Crimson Kathryn and her crew

A good weather window starts tomorrow Thursday, March 19 so we’ll be jumping south to St. Lucia in the morning. But before that happens, we did have a few more interesting days here in Martinique.

After our exploration of St. Pierre on March 14th, we had 2 days of relaxation and some small jobs. It was a rainy, windy day on Sunday, March 15, so we stayed onboard. Monday we went back to town to do laundry and a bit more shopping. We met a couple from Minnesota who had been cruising the Caribbean for 10 years. They told us that this season’s weather has been unusual – more windy and rainy. They also gave us some advice about good places to stop going south – always helpful. On Tuesday, March 17 we pulled up anchor and travelled about 15 nm south to Grande Anse d’Arlet. This move was to put us (and Sundog who sailed down with us) in a better jump off spot for St. Lucia and the area was also known for its charm. It was a short but rough sail south. The wind was all over the place – blowing like crazy from east and then quickly changing strength and direction. We were all pretty tired when we finally anchored in the lovely harbour.

Today (March 18th) we headed to shore for a little exploring and also to print out of our French clearance papers (needed to clear into the next island). Sharron and John joined us for this trip but they took the trail over the hill while we walked along the road. The customs office for this area was in Petite Cite de Caractere, a small town 1.5km south of us so it was an easy walk. We had a good look around this quaint little town – it’s definitely on the touristy side. We found a market that had a veggie stall so we bought another pineapple!! We went to the customs place and had our papers printed, stamped and signed!! We also had a nice coffee while we waited for Sharron and John to meet up with us. We all walked back via the road and we were back onboard by 1 pm.

Our afternoon was spent making water and getting ready to cross to St. Lucia tomorrow. Mark also had the unpleasant job of working on the black water tank macerator pump (this pump empties our holding tank when we are offshore – limited pump out services down here). We discovered it wasn’t working on our trip down the day before. It was a stinky job that took the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately the job ended unsatisfactorily! Who knows – maybe it just needs a good bumpy sail to start moving things along!!

So we’ll be up early in the morning (6am start) and only stop for the night in St. Lucia. We will move again on Friday but that day’s destination is up in the air. It’s about 40nm from our St. Lucia anchorage to the middle of St. Vincent but it’s only another 15 nm to keep going to the island of Bequia. We’ll see how the 40nm trip to St. Lucia goes and then we’ll make our decision.

Our first day (March 14) of exploration on Martinique started with a visit to the town of St. Pierre which was once the cultural and economical centre of Martinique and was known as the “Paris of the Caribbean”. In 1902 Mount Pelee erupted, destroying the entire town and killing roughly 30,000 people living there. The town was rebuilt but only about 5,000 people currently live there.

We started our visit at the local produce market. Oh what a treat!! We bought local avocados, pineapple, green beans, tomatoes and lettuce. There were many vendors selling all kinds of vegetables I’ve never seen before and some other vendors selling jewelry, spices, hot sauces and other locally made items. The place was very busy but we managed to get everything we wanted!

After we put all our goodies in the dinghy, we walked along the main street to the volcano monument – part of buildings left as a memorial to that catastrophic event. From there we went to the Earth Science Discovery Centre. This very modern looking building was built to withstand an 8.4 magnitude earthquake – although I think a volcanic eruption is more likely to take it out! We watched a 50 minute video that talked about the 1902 Mount Pelee disaster and all the other volcanos on the Caribbean islands. It was very informative. The centre kind of reminded me of the Science Centre but without all the interaction parts.

We ended our trip today with lunch at a little local restaurant and had what I’m assuming is local cuisine. Sharron and I had a pork dish with rice. Mark had scrimp with rice and John had a whole fish (about 10 inches long) with rice. It was very tasty and we were all quite full! It definitely was a great start to our stay here.

We’ve been on quite a moving spree for the past 2 days!! Our first jump happened on Thursday, March 12th. We were up at 6 am and on the move by 7 am (slightly behind Sundog). We had a great visit to Les Saintes but we had a few days of what we hoped would be good wind and waves for south east travel. We were out of the influence of the islands and sailing jib and mizzen by about 8:30am.

The trip down to Dominica was about 38 nm and we would be anchoring near the town of Roseau (which is in the south west end of the island). We had good wind strength and the waves weren’t too bad. Our biggest challenge was the wind direction. The prediction was for wind slightly north of east (that elusive direction we’ve been looking for all season!) but of course we saw more south east. It wasn’t a very difficult sail because we moved along well but we weren’t headed exactly where we wanted to go. No worries, once we got behind the island of Dominica, the wind died off and we motored the correct direction to our destination. We anchored in a spot called Pointe Michel. It was a good spot for one night and we had 6 or 7 sailboats with us. Sundog had stopped about 1 nm north of us.

The next morning (today – Friday, March 13) we were up by 6am and going right away – we had another big day planned. Sundog got going around the same time as us and we both headed out around the end of Dominica towards Martinique. This was another predicted north east wind that really didn’t show up. We ended up motor-sailing the whole way (about 35nm) and it was slow going. Sundog sailed right by us early in the morning and so did several other boats who were able to sail better upwind than we could. In the end we made it to our anchorage by 2 pm and were secured before 3 pm.

We’re now anchored near the town of St. Pierre. The whole town was destroyed in 1902 when the volcano Mount Pelee erupted. We will spend a few days here exploring the town with Sharron and John and definitely visiting the volcano museum.

No visit to Terre-de-Haut would be complete without a hike up to Fort Napoleon. The 1.5km walk (which Mark said was really .5km if you could walk in a straight line but of course the road didn’t do that) took us up to the very well maintained fort. Sharron, John, Mark and I made the trek up the hill on Tuesday March 10th around 10 am. The current fort was completed in 1867 but it never saw any battles. The fort is now a museum and a botanical garden full of local succulents and cacti. We were all very impressed with the condition of the fort and the amazing array of local plants. But most impressive was the view!! It was well worth the hike up!!

I can’t forget to mention how Mark and I started our day on Tuesday. After a terrible night of rolling and bouncing, we decided to get out of the main harbour. There was one ball available in the little bay where Sharron and John were moored so we quickly moved over. We were settled on our new mooring ball by 8am – it was probably the fastest we’ve ever changed anchorages!! It was certainly a good move – the new mooring field called Pain de Sucre was much calmer and definitely more sheltered from wave action. It did make for a much longer dinghy ride to reach the main dinghy dock but that was okay!

Today March 11th is our last day in Guadeloupe. Mark and John have gone into town to get our exit document printed and signed. We have a good window to jump south to Dominica in the morning. We’ll spend the day making some water and getting ready for tomorrow’s crossing.

Our little jump south to Les Saintes Islands on March. 8th was a bit of a sloppy one. We left our anchorage nice and early – 7 am and moved easily along the west side of Guadeloupe. The island blocked all of the waves and also impacted the wind so for the first part of our 20nm trip we motored. Sharron and John left about 10 minutes before us so we could watch their progress as we headed south. John kept us informed the wind and waves at their location so we were prepared for some of the big gusts we encountered. We pulled out the jib after about an hour and motor-sailed until we were close to southwest tip of the island. At that point, we put up the mizzen and started sailing (no engine). All was good until we came out from behind the island – boy did it get wild!! The wind and waves piped up (not as bad as our crossing to Guadeloupe) which gave us some speed. Unfortunately the wind was ahead of the beam (again) and we really couldn’t sail our south east course to Les Saintes. No worries – we decided to sail almost due south to basically go behind and around the largest of the Les Saintes Islands called Terre-de-Bas.

All was going well until we got caught in a pretty big squall. It blew over us quickly which was great but it was a bit scary. After it was done, the wind dropped enough for us to take down our sails and motor on our original south east course to the island of Cabrit. It was a bouncy slow motor but we made it to this island by about 11:30 am. We had another big downpour (a very good deck wash!!) just as we were looking for a mooring ball at Cabrit. Some important things to know about the Les Saintes Islands – they are very popular with cruisers (and other tourists); the water is super deep so anchoring is difficult; and the mooring balls are hard to get (too many boats around). Sharron and John (who were ahead of us by about 20 minutes) got the last mooring ball in small bay west of the main town on the island of Terre-de-Haut. Unfortunately all the moorings at Cabrit were taken so we continued to the main tourist island of Terre-de-Haut.

The major mooring field for Terre-de-Haut is located in front of the town called Terre-de-Haut and it’s well known that you have to get there early if you want a mooring ball. We figured none would be available (it was now noon) so we went to an anchorage slightly west of the town. It wasn’t great – rolly, bouncy and deep! We decided to take our chances and see if any mooring balls were available in the main area! Lucky us we found one (there were actually 3 available) and quickly got secured!

Today, March 9th we went to town for a little exploring. It definitely has charm and quaintness all wrapped up. Nice little shops and many restaurants. We walked along the main touristy area, stopped at the grocery store and then met Sharron and John for lunch. The food was excellent and we sat overlooking the bay! Very nice.

We’ll be here for a few more days. Our weather window to cross to Dominica has moved a day to Thursday so we can explore the island a little more!

Our only stop on the island of Guadeloupe is Bouillante. We came straight here from Antigua because our friends Sharron and John were anchored here and they said it was a wonderful place – they weren’t wrong!!

I was still nursing my sore back on our first full day at Bouillante (March 6th) so I stayed on board and rested. Mark took the dinghy back north to Pigeon Cove to do a bit of grocery shopping. It’s always fun to see what is available on these French islands – usually some really nice bread!! Mark returned with a good selection of items. We had a happy hour onboard CK with Sharron and John that night and we heard all about their anchoring adventures here in Guadeloupe. This island has some interesting challenges due to the height of the hills. After a nice day of mostly calm weather, the katabatic winds pipe up and it’s not uncommon to go from 4 knots of wind to 20 knots in seconds. It can cause boats to drag their anchors which in turn causes those onboard to go into a panic!! Sharron and John experienced very strong katabatic winds when they first arrived in Guadeloupe (at an anchorage north of here). They saw over 40knots of wind and lots of boats were dragging. Our current anchorage also gets some stronger winds in the late afternoon but nothing like what Sharron and John experienced.

Today (March 7th) we decided to go for a walk in the town of Bouillante with Sharron and John. My back was feeling much better and I figured the movement would help – it did!! We also decided to visit the hot springs here – called Ravine Blanche. After our walk, we swam over to the mouth of the hot springs and it was crazy hot!! It was like being in a hot tub. It was so relaxing to float along in the hot water mixed with the cooler water of the ocean. It was a great way to end our afternoon adventure on shore.

We’ve decided to keep moving south because we have a good weather wind to cross to Dominica on March 11th. Tomorrow we’ll pull up anchor and move about 20nm south to the Guadeloupean islands called Les Saintes. These islands are well known for their special flavour! Sharron and John are also jumping down with us so we’ll have another adventure with them!

We made it – let’s just start with that!! Our sail down to Guadeloupe was an adventure. We knew the jump was going to be difficult because the predicted winds and waves were high (20 knots with 2.5 m swells) but we had some challenges that made it even harder. When we were leaving the dock on Wednesday (March 4th), I hurt my back trying to untangle a very heavy bow dock line (it wasn’t our line – it came from the boat beside us). So I was not in the best condition for this kind of hard crossing. To add to the pleasure of this trip, Mark had probably his worst bout of seasickness in a very long time. He was wearing the motion sickness watch device but it wasn’t working.

We got going nice and early on March 5th, pulling up anchor at 6:30am. The first part of our crossing was great – we had jib and mizzen up and we were sheltered by Antigua so the waves were tiny. It took a couple of hours until we were out of the protection of Antigua and into the full ocean wind and waves. The wind and waves were slightly ahead of the beam on the port side (on the beam means the wind or waves are 90° to the boat). We were expecting east wind but we were seeing wind slightly south of east (which gave us waves more on the bow then we would have liked). It was a rough, bouncy ride until we were about halfway across (the crossing distance between Antigua and Guadeloupe is about 40nm. Our trip was 60nm because we were going to Bouillante Harbour to meet up with Sharron and John). At that point, the waves changed to being on the beam and the wind was now east/northeast (going behind us!). By this time, Mark was starting to feel slightly better and I was trying to move around as much as I could. By mid afternoon the conditions were much improved and we were sailing along at 6 knots and higher. The wind and waves were behind us and the ride was much smoother. The last part of our trip was easy – we were behind Guadeloupe and protected from the waves. The island impacted the wind direction (more south) so we took sails down and motored the last 8 nm to our anchorage. We arrived around 5 pm and had trouble getting our anchor to hold. After 2 tries in one spot, we thought we were good but our friend John swam over and checked our anchor (super cool of him to do that for us). It turned out we were anchored on top of dead coral and not secure so we moved to a new spot in the anchorage. This time our anchor held – it was after 6 pm when we were finally settled!

Guadeloupe is a very mountainous island – also looks very lush. Our anchorage is well known for its hot springs. Hopefully we will get a chance to enjoy the hot springs but for today, we need to make some water and I need to rest my back!

We left the dock this morning (March 4th) around 11 am and are now anchored just outside the inner harbour at Jolly Harbour. Mark has been very busy the past 3 days doing a few boat projects. He painted more of the forward deck with the non-skid paint. He polished the dinghy davits (the stern being close to the dock sure made that job easier) and he replaced the ignition switch for the engine. The switch was acting up on our jump down from St. Martin so Mark was able to buy a new one from Budget Marina (which was right in the marina). I spent the past 3 days cleaning and putting the V-berth back to travel mode (basically the notch piece comes out and is stored). I also started crocheting another project!! We did a very little bit of grocery shopping and Mark got his hair cut!!

All in all we’ve had an amazing stay in Antigua but now it’s time to keep heading south. The plan is to jump down to Guadeloupe tomorrow (March 5th). We’re hoping to catch up with Sharron and John (Sundog) who have been in Guadeloupe just over a week now.

Here are some Antigua photos that didn’t make it into previous posts.

This has been one fast week! Evelyn and Liam have definitely seen all the highlights of Antigua and they had some excellent relaxation time too! Today February 28th is their last day – flying out tonight – and they’re spending some time on the beach and by the pool.

We’ve been strategic this week, pacing ourselves with a day on/day off strategy. Tuesday, Feb. 24th was a relaxation day. Evelyn and Liam spent the morning at the beach and we joined them for an hour or so in the afternoon. On February 25th we spent the day exploring St. John’s. We went to the museum and the cathedral. St. John’s Cathedral had been recently renovated with all new interior wood (they had major termite damage) – it was quite beautiful. After our exploration of downtown St. John’s, we drove out the Fort James (which is mostly ruins with a few cannons) and had lunch in this funky beach restaurant. It had good food and a cool atmosphere.

On Thursday we drove to Pearns Point (the beach with the blow holes) and had a lovely relaxed few hours in the shade! Evelyn and Liam wanted to snorkel in this area but it was too rough for that. We had an amazing pork tenderloin dinner that night. We also have been playing euchre after dinner this week which has been great fun.

Our last exploring day was Friday, February 27th and we decided to go to the Devil’s Bridge. One thing I haven’t mentioned much is the driving situation on Antigua – it’s crazy!!! Not only is it wrong side driving (i.e. England style) but the roads are terrible – narrow, no shoulders with huge pot holes and speed bumps. To add to the fun cars, buses and trucks literally stop and park anywhere. Traffic is constantly crossing into the opposite lane to pass stopped or parked vehicles. It’s absolutely insane!! And of course the locals drive fast!! Mark has done a great job driving around the island but it’s been a bit stressful!! Devil’s Bridge was worth the crazy drive. The area faces the east so it gets the full impact of the Atlantic Ocean. The “bridge” is a rock formation that has been eroded by waves. It was spectacular – waves crashing into the rocks over and over.

After the bridge, we drove to Betty’s Hope – Antigua’s first large scale sugar plantation. There’s not much left of the original plantation but you can see a few windmills and ruins of structures. Unfortunately we arrived after the on-site museum closed so we just looked around the grounds. We drove back to the marina via Fig Tree Drive which goes through the rainforest part of the island. We drove this way when we went to English Harbour but this time we stopped at a local art gallery which was super interesting.

Our last night together was spent celebrating at a local restaurant called Fat Urchin. Liam treated us to a wonderful dinner and when we got back to the boat, we had a little dessert I’d made. We’ve had the best visit and it’s hard to believe their week is over!! Way too fast! Mark and I will be hanging out in the marina until Wednesday morning and if the winds hold, we should be jumping down to Guadeloupe on Friday, March 6th.

We’ve had a great start to Evelyn and Liam’s Antigua visit and have already managed to do a lot of stuff!! It all started on Saturday February 21st with a road trip into St. John’s with Sharron and John. We all wanted to do some grocery shopping but first we made a visit to the downtown (waterfront) area of the capital city. We went to Redcliffe Quay which was very touristy and then we walked to their local market area. We were able to purchase local produce – bananas, plantain, squash, tomatoes and onions. After our shopping, we returned to the marina to put all our goodies away and rest before Mark and I headed back out to the airport. Evelyn and Liam’s WestJet flight arrived slightly early (at 6:05pm) and they were only slowed down by the 2 hour late Air Canada flight that arrived just before them. We were back at the boat for their first night by 8pm.

Their first full day (Sunday, February 22) on the island was spent getting into “island time”!! We had a leisurely pancake breakfast and then E & L went off to the beach (it’s an easy walk from the marina). We had a nice lunch in the cockpit and then rested for an hour or so before we launched the dinghy and took off to the dinghy disco party! I mentioned earlier about this electronic music festival being held here at the marina (organized by a few sailors). This event was the final one for the 4 day festival. The main organizers of the festival took their sailboat called Electric Passage out into the main harbour area and anchored it. They played DJ style electronic music from their boat to the audience in their dinghies. Some dinghies were tied to the sailboat and the rest just tied to each other. We went out around 3:30pm and joined our friends Sharron and John. We listened to the music and enjoyed ourselves! Evelyn and Liam even went for a swim!! We were back at the boat around 5:30pm and had a wonderful rib dinner!! We ended the first day with a few hands of monopoly card game! It was a great day.

Today, February 23rd we had a day away from the marina. We drove to English Harbour and explored the historical sight called Nelson’s Dockyard National Park. Antigua has done a very good job of keeping the old structures well maintained and preserved while having a functional marina on-site. We had a great time exploring the buildings, museum and the little fort area plus we had a very nice lunch overlooking the harbour.

After lunch we drove to the opposite side of English Harbour which is also a national park and home to Shirley Heights Lookout and Restaurant. We had an amazing view of the harbour. On our way back to the boat, we stopped at a local farm to buy black pineapples – you can only buy them on the island because they are a bit fragile (and they’re only black when unripe). Unfortunately they didn’t have any today but will have some on Thursday.

Our last stop of the day was dinner with Sharron and John at the pizza place near the marina. We got back to the boat around 4pm and Evelyn and Liam went for a quick swim at the beach. We met up with Sharron and John and had a nice dinner. Sharron and John are leaving in the morning to jump down to Guadeloupe so we’ll plan catch-up for a bit.