Anchoring without any hassles!
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Sat 18 Jan 2014 22:20
Grande Case
Our quiet breakfast was disturbed by the sound of children laughing and squealing. On the beach a class of thirty small children were having a lesson. I wouldn't call it a swimming lesson as such more playing in the surf watched by two adults, who barked commands now and again. Some of the children would then sit at the edge and watch others bounce around then they would swap. It was obvious that all, bar the two who were sitting under a deck of a building on the beach and probably had notes from their mums, were thoroughly enjoying themselves. After an hour, they stopped picked up towels and formed the crocodile loved by schools all over the world and off they trotted back to school. Thus part one of the morning entertainment had concluded. The second stage was the planes coming into land, over the top of us, at the very small French airport just behind the Main Street. There was a steady stream of inter island and private planes coming in low over the beach, reminiscent of Maho Beach on the Dutch side but on a smaller scale. Also on the hour, the glass bottomed Sea World boat would take a group of tourists out to explore the reefs. This does seem a real money spinner and we wondered where they all came from, until we saw all the buses in the car park. Then it was off in the dinghy to explore Grande Case. We landed at a very smart dinghy dock which in comparison to the bigger but rotting ferry dock seemed the safer choice.
There is not much to say about Grande Case; French feel, one Main Street with very high end French restaurants, boutiques and smart buzzing beach bars (with wifi) mixed in with unmaintained shacks with people living in them or unfinished buildings where the local men gathered to play cards. There was also a very neat Catholic Church and a men's institute. They still have all the Christmas trees and decorations up, which is rather surreal in bright sunshine.
We then went snorkelling around the rocks (Roche Creole) in the bay. Again a huge range of corals and fish, but we had forgotten the identification chart. Our quiet swim was interrupted by the arrival of the yellow dinghy ducks from Simpson Bay, but it was a great way to spend a week day afternoon. Getting back in the dinghy was not helped by Sarah's gales of laughter.
At night, Grande Case has a very different feel, people promenade the Main Street in the European fashion. As it was Tuesday night, which is meant to be live music night, we decided to go ashore for the evening. We had a nice time wandering the street reading all the menus and sitting in bars drinking cocktails while catching up on the wifi before having a Vietnamese meal at a beach bar. Which was pleasant and reasonably priced with a very chirpy owner. Only one bar had live music, which was a disappointment and at times it took a while to identify the song they were performing.
Wednesday 15th January.
Thankfully, the anchor came up with no problems, thus Sarah was a happy bunny and Darrell could start planning sailing to more bays and anchorages. But first we had to return to Marigot Bay to collect the Genoa and organise a refund from the marina that had significantly overcharged us (twice for eight nights)but as the accountant had not been in it could not be sorted when Darrell had gone in to settle up. So we anchored in Marigot Bay and this time we set firm, which was a relief as there were a lot of boats in. Possibly due to the fact the bridge to the Lagoon was broken and there was no way through to the lagoon from this side.
The sailmaker met us with a huge smile and cheerfulness that we had not encountered on our last visit. So Darrel was safe. The sail had been reincarnated successfully and he appears to have patched it in numerous places and replaced the sacrificial strip. So everyone is happy. Getting the sail back to and onto the boat went very smoothly, however refitting it to the foil of the furler was another issue. Although, when we started there was no wind and all seem well. The problems started when Sarah tried to winch it up. Darrell just though she was being wimpy as she struggled to winch it up and kept asking her to go faster, you can imagine the response. Obviously, the wind got up slight making it more difficult for Darrell who was feeding the edge of the sail into the luff groove. Unfortunately, we had to take it down again as when we tried to take her in there was a riding turn on the furler which then jammed. After some discussion about why it had been so hard to winch up, we repeated the operation but using the electric winch. But this still required a lot of tension being put on the halyard for the wimp to grip it. Darrell is still unsure what the problem was.
As a reward, or an apology, Darrell then took Sarah for cake ashore at a nice patisserie, with wifi. This was lucky as our stay was significantly extend by a monsoon downpour that lasted for over an hour. It gave us time to back up the iPads, catch on emails and What'sApp's and for Sarah to set her students some work! (Distance learning is a wonderful thing thanks to at internet)
Darrell visited the marina, but the accountant was out again. He talked on the phone and offered Darrell a cash refund, but Darrell wanted the card refunded so as to avoid paying the extra currency charges. But they did not know how to do that as they never had done it before. So the accountant was going to talk to their bank to find out how to do it, "could we return tomorrow?"!
Thursday 16th January.
Darrell disappeared again to get his chandler fix for the week and to get boat keys cut, which he has been trying to do since we were in Cornwall. This has always been impossible as it is a French boat and needed specific type of blanks, even though they look like normal Yale type keys. However, he returned triumphant from this foray. In fact in such a good mood we went out for a very nice lunch ashore. The day was made even better by the marina managing the refund and the custom office being open when we went to check out. A smooth process with a jolly man that took about 10 minutes, after he completed a form that Darrell had just filled in in the Marina where we had checked in, but could not check out as we were now anchored in the bay, but the official could not use Darrell's completed form as only his would do.
Beauty, it is often said, is in the eye of the beholder and with taste there can be a fine line between good and bad. Sarah's equilibrium was severely upset, not by the rolling motion, which was minor in the the bay, but by the arrival near us of another large yacht (60+ foot). I will make no other comment other than it had a purple hull with a yellow band around the water line, yellow sail cover and deck accessories, including covers for the windsurfers, and the crew wore bright yellow t shirts. I am also convinced that the defaced blue ensign she was flying had been made, not out of blue canvas, but purple!
Tomorrow, the adventure continues to yet another country, Anguilla.