Saturday morning after I had finished the blog and Richard had returned our hire car, we headed back to the marina, enjoying the cloud formations along the way. Virtually the minute we got on board the heavens opened again….. so no external cleaning for us today. So we spent some useful time getting Morphie ready to go to sea including repacking and redistributing the weight around in the bilges….. After that we just had a quiet night on board.

Sunday and we were up really early…. We washed Morphie, we waxed her, we did all the stainless steel (apart from under the capping rail) and cleaned down below…. On top of that we did some more heavy-duty laundry like pillows and rugs…. And we kept on going doing maintenance jobs like an engine oil change, water maker filter changes etc etc etc. Phew…. Pretty exhausting day and we collapsed into bed very early. But she sure looked pretty after her spring clean!

Monday morning and it was time for Richard to go up the mast. We need to check out our rigging particularly before we run south to Bonaire. So we got one of the dock boys to winch him up while I tailed…. He started very enthusiastically but became pretty exhausted quite quickly and I offered to do my turn to give him a break, but he clearly wasn’t going to let some middle-aged old woman get the better of him LOL!!!   By the time Richard was at the top he was absolutely shattered…. Oh dear…. Anyway, Richard found that we had sheared a split pin at the head of the genoa and it was stuck inside the hole. Otherwise apart from a bit of tape around the end of the spreaders, all looked fine. So I let him down and we went and purchased some split pins…. So again I called on the dock boys to help me out – and they sent the youngest biggest one!  Well…. he really struggled…. and we took it in turns to tail / winch Richard up to the top…. He looked on in dismay when I could turn it quite easily when he had been two-handed and struggling to put all his weight behind it…. Oops!   Not sure that was too good for his ego!!   But he was a good sport, and we took turns until we got Richard to the top along with his bucket filled with all sorts of tools etc for the job in hand. Unfortunately Richard wasn’t able to shift it – he probably would have been able to do it if I could have taken some of the pressure off at the bottom of the genoa – but it was too dangerous to leave him up there without the line being tailed….. So he did a temporary fix before I let him back down again…. Interesting view up there with some very different shots of Morphie!

Tuesday morning we wandered into the patisserie for our breakfast as this was potentially our last day here. We just needed to check out the weather window. Yep – it was holding – so we are definitely leaving. Wandering back to the marina – armed with baguettes for our overnight food – we were amazed by all the coaches that had turned up and the amount of people that were milling about. One little girl looked to be wearing Minnie Mouse’s outfit and there were a few other Disney looking tee-shirts so we wondered whether this was a Disney ship!?!   Anyway, back to the marina, checked out of customs for later that day and we paid the hefty marina fee. Ouch!  Didn’t mean to stay here a week and we couldn’t have the reduced weekly rate because that is only available if you pre-book and pre-pay grrrrrr…… But actually the dock fee itself wasn’t that bad…. it was all the extras like showers / washing machines / driers / electricity hook up and water usage that pushed it up. And still less than we would pay in the UK – just a bit of a shock after the prices we had paid down island!

At around 4.30 pm we left Fort Louis Marina and headed off towards Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. We decided to stick with our shift pattern again – with me starting at 6-9pm and then Richard taking over for his three hours. I prefer to do the first shift as it gets dark around me so I get used to it gradually. So ready to go….and Richard took this dreadful photo!  But you may be pleased to notice that I’m actually wearing my life jacket – we always wear them at night, and are clipped onto the lifelines in the cockpit, irrespective of the conditions.

The winds were very very very light….. and way below what was forecast. The forecast of 12-15 knots was turning into 6-8 knots. But thankfully the direction was right and we pulled out the sails and enjoyed a very slow downwind run. The wind changed around a bit during my shift and started to strengthen as Richard came on duty….and I took myself off to bed. We had a rough passage across to St Martin at the start of our cruising life and we were determined to sail back, not caring how long it took us!!!!

During the passage, two cruise ships were tracking us….and yes, indeed, one was definitely a Disney vessel. Then we had all stations alert on the VHF – the Disney ship was going to be doing a firework display! We didn’t see much…. then they came on to say it was over. Then the Norwegian ship put out an alert – it was their turn to have fireworks. And this time we could see them lighting up the sky. Have never seen this before….. Well it kept us entertained anyway…..

Wednesday morning we enjoyed the sun rising while at sea and, shortly after daybreak, we could see Virgin Gorda coming into view….

As we were coming through the Necker passage we noticed that Sir Richard Branson has completed building his new house to replace the one that was destroyed by lightening a few years ago…. And he has three fake palm trees on his sandy spit now instead of two!!!!

It was interesting to see the development of huge villas going on the back of Virgin Gorda and Prickly Pear which, when we were last here, were pretty uninhabited and just naturally beautiful. Clearly a lot of investment cash coming into these islands…..

As we turned to go into North South – passing the massive reef – we were also struck by how many boats we could see out sailing…. 40 at the last count!  We haven’t seen so many boats on the move in one place for a long time and, of course, most of them were charter boats so we gave them all the right of way just in case…. It is clear that many of them do not know the rules of the road!

Arriving into Leverick – after an 18 hour passage covering 82 miles – we quickly picked up a mooring ball – and dinghied round to customs. They welcomed us back!   Wow!!!!   Back to Morphie and we dropped the ball and headed over to Saba Rock. This is a stunning anchorage and remains one of our favourites…..

Anchored on the second attempt – hit sea grass the first time – and went to bed for a few hours…. Later on we went ashore for Happy Hour at Saba Rock – and were a little surprised at how expensive the drinks and food were!   Obviously we’ve been spoilt by the prices down island. Never mind… you can’t take it with you!

We enjoyed our first BVI sunset for a very long while and headed back. As we climbed on board the heavens opened and we just managed not to get soaked. But it was great – washed all the salt off of Morphie for us!

Thursday we had a lazy day on board and went ashore to Saba Rock for happy hour again…   Admiring the views across to the Bitter End Yacht Club and the panorama of the North Sound.   Just plain stunning…..

Saba Rock has had a bit of a makeover since the last time we were here – the toucans have gone and so has the pirate statue and other pirate paraphernalia…  But they have kept the stuffed hammerhead although he is now painted bright red!

This evening we were meeting Arndt off of Zanshin who we had spotted in the anchorage.  We very briefly saw him in the Saintes and thought he would have hauled and left for home by now – but he has picked up some consultancy work, working from his boat!  Nice turn of events. So we had a good catch up and an enjoyable few hours together. Back on board for dinner and so to bed.

This morning – Friday – we sailed across to Leverick Bay and anchored behind the mooring balls at the back of the fleet.   Having just got set and a helicopter came over really low – and I mean low – check out the photo!   He landed for a short while then took off again…. then buzzed the anchorage again.   Curious behaviour!

We are planning to stay in Leverick until Monday morning before we leave for Nanny Cay and an appointment with the riggers.   Leverick have their annual Poker Run this weekend – which is for high powered speed boats – and is usually a fun time. And some people we know are on island too…. So should be a bit of a party! Really looking forward to it…..

Bye for now

Jan

Sunday we went into Philipsburg as planned and had lunch, which was pretty disappointing. We then wandered the Boardwalk. There were very few places open so we stopped in at Dirty Sanchez again as the service was great and they have good wifi. I blogged while Richard chatted with Abi, who is a diamond salesman. He gave us some great insights into the business. We also chatted to some Americans who were in holiday mode – and one of the wives suddenly disappeared to the loo…. and came back to the bar very green and completely out of it. She was drinking cocktails – lethal out here as they are so strong….. one of the reasons why I largely stick to beer!!!   Oh dear…. Had a good fun afternoon and headed back to Morphie before dark as we had no lights with us. The minute we got back the heavens opened again….and we had torrential rain all night. Apparently we had six inches over the weekend alone!

Monday morning and the weather looked like it might be improving. The sea was still green but there was a hint of blue coming through.

We sailed the five miles to Simpson Bay and dropped anchor. Once we were set and happy we headed into the lagoon in dink to visit Budget Marine….. While we were there we bumped into Happy Hour and had a quick chat with them. And then the heavens opened again…. Oh dear, of course, we came out without jackets!   While we were waiting for a quick lull, Richard legged it and dropped off a gas bottle to be filled, and then we headed to the customs / immigration office. We checked out for the following morning – having paid our fees – and it was raining again. So we quickly buzzed over to the Simpson Bay Yacht Club and had some lunch and met up with Sonsy Lass again while everyone was sheltering and waiting for another lull in the weather. We took our chances in a quick break – dink had a lot of water in him by now – and as we arrived back at Morphie it poured down again. We got soaked just bringing dink up onto his davits…. Boy was he heavy with all that water before we could get his bung out! And that was it for the day… Rocking and rolling in the torrential rain…..again….. This is starting to get a bit tedious!

Tuesday morning we headed out of Simpson Bay for Marigot on the French side of the island. Moving out we spotted the yacht in front of us had just lost his dinghy off the back. We radioed them – couldn’t read their name – and they ignored us. We radioed again… They must have looked behind and realised it was them. They acknowledged the call, said thanks, and turned round to pick it up. That could have been an expensive mistake!!!!

We were having a lovely sail – although the weather was closing in again – and we watched a plane going into Maho Bay. While we were sailing we were forced to change course by a tourist catamaran who clearly forgot the rule that the overtaking boat keeps clear!  Strangely the minute he got in front of us he changed course again and headed off to Anguilla. Really annoying… Oh well…. photo opportunity for his guests I reckon.

Getting close to Marigot we radioed Fort Louis marina – to no avail. After about six times we decide to anchor – enjoying the blue sea again – and then they picked up! Always the way…..

Anyway secured a slip and headed in – bit of a tight spot but Richard was brilliant and brought us alongside smoothly. Bit nerve racking as we were squeezed in between some very big, expensive, neighbours!   And, of course, as always happens, the minute we get settled in the one behind us which caused the manoeuvring challenge, left!

Securely tied up, we headed into the marina office and cleared into customs. Was very pleased that the French side have finally installed “asdf” keyboards – so I was much quicker completing the on-line form than usual… Got some laundry tokens and we went back to Morphie – stripped beds, sorted it all out and headed back to the self-service machines. This is the main downside of rainy weather – no laundry gets done and clothes / towels remain damp…. We put our loads on and we settled down onto the bench and caught up with emails etc, although the marina wifi is very flaky and low speed.

A few hours later – job done – and we went back, cleaned ourselves up, put the laundry away, and headed into the Fort Louis Marina Club House where we admired the hand-painted Fuel Dock sign. They have an Italian chef here – so we decided to share a goat’s cheese, caramelised onion, baby tomato and rocket pizza with a nice bottle of wine. Fantastic! As we enjoyed the moody sunset they bought out these great sealed rubber / plastic rechargeable LED lamps…. Wanted to buy one for the cockpit but thought that €79 was a bit extravagant! Back on board for a quiet night….

Wednesday morning and it was raining again…. Was going to clean the boat today but decided we might as well get the hire car and go shopping instead. Got a decent sized car and headed out – via the patisserie of course for a French breakfast… yum!  Oh yes, of course the minute we had decided on this the skies cleared and the sun came out.   Typical!   On the way back to the car park, admiring the views of the boats in the anchorage,  I managed to visit the street market and we got a couple of new items of clothing.

We found the Ace Hardware store – picked up some more flexible builders’ buckets which fit into the bilges for storage – and headed off to Island Water World and Budget Marine. We have a long list of things we need again – some new spares and some other replacement items.. We are keen to take the opportunity of getting stuff here as it is duty free. We also picked up the now-filled gas tank…. Partial boat shopping list achieved – and then we went off to find the huge Grand Marche supermarket, on the Dutch side. Got everything we wanted – apart from some decent low-priced wine! Back on board we stowed everything away – which takes a while – and were relaxing in the cockpit after dinner, when we realised that the crew of Deep Blue – a huge superyacht – were now all in their uniforms. Then the captain and a couple of them head off towards the marina entrance…. Then the crew come back with a couple of trolleys full of designer luggage….. Then along comes a nanny with a baby in her arms and four young children come running down and climb on the boat…. Then the dads come – smoking the usual large cigar of course – and we were surprised that they were only in their early 30s…. And then the two WAGS with their designer shoes, clothes and huge handbags, teetered along…. followed respectively by the Captain bringing up the rear. All on board and the captain opens up the bridge and the boat heads off into the night….. Oh to be that rich eh??????

Thursday morning and the weather has calmed down so we get up bright and early and start working. Morphie is not too salty but the torrential rain has managed to stain the gel coat at the bow from our rusty anchor chain. We are planning to replace the chain in Curacao when we haul out at the end of the season – so will have to put up with this for a short while yet!  Morphie was quickly cleaned up so I settled down to stainless steel cleaning while Richard went below and cleaned up including polishing all the wood.  At about 3.30 pm – we were both feeling it – and decided to call it a day, even though we haven’t finished. We thought we deserved a beer and headed back in the car to the Simpson Bay Bridge to catch the opening…. We got there in time, enjoyed a cold one sitting on the rail, and watched the procession of tiny sail boats coming through followed by the spectacle of these huge yachts coming through a pretty small space. Apparently there are regular collisions…. and I think, secretly, that is what most people are hoping to see!!!! We then headed back to Morphie for a quiet night on board.

Friday morning and we re-think what we are going to do. As we have to hand the car back on Saturday morning we decide to enjoy the day exploring the island and, of course, trying to get the rest of the items on the shopping list. So we headed off to Island Water World (IWW) again – finally got everything we needed apart from one fuel filter. So we headed off to Philipsburg as the IWW store there had a few in stock. On the way we stopped off to admire the views across the lagoon. There is quite a stark difference between the Dutch and the French sides of this island – with the Dutch very built-up and touristy, a bit like a Caribbean Benidorm, and the French side is much more low key and quiet.

When we arrived in Philipsburg it was pretty quiet – no cruise ship in town – and we wandered the shops and I managed to get a great new pair of leather deck shoes for US $25. Bargain!

Then we headed off down the other coast towards Grand Case…. stopping at a wine shop on the way…. Wine purchased we arrive in Grand Case and wander along enjoying the sights of this low-key French town, particularly the huge green iguana that was sunning itself outside the church. He legged it pretty quickly though – I reckon he knew that Richard was partial to eating them! LOL

We planned to revisit our favourite restaurant in this part of town for a very late lunch – Ocean 82 – they had finished lunch service but would be starting their dinner service at 3.30 pm. That was only half an hour away so we settled in with a bottle of water, some French bread, and a glass of Chablis enjoying the views up and down the beach and out to the anchorage. Then suddenly we heard the noise of a plane coming in low – and it had to divert slightly to clear the masts – and then roared over our heads. When we were here last year there were huge yellow marker buoys marking the airport approach – don’t know what happened to them…..but I reckon the gendarmerie will be out later to move people on….

Meal ordered….and we had the most fantastic fine dining experience. I won’t bore you with the details but check out these pictures! Yes totally indulgent… Quiet expensive….. But what a treat, even if we couldn’t move afterwards! Absolutely fantastic and the best meal we have had for a long long time….

Back on board and we are full and tired….. so had an early night and no dinner!

This morning – Saturday – and we have been to the canvas shop to pick up our cockpit table cover. We’ve had it amended slightly to incorporate a pocket on the front to stash things when we are on passage like charts, pilot books, camera etc…. We have also returned the car and are now in the patisserie catching up on the internet. When we get back we are going to finish cleaning Morphie.

At the minute we have nothing much apart from maintenance and cleaning to do. We have, however, decided to head over to the British Virgin Islands earlier than we had originally planned. For this we’ll need a good weather window to make the 80 mile passage to Virgin Gorda – which can be notoriously rough. It’s currently looking good for a run with the wind on the starboard quarter on Tuesday night – fingers crossed – so we are probably going to stay in the marina until then. So the next time you hear from me we might be back in our old stomping grounds. We are really looking forward to catching up with people we haven’t seen for a couple of years prior to our lengthy 450 mile passage south to Bonaire.

Bye for now

Jan

On Wednesday having got the blog published we headed back to Morphie. We had planned to snorkel but both felt pretty tired – so we had a lazy afternoon before heading back into the Old Gin House to meet Lyle and Julia for dinner. This was BBQ night and we all chose ribs…. something none of us had had for a while….. Well, they were fantastic with loads of meat on them. While we were eating Will came over to entertain us with stories of goings on in his pub in Wales which he ran many years ago. Will is currently the food and beverage manager of the hotel – although plans to return to Wales at the end of the month after 20+ years on Statia. Anyway….he was delighted that we were obviously thoroughly enjoying our ribs…. so he brought out a few more in foil…. We shared them between us – and then he brought out another lot – which went down again… Phew didn’t think we’d manage them… and then he brought us some more!!!! Please no more – full up!!! But we managed them anyway…. After a few more drinks – and a bit of a break – we had desert, or rather Richard and Lyle did while Julia and I nabbed a couple of spoonfuls off of them… Absolutely lovely evening had by all…… Followed by another rolly night in the anchorage.

On Thursday we went in to customs to clear out – startling a tiny lizard on the dinghy dock – and back to the bar to get our final internet fix.

Back on board we had planned to definitely snorkel today but, oh no, it’s very grey and overcast and is raining a bit. So we’d managed to miss our opportunity as the visibility had reduced. Damn….. We kept ourselves busy doing some boat jobs getting ourselves and Morphie ready to go to sea again. We had arranged to go over for final sundowners with Lyle and Julia to say goodbye…but only for a couple of hours as we want to be up early on Friday. Taking our life in our hands we get off Morphie into dink – the swells are horrendous again – and onto Orion. And then the heavens opened….. and there was thunder and lightning….. and it rained and rained and rained. Absolutely torrential – no way we were getting back in dink in that! So we ended up staying a bit longer and having more sundowners than we planned….but had a great time anyway! With hugs all around – and invites to British Columbia to see bears and salmon if we are ever heading that way – we say sad farewells. We were so glad to have caught up with them again even if it was only for a short while.

Oh yes… and this generous couple gave us a new book for our onboard library, which they found particularly helpful when visiting Spanish speaking islands. Very generous of them, and we’ll definitely have use of it next season… In return we donated some red wine to their cellar.

Overnight it continued to rain and roll…. Will be glad to leave now…

Early Friday morning we head out into the rain and say goodbye to a wet and cold Statia. First time for a while that we are actually wearing jackets! We decide not to get the sails out until we get passed the oil terminal so enjoy motoring along watching the big ships up close – particularly the one that was being held in place by a tug while he was attached by massive hoses looking like an umbilical cord to some floating buoy – think this is how they fuel the ships up from their stocks.

Getting clear of the top of Statia and into the channel we hoisted the sails – and have a nice reach in about 15 knots of breeze. Then the wind dies down a bit….then there is a squall coming….so we reef down…..and then we have no wind followed by light winds which have shifted abaft the beam so reefs were shaken out. Progress was pretty slow… Then the wind shifts ahead of us and sticks. So we are now wallowing around in big grey cold seas so we change course to get some wind – and then the wind just dies. So we put the motor on, furl the sails, and take the opportunity to make water while we crash into the waves…. Then we see a massive squall ahead…and thunder and lightning…and torrential rain. With poor visibility we were grateful for the AIS giving advance warning of some big traffic out there. Eventually after eight quite miserable soggy hours we pull into the anchorage at Philipsburg…. and it’s raining….. Checking the time we realise that we will not make it into customs before it closes at 4pm so we clean ourselves up, raise the yellow quarantine flag, have some dinner and an early night. It was flat calm and felt like we were tied up in a marina. Bliss!

Saturday and we headed in early to customs – found the dinghy dock under a cute little bridge – and got directions to the commercial port.

We ended up walking for about 20 minutes until we arrived – but customs and immigration were relatively simple and we were now legal. So we headed into Philipsburg town – having checked dink was safe and secure on the way back – and wandered along the boardwalk until we found a café that would serve us breakfast and had internet. Mission accomplished and we wandered along – having to fend off all the deckchair vendors and ladies selling jewellery and clothing – and enjoyed the change of scene, from sleepy Statia to this holiday town. There were loads of people milling about as there was a cruise ship in town today.

As we enjoyed the walk we noticed a black rib with black-clothed guys – looking like the SAS with guns and everything – board a local boat out in the anchorage. That’s the customs people then! Guess it’ll be our turn one of these days!

At the end of the boardwalk we walked back to the duty free shopping street which is the road behind. Strange to see beautiful old buildings such as the courthouse and the church nestled in amongst all the stores.

As we are heading later on this season to Bonaire – which is renowned for its diving – we want to buy a waterproof housing for our camera. It is a waterproof camera (thanks again to Carolyn and Ron) but only to 43 feet which is great for snorkelling but most of our diving will be deeper than that. Thought this would be simple here…. Every camera / electronics shop visited to no avail – damn! In his disappointment, Richard didn’t fancy buying me any diamonds, rubies or emeralds with the money he had saved so we headed back to the boardwalk via the bank for more drinking vouchers…. all the time trying to avoid the torrential rain showers.

We eventually settled into the Dirty Sanchez Crew Bar and got chatting to the Dutch barmaid, a foursome from Yorkshire, and a lady from Florida…. Not all at the same time LOL. We were just leaving and the Hungarian owner gave us a free round or two….

Eventually we decided to call it a day and headed back – via the chandlery to buy a Sint Maarten courtesy flag and the grocery store for some fresh bread. Back on board, flags swapped, we waved goodbye to the cruise ship, we had dinner down below to avoid the rain and eventually to bed. During the night the wind howled, the rain was torrential, there was more thunder and lightning, and the boat rocked and rolled…. Felt just like Statia!

This morning – Sunday – and it’s still grey and stormy with high humidity. Our beautiful turquoise sea has turned a little greenish, which we assume is run-off from the hills?  Yuck!!!!

Anyway…. nothing much planned… other than to go ashore to blog, perhaps get some lunch, and chill. Of course, that’s assuming that anything is open as there is no cruise ship here today. Fingers crossed this weather system will blow itself out by tonight so that we can sleep better – the upside is that Morphie is now completely clean with no salt remaining from her rough passage with very little effort from us!

Bye for now

Jan

Thursday afternoon we spent a couple of hours in The Old Gin House enjoying the view of the anchorage. Quite amazed by the fact that there are so many tankers around – obviously the demand for fuel bunkering continues strongly! It is a bit weird though to have such vast neighbours. Not least the huge pilot boats which are constantly moving on and off the massive mooring ball behind us. Don’t get scared Morphie!!!

Having caught up on the internet we headed back to Morphie before dark. The swells were increasing by the hour and it was so rolly it was really difficult / dangerous to cook! It settled down a bit during the night but not much. These swells were not forecast so hopefully they’ll go away quickly.

Friday morning and it seemed a little calmer in the anchorage. Waking up to the stunning views of this place make it all worthwhile! The rim of the Quill Volcano draws my eye constantly. It is possible to hike the Quill but you have to use ropes to pull yourself up over large boulders at the top  – and I really can’t afford to risk further damage to my ankle – so have to pass it up.  Shame….

Going ashore we wandered the lower level – the main town of Oranjestad is up on the cliff – and admired the views of all the ruins which tumble into the sea and it is clear that excavations are continuing. Some have been renovated too….one into a bar and gift shop but we haven’t found it open yet…although their hole in the wall model might give an indication of the style within???

These ruins twist and bend along the beach as well as continue along the whole of the shore line underwater with some of them even entwined with tree roots. They are the ancient remains of shops and warehouse and a long wall which have, over time, collapsed through disrepair and hurricane damage. There used to be up to three hundred sailing ships at any one time in this anchorage during the mid to late 1700s when Statia was the trade capital of the Indies and one of the world’s busiest harbours. Amazing history!

When we were here last year we found – too late in the day to use it – that there was a small hotel bar which had a pool overlooking the anchorage. And they would let us use their facilities so long as we purchased drinks. Lovely setting and we were looking forward to relaxing here for the afternoon.

The pool was pretty blue and was very inviting – so we grabbed a couple of cold ones and walked in. Standing there chatting and Richard pointed out the consistency of the water…. We then looked closely and realised that the filters weren’t working and the level of the pool was below them anyway. Oh no….. disgusting…… gross!!!!    So we quickly exited and went back to Morphie, tied up dink and swiftly jumped into the sea to get cleaned up. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the transom chatting with the occasional swim. By now the swells were coming through stronger again….. and we had to hang on for our lives! Getting back safely into the cockpit we ended up down below making sure everything was stowed. Another dodgy night for cooking….. and another early night. Only this time it was absolutely impossible to sleep and we tossed and turned literally all night.

Saturday and we had to get off the boat as quickly as possible, it was that bad. And getting off Morphie into dink was pretty terrifying!  So we head into the Old Gin House and catch up on the internet. We feel really bad because our friends Julia and Lyle on Orion – who we last saw in January 2013 in the BVIs – are leaving Sint Maarten today specifically to meet us. The wind is howling and the sea conditions are rough. Oh no…. quickly we send them an email saying if you haven’t left, don’t! But no reply so we realise that they are on their way. All we can do is hope that it calms down!

We then wander up the old slave road to the town… I say wander – really it is a bit of a hike – and the uneven cobbled surface doesn’t help. We make it – a little breathless – to the top and enjoy the spectacular views below.

First of all we go to find the bank – Statia uses the US dollar and we don’t have many of those. So drinking vouchers successfully replenished and we wander around admiring the old buildings and picking up a few things in the Chinese supermarket.

On our way back to the path down we explore the Fort which also has an interesting history as Statia was the first nation to salute an American naval vessel, ultimately leading to friction between England and Holland. Thankfully that was settled a long time ago! Great views from here too…..

Back down to the bottom level and we can see that the boats are still rolling around…… so we head into the Old Gin House – admiring the unique roundabout – and have lunch. Pretty simple menu and we ordered a burger each. It was absolutely huge – and delicious! And Richard ended up hand-feeding some to a little lizard who clearly enjoyed his company….

While we were sitting there we watched a boat come in and realised that it was Orion. Very excited!   So we headed back out in the dinghy and went to say hello. They were pretty wet and salty but happy to arrive… They were quarantined for the rest of the day on board as the customs had shut at 11.00 am so we went back on Morphie, got rid of our stuff, and went over to spend a very nice afternoon catching up with them on board Orion.

While we were on Orion a very large charter catamaran tried to pick up a local small boat mooring next to Morphie – and then they propped it – and then they broke it apart – and then, thankfully, moved. We were tempted to sound the air horn at them but thought they might crash into Morphie when we startled them!  Of course, the minute they were secure, they all headed ashore for the evening – even though they should have remained on board too…. Really annoys me when people are so disrespectful of international regulations – shame they didn’t get caught and fined. That would have given them a holiday to remember!!!!

Oh well….never mind…..rant over.   Lovely sunset tonight…..

Sunday morning – the offending boat has now left without ever having checked in of course – and we have a lazy time on board. Thankfully the swell seems to be moderating. At 1pm we picked up Lyle and Julia in dink and headed in for a bobbing session on the black sand beach. As we surfed in – with Julia and me already in the water holding onto the front of dink – a huge wave broke over our heads and swamped us all. All our bags and even the petrol can was floating in dink!!!  We have never been caught quite like that before… Ooops…. We did manage to pull dink up the beach and drained him….. and then went bobbing in the surf for a few hours. We had a lovely time but were all a bit worried about how we were going to get off this beach as the surf was crashing and seemed to be getting bigger and stronger by the minute! But we managed to get the timing right, we all survived and dink didn’t get swamped again…. Phew!  Back on board and we returned to Orion for another few hours…. Great hospitality, a few different wines were sampled and we had lots of laughs. So much to catch up on! Back on board and so to bed… Still rolly but I think we are becoming a bit immune to it!

Monday and we spent most of the day on board doing boat jobs – charging batteries, doing more laundry, making more water…. While sitting in the cockpit having a cuppa we noticed that one of the pilot boats was having a big wee…. What a show off!!!!

In the afternoon we headed ashore. We got chatting to a Scottish couple who had crossed the Atlantic with the ARC rally on their 47 foot Oyster. They told us how challenging they were finding the sailing here…. which really surprised us!  They’d also had to upgrade their anchor and outboard to cope with the very different conditions than they were used to in the Med. Really interesting…. After a short while we bade them farewell and Julia and Lyle turned up for sundowners – so we spent a few hours chatting before heading back on board for a quick dinner and so to bed. Luckily the swells seem to have reduced and fingers crossed they stay away this time!

Tuesday and Richard went ashore to extend our stay with customs while I did some blogging…. Then we had a lazy time until we sprang into action to get cleaned up in preparation for Julia and Lyle coming over for sundowners. Had another good evening together….. and enjoyed the spectacular colours of the sky behind the tug after the sun went down.

This morning – Wednesday – we’re ashore to get this published and catch up on emails…. While sitting here the little lizard has come back to visit his friend and has actually been nibbling Richard’s toes…  That’ll teach him for feeding him meat earlier in the week LOL!!!

This afternoon we plan to snorkel along the shoreline to see the ruins of the old city wall….  and hoping for some good fish photos!   Tonight we have dinner reservations at The Old Gin House as it is BBQ and music night…..  We are planning – weather permitting – to leave Statia on Friday for Sint Maarten…..

Bye for now

Jan

Friday morning after a leisurely start we headed off to explore Rendezvous Bluff and Rendezvous Beach in dink. It was interesting to get up close and personal with the Bluff as it drops pretty sharply into the sea … but we failed to find the bat cave we had heard about although came across a few others, but none of them, sadly, were navigable.

We got to Rendezvous Bay to find the only white sand beach on the island – well, it has black volcanic sparkles, but pretty impressive nevertheless. And was our own private beach as it was absolutely deserted! The only downside was the steep slope to pull dink up to get him above the waterline – but we managed after quite a bit of grunting and groaning. With dink safely anchored we wandered around a bit, enjoying the views, and then we went snorkelling around the Bluff….

Still didn’t find the bat cave! Oh well. But we did see some nice fish, including a lone squid, and pretty corals. But both of us got stung a number of times by small jelly fish which were pretty invisible until they got you. Ouch!  Apart from that we enjoyed ourselves – even taking time out to take a snorkelling selfie.

Returning to the beach and we had some serious current running against us…. So was a bit of a fight but we eventually got there – that worked off a few calories!!! By now the surf had increased significantly so we quickly rescued dink and pushed out – and it was a bit hairy to say the least…. We dinked back to Morphie and she was, by now, pretty alone in the anchorage.  The views of the new buildings on the waterfront look pretty impressive too….

Having relaxed for a little while on board we headed into Little Bay around 3.30 pm as we had to clear out of customs for our departure on Saturday. We completed the paperwork and waited to be asked for some cash – but she didn’t. Not sure why not – could it be British island / British boat / British crew combination???? We didn’t hang around to argue!

Wandering along the waterfront we were pleased to see that Monty’s Bar had opened…. This is being leased by a guy from Blackpool and the end result is pretty good!

While we were enjoying a couple of cold ones, we got chatting to Ronan – who lives and works on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands – and was island hopping with his British / Irish parents in tow. This was their last night of their trip before flying home to the UK and we all enjoyed having some company. As well as us the family were joined by Dr Thomas Christopher who is one of the volcanologists working on the island. He was really informative about the physical nature of the rocks and the magna feeds to the volcano. He had some great shots of him on the volcano’s rim on his phone to show us – and we asked about the safety kit. Basically he says this is just to identify them by if anything happens – the rocks up there waiting to blow are bigger than cars! Apparently around 15 volcanologists get killed every year…. A sobering thought in the pursuit of science.

Thomas was a very engaging and entertaining guy – who owned up that he didn’t have his dreadlocks quite so prominent when he was studying at Cambridge for his PhD! We all had an enjoyable few hours and a bit of a laugh. Ronan is involved with the rugby in the BVIs and has invited us to the BVI –v- Antigua match if we get that far north this season before running south to the ABC islands. Oh yes….definitely sounds like we might!!! Contact details exchanged and we all enjoyed our time together watching the sun go down – then it was time to go back on board for our last night in Montserrat.

Saturday morning we picked up our anchor around 7 am and said a sad farewell to Little Bay, bound for Nevis, 35 miles away. This was a downwind sail – lovely! After a while we passed the Kingdom of Redonda (which used to have a self-appointed king) but is currently uninhabited. In the shallower waters – as we passed Redonda, Richard had two bites on his lure but no takers…. Still waiting for that fish for the freezer!

Well the wind was really very light but the sea was pretty calm – giving us great views of Nevis as we approached. In the end we had a slow leisurely sail – arriving in Charlestown around 2.30 pm, having had to duck to avoid a very large black sleek British-flagged superyacht who was motoring at some speed. Guess when you are that big you can push little ones around eh????

We anchored off the town – such a beautiful spot – and headed in to clear customs. Immediately we set foot on the pier we were sent back to Morphie by the port authority as customs and immigration had closed for the day….and we were in quarantine until morning. Our own fault – didn’t check – it does actually say that they close at 1pm on both Saturday and Sunday in the cruising guide. So we decided to pick up and head further down the coast to pick up one of the many (compulsory) mooring balls off of Pinneys beach. We had a leisurely afternoon and evening on board and an early night having experienced our first Nevis sunset.

Sunday morning and we head into town for 9.00 am ready to clear in. Guess what – they are all running late…. So we took a seat and found that the port has free high speed wifi so not such a bad place to hang out waiting for officialdom! About 10.00 am the customs guy turns up and we go in, with no explanation of course. Nevis use the Sea Clear system – and it is working, but not properly. So a lot of the information we had already input and saved was missing and the guy had to fill the gaps. He was not very keyboard literate and I was itching to get my hands on it…. Of course it all took ages and it would actually have been quicker filling in the forms in triplicate with carbons LOL.

So customs is now done – we are checked in – so we move to immigration next door. This process was very efficient and quick – so just the Port Authority to see now. Mmmmmm…. this guy still hasn’t made it in. So we asked whether we could return later and go into town anyway. Yes, no worries, so we headed off to find an ATM to get some more drinking vouchers admiring some of the historic buildings. Headed back and the Port Authority guy had finally arrived – he’d been to church – but at least he processed us quickly.

At last – all legal – so we head back to Morphie in dink. We then run ashore –and yes the surf is still running so another Hawaii Five O experience – and head in to Sunshines bar. This was absolutely empty… not even any escapees from the nearby Four Seasons resort. Tried Chevys and that was empty too. But the beach was rammed with locals playing netball, volleyball, football, eating / drinking / dancing and playing in the surf. There was also a very cute dishevelled puppy on the beach which would have been the perfect boat dog…. I find these little ones so hard to walk away from!

We ended up going for a long walk along the black volcanic sand beach – enjoying the views of the stunning mountain backdrop and the vista across to St Kitts. Then some other tourists turned up so we headed back to Sunshines and had a couple of beers as the bar was no longer devoid of all life! Have to say, though, the service was a bit surly….  Last year the rasta man – who runs the beachfront section of the bar – had a pet monkey sitting on the counter which you could pet if you wanted. This monkey was very friendly and would jump on your shoulder and play with your hair if you walked too close…. This year, however, he had three little ones sitting on a separate wooden construction with a sign up saying you could have photos taken with them for money. Mmmmmm….. I wondered over to have a look at them and the owner came over to talk to me – and tried to get me to have my photo taken with one of them. I rejected his offer immediately. But that didn’t stop him trying to grab the bigger monkey of the three – who was clearly absolutely petrified of this man and was digging his nails in not to be dragged out and handled. This violent adverse reaction made me flinch and I worried about how he treated them behind the scenes. I certainly did not pay any money to the guy… if people don’t pay him for this service then perhaps he won’t keep them anymore and release them back into the forest. We can only live in hope…

Having left the bar we were chilling on dink when we got chatting to a Dutch family – who live in the Philippines – and who are travelling through the Caribbean for three months on their X-Yacht (which is being shipped back to Europe at the end of their trip). Nice people. Anyway… time to go…. and we are helped back into the water by another couple of tourists. They may have regretted that decision when we all got swamped by a wave breaking over our heads into dink and almost taking the guy out to sea in the surf!!!! Oh dear…. we did shout out Thank You as we motored away. After all the excitement we had a quiet evening on board.

Monday we made water, did more laundry, other boat maintenance jobs and then headed back into town to pick up some provisions – we are very low on soft drinks. So we had a wander around beautiful historical Charlestown and I particularly liked the old-fashioned fire engine! Got some petrol; some shopping; did some more blogging at the cafe that sits at the pier head; and headed back to dink. I absolutely love the view of the waterfront here with the historic buildings against the backdrop of the volcano behind. Stunning!

Back on board and we sat on the transom for the rest of the afternoon taking in some rays and just enjoying the peace and tranquillity of this place. After a tasty steak and salad dinner we had an early night.

Tuesday more boat jobs beckon. But before that Richard runs into town as he wants to send out some emails he’s drafted and I send him off with a small shopping list and settle down to bring the blog up to date. When he came back we scrub Morphie inside and out and gave her a mini spring clean. After lunch we head back into the beach.

Thankfully the surf has reduced and it’s all a bit less stressful getting ashore. The water is very inviting so we have a bobbing afternoon and I love being able to watch Morphie out there all alone with no-one threatening her personal space. Because dink sits on top of a high ridge of sand we don’t leave anything in him while we are in the water…. so I have the waterproof money box tucked under one shoulder strap with dink’s kill switch around the other. Didn’t realise how silly it looked until I sorted out the bobbing selfie photo!

Later on in the afternoon we headed into the beach bar – which was full of passengers from a very small sailing cruise ship enjoying nibbles and drinks (which had come ashore via their huge dinghy). And there were a couple of inebriated locals entertaining them. Very funny…. Then suddenly – they were all gone! And we were left on our own again – and the guitar player regaled us with funny stories and let slip that he played as a session musician for the Rolling Stones in the late 1970s. Reckon he was probably a better player without the copious amounts of rum he had clearly imbibed that afternoon! Later on, back on board, to an evening in the cockpit listening to some random music from the iPod before turning in.

Wednesday and Richard has done engine checks while I’ve tackled more laundry – not sure where it all comes from!  While I wrote the blog Richard also cleaned the waterline…. We then headed into Charlestown for the final time to clear out of customs and to get this published. Well – customs accomplished – but would you believe it, this was the day that the whole island of Nevis lost its internet connection!!!!  Frustrated to say the least….

We spent our final afternoon in Nevis bobbing off Pinneys beach and visiting Sunshines bar again. Very different experience today – nobody around at all – except for the swarm of bees that we had to run from….into Sunshines. Apparently this is why they call their cocktail “Killer Bees” but I’m not buying it!  Back on board for an early night and our final Nevis sunset.

This morning – Thursday – we headed out early to St Eustatius (known as Statia). This is a Dutch island about 28 miles north. We bypassed St Kitts this time although enjoyed the sea views of the magnificent Brimstown Fort  that we enjoyed so much last year…..

The sailing was absolutely perfect – 14-17 knots constant and all down wind. Fantastic…..thoroughly enjoyed it.

Arrived into Statia this afternoon and have just cleared in….. Was pretty simple and no money exchanges hands….even though it is actually a bank holiday here today. Great to be back – this was one of our favourite islands. We plan just to chill here for a few days before continuing our passage north.

Bye for now

Jan

Thursday morning and we are up bright and early – and realise that many of the boats have left the anchorage at first light. So we picked up the anchor – again – to move further in towards the beach into shallower water. Also gets us out of the way if loads of boats turn up later in the day….

After a hearty breakfast we head into the dock to meet our fellow cruisers and Joe, our tour guide. Joe is very friendly and wants to tell us his story…..and, unlike other guides on the island, he has a wealth of materials to show us on his iPad to make the whole thing come alive.

Driving away from Little Bay – on relatively new hairpin roads – we enjoy views of the bay and Morphie. On the way we wondered why the traffic had stopped – and it was to let a huge iguana cross the road. Very funny!

The first stop is the new Cultural Centre which opened in 2007. This was thanks to the efforts of Sir George Martin (former EMI record producer). Sir George Martin owns the prestigious AIR Studios on Montserrat (which were wrecked by Hurricane Hugo and never reopened and are now within the volcano exclusion zone) and produced many hits here with stars such as Dire Straights, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, The Police, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins to name but a few. He still owns property here and visits the island annually.

After initial volcanic activity in 1995 and the tragedy in June 1997 when the pyroclastic flows killed 29 people, Sir George decided to give something back to Montserrat. So he organised a major fund raising event Music for Montserrat in September 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall featuring many of the AIR Studios stars performing free of charge. The funds raised built this new Cultural Centre which has a ‘helping hands’ wall…. featuring handprints of some of the stars, along with a few golden discs from local heroes such as Arrow – of Feeling Hot Hot Hot fame…..

Moving on we realised that most of the new buildings we had seen were Government related – new jail, new police station, fire station etc – to replace the loss of these facilities in Plymouth, which is buried in a vast field of gray volcanic debris. Almost half of the island is now uninhabitable with up to two thirds behind gates and an exclusion zone. As part of the tour we were going to go into the exclusion zone so we stopped at the police station to get permission and to give over our personal details – just in case?!?

On the way to the exclusion zone we stopped at the Runaway Ghaut where natural spring water flows constantly – so we both tried it before moving on.  Apparently Montserrat has more spring water than it needs and that the annual small fee to each householder for their water – around US$10 – is purely to pay for the pumping facilities to move it around…..

Driving through the gates into the exclusion zone we enter an eerie place…. The ash has built up over time and is very fertile – so the houses are being reclaimed by the jungle. Particularly in Joe’s home village of Cork Hill…. where roads no longer exist and you can spot remains of houses hidden in the undergrowth. There are signs that this was a thriving community once – with street lamps appearing in the middle of nowhere and some remnants of electricity and telephone poles… But you have to look hard to see the houses and work out where the roads might have been.

Joe’s family were given notice to pack a bag for the weekend as the mountain was showing further signs of activity and they were at risk. So they all evacuated to schools and other government buildings into what was considered safe areas. That weekend in 1997 lasted for two and a half years when they lived in a school classroom – before Joe was able to rebuild a new home for his family, in another part of the island. He was allowed back to collect more belongings with a police escort but that was it. No insurance payment – Act of God – and their homes and land are uninhabitable and worthless at this moment of time. So very sad to realise that whole communities were broken up – many of them relocating to the UK and never to return. Some people did not even go back to their damaged homes to salvage anything – we saw signs of clothes and other belongings strewn around within the broken buildings. Joe is an amazingly upbeat character considering what his family have gone through, and are still living through.

The Soufriere Hills volcano remains active – with its last major event in February 2010 when ash was reported at up to 50,000 feet with the pyroclastic flow extending the coastline at the old Bramble Airport by several hundred metres. But the upside to that is there is now a new major export activity in gravel and sand…. and they are trying to harness the geo-thermal properties to produce electricity. There are also hot thermal spring waters too. And all this activity happens within the exclusion zone so they have installed a state-of-the-art siren system which is solar powered. However, having seen some of the video footage when one flow made it from the top of one of the domes to the sea in less than 30 seconds….not sure this actually would be of much use!

Moving on we parked in what looked like an old quarry…. with rocks and ash strewn everywhere. Then Joe brings out his photos – look at this he said. This was a hill, with a tall bridge and a river running under. See that house there – that was on top of the hill…. And with the excavations going on in this area we could see just how many layers of ash that have built up over the years. Without those photos this would just be another flat rubble-strewn area – but this made it very real. Apparently there is a golf course and the 19th hole under here too….

Moving on and we go to a luxury hotel which had a prime spot overlooking the old capital Plymouth. Going inside the structure there is ash everywhere and the place is deserted and sad. And I’m standing in the swimming pool at the deep end which was 8 ½ feet deep!!!! Joe was slightly melancholy at this point when faced with the mountain which had changed his life…..

Looking across to Plymouth and the scale of the devastation becomes clear…. just wrecks left. The first photo shows a snapshot of Plymouth and the volcano behind it before any activity. The second and third shows Plymouth as it stands today, taken from the hotel.

Then here is Plymouth after the first eruptions……

And the same place after subsequent eruptions…. huge difference in the levels.

Here are a few more shots…and each time there is any activity or even rain bringing down more ash from the volcano, the area just gets covered again. This area is unlikely to be habitable ever again…..

Tour almost over and we drive through the countryside looking at some of the newer villages that have been created out of what was jungle. This beautiful green island has a lot going for it and I hope that the result of their spending on new infrastructure projects brings in more tourist dollars for them. They deserve it!

Back to Little Bay we go to the local bar for a couple of beers.   On the way back to Morphie we have a little chat with the pelican dinghy captain and both the stork and the egret waiting for the fishermen, who still use traditional hand-crafted wooden boats.

Then head back on board for a quiet night and to reflect on today. I’m glad we came – we have been both educated and humbled by these people. Feel very fortunate right now.

Another blog to bring us up to date will follow soon… Bye for now

Jan

Wednesday morning we are up before it really is morning!   Prepared sandwiches for our passage and picked up anchor at 5.30 am…. watching the sun come up over the hills of Guadeloupe as we headed out towards Montserrat.

We feel very lucky to be able to visit Montserrat on this occasion – you have to have the right sea / weather conditions as the anchorage can be untenable otherwise combined with little volcanic activity in the area. The conditions are right so we are finally on our way…. This is the first time we will have set foot on the island but we actually flew over Montserrat – on a helicopter trip – shortly after the eruptions and while the volcano was still spitting out ash and rock high into the sky. So this has always been a place we have wanted to visit properly.

Of course, the completely flat weather conditions mean also that we have little or no wind….. We started out sailing – then motor sailing – then just plain old motoring as the wind dropped to nothing!   The passage was not the most comfortable one either as the sea kept on rolling us from side to side….. Oh well never mind – at least the sun is out and the skies are blue! Richard is fishing – again….. He has been dragging this lure around behind us for hundreds of miles but still no luck. I can’t even be bothered to watch for a bite now!

Coming towards Montserrat and the island reaches into the clouds…. and is obviously still generating a cloud of its own. The first signs of the ash flow which devastated Plymouth, the capital, and miles around are easy to see…. as is the steam still coming from the top of the mountain. Clearly it’s not finished blowing its top just yet… years on from the initial eruptions in 1995 and the major devastating eruptions in 1997.

Although we remained outside of the exclusion zone we headed in as close as we were allowed and spot a barge tied to an old dock and clouds of ash moving around. All very odd – it turns out it is trucks filling up the barge with sand and gravel, now the island’s major export.

Further along the coast and we spot some more steam….. huge billows of clouds high into the air…. Wasn’t expecting that there would be volcanic activity away from the mountain peaks so a bit surprised by this….. it turns out it is actually a pipe with scientists and engineers trying to tap into the geo-thermal power of this very active volcano….

Enjoying the sights and marvelling at the power of nature and – we have a bite!!!!!! OMG – Richard is rushing for the line while I slow the boat and get the gaff, the gloves and the rum. Rum???? Yes, really….. Apparently you can kill fish very quickly and easily with alcohol down their gills rather than bashing them over the head – and we have some particularly awful rum we purchased in Grenada that we have been saving for this moment……

The fish is fighting…. so Richard is getting excited…… Oh no… it is a barracuda!  A decent sized one but not something we want to eat so after he has his photo opportunity we let him live to fight another day and release him back into the sea. But at least Richard has broken his duck. Next time we are looking for a tuna or a mahi mahi to fill up the freezer LOL !!!!

Excitement over and we are now pulling into Little Bay our intended anchorage. We make our required VHF call to the Port Authority requesting permission to anchor… He tells us ‘north of the large catamaran’.  So we do as we are told and get ourselves cleaned up. Dropped dink off his davits and we head into the pier to do the formalities…. should be easy as we have done this on-line with the Sail Clear system. Arriving at the pier and we are told by the Port Authority that we need to move Morphie – we are, allegedly, impeding the ferry’s channel. Well – not going to argue with him – but seriously….???   We have anchored where we were told to….and, in our humble opinion, we are not in the way. Not a great welcome to be honest. But we agree – of course! – that we will move – but can we clear in to the country first please? That was agreed so we secure dink to the really dirty pier and head into customs. We loved the welcoming stork though!!!

Oh yes…and guess what…. the Sail Clear system has crashed. So we are given the forms – in triplicate with carbon – to complete manually. Oh well…. never mind!  Forms filled in and the customs girl – who, to be fair was very helpful and charming – said she couldn’t clear us in and out at the same time because we wanted to stay until Saturday, which was beyond their 72 hour limit. Fine – we’ll come back to clear out then….which we’ll do late on Friday.

In the meantime another cruising couple, Phil and Karen, have asked us if we want to go on a tour tomorrow to share the costs – we say yes…but who is it with? They say Joe Phillip – who we have heard about and comes highly recommended – so agree to go for it. So our island tour is fixed for 10.00 am on Thursday. Bidding farewells we rush back to Morphie to pick up anchor…..

Picked up anchor and loads of other boats turn up simultaneously…. it’s all a bit of a bun fight as the anchorage isn’t particularly large but we all fit in eventually. And at least two boats are closer to the channel than we were originally but they don’t get asked to move – so figure that one out?!?

Securely anchored for the second time and we head back into Little Bay to have a wander around. About to leave the Port Authority gates and we get asked – have you filled in this form? What form????? This one???? Er – no – were we supposed to??? Yes apparently. So I take a seat and fill this one in too – luckily we hadn’t unpacked the rucksack so I still had all the boat papers that we needed with us, otherwise it would have been another trip back to Morphie! Filled it in – and then she asked us for the receipt for our clearance. What receipt we asked? For the money you paid she says. Er no….haven’t paid yet….got to pay on departure apparently…. That’s no good she says and rushes off to talk to the customs people. After a frustrating wait she returns and lets us go…..

Phew…..finally we are legal…..and we can go out of the complex. There really isn’t much here – although they are building heavily to attract people into the island with major construction going on along the waterfront. But we found a local bar called Mooses and had a few cold Caribs to smooth out the irritations…. Also got a very slow internet connection but at least we could tell people we were safe and sound.

We chatted to a few ex-pats and locals – including some Montserratians who had moved to the UK when they had lost everything in the original volcanic eruption. This island remains a British territory – rather than an ex-British island as so many of them are around here. And we got talking to a lady – who lives in Nottingham – who had come home for the St George’s school reunion. These people used to live in a village called St George’s in an area called Harris, which remains within the exclusion zone so have all relocated either on the island or to the UK. They were all dressed up in their matching shirts and were in good humour – so had a bit of a giggle and they kindly allowed me to take their photos….

Few more beers later and we head back to Morphie – via the immigration hut to get our passports stamped. This was a voluntary option… Again I’m asked to fill out forms and I wondered why we have volunteered for this????    Anyway….half way through….another immigration officer calls me back and says, tear up the forms, you don’t need them, I’ll just stamp your passport. This is mad!!!!

Montserrat use the Irish Shamrock here for their immigration stamp and call themselves the other Emerald Isle – which links back to the days of Irish settlers who arrived in the 1600s. Many of these Irish settlers were small farmers but as the economy changed with sugar becoming the main crop and the introduction of slaves a lot of them returned to Ireland. But their legacy and names remain…..

Back on board we enjoyed our first Montserrat sunset and had an early night…. We have a busy day ahead tomorrow (Thursday) with the island tour planned and are really looking forward to it.

I realise I’m a bit behind with the blog – because of poor internet speeds on Montserrat – so will update again soon.   Watch out for the next instalment called Joe and the Volcano!

Bye for now

Jan

Saturday morning, to our surprise, we found that the shops were open.   So we did a bit of provisioning – we particularly wanted to get some supplies of pate and cheese before we left the French islands – and spent most of the morning in the internet cafe doing the laundry. They will do it for you – at a price – but we decided to catch up on a few things while we were waiting for it so did it ourselves.    All done and back to Morphie…. But it was mid afternoon by this time….

Whilst ashore I had felt quite land sick – and the rolly conditions in the anchorage didn’t help when we got back either. It was blowing like stink too.  So we decided to stay on board and have a lazy afternoon. I had a couple of hours sleep and Richard sunbathed on the deck. Later on I felt better and we had a light supper…. whilst the catamaran in front of us continued to play music very loudly. In the end we retreated down below and shut the hatches….it was horrendous….and they partied all through the night again…. Grrrrrrrr……

So Sunday morning we were feeling tired and grumpy!   But the sun was up and it looked like a nice day.  So we did a few boat jobs in the morning and headed into the town beach for another bobbing afternoon.

Interestingly a pagoda type structure had been erected on the beach – so we thought something might be going down later… but nothing did, people were just using it to get shade under!   All a bit strange…. But not as strange as the guy with the largest e-cigarette we have ever seen!

We enjoyed our bobbing and people watching.   And the sky was starting to look ominous again….. particularly the clouds building over Guadeloupe in the distance.   Looks like more weather coming.

Back on board and we spent some time watching the frigate birds and the pelicans fighting for scraps as the fishermen cleaned their catch. Later on there was a moody sunset… Definitely looks like more weather on its way.

Monday morning and yes it is pouring. Just a usual UK Bank Holiday Monday then LOL!   We sit out the squalls – and the white-outs – as they come through and head into town for a leisurely lunch in a small restaurant overlooking the anchorage.

And the food was fantastic.

The anchorage had started to clear out as people headed back home to get ready for work I guess…..and thankfully the party boats had gone too!    Hurrah…. Back on board and we had a quiet evening before retiring to bed early.

Tuesday morning and up really early – slipped our mooring ball at 7.00 am with coffee and rolls already made up for the run across the channel and up the coast of Guadeloupe to Deshaies, our next port of call.  Another cloudy and gloomy day but the rain stopped around 8 am…. Said a fond farewell to the Saintes as we headed out.

Had a great sail – with wind behind us and following seas – past the lighthouse and marvelled at how built-up and European looking Guadeloupe is. Which is common amongst the French Caribbean islands… Half way up the coast we had a 120 degree wind shift so, of course, the wind is now on our nose! So we ended up motoring the rest of the way, sadly….

Arrived into Deshaies and it is busy…. We end up having to anchor in 35 feet of water but couldn’t get in any closer. Oh well….. Only staying for one night anyway as we are going to make this a jumping off point to Montserrat.  We missed Montserrat on the way down the island chain last year as the weather conditions were not conducive…. but the forecast for the next few days is looking very favourable. Very excited!

So we went ashore – primarily to check out of customs for the following day. And, of course, the little shop that does this is closed.  Between 12.30 and 4 pm – for lunch! The town is completely closed right now….hard to believe this is just after 2pm on a Tuesday!  Oh well…. We head off to a local hostelry and had some lunch ourselves. What else could we do???  Lovely cod fritters this time. Actually this enforced stop was pretty handy because I picked up their wifi code and they allow us to use it – free of charge – in the anchorage… result!

Found the local bakery – I am really going to miss the daily fresh baguettes! – the pretty church and the supermarket after lunch as well as completed our customs / immigration checkout.   Which in the French islands consists of typing stuff into a computer, printing it off, getting a stamp and paying a fee……   Quite a different approach from the ex-British islands who still do everything in triplicate using carbon papers!

We are now back on board and are planning an early night as we want to be up very early and off in the morning for the nine hour or so passage…   Hopefully this rolly, 360 degree movement, will abate when the sun goes down!

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday morning we did very little but did get around to cleaning Morphie’s hull in the afternoon….. which was surprisingly clean, considering how long we had spent in the marina over the last month. While we were in the water we had noticed that quite a few largish catamarans had come in – all full of young guys and girls, maximum age 18 we reckoned. They had no skippers on board with them and couldn’t even drive straight towards a mooring ball – the guy who collects the fees actually had to tow one of the boats to the ball to get them attached. Scary stuff…..

As the afternoon went on they got louder, shouting at each other across the bay – unfortunately we had two of these boats behind us – and then, thankfully, they went ashore…. Hurrah peace restored.  And then, of course, they came back and carried on whooping and hollering…. Finally we gave up and went to bed but this was a rolly night so sleep was a bit elusive – and the party boats continued to party…. The last time we heard them was at 4.30 am…. We were definitely not amused and felt very grumpy and old!!!!

Wednesday morning and we head in to hire an electric car to explore the island. We arrive just after the day-trip ferry has come in from Guadeloupe… and no cars available as they have to be reserved in advance. Well we did try to do that the other day but virtually got pushed out of the door as the guy was locking up for his two hour lunch while telling us to come back tomorrow!!! Oh well – best laid plans and all that.  So we reserved a two-seater car for Thursday instead.

Not wanting to go straight back to Morphie we decided to walk across the island to visit Grande Anse beach.  We admired first the doctor’s house – which is built into the cliff and shaped like a ship – donated to the island, providing a doctor remains living in it….    Very interesting structure….

Wandering up, down and around the island we enjoyed the beautiful flowers that adorn most hedges; met some local critters; marvelled at what passes for a main road here; admired the serene setting of the island’s cemetery; and finally ended up at Grande Anse.

Grande Anse is beautiful and wild – and very clearly not a swimming beach – as the undertow here is very dangerous.  We wandered around and had some fun in the sand… and came across the end of the runway to the little island airport.  Misjudge that one and you end up in the drink!

Having got a bit hot and bothered we wandered back to the town beach and was looking for a place to sit and have a cold drink while people watching. Having walked about five miles we felt we deserved it!  So we tried half a dozen places – but either no-one around to serve or no drink without food.  We were a bit fed up at this point – especially as we wanted to spend some euros – so we headed back to Morphie, checking out the unusual lamps and signage at a couple of the restaurants along the way.

We packed a cooler with food and drink and returned.  We beached dink and had a really good time bobbing in the sea and enjoying the sun….. The water is spectacular and clear here…. During the afternoon we watched a few planes come in low over the town heading to that tiny airport and enjoyed watching the pelicans hunting for fish too.  And we could keep an eye on Morphie and her large neighbours too.   Life is good!

Back on board and we were relieved that the party boats had left during the day… We had just showered off on the transom – but were still in our swimsuits – and suddenly we had a couple of dolphins visit the stern of Morphie. I jumped in quickly but they scarpered…. Never mind…was quite an exciting moment…. And so to bed.

Thursday morning up early and go to collect our solar-powered car. Oh yes and it is raining….hard!!!   Oh well…. we can’t do anything about that as we have reserved and pre-paid… just have to make the most of it. Finally we get our hands on the car – no driving licence required – and it is a weird looking thing. We couldn’t help but break out into a rendition of Postman Pat as we drove away – all we needed was that black and white cat LOL.

Richard was desperate to try out his racing driver skills and it was pretty scary when he was tearing around at the maximum speed of around 15 miles an hour… Don’t laugh – these roads are barely made for walking, let alone fast buggies!!!

First stop was up to Fort Napoleon which has been well restored and there were stunning views from the ramparts… Shame about the rain and the grey skies though!!!

The museum was pretty interesting and had a great range of naval information but very little in the way of actual historical objects save from a few bits and pieces. But we particularly enjoyed some of the battle scene artwork and the beautifully crafted models of the ships involved in the numerous battles fought in these waters.

Moving on and we drive down to Baie to Pompierre – which is a stunning beach… even in the rain…..

Afterwards we explored the whole island – having to enter many of the coves on foot as the final approach to them was not navigable in our little buggy.  We had a nice time – even though it was still raining.   We particularly enjoyed watching the little goats keeping dry by the stadium and under anything they could find!

We then decided to go to La Papilotte for lunch, which is in a stunning place called Baie du Marigot, and was the highlight of our visit here last year. Got there just in time to get one of the last tables and placed our order. We had fantastic food and wine…. this is a great place and very worthy of its rating. Having finished a leisurely meal we asked for the bill and went to the bar to pay it…. We were treated to a free rum shot – and Richard was given his in a very unusual shot glass!

The sun was now starting to come out so we head back to Baie de Pompierre and enjoyed an afternoon of bobbing. Driving back through the town we marvel at the amount of derelict houses that are just left to rot and wonder about the stories behind them…..

We hand back our car – which we had grown quite fond of during the day – and had a final glass of wine watching the day trippers line up for the ferry back to Guadeloupe. Back to Morphie and we enjoy sitting in the cockpit enjoying the final hours of the evening with some tunes…. No dinner tonight – still full up from lunch!

Friday – and it’s Easter and to make us feel at home it is a rainy squally day…. Happy Easter to all our friends and family. Enjoy your long weekend…..

No chocolate eggs on board but I did manage to get some Smarties and Galaxy the other day so we enjoyed them instead. We did very little apart from a little bit of handwashing and we made water. We didn’t got off the boat at all – and thoroughly enjoyed our lazy day, which was rounded off by the beautiful colour of the sky as the sun prepared to say farewell.

This morning – Saturday – and we plan to head into town and hoping that the rain will go away….. Not sure what will be open or going on… but fingers crossed that the laundry will be open so I can get the heavy stuff done.   After that maybe lunch?  Maybe beach or chair bobbing?  We’ll just have to see how we feel…..

Bye for now

Jan

Friday morning and we were up bright and early…… Headed into Cafe Ole for our final breakfast; went into the marina office to pay our bill; and then into customs and immigration to check out for Saturday. All jobs done….and back to Morphie.

We didn’t have any help on the dock but I managed to reverse Morphie out into the channel without leaving Richard behind on the dock!  Success…. and now we headed to the fuel dock. As we are coming in the dock guys were busy with others…so we shouted at them that we would go around again to give them time to get ready to receive us.  So we are doing a 360 and suddenly a Danish yacht turned up and started to go inside of us. After a few minutes of yelling and pointing he realised what we were up to and gave us room… So now lining up nicely to the dock and suddenly a dinghy appears in front of our bow to tie to the dock, right where we were planning to be….. Richard used some working class language to let them know of his strength of feelings and they decided to move away rather than be run down.  Phew….so stressful all this!    Finally refuelled with both diesel and petrol….. and we head out into the bay.

In the bay we struggled initially to get our anchor set …. so moved to another spot. This time we found sand first time and the anchor set….and then the chain jammed into the windlass. So we couldn’t pick up or drop more… Was a bit worried about the strain on the windlass taking the whole weight of the boat so we managed to manhandle and snub the line while we had a look to see what had happened. Well it was jammed solid…. so we turned the power off to the windlass while we investigated. Finally after some brute strength combined with some pretty ingenious moves in a very small space, Richard had it working again and reassembled. My hero!    So we dropped more chain, backed down, picked some up to check it all worked properly and then finally, happy, we snubbed ready for the night. The time is now getting on and it’s about 2.00 pm…. and we were starting to wonder where Evensong had got to. Well about 3.30 pm we decided they weren’t coming – and I was a bit concerned about them – so tried to hail them on the VHF. They were too far away, as it turned out, so were unable to pick us up. Oh well… no bobbing for us today then as dink and the outboard remain on the rail ready for our passage to the Saintes. Never mind….  we decided to just sit on the transom of Morphie with our feet in the water, cold beer in hand (the first for a few days) and enjoyed the panoramic views of Rodney Bay while watching the sun go down. And so to bed – early.

Saturday morning we have had our breakfast and are getting ready to pick up our anchor when we hear Evensong hailing us on the radio. They were stuck in the Piton anchorage because the driver failed to pick Dan, Andy and Kristin up from their hike up one of the Pitons…. and by the time they got back it was too late to come on round. Phew…at least they were safe!  So we head out as they head in, around 10.15 – and we briefly sailed parallel to shout greetings and farewells…. Felt sad…..

Getting the sails up we moved out fast and shot across the St Lucia to Martinique channel very quickly averaging 7.5 to 8 knots…. although we did experience a 60 degree wind shift when we got to Martinique near Fort de France so the wind that was on our back was now on our nose!  Typical…. but we were able to continue sailing our course. We enjoyed the mountainous views at the top of the island and watching other sailors enjoying the fantastic conditions. Blue seas combined with blue skies, 4-6 feet seas and 15 knots of breeze. And a huge moon came up early too….

Getting close to the Martinique to Dominica channel and the sun is starting to set. And we have dolphins!  Not many, quite small ones, but very very close to our stern and gave us both a real boost….

My solo shift starts at 6pm for three hours so as we head into the channel I’m on my own, with Richard sleeping down below. Great…. the winds pick up to 25 knots sustained, the seas are bigger and more confused and I have a tanker bearing down on me, a cruise ship running alongside, a big motor boat that (thankfully) decides to go behind my stern…. But all hazards were avoided and we were still sailing hard….. Really enjoyed it…and, of course, Richard comes up for his shift and the wind has calmed down back to 18 knots. Typical!!!!

We arrive at Scotts Head – the southerly point of Dominica – by 11pm that night. Ooops… that was a bit earlier than planned, as we wanted to whale watch in day light along the middle to north coast of Dominica, looking out for that pod of sperm whales we know lives there…  So we decided to reduce sail and slow down…. and then, of course, the wind died to 5 knots. But we carried on – even though we were only going 1.5 knots ourselves – and enjoyed the sloooowwwww sail until the wind died completely once we had passed Roseau and we had to put the engine on.   Oh well…. Motor sailing along at around 3 knots we continued with our shift pattern of three hours on / three hours off until sunrise. And guess what?!?   We were entertained by the most beautiful pod of large dolphins under our bow who were playing, looking at us, jumping, and generally swimming along having fun… They stayed with us quite a while so we had some good photo opportunities. What an amazing start to a day. Enjoy the pictures!

Moving past Portsmouth we rounded the top of Dominica and the wind and waves picked up again…. a bit swelly but only 18-20 knots of breeze. Fantastic conditions. Had a wonderful sail and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We pulled into Terre de Haut, Iles des Saintes, at around 10.15 am. So a 24 hour sail in the end – covering 112 miles.

We picked up a mooring ball easily, cleaned up, put up the quarantine flag and retired to our bed for a few hours. During this time we heard someone knocking on the hull but we just turned over!   Later on we went ashore – taking boat papers just in case the clearance place was open – and enjoyed a couple of cold beers before heading back to Morphie. Of course, clearance is not possible in a French island on a Sunday!

Monday morning up early as we were awakened at 7.30 am by the guy who collects the mooring fees! This must have been who had been knocking on our hull the previous afternoon….. We headed into the clearance place and found ourselves in a long queue. Ahead of us was Arnd from Zanshin – who we had last met in the BVI around 2011 when we all went onboard Namaste for sundowners – which was then being chartered by Kristine and Doug. What a small world!   Unfortunately he was only checking in to move north so we were not able to spend any time with him….but great to catch up if only for a short while.

The rest of the morning we wandered around this sleepy place looking at a few shops, enjoying a typical French breakfast, buying a couple of things – particularly cheese, pate and bread! – and enjoyed watching the pelicans waiting for the fishermen, just outside the brand new fish market. This place is absolutely beautiful and we are pleased to be back….

Monday afternoon – having cleaned all the salt off of Morphie from her latest passage – we had an afternoon bobbing session in our chairs and then enjoyed the moody sunset, early dinner and another early night. We were hoping to get up to watch the lunar eclipse at around 3 am but unfortunately it was very cloudy and poured with rain most of the night. Typical – no rain for ages either.

Tuesday (today) we are having a lazy day on board although we have a list of boat jobs to do too……  Tomorrow we are hoping to hire an electric buggy to tour the island – something we didn’t do last year. Looking forward to that.

Bye for now

Jan