Jan 11
I spent a good portion of the morning doing computer stuff. We get free wi-fi from the resort here, so I am taking advantage of unlimited internet access without having to take the computer ashore. I published the update to the website, and then worked on a couple of nagging problems with my new computer. When I got this computer in October, it of course came with Vista. Despite what I had heard about Vista, I was optimistic that by now some of the bugs would be worked out. The machine I got had Vista with SP 1 already installed. Initially, everything seemed to work fine. The regular stuff like Office worked ok, although the new version looks different, my navigation software works, and I finally got the sat phone working reliably with the new cable. However, other little things keep popping up, that have nothing to do with anything I have installed. What is more maddening to me is that these problems are intermittent. Sometimes I boot the machine and it gives some errors, and sometimes it doesn't. Being an old mainframe guy, that kind of behavior is just unacceptable. In the PC world, things like this seem to be accepted as part of the deal. Microsoft just announced their next version of Windows. You have to wonder if it will just be worse, or if they realize Vista sucks and they want to put it behind them.
A little after noon we launched the dinghy and went to shore. There are two docks here, one where the Jalousie Hilton operates their water sports from, and a larger dock where they probably bring in larger boats or supplies. This larger dock has been torn up, probably by the swell from Hurricane Omar a few months ago. It is being repaired, but even landing a dinghy there now looks dicey. We went to the water sports dock, tied up, and then checked at the office at the end of the dock to make sure that was ok. As we approached the restaurant, we passed two huge barbeques. They look like they are the same brand as the one I used at Clarke's Court Bay, but are 50% larger. And there are two! You could make a lot of burgers on these babies. We went to the beach restaurant and were seated at a table right on the outside edge, overlooking the beach. Being a high-end resort, the prices were also on the high-end, but so was the atmosphere and service. It was like being in a high-end hotel in the States. The prices were in USD, they took all credit cards, and the food selection was more American than Caribbean. I resisted the urge to see if they had a real American burger, and instead had a spicy shrimp wrap. Barb had a ham and cheese wrap. Both came with fries and were very good. I had the funny thought that we were experiencing how rich people vacation, since the cheapest room here this time of year is over $500/day. But then it occurred to me that they look out at the boats and probably think that's how rich people live, because they have their own boats. I guess it's a nice trade-off. Expensive exclusive resort for one week a year, or live modestly on your own boat fifty-two weeks a year. Can we do both?
When we first got out of the dinghy, a crusty little old local guy approached us with a coconut in his hand and asked if we wanted to buy it. We politely said no and went to lunch. While we were eating, we observed that the guy went up and down the beach every now and then, offering the coconut to the resort guests. After a bit, I heard a raised voice. It was the local guy, yelling and gesturing at a well dressed man with his arms folded, who I am going to guess told him to stop bugging the guests. The show went on for five minutes or more, with the old guy ranting, and the resort guy just standing with his arms folded not loosing his cool. Eventually the local guy went back to his little spot at the end of the dock, and the resort guy left. Ten minutes later, the old guy was back doing his thing.
After lunch, we walked the beach towards the road that runs along the southern edge of the anchorage. We walked that road to where it turns uphill, but instead of going up, where the villas are, we walked a little further to where a place called Bang! was supposed to be. Bang! was mentioned in the cruising guide as being a funky collection of cottages built by an English nobleman who decided life in the Caribbean was more to his liking. I found the following from an article on www.msn.com that describes it. In the late 1950s, the eccentric, flamboyant Lord Glenconnor, a.k.a. Sir Colin Tennant, who is married to Lady Anne—a former lady-in-waiting to the late Princess Margaret—left his family’s ancestral castle in Scotland and bought the Eastern Caribbean island of Mustique, then gave a chunk of land there to Princess Margaret as a wedding gift. Property values shot up, and, practically overnight, the island became known as a glamorous little ghetto for the likes of Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall and the rowdier members of the British aristocracy. In the late ’80s, after some unlucky financial deals and tangles with the locals, documented in the 2001 film The Man Who Bought Mustique, Tennant fled the island and bought a giant estate on St. Lucia, near what’s now Jalousie. Until 2005, he ran a Caribbean restaurant there called Bang. St. Lucia, though, turned out to be no Mustique—it’s too big, too impervious to diva expats—and has been much slower to develop anything resembling a scene. In the fall of 2005, Tennant turned Bang over to his daughter, May Creasy, and Jalousie has since bought it. Tennant is now developing a property nearby called the Beau Estate, a collection of private homes inspired by Mustique’s exclusive, secluded villas. So that explains why Bang! apparently has been closed for sometime. I guess that's what we get for having a three year old cruising guide.
There is another restaurant that is part of the resort right next to Bang!, and we could hear voices and a TV there, so we went in. This restaurant doesn't look like they use it regularly, and the employees seem to hang out here. The TV had a cricket match on, and I said something to the first guy who greeted us that "that's not American football". He jumped up and started flipping through the channels, looking for the American football game. He found it, and we sat and watched the first half of the Giants Philadelphia game. One of the employees started chatting with us, and he said he could never figure out all the rules in American football. We laughed and told him we couldn't figure out any of the rules of cricket. At half time, we walked back along the beach to the dinghy and went back to the boat. And, I swear I didn't notice any of those topless women on the beach.
Fred & Kathy on Makai made the twenty mile trip south from Rodney Bay again today, and this time there were several moorings available here for them. They took the ball right behind us. They spent the afternoon snorkeling, while we were ashore, and then at 17:00 we joined them on Makai for sundowners and snacks. We watched the sun go down, and may have actually witnessed our second green flash. Everybody thought they saw it, even color impaired me. The full moon rose over the mountains to our east just after the sun set, so it was perfect. After it was dark, a rain shower passed through, forcing us to move inside briefly. When we came back out, we noticed a moonbow. The full moon was behind us, and to the west we clearly saw a rainbow in the darkness. There was no color associated with it, just a band of light. I don't think I had ever seen that before.
While we were on Makai, the park ranger came by for the mooring fees. I didn't have my money with me, so I had to borrow the $40 EC from Fred to pay for two more days. We originally planned to leave tomorrow, but since you have to pay for two days at a pop, we may stay another night here. We went back to MoonSail about 21:00 and relaxed in the cockpit. I fell asleep there, but was quickly awakened by another light rain shower and went below. For the last few days, we have seen lights of big ships offshore, apparently just drifting. I finally figured out that they are doing exactly that. They are waiting to get into the Hess oil terminal north of here. Since the water goes to thousands of feet deep within a quarter mile of shore, it's too deep for them to anchor while they wait their turn, so they just drift.
GPS N 13-49.542 W 061-03.825 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9698.
Jan 12
I was up at 07:00 to listen to the weather on the SSB. The forecast at the end of last week was for strong winds and big seas for several weeks. That shouldn't affect us much, being in the lee of the island, but another source of weather that I look at was suggesting mild winds at the end of the week, so I was curious to hear what had changed. Chris Parker came on at 07:00, but the propagation was terrible and I couldn't really hear him at all. At 08:00, I hosted the Coconut Telegraph cruiser's net. Unlike what we experienced on the 8 meg frequency earlier, our net on the 4 meg frequency had the best propagation we have ever had I think. There was no interference, and I checked in boats as far away as Panama to the west, Trinidad to the south, and Puerto Rico to the north, all without needing any relays. I wish it was like that all the time. At 08:45, I did get to hear Chris Parker on a different frequency and learned that the change in the weather is a tropical wave coming through in the next few days. This is the second late season tropical wave we've had in a month. We plan to be up in Marigot Bay tomorrow, so we should be well protected from whatever comes through.
About the only productive thing done all day was fixing the wind instrument. It had quit working the day we crossed from Bequia to St. Lucia. Before it quit entirely, it went crazy. It started registering wind speeds around fifty knots or more for a few minutes. Well, you don't miss a fifty knot gust, so I knew it was wrong. Then the speed went down to under five knots, but it was blowing a good twenty. Finally, it quit altogether, and the direction needle snapped straight up, and the speed display had three dashes in it. That is what I would expect it to do if it had power, but no signal from the transducer on the masthead. So, a wiring problem is likely. There are two places between the masthead and the display at the helm where the wires are connected to terminal blocks. One is under the floor at the base of the mast, and since it is near bilge water, that's the most likely place for a problem. Surprisingly, the little plastic box that contains the terminal block is quite accessible. I opened one of the removable floor panels (no screws) and was then able to take the cover off the box and see inside. Sure enough, there has been salt water in there, and the connections are corroded. I undid the box from the mounting it was on so I had even better access and started taking the wires off. There are five wires from each side, for a total of ten connections. Two of the wires fell off without me unscrewing anything, so I think I've found the problem. Only half of the connections were bad, so those ends got new connectors crimped on and I put it all back together. Barb turned on the instruments and we have wind! All fixes should be this easy.
We did have a very interesting afternoon, although the excitement didn't involve us. About 15:00 there was a very calm voice on the VHF, that gave his position and requested anybody nearby that might have a pump please respond to him. After a couple of calls, then he sounded a little more concerned and actually called a Mayday. At this point another sailboat that was right near us, responded to him to find out what the problem was. The vessel in distress was a forty-some foot sailboat, and they were taking on water. The bilge pumps were not keeping up, and he could not find the source of the leak. The position of the vessel was about eight miles west of where we were. Another sailboat was traveling near the vessel in distress, and he responded that he didn't have pumps, but he would come alongside to be there should they sink. Meanwhile the radio came alive with a very uncoordinated effort to help this boat. The sailboat near us was the primary relayer of information, since she could understand the local guys on the radio better than the British boat that was standing by at the scene. The British boat at the scene did a marvelous job of being that end of the radio contact, as the owner of the sinking boat had to go pump the manual bilge pumps to try and stay ahead of the inflow. The marine ranger boat responded and headed for the scene, but didn't understand they needed a pump. A boat boy took off in his pirogue hoping to be the one who got to tow the bow in for an exorbitant rate, and he actually got to the scene first, with little more than his sense of direction to guide him. The St. Lucia Coast Guard eventually got involved and sent two boats out, but they didn't seem able to use their GPS to come close to where the sinking boat was. The French Emergency Coordination Center in Martinique picked up the call and all they accomplished was tying up channel 16 frequently making announcements that a boat was "leaking". After more than an hour, of listening to the owner occasionally come on the radio with a more and more frantic sound to his voice, and listening to the Coast Guard unable to find them, even though the sailboat at the scene shot off four aerial flares, finally came word that a Coast Guard boat arrived and had a gasoline pump running. All this time, I had plotted the position on my chart plotter, figured the bearing from us, gotten out our high powered binoculars and been able to see the masts on the horizon. I saw the flares, albeit with the aid of the binoculars, and saw the Coast Guard boats going the wrong way, but with all the radio chatter, I couldn't be of any help. The good news was that the pumps arrived before they sank, although they had several feet of water in the cabin, which I'm sure did a lot of damage. The Coast Guard towed them in to Soufriere and secured them at the commercial dock where last we heard they were still trying to find the leak and still had the pump running to keep them afloat. The lessons learned were not good ones. Out here, away from the US Coast Guard and commercial salvage companies like Sea Tow and Tow Boats US, you better consider yourself on your own. You may or may not get any help, and it probably won't be fast. Another thing I realized is that flares are pretty worthless in the daytime. Had I not been looking at the masts through my binoculars when he fired the flares, I wouldn't have seen them, and the boats that were even closer to him than I was didn't see the flares. It was a bad feeling to be in a position of listening to all this unfold and not be able to help. We don't have extra pumps that would have dealt with the size of leak he apparently had, and we would have taken over an hour to reach them. I really hope to never be on the other side of this story.
Late in the afternoon, Fred & Kathy from Makai came over for sundowners. We visited for a couple of hours. They specifically wanted to visit our boat because they needed a kitty fix. Unfortunately, the kitty didn't think much of being passed around amongst strangers, and after tolerating it a few minutes, he went below, not to be seen again until the coast was clear and the strangers were gone. After Fred & Kathy had gone home, we were treated to some pan music from shore. The band was playing somewhere near the restaurant on the beach, and with the wind blowing our way we heard them very well. They played for almost an hour and we enjoyed it.
GPS N 13-49.542 W 061-03.825 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9698.
Jan 13
I hosted the Coconut Telegraph again this morning, and for the second day in a row, propagation was excellent. We had about forty boats check in and I heard everybody clearly. I wish it was always like this. We planned to leave for Marigot right after the net, but got distracted by a mega yacht trying to anchor near us. Leander came in on the other side of the bay from us and dropped their anchor in the shallow water right by the roped off snorkeling area on the north side of the bay. I didn't think any anchoring was allowed here, but I guess if you're a mega yacht you do as you please. Leander backed down from their anchor a couple hundred feet and stopped. We were watching all this of course, and a park ranger happened to be in the area and he tooled over to Leander. I don't know if he said they couldn't anchor there or not, but they started to pull forward like they were going to retrieve the anchor. When they got to about the spot they dropped it they stopped and sat there. There was much movement on the foredeck, and the occasional burst of water from the pros, but they weren't getting the anchor up. It appeared to me that they got it stuck in some rocks. Hah! I know I shouldn't make fun of them, because I have never gotten my anchor fouled on something to the point that I couldn't raise it, and if I make fun of them my karma will be damaged. But it's nice to see mega yachts make the same kind of mistakes that us plain folk do sometimes.
Even though Leander was close, they weren't going anywhere, so we went ahead and dropped our mooring and headed north. The wind was howling between twenty-five and thirty knots between the Pitons, but we hoped it would be much less once we got away from the funneling effect of the mountains. As we rounded Petite Piton, the northern one, we got one last blast of wind that touched forty knots on my newly repaired wind instrument. I'm glad I fixed it, just so I knew how strong the blast was. We saw the gust coming across the water, because it was whipping up a spray ahead of it. The forecast today is for wind over twenty knots, from the east, so our plan is to hug the coast and just motor north in the protection of the island. We are only going ten miles and need to run the motor to charge batteries anyway. Crossing the bay between Petite Piton and Anse Chastenet was the furthest we would be offshore for the trip, and that's about a mile. During that part, we were getting strong winds, and choppy water, but once we were past Anse Chastenet, we stayed about a thousand feet offshore, in a thousand feet of water most of the time, and enjoyed a fairly calm ride north. The further north we got, the more we started to pick up a swell coming from the north, but it wasn't bad. We went through one pretty good rain shower and Barb got her daily rainbow fix. It was cool being so close to the shore, because we could see each little beach as we went by. The shore is mostly rocky, with cliffs coming right to the water. But every mile or so there will be a tiny beach with palm trees and maybe a building. There were two villages along the way. One of them is Canaries, where fishing is obviously the main occupation, because many of the small fishing boats were up on the beach.
As we approached the entrance to Marigot Bay, we hailed our friend Tim on Tevai on the VHF. He knew we were coming and had already told the guy who owns the moorings about us. Marigot Bay has an inner harbor and an outer harbor. The inner harbor is where the Moorings charter base is at the marina, as well as dockage for several mega yachts. The moorings inside the harbor are owned by the marina. In the outer harbor, there is a little room to anchor, and a bunch of moorings owned by Jacque. As we approached, Jacque and Tim met us in their dinghies. Jacque led us to a mooring a little ahead of Tevai. We are on the south side of the entrance channel about as close to the inner harbor as you can get. Marigot Bay is long and narrow, running east/west. That means we get a good breeze from the east, but it's calm as can be because the swell from the open ocean can't make it in the narrow opening. Marigot is somewhat developed. As I mentioned, there is a marina which is primarily used by The Moorings charter boats and mega yachts. There is a fancy resort right by the marina called Discovery which has villas running up the mountainside and a huge bar restaurant area near the water. On the north side of the bay, which is only accessible by water, is Marigot Beach Club, another resort climbing up the hill. Near the marina is a three story complex of shops. Amongst them is a grocery store, a bank, a laundry, a bakery and ice cream shop, and numerous other shops. On the water around the inner bay are several other bars and restaurants.
Chateau Mygo is right at the entrance to the inner harbor, and is the place we stopped two years ago when we were here by car from Rodney Bay. Figuring we'd start with something familiar, we went there for lunch. They have an all day two-for-one happy hour, but the drinks are priced such that you're still paying about the right price per drink. We both ordered cheeseburgers and fries. The food and rum punches were good, and we enjoyed relaxing and reacquainting ourselves with the area. While we were lunching, Leander, the mega yacht from this morning appeared at the entrance to the bay. I guess they finally got the anchor up, because they dropped it outside the harbor and stayed for the rest of the day. Chateau Mygo has a second business called Bateau Mygo, which charters boats. They have a half dozen or so boats that I think you can bareboat, or charter for a day trip with a crew. We had seen one of their catamarans going south as we came north. While we were eating, that cat came back and docked, and couple got off and came in and took the table next to us. We asked if their ride north was rough compared to the ride south. It turned out they hadn't been on the boat going south. The boat had gone to Jalousie Resort, where we left this morning, picked them up, brought them here for lunch, and was taking them back this afternoon. We laughed and told them if the ride north going into the seas didn't scare them, then they would love the smooth ride south with the seas. They asked about us and we told them we lived on the boat. As usually happens, they thought that was wonderful. It was fun chatting with them. When we went to pay our bill, I realized I had left my money on the boat. I had to leave Barb as collateral and go fetch the money. Good thing the boat was just a few hundred feet away.
We walked around a bit after that, found where to dispose of garbage and used engine oil. (I've been carrying a couple gallons around for two months now.) We ran into Tim from Tevai at the ice cream shop, and joined him for a small ice cream. We walked the length of the marina dock, and checked out the three mega yachts at the end. One of them, Siren, is huge. We pondered how they got it in, or how they would get it out, given that the moored boats in the harbor are not far in front of it. Later, we got to see how they did it, albeit from a distance. An announcement was made on the VHF by the marina that "a huge motor yacht is leaving the marina - stay clear". We watched from the boat as Siren slowly made its way out of it's slip. It took them a long time to get out of the slip and in the channel, and from our vantage point we couldn't really see how they did it. But, when they were in the channel, they were pointing the wrong way. So, with the marina dock master in a dinghy leading the way, the yacht backed all the way out to the open water. I'm sure the captain was on the bridge doing the whole thing via a video from the rear.
During the afternoon on the boat, I tried again to get the GPS to talk to the new computer. I had exchanged e-mails with the support person for the navigation software and he suggested a couple things to try, but it still doesn't work. I started up the old computer (with XP) and hooked up both the boat GPS and the handheld backup GPS to it, and both work fine, so I know it's not a hardware problem. I suspect there is still something amiss with the driver for the USB/Serial adapter cable. While I was below working on the computer, Barb yelled for me to come above and look at something. There was a big pirate ship full of pirates, I mean tourists, coming in the channel. I think this is one of two boats that are based in Rodney Bay and do day trips. As I recall from two years ago, they claim to have been part of the scenery in The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. There also were several big day charter catamarans that came and went. Boaters refer to these as tourist barges, because they really are nothing more than a huge floating platform on which to get drunk and sunburned. The hulls are usually pretty empty and have nothing but heads and storage in them. We saw six or seven different ones today, each with about a hundred people on them. There must be a cruise ship or two in the area.
There is a sailboat that lives on the mooring ahead of us that is used for day charters. We had seen this boat going south with about a dozen guests on it as we were coming north. When they came back just before dark and got their mooring, the captain started to ferry the guests to shore, in a very soft dinghy. After he took the first four people, he came to us and asked if we had a dinghy pump. He was in luck, because he had the same brand dinghy we do, so the valve on our pump fit his dinghy. He pumped up all three chambers of his dinghy and was now in much better shape to carry the rest of the guests to shore.
We had dinner aboard, again thanks to food given to us by other cruises. This time thanks goes to Sea Otter from Texas, for the spaghetti sauce. They had given us several bottles because they didn't care for the taste, and I think this was the last one. After dinner, I faded fast. I was asleep in the cockpit about 19:30, and Barb went to bed about 20:00. A cool gust of wind awoke me around 22:00 and I went to bed too. We had a great night's sleep, since we were in such a calm anchorage.
GPS N 13-57.902 W 061-01.581 Nautical miles traveled today 11. Total miles 9709.
Jan 14
This morning we had very poor reception on the SSB. I couldn't hear the weather at 07:00 at all, and I could barely hear the Coconut Telegraph. Good thing I wasn't hosting it today. It's amazing how the SSB reception can vary so much from day to day, or place to place. I spent a good part of the morning writing while we ran the motor to charge batteries. I was able to make contact with a boat I wanted to talk to though. Rick on Sophisticated Lady, whom we met in Grenada, had a friend onboard then that lives in Marigot. She had said to contact her when we got up here, but we don't know how to. Rick told us to go to Chateau Mygo and ask the owner to hook us up. We'll try that later.
Around noon, we went on an exploration journey. We stopped first at the main dinghy dock, where Barb just held the dinghy there while I went and dropped off a bag of garbage in the dumpsters. Then we head to the east end of the harbor where JJ's restaurant is supposed to be. According to the cruising guide, JJ's has a waterfront part and a wooden boardwalk through the mangroves to a main restaurant. As we passed the marina, a mega yacht was leaving it's slip, so we stopped and waited as they pulled up their anchor, so as not to get in their way. When we got to JJ's dock, we found a place that looked like it hadn't been open in some time. There were a couple guys on the dock and we asked if this was where to tie up for JJ's. They said yes, so we tied the dinghy and walked on the boardwalk through the mangroves to the next building. They obviously haven't used the waterfront part in a long time. At the end of the boardwalk, we found another large building that could house a very big party, but it also looked closed up. Across the street from this building was JJ's hotel, which looked to be open. There was a nice looking restaurant but nobody there. The cruising guide also said that this was the shortest way to walk to the actual town of Marigot, so we decided to walk up the hill and see what we found. The hill was quite steep, but the view from the top was worth it. At the top we found a tourist trap, where tour busses of people from cruise ships stop to buy souvenirs, get a drink, and take pictures of Marigot bay. When we walked up, there were no vans there, and we got two beers and sat at a picnic table in the shade. The girl behind the counter said the beers were two for five dollars. I said that was a great price, and then she said all their prices we USD, not EC. Bummer. So two beers was $13.35 EC, which is more expensive than at the resort down the hill. While we drank our beers, five vans full of tourists showed up, one at a time, to unload, take pictures, and buy over priced junk. We had to decide whether to continue our walk or just stay here and watch tourists for a while. We elected to walk. As soon as we left the premises of the shop, we were approached by four guys offering to weave us baskets. They have the same shtick as the guys on the beach in Grenada, where they give the lady a little bird woven from a palm frond, and then you feel obligated to buy a basket or hat. The first guy who got us was very polite and gave us each a woven grasshopper. He said they were gifts, but of course if we wanted to give him a little something, he would appreciate it. We told him we didn't need a basket, and against my normal response to these guys, I gave him $5 EC. The fact that we just dealt with one guy didn't stop the rest from approaching and trying the same deal. We politely turned the other guys down. We walked a little ways either side of the tourist trap to try and get a good view of the inland valley where there were huge fields of bananas. The whole valley was very lush and covered with these cultivated lands. We learned later that it is a cooperative of land owners and there is over three hundred acres of bananas in this one valley.
We headed back down the hill and as we got to the hotel restaurant, there was a table of people eating. We went in and asked the waitress if we could sit anywhere. She said they really weren't open for lunch, and they were just accommodating that one table because they were hotel guests. She said if we wanted either fish & chips, chicken & chips, or a burger we could stay though. We said thank you and ordered a burger and chicken & chips. Both were quite good. We were entertained by some birds while we were there. There were the normal starlings, or whatever the generic black pest birds are, but there were also some cute little birds. They looked like some kind of finch or wren, and I'm sure some birding friend will look at the pictures and correct me. But they were cute regardless, as they would sit on the back of a chair next to us and wait for me to put a tiny piece of bread on the edge of the table. Then they would hop over, take the bread and fly away. There was also a big fat white pigeon. The only thing unique about that is that we rarely see pigeons here. We have lots of seagulls, which are the ocean going cousins of the flying rats, but I don't recall seeing a regular pigeon in ages. This guy was actually kind of pretty and posed for us. He wasn't cute enough to get fed though.
After we ate, we continued our tour around the harbor by dinghy. There are a few derelict boats tied in the mangroves on the north side of the bay, that were probably put there for a storm and the people never came back for some reason. We found another bar/restaurant called the Rainforest (no relation to the American chain), but it doesn't look like it's open either. (Later in the evening, we saw they did have lights on, so they're apparently only open in the evening.) Our tour complete, we stopped at Chateau Mygo for another beer. We asked the waitress if she knew Maggi. She went and got the lady who owns the place and she came over to speak with us. We explained how we knew Maggi and asked if she could get in touch with her. She made a call but got no answer, but left a message for us. While we were sitting there, I saw a little fiberglass local dinghy drifting away from the shore. Nobody seemed to be in pursuit, so I got in our dinghy and went out and snagged it. By then, there was a guy onshore waving at me. I towed the dinghy back to him and he thanked me very much. We left Chateau Mygo, made a quick stop at the ATM and grocery and went back to the boat.
We were relaxing in the cockpit watching the world go by, when I observed a guy in a dinghy leave Chateau Mygo's dock and head out the channel. He got about even with us and his outboard stalled. He pulled a few times, and each time it restarted but then died again. He took the cover off and was tinkering and restarting, but it wasn't going to get him back to the dock. He was drifting out to sea, so I hopped in the dinghy again, and made my second rescue of the day. I towed him back to Chateau Mygo, where I learned he worked and it was one of the dinghies they use on their charter boats.
We went back to Chateau Mygo for dinner, as we heard they have good pizza. After we had ordered the pizza, we realized they also have sushi in the evening. We should have gone with the sushi, as the pizza was mediocre. There was nothing really wrong with it, but after being spoiled by Mac's in Bequia, it was only fair. While we were there, a lady named Susie came over to us and said she understood we were looking for Maggi. Again we explained our connection to Maggi. Susie told us that Maggi has a friend visiting from England, and that they had gone to a resort south of here for the day, but that she would be sure to get her the message that we are in town.
GPS N 13-57.902 W 061-01.581 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9709.
Jan 15
We spent the morning aboard charging batteries and writing. It rained off and on all morning. Nothing heavy, just enough to require all the windows to be closed and then reopened five minutes later when it quit. At lunchtime, there was a break in the rain, so we decided to go have a fancy lunch. We dinghied past the marina and into the little dinghy landing basin for Discovery. To get here, you go between two mega yachts and under a little walkway bridge. We tied up and went upstairs to the Hole In The Wall for lunch. Barb had Piton beer, which was served on tap in a nice large glass, and I had rum punch, which was not light on the rum, and also in a large glass. So far I was impressed. I got a cheeseburger and Barb got a panini. Both were very good. The burger may be the best I've had outside the States. The service was impeccable, and stood out even for a resort like this. We have been to lots of resorts in the Caribbean where the attitude of the local staff still reflects the local attitude more than an American service attitude. Here, the staff has been well trained and it shows. We timed our visit perfectly, as the rain resumed shortly after we got there, and forced us to have refills on our beverages.
The afternoon was spent relaxing on the boat, and even napping. We stayed aboard for a light snack of a dinner and struggled to stay up until after 20:00. We are definitely back in the cruiser mode of sleep when it's dark and get up when the sun comes up.
GPS N 13-57.902 W 061-01.581 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9709.
Jan 16
After the nets, I attacked the dinghy again. It has started leaking again, about an inch from the last big patch I put on it. I mixed the glue and cut the patch and slapped it on. Hopefully that will be the end of that. At lunchtime, we went to Chateau Mygo. After lunch, we went across the street and walked around the shops. I found a pay phone and called Maggi. She answered and we made arrangements to get together this evening for happy hour. We stopped at the little restaurant in the marina village and had iced coffees while sitting and watching the tourists. We were right along the dock where the Moorings charter boats tie up, so we got to witness what it's like when inexperienced boaters try to do a med-moor style docking. It was kind of funny, and finally, two guys from the marina got aboard and finished straightening the boat out.
We went back to the boat for a while, and then at 17:30, went back to Chateau Mygo to meet up with Maggi. It was good to see her again, and we caught up on what we've been doing and on mutual friends. A gentleman named Milton, whom Maggi knew well, joined us. I was never clear on exactly what Milton did, but I got the impression from his impeccable dress and speech, that he was somebody important. While we were visiting, one of the mega yachts that had been at the dock left. Lazy Z is another big one, and it's been here as long as we have.
At 19:00, we said goodbye to Maggi, and went to meet Tim & Patti from Tevai and four other folks who Tim met at the resort across from the anchorage, for a bus ride to Anse La Raye, where they hold a weekly fish fry. This is similar to the weekly fish fry in Gouyave, Grenada, but it's even better. Anse La Raye is only about ten miles south on the west coast of St. Lucia, but along the crooked roads, it took about twenty minutes to get there. Our driver, Dixon, not only drove, but he gave us a tour as we went. The "tour guide" we had in St. Vincent a few weeks ago could learn something from Dixon. Once on Anse La Raye, Dixon explained how things worked. There were many craft booths first, and then the food booths. We got drinks first, and then checked out the options for food. Barb stuck to beer, but I noticed that each booth had their own rum punch also, so I made sampling several of those part of the adventure. They were all good except one called Joycey's Special. Joycey was there herself promoting her food and her special rum, and she said what made it special was the love she put into making it. Well, she got the award for being fun, but her rum had anise in it as well as love, and I hate licorice, so that one went to Barb. We tried many different dishes, including fish cakes, lobster cakes, shrimp soup, pasts shells stuffed with lobster and veges, and others. It was all good. At the end of the booths was a stage, where we enjoyed watching the North Stars pan band play for about half an hour before we headed back. They are the reigning national champs from the past year's Carnival, and I think they are the band we watched rehearse two years ago when we were here.
We got back to the boat about 22:30 tired and satisfied.
GPS N 13-57.902 W 061-01.581 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9709.
Jan 17
This morning after the radio nets, we got underway north for Rodney Bay. Rodney Bay is the main place in St. Lucia where boats go. There is a large marina there that has been totally rebuilt in the past year, and a huge anchorage. There is a large town, any services you need, and several good sized resorts. We know several of our friends are already here. The trip is less than ten miles. We hugged the coast as we motored north. The wind was right on the nose, so there would be no sailing. Immediately north of Marigot, we passed the Hess Oil terminal. There is no refining here, just a big tank farm. I'm guessing they bring huge tankers in and unload them, and then reload smaller tankers to the islands or other destinations. I'm pretty sure it's not all used on St. Lucia. North of the tank farm is Castries. Castries is the capitol of St. Lucia, and it's major port. The entrance to the bay at Castries is quite narrow and traffic in and out is controlled by the guys at Vigie Lighthouse. As we passed, we could see three large cruise ships in port, as well as at least one freighter. About two miles north of Vigie Light is Rodney Bay. Rodney Bay is a large bay, with lots of space to anchor. The beach that lines most of the bay has several resorts, each with their umbrellas and beach chairs lining the beach. We drove around looking for the shallowest place to anchor, but found it all about the same at eighteen to twenty feet. We dropped the hook in eighteen feet and backed down hard on it to make sure we were going to stay put.
Soon after dropping the hook, we realized the downside of anchoring right off a resort. There were the jet skis, the boat towing the huge inflated thing that looked like a king sized mattress holding three or four people, the fleet of little Optimist sailboats with kids who don't care if they run into a big sailboat, and the general noise of three or four different sources of music. There was one kid that capsized his little boat right next to us. He had trouble getting it righted, and just as I was about to go help him in my dinghy, the adult in charge of them came around and got him straightened out. While we were watching the boat tow the mattress thing around, we witnessed the boat run right over the thing and the two people in it. When the boat makes a u-turn, the towed thing goes real fast around the outside of the turn and comes up alongside the boat. For whatever reason, the boat driver turned towards them. There was a young couple in the towed thing. The girl was knocked off it into the water, but seemed ok. The guy was still in it but stunned and holding his head. We were just getting into the dinghy and drove over to see if we could help. By then the boat driver had the girl back on the mattress, and the guy was holding his head looking dazed. I don't think he was seriously hurt, but he was going to have a headache. Unlike in the States, there was probably no recourse, other than maybe getting their money back. The boat was back on the water with the same guy driving a couple hours later.
After a light lunch, we dinghied in to look at the new marina. We stayed here, in the marina two years ago on our way south, but it has been entirely torn out and rebuilt in the past year. The marina is inside a basin that I think was manmade to begin with many years ago. The first thing we noticed as we dinghied in the channel was that the Iguana was closed. The Iguana is a large restaurant bar with a large dock for dinghies. It was closed when we were here in June 2007, but our friends who were up here last year said it had been open and was the place to go. Well, it's closed again. The marina is totally different. The main change is the addition of about twenty mega yacht slips. These are huge concrete docks and are the first thing you come to as you enter the inner bay. The rest of the marina is further south than the old docks were. We immediately found several of our friends who are here. Seabbatical, Liquid Courage, Lightheart, and Sea Otter are all here. We stopped and chatted with them all for a little while. As we were talking to Sea Otter, I noticed that the boat across the dock from them was another Catalina Morgan 38. We went around and introduced ourselves to Peter the owner. He had bought the boat after it had been used in Sunsail's charter fleet. His is a 1997 model, and he bought it in 2001. It is not equipped for long term cruising, and he has had it stored for the past two years here on the hard. Unfortunately, he just learned he is going to have to replace the engine. I asked him how he planned to get the engine out, given there is no removable panels large enough for that, and he agreed there would need to be fiberglass cutting involved. He can run the engine carefully for now and plans to take the boat to Antigua tomorrow, so we weren't able to compare boats more.
We went back to the boat for a while, and then back to the marina about 16:30 to join the gang for beers aboard Liquid Courage. After several beers, we decided to walk to a place called Key Largo for pizza. It was a longer walk than we thought, but not too far. The pizza was good, but not as good as Mac's back in Bequia. Mac's will be hard to top. When we walked back to the marina, some folks went to Scuttlebutts for another drink, but we went back to the boat.
When we got back to the boat, we heard music coming from the shore. After a few minutes, we realized it was karaoke and it wasn't good. Fortunately, that didn't last long.
GPS N 14-04.602 W 060-57.408 Nautical miles traveled today 9. Total miles 9718.
Jan 18
We were planning to go into the marina Monday, because we need to get our foresail repaired. But, after thinking about the availability of cable TV, and the fact that the football championship games are on today, we decided to go in today. I called the marina on the VHF and got a slip assignment. We raised anchor and motored the mile or less into the inner basin. Several of our friends were on the dock waiting to take our lines. They expected we might need extra hands since I was going to back into the slip. I wanted to back in so the wind would be on the nose and blow through the boat. If you recall, our air conditioning bit the dust a week before we left Grenada, so even though we're at the dock, we won't be air conditioned.
I went up the marina office to check in and found it right where it was two years ago. Even though the marina has been purchased by IGY, a huge marina operator specializing in catering to mega yachts, and the docks have been almost entirely rebuilt, the ground facilities have not been upgraded at all. I went to the men's room near the office, and found the urinal that was broken two years ago still out of service, the stall doors the same junky wood, and the place as generally dirty as it was back then. It would seem to me that while the marina was basically closed for a year, they could have at least spruced up the buildings too.
We went to Scuttlebutts for lunch. Scuttlebutts is on the marina grounds, and two years ago was a pretty good place to go. I had fish and chips, and Barb had a Caesar salad. Both were pretty good, but the waitress needed to be jump started. We were the only customers there, which should have been a clue for what we would experience later.
Don on Liquid Courage is organizing a football pool for the games this afternoon. The buy-in is a whopping $2 EC per square, and the payout will be $25 EC per quarter. I bought ten squares. About 15:45, we went up to Scuttlebutts to watch the games. The new docks have cable TV outlets for every boat, and we are hooked up and getting a great picture, but it's more fun to watch as a group. There are at least ten of us going, and the first three of us were the only three people in the place. We sat in the bar area where the TV is. The TV had a cricket game on, and nobody watching, since there was nobody there. After we woke a waitress up, and ordered beers, we asked if the TV could be switched to football. The waitress looked at us like we were aliens. About that time, the bartender, who controls the remote control, came out from the back room. Mike hollered to him and asked him to change the channel. He gave us a look, and finally took the remote and found the football game. The quality of the picture sucked, but when we asked the manager about it, he just ignored us. The rest of our group and several more folks showed up and were enjoying the game, even though we had to struggle to see through the heavy snow on the screen. Several people ate when we first got there. Barb and I weren't hungry then, but around 18:00, we asked the waitress for a menu. We had light food in mind, like chicken wings, or chicken finger, both of which are on the afternoon menu under "bar snacks". The waitress brought menus, but since we were two minutes past 18:00, they were dinner menus and did not include the "bar snacks". We asked her, but were told that it would not be possible to get the stuff from the day menu after 18:00. So, I finished my beer and asked for our check. It will be the last time we go to Scuttlebutts. I guess business is so good that they can piss off their only ten customers. We learned later that in the middle of the second game they told the remaining people they had to leave because it was too late.
We watched the end of the first game and the whole second game on the boat, with an excellent picture. Barb warmed up some leftovers for dinner, and we saved money. I didn't win any of the football pool, so I guess it's good that we saved the money by not staying at the bar.
GPS N 14-04.520 W 060-56.960 Nautical miles traveled today 1. Total miles 9719.
Jan 19
This morning, we did boat work. We need to remove the foresail and take it in to have the sun cover re-sewn. When we motor sailing between Bequia and St. Lucia and furled the sail, the stitching on the cover tore. I looked outside and there was only a slight breeze and it was right from the bow. I unfurled the sail, and as soon as I did, the wind shifted almost ninety degrees and picked up a little, filling the sail and making it hard to handle. Barb released the clutch on the halyard, and I started to quickly pull the sail down. Barb came out on deck and helped me get the sail confined to the deck and not go overboard into the water. We got it down and the wind stopped. Of course. We moved the sail to the dock, got it folded and put it in it's bag. I got a dock cart and toted it up to the sail loft where I arranged to get it repaired.
I then made two trips to the garbage area and got rid of a bag of garbage, and three gallons of used motor oil we've been carrying around for a month. I stopped by Island Water World and picked up a replacement for the one LED interior light that we have. I got it back to the boat and couldn't get it into the socket. I compared the ends and they looked exactly the same, so I was confused. With my glasses on, I noticed that the label said the one I just bought was red. That's what I get for shopping without my glasses. I took it back to IWW, and told the lady at the register that I shouldn't shop without my glasses. She said "Didn't want a red one did you?", before she even looked at what I had. I got the right light, but still couldn't get it into the fixture. After puzzling over it a while, I realized that the problem wasn't the base, but rather that the head of the new bulb was bigger than the old one. I took the fixture apart, and mashed the crap out of the inner reflector and eventually made it fit. The new light is brighter than the old one, and hopefully will last longer.
It was raining off and on all day today. That wasn't in the forecast, and it was impossible to avoid. I finally gave up trying to time my long walks from the boat to the shore with the gaps in the rain, and just got wet. It's hard to complain about getting wet in the rain when the temperature is over eighty. For lunch, Mike & Lynn joined us at Cafe Ole, another small restaurant in the marina complex. We all had sandwiches and paninis and salads. After we ate, Barb & I went across the main road to the larger grocery store than the one in the marina. We got a few things we needed and hit the store in the marina for ice on the way back.
We spent the rest of the afternoon, reading, writing, and (this is new) watching TV. The rain continued all afternoon, causing us to jump and close the hatches just to reopen them a few minutes later.
GPS N 14-04.520 W 060-56.960 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9719.
Jan 20
We spent the whole morning watching the coverage of the inauguration of President Obama. I don't recall ever paying attention to an inauguration before in my life, but this was historic. Hopefully everybody in our government can get to work and resolve the many problems currently facing the country.
Once the ceremonies were over, I did a few minor boat things. I filled our water tanks, and in the process tried to determine if the vent to the aft tank is actually venting. It is, but not as freely as it should. I poked a wire into the end where the fitting gets corroded as best I could, but it still isn't right. I took our propane tank up to the fill station to get it refilled. They do it onsite, but not necessarily while you wait, so I left it there and picked it back up later. The last thing I did was re-patch the dinghy. My last patch, that I did a few days ago, either wasn't big enough, or I just missed the hole. I pulled that patch off and cut another piece twice as wide. I glued it on and we'll see tomorrow if it has resolved the current leaks.
We had a quiet evening aboard, eating leftovers and watching TV. This TV stuff is bad for us. We stayed up until midnight two nights in a row now. We are Atlantic Standard Time, which during the winter is an hour earlier than Eastern time. That means prime-time doesn't start until 21:00 here. The Super Bowl won't start until 19:25. This will be the first time in a number of years that we will get to watch the Super Bowl on an American station so we will see all the cool commercials.
GPS N 14-04.520 W 060-56.960 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9719.