Sunday afternoon after Hellfire and Fiona had left we went back to Morphie and chilled. At around 5.30 pm Dan came over to let us know that Kristin and Andy had arrived safely from the US and wanted us to join them for sundowners.   We knew that Dan and Ruth had been eagerly awaiting their daughter’s arrival and were keen for us to meet…. so we went over, expecting to stay for a short while as they had had a long journey and were very tired…   But – as is often the way when we get together! – we had a few drinks and were persuaded to stay for pizzas too… We had a lovely evening together before retiring back to Morphie for “pontoonies” on our own…..

Monday and we are up a bit later than usual and first thing we do is strip beds and collect all the laundry together. Four large bags ready – we radioed Mr Sparkle – and put them on the rail to be collected by him during the day. We then gathered up our computers and headed into Café Ole for breakfast and, primarily, internet access.  We had had little time online while Hellfire and Fiona were on board and had a lot to catch up on…. including getting the blog of their trip published and sorting out American Airlines who had decided to amend our August flights home to a schedule that no longer worked!!!!

Anyway…. we did most of the stuff…. but the bandwidth was causing download / speed problems as more and more people came into this very popular coffee shop.   While we were there Ruth and Kirstin popped in and invited us to go bobbing in the small marina pool later on….   Yes, that sounds good to us, so we accepted the invitation before we moved upstairs to Bosuns and carried on with our internet stuff using their free wifi. It was now getting on for lunchtime so Richard treated me to a toasted sandwich and a soda.   Back on board – Mr Sparkle had already collected the laundry – we chilled for a short while before packing our little cooler and headed off to the pool.

We enjoyed bobbing in the pool with the Evensong gang before we all headed back to our respective boats to get cleaned up for dinner.   This evening Ruth had organised for us all to go out to dinner with Ed and Ann (Windswept Dreams) who were flying home the following day.   So we headed over early evening to the Brig Unicorn for dinner…  Had a little tour of the 1947 Netherland’s built vessel – which was originally designed to  carry sand before being converted to a pirate boat and then used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie….   Had a final group photo – and yes, it was dedicated loud shirt day! – before settling down for dinner.

It was a special pasta night and great value – EC $20 for pasta, garlic bread and a glass of wine. That’s £5 a head!  Amazing…..and all served by the friendliest waiter ever called Junior.  Lovely evening had by all…

Tuesday and we really needed to get our act together.  All this lazing about when Morphie was looking pretty grubby inside and salty outside just will not do!  So up very early and we started – with Richard reorganising our stuff back into the stern cabin – and I started scrubbing and cleaning anything that was static!   Unfortunately the 12 volt vacuum cleaner broke at this point so back to the old fashioned method of dustpan and brush. Oh well…   Once inside was done Richard scrubbed the exterior while I did a bit of cooking – salmon fish cakes – for sundowners, as we’d invited the Evensong gang over so that Kristin and Andy could meet Morphie.

Realising that I was out of one ingredient I popped into the marina supermarket and was delighted to find full-sized cans of Carib beer in stock!     Yippppppeeeee…..  So I bought one slab there and then and sent Richard back for a couple more slabs later in the afternoon. That’s us sorted for a considerable amount of time!

Phew…. all done….. Morphie is looking gorgeous, the food is ready, and the gang arrived ready to tuck into some rum punch and my concoctions. They went down really well!

Dan is on cooking duty tonight so invites us to join them. We say ‘no’ – this is your family time together we can’t impose on another night…. They, however, will not take no for an answer!   So we end up having Dan’s special chicken dish and some Thai green curry on board Evensong.  Lovely time had by all….and great food!  Thanks…. Oh yes and Dan stayed up almost to 9.45 when we left – pretty late for him LOL.

Wednesday and we are up and about going through all the cupboards to find out what provisions we had left in our stores as today is shopping day.   Quite a list to get…..   We really needed a lot of meat / fish for the freezer – and the snack cupboard was completely bare. Was pretty pleased with our provisioning for Hellfire and Fiona’s trip – nearly everything had gone apart from some cans and a few bottles of wine….

Dink is still up on his davits and the outboard is on the rail… which is perfect for when we leave the marina and continue our travels north… so we left it like that and took a taxi round to the shops.  Managed to get most things – including a new 12v vacuum cleaner from the hardware store – and we were back on board around lunchtime.   By this time Evensong had left the marina for the Pitons where they planned to spend a couple of nights.

In the afternoon we had a guy revisit us from the electronics shop. We had previously had a problem with the chart plotters refusing to talk to the VHF radio which is very important for emergency use of the DSC alarms (as it identifies our latitude and longitude at the moment of the button being pressed). This had previously been identified as an installation issue. We were happy it had been resolved but during our recent trip down island we noticed that the AIS was not working properly….  and once we were back in the marina we identified that it was a high speed mode versus NMEA in/out mode on the two ports being used.   AIS worked in high speed mode but VHF didn’t….and vice versa. They both wouldn’t work at the same time so clearly there was a conflict somewhere between the AIS, the VHF and the plotters. So we asked the guy to come back and, yes, it was what we thought and, luckily, he thought he knew how to resolve it.  If you saw the huge amount of wiring that is involved with the two GPS receivers, the two plotters, the radar, the VHF etc you will understand why we didn’t fiddle ourselves!  Thankfully all was finally resolved after some scratching off heads and delving into installation manuals…. Phew relieved about that!

We stayed onboard Wednesday night and had an early night after a curry dinner – which was actually defrosted warmed up leftovers!   But still tasted pretty good…

Thursday and I took the opportunity of having another massage here in the marina. Wandering back feeling a bit tender after the pummelling and I noticed that all the customs / immigration guys were out on the veranda, so wondered whether the air conditioning had broken down???   Amazing how much the marina has cleared out in the past couple of weeks – really quite empty now….    And our favourite marina bar remained firmly closed….

While I was out Richard had been doing routine engine maintenance amongst other things. He had also collected the wine I had ordered from the marina wine merchant…. So we are now fully restocked…. repacked and ready to go. Water tanks are full again too…. We had another lazy afternoon and evening – not even getting off the boat. Lazy but lovely!    We have enjoyed our time here in the marina again but it really is time to get back out on the hook…..

Friday we are planning to check out of the marina, check out of customs and immigration (giving us 24 hours to leave the country), fill up with duty-free diesel and petrol and head out into the bay opposite Mum’s hotel.   Evensong are planning to join us for an afternoon beach bobbing session which will be our last get together in the islands this season.   On Saturday we are leaving St Lucia for the final time, proposing to head north to Iles des Saintes – beautiful French islands off the bottom of Guadeloupe.  We plan – weather permitting – to sail straight past Martinique and Dominica, having already explored them this season. This passage should take us around 21 hours…

So bye for now and will be in touch from France!

Jan

Wednesday and we were up and about early in preparation for the run to Mustique, saying a sad farewell to the beautiful Tobago Cays..

We passed behind Canouan into the Atlantic to get a good sailing angle and the weather was very grey with rougher seas than forecast.  As usual!   Anyway, as we needed to make water, we sailed with the engine ticking over.   Suddenly we had a 20 degree shift in the wind direction so we headed back to the Caribbean side and we had a great sail with Hellfire at the helm into Mustique.

We picked up an obligatory mooring ball and Richard dropped trash off ashore.  Richard, Hellfire and Fiona then took a wander around the small main street while I took the opportunity of an empty boat to do a quick boat wash and brush up…..

After lunch on board we all had a lazy afternoon enjoying the beautiful anchorage and then headed into the infamous Basil’s Bar for sundowners. The local band were setting up for the evening party – the only problem was there were hardly anyone around, although we did spot Basil himself for a short while. After having a couple of expensive beers – which didn’t seem tooooo bad at 12.50 ECD a bottle (about £3) – until we realised that they added 10% service and 15% VAT to the basic price. Oh well, we did get to see the sun go down and had free internet service thrown in!!!  Our server was pretty eager to please too….. We went back on board for a (huge!) steak dinner and I crashed pretty early although I did take some time out to star gaze from the coach roof.

Thursday we enjoyed a smoked salmon and scrambled egg breakfast and a leisurely start to the day.  Around 11 – accompanied by a packed picnic lunch – we met with Michael our taxi driver – who was huge and used to pay professional basketball.  He apologetically told us that Mustique was currently “shut down” so although we could visit Macaroni Beach he was not allowed to leave us there. Damn!!!   This was where we had planned to spend the afternoon….. We were quite fed up – particularly as the beach wasn’t that busy and they really wouldn’t have noticed us….. Oh well, this is a private island after all and the Mustique Company dictate the rules.  So we did the short island tour – with Richard and Hellfire having fun with the sexy tortoise statue…. During the tour we found out that Mick Jagger was on island, so perhaps the “shut down” was related to him getting some privacy while he grieves??   We got over our disappointment quickly when we ended up back on a small beach we were allowed to stay on, and there was no-one around….  so we took ownership of a picnic table and ate our lunch, followed by a very shallow bob at the water’s edge, being entertained by seagulls whilst admiring superyachts in the anchorage….. Great time had by all…..

We were back on board for more drinks and dinner – with Richard being in party mood and feeling a bit rebellious – so we had loads of tunes, rum drinking and singing along before headed off to bed…..

Friday we were up pretty early and were underway just after 9. Got a great sailing angle and sailed pretty much all the way from Mustique to Bequia. Was lovely!  We all went ashore; had a local roti lunch; checked out of St Vincent and the Grenadines and then headed to the beach for another bobbing session and a final farewell to Lucie, Patrick and Linda with a fleeting visit from Chris. Had a great time and enjoyed a very early night after another moody sunset.

Saturday morning and we were up very early before picking up our anchor around 5.50 am. Heading out into the channel to St Vincent and we enjoyed seeing the sun rise….

The weather forecast lied again – why does this surprise me every time? – and we had 18-23 knots of breeze at around a 45 degree angle, with short sharp choppy seas in the channel…. Pushed on and hit glassy seas with lower winds as we ran alongside St Vincent. Then we spotted a pirogue heading out – very fast – to sea crossing our bow.  We then spotted that he had a harpoon gun on the bow. Oh no, this is a traditional whaling boat. We knew that Bequia had taken a whale earlier in the week but hoped that this hunt ended up with the whale winning!

The channel between St Vincent and St Lucia was also rough and challenging….. with Hellfire and Fiona doing really well…. We had a brief dolphin display too but not close enough for photos unfortunately….. Then we came alongside St Lucia and the wind angle changed – again – and then again… Thankfully we managed to get into Rodney Bay Marina before dark having made really good time.

Our last dinner together was ashore at Bosuns and was really nice.   Hellfire and Fiona treated us too which was unexpected and very much appreciated before heading back to sleep off a very long and tiring day. Without the rocking for the first time in a while!

Sunday morning and it is time for them to pack so we all did our own thing and then settled down to a huge brunch around 11.30 am…. Finally, at 2.45 pm we headed into the marina with their bags…. and waited for the taxi to take them to the airport. Hugs all round… can’t believe their holiday is over…. and then suddenly they were gone….

We sailed 217 miles with Fiona and Hellfire on board – which was challenging for them at times. Fiona didn’t really enjoy the sailing part of this trip but, kudos to her, she did tough it out… Hellfire was a complete natural and was great on the helm!    We had a lovely time and I hope that I’ve done their trip justice in the blog!

Bye for now

Jan

Late Tuesday afternoon we headed to the Boardwalk in the marina to await Richard and Fiona’s arrival. They arrived, tired but happy after a long trip from the UK at around 6.30 pm, and we celebrated by having a couple of buckets of beers then went on board Morphie for a quick unpacking session and some snacks before retiring early.

Wednesday morning we were up early; had breakfast ashore; Richard and Fiona met Morphie properly;  we cleared out of customs and got our Pitons permit; paid our marina bill; and slipped quietly out into the bay around 10.30 for the trip downwind to the Pitons on the bottom coast of St Lucia. We enjoyed a leisurely downwind sail – flat seas with light winds – which was actually a perfect introduction to sailing for Richard and Fiona. Considering he was a complete novice, Richard proved to be a natural on the helm.

Nearing the Pitons we made radio contact with both Illusions and Evensong before saying our farewells, picked up a mooring ball – assisted by the usual boat boys – and enjoyed the amazing views of this spectacular and unique anchorage, including looking up at Ladera where we had lunched with Carolyn and Ron the week before.. To celebrate our arrival, we all had a swim and snorkel before having enjoying the final St Lucia sunset, dinner on board followed by an early night, as we were going to be leaving before sunrise in the morning for the long sail down to Bequia.

Thursday we dropped our mooring and left just before six am into slight winds and mirror flat seas, enjoying our last look at the Pitons.

But the wind picked up and so did the seas as we got into the channel between St Lucia and St Vincent.  Fiona felt pretty ill….  although wasn’t actually sick….  but was definitely a bit green round the gills… We arrived into Bequia after a pretty good sail – for us! – around 1.15pm. Having ensured we were anchored securely we left our friends on board and went into clear customs. While we were out we also managed to get some slabs of full-size beers, hurrah!!!   When we got back to Morphie, Fiona, thankfully, had recovered and wanted to get off the boat for a while although Richard was now suffering. We think he was dehydrated rather than sea sick… so we left him on board for some peace and quiet and took Fiona ashore for her first bobbing session. Had a really nice time….. and were back on board for our pork tenderloin dinner after enjoying a beautiful Bequia sunset.

While we were relaxing in the cockpit – Richard was still asleep recovering from the long trip – there was a bush fire on land to entertain us, which was pretty dramatic as it was being spread by the wind.  Eventually we retired to bed after a pretty long and tiring day…..

Friday morning and the two Richards went diving while Fiona and I went shopping. They were delighted to see a number of sea horses and frog fish – fantastic, although sadly no photographs.   In the meantime, we wandered around town enjoying the sights. Fiona bought a new dolphin necklace and I managed to buy some boules for Richard.

In the afternoon having cleaned all the dive gear, we went bobbing on the beach and met Patrick and Lucie (from Illusions) and Linda (from Troubadour). The north swells were kicking in and we ended up surfing some of the time!  We retired to Morphie for sundowners and a fish supper. During the night, the swells continued to come through, so it was pretty rolly…. and wasn’t particular restful for any of us.

Saturday morning we decided to move on rather than stay and suffer from the continued rolly conditions. So we left bound for Chatham Bay, Union Island, enjoying the sun coming up over Bequia as we departed.

We had a really good sail although the conditions were still a bit rough with the north swells running. But thankfully both Richard and Fiona were feeling much better and actually coped really well with the conditions.  During the passage whenever I spoke to Richard both of them turned around and answered me…. so we decided to nickname our guest Richard for ease of communication LOL.  After chatting through options we decided that Hellfire should be his handle!!!   And so he was officially named. Hellfire helmed for part of the way and did a pretty good job.  During the crossing I felt pretty tired from the previous night’s lack of sleep so lay down in the cockpit – on the high side as it was more comfortable for our friends to sit on the low side – and Richard managed to hit a huge wave and I landed very hard on the floor…. Ouch!!!   So I went down to the saloon and settled down on the low-side settee…. and guess what? Richard managed to catch the next huge rogue wave, and I hit the deck again! Double ouch…. I gave up trying to rest at this point!!!!!

Having arrived and anchored in Chatham Bay, Tim (from Bollheads) came by… and warned us that the swells had been pretty bad here too and were forecast to continue through the night….  He advised us that we would be more comfortable in a different spot so we took his expert local advice and re-anchored as suggested.   Having cleaned up after the passage, we enjoyed a swim off the back and then took dink ashore. The surf was now running up the beach again and waves were lapping at all the bars on the beach…. but we managed to get ashore without incident.

In exchange for Passion Fruit Rum – which we had bought for Tim from Dominica as a gift – we got some of his fantastic fish fritters again… Yummmmmmm….. After a few beers and a Chatham Bay sunset we retired to Morphie for dinner and so to bed. Tim’s advice was spot on – and, thankfully, we had a pretty calm night.

Sunday we visited Aqua resort where we bobbed in the salt water infinity pool – which was clean and sparkling for the first time ever!! – and we also enjoyed internet access.  Richard spent quite some time watching hummingbirds buzzing around and was very patient trying to get their pictures!

After a few hours we headed back to Morphie, had a couple of hours of lazing around and then went ashore again to visit with Mr Pleasure. We enjoyed our own personal concert over a few beers, watching local critters, and then wandered down the beach to Bollheads for dinner. There were quite a few people in, enjoying Tim’s wonderful food, and the alcohol-fuelled and chemically-aided Austrians were quite amusing! There was a lot of dancing, laughter and a good time was had by all…..

On Monday the wind wasn’t particularly helpful for the short run north to the Tobago Cays, so we ended up motor sailing.  We spotted Cutter Loose coming in as we were leaving Union Island so had a quick radio exchange with them before turning into the transit past Mayreau Island.   Suddenly we had a boat coming fast out of Saltwhistle Bay…. So we gave him plenty of room to get ahead and pushed on round the point towards to the Cays…. This guy then turns behind us and starts heading in too…strange, but perhaps he was nervous about the route through the reefs?  Oh well…. Then a very large charter catamaran – with full sails out but was definitely motor sailing because of his angle to the wind!!! – turns towards us and ends up on a collision course.  I’m on the helm and slow down to give way and then follow him into the narrow channel between the islands. Suddenly he stops dead…. Errrrr… Excuse me????   Why have you stopped in front of me????    Yep he’s going to anchor in the small channel!!!!  So I had to duck inside of him then meander through the other anchored boats before I finally reached the anchorage alongside the turtle sanctuary near Baradel Island.  We dropped the hook in the most beautiful coloured water it is possible to imagine and Hellfire snorkelled our anchor to check the set for us. Pictures really cannot do this amazing place justice….

We went ashore in dink, parked him on the small sand spit, and went snorkelling…. with turtles, visiting conch and huge huge starfish. A really special day….  Back on board we had a curry dinner – although I managed to lose the jar of mango chutney which, to this day, remains undiscovered!!!! – and enjoyed a fantastic sunset and star display.

Tuesday morning Richard and Hellfire are off diving. Fiona and I stayed on board, did some domestic duties like changing beds, and then went shopping via boat boy resulting in some amazing fresh bread and a really nice t-shirt!  Romeo also came by and sold us fresh lobster – as arranged by Tim – and finally, chores done, we settled into chair bobbing. During all this we had enjoyed the company of a huge turtle who kept surfacing near us and the attentions of a very large southern stingray who was mopping up all the lobster bits that had been discarded over the side when they had been cleaned out for cooking…. This is such a special place…..

The dive boat returned – with Richard and Hellfire on board – and we listened to their tales of fantastic dives. Unfortunately we also learned that Hellfire had dropped his camera when they went out into the blue to be picked up…. and had left his dive mask on board too. So not a great day for him for sure…. but he made the best of it by enjoying some chair bobbing too…..   To finish the day on a more cheerful note we had fresh lobster on the grill accompanied by champagne… and then had a music fest on board with Richard’s party play list accompanied by some pretty out of tune singing….. Lovely end to an (almost) perfect day!

Part two to follow very shortly.

Jan

Saturday we were up early again and hit the shops…. We managed to get pretty much everything apart from the beer!  And we also managed to get some drinks vouchers from the ATM in preparation too…. Oh dear…. The local beer here is Piton and comes in tiny cans with the other readily-available brew being tiny Heinekens!  Really wanted full-sized cans of Carib but to no avail – nobody has them available. Really don’t want to carry too many bottles either. So we compromise and buy just a smallish supply of bottled beer until we run south where we know we can get beer in a reasonable sized can. At noon we said a fond farewell to our little hire car.

Back on board with our huge haul and we struggle to get everything put away – the freezer is now rammed and the fridge is getting there….. Do some sorting out of clothes and moving things around to free up the aft cabin for Richard and Fiona and then head in to the boardwalk for sundowners with Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl. We both have the night free so the first chance we’ve had to properly catch up this season. We had a really nice happy hour followed by a good Thai dinner at Bosuns. Lovely evening and really enjoyed finally catching up.

Sunday morning and we are up early, have some proper coffee in Cafe Ole and then head out with Tracker, our taxi driver, at 9 am towards Castries to meet Carolyn and Ron – who are coming in to St Lucia on P&O Azura today. Really looking forward to seeing them again….   As we neared Castries we realised that we were wise to get a taxi organised – in a hire car we would never have been able to get through the checkpoints and get anywhere near the ship. We wander through the cruiseship terminal – admiring the huge duty-free shops that we didn’t have a clue existed here! – quickly spotting Carolyn and Ron walking around. We sneak up behind them and they are being pestered by taxi drivers wanting to take them on tours. They say they are looking for some people – and we tapped them on the shoulder at that point. The look on their faces was an absolute picture…. we couldn’t have planned that better if we had tried!!!    Huge hugs all round and we head back to the taxi rank to find Tracker. On the way I got them to pose on a nice bench…. Settled into the large 10-seater minibus taxi we head off towards Soufriere…. and get to see how huge their ship is!   Wow…. 

Carolyn and Ron are stunned by the beauty of St Lucia and we cannot believe we are all together again, albeit only for a single day. Shortly after leaving Castries we stopped to meet one of the local inhabitants – a boa constrictor called Patrick. Richard took control and Ron visited…. but Carolyn wasn’t up for touching him for sure!!!

Driving towards Soufriere and we get our first glimpse of the pitons. Amazing sight, and although we have seen them before, you cannot really describe just how special they are….

Having purchased some local tanzanite jewellery – one piece each – we moved on and arrived at the Botanical Gardens. We wandered along the meandering paths admiring the flora and fauna and eventually ended up at the little waterfall at the end of the path…. which delivers hot spring water. We chose not to indulge in the bathing pools and while wandering back we were absolutely amazed to spot a hummingbird just sitting there on a twig. Really unusual to see them static and wow – we got a photo!   We were very very happy. Almost at the exit we spot all the crowds coming in – Tracker had timed this perfectly as we had had the place to ourselves. Carolyn and Ron were completely blown away by this place and we were very happy to have shared it with them.

Moving on and we arrived at the drive-in volcano…. Was pretty smelly – think rotten eggs – and pretty busy too….. We didn’t do the tour bit as you have to wait around for 20+ people to get up and down the stairs – so we amused ourselves wandering around and were surprised by how active it was. The mud was bubbling up and the pools were clearly boiling….with lots of steam rising. This is a pretty amazing place.

Back in the taxi and we drive towards the pitons…. going past the Hotel Chocolat plantation…. and ended up, as planned, at Ladera.  Ladera is a very up-market resort that has a spectacular restaurant Dasheene and lounge right in between the pitons with views down to the anchorage and fancy plantation resort below. They have a buffet on a Sunday and we indulged in our first Piton of the day followed by some pretty good wine and lots to eat. This is an all-you-can eat buffet and you can make as many returns as you like. Needless to say my favourite was the dessert table….. the passion fruit mousse was amazing!

Carolyn and Ron are overwhelmed by the views and this place – and we had a very leisurely lunch catching up, posing for photographs, and listening to a little bit of ‘Plantation music’ being played in the bar. We all decided we’d like to stay here in one of the individual rooms overlooking the pitons which come with their own infinity pool. But I’m afraid that a lottery win is the only way that would be possible for us! Absolutely stunning time…. Words really cannot describe it and photos certainly do not do it justice.

Back in the taxi and we head back towards Castries and the ship. But we have time so decide to stop at a local rum shop and enjoy a couple of cold Pitons admiring the fantastic view of this lush and green island.

Sadly we have to return to the cruise ship terminal and we have about 30 minutes to spare, so we sit down near the security gate and have our last drink of the day, before finally bidding Carolyn and Ron farewell through to the ship. We were pretty emotional and choked to say goodbye. We had had the most wonderful day together. Back to the marina and we say goodbye to Tracker and head back to Morphie for a quiet night on board.

Monday morning and up with the lark – time to clean the boat thoroughly inside and out for Richard and Fiona who arrive Tuesday night. Late Monday night, having worked our fingers to the bone, we went into the marina for a cold beer and a calzone each. Yum…. We were tucked up in bed, exhausted, before 9 pm.

Tuesday and we are up early again…. and into the shops for our fresh produce. Back on board and we have just taken the engine off of dink, dink has been lifted onto the davits, and beds are made, laundry is done, and we are finally ready. Morphie is sparkling!

We have more or less decided upon our routing with Richard and Fiona on board to various islands in St Vincent and the Grenadines – with much of it being an internet-free zone. So I thought I’d better warn you now that I’ll not be updating the blog during their visit and will cover it all at the end.

So bye for now for a couple of weeks!

Jan

Friday afternoon the rain cleared – thankfully as Mum’s bottom lip was definitely quivering there for a while!   So we headed out to the pool and enjoyed a few rays… Richard came along later and regaled us with stories of his dive with Dan at the Pitons. I’m really glad that they had a nice time and it looks like I missed a really good trip judging from the photos they took.

In the evening we headed out to find the Starfish restaurant. This used to be in the marina and relocated last year.   We had previously really enjoyed our meals there so was hoping it hadn’t changed much.  Well, it was a much smaller place with very few covers… But the food was beautifully presented and it tasted real good too…. For a small place the service was excellent and we felt very pampered. Richard is not really a dessert person but even he was tempted by the banana tart. We had a really nice chilled evening.

Saturday and Richard is waiting on someone so he takes me across quickly to the other side of the channel behind Morphie and I walk to Mum’s hotel. Only a ten minute wander and I really enjoyed it having a look at some of the large waterside properties and the abundance of flowers everywhere…. 

Today we are camped on the beach and it is another cruise ship day!    Rammed…. and some pretty good people watching activity – especially the Segway man that goes up and down trying to drum up business.  Richard gets more boat jobs completed and joins us for lunch at the local concession set up…  Great chicken as ever and we enjoy a cheap bucket of beers to boot. We noticed that there were a lot of local children around today and a couple of them were playing hide and seek behind my chair. They seemed to be fascinated by me so Richard told me to teach them ‘round and round the garden…’ Well – they loved it!   Before long I had a queue of them waiting for their turn. The bigger ones then learnt the rhyme and the actions and started to do it to the babies. One very little one… maybe a year old… was too scared so just watched and laughed. I was really surprised when her Rasta dad picked her up and started to do it to her too. A really nice time….

In the evening we headed along the strip to the Spice of India. Mum is choosing where we eat by the way…. This restaurant gets very good write-ups so we were looking forward to it.  Very up-market Indian with great decor but we thought the menu was a little limited.  But we all found something we liked so ordered away and sat back and watched the people around us. Great food – although my Madras curry could have had a bit more sauce for my taste – and pretty good service. Enjoyed ourselves and started the relatively long walk back to mum’s hotel…. stopping at Rehab (the bar) on the way back for a quick one. Richard had a Bob Marley cocktail and it turned up green – yuck!!! I stuck to the wine…

We escorted mum back safely to her room and headed back towards the marina. Walking along F dock towards Morphie we saw that Ruth and Dan were still up and about…. This is very unusual behaviour for Dan – he is usually asleep by 9.16 pm prompt!!!! Turns out they had stayed up specially to see us as on Sunday they have guests arriving and will be heading back out with them…. What a lovely surprise. So we went onboard and had a few nightcaps… Dan made it past midnight! Good job….

Sunday and I went round to see mum as usual while Richard tackled cleaning the hull….. He has been doing a great job while I’ve been having girlie time with mum – thanks!  Mum and I had another pool day and this time we tried out the hot tub – was so hot it was hotter than a bath!!  We didn’t manage to stay in for very long that was for sure. When Richard joined us we went off to the beach to buy some rotis for lunch… Unfortunately they were not very nice. Oh well, you can’t win them all. Early afternoon we loaded mum into the dinghy and took her to visit Morphie for a little while. Then we wandered to the boardwalk for happy hour. We had our bucket of beers and Ruth joined us, while we enjoyed the sunset and the little lizards that run up and down the rail.

Ruth had been in Bogus World – home alone on Evensong – while Dan was waiting at the airport for their guests. Unfortunately the plane was delayed. Dan eventually turned up with Kent and Denny – and we all enjoyed some time chatting before they headed off to Evensong.  We then went to the Bosun restaurant and had a leisurely meal. Lovely….  Later on we put mum in a taxi back to her hotel and went back to Morphie. Walking along the dock and we were hailed by Evensong to join them for a drink.  What, another late night for Dan?  Yep… He managed to stay up past 10 pm again.  Had a good time together as always and we headed off to bed pretty tired.

Monday morning I was up early and over to the hotel again…. another pool day beckoned. Richard stayed busy and managed to get some electronic issues resolved. Great job!  Had a nice lazy morning and then Richard joined us – so we had some pool bobbing time.

In the evening we headed out early for dinner, back to Starfish, and then walked along to Delirus for the St Patrick’s Day party that had been announced on banners along the strip. We were really looking forward to the Irish band and maybe some dancing. We got there and it was as quiet as a grave. Errr, excuse me, but what time does the band start?  The answer was unexpected “oh the St Patrick’s Day party was on Saturday”. What???   But it is today!!!!   Oh no they say, we don’t have parties on a Monday. But they did have an offer on the Guinness. Really really disappointed – so we just had a quick drink, wandered back via Rehab, and we all had an early night.

Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Patrick and Lucie on the radio as they are heading north to Martinique.   We also went to say farewell to Dan and Ruth on Evensong before I went off to see mum. We are back on the beach – soooo hot!   So we spent most of our time hiding in the shade reading or in the sea bobbing.  Richard joined us later and we did more of the same. It really feels like we are on holiday!  While we were on the beach we watched Evensong head off to the Pitons… Bye!   Waved like crazy but I don’t think they saw us…

Later on we went to the St Lucia yacht club – enjoyed another spectacular sunset and then into Spinnakers for dinner.

Spinnakers is really pretty at night with all its fairy lights lit up. I ordered a lamb shank – lamb is pretty rare down in the islands, so was pretty excited to see it on the menu. Well… it turned up…. and it was horrible. So bad that I thought I was actually going to throw up after a few mouthfuls – the sauce was gloopy and way too rich, a bit like something out of a Ragu jar – and I couldn’t eat it. Mum and Richard enjoyed their meal and I just drank water until I felt a bit better. Could have been too much sun as well I suppose but never mind….. These things happen.

Wednesday and I’m up and about early…. and bump into Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl and their guests.   Nice to (briefly) catch up.   When I go over to the hotel mum and I decide to have another blistering hot, blue sky, beach day. Mum and I are really enjoying people watching and all the comings and goings of boats.  Mum is tickled pink by the local fruit and veg man in his boat as he goes around selling coconut water.   We also spotted Cutter Loose leaving too – we had bumped into Eric in the marina a couple of times, but haven’t had a chance to catch up with him or Pat properly… Hopefully we’ll see them again before they haul for the season.

We had another leisurely afternoon and made arrangements to meet mum at 7pm. Tonight was the manager’s weekly cocktail party but she didn’t fancy going this week – but by the time we met her she had actually popped in and had drunk a very strong rum punch!    We went out for our last meal of her trip – and back to the Chinese which is a favourite of all of us. We had a lovely meal and headed back to the hotel. The band was still playing so we settled in for a drink. Some people were dancing and mum had ants in her pants!   Pretty soon she is off dancing and is joined by a mega skinny Aunt Sally look alike who managed to dance just like a zombie extra from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.  Absolutely hysterical to watch. Then mum dragged me up and I did a quick boogie before sitting down again…  Then we were joined by this slightly inebriated woman and her husband who said that mum had done the best ‘Elvis tribute’ dance she had ever ever seen. LOL… And she was serious!!!  Of course mum was pretty smug at being told she was a great dancer… It was a fun end to a great day.

Thursday and it is mum’s last day.  She is leaving at 4.30 pm and we have been trying to get her a late check out – but, unfortunately, her room is already booked for someone coming in on the early afternoon flight. But the lovely head receptionist said to pop back at 11 am to see what she can do. Great…. so Mum and I get her all packed up and ready to go and head off to reception. We are handed a key to a ground floor room with pool access – and so we move her out. What we didn’t realise is that this is a suite – and wow, it’s huge! And complimentary! And it has a bath tub….. Anyway – by now it is getting on for lunchtime and Richard has joined us – so we have a good lunch in her hotel beach-side restaurant. Was really nice… and so was the wine!

After a final bob in the pool together we head off to her room – mum gets cleaned up and dressed for London, while we just make the most of the fantastic shower and unlimited hot water! Time to go… bags to reception… hugs and goodbyes all round to the staff who have made mum’s trip pretty special… and we wait for the minibus. It arrives only 10 minutes late – which is amazing for island time! – and sadly it is time for mum to leave. Oh no…. getting emotional…. was determined not to cry! Well… I failed…. miserably…. So we head back to the marina and I’m feeling a bit washed out. But I was perked up by good conversation with some volunteer youth workers and a bucket of beers. And then we had an early night on board.

This morning we had a lie in… and then hired a car for one day – noon to noon. Tiny little Chevrolet but enough for us… We have Richard and Fiona coming in on Tuesday for two weeks holiday onboard so we have a huge provisioning run to do as we are hoping to head south to the Grenadines so many meals will be on board rather than ashore. Getting shopping is always so much easier with a car in the islands, where you have to visit numerous shops to get what you want. Got about 75% of the list – in two shops – and back on board, found storage places for everything, and have had a lazy afternoon. Richard has just cooked me dinner while I’m typing this and we’re planning another early night as we want to hit the shops again early tomorrow. The other important job for tomorrow is to finalise timings with a taxi driver we have hired for Sunday – Carolyn and Ron are coming to St Lucia on a cruise ship, so we are organising a day out together. Very excited about seeing them!

Bye for now

Jan

Saturday Richard continued doing boat chores while I had a massage in the spa – then worked with him until 3ish as we had arranged to meet Dan, Ruth, Lucie and Patrick for a bobbing session in the marina pool. The pool bar is closed – some of it being renovated for a new Moorings/Sunsail office – so we all bought our own coolers and supplies with us. Had a nice couple of hours and then headed back to Morphie for a quick wash and brush up before going over to Evensong for sundowners, dinner and a round of Mexican Train Dominoes. Had a great evening – with fantastic food – and fun company. Oh yes, and I won the dominoes! Yay… Richard was in a particularly silly mood and looked great in Lucie’s hat LOL….

Sunday we were up and about early having decided to take the day off. So around 11 we headed into the marina’s local bar to watch the rugby – England versus Wales. Quite a few ex-pats around and a diverse group so lots of cheering and banter from both countries. Great match and even better result!   Well done England…..

Back on board Morphie we gave her a quick spruce up as we were hosting the gang for tonight’s dinner. I prepared them a spicy treat with popadom starter – including home-made mint yoghurt and other dips – followed by a chicken curry with sticky rice. After dinner we stayed down below and had a ‘night at the races’ using our greyhound racing DVD – really funny with everyone cheering and shouting for their dogs…. Fake betting only – no real money exchanging hands – and Patrick won by being the boldest of us all! Not sure what the Moorings catamaran next to us would have made of all the noise coming from Morphie. Had a great evening and the food went down well…. so went to bed pretty happy.

Monday and Richard attacked boat jobs with gusto in the morning…… then headed into town to go to mum’s hotel, prior to her arrival on Tuesday, to get permission to use the pool etc while she is a guest. They welcomed us back with open arms and immediately said ‘yes’. Great news…. Went off to the hotel beach bar and enjoyed the peace and quiet before heading back to the marina pool for another bobbing session.

This time we were joined by Lorna and Brian as well as they are in the marina now…. Good time was had by all. Later on we cleaned up and headed into town for a Chinese. Had a great meal – loads of food – and enjoyed a few cocktails…. or at least Dan and Richard did. I think they were a bit shocked by the ‘girlie’ drinks when they arrived…. and were pleading with me not to put the picture in the blog….. But hey, they look so good in their loud Caribbean shirts and pink drinks – can’t let the blog readers down! Sorry guys…. LOL.

Tuesday we are up early and work hard all day on Morphie as mum flies into St Lucia from London this evening. Time is ticking so we get cleaned up and head to her hotel to be there on her arrival from the airport. Plane was slightly delayed and she finally turned up around 6.30 pm. Hugs all round, she’s checked in, admiring the reception flowers along the way, and I help her unpack in her room.

Very impressed by her shower which has jets everywhere – definitely plan to use that later in the week! We headed back down to the bar to reunite with Richard and had a really nice time over a few drinks. Mum was pretty tired and not hungry so we called it a day and headed back to the marina, once we’d checked she was settled in and safe in her room.

Wednesday morning and Richard drops me off by dinghy at the hotel – so mum and I have a nice girly catch up by the pool. Then we headed to the beach for BBQ chicken and a local beer for lunch from one of the local vendors and enjoyed about half an hour chatting to some Rastas who treated mum like royalty! Back in the pool and Richard joined us about 2pm. We did some pool bobbing and mum enjoyed the local brandy…

We then went to her room to clean up – yes the shower was great and met expectations! – heading back to the pool for the manager’s drinks reception which we had blagged an invite to… Had a nice evening fuelled by local rum punch with great food bites… loved the fish fingers! We did think we would stay in the hotel restaurant for dinner but didn’t fancy their buffet offering so walked down the beach to Spinnakers where we had a light supper before we said our farewells and headed back to the marina and so to bed.

Thursday morning and again mum and I are having girlie time – but this time on the beach. Bit busy on the beach because a cruise ship was in – and interesting to watch the locals working the crowd. None of them offered us anything to buy just saying ‘Hi’ to me and mum as we had had lunch with them the day before! Was very grateful as some of them were pretty full on – one particular individual was so bad I’m surprised he didn’t get punched! He suggested – to this 20 something female – that she should go with him to the bathroom for a good time!!!! Unbelievable… Richard came round at lunchtime – having achieved quite a lot on Morphie with reinforced davits for dink; new speakers for the saloon; and proper lifelines in the cockpit etc etc etc… After a baguette lunch we went bobbing with beer – very very hot and sunny today. Richard was horrified by the very very fat lady wearing a bikini…. check out the photo he took!

All of the gang turned up – so dinks were pulled up the beach – and we had a great afternoon. Back to Morphie for a quick wash and brush up and we went back to collect mum for dinner. None of us were really hungry so decided to go to the Chinese – yes, I know, another one! – but great for sharing bits rather than having to have a full-sized meal. Lovely as usual….. so back to the marina suitably full.

Friday and it’s raining – hard – oh dear… This happened last year when mum was with us, so hopefully this is short lived! Richard is off with Dan to dive at the Pitons and I’m sitting in mum’s hotel room watching CNN and playing on the computer, while she makes me cups of tea and reads her book…..

Bye for now

Jan

Sunday afternoon having eaten our bodyweight in Bockits – which is a local bread speciality – and exhausted our internet fix, it was quite late so we abandoned the beach idea and ended up onboard for a couple of hours before going back into town to watch the carnival procession. There were very few people about and it was pretty deserted. We found a good spot up at the end of the town near a local bar and took up our position.

Lots of kids dressed up as well as loads of men wearing women’s clothes! Not sure what all that was about??? Couldn’t really catch pictures of them unawares due to the lack of crowds… unfortunately!  Same as the young guys wearing what appeared to be gang colours and had also covered their faces with scarves…. Later on the sound system came through…. and the procession started. It was pretty small, very carefully controlled by security people as well as armed police – and it was pretty uninspiring really. Interesting the difference between Dominica where people wander selling baskets of sweets – here in Martinique young women walk around with baskets of free condoms which are given out to other young women…. Overall we had a good time and left to go back to Morphie at around 7.

We were up early Monday morning and headed out of Sainte Anne bound for St Lucia. Initially we went with reefed sails to test the conditions in the channel…. which can be tricky.   But we very quickly dropped them out and ended up with all three full sails up in the most perfect conditions. Relatively flat seas and 15 to 18 knots of breeze on a broad reach. It was fantastic to say the least. And the whole twenty three miles was done on a single tack….  Best sailing of the trip by far!   Whilst underway we had a little race going on with a 42 foot French Amel who had set off ahead of us and was flying four sails. About half way across the channel we started to overtake him – he clearly wasn’t happy so he tried to head us up into the wind…. Hee hee – we blew him out of the water. Yay!

Arriving in Rodney Bay we anchored off the beach and took dink into the marina to clear into customs, immigration and the port authority. All done quite quickly and friendly…. and we then went into Island Water World to see whether they had stuff that we needed. Bumped into Dan – from Evensong – and ended up going back to their boat to collect Ruth and we were reunited over quick sundowners at the Boardwalk Bar in the marina. We headed back out to the anchorage before dark as we had no lights with us or on Morphie. Had a quiet night in after enjoying our first spectacular St Lucia sunset.

Tuesday morning we radioed the marina and got told which spot had been reserved for us. Great – we came in straight away – and were tied up securely in our slip by around noon. We got ourselves and Morphie cleaned up and then went with Dan and Ruth to the marina pool for a bobbing session. We have all decided that mornings are for boat jobs and afternoons are for having fun whilst we both get ready to greet friends and family in the next week or so. After bobbing we headed back to clean up and went back out for sundowners. We really enjoyed the sights and sounds of being back in the marina and were entertained by a kitten playing up a palm tree – we think he was trying to catch lizards, a little concerned he might be stuck, but he got down as easily as he had climbed up! Realising that we were pretty hungry we headed into the marina’s Thai restaurant for dinner and enjoyed a very hot green curry….. Lovely day.

Wednesday and we are cracking on with the boat jobs….. Dan is fixing their generator, Ruth is cleaning and cooking, while I’m starting on the endless round of stainless steel polishing while Richard is off out trying to get new ropes. Both our headsail and staysail furling lines are showing signs of wear – they are more than five years old now. Richard came back quite a bit poorer but laden with new lines…. and promptly installed them… while I carried on with the polishing. We had planned a beach afternoon but we didn’t make it as we all got engrossed in our boat jobs…. so eventually met up for sundowners, enjoyed another sunset, and went back to our respective boats clutching take-out pizzas.  Yes – I know it’s not local food – but having had the choice of chicken or fish with “provisions” for months, we are ready for international stuff!    Tired out we had another early night.

Thursday and we are determined to have a beach afternoon….. so the work cut-off time has been set for 1pm!  We were up early, got dink down off his davits, and dinghied into the lagoon to take the short walk through to the mall and the supermarket. It feels really weird to be back in malls and large supermarkets again, but I’m definitely not complaining!!!   We managed to get most things that I wanted to tide us over for now and headed to the bank for some drinking vouchers.

Back to the marina and we headed to the beach for a bobbing afternoon.   Richard dropped us all on the beach, went back out, anchored dink, and then swam ashore.  We wandered up to the first local concession on the beach and got a price for their buckets of beer – then tried the second one – and then went back to the first. Everything was being priced in US dollars…. when we said that we wanted to use Eastern Caribbean dollars the prices were significantly reduced as they realised we were cruisers and not cruise ship passengers. Yay….cheap beer!!!  We then cooled off in the water – playing with our new Waboba ball – and had a great bobbing time. Later on we walked up the beach back to our local ladies and tried out their freshly cooked Jerk chicken. Fantastic!

After a chilled afternoon it was time to go – so Dan went to return the bucket / bottles and Richard swam out for dink. He brought it back and we hang onto it…. in the surf / swells…. and we waited, and waited, and waited. So we sent Richard to get Dan back and he started chatting too…. Ruth and I are getting soaked through and our arms are weakening….. We were just debating about driving the dinghy back without them when they showed up. Nearly got left behind guys LOL!!    On the way back to the marina through the inlet we came across a local Rasta man who sells hats / bowls made out of palm leaves, which he does from his little very leaky boat. So we towed him back in much to his amazement.  He seemed pretty happy as he was making thumbs up signs at everybody he knew as we went through the cut alongside Gros Islet. Lovely day had by all. Back on board Morphie and we were in bed pretty early again….

Friday was fishing day!   Dan and Ruth had chartered a deep sea fishing boat with Captain Tom before and asked us whether we wanted to join them. We have never done this before so were up for it. Up very early to make a picnic lunch, 7.30 meet at the coffee shop and 8.00 we were heading out. It was pretty calm and we were going fast…. while Captain Tom got the rods / lures / bait ready. Into the channel between St Lucia and Martinique and it was really lumpy…. We were surprised that the local fishermen were out in their little motor boats – looked way too dangerous today.

Anyway, we were hopeful and we sorted out the order we would take the bites – Dan, Richard, Ruth then me. We had our instructions in using these reels, very different from any that we had used before, and settled down to wait. And we waited…. and waited….. and waited…. We moved position…. we rebaited the lures….. we changed the lures….. we changed the depths of the lures….. we dragged attractive things in the water behind us. We ate sandwiches and then drank beer. Nothing going on…. Oh hang on… Yay!!! Line streaming out… Dan is in the chair and, to his disappointment, brings in a barracuda. Back to the waiting…… Yes….goes again…. Richard is in the chair and, again, disappointment with another barracuda. Nothing else happened so Ruth and I didn’t get to have a go before we headed back into the marina….. Oh well, never mind, we had a great time.

As we drove through the channel we saw Patrick and Lucie (Illusions) in their dinghy and shouted to them. They turned and we were all reunited in the Boardwalk where we had quite a few sundowners, a lot of laughs and I really am not sure what they were doing when I took this silly photo!

This morning, Saturday, Richard is busy getting on with boat jobs while I’ve been for a long overdue haircut….

Bye for now

Jan

Monday night we enjoyed our final Roseau sunset before having an early night. Oh yes, it was also our friend Jack’s birthday…. You may recall that Jack donated our new crew member, Gervaise. So as a surprise, we sent him a birthday card featuring Gervaise enjoying life and rum in the Caribbean. He much prefers sailing here than on the River Crouch!

Tuesday morning we were up pretty early and set off on our passage to Martinique. We really enjoyed our final views of Dominica as we sailed towards the end of the island and into the passage.

This passage is known for big seas so we were cautious in our sail plan with reefs in both the main and the genoa. The seas weren’t too bad, the wind was 18-20 knots, and we were flying along about seven knots really enjoying ourselves. On Channel 16 we heard this very English voice announcing that his vessel was about to start helicopter operations and would, therefore, be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre. He was north of us up the coast of Dominica so shouldn’t cause us any trouble….. we just carried on, speculating on what this was all about. Hoping that it wasn’t a medical emergency…. Well – Budgie the private little helicopter flew past us going north. So we figured this maybe belonged to the yacht – some of these massive vessels do actually have helicopter pads on them. Oh well… excitement over… still looking out for dolphins. Then we heard the rotors again and realised that Budgie was heading back towards Martinique…. And, guess what, yep – we got buzzed again!!! He came pretty low and close to get a look at us…. Not sure what the fascination is…. surely they have seen a yacht before?

After a really good sail we reached Martinique and the wind died…. Oh well, we are only four miles from our destination of St Pierre so we put the engine on, dropped the sails, and realised that this meant hot water showers later!   Hurrah…  Arriving in St Pierre we noticed that since our visit last year, the French authorities have put in a yellow-buoyed no-anchorage zone and the shelf here is deep and very narrow…. so it is now even more restricted than before. We looked around and really could not find a spot that we would be comfortable in – especially if we wanted to sleep at night.

It was 3.30pm in the afternoon by now so we decided to carry on motoring down the coast to anchor in Anse Mitan which is opposite the capital of Fort de France. This area is huge and reminds us of the Solent in the UK – even to the extent that there was dinghy racing going on and these guys were out in their lasers in 23 knots and big seas! Some future French Olympiads???

We got a good set of our anchor and raised our yellow quarantine flag as we would not be going to clear customs / immigration tonight. It was almost 6pm by the time we were set – having travelled 52 miles – so we had a quiet night on board and enjoyed our first Martinique sunset.

Wednesday and we were up early to get the outboard of the rail and reinstalled back on dink. Oh dear…. the key won’t go in the padlock. Completely seized…  After about 30 minutes of WD40, Salt Away and various other products, not to mention a little brute strength and bad language, Richard finally managed to get it open. Another dead padlock then????!!!   Going ashore into Trois Ilets we cleared customs / immigration: here you just fill in a form on a computer, you sign, they sign, and good to go. Love the French system… We then headed into the local patisserie for our breakfast of great coffee and pastries. Yum….. and then wandered around town. This is a pretty sleepy little place with loads of French tourists spilling over onto the narrow beaches that surround the peninsula – against the backdrop of the large apartment blocks and office buildings across the way in the city. Feels very European and not Caribbean at all……

We then settled into a bistro to get access to the internet and enjoyed a really good bottle of French wine, raising a glass to our friend Bob who was celebrating his birthday in Brighton at the same time…. We also decided that we would move on in the morning. So back on board in the middle of the afternoon with some real necessities like baguettes, cheese and pate purchased and had a quiet afternoon / early evening sitting on the back of Morphie with our feet dangling into the blue water. Then we spotted this big fish hanging around our swim ladder. Not sure what he was…. but we put the camera into the water to get a picture of him. I got a bit hot so decided to go in for a swim – thinking he would move away when I entered the water – but, oh no, he came right up to me and touched me. Not sure if he was trying to kiss me or bite me LOL so left him to it!

Thursday and we were up early again and back out to sea…. This was a downwind sail to start with and was lovely. As we neared the bottom of the island, however, we had to turn into the east to run along the south coast. We had to decide to either stay offshore so that we could get an OKish sailing angle, or whether to douse the sails and run against wind and tide under motor. The seas had been building and the conditions were deteriorating… so we decided upon the latter option. Passing between the bottom of Martinique and Diamond Rock it was like being in a washing machine…. spray everywhere and we had a very wet and salty ride into Saint Anne. Diamond Rock continues to look majestic and I still can’t believe that the British climbed this steep, barren, snake-infested pinnacle and equipped it with cannons and enough supplies and water for a full crew of men. HMS Diamond Rock was an unpleasant surprise for unsuspecting ships sailing into Martinique which incensed Napolean, of course!

After anchoring and washing off the salt that Morphie had accumulated we went ashore to get some Euros and wandered around the sleepy little town. Back on board we sat on the stern platform again with feet in the beautiful blue sea and enjoyed a couple of cold ones. We had a chilled evening watching boats. This including saying “cheers” to the Customs guys every time they passed in their rib.

Friday we went into Marin via dink. This is a huge marina complex and loads of anchored boats everywhere…. but not nice water. It was a bit of a wet run as the sea is still quiet lumpy and I don’t care about wet shorts until I bump into those elegantly dressed French tourists!!!

We managed to buy some new stainless steel padlocks, had a look around some tacky tourist shops, and then headed into Leader Price which is a large supermarket that has its own dinghy dock. Got some great stuff and headed back to Morphie. Put everything away and then went ashore for happy hour at a very French bar….  Been a bit stormy and rainy today and the sunset showed it. Back on board and we really enjoyed the steak that we had purchased earlier…. been a while since we have had decent steak!

Saturday we sat out the rain and then headed to the beach for the afternoon. Had a lovely langoustine lunch and just generally chilled in the water. Whilst we were there another helicopter came over and landed in the sports field behind the beach…. not sure what that was about, but looked like an emergency situation this time.

Our friends Lorna and Brian – from Peace and Plenty – came and joined us and we introduced them to the world of bobbing. After a nice afternoon we strolled back across the hill to the town and thought that the cemetery had the best outlook of any we had seen. Wasn’t sure about the purple Jesus though?!?   Nice view of the anchorage too….

Back into town and there was a wedding…. with everyone in their finery. We weren’t sure that the tourists in the photo were invited guests or were welcome. People really should be more respectful and keep their distance….. in my humble opinion!

Saturday night Lorna invited us for dinner so we went over to their boat and enjoyed a chicken stew-type dish…. as well as a really good evening we were also treated to some spectacular sky scenes.

Today – Sunday – we have been into Marin to check out of Martinique at the Capitanarie for our trip south to St Lucia tomorrow.   Now we are in an internet café catching up…..   We may go to the beach later or into town for the carnival parade….    Not sure yet…. all will be revealed at a later date!

Bye for now

Jan

Thursday night we enjoyed our final Portsmouth sunset before retiring early.

Friday morning we bid Portsmouth goodbye as we headed out into relatively calm seas. The winds running along the coastline of Dominica are pretty fluky as it comes over the mountains so we decided to make water and keep the engine ticking over throughout the 20 mile trip. But even though the engine was on, it was in neutral, as we were determined to sail as much as we could so hoisted reefed sails and enjoyed a brisk 20 knots for a while in almost perfect conditions. Then some squalls came through and we tried to avoid getting wet – although sailing pretty fast – then we got a wind shift, then no wind so sails came down, then another wind shift, more wind, sails up and that was how we spent an enjoyable four hours. Sadly no sightings of whales or dolphins.

As we arrived into Roseau we spotted two cruise ships – one was a large sailing-type vessel and the other the traditional huge beast. And it was raining… The shelf here in Roseau is very narrow from the water’s edge and then drops dramatically into hundreds of feet in depth. So the sensible thing is to pick up a mooring ball – we were assisted by Desmond again who was pretty pleased that we remembered him from last year!

While we were getting settled we were hailed on the VHF by Brian and Lorna on Peace and Plenty – and invited over for sundowners. Yes please…. that would be lovely! Had a really nice evening with them and enjoyed watching the sailing cruise ship depart into the sunset.

Saturday morning and we were up early doing boat jobs…. And we decided to book onto a tourist trip to go whale watching from the Anchorage Hotel. The conditions were perfect – beautiful blue skies, the sun was out and the wind had moderated so the sea state was dead flat. Feeling optimistic that this might work out…. but I was also trying not to get too excited as I was soooo disappointed last year! Anyway kept busy doing laundry and whilst pegging it up on the rail we spotted that we had a small reef just below our keel – the water is so crystal clear here. So we went snorkelling and enjoyed having some fun in the water with the camera.

Back on board, got ourselves cleaned up, and headed off to the Anchorage Hotel. We listened to the skipper’s briefing, and admired the skeleton of the sperm whale that is displayed here. We managed to get squeezed onto the top deck of the boat on the front row – so had an amazing view. Please…. just one whale…. or even a dolphin will do. Really excited now…. so we took a selfie to celebrate!

Heading out into the flat sea and we travelled north about half way up the island…. Seemed a bit strange to be paying to be on a boat to do the trip we did ourselves yesterday. Oh well… fingers crossed. The captain turned off the engine and used his hydrophone to listen for clicks – the noise that sperm whales make. And there were some clicks due north….so engine on and we all start looking. Then we spotted the first blows ahead. OMG I am almost in tears realising that finally I’m going to see whales! And we watched this whale swim around until she dived. Then another one was spotted….and another….and a mother and her calf…..and a juvenile male who came right up to the boat being really inquisitive…. This was amazing. We continued to follow whales around all afternoon – taking time out to name some of them from the shape of their tail fins. We definitely identified Atwood, Tooth and Daisy…. and met about eight in total. Heading back – after a three hour excursion – and we were served rum punch to celebrate the day’s success. Wow!

Back to the dock and we decided to go visit the Drop Anchor for sundowners and Richard was going to treat me to dinner ashore. Unfortunately the bar was closed so we just ended up back on Morphie having a glass of wine and I cooked – so another early night – and another spectacular sunset.

Sunday was a lazy day on board doing a few jobs. Very very hot and still here… so ran the little Honda generator for a while to top up the batteries as the wind generator is doing nothing right now!  In the evening I cooked a meal for Lorna and Brian on board Morphie and we had a nice evening…. Enjoyed spending time with them and hope to catch up with them again along the way.

This morning, Monday, we were up early and headed into Roseau. There was a huge cruise ship in town so we took dink to the nearest dock we could get to and walked the rest of the way. We enjoyed wandering the streets and spotting differences from last year and enjoying the mountains that peek over the rooftops. The main thing we noticed was that the new Government building was finished and so was (we assume) the huge residence to go alongside it…. a horrendous amount of money that the very poor people of Dominica could have done without spending I would have thought!   We also noticed a spectacular new – or renovated, not sure – emancipation statue that stood proudly on one of the roundabouts.

Today’s cruise ship towered over everything and we were pretty amused by the noddy train that takes the passengers out around the city.

Having had lunch out at the Calabash and finished our provisioning, we came back on board via a slow dinghy ride along the foreshore looking at the variety of houses and shacks that line the shore. Everyone waves as you go by – this is definitely one of the friendliest islands.

Back on board and we are getting ourselves and Morphie ready to go to sea as we are heading off to Martinique in the morning, probably an eight hour sail…..  Will be sad to say goodbye to the Nature Isle, Dominica.  We have had a fantastic three week stay here….  Although we didn’t explore the interior this trip – having hired a car and did every trip last year we didn’t feel the need to revisit the waterfalls, the volcano, or the rainforest – we had a fantastic time and are happy to announce that this is one of our favourite islands.

Bye for now

Jan

Friday morning we were up and about early to go diving.  Today we were diving with the crew of Hooligan. The first site is a favourite of ours so we were very happy to return to it. Weather conditions were pretty good with a flat sea and sunny skies – hurrah! Very relaxed and chilled dive – spotting the usual suspects as we meandered around through the gulleys, the caverns, the tunnels and up on top of the boulders watching our bubbles come through the porous rock. Love diving through the bubbles – and the noise as they pass by is quite tinkly and surreal….. Beautiful colours to the pristine coral here and, of course, all the usual suspects were around in large numbers. About six lionfish came to an early demise on this dive too. My favourite critter this dive was a lovely giant puffer fish with his big cow-like black eyes. We had almost an hour in the water and enjoyed every minute of it.

The second dive of the day was to a new site – the Rose Garden – which was an amazing coral garden with fantastic sponges, fans and soft corals swaying in the current. This site, however, was absolutely rammed with lionfish – and way bigger than we have seen anywhere else. Beautiful fish but a menace to the indigenous fish population so they have to go….. oh yes, did I tell you they are really stupid? There are six of them under a ledge and Fabian spears the first one and puts him in a bucket. The others don’t even look around to work out where “Dave” went…. they just stay there hanging out. So the next one gets it…. and they still sit there hanging out, not wondering where “Dick” went…. and so it goes on until they are all dead in the bucket together. Very strange behaviour!   Another relaxed dive – thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sorry no photos again…. both sites too deep. Am starting to think we should invest in proper dive housing for the camera at some point!

Dive over – shame – and back on board to clean up. In the afternoon Martin, one of the boat boys, came over to pick us up. He had arranged for us to go to visit CALLS.

Basically this centre was set up by Roman Catholic nuns in 1995 to educate the youth of Dominica between the ages of 16 and 22 who, through no fault of their own, had not completed their education. It is open to students irrespective of religious background, although has a Catholic base. It is largely dependent upon volunteers and donations – as the Government funding is minimal. The two-year programme focuses on basic educational needs and life skills to enable them to enter employment and to learn to live responsibly, including work experience at the end.  Amazingly they have a 60% success rate in students being employed at the end of the two year period.  This is really the safety net for youths who are at risk of getting involved in the seedier side of life here in the Caribbean – eg drugs, prostitution, theft, gang-related violence – to name just a few. So we went to see the principal and had an interesting discussion.  We made a small donation but also decided to volunteer to help out.  Going back to the anchorage we enjoyed seeing Morphie looking good out there.   Once we were safely back on board we had a quiet night and enjoyed the moody sunset.

Saturday morning and we were up bright and early as it was market day and I was after some fresh fruit and veg. Was quite an experience and I purchased a lot of stuff – but from as many vendors as I could to “spread the love”!   We also came across a street medical clinic where doctors were giving jabs etc – we did wonder whether this was an initiative by the Ross medical school.  Richard had, of course, to visit his favourite eatery again while we were out in town….

Back on board and we did a few boat jobs.   The rain had stopped and we had a beautiful rainbow….

Later on we headed out for the evening BBQ. Oh yes, and it’s raining again – hard!!!!!  We had a really nice evening and caught up again with Eric and Pat on Cutter Loose as they continue to head north along with quite a few other cruisers, some we had met before and others we hadn’t. As usual the food, the rum punch and the company was great. Even did some dancing myself this week. Back to dink – who was sloshing around in rainwater he had collected while we had been out – and so to bed.

Sunday morning and we were up pretty early and did a number of boat jobs. Then we chilled and got ready to go ashore – today is the start of Carnival here in Dominica. Oh yes, and the clouds are rolling in across the mountains again….. looks ominous. We left dink on the beach jetty rather than taking him into town and started to walk admiring the flowers that grow everywhere wild. And of course, the heavens opened….. So we ducked into the Bamboo Bar and tried to get a beer – oh no, sold out, rum punch it is then! I’m not really a rum drinker – honest – and this was so strong it wasn’t funny…. I had to ask him to water it down for me. Needless to say Richard managed to finish his without the need for any additional passion fruit juice. There was a guy on a guitar doing a live set – and we recognised him from last year. So that was a nice interlude while waiting for the rain to go away.

Eventually after about 45 minutes it looked safe to continue the walk. Arrived at the market area and bumped into Hooligan and Inspiration crews who had clearly been there for a while! So we enjoyed a few beers with them and then headed off to the other end of town to await the parade.

And it rained again. Oh well, never mind… just have to get wet. Of course, we don’t own an umbrella on the boat – although many cruisers do. Just never really felt the need – the rain here is WARM!  Eventually the parade started with the large music lorry which actually had a live band playing… and then the dancing started…. and the motorcycle club came roaring in…. and then the rain came….and more dancing…. and more drinking….. and more dancing…. and more rain…. Eventually – somehow?!? – we ended up in the parade ourselves dancing along with everyone else and then I got grabbed by a guy in a Morphsuit. Gave me a fright until I realised that it was Fabian, our dive leader! Too funny and he now answers to the nickname Mr Sperm!  The children were dressed up; the costumers were traditional; the stilt walkers were great and the music was LOUD. The whole place was rocking. We grabbed some BBQ chicken from the street vendors along our way and the heavens then absolutely opened and the torrential rain just kept on coming. We are all soaked through to the skin – literally – but hey, it’s Carnival, so we just carried on. Eventually the crowds started to get larger and rowdier – time to leave. And, oh yes, it’s only 7pm…. Back to dink exhausted and soaked – but had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. Once back safely on board Morphie we had lovely hot showers and so to bed.

Monday morning and we went into CALLS for our first volunteering session. We had a good look around – they have an impressive nursery for the babies of some of the students – a wood machine shop, a couple of classrooms and a computer room. Richard and I were allocated students and we took them off to work with them 1:1. Richard’s lad was pretty clued up and smart – and I caught them doing some pretty advanced stuff by lunchtime. My lad was struggling and couldn’t really get his head around addition and subtraction – let alone multiplication and long division. Anyway – clearly we were both a hit – as the students asked if we could stay and do the post-lunch session with them too. Sure – why not? We both were humbled by some of the stories – abuse, violence, abject poverty, and illiteracy to name just a few. Felt really good to give something back to this beautiful island and its people. After lunch we did another hour lesson and then called it a day. It had been a very rewarding day which we celebrated by having a few sundowners at the Blue Bay before having an early night. The sunset was pretty moody again tonight…. and Alexis carried on working in the anchorage as the sun disappeared.

Tuesday and more rain. Torrential most of the day so we stayed put and did a few boat jobs and then got ready to go diving.

We had planned a sunset dive and a night dive – with the latter being at the cruise ship dock, and a promise of seahorses!  Well Fabian and Don were late – and the cruise ship hadn’t left yet. So we went off to a new site – and dropped down into the gloom to explore sand which is thermally warmed. Very strange to put your hands into hot sand down at 75 feet! Anyway…. we were diving around and the light was fading…. and the currents were pretty strong. We realised that Fabian looked a bit uncertain about the direction he was going to take – and seemed to be swimming above the reef which is unlike him. Anyway, we followed him….. and then we realised that not only were we being pushed out to sea by the current but also that we were being dragged down too…. At 120 feet (36 metres) we alerted Fabian and told him we wanted to start our ascent. We slowly ascended and took our time as our dive alarms started to go off…. and then the current released us and we started to bob up too quickly…. Oh no… dive down…. We eventually ended up with an eight minute safety stop in the blue before we surfaced – a long way from where we should have been. Luckily Don had been watching our bubbles on the surface and realised that we had ‘missed’ our turn and so had been keeping an eye out for us and then drove the boat to pick us up. Not a great experience – but just one of those things. It reinforced our buddy skills, looking after each other, and makes you less complacent of the dangers of the sport next time you go in the water. Obviously we did not go ahead with the second dive as we would have needed too long a surface interval to get us back into the safe zone.  Back on board quickly – cleaned up – and so to the bar where we had a good chat about what happened. Turned into a bit of a session along with the PAYS guys and we had a good time.

Wednesday morning back to CALLS and we were allocated the same students again as they had asked for us! How great was that? Made us feel really good. So did the first session with them and then got new students for the second session. Richard’s was, again, pretty clued up. Mine, on the other hand, didn’t know colours, shapes and could almost count up to 20 but really struggled to write them down. A real eye opener to me as he was 17. He was keen to learn and we worked really hard. What impressed me was that he could do basic maths in his head even though he struggled to write the numbers down.  So a very long road for him ahead but I’m really hoping that he stays with the programme. Hopefully my little bit helped in building his confidence if nothing else and I would have loved to spend more time doing this – such a shame that we didn’t find out about it until relatively late in our visit here. But I’m determined to spread the word with cruisers that are heading north – so hopefully they will get more volunteers as a result. Fingers crossed.

Wednesday afternoon we rushed to the PAYS hut on the beach – the Minister of Tourism and his staff had asked to meet the cruisers and the PAYS guys to see how he can help them with additional initiatives to encourage more cruisers to come and to stay longer. This all came about, partly, due to Richard’s impromptu chat with him last week. It was a pretty impressive meeting and we all felt that we had contributed and been listened to. Whether that makes any difference in terms of getting the funding that the guys need is another thing – but he seemed to get it! Only time will tell….

Wednesday night – phew this is a busy day! – and we are back on the beach to the PAYS BBQ. We weren’t going to go – but we need to support this organisation, so we decided that one more rum punch wouldn’t hurt us. Well – it was a fantastic evening – and one of the ex-CALLS students 23rd birthday, so after the BBQ we decamped to the very loud local bar next door and danced the night away. Back on board around 1.45 am – oops.

This morning, Thursday morning and we got up late…. no surprise there then!   We are staying on board today getting ourselves, and Morphie, ready to go back to sea. So a very quiet day planned and certainly not going ashore tonight!  We said all our sad farewells last night. Tomorrow – Friday – we are running down the coast to visit Roseau, capital of Dominica. Hoping for whales and dolphins on the way…. It is the time of year for them…..so all things flexible crossed!

Bye for now

Jan