Caribbean Update 17:00N 61:46W
Southern Princess
John & Irene Hunt
Tue 1 Jan 2008 20:34
Been a hectic 10
days. The girls plane was three hours late which meant that we were at St Lucia
airport at 02:00 hours to find that the immigration girl couldn't find the visa
forms, had kept their passports and we had to go back next morning to collect
them.
On December 23rd we departed Rodney Bay for Cul de
sac de Marin the yachting centre of Martinique. It was great sail with a tight
reach all the way and at 15:00 hours anchored adjacent to 'Storyteller' and that
evening we all had dinner ashore at the Zanzibar Cafe with Andrea & Ian
Treleaven. Great music provided by a Czech jazz combo sailing around the world.
The drummer was their 12 year old nephew. The keyboard player looked like an
ancient version of 'One flew out of the Cuckoos Nest' and got away! The
saxophone player was his wife and she was an older version of Goldilocks or her
Mum! Funny night and great music.
One of the nice aspects of Marin was the Leader
Supermarket which has it's own dinghy dock which makes it nice and easy for
shopping and being French, chesses, terrines, pates, foie gras and French wine
at European prices as Martinique and Guadalupe are French departments and as
such heavily subsidised. The anchorage also has very clean water and as such
great swimming. On the afternoon of the 24th we headed up the coast about 10
miles to Grande Anse and a restaurant which was open for Christmas Eve.
Storyteller, Finisterre and the four of us from Southern Princess had an
enjoyable night and the French did a marvellous job for the kids. Santa arrived
by boat and a snow machine delivered soapy foam over all of us.
Christmas Day was different. We departed Grande
Anse early so that we could meet the rental agent and pick up car by 11:00
hours. We drove around 2/3rds of the island and lunch was chicken sandwiches on
the beach at St Francois with diet coke.
The 26th saw us in Dominica and met by Pancho a
boat boy who looked after us. We rented a mooring buoy from him for US$10 per
night (it is a deep anchorage) and he provided a great service, ice, bread and a
Dominica courtesy flag as the one I thought I had was for The Dominican
Republic, about a 1000 miles away! Megan and Sam had caught a tuna on the way
across and this we BBQ'd for dinner. The log notes: Sammy finally won at
Rumikub! It was a rolly night in the anchorage and I slept on deck to keep and
eye on things as we had heard bad stories about light fingered
locals.
Next stop was the north of Dominica at Prince
Rupert Bay and on the way in Megan caught a reasonable sized barracuda which we
promptly donated to a boat boy who was alongside several miles off the coast
touting for work. We had an introduction from Jerry & Nancy off Lame
Libre, to 'Providence' and called him on VHF 16. He organised a mooring, a
trip up The Indian River. Martin Carrierre is a delightful man and that night we
all had dinner at the Blue Bay Restaurant. Martin, his wife Floriana and their
two children, Nicole (7) and Nikki (14). Interesting talking with them.
Unemployment in young men is as high as 50% and no social security. Most are
forced to live at home with their parents and take odd jobs to keep the wolf
from the door. Martin has been a 'boat boy' for the past 15 years and is the
current president on "The Indian River Guides Association". They have banded
together with the beach front restaurants, dive shops etc to provide night time
security for the anchorage. The stipend for the mooring went to cover the cost
of the security patrol and yachts at anchor are asked for a small contribution.
Floriana has a permanent job with the water board so as a family they are
reasonably well off even though Martin's season is only 6 months. Cost of
living is high with petrol costing the same as in Australia however as their
wages are so much lower, fuel is extremely expensive. Basic foods they grow them
selves however apples which have to be imported cost around US$1 each. We had
some still from Las Palmas so donated them to the girls.
28th December saw us in Les Saintes, the southern
most islands of Guadalupe. Delightful islands, great shops and Megan shouted us
lunch ashore in a bay side restaurant. French food again! yum!
Next stop was Deshaies on the north west of
Basse-Terre of Guadalupe, a deep bay with a small village at the head. Lots of
yachts at anchor either arriving or, as we were, going to depart for Antigua.
Some quite stunning craft in the bay. Lunch ashore, paucity of shops; thank
goodness and a BBQ on board that evening as we watched a magnificent sunset. The
Rumikub championships continue.Irene winning so far.
Boy the trip to English Harbour was bloody awful;
44 nautical miles of chopped up seas. It was like being inside a washing
machine.We had half a mainsail and sometimes the staysail. For 6 hours the seas,
wind and rain pounded us. The wind never got below 25 knots, for over half the
trip is was well into the 30's and one gust topped 40 knots! Only a half mile
off the coast and we still couldn't see the island of Antigua!
Our reservation worked and we tied up stern to in
Nelson's Dockyard. The wall we tied to has been here for 250 years. The dockyard
is one of the best restorations of a Georgian working ship yard and The
Admiral's House is now a small very well done museum. Nelson's Dockyard is
apparently the 'in place' for New Years Eve and it was a great party. Fireworks
and Pina Coladas at midnight with
Reggae music thumping in the background. All this ground to a stop at 03:00 on
the New Years Day! Lots of terribly hung over people this morning.
Yesterday we hired a car and toured the island with
a visit to St Johns, the capital, a drive around the coast, lunch at a small
restaurant right on the beach, a visit to Jolly Harbour, an American type marina
and housing complex with 130 sq metre apartments going for
US$500,000!
Megan & Samantha departed New Years
Day at 16:00 hours. Sam for Miami to visit friends and then on to Vancouver
for 10 days to stay with a Canadian girl who flatted with Sam for a year in
Australia. She will have a great time there. Megan will have a horror flight
home, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, Sydney without a break and with the
Yanks being absolutely nuts with their 'Home Land Security' we hope she makes
her connections on time. On the way down from London they held her in a locked
room in Miami for 40 minutes while they took away her passport. They would
answer no questions, were deaf to Megan's explanation that she had a
connecting flight to catch and with out explanation of any kind handed her
passport back and told her to run for the next connection! Talk about arrogance,
the US immigration people don't welcome visitors to the US; they are effectively
driving them away! Irene and I now avoid the States unless we are visiting
friends, we probably won't go touring there again as last time we were pulled
out of line and had to strip off shoes, belts and have body searches for every
flight. Just not worth the hassle any more.Their loss.
Tomorrow we are off south again, particularly to
Marin on Martinique as we have some concerns with the water maker and we need a
new handle for the fridge door. There is a great Beneteau agent in Marin who
apparently gets things done.
Will catch up again soon. A Happy New Year and a
great 2008 to everyone.
John & Irene
Sunset in Deshaies
Guadeloupe
Floriana & Nicole
Irene & Nikki
Martin making palm leaf birds for the
ladies.