June 14
Today was a full day aboard. I was woefully behind in my writing, so I spent the better part of the day writing, downloading pictures, and then updating the website. About the only other thing I did was go over to Sol Y Mar briefly to visit with Pat and Martin the boat boy. We wanted to be sure he didn't think we intentionally bailed on his tour yesterday, and explain how we thought the guy we went with was working with him. He wasn't upset with us at all and said it was a miscommunication between the guides. I think he was just being politically correct in not saying he felt the other guy stole us, but that's for him to work out. We gave him some tips on dealing with cruisers and being more specific about plans so these things don't happen in the future.
GPS N 15-34.768 W 061-27.637 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9317.
June 15
We took a "bus" to Roseau, the country's capitol today. Roseau is about twenty miles south of Portsmouth. The term bus is used a little different here. As with every other island we have visited, there are no busses in the sense of a forty person city bus. There are just mini-vans. In the states, we would say a mini-van holds maybe eight people, and we would refer to a full-sized van as a twelve passenger van. Well, add a couple of fold-down jump seats and take away all cargo space, and you can cram fourteen people in a minivan. In the morning, there are a dozen or more vans waiting at the main "bus stop" in Portsmouth, looking to go south. If you walk up and ask for a taxi, one will gladly take your party, with no other stops, to your destination and charge you whatever you agree on. If however, you walk up and ask for a bus, then the price is regulated and is only $8EC per person each way. The downside is that the driver will try to fill the van before leaving, and you will stop along the way to pick up or discharge passengers. As the nine of us who are going today unloaded from our dinghies, a young man met us on the dock. He asked if we wanted a bus to Roseau. We replied yes and clarified the price. It was bus price. He introduced us to "his brother" who had a nice relatively new air-conditioned van that was larger than most. It could probably comfortably carry sixteen. He was very upfront with us and said if we asked for a taxi, that was different, but if we didn't mind sharing and a stop or two, we could have him as a bus. We said that would be great. He loaded us up in his van, with the a/c running, and then started to try and recruit a few more people. He got three more and then we left, even though he wasn't quite full. We had been warned by Martin that the bus driver drove very fast on the twisty road, but they usually didn't have accidents. Our guy turned out to be not too bad, and he delivered us in one piece, in about an hour.
We didn't come to town with a master plan of what to do. We knew there was a botanical garden with a parrot aviary, so we headed there first. It was several blocks away, and it was quite hot. When we found it, we were quite disappointed. There wasn't a lot there, and what there was needed water badly. We found the aviary, but it was closed because it was mating season for the parrots and they didn't want them disturbed. So, we headed back to town and just walked around. We found a variety of shops and restaurants, an open air market with vendors of t-shirts and souvenirs. The usual stuff for a town that gets cruise ships. We learned from a bartender that this time of year they only get one cruise ship per week, so things are slow.
We had lunch at a Creole restaurant, Le Bong Cafe, near the Fort Young Hotel, which is near the cruise ship terminal. The food was good, and the price was right, although the service was slow and the food didn't appear all together. From there we walked the length of the main street to the produce market at the north end of town. There were many vendors there with all the local produce, and a number of small stalls selling food of dubious origin.
The bus stop for returning to Portsmouth is near the market, so we walked that way. Once again, we were met by a guy who's job it is to hustle passengers to his buddies van. We clarified the $8EC price, and asked if the van was air conditioned. He said it was, so we followed him and piled in. This van was smaller, and to make it hold twelve, there was barely any leg room between the seats. We crammed in, and then were told we had to wait a few minutes for two other people he was waiting for. He assured us they were on the way and it would only be a minute. A minute turned into ten, and the a/c was not on. Turns out that yes, the van has a/c, but it doesn't work, so we were sweltering while we waited. Finally three, not two, other people showed up. They were Cuban doctors who are working for two years at the medical center in Portsmouth. Now we were really packed in, but at least we took off and had air flow with the windows all open. Since we were all going to Portsmouth, there were no stops except for traffic in a couple of the small towns. This diver was a good example of what Martin had warned us about. There were a number of hair raising, tire squealing corners involved, but we made it back in one piece.
Before going back to the boat, we need to get a bag of ice. I went into a little snack shop right at the bus stop to ask where I could buy ice. The girl behind the counter yelled to a Rasta guy talking to a friend to take us to get ice. Roy introduced himself and waved for us to follow him. As we walked the three blocks to a small market, Roy asked if we were enjoying our stay, and asked what we had seen since we'd been here. Once at the market, Roy asked the girl if they had ice, and she said it was in back. While he went to get it, she asked where we were from. We told her Texas, and she said she had family in Baytown, a suburb of Houston. I paid for the ice, and Roy brought it out from in back. He explained that their big ice machine out front was empty, and they only had a small amount left that was just for "special" people like us. We started walking back towards the dinghy dock with Roy still in tow. I had $2 EC in coins in my hand to give to him for helping us out. Halfway to the dock, Roy said that he would be turning here to go home. He reached out to shake my hand, and after I shook his, I gave him the money. He looked at me and lowered his voice and said he didn't expect anything for what he did. I thanked him again and said to keep the money and that we really appreciated his help. He then gave us both hugs and wished us a safe trip. I can't get over the friendliness of these people.
At 17:30, Sol Y Mar and MoonSail were invited over to Liward for happy hour. Steve & Lili treated us to Margaritas, cheese and crackers, and chips and salsa. Happy hour turned into all evening as we got to know Steve & Lili, and were entertained by Steve and his guitar. We had a great time and look forward to spending more time with them down island.
GPS N 15-34.768 W 061-27.637 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9317.
June 16
It's Saturday and that means it's market day in Portsmouth. We have been told the market is large, but to get anything good you have to be there around 07:00. We got there about 07:45, and there still was a good selection of stuff. We picked up a number of items, like tomatoes, onions, bananas, bread, and eggs. I also got a bottle of local rum to try, since we didn't have a chance to go to the distillery yet.
The rest of the day was spent aboard. The only productive thing I did was change the engine oil and filters. The wind blew pretty hard all day, but it was very uneven. It would go calm for a minute, then blast over twenty knots for a minute. Sitting in the cockpit, you could see the gusts coming across the water at you and almost guess the intensity by the water surface. We had not been planning to leave until Monday, but after looking at the weather, we decided to leave early in the morning.
We did want to make a contribution to Martin for the fund that supports a security patrol of the harbor at night, and hadn't done that yet. We called Martin on the radio and got his wife who said he wasn't available today. Another boat owes him money for a tour, and when they called and said they were leaving also, she said she would have Edison come out and pick up the money, but it would be a little later. By dark, Edison had still not showed up, so we figured our contribution would have to wait until we return in the winter. We went to bed about 08:30, planning on a 05:00 departure. At 09:30, we were awakened by Lili form Liward hailing us on the radio. She said Edison was there and he was looking for us. He came back over and got the money, as well as a bag of garbage we had. Not sure why it was so late, but I thanked him anyway.
GPS N 15-34.768 W 061-27.637 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9317.
June 17
We were up at 04:30 and underway by 05:00. Sol Y Mar and MoonSail led the pack of eight boats headed south. The forecast is for fifteen to twenty knots of wind and six to eight foot seas, once we get south of the island. It is about twenty-five miles from Portsmouth to the southern end, so for the first four hours, we enjoyed a calm motorsail. The wind was only about ten knots, and the seas were basically flat because we were only a half mile or so off the coast.
Once we passed Roseau and started to get out into the open water, things changed. The wind pick up as did the seas, but way more than we expected. There was a squall line passing through the area, as well as the normal enhanced winds that whip around the end of an island, and together they gave us over thirty knots of wind and at least ten foot seas that were shortly spaced and breaking. It was downright ugly. After a few minutes of this Sol Y Mar agreed with us that we should turn around and go back to Roseau. Turning around in those conditions is not easy. You have to try and time the turn so that a large wave doesn't hit you broadside. Since the waves were closely spaced, it wasn't easy. Barb went below to make sure everything was secure since we would now be heeling to the other side. When she was ready she gave me a signal, and I made the turn. We pitched about quite a bit, but got around without incident. Now we had the large seas coming from behind, which is a whole different ugly feeling, but not quite as bad as bashing into them. It was about four miles back to the safety of Roseau's harbor, but the closer we got the calmer the seas got.
As we were approaching Roseau, we spotted dolphins. We haven't seen any in quite a while. We took it as a sign that we did the right thing in turning around. The Coast Guard boat that passed and gave a thumbs up signal after we turned around was another clue. Back to the dolphins though, there were easily a hundred of them. I have never seen so many together at once. We were surrounded and they played in our bow wake for a minute or so, and then they were gone.
There are mooring balls available in Roseau, since the harbor is too deep to anchor in. They are available in a couple of different places from different guys. All the boats in our fleet who were behind us, took our advice and turned around also. I was concerned that there would not be enough mooring balls, available, and now I was at the back of the pack. Non-Linear was the first of our group to get to the moorings, where he found Pancho, one of the local boat boys waiting in his skiff. Pancho led them to a mooring, handed them the pennants and told them it was $25EC/day, which is $10 US. Not a bad price, and there are a dozen more empty balls available. Pancho met each boat as they came in and handed them the pennants. Once secure, it was hard to imagine what we were in less than an hour ago. It turns out the moorings have very long pennants, which we could shorten by tying them to our cleats instead of using the loops on the ends. But, they also have very long lines from the ball to the anchor, which means they move around quite a bit. There is a current which runs through the harbor here, and that combined with the winds cause the boats to dance in very strange ways. Several of us have come within a few feet on one another, but remarkably nobody has touched.
We just stayed on the boat for the remainder of the day, opening and closing hatches and ports every half hour or so as rain showers passed through. The rain was always just enough to make you close things, and then it would stop a minute later. During the afternoon, the Coast Guard boat slowly drove along the line of moored boats. We waved as they passed, and they waved back. When they got to Sol Y Mar, they stopped, and pulled alongside. I told Pat he just has a suspicious look about him. They just asked where we had come from and where we were going. They said we did the right thing by stopping this morning.
A good amount of time was spent between all the boats debating whether to leave tomorrow or Tuesday, and at what hour. Initially several planned to leave at 04:00, and we thought we'd give them an hours head start and then ask what they found out there. But, by bedtime, everybody agreed it would be better to wait until Tuesday.
GPS N 15-16.873 W 061-22.553 Nautical miles traveled today 23. Total miles 9340.
June 18
I awoke at 04:00, and looked around and saw that indeed, nobody seemed to be leaving. Unfortunately, Pat had gone to bed last night before that change of plans had made it's rounds on the radio, so he was up waiting for somebody to leave. I didn't see lights on Sol Y Mar, so I didn't call him to say go back to sleep. When I re-awoke at 07:00, Sea Otter was just heading out. I talked to Pat and filled him in on what he missed last night, and apologized for not getting a hold of him then to let him know. Sea Otter reported back to us an hour later, that the wind and seas were still pretty big, but not as bad as yesterday, and they were carrying on. I downloaded new GRIB files and it looks like the seas will moderate even more tomorrow, so we will wait. Several others decided to go ahead and leave based on Sea Otter's experience though.
The weather guru, Chris Parker, is off today for a long weekend with his family, but he said last week that he could answer brief questions via e-mail if anybody had to move. Since at least six of us waiting are sponsoring vessels with him, I sent him a mail and just asked for his opinion for the next few days. His answer came about 10:45 and said today was probably the best day. Tomorrow during the day, squalls associated with a tropical wave will increase. Unfortunately, it's too late now to leave and be sure of arriving in Martinique before dark. So, we along with the remaining boats, plan to leave in the wee hours to take advantage of the normal drop in the winds overnight, and hopefully beat the squalls to either St. Pierre or Fort du France in Martinique.
Richard & Harriet from Perseverance stopped by and asked if we wanted to join them ashore for lunch, and offered to taxi us there since we have not launched our dinghy. We had a nice lunch at the Anchorage Hotel with them and Alize. The hotel has a small sperm whale skeleton mounted outside the restaurant. The whale had been injured and died in 2001 and washed up on the beach here. It took two years to clean and treat the bones and then get an expert to assemble them. After lunch we took a little walk up a side road into a neighborhood. Several people stopped to ask if we were looking for somewhere specific or needed help. We thanked them an said we were just exploring. The people here have been the friendliest I think we have encountered anywhere so far. They genuinely want to make sure you are enjoying your stay, and although the taxi drivers are always trying to sell you a tour, they are not in the least bit pushy about it when you say no thank you.
We spent the rest of the afternoon aboard and turned in early. We plan a 04:00 departure in the morning.
GPS N 15-16.873 W 061-22.553 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9340.
June 19
We were up at 03:30 and underway at 04:00. I thought a couple of the other boats had planned an even earlier departure, but it turned out we all left at the same time. Cheetah II, Non-Linear, Sea U Manana, Alize, Perseverance, Sol Y Mar, and us headed south. I was hoping somebody would already be an hour ahead of to relay back the conditions past the end of the island, but we'll all find out together. Sol Y Mar and MoonSail were the first two out of the gate, but soon were passed by everybody except Sea U Manana. They are a large catamaran, and it turned out that early in the trip their mainsail tore, and they have a problem with one of their transmissions, so they are motorsailing with one engine and reefed sails.
The conditions turned out to be not too bad. Certainly much better than when we turned around a couple days ago. The wind was blowing between eighteen and twenty-five knots, and the seas were about six to eight feet, coming from a little ahead of the beam. It wasn't a great ride, but it's only open water between Dominica and Martinique for about twenty-two miles, or four hours, so we can tough it out. Once in the lee of Martinique, the wind dropped and the seas calmed to almost flat. We kept motorsailing along and soon the wind turned to the southwest at about fifteen knots, not something we expected at all. Since we were motorsailing, it didn't really affect us, but it was odd. After about an hour, the wind switched back to the southeast, and the chop picked up a little. By a little before noon, the others in the group were talking on the radio about pressing on to St. Lucia and not stopping in Martinique at all. The things to consider were our speed and could we get to St. Lucia before dark. We were an hour behind the leader at this point, so I was sure we could make that. Also, there are squalls predicted to pop up this afternoon. That was why we left so early in the morning, so we would be tucked in Martinique before the squalls started. While the others all went on, Sol Y Mar and MoonSail opted to stick with the original plan and go into Fort du France, Martinique.
A little before noon, we dropped the hook in the main anchorage of Fort du France. Ironically, the people on a French boat behind us started yelling that we were too close. The girl on the bow yelling spoke very little English, but I figured out that she thought we were over their anchor, and that they were planning to leave shortly. I told her we would move if we ended up being in the way, but I thought we were ok. She didn't get it. We plan to only stay here long enough to go into town and check in with Customs, and then move to a better anchorage. We launched our dinghy and waited for the French boat to leave before going ashore. But, after over an hour, they were still not gone. So, I went and picked up Pat, gave Barb instructions on what to do if we were in the way, and went to shore. The French islands have the best check-in procedures we have encountered. For one thing, we didn't have to take a cab the couple of miles to Customs. They have arranged for a chandlery right on the waterfront to do check-in and check-out. We walked there, found English speaking people, filled out the one simple form, got stamped and were gone in five minutes. And it was FREE. We were back at the boat in about twenty minutes. Of course the French boat had decided to leave right after I left, but we were not in their way and Barb didn't have to move MoonSail.
We immediately weighed anchor and moved about four miles south to a much quieter and more secluded anchorage off of Trois Ilets (Three Islands). There was plenty of shallow water just off of a golf course and about half a mile from the small town. We found our friends Joy & Ali on Seagulls here, as well as a couple of other boats that we have heard on the radio but not met. We spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the boats who had continued south talking about the conditions. Of course when they got back out in the open water, fighting the waves again, their speed decreased. They also had two squalls build and hit them with thirty knot winds briefly. They all made it to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia safely, but I'm glad we decided to wait until tomorrow.
We had towed our dinghy across, so we offered to play taxi to go to town for dinner, so Sol Y Mar didn't have to launch theirs. We picked them up and headed in to the dock at about 17:30. We found a nice waterfront area, nicely landscaped, with a large area for sports, like tennis and volleyball. We were fairly hungry, so we went in search on one of the half dozen restaurants mentioned in the cruising guide. We found that in typical European tradition, the restaurants don't open until 19:00 or 19:30. Our walking tour of the small town completed, we found a small bar right on the waterfront open, so we sat there and had a couple of drinks while waiting for 19:00. While we were there, Joy & Ali from Seagulls, and Kylie & Mike from Meggie came and joined us. We have known Joy & Ali since Luperon, and have been hearing Meggie on the long-range radio for months. This was the first we actually met Kylie & Mike in person though. They are a young couple from Canada, in a thirty foot wooden sailboat, who actually love to sail in the conditions I have been complaining about for the last couple of months.
At 19:00, we went to find dinner with Pat & Dori. We found several places still closed, but Chez Dadou et Andrea was open. We were their first customers. The menu was in French, so this was my first opportunity to see just how much I remembered. The waitress spoke a little English, and she enjoyed helping me figure out the menu and translating it for the others. I ordered grilled fish, Pat ordered a veal dish, and the girls thought they ordered a different veal dish. Unfortunately, I did screw up, as the girl's veal dish turned out to be chicken. But it was all good, and that's part of the adventure.
We enjoyed a quiet night aboard. The wind died down, but it wasn't too hot after dark, so we had a sound night's sleep.
GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506 Nautical miles traveled today 50. Total miles 9390.
June 20
We are going to move on to St. Lucia today, but it's only a little over thirty miles, so we don't need to start at the crack of dawn. We were up about 07:00, without an alarm clock, and underway at 07:30. It took almost an hour just to get out of our tucked away anchorage and back out into the open water. Once out in the open, we found a steady twenty knots of wind and choppy seas. The chop was uncomfortable, but not very big. After six or eight miles, we were totally out of the lee of the island, and the seas developed a more offshore style of a swell instead of a chop. It was five to seven feet, coming just about square on the beam. Sometimes we would see a large one coming and just ride up and over with no issue, and sometimes a smaller one would hit us out-of-sync and really roll us side to side. All in all though I think we had a better ride than the guys who went on yesterday.
At about 14:00 we were in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. There is a great anchorage here in the bay, also an anchorage in the very protected area called the lagoon, and there is a marina. Since it is off-season, the marina has ridiculously low prices. Their deal is if you have a buddy boat and stay for a week, you get two slips for $.17/per foot. Water is $.06/gal with a 100 gallon minimum. Electricity is metered with a minimum also, but it is European style 220v 50hz electricity. For us to plug in would require renting a transformer from the marina, and they don't have any more available. So we won't use electricity. Our fee for the week is less than $60. We may or may not stay a week, but we are staying three days at least, and that is the break-even point with the daily rate.
We got in the lagoon and needed to fill our fuel before we got our slip. The fuel dock is a separate entity from the marina, so we called them on the VHF. They said there was a sailboat about to leave and that we could come in right after them. As we approached, we saw the sailboat leave, and then a small powerboat passed us and went to the fuel dock. The fuel dock guy didn't turn him away, so we got to drift around waiting for fifteen minutes before we got our turn. We filled our tank and our jerry cans, the dock guy gave me a slip of paper with the gallons on it, and I went upstairs to pay. The girl took the paper and figured the price. She looked at me and said $462.80. I think she saw the blood drain form my face, and she quickly added that the price was in EC. It was $173 US, much more like what I was expecting. That worked out to $3.26/gal, which is the cheapest we've had in a while. We cast off the fuel dock and went to our slip. Sol Y Mar had already come in and gotten tied up, so they were there as well as the dockmaster to take our lines.
The rest of the gang is already here, so once we were secure we were saying hello to everybody. We had an arrival beer and then went to find Customs. The office is on the marina premises, so it wasn't hard. Here too was pretty simple check-in, although it involved three people. First you fill out the one fairly simple form. The one thing different about the form here was that it actually asked some Customs related questions. For instance, it asked how many liters of spirits and how many liters of wine we have on board. I said five of each. I really have no idea how much we have, but I'm sure we have at least five. Probably more like fifty, but who's counting. There were questions about tobacco products which was easy, none, and firearms, again easy, none. Then were lines for how many cats, dogs, or other animals were on board. I filled in one cat. When the officer reviewed the form he said "The cat stays onboard". It wasn't a question, it was an order. Not a problem since the cat stays onboard anyway, but it was funny the way he said it. He stamped the three copies of the form, gave me two, and said "One for you and take one to Immigration". "Take one to Immigration" meant literally pivot ninety degrees and say hello to the man from Immigration. He took his copy of the form and our passports, looked them over, stamped the passports and nodded his head towards the next guy. The next desk was the guy who collects the fees. There are three different fees applied here, which total $30EC for a boat forty feet or less. Then we were done. We never even put our Q flag up, we just lowered the Martinique one and raised the St. Lucia one.
We then checked in with the marina. Their form had more questions than the Customs form. We said we would stay a week, even though we probably won't, and paid our money. After that we stopped at one of the many eateries in the marina complex. The marina complex has two banks, an art gallery, a boat parts store, a sail repair loft, a laundry service, at least four restaurants and bars, a pool, a convenience store, a liquor store, and several other boat service businesses. Barb an I dropped in a small sandwich shop for a late lunch, as we have not eaten all day.
Back on the boat, we tackled our one pressing issue that we have to deal with immediately. We carry our fresh water in three thirty gallon tanks. Each tank lasts us about five days. We last filled up in St. Maarten, and two tanks are empty and we are on the third. We would run out tomorrow if we didn't get some. A couple of days ago, we noticed a salty taste in the water. There are two options for the problem. One would be the source. If the water is sea water processed by reverse osmosis and they aren't paying attention to the quality, it could be salty. In Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, they use well water, but the salt water is intruding into their water table and it is noticeable in the taste. But, this tank was last filled in the BVI, along with another tank, and we didn't notice the salty taste in the other tank. The second explanation would be that the deck fill cap is not tight or that the o-ring on it is broken, allowing sea water to get in the tank when water comes over the decks on these rough passages we have been making. I checked the fill cap, and it was tight, but the o-ring was gone. It must have broken and either fallen in the tank or overboard last time I filled it and I didn't notice. At least we have an explanation, and I have a spare o-ring, so it's an easy fix. But, we still have to clean up the mess. I opened the hot water faucets in both the head and the galley to drain the remaining bad water. The hot water heater holds eleven gallons, and that will have to be flushed too. When the tank was empty, I refilled it with new water and let faucets keep running. After a while we tasted the water and it tasted good, so the hot water heater and lines are flushed. We then switched to the cold water faucets to flush those lines, and ran the tank empty again. I then refilled all three tanks with new water. We also had to empty the two water bottles we keep in the fridge, and throw out a quart of soda and two quarts of lemonade that had been made with the bad water.
In the evening, we met the whole gang at Scuttlebutts for happy hour. We swapped stories about our last crossing, since we hadn't all done it together. We met another boat, Paper Moon whom we hadn't seen since Puerto Rico, and met one we have only heard on the radio, Sea Schell. We ran into Steve & Lili form Liward who have been here a couple of days already. We enjoyed several drinks, and on the way out, we were treated to a sample of three different rums at the bar.
Even though we don't have our a/c on, the wind is coming from behind us, meaning the breeze comes right in our aft cabin window and doesn't have to make it's way all the way through the boat to cool us. Of course there was a rain shower during the night making us close up for a while, but it was brief.
GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506 Nautical miles traveled today 50. Total miles 9390.
June 21
I started the morning early with a visit to the marina showers. It has been several weeks since we were in a marina and could take long hot showers. I found the showers here to be ok, but not great. They were pretty basic and cramped for space, but the water was hot and the pressure was good. After my shower I tried to listen to Chris Parker, the weather guy, on the SSB, but couldn't hear him at all. It seems every time we are in a marina, we have trouble with the SSB reception. I don't know if the problem is our proximity to lots of other masts, or electrical interference in a marina. To ease my pain of not hearing him, I went up to the bakery at the head of the dock and got two ham and cheese croissants and two chocolate croissants.
I did find the trash bins and was pleased to also find a used oil tank there. I got rid of all our trash and the oil from a few days ago when I last changed it. About 13:00, we met Pat & Dori for lunch at Scuttlebutt's. Since we were after the lunch crowd, we were waited on by the manager, Gus. Gus was extremely attentive and we wondered where he got his training. Our impression was that no matter what we asked for, the answer was always "no problem". We asked and found that Gus started his food service career with a large Hilton resort, where he was trained in excellent customer service. When we asked him if there was a laundromat in the area where you could do your own laundry instead of them doing it for you, he said "not unless you bring it over to my house, where you can do all you want". I know he was correct that there is not do-it-yourself laundry available, and I believe he was serious about coming to his home if we wanted.
After lunch, we went back to the boats and got our swimming suits on. There is an inviting looking pool right next to Scuttlebutt's that we are headed to. We found several other friends at the pool already, and more showed up as the afternoon got hotter. About 17:00, we went back to the boats, changed clothes and went back for happy hour. While we were at happy hour, one of the kids from Sea U Manana came looking for us to tell us there was one power transformer on the dock near them that was not in use. I hustled down there to see and sure enough there was one. I had no idea how heavy they were though. I could barely move the thing, let alone drag it half the length of the dock to our slip. We have seen the dockmaster with a two-wheeler so I set off to find it. I was looking for the security guard, since the office is closed and the dockmaster is gone for the day. I never found the security guard, but I found the two-wheeler in the bushes near the dockmaster's office. I took it down the dock, and with the help of another guy got it on the dolly and back to my slip. I plugged it in, dragged our cords out and plugged them in and went below to see if we had power. We didn't. Turns out the dockmaster has to unlock a box and turn your breaker on. So, we won't have a/c tonight, but we have claim to the transformer.
Pat & Dori decided to pass on diner out, but Barb and I went next door to The Bosun's Bistro. I had spaghetti alfredo with chicken and Barb had lasagna, and both were excellent.
GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9390.
June 22
There was still poor reception on the SSB this morning, but it sounds like the forecast may be changing. We had decided to go ahead and stay here for our week, and then go overnight to Grenada next Wednesday. It sounds now like we should have left here today and done our day hops as originally planned. Too late to leave now because there is high winds and seas forecast over the weekend so we'll see.
At 08:00, the dockmaster came down to turn on our power. I thanked him and went below to turn everything on. Even with the transformer, it's obvious the boat doesn't like whatever power level is coming in. The transformer knocks the voltage down from 220 to 110, but it is still 50hz instead of 60hz, so things like motors and digital clocks don't act right. The air conditioners are making a lower pitched hum than usual, but they are cooling. After an hour, I suddenly smelled something. I quickly traced the smell to the melting wires where the shore power enters the inverter/charger. I had Barb unplug the shore power cord and started poking around. We have had this exact problem once before when we first hooked up in a marina. After thinking about it, I realized the problem has nothing to do with the odd power here, but rather that we just overloaded one leg of the incoming power. The way the power works is that the transformer has an outlet where I plug in my 50 amp splitter. It makes two thirty amp circuits but there is no fuse prior to the inverter itself, except the 50amp fuse at the doc box. This is the same as when we plug into any marina where we split one 50 amp circuit into two 30 amps. One of my thirty amp circuits is direct to the large air conditioner and draws about 12 amps. The other circuit runs everything else. When we first plugged in, the battery charger was on full charge since we've been away from a dock for a while, the small air conditioner was on, and the water heater was on. This all pulled more than 30 amps through that circuit, but since the combination wasn't over 50 amps, the dock breaker didn't blow. But, since more than thirty amps was coming through the one line, the wire overheated. After thinking it through, I realize this is a flaw in the way the inverter/charger was installed. There needs to be a 30 amp breaker on the boat, where the shore power comes into the inverter. If the boat didn't have an inverter, the shore power would come first to a breaker on the main power panel. Whoever installed the inverter left that breaker downstream of the inverter instead of upstream. Another project for Grenada.
We are invited to a brunch on Perseverance this morning. Pat cooked a large egg/potato/dasheen/onion/bacon casserole that was a combination of ingredients from both boats, and Barb had cooked and crumbled the bacon. There were a total of eighteen people in attendance, which was why it was held on Perseverance, which is a catamaran with a nice large cockpit and main saloon. We had a nice meal which included sausage gravy over grits, our casserole, homemade sticky buns, crepes, waffles, fruit salad, Bloody Mary's, and other assorted goodies. Everybody was stuffed at the end.
After brunch, I took my computer up to Scuttlebutt's. They have free wi-fi available, and I can't quite get the signal good enough on the boat to use it there. I started doing my standard browsing, and checking of accounts etc, and found a huge unexpected charge from Cingular Wireless on my American Express account. I had cancelled my last computer air-card account with Cingular back in May when we were in St. Thomas, so I expected a final bill, but nothing like the amount that was charged. I immediately called Cingular on Skype and inquired about the charge. It turned out that since I had reduced the air-card plan to the minimum amount when we left the States, but then used it a little in St. Thomas, I had gone over the allotted amount of data transfer for my plan. The $500 charge was for the overage. As with cell phone minutes, if you go over your plan amount, they rape you with outrageous overage charges. I felt like the parent who just got their teenagers first cell phone bill, but I was the guilty one here. I argued that the amount of the charge was outrageous to no avail with the customer service rep and his supervisor. Lesson learned I guess. I guess Cingular thinks since they bought the AT&T name, they don't need to worry about customer satisfaction.
While at Scuttlebutts, we again saw something we have seen several times here. A bird like a starling will fly into the open air restaurant and go land on a table. He takes a packet of sugar out of the holder and hops up to the beam at the top of the roof, where he pecks the packet open and eats the sugar. We have seen this several times, and it was the same table every time. We don't know if it's the same bird or not. You see birds looking for the dropped French fry or a plate left unattended all the time, but this was the first I'd see this.
Late in the afternoon, we joined Pat & Dori on a bus to the "mall". The mall isn't too far way, but it's to far to walk, and the bus is only $1.25EC (about $.50 US) each. We walked around the mall, which is a three story affair with about fifty small shops in it. There are no name brands here, but a few name brand rip-offs. For example, there is a store called Intimate Secrets, which is a lingerie store similar to Victoria's Secret. The brand infringement comes when you look at the bags they use, which are Victoria's Secret. Another trademark infringement we saw was Hooters. They have ads all over, including in our cruising guide. They use exactly the same color and font signage, the same waitress uniforms, and chicken wings is there specialty. But, they are not a real Hooters. I guess some trademarks are not internationally protected, or maybe there is just no court to enforce them here. After touring the mall, we went to the large IGA grocery store on the ground floor. This really is an IGA grocery, and not a trademark infringement. We were impressed with the size of the store and the selection of stuff. We will have to do a provisioning run before we leave, since there is no grocery right near where we will be staying in Grenada.
On to dinner, which was the primary reason we came down here. Around the corner from the mall are several restaurants which are on the waterfront which in the southern end of the lagoon. One is called Pizza Pizza, and we have been told it is good. We walked farther than we had to getting there, but were rewarded with two good pizzas, although the beer wasn't very cold. We had finished eating paid the bill and were about to leave when it started to pour. Rather than have more warm beer, we ran across the sidewalk - yes just across the sidewalk, not street - to another bar and had a couple of drinks until the rain stopped. We then walked back to the mall where we hopped a bus back to the marina. The bus we got was nearly full, and only had four seats available. The seats were scattered singles, and rather than anybody moving over, we had to climb over the middle seats. Of course we were only going a mile or two, so we were the next ones out and had to repeat the climbing process.
A nightcap at Scuttlebutts seemed like a good idea, but the only place to sit was right at the bar, where there was no breeze at all. So, we only had one drink and headed back to the boats.
GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9390.
June 23
Today we are going to go on a field trip. Steve and Lili from Liward have rented a car, and we're going to share it with them. We took off about 09:30 and headed for the market at Castries, south of here. Castries is the largest town on the island, and the capitol. We found the market with no problem, and found a convenient parking garage to put the car in. This market is the largest we have been in. There are dozens of vendors selling produce, some with the basic fruits like bananas and mangoes, and some with more vegetables than fruits. It's hard to know who has the best stuff, since we still are learning how to tell what some of the stuff is, and how to know if it's ripe. Most of the vendors politely ask us to stop and look at their stuff as we pass, and a polite no thank you is all you need to say to move on. Very few are pushy at all. We came across one lady who had fruits and a large selection of baskets. Barb started looking at the baskets since she has been looking for a cracker basket that has to be stowable in a very specific space. Barb found a basket that looked like it would work, and we bought it for her asking price without bargaining at all. She then wanted to show us her fruits. Pat & Dori and Steve & Lili walked up about that time, and the lady started cutting up samples of things. She cut up two very tasty mangoes, and then we decided to buy some. We asked about a fruit that looked similar to the fruit of the cashew nut, but she said it was wax apple. She gave us several to try, so we bought a bag of those. Steve haggled with her over an avocado and bought one of those. She was very talkative the whole time and answered numerous questions we asked her about the Caribbean fruits and vegetables.
After those purchases, we wandered through the rest of the market looking at the array of goods. We found the back side of the market had guys selling fish out of wheelbarrows. We were not sure what type of fish they were, but there weren't many and the crowd was swarming them to by them. We found a row of stalls that were selling meats. There were hanging carcasses of who knows what animals, and cuts unlike any we would see in the States laying on the counters. None of this was refrigerated mind you. Opposite the meat vendors were small booths selling prepared food. All of them had similar looking trays of nice looking salads on the counters for side dishes, and then they had chicken or ribs or fish as the main course. The special of the day in several was cowheel stew. (Cowheel actually passed my spell checker. Who knew?) We didn't ask for a sample of that one. Further down there was an inside portion of the market that was rows of vendors selling t-shirts, jewelry, baskets, and typical souvenir junk. Every lady wanted you to look at their stuff, but again, a polite no thank you was usually sufficient.
At the main door back to the street were several guys hanging around. They each had something to sell, but were not official booth renters. Some had a handful of bead necklaces and such. One guy tried to get me to exchange US quarters with him. He had four quarters and asked me for a US dollar because the US coins are hard to get rid of. He then said to give him three EC dollars for it. If I had three EC dollars, which are also coins, I probably would have, but I didn't so he went away. Afterwards it occurred to me that one US dollar is only worth a little more than two and half EC, so if I had given him three I would be getting a bad deal. He probably tries this with a lot of tourists.
The funniest guy at the door was a scruffy looking Rasta dude who had already spoken to Steve. When I walked up, he gave me the same story. He had three little bitty vials of red liquid in his hand. He said these were for the ladies and were like Spanish Fly. They drink one and then they want you. But his real product was for the men. He reached in his pocket and pulled out several tiny things wrapped in foil. We thought it was crack rocks or something, but he said it was better than Viagra. He explained that you dampened the palm of your hand, then rubbed this tiny piece of whatever it was on the damp spot. Then you run that spot of your hand where it counts, and you will be good to go for a couple of hours. We laughed, but he had more to the story. He very seriously said, "But you don't ever use this with your wife. Because if you use it with your wife, she gonna expect that kind of performance every time. You save this for the first time with another woman so she is impressed and wants more. But, maybe it be ok with the wife on a special occasion." We laughed with him and thanked him for wanting to help us out, but assured him we didn't need any help in that department. As we were about to walk away, a little tiny old woman carrying a small cooler walked by. The Rasta dude reached out to her and gave her a couple of coins for two small plastic baggies of something green and frozen. He handed me one and said to try it. I asked what it was and he said coconut ice cream. You just bite the corner off the plastic bag and suck out chunks of the contents. We asked how it was made, and the little lady explained that it was shaved ice, the coconut milk and evaporated milk. It was delicious and I shared it with the group. The funny part though was that here was this scruffy guy trying to sell us something that is most likely nothing, and then he buys us a treat instead.
We had heard there was going to be several steel drum bands playing in a park not far from the market, so we headed that way. We found an empty park with no indication that anything was happening there today. On the way to the park we passed a Catholic cathedral that was quite impressive. Inside, it was looking a little tired, but according to some signs, they were working on a project to restore it.
We went back to the car and headed inland a little to find a place called Carabelle Batik. Batik is a form of dying clothing, and Lili had heard of this particular store from a friend. With directions from a helpful person in town, we found it with little trouble. It was high in the hills overlooking Castries and the harbor. It turned out they are not usually open on weekends when the cruise ship season is over, but the manager was there anyway and was glad to let us in. They had lots of wall hangings, clothing, and other souvenir stuff. They also had an area where they demonstrate how the batik process is done, but of course it was not active since they weren't supposed to be open. They had men's shirts that were like a Hawaiian shirt, but in the batik prints. I really liked them and bought two. I have resisted buying any t-shirts anywhere, as I have enough shirts to last a lifetime, but these were unique.
For lunch, we went back up the road a mile or so to the Green Parrot Hotel and Restaurant. There was only one car in the parking lot, so we weren't sure they were open, but after checking, they were. We parked and walked up their steep staircase to the entrance. To one side was the restaurant and to the other, the hotel. The place could easily seat a hundred, but there was just one other man eating lunch when we got there. We ordered drinks and sandwiches and most of us ordered callaloo soup. Callaloo is the leafy part of the plant which produces a root vegetable called dasheen. Callaloo soup is a traditional island soup, and we know of it from A Jimmy Buffett song from the Don't Stop The Carnival musical. This has been the first we've seen it offered and had to try it even though none of us has any idea what it will be like. The soup came and it was wonderful. It was creamy and the callaloo taste was similar to spinach. After the soup, we were all served a small salad. We had our choice of thousand island or vinaigrette dressing, which was brought around by the waitress and applied to your salad by her. There was also a plate of nice warm garlic bread served. When our sandwiches came, they were very small. They were on toasted white bread with the crust removed, quartered, and stuck on a long toothpick. Some of us had club sandwiches, and some fish sandwiches. We had inquired what type of fish it was and were told dorado. We expected something like a grilled or fried hunk of fish on a bun like a burger. Instead, it was these little sandwiches and the fish was flaked almost like a tuna salad but without the mayo. Each sandwich also came with "chips". We had speculated in advance if chip meant chips like in the States, or fries like in England. They turned out to be fries, but made out of plantain instead of potato. The oddest thing was that each plate had another small salad on it, and the waitress made the rounds of dressing a second time. While there were surprises, the food was good, and none of us left hungry. Before we left, we walked around and looked at the view from the other end of the large dining room, the hotel reception area, the lobby bar, and the cage with four green parrots inside. There also was a glass box with a stuffed green parrot in it. We asked and were told that he was the original green parrot, after whom the place was named. He had two other parrots with him when he died. One of them has since escaped and the third is one of the current four. All in all, this looked like a charming place.
Our next stop is south of Castries at Marigot Bay. Seems every island since St. Maarten has had a Marigot Bay. We started down the road from the Green Parrot back toward Castries to look for the road south. At the first intersection, we stopped and asked an electric company truck going the other way where the road to Marigot was. He said to turn around and follow him. We did as we were told and went up the winding road through the mountain. At one point where we slowed a bit to look at something, the power company guy slowed to make sure he didn't loose us. We got just to the outskirts of town to where he had to stop, and he got out of his truck and directed us the short rest of the way. Marigot is a small, very protected bay. As with most of the bays on the east coast of the island, there is a road that leads down into town from the main road that winds along the edge of the mountain from north to south. We went down the road to town to the end where there was a parking lot. From here we walked towards the beach until we saw the sign for Chateau Mygo. Steve wants to stop here because he has been told the owner is a surfer. Steve is an avid surfer and is always looking for local knowledge on where to surf. To get to Chateau Mygo from the road, you follow a path between several other buildings and then come to a nice restaurant, bar and dock. While Steve inquired about the owner, we all ordered the special drink of the day, Mojitos. Steve found the owner and spent some time chatting with him about surfing. We got our Mojitos, and were less than impressed. Mojitos are one of those drinks that can be extremely different from bartender to bartender, and these were near the bottom of our Mojito meter. But, it was a cool place, and we learned that they also have a half dozen moorings that are free if you patronize the bar or restaurant. We decided we needed to head back north but wanted to see the rest of the waterfront first, so we left Chateau Mygo and walked to the main waterfront. There we ran into Britt & Terri from Sea Otter. We had seen their boat on a mooring, but none of us brought our handheld radios to try and call them. There is a ferry here that goes the whole few hundred feet across the bay to a nice looking beach and resort. While we were standing near the ferry dock chatting with Britt & Terri, a wedding party came from a couple of taxi vans and got on the ferry. Apparently the wedding is taking place at the resort on the beach. It was humorous to see the women in their nice long dresses getting in the ferry. You have to understand that the ferry is an open wooden boat with bench seats that holds about fifteen people.
We left Marigot and headed north convinced that there was a quicker route, closer to the shore, than the one the power company guy took us on. We went back through Castries and got to the huge Hess storage tank farm that is just north of Castries. There is no refinery here, just huge storage tanks. We know they bring refined product here for distribution locally and to other islands, and they may also store crude from Venezuela for transfer elsewhere. There is a good sized port facility for tankers. From the road above, the whole thing is a stark contrast to the beauty of the island.
We got back to the marina a little before 17:00. We have plans later tonight, so we agreed to meet at Scuttlebutts for dinner a little after 18:00. We got up there about 18:00, when happy hour starts, and had a few drink while waiting for Steve and Lili to come back from the anchorage. When they got there we sat down for dinner. We have only eaten lunch here and they had an excellent burger which several of us want for dinner. The dinner menu however doesn't have the burger on it. Peter, our waiter, said no problem, we can have anything we want, so four of the six of us ordered burgers. After a little wait, Peter came back and said there were no burgers. We didn't know if they really were out of burger meat, since they are hand made burgers, or maybe the meat is frozen, or maybe they just want to sell the diner menu. We adjusted our orders and had a good dinner.
As soon as we finished dinner, we piled back into the car to go back to Castries to listen to some music. There is a national Calypso contest coming up soon. The way this contest works, is there are several "tents". A tent is like a krewe at Mardi Gras. What we are going to see is a particular tent's quarter finals. The event is held at the Castries Cultural Center. Different tents have different nights. Steve & Lili saw the Soca Tent a couple of nights ago. Tonight we are seeing the Ambassador's tent. Calypso is a story telling type of music. The songs here all have a political or social message. I estimated that there were seven to eight hundred people in the center, and we were the only non-St. Lucians there. Since we don't know anything about their politics, and sometime we had trouble catching all the lyrics because of accents, we couldn't totally appreciate the songs. But, we got enough of it to get an idea. Many were critical of the government, and some were critical of the people with lyrics asking why do we fight amongst ourselves. One spoke of the responsibility men have to their families and that they shouldn't abandon their children. (That singer should talk to the guy selling the magic potion at the market.) Some mentioned selling out to China which is a hot political issue in the Caribbean. In an effort to get the Caribbean nations, who are part of the UN, to turn against a free Taiwan, China is doing things like building a huge national hospital here. Watching the crowd relate to the singers was as interesting as the music itself. It made me aware of how apathetic most Americans are. Where we take the good life for granted, most of us don't live and breathe our politics. In these small nations, it is front and center all the time.
When the Calypso contest came to an intermission, we left and walked a few hundred feet down the street to a pan yard. Most of you probably don't know what a pan yard, or maybe even a "pan" is. A pan is a steel drum. A pan yard is where a steel drum band gathers to practice. A steel drum band is an orchestra of fifty or more steel drums and a couple of other guys playing percussion on a drum set, conga drums, and a couple of other handheld percussion devices. No keyboards, no horns, no strings, no guitars. Just steel drums. Now, if you don't even know what a steel drum is, it is a fifty-five gallon drum end that has been sliced off and had the end piece bent into a bowl shape. In the bowl, specific spots are flattened and these are the spots that are hit with a dampened stick to make a sound similar to a xylophone. That's the best analogy I can come up with, although it really is a unique sound. Pan bands are all over the Caribbean, especially in the southern Caribbean like from here south. There is a national pan band competition coming up in a few weeks and the bands are practicing for that. This particular band is kind of unique. The family that lives in the tiny house at the yard has had a band for years. The current director's grandfather started the band. The "yard" is a plywood and corrugated steel roof with partial sides, about fifty feet long and thirty feet wide. Half of the area has a loft style second floor. There is a second twenty by twenty area with just a roof over it adjacent to the main area. The pans and players were all set up in this area shoulder to shoulder. We walked in and stood in a walkway between the main area and the smaller area. The majority of the players are in their mid twenties or younger. The oldest might have been forty. There is a connection to the cruiser world with this band. Another Texas boat named Northstand is from Austin. They have been cruising the Caribbean for seven years, spending a lot of that time in St. Lucia. They have an Arizona friend who is a professional percussion studio musician. He played in a pan band in Trinidad a few years ago and this band director heard him and asked him to play with them this year. So, he is here for several weeks rehearsing. He kind of stands out as he is the only forty-something tall white guy in a group of young St. Lucians. But, he not only keeps up with the locals, but is assisting in teaching the younger ones the skills. The whole experience was magical watching the individuals play, watching the director stop the song, tap on the side of a drum, or play a couple of riffs and then the band start over with his changes, without anything verbal being spoken. We tried not to be a distraction to them, and I don't think we were.
It was just before midnight when we got back to the boat. A late night for sure by cruiser standards, but one of those that can't be beat.
GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9390.
June 24
We have another day of land cruising with Steve & Lili today. We got a later start than yesterday and were underway south a little before noon. We are headed to Soufriere, which is three quarters of the length of the island south. It is where the Pitons are. As we got to Castries, we stopped at a place we had noticed yesterday. It is a Rastafarian artist's house and shop. The art was primarily large wood carvings, which fill the small yard. They had some colorful signs about the Rasta religion that catches your eye from the road. We walked in and we were welcomed by one of the artists. The guy outside was a carver and he showed us around the yard and then invited us to come inside. Inside was another guy who was painting. He had canvases all over the room in random piles. The walls were covered in unframed canvases, tacked up several deep. The artist stopped what he was painting and asked what kinds of subject matter we liked. When Lili mentioned she liked a picture of Toucan that was on the floor, he started rummaging through piles and whipped out several more bird pictures. As he moved about the small room, he stepped on pictures that were strewn across the floor. So much for art being fragile. In the end none of us bought anything, as it just wasn't the kind of stuff that goes on a boat.
We continued through Castries, past Marigot, and on south. The road is two-lane and very twisty as it climbs along the edge of the island. Before we got to Soufriere we caught our first glimpse of The Pitons. If you don't know, The Pitons are side-by-side mountains that stick up over two-thousand feet from the ocean, right on the coast. There is a beautiful bay between them where you can anchor or moor. We passed through the town of Soufriere and continued up the road until we came to the Ladera resort. Ladera is the home of the Dasheene restaurant and the most incredible view of The Pitons. We had all been saying how hungry we were as we were driving, but when we saw that view, we were so spellbound that we forgot our hunger. We ordered fancy drinks and sat in the nice lounge chairs in the bar that is wide open to the west overlooking The Pitons and the bay. Words cannot describe it. I hope the pictures can convey a little of it.
Oh yeah, we came here to eat. Sunday afternoon Dasheene has a buffet lunch for $25 US. We were conveniently seated at the table closest to the food and we dug in. They had a selection of salads including pineapple & plantain, cole slaw with raisins, salt fish & mango, papaya, and a regular green salad. For the main course they had steamed veges, rice & red beans, macaroni & cheese, and plantains au gratin, all to supplement the selection of meats. The meat table had marlin steaks, chicken, ribs, lamb chops, roast pork, pork chops, and roast lamb. And of course there was a dessert table with coconut cream pie, bread pudding with a sweet sauce, a pineapple mango crisp that looked like an apple crisp would, a mango flaky pastry, and sliced fruit. All in all, it may have been the best food we've had outside the States, and for only $25, it was a steal. Since we were a little late in arriving, it was 15:00 by the time we finished and they were waiting to break down everything and start preparing for their evening meal. The executive chef, Orlando Satchell stopped by our table to ask if we enjoyed it. Of course we gave him compliments.
After eating we walked around the grounds of the resort a little. There are twenty-eight rooms here, each with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall facing the Pitons and a small private pool. The smallest room goes for $350/night in the off season. $585 in the highest season. It was very cool.
From here we started back north, but stopped just a couple miles down the road at the volcano crater. The collapsed crater is now home to some boiling sulphur springs. As we pulled up to the visitors center and rolled down the windows to inquire about the cost of admission, the rotten egg smell was overwhelming. The deal is that for $3 US per person, you take a guide in your car and drive up to overlook the springs and get a little tour. We already had six in a five passenger car, but decided to go for it. We paid our money and John the guide got in with us. We are in a small SUV, and I was behind the back seat in the cargo area. Barb scrunched back there with me so John could sit in front and give us his spiel. It was just a short drive to where he had us stop and get out. The landscape was barren and rocky, with steam coming from several pools and vents. The pools were noticeably boiling, with one large one bubbling up several feet. We were upwind of the steam now, so the smell wasn't quite as bad, or maybe we were just getting used to it. We walked down a little trail to a stream. Upstream a couple hundred feet you could see a small waterfall. John said the temperature of the water coming down the stream was about eighty. It has been cooled by the combination of being above ground for a while and mixing with rain water runoff. Right by where we were standing was a pipe coming out of the side of the hill with a steady flow of water. This water is coming right up out of a spring, and it was one hundred ten degrees. We had considered not stopping since we spent so long at lunch, but we were glad we did.
On the ride back we stopped at another roadside artist's home. This place was much more organized than the guy in Castries. The artist and his wife were both sitting in the yard making necklaces when we arrived. He had carvings, paintings, some pottery, and some handmade jewelry. The most interesting piece here was a large flat wood carving, about four feet by two feet that depicted the story of the old man and the sea. There was an open fishing boat, with the man standing in it throwing a spear with a line attached at a large fish breaking the surface of the water. All of this was carved from a single piece of wood. It was quite impressive.
From here we headed back to Rodney Bay without stopping. We wanted to get back before dark since these roads are not somewhere any of us want to be driving in the dark. We got to the marina a few minutes before 19:00, just in time to have one happy hour drink and say hi to our friends who were doing a pot luck dinner by the pool. We were invited to the pot luck, but we didn't want to have a time constraint on our return, so we had declined. After some brief hellos, we headed back to the boats. We haven't done much physical today, but it still seems like it's been a long day.
GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9390.