Well, we've been busy.
Still, we could have written! Does it justify a long blog?
We finished up our adventures at Marie Galante, revisited
Les Saintes, and have been in Dominica for over a week.
After we caught and enjoyed the monster mahi mahi with the
crew of Charlotte D, we rented a car with Jim and Cristine of the boat
Ullr. Ullr is an Island Packet 38, but a
version with a weighted centreboard housing and centreboard. The crew is one more set of friends we have
met through the "Friends of Denis" group of people who get their
weather each morning from Denis Webster of Tiger Lily II. The trip around the island was a fun thing to
do, with interesting, quiet country roads and an interesting French-Caribbean
cuisine lunch. We also did a hike with
them and the crew of Discovery, Bob and Anita, and a rather poor attempt to
find a good snorkeling area.
After the snorkeling, Bob and I made up for it by hunting an
invasive species that is depleting the reefs of young fish - the toxic spined
lionfish - behind our boats. Bob had a
long hawaiian sling, while I had a much shorter sling with a barbed trident
that I had purchased back in Marin. I
had much more luck, but between us, we killed at least nine of the suckers. None of the fish had enough meat on them to
be worth snipping the spines and cleaning, so we just let them float away, dead
or mortally wounded. One fish just
escaped my barbs by swimming under a rock.
As I awaited to see if I would be awarded another chance, it scurried
back out of the hideout with a big bite out of its belly. Back at the rock, a small moray eel stuck its
head out with what looked like a self-satisfied grin on its face. Dawn also circled around and found one of our
wounded victims was partially covered by an octopus that was gently working
around the evil barbs on it. I really
felt I was having fun like a little kid.
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| Both Laurie and Bob sticking it to the evil Lionfish! |
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| Trying again to get the one that "got away" and slipped under a rock! |
The trip downwind back to Les Saintes was a dream, with us
only using our jib. We also refused to
fish, as our freezer was still crowded with Mahi Mahi.
We were joined in Les Saintes by Al and Michelle of Tarantella, Chris
and Fran of Changes, and again Peter and Catherine of Charlotte D. We did some hiking as well as visiting each
other's boats for sundowners. Great
reunions with lots of stories.
We had one bit of trouble while there, however. While waiting at anchor for a mooring ball to
become available, two novice sailors who were taking lessons on a Hobie 16
slammed into our starboard stern. The
wind was howling, they were out of control, and screaming towards us on a beam
reach, the main loaded, the jib loose, and both heads down straightening up the
ropes. Had they stayed on their
trajectory, they would have put two bows right through the boat. Dawn's scream got their attention, they
looked up, and the helmsman tried to miss us by steering downwind. With an unbalanced sail plan, he could not
clear us. His starboard bow hit the very
stern edge of us - likely the only place strong enough to withstand it. We had the sailing school come out and do the
fibreglassing, but the gelcoat work will have to be done by me in Grenada.
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| Damage done by an inattentive captain of a fast traveling Hobie Cat while at anchor in the Saintes (Guadeloupe) |
Our sail to Dominica on Sunday, February 5th, was reasonable:
a beam reach in large waves but only 15 knots of wind. I attempted it with all reefs in, thinking I
could get it done with a minimum of sail.
However, after going 5 knots at the bottom of waves and 3 knots at the
top, I shook a reef out and put a little more jib out to enjoy a constant 6.5
knots, with some blowing spray. So, it
was salty but enjoyable, and Dominica's very common rains cleaned it all up by
morning. The number of boats in the
Portsmouth anchorage leading up to Cruiser Appreciation Week has been
outrageous. Last year, the inaugural
event may have had 60 or 70 boats, still an amazing number for the area. By Thursday night, before the event even
started, I counted 120 yachts; and this week there has to be 140 at least. The yacht service fellows are having a great,
but busy time with it all.
Lorna and Brian arrived on Sunday; and even though they had
a rough crossing and a heart-breaking amount of leakage of salt water into the
boat and bedding, they came to Cat Tales for a supper of mahi mahi.
Not much else to tell you.
We've been involved in barbecues, hikes, sundowners, and of course
fantastic hikes. Hopefully, the pictures
can help tell some of this.
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| Gorgeous scenery around Marie Galante while driving in our rental car! |
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| If anyone ever wonders why we anchor on the west side of the islands, well, here's why! This is the east side, and of course the wind blows out of the east almost all the time!! |
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| Eight tired hikers after an 8 km of constant up and down ! We bused to the trail head in a bus (van) for a couple bucks a head and then caught another bus back down from another location for another couple bucks. Lunch on the trail and scenery that would shock most! |
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| Anina (s/v Prism), Cindy (s/v Sititunga), Lorna (s/v Peace and Plenty) and Dawn (s/v Cat Tales) attending the BBQ in Portsmouth put on by the boat boys who look after us here while in Dominica |
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| The other halves of the girlie picture. Charlie, Dan, Brian and Laurie all in the same order as the gals photo! |
TECHNICAL
One bit of hard work I've attempted since last report
involves alternator work. Cat Tales has
two alternators: a 55 ampere, and a 80 ampere; each of which has a specially
matched shunt and amp meter. However, as
alternators have been replaced or serviced, they got mixed up with the
incorrect shunts; and one seemed to be putting out way too little
"juice". I finally re-arranged
the installations, cleaning all contacts; and have the assemblies properly
working and reporting. One full work
day, two rags, one emery board, and a few dabs of dielectric grease (and one
small cut on my hand).
All other systems are working well also.
