Leesburg

I don't have my land legs yet. The house is gently rocking, which makes it difficult to walk. It's odd how the brain adjusts to movement. I think it's easier to adjust to being on a boat--there's the constant stimulus of up-and-down and side-to-side--than to the staticness of being off the boat--lack of movement. Tom downloaded the photos and today will be spent doing laundry and cataloging photos and transcribing this journal. And beginning the adjustment to the land life. Sigh...

Point a Pitre to Dulles

Today is our last day. The morning was a flurry of packing and cleaning, then we moved the boat to the marina for pickup by the Moorings representative. We had a slip, but had to go stern to, which was a bit tricky but easier than we thought, thanks to the guidance of the capitainerie of the marina. The boat was inspected, we offloaded, then shopped until it was time to go to the airport. It's hot, I'm starving, but no one seems be interested in sitting in a nice little cafe.

Mathieu (the Moorings representative) called a cab for us and I conversed with the drive on the way to the airport, in French. He was very nice and spoke slowly enough that I cold understand most of what he was saying. It turns out that the heat in June is unusual--they've had more rain this year than normal so everything is very green (instead of the normal brown). He talked a little about the changing climate and I sort of got lost there. Then I noticed some cows tethered by the side of the highway and asked what they were He said that they are decendents of the cows brough over by the colonists, which didn't do well in the heat. They cross-bred them with some cows from Africa (the French cows were Charnais) and ended up with a cow that can tolerate sun and high heat. The cows were beautiful--a sort of creamy dun color, with large graceful curved horns. They aren't anything like our American cows.

The wait at the airport was interminable. The check-in at the airport didn't open until noon. The when we checked in, the printer for the obarding passes didn't work. The woman who was helping us was very calm, very nice, and very pretty. Eventually, everyone got their boarding pass. The passes were printed elsewhere and then distributed.

I was so hungry, but the only restaurant is closed because of un mouvement sociale, which I take to be a strike. The little bars weren't open, and when they did open, they didn't want to take dollars. So no food for me.

And then we find out that the plane coming from San Juan was late. It took off from San Juan about the time we were supposed to leave Guadeloupe (1410h) and they don't think we would be able to make our connection. All of the passengers crowded around the American Airlines employees, discussing the various options and then the plane arrived. No one was rebooked and we made it into San Juan at 16:30. During the flight, we passed by Montserrat, which was putting out ash and had been for a couple of weeks. The aerial view confirmed what I had seen from the boat--the lava fields, and even the ash (it didn't look quite right to be only steam; it was too dark).

Going through immigration and customs was a breeze and we made the connecting flight. We even had the row to ourselves, which was nice. And we arrived at Dulles early!

It felt strange walking through the door. After being on a boat for 10 days, with different smell, coming into our own house, with its own old house smell, felt like walking into a stranger's house. Jez seemed glad to see us, but need to get used to us again. Brian had turned on the air conditioning, and it was nice and cool. So it was too bad, to sleep in a bed that didn't move, without the sound of water lapping at the hull or the creaks, clanks and groans of the halyards and stays.

Les Saintes to Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe

Hot...it's too hot and humid. Nothing was open early, so we aimlessly wndered the streets until the shops opened, wich they did in dribbles and drabs. It's interesting--at home the shops all have signs advertising that they are shps and you can determine what kind of goods they sell. Here, there are no signs and you can't even tell that a building is a shop--they are all shuttered. It isn't until they open that you know where the shops are and what they sell.

Tom and I explored the side streets and iscovered a little street that was steps. The steps took us to the top of a ridge where the crucifix shrine was overlooking the bay. The view was gorgeous and the breeze refreshing. At the foot of the shrine, people has left rosaries, small coins, and candles. What crises in their lives prompted them to do so? There was another shrine further up the hill--this one enclosed a statue of the Virgin Mary. The shrine was gated and locked, perhaps to keep the statue from being stolen?

We didn't buy anything here. Truth be told, I'm not a shopper and my idea of a good time is not combing through every single souvenir shop that we stumble upon. I'd much rather wander the town, sit in cafes, eath the food, and talk to people (if I can work up the nerve). I feel I learn more about a place that way.

The one thing that we didn't see much of on this trip is the markets, either because we weren't on shore at the right time or because we only stayed on the harborfront streets. That is a disappointment because of the varieny of fruits and vegetables and fishes and spices that are available. Before we left Bourg des Saintes, I did pass by one market--no pictures, though, because sometimes the owner doesn't like pictures being taken. But it smelled of curry and other spices and they had fruit, dried legumes, giant cinnamon bark, and a lot of things I didn't recognize.

We were hoping that we'd be able to sail to Point a Pitre, but again, the winds were too light. We put the jib out for a bit, but had to motor the entire way. And it was hot and humid. I spent most of the passage in the salon, where it was marginally cooler. We arrived at Point a Pitre around 1500h, being tailed bya huge freighter. We anchored outside the Marina du Bas Fort in the hopes of getting more breeze.

Point a Pitre is huge and very industrial. The others were hoping to go swimming but that would be a mistake--I'm sure these waters are very polluted. Tom, Kent, and I dinghied in to the marina to clear immigration (open) and customs (closed) and to see what we need to do to drop the boat off tomorrow. Tom found a number of cafes and shops (oh joy) but we didn't investigate. It's hot and the sun intense.

The afternoon consisted of desultory packing (it was too hot to move) and the consumption of beverages (both alcoholic and non-) in an attempt to stay cool. As the sun moved lower on the horizon, it became more intense and the guys tried rigging a makeshift awning using towels and sheets. It was marginally effective, based on which way the boat was swinging. Gina, Carolyn, and I fixed dinner--pasta with onion, garlic, and herbs sauteed in olive oil, with salad, and cookies for dessert. The meal was accompanied by a nice chilled Cotes du Rhone.

Then some more desultory packing--it's hot. And to bed.

Deshaies to Les Saintes

Got up early (0630h) and dinghied into town and got cafeand delicious pain au chocolat at Les Amandines. They had tables set up on the sidewalk and we watched the people come and go. Gilles from the restaurant came by and greeted us. I almost felt like a local! We walk the town a bit, bought some fruit, and wandered by a man selling fish from a cooler. They were beautiful and probably just caught that morning. Unfortunately, we didn't buy any. They weren't cleaned and the knives on the boat aren't up to the task.

Then back to the boat to pull anchor and motor to Les Saintes. It was another long sail motor, which we had to do because we were heading straight into the wind. My stomach was still feeling a bit off so I spent some time napping. The day was beautiful--sunny and breezy.

We stopped at Pigeon Island to do some snorkeling. Apparently, Pigeon Island and the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Park are considered one of the world's best dive destinations. Kent wasn't impressed, but there were lots of fish doing fishly things that I found interesting. We saw a couple of parrotfish, some vertically striped fish (angelfish?), and some kind of flounder. It looked very lichen-like and my suspicion that it was a fish was confirmed when it swam away. I didn't know that flounder had blue spots. It was very striking. Big fish, little fish, red fish, blue fish. We didn't spend much time before heading off again.

Guadeloupe is a beautiful island and very lush. It was probably the lushest island we saw. There's a lighthouse at the southern tip, and was the only lighthouse we saw:



As we got closer to Les Saintes, Tom spotted a sea turtle. But it didn't stay on the surface long and by the time I got to the bow, it had dived and swam away. So I missed seeing a whale and a sea turtle. We pulled into Bourg des Saintes, which is the only town in Les Saintes. Doyle's had warned that it might be difficult to anchor with certain types of anchors because of the hard sand bottom. We must have had one of those anchors. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the anchor to set--and if it did set, we were too close to other boats. We eventually got an anchorage just off a cute little resort.

We spend a lot of time during the time we spend motorsailing thinking about food--either what we're going to cook that night, or if it's dinner on shore, what restaurant we'll visit. And of course, the trip to Les Saintes was no exception. We are, after all, still in French territory, and the food is divine. After combing through Doyle's, we were set on Le Genois, reservations recommended. We couldn't raise them on radio because someone was locked on that channel. So once again, Tom and I provided reconnaissance activities. We dinghied over to Le Genois, and it looked very, very closed. No wonderful food smells wafting out. In fact, all that I could smell was a rather odiferous drain. This didn't bode well. So we walked around a bit. Well, a lot a bit.

Bourg des Saintes is a cute town with lots of brightly painted houses. Most of them (all of them?) don't have air conditioning. Instead, the windows are covered with shutters, which allow air in and keep the heat out. Walking during the early evening was interesting--motor scooters zipping about (highly annoying), mothers pushing strollers, children playing in the narrow streets, dogs trotting about (most looked like they were on a mission). We walked past a church and were stopped dead by angelic voices wafting from within--choir practice. I don't know what they were singing, but the harmonies were heavenly.

Bourg des Saintes church


We found a couple of possibilities for dinner--Chez Mamie, which was cute, but looked to be a little warm, and the restaurant at the cute little resort near where we were anchored. We decided that Nancy would prefer the resort restaurant--it was a little more upscale-looking and overlooked the bay. The menu was in French and English, the food interesting, and the prices reasonable. What more could you ask for?

By the time we got back to the dinghy, Le Genois was open,but the dining room was small and that drain still smelled. That sealed it. The resort restaurant it would be.

The resort is La Kanaoa. The food was very good. We started off with a Punch Coco, which is coconut milk, sugar syrup, and rum, with a little grated cinammon stick. I don't know what the proportion were, but it was rather tasty. I don't think I'll be able to recreate this at home, though. Tom and I shared the shrimp cocktail which was served with a French dressing instead of the usual (American-style) cocktail sauce. The others got a mixed salad, which consisted of sliced tomatoes and grated cucumbers tossed with a light vinaigrette. It was very refreshing. I had Poisson au Gingembre (fish in ginger sauce) and while very good, it wasn't quite what I expected. The ginger sauce was cream-based and was light and rich at the same time. I had coconut flan for dessert, but it wasn't as good as the one at Les Canons de Baie.

Tomorrow we'll go into the town at 0800h to shop for souvenirs for a couple of hours, then we'll get underway so we can get to Point a Pitre before immigrations and customs close. We're still in illegal alien mode.

Antigua to Deshaies, Guadeloupe

Woke up feeling poorly with lower GI cramps. Wonderful. The toilet in the head doesn't work so well so this isn't going to be fun. I spent most of the morning in our cabin, sleeping while we left Antigua behind.

By noon I was feeling better. The passage from Antigua to Guadeloupe is about 40 miles, but with favorable winds (unlike the passage from Nevis to Antigua). Again, the winds were light, so we had to motorsail. We passed Montserrat, which was wreathed in clouds.



I looked at it through binoculars and saw that the clouds seemed to be coming from the crater. The interior of the clouds looked thick and grey and I wondered if the volcano was spewing ash. We hadn't heard anything about it becoming active again, so it must be steam. I could see the lava flows from when it erupted (whenever that was--1997?). It was very impressive.

We also saw a whale--or rather Kent and couple of others saw a whale. I missed it. Then we saw a pod of dolphins a little ways off the bow. I was hoping they would swim alongside us, but they disappeared. And the strangest sight was a seagull. Not an ordinary seagull, floating on the water, but rather a seagull perched on a coconut, riding the current, proving that there is more than one way to travel the Caribbean.

We arrived in Deshaies around 1700h or so, a beautiful little bay. The town is small fishing village. Definitely local, not so touristy. Tom and I dinghied over to Les Canons de Baie, a colorfully painted restaurant that overlooks the bay, to make reservations for dinner.

This is the bay at Deshaies.



Dinner was good, although I drank a bit too much. I started out with a ti punch (free if you present Doyle's guide). It's made with white rum, sugar, and lime. Very tasty, but strong. My appetizer was a fish flan, which was quite good. It was served cold, with a sauce that had some kind of acid in it--perhaps vinegar? Then grilled lobster and coconut flan for dessert. The flan was the best I ever had--creamy, cool, with just the right amount of caramel, and loaded with coconut flavor. Dessert was followed by a small glass of vieux rhum, old rum. It was very smooth and very strong. One-quarter of the amount would have been perfect.

The restaurant is run by Gilles and Cesarina and they have a 5-month old little boy called JD. He was so cute and so big for his age. Both Gilles and Cesarina were very nice and provided excellent service.

At Falmouth, Antigua

Falmouth was another good anchorage--dark, quiet, calm, with enough of a breeze so we weren't suffocating. After breakfast, we all hopped (relatively speaking) into the dinghy so we could clear in and out of customs and explore the island a bit. The bit of Falmouth we saw was small, not a lot of shops (Yay! Sorry, Nancy!) and some interesting-looking restaurants, most of which were closed for low season (which it is). It's a very short walk to English Harbour where Nelson's Dockyard is (and customs). Nelson's Dockyard is a working Georgian dockyard and is incredible. Unfortunately, it fell into disrepair but was restored (and the restoration continues) starting in the 70s (I think). English Harbour is a deep water harbor and the English would bring their ships in for careening and protection from hurricanes. Careening is how they repaired and cleaned the bottoms of the ships. They would attach lines to the masts and to capstans on shore, then turn the capstans to roll the ship on its side--then they'd clean the bottom on the side that was up. Rinse and repeat on the other side and voila! A clean ship bottom!

I met a British woman who was coming to feed the cats at Sunsail (who were on vacation for five months). She mentioned that the odd-looking boat over yonder was the one that was rowed across the Atlantic and that was going to be rowed around Antigua to raise money for charity. We went over to look at it and it's quite bizarre-looking. It's designed to be rowed downwind, so apparently it didn't need to be rowed much. We talked to the two guys who are going to row around Antigua (Roger Gardiner and Kevin Dakim) and got some good tips for lunch and dinner and things to see on the island. They are both members of the Tot Club, which meets at 1800h on Sundays at Life Restaurant, where they said the Sunday roasts are excellent.

After a group discussion, Tom and I decided to stay with the boat instead of going to lunch with the others. We were both tired of sitting and needed some down time and quiet time. So we wandered over to the Lost Lemming and had lunch. The service was incredibly slow, but not in a bad way; I think they got inundated with several large parties as soon as they opened. They were very apologetic about it. Anyway, while waiting for our lunch to arrive, another couple with a young child came in. The child was clearly not having a good day; perhaps he was hot, tired, and hungry. At one point, he ran over to our table and stood there looking at me. Me, being the sucker that I am for cute children, smiled and said "Hi there!" where upon he hauled off and slapped me! His mother was horrified and kept apologizing. I tried to reassure her that it was okay; he was clearly not happy and I understood. Needless to say, she kept him far away from our table after that.

After lunch, we dinghied back to boat, ignoring the fact that we were supposed to pick up some provisions while the others were touring the island. Tom was looking forward to having a swim and laying in the sun. But alas, it started to rain, again. It rained on and off the rest of the afternoon and evening.

After the others returned, we headed over to Life to get a tot of rum (couldn't because we aren't members of the club) and had quite a tasty dinner. Tom had chicken curry, which was nicely spiced and I had shrimp with Thai red curry, which was quite hot. James had lamb with mint sauce and the mint sauce was outstanding. It tasted like mint, sugar, and vinegar. After dinner (during which it poured on and off), we dinghied back to the boat in a thunderstorm (is it ever going to stop raining?). I wasn't feeling well, so went to bed. Impossible to get to sleep because the dinghy was rubbing against the stern. Tom went to investigate eventually, but didn't fix it. Sometime in the middle of the night, Carolyn did something with a winch and stopped the noise. Ah...quiet!

Nevis to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

Departed 0306h for Antigua. Kent, James, and George got us underway; Tom and I stayed in bed. Sleep last night was good--no dragging anchor, quiet (no squeaking dinghy) and not a lot of boat movement. No problem getting underway, but there was a loose block and pin that we almost lost. Weather was dark that early, but with a lot of lightening. I was thinking that we were going to have a rough sail. And I was right.

We motored for a while, then raised sail and cut the engines. How nice to be actually sailing! However, the wind direction wasn't favorable for either speed or a direct route to Antigua. The fastest we sailed was 7 knots, maybe a little more. The maximum apparent wind speed was 24 knots. We passed a tiny island called Redonda, and Montserrat and Kent said that he saw Guadeloupe as we were approaching Antigua. In order to sail, we had to go NE, which took us north of Antigua and halfway to the southern tip of Barbuda. We then tacked and came back down. Sometime after tacking the wind died and we motored the rest of the way. English Harbour was our original destination but we bagged that because Falmouth was closer.

During the trip, Tom took the helm for a while and did a great job, after he got a feel for how the boat responded to the helm. Kent, George, and Tom shared the helm. Nancy took a turn...literally. She took the helm, got caught up in conversation, and inadvertently changed course to Montserrat!

We anchored In Falmouth at about 1800h. Everyone, particularly Kent, was exhausted. The sailing was punishing--the wind was fickle, the seas rough--the boat was being slammed and banged around mercilessly. Most of us managed to get a nap in here and there during the day, but it wasn't good sleep. The anchorage was nice; hardly anyone was there. The wind was a bit light, but it was dark, quiet, and calm. Black beans, rice, and sausage, and a salad for dinner, then to bed.

Thus ends another day on the Ship of Fools.

St. Kitts to Nevis

It stormed all night and the rain was pouring down this morning when we got up. I looked out and we weren't where we anchored last night. Our anchor didn't hold and we dragged. We were very fortunate that we drifted back towards BasseTerre and not toward the reef that separates White House Bay from Ballast Bay. Had coffe and got underway. Just as we were passing Shitten Bay and Bugs Hole and were preparing to raise the mainsail, George noticed that the mainsail halyard had dropped down into the mast. Very bad. Apparently when we lowered the mainsail last night, we forgot to retie the figure 8 in the halyard and it worked its way into the mast.

So we turned around and headed back to Port Zante to see if we could get it fixed. Basil, one of the taxi drivers from yesterday, said that Percy was off island and recommended David at Indigo Yacht. After we arrived in Port Zante (fortunately not docking where we docked yesterday) and explained to about five million people what was wrong, we finally got hold of David, only to find out that he didn't do rigging. The situation is going from bad to worse. Without a main halyard, we'd be forced to motor until we could find someone to fix it. But, as Kent was finishing up the conversation, another guy wandered up. It turned out that he could fix the problem. Todd (from Wyoming) owns three catamarans for day excursion, the largest being 78 feet. His company is Leeward Islands Charters. Off he went to get his bosun's chair and the repair began. First, he had to be hauled up to the top of the mast, which disappointed Tom mightily, since he wanted to climb the mast (even though once he got there he would have no idea what to do). Then he fed the halyard down through the mast where Carlos (from Santa Dominga) tried to retrieve it through this little hole in the side of the mast. On the first try, no go. But he had this tiny flashlight that he attached to the halyard with duct tape and Todd threaded that down into the mast and they tried again. It took needle nose plier (aka cuticle scissors) to extract it from the mast, but it worked! When Todd went up the mast, the halyard got fouled in the lazy jacks, but that was easily fixed on the way down.

During the entire operation, both Todd and Carlos stayed calm, cool, and collected, while the rest of us were sometimes behaving as if we were in an opera buffa. I think there's a lesson to be learned from the calm, unhurried nature of the island folks. We gave Todd $40 for his trouble, of which he accepted half, and a Sprite. Carlos got the other $20 and a Carib. The dock master wanted a Carib, too, but Kent refused to give it to him because he chared us for a half day docking and wanted to charge $15 for disposing of one bag of trash.

The rain eventually cleared up. Apparently St. Martin and Anguilla got hit with flooding. We sailed down to Nevis and anchored off Pinney's Beach, which is where the Four Seasons Resort is. We dinghied in (couldn't pass up a shopping opportunity), talked to security to get cleared, then Tom and James dropped us off on the beach.

News flash--this just in! As I sit here in my cabin updating my journal (the others are enjoying Happy Hour in the cockpit), I hear Kent exclaim "The dinghy has floated away!" I dash up on deck and sure enough, the dinghy was about 100 feet of stern. Tom had just finished taking a shower and "dressing" for dinner. He did a quick change into his swimmin trunks, dove into the water and swam out to the dinghy and captured it. As he was rowing back, Kent took Gina's inner tube, tied a dock line to it with the the intent of tossing it to Tom and pulling him back to the boat so he wouldn't have to row the entire way. Well, the toss was more like a drop and the inner tube floated about 3 feet from the stern, just as Tom rowed up. He securely tied up the dinghy and came back on board...our hero!

Before we set out on this (mis)adventure, Tom made t-shirts for everyone with "Ship of Fools" on the back. Given the mishaps thus far, we truly are a ship of fools. The list of mishaps thus far:

Smashing into the dock at Port Zante

Dragging anchor at White House Bay

Losing the mainsail halyard in the mast at St. Kitts

Almost losing the dinghy at Nevis

Losing autopilot capability between St. Kitts and Nevis

End news flash

The resort was nice, as resorts go. The gift shop had flooded in all the rain, which seems strange for a swank resort. But they had some nice gifts; I picked up a bottle of Verna's Hot Sauce for Tom. We're always on the lookout for items made locally. We wandered over to the bar and got a drink then called for our water taxi (Tom and the dinghy).

I haven't been impressed with the quality of the beaches on this trip. I expected white sands and clear blue waters and haven't seen them so far. The sand at the resort was dark and oily and not very pleasant.

Tomorrow we sail for Antigua. Given our mishaps and the distance we have to travel, I'm a little nervous.

Statia to BasseTerre, St. Kitts

Everyone on board was up early and we quietly dropped the mooring and slipped out of the harbour undetected. Many jokes about the cannons from the fort firing across our bow or the coast guard chasing us down to make us come back and clear in and out. The truth of the matter, though, is that it is a major pain to clear in and out at every port of call, especially since they keep regular business hours (or less). Given the speed at which we're moving, which is to say not very fast, it's almost impossible to be able to follow all the formalities and stay on schedule.

We motorsailed again because the winds have been too light to make good time. This is a view of St. Kitts from the boat:



We headed for Port Zante to replenish our fresh water supply and clear in and out. As we came into the marina, the port folks motioned us to come in lengthwise on the port side (left if you are facing the bow). The wind caught the stern and pushed us into the cement wall, where there was a broken bolt or cleat.



Of course, that was a place where we didn't have a bumper, so now we have a nice round hold in the side of the boat--fortunately, it's cosmetic only.

The Moorings representative (Percy) came out to fix the lights in one of the heads and to check out a potential water pump problem. We fessed up and showed him the damage. He was more annoyed with the Port Zante folks than with us. He said he has asked them to fix it many times but they haven't. Having a permanent bumper there and removing the broken metal would go a long way to making it safer to parallel park there.

Percy helped Kent through talking to the Moorings back in St. Martin and filing a report then joined us for lunch at the Ballahoo. The Ballahoo overlooks the Circus, which as modelled on Picadilly Circus in London. It was a lot of fun watching the traffic and people move through the circle. There was man on the corner selling shelled coconuts. People would come by and he would hack off the top of the coconut with a machete. The person would drink the coconut water and hand the coconut back. After a couple of quick hacks with the machete, the coconut was in two pieces and the buyer would scrape out and eat the soft meat of the coconut. Sometimes the coconut guy would fill old water bottles with the coconut water and sell those.

After lunch, Percy drove me and Tom to the fish market and we bought the most beautiful whole red snapper to grill for dinner. Then it was back to the boat and off we headed to White House Bay, which was to be our anchorage for the night.

As soon as we arrived and dropped anchor, a storm blew in. Rain, thunder, and lightning--no swimming before dinner! Tom fixed rum punches for cocktail hour, then we made zesty coconut rice with black bean and veggies, grilled some fresh pineapple for pineapple salsa, then grilled the fish. Delicious! Then it was clean up and bedtime.

Wells Bay, Saba to Oranjestat, St. Eustatia (Statia)

The morning revealed the boat that came in in the middle of the night. It was a dive boat, called the Caribbean Explorer II. After breakfast, we dropped the mooring and headed around Saba to the harbour to check in and take a tour of the island. There is one road on the island, called Impossible Road, because everyone in the know about road building said that it couldn't be built. However, Josephus Lambert Hassell, determined to build a road, took a correspondence course in engineering, and with the labor of local farmers, built this incredible road by hand. It took 20 years to complete it. You can read a tribute to the road builders here.

Our taxi driver was Vincent and he did an excellent job of explaining the island. It was very hot in th harbour, but as we climbed up te mountain, it became much cooler. Saba is beautiful and the people are very friendly. There is an abundance of mangoes, jackfruit, almonds, papaya, knips, and other fruits on the island. Not to mention the wild goats, which seem to be almost as plentiful as the whitetail deer back home.

We visited a shop where needle lace is made and I purchased a little bun warmer from one of the women who ran the shop. It takes many hours to finish a piece and if they make a mistake cutting the linen, the piece is ruined. They use Irish linen, which is very expensive indeed.



You can read more about Saba lace here.

There is one airport on the island and you can see it from the lace shop. It has the shortest commercial runway in the world.



We spent a little time in one of the villages, then it was back to the harbour and onto the boat, where we made way to Statia.

We made Statia in good time, even though we left Saba later than we planned. We paid for the mooring and tried to check in, but the harbour master's office closed as we were walking over there. We grabbed a drink at a little bar on the lower road, then dinghied back to the boat. There was much debate as to when we should leave the next day. Do we stay until we check in or do we leave before the harbour master's office opens?

After a little swim around the boat (the water felt wonderful), I watched a flock of egrets roost in trees on the hill.



There was also a fort on the hill, which looked like it would be interesting to explore, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough time. Besides, it was brutally hot on shore.

After dinner, we played two games of Mexican Train dominoes. Carolyn won a game and I won the other. Tom a bit perturbed that he didn't win, but he had won both games the night before.

The captain decided to head out early to avoid the harbour master, so it was early to bed. St. Kitts is tomorrow's destination.

Gustavia, St. Barts to Saba

To continue with yesterday, I stayed on board at Phillipsburg (there wasn't room for eight people and loads of foods in the dinghy) with George. I got a little knitting done and watched a couple of 10 meter racing boats play around. It turned out that one was Stars and Stripes, the US boat. The other was Canada. Even though the air was light, they were moving. They were so graceful and absolutely beautiful.

After provisioning, we got underway to St. Barts--had to motorsail because the wind was so light. The weather was partly cloudy, and once we got away from land, it was still hot, but much more bearable.

We arrived in St. Barts and got a nice anchorage--nice breeze and relatively calm. Had Happy Hour, then fixed dinner--rice and beans with sausage, and salad. Dessert was Orange Pims and Bonne Maman Tartlettes aux Citron for dessert. And then to bed early.

We got up early this morning, breakfasted, then headed into Gustavia to clear in and out of customs, then shopped a little bit. Well, Nancy shopped a lot. I got a t-shirt dress, a necklace, and a post card (carte postale) to send to the team back home. Gustavia is a nice little town, although it is set up for very rich tourists...Cartier is there and some other high-end designer clothing shops.

Tom and I walked around the marina a little bit, then he, James, and I "discovered" some steps leading up a hill and decided to investigate. The steps were constructed of stone and bits of broken pottery, which was really quite interesting. The hill crested and looked out over this absolutely gorgeous bay which looked like it had a little resort nestled on its shore. I noticed another little path that went further up the hill and lo and behold! There were the ruins of a fort. A historical marker explained that these were the remains of Ft. Carl, which was built by Sweden in the late 1700s and was taken over by the French in the early 1800s, which wasn't hard given that the fort was manned by only four soldiers.

After we returned from our little expedition and met up with the others, we realized we were missing Gina. We had wandered off, forgetting that she had gone into an internet cafe to sennd an email to her son, Danny (her Blackberry stopped working). I can't believe we did that! I can't believe that I would forget about Gina!

After we "found" Gina, we were off to the boat to head to Saba. Again, we had to motorsail because the winds were light and we were headed downwind. The seas weren't quite as rough as yesterday, and Tom found something like Dramamine (Mercalm), so his experience was much better. Arrived in Saba around 1700h and picked up a mooring ball in Wells Bay. Everyone had said that it would be difficult to find an empty mooring but there was no one there. The wind was strong, it was a little choppy, and things got a little tense between the captain (Kent) and his wife (Nancy). But Tom was manning the hook and got the mooring ball on the first grab. He has now been deemed the Hooker--and he can be had for cheap.

I was a bit nervous about staying here because the area looked so threatening. The cliffs were dark, there wasn't a welcoming expanse of white beach and the wind was blowing really hard. But then the wind calmed down, the setting sun illuminated the cliffs and it was much nicer. And as always, my fears were ungrounded.

Spaghetti for dinner, with salad and wine. And of course, Happy Hour stared as a soon as we were securely moored. Tom played the Ship of Fools CD he compiled; he did an excellent job.

After dinner, I was looking out at the horizon or where the horizon should have been and noticed a light in the sky. Ah, a star...wait! It's bouncing around and moving erratically--really erratically. I pointed it out to the others--they said it's an airplane, or a helicopter. We watched it for a while, then it disappeared around Saba. UFO? Nah...then it showed up again! In the west this time, and like before, it was twinkling and bouncing around. I grabbed the bincoculars and there it was--mostly white, although the others thought they saw different colors. We watched it for a good long while, then it either moved off or was obscured by clouds. It's a shame Kory wasn't here--I'm sure he's going to be quite jealous that I saw what could have been an UFO. However, since we have no definitive proof, all I can say is that is was a Bizarre Celestial Phenomenon (BCP).

Another bizarre phenomenon is phosphoresence. I tossed a little bit of salad overboard and that must have drawn fishes, because the water started lighting up. Some of the flashed were quite big and there was a fish that tried to board the boat to get more salad. Given the far encounter with the BCP, I was a bit on edge and was a bit startled by the fish.

Carolyn stared a game of Mexican Train dominoes. I watched while Carolyn, Kent, Tom, and James played. Tom won both games. Being me, I made sure that everyone followed the rules.

We had a good breeze (at times it sounded like a gale), which made it difficult to get to sleep. Then I heard a boat engine. What kind of self-respecting boad is sailing at night? Immediately, my mind jumped to bizarre conclusions--it's the authorities, coming to get us because we didn't check in. Ummm...not at 2300h. After listening to the motor drone closer and closer, I could see the boat shining a spotlight. Next (il)logical conclusion? Pirates! They are going to board our boat and take everything we have (which ain't much)--maybe murder us in the process. I lay there, heart pounding, repeating "Go away, go away," trying to formulate a strategy of what I would do if they boarded the boat. It got closer and closer, then the engine stopped. I held my breath, waiting for someone to come on board. Silence. More silence. Then I hear a radio. Duh...they were coming in late and picking up a mooring1 I let out my breath, rolled over, and went to sleep.

St. Martin

Arrived in St. Martin yesterday afternoon, after an uneventful flight. Didn't get much sleep the night before, though--in bed at 2200h or 2230h, but didn't get to sleep until midnight, the sleep on and off and up at 0400h, cab at 0500h. After we arrived in St. Martin, we took a van to the marina. Libert was the driver and gave us a very good tour of the island. Unfortunately, the bus didn't have an intercom so it was difficult to hear him.

We did the briefing at 1430h, then got on the boat. We couldn't provision becasue the store was closed, it being Sunday, so we sat around at the bar drinking Caribs until dinner. Caribs at the Dinghy Dock Bar at Capt. Oliver's were $1 each during Happy Hour. Kent thought he could get a good deail by getting a case at Happy Hour prices. Retail prices, after further investigation, was $23 per case. Oh, well...

Dinner at the Iguana Bay was tasty, but expensive. Sleep was horrible--the boat was docked right next to the restaurant. It was hot, loud, bright, and the boat bumpers rubbed and squeaked the entire night.

Provisioned with heavy stuff (water, ice, wine) at the marina, then got underway around 1030h or so--headed to Phillipsburg on the Dutch side to get more stuff.

Prologue

This blog is a journal of the (mis)adventures of eight people sailing on a small boat in the Caribbean, traveling from St. Martin to Guadeloupe. How did the trip come to be?

In January or February, our friend Gina asked if we'd be interesting in joining a group of six other people on a bareboat charter. Of course, the answer was a resounding yes! Tom and I had sailed with James and Gina and Kent and Nancy twice before, in the Abacos and round trip from St. Lucia to Dominica. This trip would be Kent's last trip, as he would have completed sailing the entire Caribbean.

Kent organized the charter through the Moorings and we rented a 45-foot catamaran from June 6 through June 16. We opted for starter provisioning, as we preferred to provision the boat ourselves.

The winter passed slowly and the spring even more so, since it never seemed to warm up. In fact, I'm frantically going through my summer clothes at the last minute because it hasn't got warm enough to wear them. We've had the coolest spring in 100 years. I'm looking forward to finally being warm.

The laundry is done, the house/cat sitter arranged for, and the house is clean. Tom is frantically making the Ship of Fools t-shirts for everyone and the CD is made. We've got plenty of batteries for the digital camera. I need to get heavy-duty sunscreen. I've scheduled the cab to the airport...for 0500h. Ugh. But we arrive in St. Martin around 1300h, which is good.

And so the story begins...