Mar 20 2009

Mar 11

I did the normal morning radio stuff this morning, but with a little extra. The Coconut Telegraph was formed when a bunch of us left the US/Bahamas area and could no longer reach Cruisehiemers. Cruisehiemers does the same thing on the US East Coast and Bahamas as the Coconut Telegraph does in the Caribbean. I had not checked in with Cruisehiemers in two years since we were out of range to the south. Since daylight savings time hit the US last weekend, now Cruisehiemers starts at 08:30 here instead of 09:30. After the Coconut telegraph, I switched to their frequency and I could hear them. I was able to check in and the host was surprised to get somebody as far south as we were. It was fun listening to the rest of the check-ins including a lot of people we knew from the Bahamas.

In the morning, I made a couple of trips to land to get water. We filled up at the big cruise ship dock when we got here, but that dock is big and ugly and I'd rather do a little work instead of docking there again. Along the road here there are public faucets that the locals who don't have plumbing use. One of them is right across the street from Big Papa's where there is a dinghy dock. So, I loaded my two seven gallon water jugs in the dinghy and went to Big Papa's. I walked to the street and found a little girl filling one gallon buckets at the faucet. She was going to stop when I came up, but I told her to finish. When she was done, I started filling by jugs. While I was there I heard a commotion. There were two old men in their adjacent yards yelling at each other. When islanders get yelling like this, you can't understand a word they say except the F-word which stands out in any language. These guys were in their eighties I would guess, and they were both yelling and gesturing wildly at each other. One guy had been hammering a board on his front porch, and he kept waving his hammer in the face of the other guy although he never hit him. They were pretty much standing toe to toe on their imaginary property line. After a few minutes of this, the guy with the hammer put it down and picked up two good sized rocks and started acting like he was either going to throw them or bean the other guy with them. Again, in the end there was no physical contact. I and several other locals just stood and watched with amusement at this. With my jugs filled, I carried them back to the dock and loaded them in the dinghy. Back at the boat I emptied the jugs into one of our tanks that was empty. It takes four jugs full to fill one of our three tanks, so I went back for a second trip. When I got to the faucet, one old guy had sat down on his front step and was quiet. The other guy was still raving and carrying on like the fight was still on in his head. Nobody was paying attention to him at all now. I was filling my jugs as he approached me, still yelling. I kept an eye on him, and realized that he was not yelling at me, just yelling. I pretty much ignored him as he stood by me yelling waiting to get some water.

After lunch, Mike and I went to the Indian River dock to arrange for a rental car for tomorrow. We stopped at the rental car first, and they said they had plenty of cars available and it would be no problem. We then walked over to the gas station so Mike could fill his gas cans, and I got some bread.

During the afternoon, I updated the website while Barb read and watched the comings and goings from the anchorage. Three boats we know came in today: Tom & Kathy on Yellow Rose, Griff & Cheryl on Mystic Journey, and Paul & Janie on Shian. Mystic Journey stopped by on their way in to Customs and said hi. We went over to Yellow Rose at 17:00 for sundowners and snacks. We haven't seen Tom & Kathy since this time last year in Grenada and it was good to catch up.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 12

Right after the nets this morning we picked Mike & Lynn up and dinghied in to get our car. We got the same Escudo that we had last week. We headed south towards Roseau. Our first stop today will be the Shillingford Rum Distillery. We had stopped here last week, but they were closed. I have exchanged e-mails with them since then and found that they are open from 07:00 to 15:00, so even though it's early, we have to do this first. When we pulled in we found a group of about twenty young people sitting on the steps to the office and standing around. I went up to the office and asked if a tour would be available. The lady explained that this group of college students was about to go on a tour and we could either tag along with them or wait until they were done and have a more private tour. We elected to tag along. We have been to old distilleries before, so hearing all the details wasn't that important to us. But the tour guide, who turned out also to be the main guy who distills the rum, was very good about repeating anything we had not heard after the students moved on to the next stop of the tour. This old distillery still uses water to power a wheel to crush the cane and pump the juice into the fermenting room. They were not actually distilling today. The guide said they distilled a batch once and sometimes twice a week. It was fun watching and listening to the students. They asked good questions and were obviously going to have a test on what they learned. At the end of course there was sampling. The students didn't get to sample, but they looked at the bottles of the five rums produced here, and asked questions. The tour guide apologized for the wait but made sure we knew that once the kids were done, we were free to sample the finished products. We waited and were not surprised by the samples. As with most little island distilleries, even the "aged" rum had a harsh taste to it. Most locals drink rum straight and chase it with water or Coke. I'm not sure I could drink this stuff even mixed with Coke. It's not that it's strong, it just a harsh burning flavor. Every island is a little different in their rules. Here, they can only sell regular 80 proof rum at retail. They make a 128 proof that they can sell directly from the distillery, and this is sold to rum shops who bring their own containers. The rum shops then blend the rum with other spices or fruits to make their own punches. The distillery also has a spiced rum that was heavy on the cinnamon and also contains bois bande which is supposed to be a natural Viagra. I bought a different brand of bois bande rum at the duty free store last week, but haven't tried it yet. I'll let you know...

Continuing south, our next task is an attempt to get Seabbatical's propane tank filled. We had gotten better directions as to where to find Sukie's Blue Flame Gas. We found it first try this time, and the propane ship had come in so we got the tank filled. We're two for two so far.

We continued south into Roseau and it was by now lunchtime. We were going right past the Subway, so we stopped there. We timed it perfectly as there was no line when we got there, but a lot of people came in after us. It was good to have a good old Subway sandwich again. As we walked back to the car from Subway, we stopped at Sukie's Bread shop. Sukie is apparently into everything here, and we got a loaf of bread. When we got to the car, we found ants all over a white towel that we left on the back seat. There was no foodstuffs in our bags, so we have no idea where the ants came from. Barb shook the ants off the towel and my bathing suit which had also been lying there. We didn't see anymore, but they're bound to be in the car.

From Roseau we headed east into the rainforest. We are looking primarily for Trafalgar Falls. The road maps they give you at the car place are the bare minimum of a map. The main roads are shown, but not little roads. You have the impression that the roads on the map are the only ones, and that you won't have many choices. In fact there are lots more roads, and there are almost no signs. So it gets interesting. We figure the lack of maps and signs is a well coordinated plan to keep the local guides in business.

Our first addition to the adventure was the ROAD CLOSED sign we encountered on the edge of Roseau. Assuming they meant for everybody except us, we pressed on. I mean, you can't just close the road to one of the largest tourist attractions on the island can you? We found the road was indeed under reconstruction, but for the most part we just had to go slow, dodge huge potholes, and not hit any workers. No problem. As we climbed into the rainforest, we passed a couple of opportunities to turn off the "main" road and go down into the valley. At one point we though perhaps Trafalgar was down one of these roads, but maybe it was up higher. We elected to go higher and see. The valley we were climbing up the side of is spectacular in and of itself, so the ride is worth it. On this last leg of the climb we really found the reason for the road closed sign. The road was a narrow bumpy thing, and we came to where heavy equipment was cutting away at the embankments on the inside of the turns to widen it. We found this spot as the workers were enjoying their lunches, so slowly passing by the parked equipment was not a problem. Above this point we finally found a couple of signs. We came to a fork where a sign pointed one way to Boeri Lake and the other way to Fresh Water Lake. Now we knew exactly where we were on the map. We took the Boeri Lake direction first and found that the road ended at the trailhead for a forty-five minute hike to the lake. We went back the other way to Fresh Water Lake and found the road ended at a large parking lot with a visitors center. The funny thing was that the visitors center was closed, and the parking lot for about forty cars was empty. There didn't seem to be any real access to the lake. The shore line of the lake was very grassy and steep to get down to. You have to wonder why they built the facility here since it's pretty, but just a lake. From this vantage point, you don't even really see the rainforest, so it could be anywhere. For my son's benefit, it looked a lot like Wood's Canyon Lake in Arizona.

Knowing we needed to go back to the next "main" road off the one we came up on, we headed downhill. When we got to the construction area, they were working again. The two excavators scraped away at the embankment and loaded the rock and dirt into three dump trucks that were taking it uphill somewhere and dumping it. We had to stop and wait about fifteen minutes for them to get to a point where they could let traffic pass. A little past this point we came to a nice little pullout with a killer view. There was already one car there, so we pulled in behind it. We got out and looked down from the relatively new retaining wall and saw that somebody was building a house below the edge of the road. Nothing is there of the house yet, but the driveway and retaining walls are being built. The view was out of this world of the forest and the huge valley to Roseau with the Caribbean in the background. The other couple there were white, but had a car that was obviously not a rental, so I said hello and asked if they lived here, meaning in Dominica. The man said yes, so I asked him if we were on the right track to Trafalgar if we turned at the next road down. He said yes we were. He had a southern US accent, so I asked where he was from. He said Alabama, but that they had lived in St. John, USVI for several years and here in Dominica for six months. It turns out the property we were at was theirs. They are going to build a B&B there. We chatted a few more minutes, gave them a boat card and wished them well. They got in their car and preceded us down the hill. A little ways down, the guy stopped and waved for us to pull up alongside and stop. We did and he said where we were now was where they were staying temporarily and would we like to come in and see their little waterfall and creek running through the property. We said sure and parked. Down a short but steep drive was the house Sam & Vicky were staying in. House is a generous word, because at their description, it was more of a shack made from corrugated steel. But outside was beautiful. There was a small creek running about thirty feet from the house with a path down to it. Sam has taken bamboo tubes and diverted some water from upstream and run it to a point by the edge of stream near the house where there are holes in it making a natural shower. There is also a diversion in the bamboo to make a dish washing station just outside the door of the house. There was lots of beautiful foliage, citrus trees, and bananas. Sam gave us several ripe bananas to take with us. This was a really neat find. Meeting people like this are what you miss on the organized tours.

We continued down the hill until we came to the next chance to turn back up into the valley. Since we were running out of day, we stopped at the first guy we passed on the road and confirmed this was the road to Trafalgar Falls. He said it was and just keep going to the end. It was another narrow steep road but we finally found the falls. We paid our admission of $5 US each, and had a cold Kubuli beer before the walk in to the falls. It's only a five minute walk along a well maintained trail of steps to a viewing platform where you can see the falls. I didn't realize it, but there is actually two falls, an upper and a lower. Barb & Lynn stayed at the viewing platform while Mike & I hiked to the base of the lower falls along a steep rocky path. On the way down, we crossed a small creek before getting to the main river. It occurred to me after crossing that it felt warmer as we crossed the creek. At the bottom of the falls we got some pictures of the river. The deep pool where you can swim is at the bottom of the upper falls which is much more of a hike than we want to undertake. On our way back up the hill, we stopped at the little creek and felt the water. Sure enough it was hot. We had thought it was just a little stream off the main river, but it is coming from a hot spring up the hill somewhere. We collect the ladies and went back to the car. When we got in the car, we found ants all over. Barb had brought her soft drink with her when we left Subway, and the empty cup was full of ants. They were also all over the back set and the luggage area behind the seat. We took everything out of the car and shook it. The ants were not in the bread we bought, nor the bag of bananas that Sam & Vicky gave us. We brushed them off the seats and squished as many as we could find. We had a bottle of insect repellant with us, so we sprayed that on the seats and hoped for the best. We didn't see any more for the rest of the day.

Down the road from the falls visitors center was a neat looking little roadside bar called the River Rock Cafe. It had stools out front right at the edge of the road, and seating in back on a deck overlooking the river coming from the falls. We went in and ordered more cold beer. We were the only people there except for the guy running the place. He sat in the corner playing solitaire with real cards and talking on his hands-free cell phone the whole time we were there. Mike and I ordered two more beers, and the guy also brought a sample glass of his passion fruit rum punch which was very tasty.

From here we have one more stop before heading back north. Chris & Kelly on Verna Breeze had told us about Screw. Screw is up the first valley road out of Roseau in a village called Wotten Waven. I liked the name of the town as much has the name of the place. What distinguishes Screw from any other island bar is the natural hot tubs. When you walk in from the parking lot, you are in an area with a couple of open air bars, and a number of other interesting decorations. Screw is a Rasta guy and greeted us wearing his colorful wrap around and explained the place to us. The price is $25EC each to go down to the pools, and that includes your first beer. We put our suits on and went down the rough stairs to the pools. The whole area, above and below has speakers everywhere and while we were there Screw was playing a CD that was classical music songs that we all recognize but done reggae style. The pools have been created in the natural creek valley by building stone walls and stairs. The water in each pool is a different temperature, from the "cool pool" that might be in the seventies, to the warm pool that is probably in the low eighties, to three hot pools that are somewhere around hot tub temperature. The temperatures are controlled by mixing the cold water from the creek with hot water from hot springs. A series of bamboo pipes control the water flow and mixtures. One of the pools wasn't full, but we tried all four others, with a final rinse in the cool pool since it probably had the least sulfur in it. We changed back into our dry clothes and went back up to the bar area. Screw greeted us with a fruit platter with watermelon, bananas, and oranges. It really was a neat way to end a great day. You can see somebody else's video of Screw here.

It was nearing dark as we headed back into Roseau from Screw. It amazes me that people here don't turn their headlights on until it is totally dark. I was the only car on the road with my lights on during the dusk period. Avoiding the potholes became a little more of a challenge and I apologized in advance to my passengers if I hit some. We drove back to Portsmouth without incident. Driving in the dark does add a whole other challenge to driving here, but we did ok. I caught up to one other tourist rental car that was a problem. Every time a vehicle came the other way, this guy nearly stopped. As soon as the car would pass, he took off again so fast that I couldn't possibly pass him. This went on for a few miles and a local bus had caught up to us too. The bus was right on my bumper and more irritated by the guy in front than I was. Finally we got a chance to pass the guy. As soon as I saw the chance, I flashed my lights, tooted the horn and pulled out. Of course, he slammed on his brakes making it easy to blow by. On the next slightly straight stretch, I let the bus pass me and we were all good.

As we got back into Portsmouth, we stopped at a place that again, Chris & Kelly from Verna Breeze recommended. The Tomato is a restaurant near the medical school that caters to the tastes of the mostly American students. Better yet, they are celebrating their fourth anniversary this week so they have 20% of all entrees and 50% off all drinks. They also have Kubuli on tap, which we have not seen before. The guy running the place is Canadian, and he has a combination of American and local help. The menu was extensive, and unlike most places in the Caribbean, they actually had everything on the menu. After our excellent meals the owner came over to ask if everything was good. We told him it was and asked him how he could offer such a selection of food not generally available in the islands. He said, "One word - Sysco". Sysco is a huge food service company in the States. He gets a shipment every other week via Amerijet air-freight. He also stocks deli meats for bulk sale and carries a good selection of liquor, wine, and mixers not always available at the little shops in Portsmouth. We got some sliced turkey and a couple two-liter bottles of Coke to take home. Too bad this place is way down by the university which isn't really walking distance from the anchorage.

We got back to the dinghy about 21:00 and loaded up. We made our way in the dark back to the boats. We had brought lights this time, so we weren't too worried about getting run over by another boat. All in all it was a great day.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 13

We had a low key day today. It started by returning the rental car after the morning radio nets. Mike & I dinghied in to the dock at the Indian River where the car is parked in the bank parking lot. There is a good sized swell coming in the bay which makes breaking waves at the end of the breakwater/freighter by the dock. As we approached we timed the swell and dashed in between swells. We got the car and went to the gas station next door to put gas in. Last time we rented, the guy said the car had 7/8 of a tank and we only brought it back with 3/4. He didn't make a big deal about it and we didn't pay extra. This time, we picked it up with 3/4, so I figure we'll bring it back with a little more. At the gas station, we told the girl to put in $10EC worth. I have no idea how much the tank holds, so I can't correlate in gallons how much I need. With the $10 in, the gauge was still shy of 3/4, so I told her to put in $20 more. She did, but the gauge was just at 3/4 then, so I told here to do $10 more. This filled it. The gauge was so slow responding to the level changing that we had more than we needed now. Oh well. We took the car back and I was sure to point out to the guy that we brought it back with more gas than we left with to make up for coming up short last week. I also told him that there were ants in the car and that they ought to spray it before sending it out again.

When Mike & I got in the dinghy to leave, we again watched the swell breaking at the end of the breakwater to time our departure. We saw two waves come across and started to make our move. As we approached, a third wave came around the corner and I slowed a bit. It broke across the entrance and I floored the dinghy. We got out into the open water just as the biggest one we've seen broke across. That was close, but we were dry. We spent the rest of the day reading and writing.

At 16:30, we went over to Seabbatical to play Rummikub. We played and had sundowners in the cockpit until the sun was way down and we couldn't see the tiles of the game anymore. We had to get a light out to hold over the table to finish the game. We then moved below and visited for another couple of hours before returning home about 22:00.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 14

This morning when we woke up, I looked out the window at the head of the bed and said "there's a cruise ship coming in". Barb looked in an obviously different direction and said "yeah there is". I looked where she was looking and saw a different cruise ship. There were two! One of them went to the big dock, and the other anchored out. I wonder if they planned to come here, or if the dock at Roseau is untenable because of the swell. The swell has not been a problem at all in the anchorage, because the wind keeps us at the proper angle to it so we don't roll side to side.

Being Saturday, it was my turn to host the Coconut Telegraph. We had some unusual static, perhaps because of the cruise ships, but I got it done ok.

At 11:00, we headed to the Indian River dock with Seabbatical. We took separate dinghies since we are going to do some grocery shopping and may have too much stuff to haul back in one. Our plan today is to walk to lunch at Tomato and then shop on the way back. About halfway along the walk, we passed the first of many signs for Tomato that said it was one kilometer away. So we hiked about four kilometers round trip. We got to Tomato about 11:45. We were the only customer there at that point. The girl behind the counter remembered us, and remembered Chris and Mike were the names for the separate checks, but she didn't remember which of us was Chris and which was Mike. We forgave her and ordered four cold draft Kubulis. We sat on the balcony in a nice breeze and drank some of our beer before going back in and placing our lunch order. I had a good burger with mozzarella and mushrooms, Barb and Lynn had chicken quesadillas, and Mike had lasagna. We enjoyed the meal as much as the other day, and since today was the last day of their anniversary discounts, we got a good deal too.

After lunch we went to a little shop across the street. We had been to this shop two years ago, and it is still the same. It has an interesting mix of things to offer. There is a nice selection of fresh produce both inside the shop and on the sidewalk in front. Then there is a cold case with some dairy products and drinks. There are several shelves of canned or bottled goods that have no particular relation to one another. For instance, there was Goober's peanut butter and grape jelly in a jar next to what looked like some homemade jars of tomato sauce. There also was a large selection of souvenirs like t-shirts, shells, and the like. Amongst the clothing were several dozen fresh eggs. The ladies that run the shop are very pleasant and helpful, bringing you a small wicker basket to collect your choices in. On the walk back we stopped at two more small groceries and got other items we needed. I had carried our roll-behind crate with the idea that I was going to get a case of beer, but in the end, I didn't feel I wanted the beer enough to drag it two kilometers back to the dinghy. We got back to the dinghy and were back to the boat a little after 15:00. The swell wasn't nearly as exciting as yesterday when we came and went from the Indian River dock.

At 17:00, we went over to visit Paul & Janie on Shian for sundowners. We first met Shian in Luperon back in the winter of 2007 as we first headed south. We saw them again in Grenada in November 2007 when they came to the Thanksgiving potluck that we hosted at the marina. They were amongst the 50% of the attendees who were not Americans but enjoyed sharing our American Thanksgiving dinner with us. That was the last we saw them although we have kept track of each other's movements on the Coconut Telegraph. We stayed at Shian until about 19:30 when we came home and Barb made us a simple dinner of salmon and green beans. We watched both cruise ships leave and head west in the evening darkness. It's funny that the cruise ships go west to give the passengers the illusion that they are going to sea to head for the next stop. The next stop is probably no more than twenty of thirty miles away. The ships go out to sea and drift around all night making water and dumping waste. Then in the morning, they approach the next stop as if they had made a big transit.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 15

Today was one of those days we didn't do much. I hosted the Coconut Telegraph in the morning and then poked around on the computer all day. We had a visit from Merle & Gary on Kokopelli late in the morning. We have known them through the Coconut Telegraph for months, but had never met in person before. They are from Phoenix, and they store their boat in Antigua during hurricane season, so they have been a wealth of information for us in planning to leave MoonSail in Antigua this year. One of the things I have been having trouble finding out from the Antigua authorities is how to deal with the cat. Many of the Caribbean Islands that used to be British are very strict about importing pets. Most don't give you any hassle if the pet stays onboard, as Bimmy does, but they can't come ashore. I knew that Antigua was very strict about pets, and I have sent several inquiries to the authorities there to see if carrying the cat from the boat to the airport to leave the country is possible. The only response I've gotten was a copy of the rules to import a pet. That's not exactly what I'm doing. I know that in Trinidad, which is similarly strict, you can arrange for a Customs agent to escort you from the boat to the airport, at your expense of course, but it can be done. Merle & Gary have a cat onboard, and they have gone through the expensive and complicated task of getting an import permit for her. But, she told me that if you don't do all that, then you shouldn't even tell them you have the cat onboard. As for carrying him to the airport, she was pretty sure that could not be done. So, we need to make alternate plans for getting Bimmy home. The logical choice is to go to St. Maarten and send him from there to my brother in NY. I got online and researched airlines and figured out our options. There are two daily non-stop flights from St. Maarten to New York on Continental Airlines. It will cost $210 plus the cost of a hard carrier to ship him by himself, or for $192, plus $100 for the cat, one of us can escort him and carry him in the cabin. We'll make a decision in the next few days how we are going to do it.

In the evening we attended the barbeque at Big Papa's again. This benefits the association of boat boys who provide security in the anchorage. It was all you can eat chicken or tuna with rice and salad. I had a piece of chicken and a large hunk of tuna. Of course there was the all-you-want rum punch too. We were joined at the barbeque by Mike & Lynn from Seabbatical, Paul & Janie from Shian, and Tom & Kathy from Yellow Rose. When we got to the dinghy dock at Big Papa's, we noticed that many of the boards had nails sticking up that hadn't been that way before. I suspect that the swell has come up under the dock and lifted the boards some. When we left, with much more rum in the brain, I sat down on the dock to scoot into the dinghy, and ripped a nice L shaped tear in the butt of my shorts. I hate it when that happens.

Tonight I had used my blinking anchor light feature for the first time in a couple of years. The idea of a blinking anchor light stirs up debate almost as serious as Republicans vs. Democrats in boating circles. For any boater who is reading this, it is not a strobe and I no longer want to debate it's legality or effectiveness, so don't write to me. My logic is that I only set it to blink when we leave the boat in the afternoon, knowing we will return after dark. It makes the boat much easier to find amongst the fifty or more that are anchored here, and when we return I switch it back to not blinking. Well, since it's been two years since I used it, and since the run punch was all-you-can-drink, I forgot to switch it back to steady when we got home. My bad, but nobody busted me for it.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 16

I spoke to Chris Parker, the weather guy, this morning, and it looks like we are going to leave here Wednesday. We will make a two hop move to Antigua. Thursday night a new north swell will move in so we want to be in the nice secure harbor on the south side of Antigua by then.

Something came over me this afternoon and I did three quick boat projects. One was to clean the strainer on the shower sump pump. It gets clogged with hair and the pumping slows way down. It was a stinky but quick job. The next thing was to clean the bottom of the dinghy. It's been in the water for over two weeks now and usually grows stuff on the bottom when it's in that long. My plan was to hoist it on the davits and scrape one side then lower it, turn it around, and repeat. To my delight, when we hoisted it, there was nothing on the bottom at all. What a deal! The final project was to use our hand pump and pump all the water out of the bilge. We always have water in the bilge and I have no idea where it comes from. The point of pumping it all out now is to see if it reappears while we are still sitting still, or if it comes in only while underway. We'll see. I want to figure this out before we haul out so that if whatever is leaking needs to be fixed while the boat is out of the water, it can be.

About 16:00, we joined Mike & Lynn ashore for a few beers. The dock at Big Papa's has been under repair all day, so we couldn't land there. Too bad they didn't do that yesterday before I tore my shorts (which Barb repaired today). Instead we landed at The Blue Bay Restaurant which we haven't been to before. They don't open for dinner until 17:00, but they were happy to serve us beer. Unfortunately, they only had four left, so when we finished those we walked down the beach to Big Papa's. We had several more beers there while talking with Pierce & Ingrid, a couple from Europe who are renting a house here for a month. They were a very interesting couple. Pierce is Irish and Ingrid is Swedish. They have lived all over the world over the last twenty years just making life up as it comes at them.

When we got back to the boat, after a green flash sunset but before total darkness, I remembered to switch the anchor light back to steady.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 17

Mike and I went to Customs today to check out of Dominica. The deal here is that when you check in, you are given two weeks clearance, and if you leave within that two weeks, you don't have to come back in to check out. We have stayed a few days more than two weeks. We were not sure if we were supposed to have gone in prior to the end of our two weeks and extended, or just check out when we left. So we played stupid and just went to check out. The two guys behind the counter looked at us incredulously and said "You didn't leave?". We explained that the weather wasn't good for travel and we were leaving tomorrow. After a couple of exchanges, they started filling out paperwork. Apparently though, we should have come in and extended before the original two weeks was up. In the end, I told Mike it was a success for both sides - we felt like we had been scolded, but there was no cash or handcuffs involved, so it was all good.

On our trip to town, we stopped at the main town dock and dropped off garbage, and stopped at the Indian River dock and walked to the gas station to see if they had diesel fuel. They did not, and won't until tomorrow. I was planning to bring in my jerry jugs since I don't really want to deal with taking the big boat to the cruise ship dock again. I probably have enough to get to Antigua, but I'd like to be sure.

For lunch, we went to The Purple Turtle for burgers one last time with Mike & Lynn. The burgers were good as usual. While we were there, Chris & Kelly from Verna Breeze came in. We had seen them take their big boat this morning to the cruise ship dock, so we asked if they did it for fuel. They had, so we knew there was diesel there. After lunch we dinghied out to the cruise ship dock, which is a pretty long ride, to ask if there was a minimum amount of fuel required to purchase. I learned from Verna Breeze that they call a guy from the Customs office at the main port on the other side of the bay to come pump the fuel since it is a duty free deal. We tied the dinghy at the dock and climbed up while Barb waited. I had to walk through the entire cruise ship terminal building to find the lone security guard standing outside on the street talking to a local guy. I asked her if there was a minimum fuel purchase and she said no. I reiterated that I only needed twenty-five gallons and she said that was fine. I told her I would be back in fifteen minutes with my jugs, and she said she would call the Customs man.

I took Barb back to the boat and loaded our five empty jerry jugs into the dinghy. Since we left The Purple Turtle, the wind had gone from mild to blowing like stink. This means the chop on the bay was pretty good too. Going back to the cruise ship dock with the wind was no problem, but once at the dock, the waves were beating the dinghy against the barnacle encrusted pilings. I went in and told the guard I was back, and she said the man would be here in a few minutes. I went out and waited at the dinghy until he got there. They roll a portable pump out from the building to the end of the dock where they hook it up to the main fuel line. This is why I thought there might be a minimum. He rolled it out and told me to move the dinghy to the corner of the main dock and the t-head. I did and sort of tied it around the big piling. He handed the nozzle down to me and I started filling the jugs. The wind was howling, so I couldn't hear when the fuel was getting near the top of each jug, and the dinghy was bouncing around wildly with the waves. The result was five full jugs, and a lot of diesel on me, the dinghy, and the outside of the jugs. It was exhausting, but it was the best price we have gotten in quite a while at only $2.50US/gal. (To get that I had to convert Imperial gallons to US gallons and EC to USD.) With the chop on the bay at a foot or so, and five fuel jugs in the front of the dinghy, the ride back to the boat was slow and wet. To add insult to injury it rained on me as I was returning. Truthfully, by that time it didn't matter since my arms and hands were covered with fuel. The dinghy had a fair amount of water in it from the waves splashing over while I was at the dock, and a bunch of diesel that spilled. I used my hand pump to pump all this out as I crossed the bay. (Don't worry, the diesel evaporates off the water.) When I got to the boat, I tied off to the side and hoisted the jugs to the deck. I then dumped them all into the fuel tank, filling it. As I emptied each jug, Barb wiped them off with soapy water and stowed them in their travel position on the aft deck. When we were done, I took a bucket of soapy water an washed out the dinghy. All in all, it was a lot of work and a hassle, but we know for sure we have plenty of fuel to get to Antigua and not have to worry about finding fuel there right away.

After the dinghy was clean, we went ahead and took off the motor and hoisted the dinghy on the davits. We don't plan to go ashore anymore and I wanted to get it done before dark. Mike & Lynn hoist their dinghy on deck, which is a challenge in a high wind. They waited until just about sunset to do theirs, hoping the wind would die down, but it didn't. We got a couple of good shots of them trying to keep the dinghy from becoming a sail as they had it in the air.

Eddison came by to collect for our last night on the mooring. We said our goodbyes and thanked him for taking care of us while we were here. Portsmouth is one of those places that doesn't need moorings, since the anchorage has good holding and isn't too deep, but we don't mind paying for a mooring when the proceeds are going to support the security of the area which is excellent now compared to several years ago.

Before leaving our reasonably good internet connection, I made reservations to get Bimmy to the US. My brother is going to fly from NY to St. Maarten and visit for a few days and carry Bimmy back with him. This means we will have a few more legs on our sailing before settling in Antigua before our haulout.

Since we are leaving at dawn, we went to bed early. As usual, we had all the ports and hatches closed except the big hatch in the transom at our heads. Sometime during the night we were both awakened by the sound of a loud splash and we actually got a little splash through the screen. It apparently was a big fish, or a school of fish that jumped right at the stern. That was a first.

GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.

Mar 18

We were up at 05:30 for a planned 06:00 departure. It was just barely getting light, but there are no real challenges to getting in or out of this harbor, so dawn was ok. Several other boats are making exactly the same move as today, so we weren't the only ones getting started. Our destination today is Deshaies, Guadeloupe which is fifty miles away. We always plan our days counting on a speed of five knots, so we are looking at ten hours today. The conditions were about as expected, maybe a little bit more. The first twenty-five miles, which are across open water between Dominica and Guadeloupe, were about seventeen knots of wind and six foot seas. The second half was in the lee of Guadeloupe, so the seas were pretty flat, but the winds swung around to the northwest for a while and just died for a while. So we motor sailed the whole way as usual.

We made better than five knots most of the way, so the trip took nine hours instead of ten. By 15:00, we were in the anchorage at Deshaies looking for a place to drop the hook. Deshaies is not a large anchorage, and you have to get pretty close in to get under twenty feet. There were quite a few boats already here, but we found a good spot in twenty-one feet and dropped the hook. Seabbatical also found a good spot. We got the boat secured and relaxed over an arrival beverage watching the next eight boats come in and look for places to anchor. Some settled for deeper water, which isn't a bad deal if you have a windlass to raise the anchor. Some tried to find imaginary space between the boats already here and had to move. One young couple with two small children aboard had a particularly hard time. They anchored six times before they finally were in a good place where they weren't too close to anybody. There are several other boats here that we know, including Shian, Drum, and Verna Breeze.

The last boat to arrive was named Brigantia. I don't usually mention boats or people by name when they do stupid things, but this one rates an exception to that rule. This boat was a forty-eight foot Halberg Rassey, which is a nice boat. It was German flagged and had four adults aboard. They dropped the hook right next to the boat to our port side, and fell back to a position right next to us with about twenty feet between our boats. I had been below, but Barb called me on deck to see this. I stood in the cockpit watching, and when they thought they were done and looked over at us, I gave them a shrug of the shoulders and hand gestures to indicate "what the heck?". I didn't say anything at this point, hoping they would just figure it out. They looked around and started to pull forward and raise the anchor. I thought that was the end of it, until they circled around and dropped the hook again, this time even closer to the boat to our port and fell back again. Now they were about forty feet from us. Still too close and if I had been aboard the other boat where their anchor was I would have been livid. Again, I just stared at them, but they seem to be happy. I went below and got my camera. I stood on the deck and took a couple of pictures of them to show how close they were to us. I hoped this would shame them into moving, but it didn't. At least I'll have evidence if they bump us in the night.

We noticed several changes in Deshaies since we were last here in June 2007. The biggest was that the dock is gone. The west swell generated by Hurricane Omar tore up a lot of stuff in the normally protected west facing anchorages in the Caribbean. There were only two places in Deshaies to land a dinghy, one being the now destroyed dock, and the other being a dock slightly up a river that enters the bay at the south side. Another change we noticed was a bar/restaurant that we went to two years ago has changed names. Les Canons de la Baie is now Hemingway's. They must have had to rebuild their dock after Omar, and they have added new signs and lights.

Since we aren't going ashore, we didn't check out any of the town. We are doing what boaters call Q-flagging through. This is when you arrive in a country, raise the yellow Q flag indicating we haven't checked in with Customs, spend the night, and then leave for another country first thing in the morning. The legality of this seems to vary depending on the country, but the reality is nobody checks. You could probably cruise an entire season in the Caribbean without ever checking in or out of anywhere, not that I advocate that. I prefer not to worry about officials catching me doing something bad.

We were treated to a green flash at sunset. We tried to capture it on camera, but didn't get it. We got some good sunset shots, but not the one. After we ate, and it had been dark a couple hours, we heard someone yell outside the boat. It was Chris & Kelly from Verna Breeze. They had been ashore and had brought us back a fresh baguette.

GPS N 16-18.421 W 061-47.837 Nautical miles traveled today 50. Total miles 9876.

Mar 19

It's my birthday and I can cry if I want to. Actually, I have nothing to cry about, but I used the birthday excuse later in the day. We set out again this morning at 06:30. Today's destination is Falmouth Harbor, Antigua. We have made two big jumps in a row mostly because the weather forecast is calling for another large north swell coming in Friday and lasting a week. Falmouth Harbor is on the south shore of Antigua, so a north swell will not affect us.

Our first surprise of the day was that Brigantia, the dumb ass who anchored too close to us was gone. Since I didn't sleep well last night, I can't imagine how they left without me hearing their motor or their anchor chain, but they did. Seabbatical was on the other side of them and they didn't hear them either. We never did bump during the night, but it was just due to chance.

Deshaies is known for it's wind tunnel effects. The mountains surrounding the bay funnel the wind down in the harbor with a vengeance. The cruising guide even says to not make your decision about leaving based on what you are experience inside the bay. We had moderate wind all night, and when we raised anchor, it was blowing a little under twenty knots. Raising anchor itself was a challenge. We had dropped our anchor between a boat that had a stern anchor out so they wouldn't swing, and a local power boat that was on a mooring. Boats on moorings normally don't swing far either because the mooring line should go straight down. But since last night, the wind has shifted a little, and apparently the moored boat has a longer line on the mooring than I would have expected. We started to raise the anchor until we were right behind the moored boat. Our anchor is right underneath it. For the first time, I used a technique I read about in a cruising magazine. Once we were right behind the moored boat, we had about forty feet of chain still out, with the anchor in twenty feet of water. That meant we were already pulling up on the anchor shank. I cleated the chain off and signaled for Barb to back up full throttle. Given the angle on the anchor, this just pulled it out of the bottom the same as if you anchored with too little scope in the first place. I called it the French method of un-anchoring, since they are known for putting out to short a scope in the first place and dragging anchor later.

Our second surprise of the day was the conditions once we were out in the open water. We expected the winds to be high near the harbor, but once we were away from the island, we expected twelve knots from the east with four foot seas. The wind direction was right. But, the speed was about eighteen most of the way, and got to twenty-five by the time we got to Antigua. The seas were more like eight to ten feet, and coming from different directions. With a boat as light as MoonSail, this made for a bouncy ride. We had the main sail partially unfurled to steady the boat, but never did put out the foresail. This was my birthday excuse - I can be lazy and not want to be heeled over thirty degrees if I want to. We were the last of several boats making the same trip to arrive in Falmouth Harbor and we were very thankful for the calm waters of the anchorage. We were going to pick up a mooring, but the only one left was too close to an anchored boat, so we anchored instead. There was really no reason to use a mooring except being lazy again.

Once we were secure, we launched the dinghy. It was about 14:30, and we need to check in with Customs. We picked up Mike & Lynn and went to the dinghy dock at the Antigua Yacht Club. From there we walked the short distance to Customs, which is located in Nelson's Dockyard at English Harbor. English Harbor and Falmouth Harbor are right next to each other, separated by a spit of land less than a half mile wide. Nelson's Dockyard is a historic park which requires an admission fee, but if you tell them you are going to Customs, they just let you in. The check in procedures here seem to be designed specifically to make you understand that they are in charge and you are not. When it's all done, there is no more paperwork than anywhere else, but they make the steps required a mystery and you have to kiss ass and make sure you are subservient to them all the way. There are three people to see to check in; the Customs person, the Immigration person, and the Port Authority person. Fortunately they are simply three windows in the same room, so it's not as bad as some countries where they are physically separated. First you go to the Customs person who takes your papers from clearing out of your last port of call. I was in trouble here because I only brought my one clearance form, not the entire form from checking into Dominica. I did this on purpose since the other form indicated we had a cat. The Customs man said we needed the other forms, but since we were in Falmouth, he said I could bring it in tomorrow. He then directs you to the Immigration person then who gives you an Immigration form for each person. When you have filled them out, you don't go back to the Immigration person to process. Rather, you go back to the Customs person and show him that you have the Immigration forms filled out and then he gives you the form he needs filled out. He points out that it is a six-copy carbonless form and that you need to press real hard when you write. You go back to the desk, fill it out and then go to the Immigration desk to show them you have filled out the Customs form. The Immigration officer now processes your Immigration paperwork, stamping your passport, and sends you back to the Customs window. The Customs guy now processes your Customs paperwork and sends you to the Port Authority window. Here you pay your port fees. The fees are not all published anywhere, so until it was all done, I didn't know what I was paying for. The total was $37USD, which included a country entry fee, a per foot per day fee for staying in English Harbor or Falmouth Harbor because it's a park, and some other fee. All in all the cost is reasonable, and the paperwork is no more than anywhere else. But the procedure sucks and is the perfect example of little people exercising their authority over you. I would rate Antigua number two on the pain-in-the-ass chart of places to check in, right behind the Dominican Republic (not to be confused with Dominica).

Once legally in the country, we deserved a beer. We joined Verna Breeze at a bar right down the sidewalk from Customs for a couple of nice cold Wadadili's. Part of the challenge of cruising is that many countries have their own brands of beer. So, when you go in a bar in Antigua and order a Kabuli, the beer of Dominica, they look at you funny. While we were enjoying our check-in drinks, Chris from Verna Breeze mentioned that he had seen a sign on the walk over that said "free entree on your birthday". So, with Mike & Lynn, we started to walk back to Falmouth Harbor checking out every restaurant looking for this sign. All the restaurants here serve lunch from 11:00 to 14:30, and then dinner from 18:30 on. Since it was about 17:30, they were all closed. We got almost back to the Antigua Yacht Club, when we came to the Mad Mongoose. There was the sign about free birthday food. The problem was, they didn't serve dinner until 18:30. But it was happy hour from 16:00 to 19:00. OK, we had to resolve this problem, so we had happy hour priced drinks for an hour before dinner. At 18:30, we moved to a table in the restaurant area and sat down. The waitress brought today's menu on a white board and sat it on a chair next to our table. I clarified that the birthday deal was for any entree, and she said yes, including the lobster. Guess what I had? I had half a large grilled lobster with stir fried veges and rice. Barb had a nice grouper filet, stir fried veges and rice. There were unknown numbers of rum punches served, and we shared a bread pudding with a great rum sauce. The total fare was $34US. Too bad it can't be a birthday everyday.

Back on the boat, we heard a familiar voice on the radio. It was Kelly from Isis. Kelly & Jim and their kids had been in Grenada during our first hurricane season. They had been anchored in Hog Island, but Kelly came to the marina most every morning to exercise with the other ladies. After she made her radio call, we called her and said hi. They have been here for over a year, with Jim working on wooden boats. This is a perfect place to work on beautiful old wooden boats.

As we sat in the cockpit before retiring, Barb made the comment that looking at the marina from the anchorage is like looking at an oil refinery. If you have never seen a refinery, they are all lit up like electricity is free, and they have numerous towers for various purposes. The marina in Falmouth Harbor is probably second only to St. Maarten for mega yacht parking. The difference here is that there are more sailing mega boats than power boats. These huge sailboats all have masts that are over a hundred feet high, illuminated by many lights including a red light at the top since they are so tall. I wish I could get a good night shot of them, but since we are on a constantly moving platform, any attempts at long shutter speed photography turn out blurry.

GPS N 17-00.932 W 061-46.419 Nautical miles traveled today 43. Total miles 9919.

Mar 20

We were up to listen to the radio nets this morning. On the Coconut Telegraph, we were surprised to hear Sol Y Mar check in as underway from southern Guadeloupe to Falmouth Harbor. We had expected they would make Dominica today and then have to wait there for a week for the north swell to go away. But instead, they made a big jump yesterday from Martinique to southern Guadeloupe, bypassing Dominica entirely. They did this because they have been trying to catch us for a couple of months now. They should be here a little after noon. We also found that propagation was good today and we were able to check in with the Cruisehiemers net again.

About 11:00 we headed to shore. We stopped at Isis and said hi to Kelly and quickly caught up on common friends. We then met Mike & Lynn ashore and walked over to Customs where I dropped off my missing papers from yesterday. The guy never looked at the fact that they indicated we had a cat onboard and I was out of there before he could take a second look. We wandered around Nelson's Dockyard a bit looking at the historic buildings and then headed back towards Falmouth looking for a place to have lunch.

We ended up back at the Mad Mongoose for lunch. I had a cheeseburger which topped the list of best burgers I've had since making my own in Grenada. We ended up spending the whole afternoon at the Mad Mongoose. Tom & Kathy from Yellow Rose came in to use the internet there, then Verna Breeze came in. Then Sol Y Mar came in. We traveled every day from Georgetown Bahamas to Grenada with Pat & Dori on Sol Y Mar in 2007. We saw them again in 2008 while we were running the marina and they passed through northbound and southbound again, storing their boat in Trinidad each hurricane season. This year, we left Grenada in November, and they didn't return to Sol Y Mar and head north from Trinidad until January. The weather has conspired to keep them behind us for two months now. We had hugs all around before they went over to Customs to check in.

We hung at the Mad Mongoose waiting for Pat & Dori to return and when they did, we ended up staying there until after 18:00. Our waitress was very personable and we enjoyed the afternoon there. I had my Skype phone with me and was able to make poor connections to both of my kids who had tried to call yesterday but didn't get us because we were offshore.

We finally headed back to the boat where Barb made homemade pizza and we enjoyed the evening.

GPS N 17-00.932 W 061-46.419 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9919.