January 2016

13th December 2015

After a brief sail from Woburn to St Georges in Grenada we had to fit a new Autopilot display head as the led screen on the old one had finally faded to nothing. Our S3 Raymarine control box has been check and has no faults but we can continue using the S2 as that is also functioning well.

16th December

Head for St Lucia and arrive mid morning, have a quick snooze then go to customs and do some shopping.
We spent Christmas day with yachties, Elena has kindly allowed us to use her restaurant for a pot luck lunch which went down well. We met up with some friends, Dirk and Nancy from Renegade, that we met at a jam in Grenada. Dirk is a saxophonist and he and I play a jazz and blues mix with backing tracks after lunch.

We stayed for the new year in Rodney Bay St Lucia, and met Paul and Sharon from Ya Fohi. Paul plays a mean guitar and we have jammed a couple of times playing blues and Latin jazz.

Winds are high and sea is rough so we wait for a weather break, check out, then head off north.

5th January 2016
We head north towards Culebra.
Unfortunately the Autopilot is failing intermittently and the wind has dropped. So after a 17 hour sail, with 7 hours of motoring at a half hour after midnight, we pick up a mooring in Portsmouth Bay Dominica.

We have been to Dominica twice before and this time our "boat boy" is Lawrence of Arabia. Who informs us that we picked up a private mooring last night so we move to the next one with his help. 25XCD per day for a mooring, about 6 quid so we are happy to take one. It is free to anchor and check in is a whopping 10 XCD for two weeks, about £2-50! We buy a load of fruit from Michael on a kayak grapefruit, avocado, limes and passion fruit, and some mangoes from Antonio on another kayak, The fruits are all excellent and a third the price of St Lucia and a bit cheaper than Grenada. Paul and Sharon arrive on Ya Fohi and we meet up for a beer in Sandy's beach restaurant. Sadly our favorite, Big Papas bar has fallen into disrepair and he has left the island

We take a tour with Paul and Sharon and another Antonio as driver,




The first stop is for Saltfish bakes for breakfast then we head west to Calabishie where we meet our guide Daniel who takes us around point babtiste. he is a young looking Rastafarian who tells us that it is his 38th birthday.


Daniel

We are shown the Tree of life, to make a tea, Noni fruit, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morinda_citrifolia)  cure for prostate cancer sweetsop that we know as soursop, lemon grass, ylang ylang, cinamon bark, and a load more. Point Babtiste has views of the only white sand beach on the island and a black sand beach nearby. You can see Marie Gallant island and the Atlantic from the point which is a strange red rock that is almost rock and almost mud. Danial has carved out steps in various places and we descend into a crevice that has a small temple carved into the rock. The area could be a film set from Mars.





A short drive to a Chocolate factory where Alan Napier takes us around his factory. this is a lot smaller and lower tech than I had imagined. producing about 60 bars of chocolate every three days.
Fruit is picked and left, then opened and the beans are left to ferment for about a week, Then dried, then husks separated by being blown away, then beans are stone ground for three days. the ground beans are then put through a heat treatment. there are six different types of chocolate crystal so this is the most technical part of the process. Sugar and flavours are added then the mix is put into molds.

Next stop is in the Carib village in the Kalinago Territory where we buy Cassava bread and stop at a shop selling various items made from Calabash shells, wood and coconuts and baskets made from local grasses.


Dominican Eggplant

We travel on to St Davids bay for a lunch stop. Creole cooking, star fruit juice, baked or smoked chicken blur marlin and various provisions, rice and salad. All served up with a fantastic view.


Rum options including

Cockstand


View from Restaurant "Island View"

Onward to the Emerald Pool. A short walk down steps through the rain forest with signs saying "Debarking of the Trees is Prohibited" to a waterfall with a pool beneath it. After a refreshing dip we climb back and are back on the road heading for home.

On the way back we encounter the devastation caused by hurricane Erica. The Layou river is the longest and widest on the island. it has burst its banks in several places taking away bridges and roads. the wrecks of cars and trucks are all over and in a couple of places parts of villages have been washed into the sea,

2015 February

February 2015
We have not moved from our anchorage in Woburn bay St Georges Grenada This month. However we have made progress musically and in fitness!
Trudy is now leading a yoga session once or twice a week, still taking Spanish lessons at the Venezuelan embassy and has a painting get together once a week.
Country Dave has enlisted a new member of our group. Randy our bassist who has improved our sound greatly. We are beginning to get more of a reggae sound and hope to rewrite some songs purely as reggae.

2015 January

January 2015
Grenada

September to November 2014

September to November 2014

This hurricane season the weather has been kind with 40knot plus winds only a couple of times in 4 months and no hurricanes touching Grenada.

We have repeated most of the activities of the last three years with a couple of exceptions.

The best Rum Bar on the Island “Nimrod's” run by Sep (Septimus) has been host to Country Dave's Sundowner Sessions. Dave from Pavane has worked hard to build up a following. There have been good, better and brilliant nights with many accomplished musicians joining Dave and playing their own sets. (some have even been professionals! ) Notably Peter from Too Much Fun, Wiley from Harmony, Troy from Storyville, Matt from Luludu and Paul from Amanda.

Trudy has been noodling most weekdays and taking a Spannish course provided by the Venasuelan embassy. Afternoons on the boat include spannish recitals, Guitar practice and some interesting sounds from Trudy's Ukelele.

We have continued to try out new fruits and vegitables and enjoying the deliciously creamy avocado pears, sugar apples and mangoes in their seasons.

We are still in the process of completing pre season maintenance with only a couple of parts still on back order.

At the latest dinghy concert we were kindly shadowed from the band by a dinghy with a huge umberella.

The “old” marina in Clarkes Court bay has been flattened. A new marina is being built and the builders have been blasting out the hillside and moving earth into the bay reclaiming land.

The mangroves have been removed but it is believed that they will be replaced when work has been completed. This marina will be able to cope with 150ft plus boats and will have the largest capacity haul out in the Eastern Caribbean. We hope that this will not change the laid back way of life in the bay and surrounding village of Woburn.

The girls (and a couple of brave boys) go noodling most weekdays. It depends on wind and weather.

Julie from “The Flying Buzzard” has been extremely kind collecting girls from around the bay on her dinghy (the Noodle bus) taking charge of the noodling and delivering everyone back to their boats.

Rogers Beach bar has a stage that is slowly tipping into the water. Playing here on a full moon when the tides are high you get your feet wet!

Calabash grow on trees. The shells are painted and varnished to be used as interesting bowls.

A few photos of Whisper Cove marina.

Jam sessions were held here weekly until the end of the season (october/november) when the braver yachts start moving north into the hurricane zone.

Clarkes Court bay is mostly quiet and tranquil with music occasionally heard from the shore.

Trudy still enjoys hairing around with the dinghy at full throttle.

Manureva on a washing day. She has been a great boat but it is time to move on so were are preparing her for sale. This may be a long process but we will enjoy sailing up and down the islands on the east Caribbean until she sells.

The Carrenage so called because ith is a shallow bay where ships used to drop anchor, wait for the tide to go out and clean (careen) the bottom of them.

St Georges is built around a couple of bays and up the hilside with lots of steep and narrow streets.

The tipical weather this season has been scorching hot days with no wind mixed with large, unforcast, winds together with vast qualtities of rain. If the wind slows down we are able to catch it and put it in our tanks, however if the wind stays high it just washes the decks!

We had a hole appear in our dinghy. They are always going flat but it usually takes a couple of weeks. This time it was flat in a couple of hours. The glue we buy says it works best with humidity under 25%! We live in a bout 90%! Anyway dinghy was lifted upside down on our trampoline and glues and left for 4 days to cure. Susan and John from Toi et Moi very kindly lent us their old wooden tender which proved very useful. (better than swimming to the bar).

April 2014

April 2014

Tues 1st
Ocho Rios towards Port Antonio
Caught a fish trap so sent Trudy into the water to clear it off the prop. 15 minutes work and we are motoring again. On arrival in Port Antonio my alternator had arrived and been collected by Paul the Harbour master. Unfortunately a regulator and a pulley had gone missing in transit luckily it is still functional. We shopped and got diesel, waited for a weather window and left.

Thur 3rd
Port Antonio to Ile a Vache Haiti was a rough crossing not helped by our poor tactics, we went too far North to avoid shallow banks and took an extra day or two get South of Haiti. We had not meant to stop but needed a rest and our wind generator had pulled out of the deck fitting.  As a result of poor engineering one leg was only held by a single grub screw which wore loose in the large waves. A bit of lashing down was required and an urgent stop for repairs.

Sun 6th
Ile a Vache is a basic place with three hotels and locals living on home grown produce and fish. I managed to drill out the generator leg and left the drill bit in as a retaining pin. We had nothing else on the boat that fitted.

Car Park

The market on Mondays and Thursdays was from the 15th century apart from the 125cc taxis. The car park was full of horses!

Cattle Market

The livestock section was horse pigs, goats and  sheep all tied up around some trees outside the village. We took a lift back on a local boat.














We had to wade out to get on and balance among the sacks and chickens for two hours. A young local had the skipper carry him ashore so he did not get his trainers wet!

Bus depot

Gettin on the Bus

Passenger helps with parking

Riggin on top shopin

The local boat boys were a drag as they started knocking on the boat at dawn and did not stop until well after dusk. Our neighbour David had a crowd al day long and got sick of it. We had Wildo clean our boat including stainless for $30. He worked very hard all day and came highly recommended by Dan and Rose from "Exit Strategy". The local hotel would only give us Wifi if we each had a meal. At $36 each we declined and instead visited the internet cafe. (a  guy with a dongle) and had 2 beers and an hour wifi for $6! Locals are very welcoming but do not like their photo taken.












Tue 8th
Ile a Vache towards Boca Chica Dominican Republic two hours out and we catch another fish trap. Don't leave from the East of the island as the bay is full of traps. David on Eileen of Avocca caught two!

















Sat 12th
It was the start of the Easter week when we got to the Zarpar marina in Boca Chica Dominican Republic. Check in cost $200 including all necessary tips and check out when required.

The vast beach was the most active we have ever seen, serious partying going on and heavily policed.

We were told not to walk the beach after dark by everybody we met, but the first bar we came to did have large cold beers at $0.60 each. The marina bar was $2-50 for a small Presidente so no contest. Marina bar food was very fresh and prepared in front of you, at $15 a meal was good but about 10 x the price of a local restaurant of similar quality. You wouldn't believe the power of the car stereos competing on the beach

Wed 16th
Santo Domingo
Is the oldest town in the Caribbean. Lots of Spanish style buildings, run down in places. On the way there we pass lots on grilled up shops and bars and a very flash Ferrari and Lamborghini garage. Very us and them.

We walked around the old town for a couple of hours then took the tourist train. For an hour it drove us around the same streets with a recorded explanation. We were with David from Eileen of Avocca who is an Italian fluent in many languages so he found us the best pizza place in the town. Then back on the bus to Bocca Chica.

Mon 21st
We had our engine mountings replaced with a big help from Juan Carlos. When I first met him I was wearing my Guns and  Roses T Shirt, he asked if I was a fan and promptly lifted his sleeves to show his G&R tattoos! He gave  us a quote for the work and we started the next day. He finished early so serviced both our racors (diesel filters) in for the price. We paid him and gave him my G&R Tshirt. Now I need a new one!
Boca Chica towards where? Good question.
On leaving Zarpar marina I had trouble with the gear selector on the starboard engine. We were planing to go to Salinas Puerto Rico but needed to check in at Ponce (ponsay) first. However there are no Yanmar dealers there and both entrances needed motors working. Plus we have no holding tank (required for US waters) and Cuban cigars on board. (do not want confiscating) We had been to St Croix before and know them to have a yanmar mechanic. He couldn't fit us in last time we were there and St Lucia is hopefully less than a five day sail beyond St Croix, with an easy entrance by sail and reliable engineers. So at the time of writing we are headed there. Probably a ten day sail and our longest yet.

 On the way we have a couple of birds land, one sitting on the outboard engine, the other on a winch. we also have a school of 20 plus dolphins with us for a spell.

Later...
Guess what! One of the cars on the mast broke loose, probably because she has been over pressed for 5 days with full main up. So sail comes down and the cars are moved around until we can sail, but with a minimum of two reefs. Track on the main looks a bit worn in the spot where the car came off so we need to take it steady. Another problem, the batteries are running low and we need to run the engine! With a gear selector problem! Start up in neutral and climb into the engine bay to engage the gear by hand, not tricky but a pain if you have to engage reverse coming to a stop on a pontoon.
So, dodgy gearbox and limited sail area, We do out best to trim as best we can but eventually we end up in over 100 miles from any land and capable of about 1/2 a mile an hour.
Thinking caps go on and we end up pulling the gear selector apart and semi securing a selector cable with electrical cable ties. We try it and it works, at least for now. Wind comes up a bit and we sail off in the wrong direction and after a night we are 102 miles from land, so motors go on and forward gear is selected (yahoo) and we motor for 33 hours and arrive in Nevis; Sunday afternoon, too late to check in so no beer ashore tonight.

Mon 28th
Ashore to check in. Since the last time we came to Nevis they have moved Immigration and the Port Authority next to the Customs office so it is a very simple operation. Customs XCD45, Immigration free and the Port Authority was XCD157 for up to a week stay. We get "Sarge" to drive us around to buy diesel jerry jugs and get them filled then back to the boat.

Tue 29th
We visit the Botanical gardens which at $12 US each was a big let down.
Charlestown is a quiet place with a slow moving feel to it. Lots of colourful old buildings and mostly smiling faces. Very friendly and all folk are helpful and have time to chat.

Wed 30th
Check out midday collect bread and beef and set off.
Autohelm won't work, looks like we are in  for a hard time. Error message is Current limit. When I read up about  this it means the main box is taking too much current due to either a terminal break in the  gearbox or a short circuit. I try to open the gearbox but it is a non serviceable part, so I go looking for a short circuit with a can of terminal cleaner, shake all the wires, spray contacts and check current draw. Surprises all round it starts working! We had a problem with the Autohelm last time we were in Nevis...
We had downloaded a grib (weather) file on the Ipad, but when we get to sea there is no map behind the file, and Ipad will not allow transfer of the file to any of our other gadgets, so it is impossible to use. Thanks Apple.

....Troubles are not over yet... Next month St Lucia and engine problems get worse...