Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Bequia, Waiting for the Easter Regatta


A view of Admiralty Bay, Bequia from one of our hikes up the hill

We're sitting well out from town in our usual spot off a bit of a bluff between the two beautiful beaches: Tony Gibbons Beach and Lower Bay Beach.  It is a great place to watch the races that will start in two days, and allows us to go snorkeling on the reef.  Those who are Facebook friends know that I have an article published about the snorkeling published in the Caribbean Compass for March.  You can download the Compass each month, if you wish.  We find it a great read.

While looking for a last thing to do in St. Lucia last week, and needing some exercise, Brian suggested the four of us take a bus into Castries and explore the little mountain called Vigie.  Vigie is a French word that means lookout, and in this case the mount stands just at the entrance to Castries Harbour, providing a great place to control the entrance both for military and traffic management reasons.  The mount has included a historic lighthouse, a major military presence, cannon and batteries, and these days, as the entrance goes right by the end of the airport runway, a radio station that tells ships and sailboats when they can enter port without interfering with landing planes.
The lighthouse at Vigie in Castries, St. Lucia
Brian at Meadow's Battery, which has bolt patterns suggesting it served a number ages of warfare.
Our bus stopped near the far end of the runway, and we hiked the length of the airport and on up the hill, stopping to admire old buildings that presently house coffee shops, government offices, and foreign embassies.  At the very top, we found the lighthouse and got to talk to the radio operator, James, who's distinctive voice we have heard for years controlling the traffic on VHF radio, channel 16.  On our way down, we took a side street just to extend the hike, and found a fantastic large old ruin that had to be a major barracks, a cookhouse, and a latrine.  Further on, we found a major battery facing the harbour entrance.  After a great exploration of all this, we retraced our steps and noticed that there was an archives building along the street.  We also noticed (embarrassingly late) that the other buildings and even the archives were of the exact same architecture as the amazing ruined barracks.  We marched in, and started asking questions of the attendant.  We scored a complete 1945 map of the Vigie Mount, two well arranged history books, and a file on a well known WWII submarine attack that sank two ships in harbour.  Brian and I poured over our findings, realizing that most of the buildings were from the mid to late 19th century, and that the sub attack was well documented, including efforts by the Battery and lookouts to locate the sub before, during and after the attack and to bring revenge with no joy.  On our way back to the bus stop, we inadvertently found the war graves in the domestic grave yard, which included four sailors from each ship sunk by the Germans in the harbour. 
The former local troops barracks, in ruins
Laurie and Brian engrossed in maps and documents

Our camera was not up to the chore; so next year we'll retrace our steps and document the hike properly another article for the Caribbean Compass.

Our sail from Rodney Bay to Bequia was beautiful, and actually was done over 3 days with stops in anchorages in Marigot Bay and Canaries along St. Lucia's west shore.  We were joined by Lorna and Brian, and left Canaries at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15th.  No fish, but a lovely sail.
On a hike in Marigot, St. Lucia, Dawn pointing out the long windy road that she and Judy Roy walked a few years ago to pick up beer!
Catching up with Silk Pajamas, who was in harbour was great, and with them and Lorna and Brian, we did some hiking and a couple of great meals ashore.  One great meal was at The Fig Tree for their "Fish Friday", which is how we celebrated Lorna's birthday.
Beautiful shot of Lorna and Brian out for dinner for Lorna's birthday!  Happy Birthday, Sis!
Lorna and Brian displaying our FOD flag.  We listen to Denis every morning by Ham radio to hear how the weather will treat us.  This is our 'Friends of Denis' flag.  Denis and Arlene fly a simple "D"!
Have we kept you up to date on our banking problems?  We've always been wary of being down here and losing our credit cards or having them compromised.  Well a month ago in Dominica, we were using an ATM to get some funds when the transaction timed out.  Shortly thereafter we discovered that, although we did not get the funds, our account was debited for the transaction.  It took two visits to the bank to convince them of the facts, and many nagging emails to get action from our Canadian bank and the agency responsible for the international transfer (in this case Visa, we think).  Finally, they told us last Friday that the investigation would take another month, then we'd get our money refunded.  I wrote a letter insisting that either we were also under investigation or that they had an awkward business plan to withhold the incorrectly removed funds from our account for two months.  I had some other rather difficult questions regarding their accounting system and how important confidence in their systems was.  Well, it turned out that my questions were way harder to answer than it was to give us the money and shut us up; and within an hour the bank had responded and said the money would be in the account shortly.  The agent actually apologized for the lag, saying that yesterday's snow storm had resulted in a power outage.

We said goodbye to Lorna and Brian by having them over for lunch yesterday, as they were leaving before breakfast this morning, sailing south for Tyrell Bay, Carriacou.  We had a great hot casserole and a few brews.  We also stopped off at sundown to Kristin and Terry of Silk Pajamas, as they also were leaving - going north back to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.  So, it was quite a day yesterday, and today we are rather alone, in a crowd of boats.  We'll almost assuredly fall in with someone before the races are over, and then we also will head south towards Grenada and eventually haulout in early May.
Rock wall that incorporates a wheel from old sugarmill machinery.  Notice the green iguana sunning himself on the top.

TECHNICAL

In Rodney Bay, we continued our upgrading by buying $1000 Canadian of galvanized chain and replacing our older chain which was tending to fall off the windlass.  The Admiral works the fore-deck during anchoring and weighing anchor and insisted it was time for shiny new chain.  We suspect that the gypsy, which is the molded part of the Italian Goiott windlass which grabs the chain, may be worn, and therefore part of the problem; but it is presently seized onto the windlass and will not be removed.  I have acquired a can of "PB Blaster" which Ian of Island Water World says is the best product to solve the problem, and am spraying, tapping, torquing, and pounding on the assembly daily.  And so I dream of freewheeling gypsies...

The toilet has received more attention.  The Admiral said it was pumping hard, and adding more grease and keeping vinegar in the line night after night was not improving things.  The hose was partially removed and found to be glisteningly clean.  Also clean was the piston - meaning that every time vinegar is used, it may clean out the pipe but also removes all the grease.  So, more grease, less vinegar, and the Admiral has to build up her arms.  It just is what it is.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Back in Rodney Bay St. Lucia


One more repair job on Laurie's footwear.  Next year, we'll pay closer attention to the quality and age of the footwear we pack for the winter!

We arrived in St. Pierre as planned from Dominica, on Saturday, February 27th, after a good, fast crossing; but just enjoyed a good evening at anchor and a great night's sleep before sailing down the coast the next day to Anse (cove in French) Chaudiere.  Anse Chaudiere is actually the south side of the bigger Anse D'Arlet.  It was another good sail, but for a bit of space where the larger mountains blanked out the wind;  and except for the open space near the great bay of Fort de France, where we got totally blasted by wind and waves, but then had a wonderful rain squall and rinse just as we got to the far side of the opening.

Anse Chaudiere was recommended as a reasonable snorkelling spot by Arlene of Tiger Lily II, and our arrival allowed Dawn and I to poke around for well over an hour, finishing with a hard swim against a current to get back to Cat Tales.  Although not loaded with diversity, at least that was apparent in one dive, we did see a large collection of red squirrelfish, a few glassy sweepers, and a large black blenny, probably a red-lipped blenny.  With Dawn's underwater camera broken, we have nothing to show.

Monday morning, we got up truly at first light to attempt to find the easiest conditions possible for motoring around the corner, beside Diamond Rock, and along the south shore to Ste. Anne.  We certainly got there in time to join Lorna and Brian ashore for a bokit at Boubou's snack bar, where we used his restaurant's computer to clear customs.

Tuesday, we hitched Lorna and Brian's dinghy to the back of Cat Tales and went into the bustling anchorage of La Marin.  Lorna and Brian made numerous trips to a dock for jerry cans of diesel and drinking water, while Dawn and I ran to two chandleries for the boat parts we had ordered and others we had left for repair.  We also stopped at a really interesting restaurant inside the boatyard, where the special was stewed rabbit with a 1/2 bottle of red wine.  All four of us said we'd do that again!  A final stop at Leader Price for wine, beer, and French delicacies finished the trip, and we coasted back out to Ste. Anne for re-anchoring.

There were lunches ashore, meals aboard, and even a beach party (Denis and Arlene of Tiger Lily II organised this beach crowd of 20+) in the short week we were there.  We also had another hike; this one to a little mountain called "Creve Coeur" (Broken Heart?).   The views were spectacular.  The hike took about 3.5 hours, with 0.5 hours more spent at a bar with cold beer and lovely baguette sandwiches near the end of the hike.  Amazing how a couple of cold beer stop your friends from griping.
A steep but shady path up Creve Coeur
Many hundreds of steps up Creve Coeur, as important to control corrosion as for the climber.
A view of the bustling harbour at Le Marin, from half way up Creve Coeur
Brian, looking east, was one of four of the hikers who made it all the way to the top of Creve Coeur.
Creve Coeur Hiking Team

Our trip out of Martinique on Monday was a spectacular sail, with 12 knots of wind on the beam, and speeds of 6.5 to 7.5 with only splashes at the bows.  We dared it with only one reef in.  No fish, however.

Last night, the winds rose to 25+ knots, while a surge ensured that many yanked against their anchors repeatedly, and many boats went walkabout.  I (Laurie) was around to help two of the single-handers: StoppKnot (John Fallon) and Jackfish (Mike) re-anchor this morning after they dragged and had a rather rough night of it.  John dragged 250 feet but caught safely while poor Mike hit another boat before he settled in.  Neither slept well, being on anchor watch the rest of the night.  We have just spoken to the owner of the boat behind us and he tells us that his boat dragged in the night as well.

Dawn here:  Here in Rodney Bay, the women on boats in the bay are invited in for a lunch at a lovely posh restaurant with a pool.  Lorna and I along with 18 other women headed in and enjoyed the company of past friends and made many more.  After a wonderful lunch we bobbed around in the pool enjoying fresh water!  Many of the guys have made a habit to go to the Bread Basket for lunch, but their numbers don't come anywhere near ours.  I have enjoyed many of these Wednesday lunches with the ladies here as well as in St. Anne in Martinique.  We talk about many things, but we DON'T talk of volts or amps!
Public beach at Ste. Anne, enjoyed by tourists and locals.
Lorna with a couple of gals at a Sunday buffet in St. Anne, Martinique.


TECHNICAL:

We've picked up new lower and upper diaphragms for our Yanmar SD20 saildrive to install in Grenada.  In total, these cost 2300 Euros.  As these are supposed to be checked every year after 6 years of service, the replacement is quite overdue.  Hope we make it to Grenada without a wet bilge!

We also had our 1996 Furuno radar serviced.  We were both hoping it was beyond being serviced so that we would either do without it (and rely on the AIS capability) or buy a new Raymarine dome antenna to complement our new a75 display.  As the insurance company would prefer we have radar, and as the Raymarine option would be ~$2000 US, we will adjust to having the Furuno working again for only 85 Euros.  (thanks Diginav from Le Marin)

Yesterday, I loaded 167 feet of new chain into our anchor locker to be connected to the anchor and the boat the next time we move.  This is by orders of the Admiral/Foredeck Manager, who says the old one is rusty and jumping off the gypsy too often.  I'm also trying a new product:  PB spray Penetrating Catalyst; in one more attempt to free up the parts on the windlass.  At present the gypsy, clutch, and rope spool are totally ceased onto the axle or shaft.  Works great, but I want the gypsy off so I can ensure it is not too worn, and so part of the problem.