January 2012

January 2012

Sun 1^st

Struggle to lower beach in Admiralty Bay Bequia, and meet up with some local musicians Stan, Cora and Serconi and have an entertaining afternoon listening to live music. We meet Lupo their publican friend from Germany who speaks such broad German that even the Germans cannot understand him. We had been invited to a pig roast in Friendship bay but did not go as we were having fun where we were. This was a good choice as we later hear that they burned the pig.

Mon 2^nd

We went ashore, the dinghy breaks down several times. Trudy decides that she will get external help. Deedee a local girl water taxi driver rescues us, tows us to the boat and advises who is the best guy to fix it.

Tue 3^rd

Kerry comes to fix outboard, Trudy goes off sailing with the girls on Angie's boat “Kibe”. Kerry uses his load tester on our main batteries and finds one cell down and one cell dead; effectively we have Only half our amp hours available and are wrecking the other batteries. I need to fit a new 6v trojan at £150. Meet at the Auberge to listen to Secuni play.

Wed 4^th

Prepare to leave, take dinghy ashore and clean bottom, get supplies and dinghy fuel.

Thur 5^th

I am given a local boy's linux based computer and spend all day trying to fix it whilst watching the “No Fear” salvage take place. It has a small hole in the hull and needs lifting with air bags outside and towing to a calm shore.

Fri 6^th

Decide to stay until after the week end. Try to give Linux laptop back but instead are presented with the charger. No excuse now, so spend 3 hours and eventually get it started using Ctrl+D followed by CTRL+Z. Any help on this system would be greatly appreciated as I tried for 2 hours twice to create a Linux boot up stick.

Sat 7^th

A bit of bottom cleaning to remove the final barnacles and algae. Invited to Jurgan's place for lobster. He prepared an interesting lobster dip (lobster, cream cheese, paprika, yoghurt and grated onion) followed by lobster salad with potato and herbs.

Sun 8^th

Helped to extract engine from “No Fear”. She is now on the beach looking very sad. They dragged her up using a JCB and the hull now looks more like old wattle and daub plaster without the plaster. Robin looks on, he does not look happy.

Mon 9^th

Set off from Bequia; after clearing customs we have 24 hours to leave the SVG; A good sail in 15 to 20 kts. Arrive in Walliabou and get help with mooring lines at a charge of EC$15, still arguing since the last time we were here. We get charged a further EC$20 because we are tied to a pile 20 metres from the end of a dilapidated pontoon that used to be attached. We do not go ashore.

Tues 10^th

After an early start (7:30 ) we motor sail up wind for 43 miles in 25 to 30 kts and a large swell. Arrive Sufriere bay, usual thing boat boys overcharging, we get away with EC$15. We dinghy to customs and a rude chap on the pontoon wants to take my line. When I don't let him he calls me German and swears in English, or patois the f word is the same in both languages. Customs was very friendly and later in the day even waved at us in a bar. The immigration office was locked and still without a door handle since six months ago. The curtain twitches and eventually we are told the policeman will be here soon. Last time we were here he told us off, this time he gave us six month in St Lucia even though we only asked for 3 weeks.

We are moored next to a French boat. When we get back we are nose to tail nearly touching, their lines are about 10 meters too long. But in any case we are both sitting on new moorings that are too close and should only be used for boats less than 10meters.

When we ask they pull in their lines which helps a great deal as long as we “swing the same way”.

Wed 11^th

Head out to stock up with booze and have a roti for lunch. Take a bus to Ladera, a hotel with a superb view of the Pitons. This was suggested as the best place to have lunch in the Caribbean.

Thurs 12^th

Move moorings at 7 am with Trudy on the helm. The park ranger comes to visit and tells Trudy he saw her this morning “playing “ with the wheel! We set off towards Laborie to moor and wait for Ilsa and Grant who will be our first visitors. Its so rough that we dare not try to get in and instead go to Vieux Fort which is 2 miles from the airport. We have heard bad reports about this place and go ashore worried about the safety of the yacht and the dinghy. All is OK and the people we met were both friendly and helpful. The town itself is full of wooden clap-board buildings mixed with new concrete shops. However the fish dock is such a filthy harbour it will create a bad impression for an arrival. As we are making supper the heavens open and we are deluged with rain and winds up to 28 knots. This would make a great start to a holiday. We discuss having another attempt to get into Laborie tomorrow – subject to the weather.

Friday 13^th,

Clean up the boat and await BA flight with Ilsa and Grant. Flight arrives on time and it starts to rain again just as they get out of the taxi. It then rains off and on all evening.

Saturday 14^th

We set off towards Laborie and once again it is too rough to go in. Trudy says the steering is a bit strange but I assume it is just the sail trim. Ilsa manages to sail down wind at 10 knots, the fastest we have been on the yacht, rounding the point towards the Pitons Grant takes the helm up wind and I tell him there is no chance of beating Ilsa's record going upwind, He promptly proves me wrong by sailing at 10.5 knots! I explain that sailing will not get any better than this. We head into Jalousie bay pick up a mooring and dive in. The snorkelling is the best we have seen. Very clear water and although the coral is quite young there is a wide selection of both fish and coral. It just does not get any better than this.

I check the mooring buoy and when getting back onto the boat I notice that we have lost a rudder! I now wish we had ordered a spare back in August as there is a 1 to 2 month lead time on new ones.

Sun 15^th

We move to the Bat caves in the next bay a bit more snorkelling and the fish are even bigger, We take a trip ashore where the kids on the pontoon say they will watch our boat as sometimes the engines are tampered with, sounds like extortion. Went to a couple of bars we meet up with Kerry again, a guy who has spent the last couple of years looking after a villa for his mum. Eat in a restaurant overlooking the bay.

Mon 16^th

Sail and motor-sail up to Marigot Bay where we take a mooring in the inner bay 50 meters from the most expensive restaurant in the bay. We go ashore on the other side of the bay walk to the top of the hill for a beer and back down again for cocktails at Chateaux Maigo, “sex on the boat”, “sex on the beach” and pina colada, cheap and good, Staff are very attentive and good fun.

Tue 17^th

Head for Rodney bay and decide to take a birth to ease maintenance, shopping and get fresh water, tricky birth, as only one rudder. On the way we hear a laud crack a find a main sheet block has broken but remains just serviceable. We drop the main and motor. On arrival Trudy and Ilsa head into the lagoon to shop and vital, Grant and I hunt for spares (with no money!) and get a call to say we must go to customs to collect the new dinghy we ordered months ago. Its in a filthy state, has a rip and when blown up and launched is very unstable and too small. Time runs out so we go for beers in happy hour. We meet John and Sunny a couple we met in Grenada. They lost their dinghy in a rough seas between islands. We get back to the boat for a curry and the gas runs out before it is ready so we have to go ashore to eat.

Wed 18^th

Today is Ilsa's 40^th Birthday. Early start Trudy and I set off to the dinghy man to see if we can change it, Grant and Ilsa head off to find the spares to fit the American gas bottle as the old one is French and has different fittings, (Butane/propane regulator and fittings). When we get back Grant has sourced the parts and we are in the process of removing the life-raft for a service. It is for 10 souls and weighs a ton we need ropes winches and pulleys to lower it into the dingy. Trudy and I take this to the service agent and on our return Grant has fitted the new gas. We have a cup of tea! The next job was to remove water pumps and check bearings. This Grant performs in double quick time and discovers we need two types. A very helpful chap, Ian Cowan at Island Water World gives us details of the bearings, an exploded diagram of the pumps and tells us where we might source the parts. We find the bearings and Grant spend the rest of the day replacing them. (Thanks very much incredible job) This was done with a socket set and a “horse stopper”. (Ilsa wants to know how to stop a horse, answer “with her favourite tool, a hammer”). Success means we have a meal out with cocktails.

Thur 19^th

Late start so we meander down to Marigot Bay where we anchor outside and go to Dr Doolitle's, where the film was shot. Game of pool and across the bay for cash, cocktails and pizza.

Fri 20^th

We have a very early start as we are heading for a final chance to get in to Laborie.

On the entrance a huge swell turns the boat a quarter sideways and lifts a keel. Much engine input means she swings round and we are in the bay! We are the only ones there. When we get ashore it was worth it. Little tourism, about eight bars though we only use two, but one that night. At the Bamboo Bar we meet the owner, Captain Kent who suggests Righteous in Rodney bay can fabricate a rudder for me. He also cooks excellent snapper and creole chicken.

Sat 21^st

22^nd

We all took a bus to Vieux Fort, had a wander and another bus to Micaud to check out the Atlantic. Unfortunately the trip was a circular one and we missed the stop so we just got a tour of the centre of of the island. Back in Laborie we all have a roti lunch at the Market Place, a walk along the beach, back through the town and back to the boat for Grant and Ilsa to pack. Ashore we have a farewell beer in the Bamboo and see them off in a taxi. There are only two other boats in the bay and we discover reassuringly that one of them is skippered by Chris Doyle the guy who writes and edits the pilot books for the area,

Sun 23^rd

Watched by Chris Doyle, we set off from Laborie in a scary swell and managed to avoid the reefs. Motored to Rodney Bay as we did not not trust the rudder, anchored in the bay for a rest.

Mon 24^th

Set out to see Righteous, his guy says we need to see Elvis to get the rudders dropped whilst in the marina. We meet “Elvis” who is alive and well working in the IGY marina in Rodney Bay. He says we need a haul out as the rudder bearings will also be knackered. The fabrication of two rudders and 4 Teflon bearings will take about a week so we will be stuck in the boatyard for a week. $750US plus for the haul and who knows what two rudders and 4 bearings will cost. Ahghh. We book in for Wednesday morning at 8:00.

Tue 25^th

Receive a message to say our life-raft is ready, lucky we didn't need it last week! Trudy cleans the boat, catches up with emails and we “lime” for a day.

Wed 25^th to Tue 31^st

Early start arrive at haul out no problems now on hard. Not much happens whilst we wait on a dusty building site for delivery of stainless from the states. Elvis builds moulds for the rudders and machines bearings from oil impregnated nylon. Ian Cowan helped source the stainless. He is a great source of information.

We sleep badly and both us and the boat are covered in cement dust and old anti-foul sanded off other boats. Our noses and throats are dry, they just dismantled the gents toilet block, we cannot use our fridge or freezer when we are out of the water life is not much fun at the moment....