Our stay in Barbados, 24 November to 16 December 2016
Barbados – 24 November to 16 December Apologies for being so slack in keeping the blog up to date. I will try and get it fully up-to-date and keep it that way, asap! Shallow Draft, Bridgetown, Barbados
Our first day in Barbados, having crossed the Atlantic (which hadn’t quite sunk in yet); first thing to address – the dagger-board! It took us two hours to get two ropes under the boat and winch it up. No wonder we couldn’t achieve this at sea, it took long enough in the marina! I didn’t get stung by jelly fish this time – always a bonus. Maisie (Martin & Rita) arrived at 1230 hrs so we assisted with their lines and gave them a very warm welcome, congratulating them on their magnificent achievement. Maisie was one of two boats that started the rally at the beginning in London and we joined up with in Falmouth.
Wi-Fi was none existent at Shallow Draft Marina so a good excuse to walk into Bridgetown for lunch. Wi-Fi wasn’t much better in Bridgetown! Later that afternoon we commissioned a diver to put an additional line through the dagger-board. The diver confirmed that we would need to lift Lady Rebel out of the water in order to permanently fix the dagger-board in place or remove it completely. That evening Maisie invited us for drinks and substantial nibbles and we swapped stories of the crossing. Friday 25 November – Barbados Shallow Draft Marina to Barbados Careenage (Bridgetown) 3 miles, 3.6 engine hrs Total miles: 4837.8 We departed Shallow Draft Marina at 0730 hrs for the Careenage – the marina in Bridgetown just around the corner. We were kept waiting outside in the bay for 3 hours! They have to raise the road bridge to let boats in and out of the Careenage and don’t like to do this too often. We eventually moored up at 1100 hrs. A few boats had already gone in the day before and more came in in the afternoon.
We waited hours for the electrician to come and connect us to shore power. There was an issue with the adaptor sizes which meant we couldn’t just simply plug our cable in. After several hours of waiting we gave up and went ashore to sort sim cards for our mobiles. That evening we got a taxi down to Oistins on the South West of the island – a large fish market with lots of eateries cooking (BBQing) fresh fish with various bands playing on a centre stage. A Barbados ‘must-do’ especially on a Friday night!
Saturday 26 November – Barbados Finally the electrician sorted our electric so I was able to do the washing! Our bedding was pretty grim as we’d not had many showers during the two week Atlantic crossing!! I cleared out the ‘V’ berth ready for Don’s friend Lynne joining us on Monday while Ken cleaned the salt water from the decks and Don cleaned the cockpit – not an easy job in the heat. We pressure washed the cockpit cushions and did general boat chores taking up most of the day. That evening was the welcome party held at Barbados Yacht Club, free rum punch J and then onto Barbados Cruising Club for a meal with some of the other boats.
Don was feeling tired so didn’t come out with us – not like him! He also went to bed at tea time – again not like him, which was a bit of a concern. Sunday 27 November – Barbados More boat chores and a quick swim at the beach – rude not to! Had a drink with Peter and Jenny from Modjadji on the way back to Lady Rebel. Don was still very tired and stayed on board all day. He didn’t eat dinner. By now we were getting really concerned so found details of the nearest pharmacy with the intention of going tomorrow for advice/medication. We tried to get him to at least drink water but he was very reluctant to. Monday 28 November – Barbados Don didn’t surface until 0900 hrs. He’s normally an early riser. He had a shave but felt dizzy and fell and cut his head. He then made a cup of tea but fell asleep in the chair holding it. As Ken was trying to prize the cup from his hand he had a seizure. Very scary. There was a policeman directing traffic on the road alongside the marina so I ran out and asked him to call an ambulance. The word had spread that Don was unwell and various people from other rally boats came to assist whilst we were waiting for the ambulance. It was so kind of them. We accompanied Don to hospital at about 1100 hrs where they did lots of tests including an MRI scan and ECG. The conclusion was severe dehydration so they fitted him up with a drip. Although the hospital was pretty grotty, Don was well looked after. I returned to the boat at 1700 hrs as Lynne was due to arrive around that time. Ken stayed with Don until 0130 hrs (Tuesday) when they decided they weren’t going to release him. Lynne arrived early evening and whilst we were chatting, waiting for Ken to return, I put our big boy fender at the back of Modjadji moored next to us as the swell was causing her stern to hit the marina wall. I also caught Doljaime’s dinghy with our boat hook as it had decided to come detached from the marina wall and float past Lady Rebel! An eventful evening. Tuesday 29 November – Barbados Ken, Lynne and I walked to the hospital mid morning in torrential rain. We were literally knee deep in water in some places.
Ken stayed with Don who wasn’t being released until approximately 1500 hrs. The torrential rain caused lots of debris, tree branches, rubbish to wash down the river into the Careenage and build up around the mooring buoys at the front of the boats moored there. Jenny from Modjadji and I borrowed Laraday's dinghy to try and clear the debris away as it was weighing the mooring buoys down. Some others were doing the same in another dinghy as there was a lot to clear. We were like drowned rats but we had a laugh and the rain was very warm! Ken and Don arrived back at 1700 hrs and we had a quiet night on board. Wednesday 30 November – Barbados We went for a walk along the beach to the Yacht Club for lunch to get some fresh air and gentle exercise.
That evening Ken and I went to a concert at the Kensington Oval for the Barbados 50th anniversary of independence celebrations. Prince Harry did a speech and Rihanna sang the National Anthem. Lots of bands were playing alongside Rihanna. We met up with Martin and Rita from Maisie for a drink. Thursday 1 December – Barbados We spent practically all day completing our US Visa applications on line as we are planning to go to New York at some point. The information they required was endless from countries we’d visited in the last 5 years, dates of previous visits to America, birth dates and birth places of previous partners (like we knew this information off by heart!) as well as the usual medical stuff and were we members of IS or had we smuggled drugs etc etc. Finally our forms and passport photographs were submitted and our appointment to the US Embassy in Barbados arranged for 6 December at 0845 hrs. We later discovered this was the same date/time as boats Tortourelle and Gloria. That evening we went to the leaving party and presentation at the Yacht Club starting at 1700 hrs. Our arrival was delayed somewhat by Ken having a little mishap. The plank we were using to get from the boat to the marina wall gave way whilst Ken was half way across. He fell backwards into the stinky, dirty water of the Careenage (where people pee and there are dead rats floating around). Luckily the water was a little cleaner, but not a great deal, following the torrential rain earlier in the week that had washed a lot of the debris through the Careenage and out to sea. Luckily, apart from a grazed hand, he suffered no injuries and was able to climb out via a nearby ladder only to discover, most annoyingly, he’d lost his phone in the drink. After a thorough shower and dousing in disinfectant we made our way to the party. Don was presented a very nice book, by Jimmy Cornell, about the history of Barbados, for being the oldest rally participant!
Following the party we had a lovely meal at Brown Sugar with some of the other boats. Friday 2 December – Barbados First task - DIY store to buy a ladder! Couldn’t find one. Getting on and off the boat without the plank was proving difficult as it was hard to get the back of the boat close enough to the marina wall to step across. It was a matter of taking a deep breath and jumping. Somehow the thought of falling into the rat ridden water gave extra ‘spring’. In the afternoon we caught a local bus to Oistins with Ian and Anne from Tortourelle. Went to the beach for a swim first then a meal at the fish market joined by Martin and Rita from Maisie and Fabrice and Sylvia from Maryna II. Taxi back and drinks on board Lady Rebel.
Saturday 3 December – Barbados Ken found some ladders to buy to replace the broken plank! Met up with Modjadji, Maggie Drum, Gloria, Aura and White Ibis to watch the rugby - England V Australia – at Pirates Cove bar on the beach! England won fortunately!
We then watched Tigers V Northampton Saints – always a tense game as many of our friends are Saints fans. Tigers won J. Quick swim and sunbathe to get over the excitement! Sunday 4 December – Barbados Friends (Nigel and Pam) of friends (Paul RL) from the sailing club back home (HOEOCA) were staying on the island at The Sugar Cane Club – a beautiful complex in a peaceful setting, with individual apartments, restaurants and pool. They kindly came and collected us and drove us up the West coast to where they were staying. We had a lovely lazy lunch, swim, sunbathe and chat about some of the Caribbean Islands they had cruised around. A very pleasant and most enjoyable change. Monday 5 December – Barbados Don and Lynne went off sight seeing to the North of the island visiting caves, farms and rugged coastline. They watched the garrison horses being bathed.
Ken had reserved an iPhone 7 which was to be collected from a store that was a 30 minute bus ride away. Barbados bus rides are always an experience with their reggae music blaring away, people packed into every available space and speeds generally above the limit, especially around blind corners! We arrived at the Sheratan shopping mall, with white knuckles, only to discover the phone wasn’t unlocked and could therefore only be used with their ‘Flow’ network. Not a lot of use for a travelling sailor. We endured the white knuckle ride back again to Bridgetown where Ken managed to find an electrical shop selling unlocked iPhone 7’s, which he duly purchased at an extortionate cost and spent hours setting up due to the very frustratingly slow, intermittent wifi. At least he was once again connected to the outside World! The next job on the list was to fix the outboard motor on the dinghy. It wasn’t circulating cooling water and was thus overheating and cutting out. Our dinghy, or rib in correct terms as it has a hard V shape bottom, sits on a platform off the back of the boat.
We were keen to get it fixed so we could leave the Careenage and go out to anchor in Carlisle Bay which was a lot more peaceful and meant we could swim off the boat. We needed the rib as means of getting ashore once at anchor. The outboard engine is not one that can be removed easily due to its weight plus being wired into the centre console. So to avoid dropping engine bits and tools into the water below we borrowed Janika Lyca’s dinghy to put underneath our platform and outboard, also giving us something to stand in to do the work. After a lot of struggling – two people trying to balance in a small, wobbly bottomed dinghy whilst taking a heavy outboard motor apart above ‘one’s’ head is far from easy – we managed to change the impeller. Excitedly we launched our rib and took her for a spin only to disappointingly discover we’d not solved the problem. We decided to park that job for the time being whilst we had a rethink. Back in the saloon we could smell burning coming from the transformer and realised one of the electric circuits wasn’t working i.e. no hot water, air-conditioning and some of the lights. We started to investigate this problem but it was getting late and dark and we’d already missed a farewell meal for those who were departing Barbados the next day. Bill and Jade kindly cooked us a very tasty and much appreciated omelette and we managed to meet the others just as the bar was closing! At least we got to say goodbye to them and wish them safe and happy sailing. Hopefully we will meet up with some of them again whilst cruising other islands. Tuesday 6 December – Barbados Don and Lynne went off to the beach for a morning stroll and swim. We had our US VISA application appointments first thing at the US Embassy. We shared a taxi with Ian and Anne (Tourterelle). Tim and Sarah from Gloria were also there. Unfortunately the photograph I submitted, that is exactly the same as the one in my passport, was rejected due to my ears being hidden by my hair! Annoyingly we had to take a taxi to a shopping mall to get a new photograph taken – more expense. Shortly afterwards Ian and Anne arrived at the photo shop having had the same problem! We could have shared a taxi! Back at the Embassy Tim and Sarah were still waiting. We hadn’t missed our turn in the queue and having had my photo accepted we were given a brief interview basically asking us where, why, how long we’d be staying in America (New York and surrounding area, to get out of the hurricane season, probably July, August, September). Not the interrogation we thought we’d be getting, thankfully, and we were back on the boat ready to tackle the faulty outboard motor by 1045 hrs. We borrowed Janika Lyca’s dinghy and once again took the leg off the outboard motor. We used the dinghy pump to force air through the water cooling pipes to remove any debris. Having put the outboard back together and briefly run it, it seemed to have worked. We would need to go for a decent spin but it was looking promising. In the afternoon one of Gloria’s crew members called Thai, who knew a bit about electrics (who coincidentally used to work in Leamington as a teacher and knew Harbury well) came aboard to help Ken find the electrical fault. After lots of various checks they were no further forward. Later Ken had a more in depth look at the transducer and eventually found some melted wires. It was getting too late to fix the problem but was a relief to have found it although the cause was still unexplained. Shore power was giving reverse polarity, that we’d asked the marina electrician to sort but he couldn’t, so it could have been that. That evening Bill and Jade invited us, Maisie and Maryna II for a belated ‘arriving in Barbados’ party aboard White Ibis. They’d saved Champagne especially for the occasion! We ate at The Water Front which was expensive but excellent and returned to White Ibis for nightcaps. Wednesday 7 December – Barbados We set off in our newly fixed rib to Carlisle Bay where Tourterelle was anchored, to borrow their ‘reverse polarity’ gadget to see if that would fix our electrical problem. We were barely out of the marina when the engine overheated and stopped. After rowing the rib back to Lady Rebel, Don and Lynne took themselves off to the beach for the day. We were definitely getting sight seeing and beach envy! We couldn’t face taking the outboard apart again and couldn’t do anything with the electrics so Ken went to the library for decent wi-fi to update his new phone and do some work. I did general boat chores, tidying, filling water tanks etc. and then settled down to sort photos and start writing our Atlantic Blog. It was a very sad day as more boats were leaving to do their own thing. Modjadji, Oyster Bar to St. Lucia, Maggie Drum to Grenada. We were really going to miss our new friends. Fabrice and Sylvia had invited us and others aboard Maryna II for Sylvia’s Birthday. It was supposed to be a beach BBQ but it was pouring with rain so they did excellent food and rum punch aboard instead. A great evening.
Thursday 8 December – Barbados A morning of domestic chores and an afternoon mending the outboard motor – again! We managed to get water to flow through the cooling pipes but having put it all back together we couldn’t get the motor into reverse gear. We were getting very despondent by this point. We carried on and finally got the gears to work. Off we went to visit Tourterelle anchored out in the bay. Shortly into the trip the cooling water stopped. Grrrrrrrr. We limped back to Lady Rebel. The only bit of good news was we received our passports back including our US Visas! Friday 9 December – Barbados Sightseeing time, finally! Don, Lynne and I went to the most amazing flower forest at the North end of the Island. The taxi ride up there was interesting in itself, through various farms and villages, some very upmarket, some very run down. The Northern part of the Island was a lot greener and less inhabited than the Southern part. The flower forest was extremely well organised and presented with a guided trail through hundreds, if not thousands, of different species of trees, flowers and plants. It was so peaceful compared to Bridgetown!
That evening we went for a superb meal at Brown Sugar with Bill and Jade. Don and Lynne treated Ken and myself as a thank you for putting them up which made it even nicer and was much appreciated!! Saturday 10 December – Barbados Now the outboard was working, or at least appeared to be, we moved out of the Careenage to anchor in Carlisle Bay, right opposite the beach. It was beautiful and so much quieter. We were between White Ibis, Maryna II and Maisie.
It was great to just chill in the afternoon, read and cool off in the sea. The fish were amazing and there was the odd turtle bobbing about! Sunday 11 December – Barbados Woke up to a text message containing the below photo – first I thought it was their usual Sunday morning sherry, then I looked closer and saw champagne and a ring. YAY, Bill and Nicky B are engaged, fantastic news. Very close friends from Harbury. So excited and happy for them!
We then walked around an old signal station where they used to keep watch for invaders and send messages to other signal stations across the Island to warn them.
We stopped off at Speightown for lunch by the sea!
Back on the boat we saw turtles and pipe fish and later went to White Ibis for ‘return of the dinghy’ celebrations. The previous night Bill and Jade had gone for drinks on Maisie and each thought the other had tied the dinghy on, however, this was not the case. It wasn’t until they came to leave that they realised the dinghy had floated away, complete with brand new expensive electric motor! Martin and Bill went off in Martin’s dinghy, in the dark, to try and find it, without success. They put a call out to the coastguard to say if anyone saw an unoccupied dinghy not to put out a people search! A cargo ship anchored two miles off shore happened to hear this message and saw the dinghy floating past them. They kindly alerted the coastguard who went out to collect it and return it to White Ibis. It was certainly Bill and Jade’s lucky night, hence the drinks to celebrate! Monday 12 December – Barbados We had booked onto ‘Ted’s Tours’ (recommended by friends from Harbury) and he duly came along and collected us in his tour bus from Bridgetown. It was a full day tour of the Island including lunch and rum punch. Ted was very knowledgeable and entertaining and we returned having seen all aspects of Barbados – rich and poor, green and brown!
Tuesday 13 December – Barbados It was Don and Lynne’s last day so we made the most of the morning, snorkelling two wrecks just off the beach where we saw amazing fish and turtles. Ken took them ashore in the rib (which thankfully didn’t break down) for them to get a taxi to their airport hotel. That afternoon we tried to fix the wind generator, without success (if it’s not one thing breaking it’s another – something we have come to realise about boats, and not just Lady Rebel; everyone else seems to have constant issues too). We gave up when Ian and Anne from Tourterelle came to collect their gas cylinder we’d had filled for them and stayed for a drink, then Martin, Rita, Bill and Jade came aboard too. Much more fun than fixing things! Wednesday 14 December – Barbados We spent the morning fixing the wind generator and the afternoon chilling in the sunshine and showers! Maisie had a big party on board at 5.30pm then we went ashore for lobster which was fabulous, if a touch expensive! Thursday 14 December – Barbados We took the rib ashore to the Careenage which overheated just as we arrived L. We had an appointment with immigration at Shallow Draft Marina to check out of Barbados as we were leaving for St Lucia the next day. We chatted to Howard and Sue, yacht Sundowner, whose engine had failed mid Atlantic and was still in bits. (We thought we had problems!). An immigration officer took us to the immigration office at the cruise ship terminal where we signed papers and answered lots of questions and then we were free to go! We limped back to the boat in the rib; the engine kept overheating and cutting out so we part paddled and part motored. It took a while and we got drenched in a rain storm but soon dried off in the sunshine that followed. Bill from White Ibis was our taxi that evening, to the yacht club for the Atlantic Odyssey’s welcome party – another rally organised by Jimmy Cornell, then onto the Cruising Club for our final dinner in Barbados. Friday 15 December – Barbados to St Lucia, 87 miles, 19.16 hrs, 4.54 knots average speed, 10.7 engine hrs Total miles: 4924.8 We said goodbye to the few remaining yachts in Barbados – Maisie, Gloria and White Ibis and set off at 1330 hrs for the overnight passage to St Lucia. I had developed a nasty cough but the weather was too good (15 knots of wind in the right direction!) not to depart and I was feeling ok, just coughing a lot! The three ropes under the boat holding the dagger-board up were making a horrendous vibrating noise; we just hoped they would last the distance – which they did. Overnight the wind rose to 30 – 35 knots and the wave size increased massively. It was pretty rolly and not the most pleasant of sails but we arrived in sunshine at 0830 hrs the following morning. Making our way across the bay to the marina entrance we picked up a long line around our rudder that was randomly floating. We had to anchor just outside the marina entrance whilst waiting for a berth allocation so Ken went in the water to cut the line free. Luckily the line wasn’t around the propeller, but some had got stuck in the rudder stock that Ken was unable to free – another problem to sort! We finally moored in the marina at 1200 hrs and went straight to the immigration office for clearance – very tedious but has to be done! It’s not cheap either. Peter from Stormbreaker (our Falmouth friends) came aboard with the sad news that they are not going to continue with their sailing expedition. They had signed up for the World Arc departing St Lucia for the Panama Canal at the beginning of January, however, they decided it wasn’t for them and Stormbreaker is on the market L We met up with Peter (Sarah had gone back to the UK for a week or so) and Peter and Jenny from Modjadji who were also in St Lucia, that evening for dinner. I didn’t last the distance – too many rum punches during happy hour (plus I was poorly – that’s my excuse). Ken walked me back to Lady Rebel where I promptly crashed out!! |
