Barbados Position 13:05.545N 59:36.928W
SeaTrek
Bill and Judy Stellin
Tue 18 Dec 2007 02:26
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We approached this island from the north because we had
been told check in at Port Saint Charles was much better than in Bridgetown, the
capital.
Also Port Saint Charles had a marina and we thought it
would be a treat after 16 days at sea to take a hot shower and a meal off the
boat. We got there, had to endure their complicated and lengthy check in
and then after having been there at the fuel dock for 3 hours killing time
while El Gordo the dockmaster farted around, were told the marina was reserved
for yachts that were at least 100 feet or longer. So no stay. Well,
we made the most of it. We filled our tanks with their free water but
declined their overpriced diesel fuel. We also took a shower on their
jetty using their water again. I won't even go into the paperwork
necessary to check out, because it makes me nauseous just rethinking
it. It took the better part of an hour and all three offices that I had to
visit and fill out identical paperwork were in the same building on the same
floor. When I suggested maybe I could only fill out one crew sheet instead
of 7 and they could copy the other six, they politely told me that was not
possible. This marina only has room for about 6-7 super yachts and yet it
has a fully staffed health, customs and immigration office. Most of the
day these people have nothing to do. Still, it was infinitely better than
the process in the capital, which requires taking a taxi to get to because of
the distance. Plus in Bridgetown, where we are now in Carlisle Bay, we are
at anchor and so you must dinghy in for everything. In Port St Chas.
the fee for one night stay would have been $115 for us and another $100 to dump
our garbage. We sneaked it into a trash bin when no one was looking.
Even anchoring in front was $36 per night. They also had the
gaul to charge us $8.34 as a port tax. When I mildly complained,
I was told it didn't make any difference that I was leaving as fast I as I got
there, I was there so I had to pay. These people are
nuts.
We ate out tonight and it was an awful meal, hamburger and
quiche for Judy that was like shoe leather. The bill came to $32
USD. We're out of here as fast as we
came.
All in all it was a busy day. Finished our crossing,
entered two ports, fixed our boom vang, wandered through Bridgetown (An ok
little town) and got ripped off just about everywhere we've been to here on this
island.
Now all I have to do is buy some fiberglass cloth, epoxy
resin and related stuff so I can repair our pedestal guard grab
thing.
From La Gomera, Canary Islands, to here, has been a
journey of 2712 miles in sixteen days, four hours, (to this bay).
In the process, we used 15 gals of diesel fuel, out
of 85 gal that we carry, exclusively for fridge and battery needs.
We used about 50 gals of fresh water leaving about 75
left.
Still have some fresh fruits and vegetables from the
Canaries.
Except for the boom vang tackle and the grab thing,
nothing broke or bent or chaffed though.
The auto pilot steered the boat 99.9% of the time, down
some of the steepest wave fronts we've seen in a long time without once ever
being overcome by them. Never once did we feel the pilot could not handle
the forces or that we might broach which is common with many pilots that are not
well engineered. Plus, ours is as old as the boat itself (11
years).
It has not yet fully set in, we are not still in European
waters. One day we were in the Med and now North American waters but nothing
seems to have changed. We still are on the same boat, doing the same
things day after day, except by putting 16 of those routine days together
we crossed an ocean. Pretty neat.
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