrival in the Caribbean from the UK, back in 2015. We became fast friends and together with SV Baidarka and SV Caribbean Dream spent hurricane season together in Grenada and Classic Sail Week in Antigua. Great times and still good friends. 

Shrimp from Louisiana came all the way from New Orleans - only the best for our friend.

Mt Pelee's eruption in 1902 destroyed the town of
St Pierre, the Paris of the Caribbean

This the remaining staircase to what was once the theater and 
opera house in St Pierre.

Ruins are still visible in the town

We skipped the capital of Fort de France this time and spent time gunk-holeing the various Anses (bays) in Southern Martinique. We eventually ended up in Le Marin and Ste Anne and rented a car for a day of inland travel that included rum!!

 

Habitation Clement!!

Owners House where Presidents Mitterrand and Bush met in 1991 after the
Gulf War for a Franco-American Summit.

Another 5 hours of sailing and we arrived in Rodney Bay, St Lucia and for the first time in over a year we took a berth in a marina for a few days. Boat work took all of our St Lucia time and all we did was say hi as we sailed past the mighty impressive Titons on our way to St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Weird!

The Mighty Titons

 

 

For once we skipped the big island of St Vincent and enjoyed an overnight sail to the first and largest island of the Grenadines, Bequia.

Sunsets while at sea are extra special

Every island is special in its own way. Picking a favorite is a fool’s task but Bequia is something else. Maybe it’s because your sailing season is either at its end in the late Spring or at its beginning in the Fall. But the easy breezy days in this island make me think of the long days of summer vacations when I was young. I always feel they will go on forever. 

I think I'm home

Admiralty Bay, Bequia

Finally! We met up with Billie & Joanna,
great friends from our last go round.

Bequia has a whaling tradition 
so naturally we visited to the museum

 

Drone photo of Wahoo in Bequia, thanks Todd from Symphony
Yes, Seascape and Symphony showed up while we were there.

Turtles are a thing throughout the Caribbean. All islands try to conserve habitat in Bequia there's a scantuary. We visited and here's an incredible little video that Tanya from Seascape took showing a 3 month old baby turtle trying to eat a fish. These are green turtles, they eat seafood until about 5 years old when they switch to a vegetarian diet.

The cool thing is when they do end you still get Tobago Cays, Union and any of the other tiny islands of the Grenadines you feel like stopping in. Much like sailing in Belize, these are just a short hop-pity sail away. Soon we will be in Grenada, hurricane hole for this sea.

Below are some scenes from the Grenadines.

Blue Tang schooling at Tobago Cays

Roy & I at Happy Bar - Union Island

                        Green Turtle -Tobago Cay

  

Arrival in Tobago Cays