We're now officially one month into hurricane season here in the Caribbean. Traditionally, anywhere south of 12 degrees south latitude has been considered safe from hurricanes. St George's, Grenada, where we are currently anchored, is just a few minutes north of 12 south (you do know that a nautical mile is defined as one minute of latitude and that a nautical mile is 1.15 statute miles, right?). Anyway, marine insurance companies have always denied hurricane coverage unless you are south of 12degrees, 10minutes north latitude, which is why people tend to leave their boats in Grenada, Trinidad, and Venezuela during hurricane season.

All that changed in September of 2004 when Hurricane Ivan struck Grenada, damaging an estimated 90% of all structures, wiping out nutmeg, banana, and cacao plantations, and laying waste to all of the boats that were in storage, on the hard or in the water. Hurricane Ivan went on to do a number on the gulf coast in Alabama. It even looped around over the Delmarva Peninsula, back into the Atlantic, around Florida, and made landfall once again in the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. A pretty nasty storm in just about all respects. I remember seeing pictures of the marinas here in southern Grenada, with the vast majority of boats toppled from their stands "on the hard", lying like fallen dominoes and the boats in the water looking like the aftermath of enduring a heavy-duty washing machine cycle.

We've been playing the odds by taking the month of June to travel from Dominica to Martinique, St Lucia, and through the Grenadines to Grenada. Hurricanes rarely form this early in the season, and as I mentioned, hurricanes rarely hit Grenada. This isn't as foolhardy as it might sound, as we've been within a day or two sail of Trinidad the entire time, and Trinidad has always been considered hurricane-safe. Like southern Grenada used to be. Hmmm. Trinidad is out of the trade winds and into what's known as the ITCZ, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, what used to be called the doldrums. The ITCZ is known for relatively light winds, very warm temps, and endless thunderstorms. But it takes wind to get a hurricane started, so that's why Trinidad has always been considered hurricane-safe. Of course the ITCZ boundaries move throughout the year and Trinidad isn't entirely hurricane-safe.

Fun weather facts to ponder.

Since last I wrote we traveled through the Grenadines, meeting with on 3 occasions our friends Mike and Lori who were on their annual sailing vacation in a chartered catamaran. 5 adults and 5 pre-teens/teens on their boat, plus another boat with another 8 folks on it. Can't imagine making decisions with that many people! But they seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, despite the windy and sometimes rainy weather we've been having. We anchored together on Bequia, in the Tobago Cays, and in Clifton Harbor on Union Island. Actually, it was more happenstance than not, as we weren't trying to travel with them, but it was nice to visit and chat.

The Tobago Cays are still pretty spectacular, though there's a lot more charter boats than there were 18 years ago when I was last here. The snorkeling was very good including right off the beach at Baradel Island where we snorkeled with half a dozen green turtles. Marine parks with serious rules about no fishing, no taking of turtles, no taking of anything really do make a difference.

We passed relatively quickly through Union Island, where we checked out of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Carriacou, where we checked into Grenada. We spent a couple of nights in Carriacou and then yesterday sailed south to Grenada. Our first "big" passage in a while. Since we'd gone from St Lucia to Bequia we hadn't been doing more than an hour or two sailing between anchorages; the trip from Carriacou to Grenada was all of 4 hours and 30 miles! :-) And now that we're no longer bashing into headwinds we're managing some quite nice sailing. We were beam-reaching at 8-9 knots in 15-20 knot winds from Carriacou to the northern end of Grenada.

One of the interesting things about that passage is sailing over an active seabed volcano! It's colorfully called Kick-'em-Jenny, and it rises to within 150 meters or so of the surface, about 8 kilometers north of Grenada. It last erupted in 2001, and the government has a 1.5 kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano, just in case. It's purely voluntary, though we did our best to avoid it. We sailed about 2 miles to the east of it and once I have the latest Google Earth .kmz file up on the site you can see exactly how close our track was to the volcano.

We arrived in St George's yesterday around noon and are anchored in the lagoon. St George's is a very pretty city, some say the prettiest in the Caribbean. The residual damage from Hurricane Ivan is still very visible, with many structures still ruined and a large church without its roof. Today was laundry day for the industrious half of us, internet access day for the other half. We'd been nearly 4 days without and beginning to suffer withdrawal.

Oh, nearly forgot. I was going to write a bit about the U.S. invasion of 1983. Recall that there'd been a coup here in 1979, putting into power a Marxist-Leninist government, supported by the Soviets and the Cubans. In 1983 the deputy prime-minister staged his own coup, overthrowing the previous government, and killing the very popular prime minister and half his cabinet. Ronnie Reagan took the opportunity to get rid of a commie western hemisphere government under the fairly feeble pretext of "protecting" US citizens enrolled in medical school here. We sent in the marines, the rangers, and the Navy SEALs which kicked out the Cubans, arrested the coup leaders, and turned control back over to the governor-general (the Queen's appointed representative, given Grenada is a British Commonwealth nation). Free elections ensued, the baddies are all still in jail, and the economy has boomed ever since. Most Grenadians I think were happy, happy enough to declare October 25 as a day of thanksgiving. The Europeans and the Brits and the Soviets and the Cubans were all furious. But the furor died down relatively quickly and most Americans took some pride in the first "positive" U.S. military action since Vietnam.

And some people wonder why the more paranoid in the Caribbean worry about American invasions. We do rather seem to make a habit of it, treating the area as our own backyard, even if it's really our neighbor's backyards.

We'll probably move on around to the south side of the island tomorrow or the day after and then wait for a good weather window before undertaking the 80-mile passage to Trinidad. We'll want to get there by a week from Monday, so as to have a full working-week to get the boat ready to be pulled out of the water and put on the hard for the remainder of hurricane season. We're flying to the bay area just a week from Friday, so things will be happening quickly. Come to think of it, we'll probably want to get there late this week!

See the new album, St Vincent & the Grenadines, in the Photo Gallery.

The sail today, June 21st, was about 20 miles from Friendship Bay on Bequia to the Tobago Cays, a small group of islands in the Grenadines. Nice points of sail, beam and broad reach. We sailed most of the way. No motor! We're getting the hang of this sailing stuff! Not bad after having "sailed" 3,800 miles. ;^)

But back to where I left off in my last update, St Lucia. No, we didn't go to the zip-line park. It would have cost us over $200 for an hour and a half activity along with a 30-minute drive over and another 30 minutes back. So we opted for the island tour which would take most of the day and not hit the pocket book so hard. The tour was not as thrilling as zip-lining, but it was enjoyable. St Lucia, like Dominica is an island formed by volcanoes. We saw the "drive-in" volcano. Sounds grand, but it wasn't a volcano, just some fumaroles and visible geothermal activity in the form of steam being released. And the smell of rotten eggs in the air. Reminded me of Yellowstone's mud pots.

In addition to the "volcano," we saw another beautiful garden. This one was located on an old sugar plantation and was planted by the daughter of the most recent owners in memory of her parents. Like the garden on Dominica, it was full of eye-catching tropical flowers. In addition to amazing flowers, this garden had a variety of edible plants and fruit-bearing trees, including nutmeg, cacao and cashew trees. I had never seen a cacao pod or the raw beans inside. The pods which don't hang from the end of branches, but grow along the trunk and thicker branches of the tree are yellow and the beans a light creamy color. Inside the pod the cacao beans are coated with a thick, milky white substance. Hard to believe that chocolate cake, Snickers bars and Toll House cookies wouldn't exist if it weren't for those slime-coated seeds. Nutmeg was interesting as well. I didn't know that the seed was found in a meaty, round fruit. And the red covering of the nutmeg seed is the source of the spice mace. Cashews were another eye-opener. Now I know why they are so expensive. Each nut grows in a small pod, one per fruit, on the cashew tree. A whole lot of cashew fruits have to be picked to collect enough nuts to fill one can of Planter's roasted cashews.

Lunch was a food adventure. We had breadfruit balls with banana ketchup at a roadside vendor. Breadfruit is a tropical fruit with dense, starchy meat. Although a fruit, the meat was not sweet. To make the balls, the breadfruit was cooked until soft and then mashed. I believe sautéed onions as well as spices were added to the mashed mix. Then the mash was formed into small balls, coated with dried breadcrumbs and deep-fried. We ate the breadfruit balls hot, dipping them in banana ketchup like one would dip fries in ketchup. Fun meal.

Our tour took us through several small fishing villages along the west coast of St Lucia. Even though St Lucia appeared to have more wealth and a better infrastructure than many Caribbean islands, the fishing villages were simple. Homes sometimes were no more than shacks. Not everyone had running water. As we crossed over a river, I saw a woman doing her laundry in the river.

Our stay at the Rodney Bay Marina was longer than anticipated, as we were waiting on the delivery of generator parts. The capacitors finally arrived. Ken installed them and we left. Waiting for packages to be delivered is part of the cruising life and something we have to accept, as is the cost for delivery and clearance. For each package we pay international delivery rates as well as broker fees to secure clearance through customs. Ken detailed this in his blog update, so I'll not write more about it.

However, I do have an anecdote to share about our Bequia package delivery. When I went to the RMS Internet Cafe to pick up our package (we had it delivered to RMS as they offered brokerage services and mail delivery), I met a young couple who were trying to get boat parts cleared through customs and delivered to Bequia. They had opted to have the parts delivered via ship, and not FedEx. The ship delivered the parts to St Vincent; they still needed to be brought by ferry to Bequia. I'm sure boat delivery is less expensive than FedEx, in fact I'm sure any other delivery service is less expensive. But in the end, it cost this young couple more in time and money to use the less expensive shipper. But, I'm jumping ahead of myself. When they saw me succeed in getting my package, they asked me, "How were you able to get your package delivered and cleared through customs on Bequia?" It must have looked like a miracle to them when I walked into the RMS office, asked for my package, was handed my paperwork and was told it could be picked-up at customs office down the block. I should mention that Ken had checked in earlier with our paperwork (passports, boat registration, FedEx info and immigration clearance) which had been photo copied for the broker and customs officer. The frazzled young cruisers were not having any success. Their parts, after almost two weeks, were still on St Vincent. They had paid at least 6 different people to help them clear the parts through customs and deliver them to Bequia. Still no boat parts, and it looked like they were not getting them soon. Of course they needed the parts to fix their boat so they could leave, a catch 22. They were frustrated. I understood their pain, having gone through something similar in the Dominican Republic. All I could tell them was that we had our parts delivered using FedEx, marked them boat-in-transit (so as not to have to pay duty) and paid a broker to manage the customs clearance. Although it looks more expensive do it the way we did, in the end we probably paid less than the young couple and had fewer frustrations. One learns quickly in the islands that you cannot do things yourself. Everyone wants a cut and they get it by making it impossible for you to not go through their process. Lessons learned.

Back to the update. From St Lucia we sailed on to Bequia. We didn't stop at St Vincent as we had heard several unpleasant stories about the boat boys and theft. Odd how some islands, like St Lucia, have been able to develop safe societies with sound infrastructures and others have not. Could make for an interesting economic study and thesis. (Probably has been done.)

We picked up a mooring ball in Admiralty Bay on Bequia. Again, we stayed until another package was delivered. This time parts for Ken's laptop, which died. Fortunately, he found the two parts needed online and was able to have them sent. It really is an amazing world we live in. Here we are on a boat in the Caribbean in some remote harbor and Ken gets online, finds the exact two parts he needs for his 2001 Mac Powerbook and orders them. They arrived a week later. Ken installed them into his computer and was up and running again. Yes, we had to wait a week and yes we had to have the parts sent to our Florida address and then shipped on to us at an international location and pay for international shipping and the broker fees, but it was doable. Amazing. Yet, it makes one think. Given that this is possible, why do so many people on the islands not have running water? Why do so many islanders live in shacks and not houses? Why is wealth, and thus access to services, so unevenly distributed? As you know, these are not new questions; many have asked and sought answers. Entire political systems have been conceived based on the redistribution of wealth. Still the questions are fresh for me as it has been my first exposure to the third world. It is thought provoking.

We hiked to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary on Bequia. A native of the island and a 6th generation Bequian, Bob King or Brother King as he likes to be called, built a sanctuary for the protection of the Hawksbill turtle. He collects newly-hatched turtles, nurtures them for 3 to 4 years (at which point they have far fewer predators) then releases them into the sea. We saw a tank of week old turtles. Might have been 100 turtles in the tank I understand about 50% of them will make it to 4 years of age while fewer than 1 in 3000 survive in the wild. Brother King is passionate about his endeavor. However, his passion was not embraced by all. He is actually a squatter on the beach where he built his turtle sanctuary and his refuge survives only because the government has not insisted he remove it. Although they have suggested to him that he relocate his sanctuary inland. This Brother King told us he could not do, as the turtles need to hear the ocean and feel its presence. Brother King's passions are powerful and well motivated, but it is not clear that his approach to saving the Hawksbill turtle is scientifically sound. There is controversy regarding his methods. Having said that, his sanctuary enables the turtles to mature to a point where they can survive their natural predators. Is this saving the hawksbill population from extinction? Don't know. But the turtle sanctuary was an interesting place to visit and Brother King was an impressive person.

From Admiralty Bay we motored around the island to Friendship Bay where we spent one night at anchor. We left this morning for Tobago Cays and are now at anchor in the cays.

We touched base with our friends Mike and Lori Haden in Admiralty Bay. They are on vacation, chartering a catamaran. Two families are on the cat, 10 people in all! And they were expecting another catamaran with 8 aboard to join them today. We only had time to say hello in Bequia. We're hoping to meet up with them here in Tobago Cays. I'll be interested in hearing how the ten or eighteen of them are doing!

Tobago Cays is known for its snorkeling and diving. We're looking to do some of each while we're here. I was hoping to go snorkeling today and maybe clean the dinghy bottom, but the wind was up and the water choppy. As we'll be here a few days, I'll wait for calmer conditions.

That's it for now.

Fair Winds,

Maryann

P.S.
As we didn't have internet access in the Tobabo Cays, I couldn't send out the June 21 update. It is now Monday, June 25th. The snorkeling in the cays was some of the best we've experienced. A large horseshoe-shaped reef (named Horseshoe Reef) lies to the east of the islands and is full of corals, fish and sea life. The reef is in shallow water, probably no deeper than ten feet, and the corals, at times, nearly touch the water's surface. Thus it was easy to snorkel around. Felt like we were swimming in an aquarium, the water clear and light blue, the fish brightly colored and abundant. And like an aquarium light, the sun shone on the corals bringing out beautiful magenta, lavender and orange colors.

The reef was not the only place we saw interesting sea life. We swam with several green turtles off one of the cays. First time we've been able to just hang out with these creatures. Usually turtles swim away. As these turtles live in a marine park and are protected, they must be used to snorkelers. They pretty much ignored us.

We also had a chance to visit with Mike and Lori and hear about their family vacation. The eighteen of them are having a great time. And we got to show Mike and Lori Aurora. They had lots of questions about boat life and living on a 46 foot sail boat.

The islands in the southern Grenadines are close together, about 2 to 3 miles apart. Yesterday, we left the Tobago Cays and sailed the 2.5 miles to Mayreau where we anchored for the night. We took advantage of the clean harbor to get in the water and clean our dinghy. It had long, green stuff growing off of the bottom! Yuck! We had planned to clean it in the Tobago Cays, but the Marine Park Rangers informed us, as we started cleaning our dinghy, that it was against park rules to clean boats in the park. Oops! This morning we motored from Mayreau to Union Island, only 3 miles or so. It is, as Pooh would say, a blustery day and so we are taking it easy.

Just a few more islands to visit and a 90 mile passage to make and we'll be in Trinidad, the end of this season's journey! Amazing.

That's it for the post script.

New photos in the Photo Gallery!

After spending something like 10 days in Rodney Bay Marina at the north end of St Lucia we were ready to be moving again. We did get a lot of boat maintenance done, including fixing the voltage regulator on the generator and finally splicing 50' of chain to our primary anchor line so that we have a full 300' of chain. Both have stories associated with them.

When we arrived in Rodney Bay we tracked down the local Fischer Panda service folks and had them come out to take a look at our generator. We'd been told repeatedly that the problem we were seeing, low voltage despite the engine running at the right speed, was probably "bad capacitors". Thinking I had no way to test capacitors I turned to the pros, and learned another lesson in boat maintenance: you can generally do a better job than the professionals.

The capacitors turned out to be located in a small box in the engine compartment, adjacent to the generator itself. A simple multimeter test of capacitance value revealed two of them to be bad. I let the service folks order the 2 replacement capacitors (these are, by the way, large aluminum electrolytics for those who know - about 6 inches long and an inch or more in diameter. Should have known better - I have a multimeter that measures capacitance; if I'd had just asked the right questions when talking with the service folks in Florida I could have diagnosed the problem myself. Instead we have the privilege of paying $50 to have this guy unscrew 3 screws and measure the capacitance on 6 capacitors.

These caps are pretty standard items, so I figured the service folks would get them either on-island, or maybe from an electronics supply in Trinidad or Puerto Rico. Hah. They called Fischer Panda in Florida and had them ship the new capacitors.

This was a pain on multiple levels. First off, we knew the parts guy in Florida as we'd stopped by when we were in Lake Worth, met him, and talked for awhile about spares. We could easily have ordered them ourselves without paying the markup from the service folks in St Lucia. Secondly, getting them from the U.S. meant we had to pay for a customs broker to fill out paperwork that basically says no import duty is due on parts imported for a yacht-in-transit, and we already had to pay a customs broker for another part - could have bundled them together. Thirdly, there were different physical sizes for the same value caps and we ended up with one of the two incorrectly sized. Oh well, live and learn.

One project that had been on the list for quite some time was to add another 50' of chain to our anchor line. We had 250' of chain already, and 50' of nylon line, but I wanted all chain. I'd asked at each chandlery we'd visited since the Virgin Islands, but nobody had the right size chain, or not enough of it. Finally, at the local hardware store in Rodney Bay we found 50' of chain. But I couldn't find a link that allows you to join two sections of chain together. Nobody had one in stock. Should of had the local chandlery track it down, but I figured I could order one from West Marine in the states and have it in 4 days. Of course the part costs $5.50 which meant shipping would have cost 10 times the cost of the part. So I ordered a spinning reel. :-) Hell, can't seem to catch anything trolling, why not try a different approach.

Anyway, 6 days after ordering the part we get a notice from FedEx that the package has arrived and that we need to clear it through customs. We'd planned to take a taxi tour of the island the next day, so we had the taxi driver stop at the customs building in Castries, the capital of St Lucia. Of course there was a bomb scare at the payment office of the local electricity company, so traffic was a nightmare. We finally got to customs and they told us we needed to go to FedEx. We'd passed FedEx earlier, so back to FedEx where we hand over our paperwork. 20 minutes later we're summoned into the customs examination room where the customs officer informed me that the form FedEx had partially completed was the wrong form. I asked if they had copies of the correct form. He showed me an example someone else had filled out and said, no, there were no copies of that form; customs brokers knew how to prepare them, but apparently mere mortals could not.

So we call the customs broker who nicely reduces his normal fee of EC$200 to EC$150 (about US$55) to fill out some paperwork that only he can do. This is not atypical of dealing with officialdom in the islands. But he did bring the box from the FedEx office to the marina, so we didn't have to return to the FedEx office ourselves.

Anyway, we did get the generator repaired and we did get our chain lengthened and we got a whole lot of other boat chores done, including having all the exterior stainless steel polished yet again (for something like the 3rd time in 9 months). It was time to leave Rodney Bay, despite the fact that being tied up with shore power and air conditioning was very pleasant.

We left Rodney Bay on Wednesday, sailing down the western shore of St Lucia to Soufriere, a lovely little town on the southwest corner of the island. Towering above Soufriere are 2 extinct cinder cones, the Pitons. It's quite a scenic place. I'm sure Maryann will do an update in the next few days about our St Lucia island tour which included yet another botanical garden and a drive-in volcano, both located near Soufriere. Meanwhile, new pictures are posted in the Photo Gallery.

Since we wanted to leave St Lucia for Bequia the next morning early we had to check out. I took the dinghy to town and caught the customs officer just before the 4:30 closing time. I filled out the customs clearance form and handed it to the officer who got slightly apoplectic because I'd used red ink. Apparently red ink is the exclusive province of the customs officer and using it was just about the worst thing imaginable. After filling out the form using blue ink we got our clearance. Then I had to clear out with immigration at the police station next door. Whoops, the form that I'd filled out in triplicate had been signed and noted by the customs officer as if it were a checkin and a checkout together. That would never do. I was sent back to customs where the officer simply crossed out one line and initialed it. Back to immigration in the police station. At which point all hell breaks loose. Something like 50 people come swarming into the police station led by a policeman who is marching along some scofflaw (presumed, of course) with some Brit lady yelling and screaming about credit cards and fraud and who knows what. The police constable that had been so correct about the customs form hands me our passports and shoos me out the door. He didn't look too happy to have a cruiser witness the seamier side of St Lucia.

Yesterday we were up early and set sail for Bequia at 5AM. It's a 50-mile trip, and we were concerned we'd get into Bequia sufficiently early. We were also bypassing St Vincent, as it's not a good cruiser spot due to obnoxious locals and high crime rates (the only island we've bypassed because of this so far). At any rate we needn't have worried. Once we got out of the lee of St Lucia we were moving along at 8+ knots, occasionally hitting 9.2! We did the 30 miles to St Vincent in no time, and then the 20 miles beyond to Bequia even quicker. We did pass a bay on St Vincent where they filmed the exteriors for the original Pirates movie; the dock structure is still standing. We also had a few moments of 30 knot winds between St Vincent and Bequia, but we're getting to find that not too difficult. Still scared us though, as getting whomped with 30 knots when you've been happy in 22-25 is not pleasant.

Bequia is a small island and part of St Vincent and the Grenadines. We arrived yesterday just past noon, cleared in with customs and immigration (no red ink for me!), and had pizza for dinner. I'd been here 18 years ago on a 2-week charter sailing trip and the place doesn't look substantially different. One of the characters we met back then was "Diver Bob", the owner of Dive Bequia. Turns out Diver Bob is still around and still running Dive Bequia.

And that brings us up to date. We're on a mooring in Admiralty Bay on Bequia, enjoying a breezy and occasionally squally day. Friends are arriving in St Vincent tomorrow for their yearly sail charter. I took them for their first sailing vacation in the Virgin Islands the summer after I was first here in Bequia in 1989. Never know what you might start. We hope to cross paths with them sometime over the next couple of weeks as we head south toward Grenada. Lots of short, easy hops between here and there, though the weather has changed and we're seeing very breezy conditions with nasty gusts in rain squalls. The rainy season has really begun down here.

Hard to believe but we're almost done with our first season of cruising! What was an interesting conversation just a year ago has become a reality. We'll be in Trinidad in less than 5 weeks. Our plane tickets are purchased. We're looking forward to our trip home and especially to the wedding of my daughter Julia and her fiance Morgan.

Our plans are to stay in California from mid July to after the wedding, which is on July 28th. In August and September, we're thinking of taking a road trip up to British Columbia and possibly back down through the Rocky Mountain States. Of course this requires a vehicle. We're wondering if anyone has an "extra" vehicle they are not using and would be willing to let us use from July through September? If so, send an e-mail to me or Ken and we'll figure out arrangements. If not, we'll do a rental or a purchase/sell, but we'd rather make it worth your while.

We had just arrived in Marin on Martinique in my last update. We decided not to stay, but to sail on to St Lucia where there would be boat services, a land-locked harbor and English spoken. We arrived in Rodney Bay on Sunday afternoon and took a slip at the Rodney Bay Marina. We have been working on the boat since our arrival. Ken repaired the aft head toilet as well as the aft head sink. We had the generator problem confirmed and ordered two capacitors to replace the broken ones. Ken purchased an additional 50 feet of chain for the anchor. He also discovered that the main sail furling problem was just a popped breaker. No motor repair required! I've been busy cleaning the boat. We had all the stainless cleaned and polished. We also did a large grocery shopping, filled the propane tank and got the laundry done. Whew, been busy.

As a result, we've not toured St Lucia yet. We hope to do that soon. There is a zip-line course in the adventure park on the east side of the island. I understand that one can zip through the rainforest canopy. We may just give it a try.

The sail from Martinique to St Lucia was quick, but with big seas. We saw our first 10-to-12-foot swells. That means the top of the swells are well above the deck of the boat. From the cockpit I looked UP at the waves and saw the sun shining through the water! Fortunately the swells were coming at the boat from the side; we were not heading into them. As a result we just went up and over. It made for a "theme park ride" experience. At one point, they were off our port stern and we were surfing the swells. The wind was off our beam, so we sailed quickly, 8+ knots most of the way with a few 9+ knot moments. Of course, we had the motor running, as we had only the jib out (no main sail per in-mast furling problem), needed to charge the batteries and had to make water. Too bad we couldn't have just turned it off. Would have been enjoyable to just sail. But with a land-locked harbor as our next destination, we had to fill the water tank. You don't want to make water in such a harbor.

When we first began our adventure we would not have gone out in such large seas. Now we're more experienced and what would have been too much six months ago is manageable today. I remember the first time we anchored. It was scary. Would the anchor catch? Would we drag and be blown on to shore? Would the anchor get caught on some debris on the ocean floor? We didn't sleep much that night, and both Ken and I kept getting up to make sure all was well. Now we drop the anchor, make sure she's secure and go about our business, including sleeping through the night. We are not careless, but rather we know what we are doing. Still, there's more to learn.

As there is still more to learn and we have not seen all of the Caribbean, we may just stay here another season. The decision is not firm, but we've discussed the idea. Some folks never leave the Caribbean. While anchored in Roseau Harbor, Dominica, we met a Michigan couple who had been sailing the Caribbean for 7 years. There is couple from Alameda, CA a few slips down from us in the marina, who have been in the Caribbean for 3 years. I could spend another year sailing the Caribbean.

That's it for this update.

Safe Passages,

Maryann

Below is my latest Aurora Update, sent out on June 2nd. However, I see that Ken added two posts to the blog since my update went out, so this posting is out of sequence and repetitive. Nevertheless, we see the world differently so reading my blog may provide you with a different take on our travels. And I have included a few pictures. To see more photos, check out our web site at svaurora.com/newsite

June 2, 2007

We are anchored in the Cul-de-Sac du Marin on the south side of Martinique, the northern-most of the Windward Islands. We arrived this afternoon after a rough and tumble sail from St Pierre, a town on the west side of Martinique. We sailed through a squall and experienced our first 40 knot winds! Exciting, but we've sailed enough to be familiar with how to manage the boat. The jib had already been pulled in and the main sail was reefed, as it should be. The wind was blowing hard, but Aurora is a blue water vessel and it was not too much for her.

Although we managed the 40-knot winds well, it was our fist squall and a bit intimidating. And that was not it for sailing excitement today. When we were making our way into the harbor and were ready to roll up the main, it didn't roll. We have in-mast roller furling on the main, which requires a motor to turn the furler and roll up the sail. The motor that turns the furler didn't work! No fun, especially on a day with the winds blowing hard. Ken had to hand crank in the main using the winch handle while I steered the boat into the wind and managed the outhaul line. Not only did I have to keep Aurora facing into the wind, which was blowing 25 knots and pushing her all over the place, but I also had to steer clear of oncoming boat traffic, random fish traps, the occasional fishing skiff as well as stay off the shoals. To make it more challenging, I had to do this while keeping the right amount of tension on the outhaul line. Well I can't say I did a perfect job. The boat kept moving away from the wind and the outhaul tension was never tight or loose enough, but we did get the sail in. Ken's task wasn't any easier as the halyard cleats had been attached to the mast just forward of the slot for the manual furling handle. This meant he could not make a 360 degree turn with the handle and wind the sail in, but had to turn it approximately 250 degrees, take the handle out reinsert and turn again. He got the job done, but not without a few choice words directed at the person who attached the halyard cleats to the mast! Not to mention the words directed my way when Aurora was not going into the wind or the tension on the outhaul was too tight or loose! The good news is that we eventually got the main sail furled and made it to the anchorage.

After sailing though the squall and getting the sail in, we were ready to find a nice spot to anchor and be done for the day. Not as easy as it sounds. The anchorage was very crowded and the wind was still blowing. There were just no obvious spots to anchor. We motored around looking for a good place, akin to finding a parking space at the mall during Christmas shopping season. Getting Aurora anchored didn't go too well. What normally is a routine task for us, took us three tries at three different locations to succeed. But we finally got her anchored as we wanted, not too close to any other boats and the anchor set so she would't drag. Nice to be done for the day.

That was today, but we've had some wonderful experiences since my last update where we had arrived in Deshaies (Day hay), Guadeloupe. In Deshaies, we had the best croissants ever – fresh baked, melt-in-your-mouth buttery and flaky. Not sure what made these particular croissants so good, but something did. Guadeloupe is a French island and like France has boulangeries as well as little deli's where one can get sandwiches and baked goods and always the baguette. After breakfast we walked to a botanical garden that had been mentioned in our guide book. I didn't expect much as the town was small and the previous gardens we'd seen were nice, but not amazing. However, we were surprised to find ourselves in one of the most beautiful gardens I'd ever seen. The plants were healthy, blooming and well tended. The trees were large, providing much needed shade. All of the plants were labeled in French, but we could figure out many of the labels. And the garden walk was constructed so that one wandered through the trees and flowers in such a way as to see them at their best as well as providing beautiful views of the open spaces on the grounds. In addition to plants there were loris, lorikeets, parrots and flamingos. The loris were so tame they would sit on your shoulders if they thought you were going to feed them. Ken pushed the lever on the food dispenser and one of the birds landed on his shoulder. The birds were fun, but the plants were amazing - the trees huge, the flowers lush and the grounds lovely. There was even a pool with koi and large water lilies.

We only spent one day at Deshaies. From there we headed south along the coast of Guadeloupe. Our destination was Basse Terre, the second largest city on the island and its capital, but as we got close it didn't look inviting. The Iles des Saintes were only 5 miles off Guadeloupe's southern coast and, from what we read in our guide book, much more appealing. So we just kept sailing. I'm glad we did. Iles des Saintes (The Saints) were a charming set of islands. In fact, they are part of Guadeloupe and are a favorite vacation spot for folks from the big island. Like all of the French islands we've visited to date, they are just like being in France. French is spoken, all signs, information and text is in French and they look and feel like little French towns, which they are. Baguettes are 0.80 Euros, just like in France. (It's true, I've never been to France. But this is what I understand from people I talk with and it makes sense to me.)

Terre den Haut, the main island of The Saints, is home to the only town on The Saints, Bourg des Saintes. Terre den Haut is so small that one can walk the entire island easily. The beaches are all accessible by foot. The inhabitants drive scooters, not cars. It was not unusual to see an older woman, say in her 70's, riding around town on a scooter. Bourg des Saintes had several shops that carried locally made clothing and crafts. At Maogany West-Indigo, a small boutique, I purchased a sea washed indigo top. The owner designed, dyed and painted all of the clothes in his shop himself. He does quality work.

From The Saints we sailed on to Dominica where we spent a night anchored in Prince Rupert Bay off the town of Portsmouth. What a change. Dominica has eight volcanoes on the island. The beaches are narrow and made of black sand. The island is mountainous and the mountains are home to rain forests and several beautiful waterfalls. Dominica is an English-speaking island with a mixed cultural heritage influenced by Britain, France and Africa . On Dominica boat guides come out to meet you as you sail in. They provide services for boaters. Albert met us on our way in to Prince Rupert Bay. He welcomed us to Dominica and guided us to a safe anchorage. We arranged with Albert to tour the Indian River. He met us the next morning and took us up the river, which wanders through some beautiful swamps and amazing flora and fauna. I kind of felt like I was on the jungle ride at Disneyland! We saw iguanas in the trees, crabs hiding along the river's edge, schools of fish swimming next to the boat and birds in and above the trees. Animal and insect sounds filled the air. The river was alive with bird, frog and insect noises. When I closed my eyes, I could have been listening to one of those "Sounds of Nature" CDs. ; -)

A few of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel scenes were shot along the Indian River. It had that creepy, pirate feel to it. Not surprising to hear it was used in the movies.

We did get into town, Portsmouth, the next morning to clear in and out of customs. It was not a beautiful town, like Bourg des Saintes. The people were poor, the buildings in need of repair and the ground littered. The main street was torn up due to the construction of sidewalks. Felt like this project had been going on a long time. Not a tourist destination. Having said that, I found a beautiful hand-made Carib basket in one of the shops. It was just what I have been looking for and was pleased to have found it. Our fruit now lives in the new basket above the starboard settee in the saloon. Ken is happy to have the old fruit basket out of the galley and out of his way.

From Portsmouth we headed to Roseau, the capital of Dominica. This time, Roots, a boat guide, met us in the anchorage/mooring field. However, Albert, our guide in Portsmouth, had referred us to Pancho. Pancho showed up after we had hooked up to a mooring to say hello and offer his services. Now we had two boat guides who wanted our business. What to do? Well, the problem solved itself. Pancho got our business when we could not locate Roots to provide us with a ride to town. Pancho was available, so we had him take us. On the way back from town, we made arrangements with Pancho to tour the waterfalls the next morning. He turned out to be an entertaining as well as informative guide. He pointed out all sorts of plants as we drove to the falls, going so far as to stop the car and pick leaves or pods. He gave us some pods from a plant located just off the road, and asked us to identify them. We couldn't. It turned out to be coffee pods with beans inside.

The falls were beautiful. Set in the Dominica rainforest, they cascaded down into pools of cool water. Pancho and I went swimming. Felt good as the day was hot and humid. Pancho also took us to a small "boiling" lake, which was actually a vent for volcanic activity in the form of a small pool of boiling water. There is on the island a true lake of boiling water, 60 meters in width, but to see it required an all day commitment and we knew the weather was turning and we wanted to get to Martinique. Not surprising, Roots was not a happy camper that we had gone on a tour with Pancho. Appears that this was not unusual. We read in another cruising couple's journal that both Roots and Pancho were vying for their business as well. This is their livelihood. There's not a lot of opportunities on these islands for young men raising families. Both Roots and Pancho had young sons they were quite proud of. It seems they could find a way to deal with the issue of who meets and takes care of which boats.

I have found the Caribbean's to be a proud people who love their islands. Many times we'd meet a cab driver or a tour guide or a shop keeper and they'd tell us how beautiful their island is and how much the love it. They wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Life is not always easy for islanders. Their homes are simple, their world not filled with conveniences, jobs not abundant yet they are proud of their islands, their families and their work. Simple pleasures are enjoyed. Family members are included. At a bakery in Portsmouth the 96-year-old mom of the woman who ran the shop was sitting in the bakery. We chatted and it became clear that the daughter was proud of her mother's age and that Dominica had many centenarians living on the island. Roots had his young son on his boat with him and mentioned that he was in school. It was important to him. Our Taxi driver on St Kitts stopped off at home to drop off a package to this daughter and introduced us to her. He was quite delighted with his daughter and her friendly, outgoing manner. Of course this is an over statement, but it captures my impression of life on these islands. In contrast, we Americans have so much and yet as a society of people we appear to be discontent.

From Dominica we sailed to Martinique and anchored in the harbor off of St Pierre. Again the wind was on the nose and we saw 30 knots. However, the seas were not too high, so the passage was not as rough. We spent only one night in St Pierre. We didn't see much of the town and none of the island. We did try their pizza. It was just barely edible, the sauce bland, the olives still contained pits and the cheese not melted. However, we were hungry and our reefer was nearly empty, containing only condiments and beer. So we ate the pizza. This morning, before we set sail, we stopped in the open-air market to purchase fresh vegetables and fruit. So nice. Located at the end of the dock, it was easy for us to get to and was very much like a farmers' market at home. I'll need to soak all of the produce in a bleach solution before we eat it, but it should be fine. I purchased lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, a pineapple, limes and bananas. As I speak no French, pointing and hand gestures were my communication tools. Ken speaks a little French and was able to manage the payment.

Today we sailed. It was our roughest day of sailing so far. I wrote about it in the first paragraph of this update. That brings me up to date. We'll probably be in Marin for a few days. The weather needs to calm down and we (Ken with my assistance at running and fetching tools and towels) need to fix the main sail furler as well as the aft head switch. Oh yes, the switch finally arrived. We had it sent to St Maarten, but the supplier sent it USPS Priority Mail (US mail) when I had requested overnight delivery. US mail takes a while, even priority mail. We left St Maarten without the part. Thus we had to wait for the part to arrive in St Maartin, then call them to forward it on to Roseau, Dominica. And pay again for shipping and postage. However, the folks at St Maartin sent it FedEx. We were able to pick it up in Roseau. We now have the part. Ken just needs to install it, with my assistance. =^) Then hopefully the aft head will work again.

As a cruiser we met in Portsmouth said, living on a boat is a fix and repair daily lifestyle. So true. Something breaks or stops working on a daily basis. Neither Ken nor I anticipated the amount of stuff that would break, nor how often it would break. At times it is daunting. However, from our conversations with other boaters, this is normal. Things break all the time on a boat. It is part of the life.

That's it for this update. I've attached a few pictures. I'll put an album on our website with many more. Website URL: svAurora.com/newsite. Check out the "Photo Gallery" for the latest photos. But give me a day or two. They're not up yet!

Safe Passages,

Maryann


English Harbor, Antigua. These are some of the original buildings from Nelson's Dockyard dating from the mid 1700's.
















Water lilies at the botanical garden in Deshaies, Guadeloupe. The koi were feeding. You can see them at the bottom of the photo.


















Loris and lorikeets at the Deshaies botanical garden, Guadeloupe.





















Tropical flowers. Botanical garden, Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

























One of several parrots at the botanical garden. Each had their own bird house, which was brightly painted and each house a different color.
























This was the main street in Deshaies. Across the street from the Restaurant Le Mouillage was the bakery with the best-ever croissants.

















The harbor at Bourg des Saintes on the island of Terre den Haut in Iles des Saintes, Guadeloupe. A delightful town.

















In every French town the church bells ring on the hour. These were the towers of the church in St. Pierre, Martinique.

















The market in St Pierre, Martinique. I purchased fruits and vegetables here.

After saying we'd probably spend a few days in Marin, Martinique, we changed our minds. Yesterday morning we cleared in and out with French customs and immigration. I must say, the French are the tops in minimizing bureaucracy; not bad for those who are said to have invented it! One simple one-sided form, a quick verification of boat and passport numbers, and we're cleared both in and out. Three cheers for the French.

At any rate, we decided that we'd probably have an easier time doing boat maintenance and chores in Rodney Bay on St Lucia where English is the default language. We also were concerned for how long the high winds and waves would last, as they weren't diminishing in our 5-day forecasts. So, around 10AM we raised the anchor and were off for the 26 miles to St Lucia.

Our course was 204 degrees magnetic, which meant that we actually went between a close reach and a beam reach for the entire time. But our mainsail furling wasn't working, so all we had was a partly-reefed jib and the engine. We needed to charge the batteries and run the watermaker so the engine needed to be running and we figured we might as well use it for propulsion as well. Consequently we screamed across the channel at between 8 and 8.5 knots. We actually hit 9.2 briefly. And it's just as well, since the waves were as big as we've sailed in, at least 10 feet high and sometimes 12. With the wind howling at 20-30 knots again, it made for a very boisterous passage. Luckily it was all over in a bit over 3 hours. Not bad for 26 miles!

We entered the large expanse of Rodney Bay and dropped our anchor out in the main harbor. We wanted to stay in the marina, but nobody answered the VHF - just after lunch on a Sunday, so no big surprise. Jumped into the dinghy and entered the inner harbor where the marina, shops, and customs are all located. We cleared in to customs (hey, St Lucians, take a lesson from your French neighbors to the north and simplify your clearing in!), paid our $65EC clearing-in and cruising fee ($2.70EC to the dollar), ate lunch, and returned to the boat.

There were a number of empty berths in the marina, so we figured we could just choose one and take care of the paperwork Monday. So the anchor comes up, we enter the inner harbor, and make for a slip. But the wind's blowing 20+ knots and even though the slip is almost dead upwind a gust catches us as we're halfway in the slip, getting us diagonal to the slip. So back out and try again. This time we have some dockhands ready to take our lines and it goes very much more smoothly. We washed down the boat with fresh water - first time we've had a chance to clear the salt buildup in several weeks. The electrical hookup doesn't work, though. Apparently they've wired their 110V transformers backwards, so the boat's electrical panel shows reversed polarity; have to wait until Monday to get that straightened out.

And that brings us up to Monday. Grabbed some pastries and coffee ashore (a local bakery in the marina and it's woefully short of the croissants and pain de chocolate of their French neighbors to the north). Checked into the marina, got the electrical connection sorted out, and the air conditioners turned on. Did I mention the cabin temps are hitting 90F on a daily basis; with humidty to match. And I had a brainstorm - thought what if the mainsail furling motor had simply popped a breaker? And sure enough that was the trouble. So one major issue down with about half a dozen more to follow. Let's hope they're all as simple as a popped breaker!

The marina has moved to its summer pricing on slips so we're paying an all-time low of $0.41US per foot. The charge for a 5-day stay with water and electricity at least partially paid for was a bit over US$100. We might stay longer. :-) And the island is very up-scale with lots and lots of very expensive-looking homes on the hills around the bay. There's like 5 restaurants on the marina grounds alone. Oh and there's the usual volcanic and agricultural tourist things here. Who knows how long we'll stay?

Those fans of Christopher Guest and his ensemble actors might recognize the title of this entry, but our mighty wind was the real thing. This morning, while motoring around the south end of Martinique, we ran into a squall packing 40knot winds and pelting rain. Not fun, but it was surprisingly moderate as we we'd been motorsailing through 25-32 knot winds all morning long.

Day before yesterday morning we set off with Pancho to tour Trafalgar Falls on the south end of Dominica. Pancho had been recommended to us by Albert, our guide on the Indian River at the north end of Dominica. Pancho was every bit the naturist (not the sun loving kind...) as was Albert. Along the way he identified cinnamon (not native to the west indies), coffee, mango, and avocado trees. We had to try to guess cinnamon from its leaves, which smelled to me of nutmeg, but maybe that's just because we use so much cinnamon and nutmeg during the holidays. We had to guess coffee from a bean in its husk, not an easy task when the bean is unripe. Anyway, the trip up the mountain was full of botanical lessons.

The waterfall was reasonably cool, as waterfalls go. Two of them, about 80 feet high each, one plunging onto a rock fall, the other into a small pool at its base. Pancho and Maryann went for a dip; too chilly for me, despite the tropical surroundings. Pancho has the looks of a Rastafarian, though he had braids rather than dreadlocks. After the swim he lit up a small cigar-sized joint and stood there dripping water, puffing on his ganja (ganja is Rasta slang for marijuana). He was quite the Rasta Man, as I pointed out. "Yeah, baby", his reply.

After the brief hike to the waterfall and swim, we drove back down the mountainside and stopped at a fumarole, a small puddle of water with steam boiling up through it. We've got a video which we'll post to the web site along with the very few pictures that we got; for some reason our little point and shoot camera settings are producing less than optimal pics. But the video came out clearly. The fumarole was in lieu of hiking 7-9 hours to see the famous "boiling lake" on Dominica. Once the 2nd largest in the world, until the larger one in New Zealand decided to be a mud hole instead. The locals are quite aware that Mt Soufriere on Montserrat started erupting about 10 years ago, wiped out the capital city of Plymouth, and the airport, and hasn't really stopped since. When the boiling lake stopped boiling a little while ago, a lot of the locals were convinced an eruption was imminent. But it was only a 2-week hiatus and apparently the boiling lake is boiling once more.

Yesterday morning our boat part arrived. We'd ordered it while in St Maarten, and the folks who sent it decided that US mail was the appropriate way to ship a boat part to the Caribbean. Idiots. Rather than wait, we kept moving. Once we learned the shipment had arrived at the mail center on St Maarten we had them forward it on to Dominica. FedEx. Of course that meant it had to be flown to Puerto Rico. And then to Memphis. And back Puerto Rico. And then on to Dominca. At any rate we managed to snag it yesterday morning, and immediately upped anchor and set off for Martinique, just 30 miles south.

Naturally, the wind was coming from the southeast and we wanted to head pretty much due south. But then amazingly enough the wind came around enough to the east for us to be really sailing, and not just motorsailing. Of course just before I killed the engine, it obligingly died on its own. Damn. Thought we had more dirty diesel, but we figured out that we were drawing from 2 of our 4 diesel tanks, and the fuel pump actually pumps more diesel than the engine can use, with the excess being returned to the tank(s). In this case, one of the tanks was being used to suck fuel from and the other tank was getting the excess. When the first tank ran dry, the engine quit. Disabling the dry tank allowed us to start the engine again, but we didn't put it in gear because we were actually sailing! We managed to sail then entire way to Martinique, though we had to run the engine to charge the batteries. Still, without the load of propelling the boat, the engine is *way* quieter. Other than hitting winds between 25 and 30 knots near the north end of Martinique, it was a nice sail. The seas were down which also helped, though we were still slogging through 4-6 ft seas on close hauled in 25 knot sustained winds. Who knows, maybe we're learning how to sail?

We stopped at St Pierre on the northern end of Martinique. It's a charming little French fishing town, once known as the Paris of the Caribbean until the local Mt Pelee let go with a volcanic pyroclastic flow in 1910. Killed 30,000 people and sank 9 ships in the harbor. Only a prisoner in his cell was reputed to have survived. The village has never quite recovered.

While anchoring we had a new experience. We managed to snag the anchor chain on an already-anchored boat. We ended up a bit too close to them, but when we tried to raise the anchor we ended up pulling on their anchor chain. Not a good place to be. One of the local cruisers jumped in his dinghy and kept our 2 boats apart while I quickly put on a mask and fins and dove to clear the anchor. By that time our anchor was about 20 feet into the water, with the other boat's anchor chain hanging from it. It was easy to pull off their chain, drop it, and free our anchor. We ended up anchoring at the south side of the town dock, instead of the north side where we started. Thankfully this other guy helped us out when we needed it.

This morning we had the requisite pain de chocolate and croissant with cafe au lait and then wandered through the Saturday morning market We bought some fresh produce and then headed south to Marin, the French yachting center of the Caribbean. The winds and the waves started very small and manageable, but we had a large expanse of open bay to cross. The east side of Martinique has a huge bay and harbor where the capital, Fort de France is located. We were heading straight down the eastern coast to the south end of the island, so we had about 10 miles of open water to cross. Apparently the bay funnels the wind as we hit 24-26 knots consistently, with gusts nearing 30. The waves weren't dreadful, but the wind made up for it. We sailed on and off, with the wind ranging between close hauled and a close reach (yeah!), but we pretty much had to have the engine running as the wind shifted a fair bit.

Once we regained the coast and turned round the corner on the south end of the island we figured things would calm down. Hah. The damn wind just kept blowing with gusts to 32, and then we motorsailed into this squall where the wind actually hit 40 knots. I was in a pair of shorts, and back of the wheel just in case I needed to let the main fly free (if the winds get completely overpowering you can just let the main go and it'll flop in the wind - violently! - and the boat will lose speed, allowing you to maintain control). So I got to feel the rain being blown horizontally in 40 knots. Not particularly fun, but as I've already said, we'd been battling high winds all morning, so were prepared for the squall.

We sailed into sunshine, and then had to motor for 8 miles directly eastward, directly into the wind toward Marin. Just as we neared the buoys that marked the channel into Marin we tried to furl the mainsail, but the furling motor wasn't turning. I suspect we burned it out as letting out the main or furling it requires a delicate balance between the line that pulls the sail out and the electric motor that furls or un-furls the sail. At any rate, here we are entering a fairly tricky harbor with the wind still blowing 25-30 knots, and we can't furl the main. Well, actually we can. There's a manual control that allows you to either furl the sail or unfurl it. But we'd never needed it before. Turns out you use a winch handle to turn the very low geared mechanism. Low-geared means it takes a *lot* of turns to roll up the sail. And whoever did the hardware on our mast decided putting a large set of rope clutches right alongside the manual furling mechanism, so you couldn't rotate the winch handle. So I get to turn the mechanism a little more than 1/2 a rotation, then pull out the winch handle and put it back in and start all over again. While the sail in flapping madly in the wind. And we're trying to maintain minimum boat speed, dodging the other traffic coming in and out of the harbor, and keeping the boat pointed into the wind. This was not fun. But we finally got it under control and entered the harbor here at Marin.

And our first attempt to anchor ends up with us too close to another boat. And our second attempt puts us alongside a floating dry-dock; it's not going to move in the wind, but we will. Finally on our third try we manage to drop the anchor and position ourselves reasonably in relation to the hundreds and hundreds of other boats here. Did I mention this is the heart of French yachting in the Caribbean?

Oh, and I forgot that we hooked a fish just prior to entering the rain squall. Must have been a big one, as I almost couldn't put enough drag on the reel to stop him taking out the line. But my half-assed fisherman's knots must have let go and some poor fish is probably out there with a lure hanging out of its mouth. Damn.

Oh well, we got the boat put way and dinghied to shore. Oh wait, first we couldn't get the outboard started. So, out with the oars and row back to the boat, from which we've drifted a good little way. And then on the 3rd try after returning to the boat, the outboard starts. Just that kind of day. Anyway, we didn't find anyplace we'd really like to eat, so we popped into the local supermarket, bought some wine, some cheese, salami, and a baguette and had a very nice little dinner back on the boat. Of course the wine was oxidized; luckily we had one last remaining bottle from St Maarten which was still OK. Like I said, jus that kind of day.

Now it's nearly 9PM, and getting on to bedtime. :-) Tomorrow is Sunday and we'll probably take it easy most of the day. Monday we've got a bunch of boat chores to tackle, including replacing the mainsail furling motor. Since the company who provided our mast and mainsail furling system is French, hopefully it won't be too difficult buying a replacement. But we'll still be stuck here for a few days, regardless, as the weather forecast is showing even bigger winds and seas (up to 10') in the coming days. And even though it's only 26 miles to St Lucia, I think we'll wait for things to calm a bit before we tackle the passage.