Jan 1
There was a mass exodus from the anchorage this morning. Part of it, I'm guessing, was people who were here specifically for the holiday and they are moving on. Part of it also was that the cruisers who actually wait for nice weather to travel (as opposed to the charterers who go anytime) had very nice weather to move north. By the end of the day, even with the addition of some boats that came in this afternoon, the anchorage is probably only two-thirds as full as it was last night.
The weather today is kind of odd. There is a heavy low overcast, but it didn't rain during the day. It was one of those skies that looked like it could snow any minute - if only it was fifty degrees colder.
Emily PG, one of the tankers that calls here weekly was anchored outside the bay this morning. The Port Authority has been making announcements on the VHF since yesterday afternoon, telling people that have anchored in the tanker's mooring area that they have to move. This morning, they finally got in a boat and came out to tell those who ignored them to move now. One Italian boat refused to move. They apparently told him to have a nice day, and then told Emily PG to proceed to come in. When the Italian boat saw the tanker coming, they moved in a hurry. Even though I've watched it several times now, I'm impressed to watch the big tanker slowly creep into the crowded anchorage and park.
Yesterday we got gas for the dinghy, and I noticed how much crap is in the bottom of the gas can. I can't really dump it out anywhere, but since I know how much is there now, that prompted me to get and install an auxiliary filter on the fuel line before the motor. I picked one up at Wallace & Co. yesterday and installed it today. It was simple to install and there were no leaks when I was done!
We went to Frangipani for lunch and to use the internet and upload the website update. We found a bunch of friends there and stayed for several hours. Most of the people who use the internet at Frangipani sit at two picnic tables that are pushed together. We sit there because there are electric plugs available for the computers. There were four couples at the table and we all wanted to eat. We got the waitresses attention and she came over to take our orders. When we said we wanted separate tickets for each couple, she got all flustered and walked away. The gist of the problem was that she has to put a table number on each order in the computer, and we were all at the same table. She couldn't handle using any of the table numbers from the twenty other empty tables in the place, or some other way of managing it. Eventually, she came back and took the rest of the orders, but she was grumpy about it. Unfortunately it's another example of what passes for customer service in the islands sometimes.
When we got back to the boat, we relaxed and read. Barb made a Tupperware surprise dinner that was good as usual. After dark, we heard a call on the VHF from a charter boat anchored not far from us to any water taxi. A taxi called My Desire responded to their call. They asked if he knew where they could get a battery charged or get a jump. They plan to leave tonight for Martinique, where they have to return the boat. My Desire said he'd be out in five minutes. This is a new twist on the things charterers do. It's possible that the boat has old crappy batteries, but even so, there is a separate battery for starting the engine vs. running lights and stuff. There is a switch that isolates the two battery banks or combines them. In order to not be able to start the boat, you would have to have had the banks combined and not paid attention to the voltage all day and run them all down, or maybe the starting battery is bad, but again you can combine the banks and start off all the batteries, so if that didn't work, they had let the batteries get way too low. Whatever the circumstances, if they had been paying attention to the boats systems, it wouldn't have been a problem. But the average charterer thinks the boat is like a floating hotel room, and all the electricity and water you need are right there.
My Desire seems to be the only water taxi working this evening. Several boats have called for rides to or from shore, and he answers every time and say he'll be right there. After fifteen or twenty minutes then the people are calling back because he isn't there. Another example of a lack of common sense in how to run a business. If you can't be there for fifteen minutes, say so. But they don't because they don't want the customer calling somebody else. It makes for very interesting radio entertainment.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 2
It rained off and on all night, mostly light misty showers. Right after we did the Coconut Telegraph, a big squall came through. It poured and blew very hard for about half an hour, and then the rain stopped. By 09:00, the sun was trying to come out, and the rest of the day was periods of overcast then sun for a while. It's funny how the weather changes so quickly in the islands. Late in the afternoon, another big squall came through. I was surprised that no boats were dragging or breaking free of moorings.
We ran the motor almost all day to get a good full charge on the batteries. I've not been getting them fully recharged, and with a couple of not so sunny days in a row, the solar panels haven't been helping much. We paid Ashley for ten more days on the mooring, which hopefully will take us through when our package gets here and we will move north.
There are several mega yachts anchored here today. There are five or six big motor yachts, and another five or six big crewed sailboats. Mid afternoon, we heard Maltese Falcon on the VHF. They were over in Mustique, and I heard them tell another yacht they were getting underway for Bequia. A little while later, we heard a loud go-fast boat coming. I looked through the binoculars at this white boat flying up the main channel. I noticed a small flag on the stern with a Maltese cross on it. It must be an advance boat for Maltese Falcon. Half an hour later, right after the huge squall passed through, I saw the distinctive masts of Maltese Falcon come around the point to enter the anchorage. The go-fast boat came back out from the dock and met them. They anchored way back behind everybody else, because they are so large that is about their only option. Within minutes, there were dinghies and boat boys out there looking at the boat. It's hard to have a boat like that and not draw attention. We joked about how we get to share the same anchorage and view for a lot less money. Our annual budget is probably about the same as their daily one. The tender made several trips back and forth to town, and then just before dark, they weighed anchor and left. I heard them on the radio later, and they only went another eight miles over to Young Island Cut in St. Vincent. Maybe they didn't like their view being marred by the big freighter that is still anchored here.
We had another dinner that was made mostly from stuff other cruisers gave us as they emptied food stores to store their boats. Thanks Pirate's Hideout and Winergie.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 3
It rained off and on all night, with accompanying big gusts of wind as the squalls moved through. I don't recall this being in the forecast, but Chris Parker, the weather guy has been on vacation this past week, and his replacement leaves something to be desired. Today is the first day that Chris will be back on the air, and I was up at 07:00 to listen. Propagation was not good and I couldn't hear him at 07:00 at all. After the Coconut Telegraph, I listened for Chris again at his 08:30 broadcast. This time I heard him, and he said there was a tropical wave passing through. It's pretty late in the season for a tropical wave, but that explains the squalls. During the early morning we had several squalls pass through with wind gusts over 40 knots. The rain finally ended about 10:00, but the wind continued to blow about 20 knots. Lots of boats left the harbor during the morning, mostly charter boats. They probably have to have the boats back to the charter company today, so they go regardless of the weather.
We went in to Frangipani for a light lunch and to use the internet for a while. I got caught up on reading friends cruising logs that I haven't been able to do in sometime. We learned that two couples we know, who went to the BVI last year and got jobs as charter captains and chefs, have decided to sell their boats and pursue that new lifestyle.
After a couple hours back on the boat reading, we joined Mike & Lynn from Seabbatical for drinks at Frangipani and then dinner at Portofino. Portofino is an Italian restaurant that we can see from the boat. We have been talking about going there the whole time we've been here, but just hadn't gotten there yet. We have noticed that they are never very busy. That could mean they are no good, or just that they are the last business down the walkway and people don't go that far. They don't have their own dock, and the walkway along the water's edge is right at water level and you will get your feet wet at a minimum, and may get splashed big time if a ferry wake comes or there is a north swell. We got to the restaurant for our 18:30 reservation with only wet feet, and were seated at a table on the water's edge. There was one other table of folks there at the time. We had a round of drinks and then placed our orders. We had a flyer that had been passed out in the anchorage that gave us a free bottle of house wine with dinner for two. They were very generous and gave each couple a bottle, even though we only had one flyer. The ladies both got a seafood pasta dish, Mike got spaghetti and meatballs, and I got lobster ravioli. All the food was great, so maybe the location is the reason for their lack of business.
During dinner, there were occasional waves that broke against the seawall and splashed straight up in the air, just ten feet from our table. These were usually from the wake of a big boat out in the middle of the harbor. After we had finished our meals, and were enjoying the rest of our wine, the waves started getting larger and more frequent. Several broke against the wall sending water at least fifteen feet in the air and splashing a little on the floor of the restaurant. The forecast was for a north swell to develop this evening and last through Monday. I guess it's here. We were ready to leave anyway, when the owner came over and pointed out that we might want to make our getaway before it got worse and we got wet. We thanked her and made our way to the edge of the walkway. We waited for a large wave to break, and then walked very quickly towards the higher ground near the Gingerbread Hotel. We made it with only wet feet again. Since we successfully navigated the waves without getting soaked, we felt a celebratory drink was in order at the Frangipani before we went home. We learned a couple days ago, that the Frangipani is owned by the Mitchell family, and was once their family home. Mr. Mitchell, who now runs the hotel/bar/restaurant was formerly the Prime Minister of SVG. He is around most everyday, and unlike former US Presidents, he isn't still surrounded by security people.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 4
We spent the morning and half the afternoon reading and watching the comings and goings of the boats. Sunday is usually a quiet day as far as arrivals and departures, because the charter boats turn over on the weekend, so those people will just be leaving their bases today. We only had one try to anchor to close in front of us, but they thought better of it and moved without me having to say anything.
About 16:00 we went to shore with Mike & Lynn from Seabbatical. We dropped off trash at the dumpsters and walked up the hill to see if the Salty Dog was open. Salty Dog has not been opening on Sundays, but Andre said he would open on Sundays for the American football playoffs. Well, at 16:00, he wasn't open, so we went over the hill to Coco's Place. We know they're open on Sundays, and they have a TV. We got a round of beer, but there was a soccer game on TV, so didn't ask them to change it. We struck up a conversation with a guy at the table next to us. His name was Ian, and he is captain of looking for Elvis. I mentioned looking for Elvis in the last update. It is a sixty-two foot Gunboat catamaran. The lack of capitalization in the name is correct. We learned that the current owner of the boat is the second owner, but the original owner allowed them to keep not only the name, but a bunch of costumes and other stuff that are Elvis themed. Ian was a very interesting guy and we enjoyed chatting with him.
About 18:00, we decided to move along and find something to eat. As we passed Salty Dog, we saw they were open. And as we entered, American football was on the TV. We sat at the bar and ordered drinks and food from Andre. The game was the last of the weekend, Philadelphia vs. Minnesota, and it was in the first quarter. Having not seen any football since the first couple weeks of the season, I had to pay attention to the halftime show to learn who is even in the playoffs this year. It was interesting to see there have been quite a few surprises this season, both good and bad. I learned from the commercials that the BCS Championship game is this Thursday evening, but since we are Atlantic time, it doesn't start here until 20:30, so I'll probably just hear about that one the next morning. We stayed to the end of the game and headed back to the boats about 20:30. Bedtime for cruisers.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 5
We spent the morning aboard reading. I finished another book, the second Randy Wayne White book I've read in the past few days, and decided to do something productive. When we went to shore yesterday, I couldn't get the dinghy to plane with both of us in it. It has been in the water for five weeks now, so it probably has stuff growing on the bottom or the prop. I hopped in the water with my fins and mask and a wire brush to give it a quick cleaning. There was a layer of fuzz on everything, but not as bad as I expected. I brushed on it some and we'll see how it does. As long as I am in the water, I took the plastic scraper and brush and went around the big boat getting the fringe off. One side was worse than the other, and as I scraped the algae off, two or three little crabs, about an inch in diameter scurried along in front of my progress. I was destroying their home apparently.
After lunch, I went to Frangipani to do some internet stuff. While there, I got an e-mail notifying me that my package had been delivered to my mail box in TX. I called the UPS Store where our mail goes and confirmed it was there and that they would FedEx it here today. If it doesn't get hung up like last time, we should have it before the end of the week and may be able to take advantage of a weather window to move on north to St. Lucia Friday or Saturday.
I was back at the boat about 16:00, and we stayed aboard for the evening and turned in relatively early.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 6
We had a very productive day today. For a change. I started the morning as usual, hosting the Coconut Telegraph SSB net. We are getting more and more check-ins, and have a number of new boats checking in from the northern islands as they make their way south for the first time.
After the net was over, we got busy. There are several boat tasks on the day's agenda. First is to see what if anything we can do about the fuel tank. The fuel tank and a water tank are amongst the things under the bed in the aft cabin. We took the mattress off and moved it to the main saloon. This may sound easy, but the mattress is an eight inch thick, queen sized, Tempur Pedic mattress. Not only is it quite heavy, but it's like moving a block of Jell-O. It really didn't put up as big a fight as I expected, and we got it out there, sort of standing on edge, so we could still slide by it in the galley to get back and forth to the aft cabin. There is no official access port in the fuel tank for reaching in and cleaning it. There is only the fuel gauge which when removed leaves a 1 1/2 inch hole. Removing the fuel gauge looked like an easy enough task, as it is held in with five small screws with hex heads. I got my set of tiny sockets out, and found that none of them fit. I tried the metrics and the imperials, and nothing was exact. In addition to that, the heads were so close to the lip of the gauge, that the socket was barely able to fit over the head. Next up was a small crescent wrench . Again, because of how close the heads were to the gauge, I couldn't turn the wrench once I had it on the head. I was cursing the guy who thought hex head screws were appropriate here, instead of Phillips heads or regular slotted head screws. That thought gave me an idea. I got out the Dremel tool, with a cutting wheel on it, and cut slots in the top of each screw. Now I was able to use a regular screw driver to remove them. They still put up a good fight, because I suspect they were put in with some type of Locktite or sealant, but I finally got them out. Once the screws were out, the gauge popped right out with no fuss. I used a tiny flashlight to try and see in the tank, with little success. I could see it was almost empty and that there is a black residue on the bottom and sides, but I didn't see any real chunks of anything. I also found that the tank is baffled, so I can only see the front half of it where the pickup tube is. I took a length of half inch hose and used duct tape to attach it to a wooden dowel that is a couple of feet long. The hose was then attached to the little electric drill driven pump that I use to change the engine oil. Another length of hose went from the pump to Barb's hand where she directed it through our Baja filter and into a jerry jug. A Baja filter separates water from the fuel, as well as filters out dirt. We have never used our Baja filter before, and I can see why. It is so slow that I can't imagine using it every time we filled the tank. I ran the pump and poked the suction end around the tank to get all the remaining fuel out. There was probably less than a quart remaining, so it didn't take long. The fuel was quite dark, although there didn't seem to be any real pieces of anything in it. About a cup of liquid would not go through the Baja filter, so although it was black too, it must be water. Once pumped out, I peeked in the tank again. I wish I had a larger access hole so I could get a hand down in there to wipe the bottom and sides with a cloth, but that isn't going to happen. I removed the fuel line and blew through the pickup tube to make sure there was no obstruction on the screen that is probably on the bottom. I guess that's all I can do, so I put the gauge back in. While we have the bed off, I also removed the vent line from the water tank that's under here. Lately, it has been hard to fill at any speed, which tells me the vent may be blocked. I did get some resistance when I blew through it, which confirms my theory, but there isn't much I can do about it now. Again, while the mattress was out of the way, I opened the furthest aft compartment and checked all the steering gear. Everything seemed in order and the stuffing box is not leaking profusely, so I left it alone.
In between jobs, Barb went out on deck and yelled back to me that we'd been inked! We have heard of this happening, but had not been the recipients before. A squid, about eight inches long, had jumped on deck and inked us. We have gotten flying fish on deck before, and at the dock in Grenada we had pretty good sized fish land on the dock near the boat twice. But this is our first squid. Of course by the time we found him, he had been there long enough to be dead and stuck to the deck pretty good. The ink that he had sprayed had time to dry and even after a dose of Simple Green, there is still a stain. Back to work.
Since I already had the pump and drill out, I decided to go ahead and change the engine oil. I had planned to change it earlier than the usual one hundred hours, to make sure there was no remaining water in it from the pump issue last month. When I looked at my records, we have been running the engine so much to make electricity and get rid of the fuel, that it is right at the hundred hour point anyway. I pumped out the old oil with no fuss this time, changed the filter, and filled it with fresh oil.
By the time all this work was done, it was nearly lunchtime. I need to go in and get internet access to track my package anyway, so we decided to do lunch ashore. We went to Frangipani first and got online. The package was shipped and arrived in Puerto Rico this morning. That means we have avoided the problem that we had last time. Yea! While online, I took a glance at our bank accounts and American Express account to make sure there were no erroneous charges. On the Amex account, I saw a charge from FedEx dated December 29th. The charge for our last package was billed on the 23rd, and the package that's enroute didn't ship until January 5th, so this seemed odd. I clicked on the line item on the bill to get more detail, and it showed me the TO and FROM names of the shipment. The shipment had nothing to do with me and was an error. Since I had my Skype phone with me, I called FedEx immediately to dispute the charge. It took several minutes, but the pleasant lady in Memphis found the error was a digit in the account number was wrong. She corrected it and I should see a credit tomorrow.
Once done with the internet, we went down the beach a little to Mac's Pizza. We ordered a thirteen-inch with pepperoni and mushrooms, and a couple of drinks. When the pizza came, and we started to eat, Barb said she thought it was a fifteen-inch, instead of thirteen. It did look bigger than what we could eat in one sitting, but we pressed on. I should say I pressed on. Barb wisely stopped when she was full, and I made a pig of myself and finished the rest of the pizza. We won't be needing any dinner tonight. We have been to Mac's four or five times now, and the waitress recognized us. We told her that we would probably be leaving at the end of the week, and this was our last visit for now.
Almost every time we have gone to Mac's, we have seen a guy and his dog swimming out front. The guy is an older guy, who sounds like he is European. The dog is built like a lab, but it's white with a few spots of black and brown on it. I don't think it's a pure bread anything, but it sure loves the water. The routine is that they walk along the seawall, with the dog barking constantly and jumping around. They then stop in front of Mac's, where the water is shallow quiet a way out from the seawall, and Dad takes off his shirt. The dog really goes wild when he knows they are about to go in. The dog waits until Dad jumps in, and then follows swimming right at Dad's side. It's amazing how close they stay, but the dog never gets the guy with his claws. Once they are out in water deep enough that Dad can stand with just his head out of the water, the dog will rest in his arms, just like he were lying on a bed at home. They will stand out there for a while, occasionally swimming around until Dad thinks it's time to come in. I don't think the dog would ever vote to come in. When it's time to get out, Dad lies face down in the water, with his fingers in the dogs collar. The dog then swims to shore towing him. As soon as they are out of the water, the dog resumes barking because he wants more. They're quite a team.
We headed back to the boat, and were halfway to the dinghy when I realized I had left my computer sitting under the table at Mac's. I went back and fetched it, feeling like a dummy. We took the computer back to the boat, dropped it off and picked up our canvas bags and roll-behind cart to go to the store. We only need important heavy stuff, like a case of beer, several two liter bottles of Pepsi, and several boxes of orange juice. We found the juice, bread, eggs, and paper towels at Knights grocery, but had to go down the street to another store for the Pepsi and beer again. I also hit the ATM while we were in town.
Back at the boat, we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I actually dozed in the cockpit for a little while. I haven't had such a busy day since we left. The anchorage was fairly quiet today as far as boats coming and going.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 7
This morning, the big freighter that has been anchored in the harbor, came to the dock. I would have guessed it was too big, but it side-tied to the main dock, hanging past the end about a third of it's length. They unloaded pallets of something bagged, like concrete, into waiting small delivery trucks. It seemed odd that for the small amount of freight unloaded they sat in the harbor for a week.
Another boat in the anchorage is a mega-yacht named Ilona. What caught our eye about this boat was that the whole foredeck opens up like the hood of a car and they use a crane to store their small boats inside. We learned from a website, that they also store a helicopter below deck in the rear, along with a slew of other water toys and boats. I also found a video of a custom table that is aboard the boat. Follow this link to the video. I can't fathom the money to build or run a boat like these.
I got a chance to play MacGyver today. It occurred to me that I had not yet tested the new computer with either the ships GPS or the backup handheld GPS to feed our location to the navigation software. I picked up the handheld and tried to turn it on, but nothing happened. Thinking the batteries must be dead, I opened the battery compartment. What I found was corroded batteries. I was able to shake them out, but there was goo down in the compartment that I needed to clean out. I took the screws out and was able to separate the real electronic part of the unit from the battery case, although the wires still held them together. I was able to pour vinegar down in the battery tubes without worrying that it would get in the electronics. I found that in one of the two tubes the corrosive stuff had melted the plastic, so nothing was supporting the little spring that the battery makes contact with. I cut a little piece of half inch wooden dowel and wedged it behind the spring on the outside of the case, and then dribbled super glue on it so it would stay put. I reassembled everything, added new batteries, and it works! Then I plugged in the USB serial adapter, and it wanted to install the driver for it. I inserted the CD that came with the cable, but Vista apparently doesn't like the driver that is on the CD, so I'll have to go online and try to find a new one.
I went to town about 14:00 to track my FedEx package. It says it arrived in St. Vincent yesterday evening, so it ought to be in Bequia now. I walked down to the FedEx agent and sure enough they had the paperwork. I took the paperwork to Customs and caught the officer just as she was locking the door. She let me in and I had the package in a few minutes. I went back to Frangipani and got online again and downloaded a new driver for the cable that hooks up the GPS. Then I went back to the boat, and installed the software for the new cable for the satellite phone. That new cable seems to work and resolved the issue of the computer blue screening when I got mail, but it introduced a problem where the phone signal monitor doesn't work anymore. I tried hooking up the GPS, and while the computer recognizes the cable, the navigation software still doesn't see the GPS.
Tonight is another quiz night at Salty Dog, and we are going to attend with Mike & Lynn. We met them at the dock at 18:00 so we would have time to eat before the quiz. Once again, we were the first ones there, but we were also the only table who was done eating and could devote our entire attention to the quiz at 19:30. Not that our entire attention made much difference in the outcome. Even with the very helpful quiz mistress, who kept walking by our table and giving us hints, we finished next to last.
When we left to go back to the boat, I tried to start the dinghy, and on the second pull, it fired, but then died. I pulled and pulled and pulled, but it seems to have flooded again like it did a couple weeks ago. At least this time, Mike & Lynn were right there, so they towed us back to the boat instead of having to row again. Something else to fix tomorrow.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 8
We plan to leave Bequia tomorrow. The weather forecast is such that anybody who wants to move this month, better do it tomorrow or Saturday, because after that the winds will be over twenty knots for a couple of weeks. So, we have a number of things to get done today. I installed a new little primary fuel filter on the engine. These replacement filters were the other contents of the package I just got. We had told Ashley, our boat boy, that we would be leaving and he came and removed our dock line that had been in use as a backup for the mooring pennant. The original pennant has been fine for six weeks now, and hopefully it won't break tonight. We called Daffodils and arranged for the water barge to come by and fill our tanks again. The guy who came wasn't Junius who has filled us before, but he was an equally nice guy.
About 13:00, we went to shore and met Mike & Lynn at Frangipani. I got online and checked a few things, and then walked down to Customs & Immigration to check out. Mike had already checked them out. We had been told by several people that when they checked in they were given thirty days to be in the country. We were not told any limit, and nothing was stamped in our passports. I double checked all our paperwork, and it didn't say anything about a limit. The fee when we checked in was $5/day/person up to a max of $35/person (EC dollars). I thought maybe that was also per month and would have happily paid another $35 each if I had to. I got to Customs and filled out the form for departure (which is exactly the same as the form for arrival). There was no mention of any other fees, and I didn't ask. I then went to the Immigration window and gave him his copy of my form. He looked at the passports and form, stamped my copy of the form and said have a safe trip. Again, no extra fees. So, the cruising guide is correct that you pay the initial $35/person and apparently can stay as long as you like.
I got back to Frangipani, where we packed up the computers and walked down to Mac's pizza for one last pizza. We thought we had our last pizza there a couple of days ago, but since Mike & Lynn wanted one, we had to go too right? We went for the large lobster pizza and took four slices home for lunch another day. We were back at the boat around 16:00, and asleep a little after 19:00. We have an early start tomorrow.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.
Jan 9
We were up at 05:00 this morning. It was still dark, and the almost-full moon had set about an hour earlier. We have about eleven hours to go today, and we want to not only arrive before dark, but early enough to get checked into St. Lucia without paying overtime for Customs. We could have left in the dark, but Mike & Lynn want to wait until there is at least a hint of light, because they think their anchor is under the boat in front of them. At about 05:45, Lynn called on the radio and said they were starting to weigh anchor. We warmed up the motor and got one of the two mooring lines off and waited. About ten minutes later, Lynn called and said they had the anchor up and were underway. We dropped our second line and off we went. We unfurled a partial mainsail and motored around the point towards St. Vincent. We'll see what the conditions are like out in the open water before committing to more sail. Once around the point, the conditions weren't too bad. The wind was blowing about sixteen knots as expected, and the seas were about four feet. The wind direction was a little more northeast than forecast though, so we just motor sailed with the main up for stability. It took about an hour and a half before we were coming into the lee of St. Vincent. The seas got confused for a mile or so before they calmed down to almost flat. The wind reduced to about twelve knots. I was just about to say lets unroll the foresail, when the wind died way down and shifted directions. You always expect less wind on the leeward side of an island, but it switched around to the northwest at less than five knots. So much for sailing. We continued to motor north past St. Vincent, using our street map to keep track of each town as we passed them. We saw the Pirates of the Caribbean set from the water, although we were about half a mile offshore, so you couldn't tell much. St. Vincent is a lush but rugged island. The mountains are steep and jagged, but covered with green everywhere. Even places where there are sheer cliffs have vegetation growing on the rock faces. Near the northern end of the island, after the road has come to an end, you can see cultivated spots, and tiny shacks or tents here and there on the hills. This is where reputedly the cash crop of St. Vincent, marijuana, is grown with apparent impunity. It isn't legal here, but the remoteness of the farms makes policing it hard.
We kept dodging rain showers all day. Of all the showers that passed from east to west across our northbound trail, we missed most of them, but got hit by a couple near the end of the day. The reward for being around all the showers, was no less than seven rainbows to our west. A lot of pixels got dedicated to documenting the single, double, and one triple rainbows.
Once we were halfway the length of St. Vincent, we started to feel a swell from the north. There is no overall north swell running, so this is the easterly swell wrapping around the northern tip of the island. The further north we got, the larger it got, to a point where we were starting to take a little water over the bow on the larger waves. Once we cleared the northern tip of St. Vincent, the wind picked back up from the east as you would expect. Only, instead of the fifteen knots that was forecast, it was blowing about twenty to twenty-three. The seas were initially from the northeast, then as we got further, they were straight from the east, and as we approached the southern end of St. Lucia, the seas twisted around the end of the island following us to the north giving us an ugly ride for several miles. So, in the course of a fifty-five mile, ten hour day, we had just about every sea condition we could have.
During the rough seas between St. Vincent and St. Lucia, the engine faltered again. I was hoping that with all new filters and fuel, we would have licked this problem. At first it slowed down and then picked back up. After a few more minutes, it slowed and died. We immediately unfurled about two-thirds of the headsail. It's too windy to have it all the way out, but at least we should be able to maintain some speed while I ponder the engine. I restarted the engine and it ran for a couple of minutes and died again. After several tries, I decided to go below and change the Racor filter again. In hindsight, and after doing the math, I should have changed this filter again before we left Bequia. Yes, it was only a few weeks old, but I had run all that old fuel through it in Bequia, and now it was black. I don't go below in bouncy conditions, unless I absolutely have to. I got below, opened the engine compartment, got the old filter out and in a plastic bag, had the new filter on and the engine compartment closed up in about three minutes. Even so, I just made it above before I got seasick. I sat with my face in the wind trying not to succumb to the nausea, and Barb started the motor. It seemed to be running fine, so maybe that's that. With the foresail up and the motor running, we were making seven knots, which was two more than without the sail. I thought we'd keep the sail up and catch up to Seabbatical, but with the sail only partially unfurled, it's shape was poor and we were so hard on the wind that it kept luffing and then slamming tight again. I decided to furl the sail back up because the noise was too annoying. After another hour and half, as we were getting close to Soufriere, the motor faltered again. It didn't die this time, but it lost rpm and recovered a couple of times. Something still isn't right.
As we were approaching the southern end of St. Lucia, Barb suddenly looked up and pointed east. There, rising from the southeast corner of the island, was a 747. It was far enough away, that initially we didn't hear it, but then it slowly circled towards us and made a big circle back to the east. Nothing goes to windward like a 747, but they sure don't climb very fast.
Our planned destination today is Soufriere. The town of Soufriere is just north of the Pitons. We passed the Pitons in 2007 on our way south to Grenada. We went overnight from Rodney Bay, at the northern end of St. Lucia, to Grenada, without stopping there, although we did do a land tour which showed us the Pitons from the island side. As we were approaching the Pitons, Seabbatical was about a mile in front of us. A boat boy approached them and asked if they wanted a mooring. Mike told him that we were going to Harmony Beach. The boat boy told Mike that Harmony Beach was closed and the moorings had been damaged by hurricane Omar last year. He tried to steer them in between the Pitons instead. They ignored him and continued towards Harmony Beach, hailing Harmony Beach Club on the VHF as they went. Getting no response on the radio, they called on their cell phone and got through. What the boat boy said was a lie, and Benny, who owns Harmony Beach Club said to come on in and his son would meet us and help us with the moorings. As we were catching up, a boat boy approached us too. It was not the same guy, and we told him thanks, but we didn't need any help. He followed right along side of us for almost a mile and finally turned off and let us go. Benny Jr. was out there in his boat, with another guy to hand us the mooring lines. That part doesn't really require help, but the trick here is you have to tie a line to the shore too. The moorings, which are installed and owned by the SMMA (St. Lucia Marine Management Association) are too close for boats to be side by side and swing. They are very close to the shore though, and the water is deep right up to the shore, so you take about two hundred and fifty feet of line and run it from your stern to a tree on shore. Benny Jr and his friend did this for us. Unlike the regular boat boys who want at least $10EC to help you, Benny Jr asks for no money, and you have to press him to take a tip. As I said, the moorings are owned by SMMA, so Benny and his son do this service for cruisers just in the hopes that you might come to dinner at their restaurant.
As soon as both boats were secure, Benny Jr. offered to take us by boat around the corner to the Soufriere main dock, where Customs & Immigration are. Barb stayed aboard, and Mike & Lynn and I took our papers and went to town. Most cruisers check in and out at Rodney Bay, as we did on our way south. The Customs man at Rodney Bay is known for being a surly jerk. You can ask almost every cruiser who has been through there, and they all know who you're talking about. Our experience here couldn't have been more different. The Customs lady took us in her office where she sat one of us at each of two desks to fill out our forms. She sat down across from me and watched as I went and if I hesitated, she told me what to fill in. We joked about the fact that I can remember my credit card number off the top of my head, but not my passport number which I have to write on forms every time we change countries. St. Lucia doesn't allow pets ashore, so when she saw me check the box that we had a cat, she is required to say that the cat can't get off the boat. I said "If he gets off the boat, it will be his last time", to which she laughed. I paid my $35 EC and was free to go to Immigration, which is in the police station across the street. I went there while Mike started his check-in. Immigration just looked at our passports, and kept one copy of the form I had from Customs, and I was done. While we waited for Mike, I went up the street to a little local bar and got three Pitons (the local beer) to go. It was the first thing I had to eat or drink since my orange juice at 05:00, and I was ready. Benny Jr. took us back to our boats, where we inquired about having dinner. He told us the menu, and we told him we would like to eat about 18:30 and we placed our orders. He said he would come back and pick us up so we didn't have to launch our dinghies.
We had an hour and a half to shower and relax a little before dinner. The view here is beautiful, with Petite Piton, the northern one, just south of us. On the beach, we heard mooing, and eventually saw the cow, tethered to a tree. Momma cow had a baby, and in typical island fashion, the baby was loose since theoretically it won't stray far from Momma. I think Momma's mooing was because the baby was a fair distance down the beach, but it came back.
Benny didn't come to get us until going on 19:00. It was dark, although the almost-full moon was peeking through clouds that kept blowing over. Just as we got into Benny's big fast boat, we could see in the sky, even though it was dark, that there was a heavy rain shower coming down the mountain. We just started towards the restaurant when the skies opened up. They don't have a dock at Harmony Beach, but the water is deep right up to the edge. Benny backed the boat to the shore, and we hopped off the back into about a foot of water. Benny Sr. was up on the path to the restaurant, in just a bathing suit, with a big flashlight to lead us to the building. It was still pouring, and we were soaked through. As we approached the building, Benny was yelling to his daughter to get a couple of towels for us. We got inside and laughed about the whole thing. Everything we have is designed to be wet, so there was no damage done. I had my cruisers wallet (Zip-Loc bag) so my money was dry, and our camera is waterproof, so no harm done. A very pleasant girl, who is Benny's niece waited on us. She brought us drinks and a bowl of coconut chips. The coconut chips were thin slices of coconut, about half an inch wide and two inches long. They were fried and salted and were delicious. We've never seen that before. Dinner wasn't long in coming and it too was delicious. Two of us had tuna, and two had mahi. It was served with garlic mashed potatoes, green salad, fried plantains, rice, and steamed veges. I think since it was all we had to eat today, we still had room for desert even though there had been plenty of food. Mike & Lynn had ice cream, and Barb & I split a bananas flambé.
Benny Jr. took us back to the boats when we were done, and it didn't take long for us to go to bed. Being tied to the shore like we are means the breeze doesn't flow through the boat like usual, but it isn't very hot, so it should be ok with our fans on.
GPS N 13-50.590 W 061-03.790 Nautical miles traveled today 55. Total miles 9697.
Jan 10
We were awakened sometime during the night by another rain shower. We had been pretty sound asleep, because we didn't wake up at the first drop like we usually do, and things got a little wet, but it was ok. Sometime after that shower, the wind started blowing in huge gusts down off the mountain. It would be calm one minute, and then gusting hard the next. Mike & Lynn plan on leaving this morning and continuing to Rodney Bay where they want to see some other friends. We are going to move about a mile south and get a mooring between the Pitons. We weren't planning on going too early, but when it took almost an hour for the guy that Benny Jr. sent to undo our shore lines, we decided to go ahead and move then too. The moorings between the Pitons are just a little over a mile south, so it only took us a few minutes to get there. The cat never even knew we were underway and didn't have a chance to get sick. We were approached by a boat boy to give us the mooring pennant. Originally I had told Barb we didn't need to pay someone to help us, but she told the guy to lead us in. It was fortunate she did, because the pennant was tangled around the line to the bottom, and we wouldn't have been able to get it ourselves.
The Pitons are amazing. They rise out of the sea to over 2000 feet with Gros Piton being slightly taller than Petite Piton. The distance between them at the base is maybe a half mile or less. Even though Gros Piton is higher, it is the one people hike, because Petite Piton is steeper. Looking at them you see rock outcroppings and lush tree growth. Barb spent hours looking at the rocks and seeing faces, like you would look at clouds and pick images out. As the sun moved during the course of the day, the scene constantly changed. I have included a couple interesting links to the Pitons, here and here. In the valley between the Pitons is the Jalousie Hilton resort. We plan to go check it out tomorrow. Looking up the hill above the Hilton, we can see the Ladera resort, where we went for lunch at Dasheen Restaurant two years ago by car from Rodney Bay.
We had our left over lobster pizza from Mac's for lunch, and I spent a good part of the day writing logs. We took a dip off the back of the boat in the afternoon, as the wind had died and it was quite warm without the breeze. We found the water to be much cooler than we expected, but once you were in it felt good. There is a significant current running around this anchorage all the time. Because of that, I tied two of the boat fenders to a dock line and let that hang behind the boat so we could hang on and not drift away. The winds coming down off the mountains are very variable and unpredictable. It may be calm one minute and blowing hard the next, and you never know what direction the wind will come from. Combine this with the strong current, and the boat swings around dramatically. At any time you may be pointing any direction. Fortunately, the moorings are spaced fairly far apart, so you don't have to worry about your neighbor swinging differently.
Our friends Fred & Kathy on Makai had been in Rodney Bay, twenty miles north of here, and they came down to the Pitons today. Unfortunately, there were no moorings available. They went around the corner to Harmony Beach and found those all taken also. They didn't want to use the moorings right in Soufriere, so they ended up going back to Rodney Bay. Two moorings came available about an hour after they left, but they got snatched right up by other boats within minutes, so they wouldn't have been able to get back anyway.
About 16:00, we looked up and saw Club Med II, one of the many sailing cruise ships around here, coming around the corner past Petite Piton. They apparently had been in Soufriere today, and were giving their guests a chance to get pictures between the Pitons before dark. They still had their big boarding ladder down, and their tender was running around, so they must still have guests ashore in Soufriere. They turned around and went back out of our sight after a few minutes. A little later, we heard Wind Surf, a Windstar Cruises boat, call Club Med II asking his intentions. Wind Surf was originally Club Med I and is exactly the same ship. Windstar Cruises bought Club Med I and renamed it Wind Surf, after one of their other boats, Wind Song, was lost to a fire. Club Med II told Wind Surf that he was drifting while awaiting his last passengers to return, and Wind Surf said he was going between the Pitons. About fifteen minutes later, we heard a long blast of a ships horn. I looked up to see Club Med II coming back around the corner of Petite Piton, closely followed by Wind Surf. Club Med II passed halfway across the bay and turned out to sea, while Wind Surf stuck it's nose into the bay behind us for a few minutes, then turned around and headed out to sea.
We had dinner aboard, in between light rain showers. The almost-full moon was alternately lighting the bay and disappearing as the clouds came over the mountain ridge. This is definitely a cool place to be parked.
GPS N 13-49.542 W 061-03.825 Nautical miles traveled today 1. Total miles 9698.