St. Lucia

Large sailboat at the dock 100' +/- been here at the marina for a few years and has never left the dock!!??

Gregory our "fruit guy" comes by daily selling fruit and vegetables, we have been concerned for him on very windy days with all the flags that he would topple over, he uses a small 2 hp engine to get around the bay.

7/31/12

We have very much enjoyed our time here in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia and plan on moving south to Soufriere on the south end of St. Lucia.  We did a full day tour with a hired guide Eddie who was very reasonably priced and a great guide.  We shared the tour with 2 other couples from the boats "Umido" and "More Mischief".   The roads were very curvy and steep, we skirted the rain forest and the vegetation was beautiful.  Eddie toured us through a small fishing village on the way to the Pitons and the drive-in volcano to the southern end of St. Lucia.  We also enjoyed the botanical gardens and Diamond Falls (scenes from the movie Romancing the Stone was shot here).  Although I have posted a few many of the photos from today will be posted later as they were shot with Stan's camera.

View of Rodney Bay, Lagoon and Marina

The Pitons

The town of Soufriere with Pitons in background

The cauldron at the volcano, the smoke is the sulfur gases being released and you can see the water boiling in several pockets. Upstream of this are the hot sulfur springs one which is close to 80 degrees and the other 110 degrees.  More photos to follow as Stan's camera took most of the shots.

The crews from "Umido" " More Mischief" and "Dream Walker" at one of several look out points.

Not sure which bay this is but very interesting rock features.

On Thurs. evenings they have J-24 races in the lagoon at the marina here, very exciting as the course is tight. I have done some snorkeling although it was not nearly as nice as other areas we have been to.  We enjoyed a special evening on "More Mischief" they cooked a turkey dinner and "Umido" was there as well. All in all we would rate our visit to St. Lucia very high and would enjoy returning here.  There is the best book swap we have yet to encounter at a small local restaurant at the base of the fort, food is excellent and staff very friendly. 

J-24's getting ready to start

And they're off.  They ran 5 races with 3 boats they usually have 6 which I can imagine the chaos in such a tight area.

Stan made 2 trips into the hospital in Castries to get a 3rd opinion on his foot, they took some blood and determined he had no infection so they think it is a bad bruise that needs more time healing, they suggested an MRI if it does not improve over the next few weeks.  He also had them look at his ear as he thought he was getting an ear infection but it turned out he is having issues with his sinuses, so for now he is just keeping his head above water as it bothers him most when swimming.  Someone mentioned that Stan's warranty probably ran out and that is why he is having so many issues :-)

As we move on south we need to be extra vigilante concerning safety as crime rates are on the increase, a cruiser was shot in the leg recently in Bequia as 4 men boarded his boat in the middle of the night.  We are going to try to stick together as a group with "Umido" and "More Mischief", safety in numbers.  We have felt very safe here in Rodney Bay another good reason to return here.  They also have a large IGA, it feels like your going into a grocery back home except the prices are much higher.

News Flash!!!

As I was finishing this blog Stan returned from a trip ashore with Michael from More Mischief as they needed a better connection to listen to Chris Parker's weather webcast.  Our plan to move south was due to a formation of a tropical wave or storm that was forming to move near us or north of us.  Well now it appears they are unable to predict its course and we are going to stay put until we know which way it is going so we know which way to go.  So it goes, stay tuned, I will let you know when we know but I have no issues hanging here for now, I will likely look other snorkeling sites.

On to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Rainbow from St.Pierre

Best shot we could get of Mt. Pelee with least amount of cloud cover from St. Pierre.

7/21/12 - 7/23/12

As scheduled we were off by and maybe a few minuets before 4:00 am Sat. morning, another cruiser came in from the north had a hard time finding a spot so they were happy to take over our spot.  Its always interesting to watch other boaters come in and anchor, our friends from Wayward Wind characterized it as being similar to what dogs do when the go to poop, they circle around several times before they find the best spot :-)   There seems to be a little more activity with boats as we head south, many more bare-boat charters than we have seen in the north and this is the slow season, a lot of boats still heading south for hurricane season as well. 

Headed off with a single reef in our main and a furled jib, turned out it was a great sail winds were 18-20 kts, our average speed was a little lower than the last passage due to currents not being in our favor.  We arrived in Rodney Bay in St. Lucia around 1300  hrs. Sunday afternoon.  Got settled in, Bruce from "Wild Matilda" came by as we were getting ready to head into customs.  Enjoyed a nice late lunch of Chicken Roti (pronc. "roadie") with Bruce and got the skinny of what was where.

Sunday morning Bruce and I went to the National Trust park and hiked the trails to the top of Rodney Fort and to the other peak to the north that they call Signal Hill.  There is always great history behind sites like this and this one is well placarded .  The hike had some good steep vertical rocky portions to the trails reminding me of the trails along the spine of the Green Mtns. in VT.  Everything in the park is very well maintained, the staff is very friendly and helpful, they have signs identifying different types of vegetation.  It was a fun excursion, it was great having Bruce's company. Stan is still on the "don't walk too much program" due to his foot. Arrgghh!!! Not sure who is more distressed him or me, he would say he!!!

The music in the bay Sat & Sun. night was loud and late (as in 4:00am late) from multiple locations, there are some areas we visit in the islands where it is hard or impossible to get away from.

Ran into the folks from "Umido" while doing errands on Monday, it was great seeing them and catching up.  I did some scouting around town, purchased some provisions and water.  Ended up getting some more lures that should be attractive to mahi-mahi, we were skunked in the fishing dept. coming from Martinique :-(

The lone rock is Diamond Island on the south side of Martinique.

Sailing in towards Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Rodney Fort on the hill to the right, signal hill on left.

View to the south from the fort

View towards the bay east of the fort

The fort

View from the fort north towards signal hill

Remnants of the barracks

The grounds at the park

View of the bay north of Rodney Bay

Leaving Roseau, Dominica - Bonjour Martinique

Sunset in Roseau

7/15/12

Last day in Dominica, I decided on finding the Botanical Gardens shown on the map.  I had a nice walk there and found a great store on the way that I shopped at for a few provisions on my return.  Finding the Botanical Gardens was not hard but once there I was disappointed there was no welcome center or even a site map to guide myself around.  The only thing they for was the restrooms which were closed (another disappointment).  I did enjoy my walk around the gardens just the same and then I found a trail called Jack's Trail so of course I followed it not knowing initially the length or terrain but needless to say I got an excellent work out as it overcame a lot of vertical with a well maintained switchback trail to the top of a mountain with a statue of sorts and a look out.  I was well hydrated when I left but did not have water with me as this kind of hike was unexpected and by the time I got to the store I downed a quart of water while shopping and bought another for the walk back to the boat.  Drinking water is really important with the high temps/humidity there is a lot of lost water, my bad and I will never go off again without a jug of water.

Botanical Gardens

Monument at the top of Jack's trail

View of Roseau and Caribbean Sea from look out at top of Jack's trail

7/16/12- 7/20/12

Early 3:00 am wake up call and gone by 4:00 am headed for Saint Pierre, Martinique, had a great sail with fully reefed main and jib furled in some, winds averaging 18 kts.  The current was in our favor and we averaged over 7 kts in speed, when I was at the helm I notice we hit 9 kts on occasion :-)  Stan caught a Mahi-Mahi on a lure he made from skirts I purchased the color of mahi, fresh fish for dinner tonight. We got into Saint-Pierre around 10:30 am which was 2-3 hours ahead of Capt. Stan schedule due to the speed we averaged.  Stan and I went into town to check in with customs, turned out to be a long walk and he did well with his foot, little swelling and less pain.  Wild Matilda showed up late afternoon and he was just stopping for the night and moving on to St. Lucia early the next morning so we invited him over for a fresh Mahi dinner which he much appreciated.  Bruce brought over a bag of books and we did a little book exchange which was great since we were running low on new literary fodder.

Tuesday Stan was up for another walk about town which was great, very historic old remnants with descriptions in English as well as French. There is a lot of history in Saint-Pierre especially with the volcano in 1902 where only 2 residences survived, one was a prisoner and another man in his cellar. Nice having Stan back in walking mode although not 100% but at least it is something.  The snorkeling is not great but I had a few interesting observations, a saw a few snake like creatures that looked more like snakes than eels.  I also found myself in a huge school of fish about 4" long, sliver in color and they moved in unison and I found myself in the middle of it at one point, very cool I think they must of known I was a fish in another life.

This has been interesting stop but there is little to no English spoke here which makes it difficult communicating. There is the big difference between St. Martin and here as most everyone in St. Martin spoke both languages, the other concern is we have used 4 different currencies so far on this trip, $US, peso, EC, and Euro. Here to our surprise they drive on the right side of the road on this island, every other island seems different. Good thing we have not rented cars around here as it gets very confusing.

Decided to move on to St. Lucia with a 4:00 am departure time Saturday morning, Rodney Bay will be our first stop so stay tuned.

Saint-Pierre town dock

Saint-Pierre and Mt. Pelee that erupted in 1902 which we have yet to see out of the clouds

Talk about narrow side streets

Au Revoir St. Martin Hello Dominica

Marigot Bay Waterfront, the fort is on top of the hill.

7/7/12 - 7/9/12

Got an early start to the day, prepped boat for the voyage, checked out with immigration/customs, stocked up on french bread and topped off all water storage.  We left with a fully reefed main and partial jib with 18-22 kts wind out of the east.  We originally planned to go to Antigua and decided on Dominica with the winds as they were.  It was spectacular sailing and glad the main was reefed, winds kicked up to sustained mid 20's and jib needed to be furled in even more. There were several sail adjustments on this trip with occasional time required motor sailing, we used the motor about 4 of the 48 hours of transit, this was ok since batteries needed a good charging anyways.  The refrigeration system accounts for a substantial draw on batteries especially with the warm temps we have. 

One of the purchases I made in St. Martin was a lure for catching mahi-mahi not that I am sick of tuna but something else might be nice.  Not long after I deployed my new mahi mahi lure that I caught a reasonably sized mahi-mahi although not as big as the last one but still fair size and did a lot of acrobatics which was exciting.  Stan cleaned it and decided no more fishing until I can organize cooler/freezer to see if we had room for more.  Decide we had room for more and Sunday morning Stan caught a huge mahi mahi and ended up losing it and the lure :-(  Should have bought more than one.  Using a lure thought to be worthless we ended up catching a small mahi mahi that we let go, then we caught a barracuda which size wise under most circumstances would be ok but since we did not have local knowledge we let him go as well.  Turns out it would have been fine, local fisherman said barracuda from St. Martin to Granada do not pose a problem with cigutera if smaller than 5 lbs.  We are actually pretty well off with fish so all is good.

We passed by several other Islands being Saba, Statia, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat to our west and Barbuda, Antigua, Guadeloupe, The Saints, Marie Galante to our east before arriving  in Dominica.  We lost wind and motored for an hour as we passed the northen portion Guadeloupe and again as we approached the northern end of Dominica.  Set anchor Monday morning around 8:30 am in Prince Rupert Bay, we were greeted by Lawrence of Arabia our PAYS(Portsmouth Assoc. of Yacht Security) guy, he provides services such as taxi, tours, and river trips.  The PAYS is a group of several men that by turn provide services to boats as they enter and remain in the bay, it provides for a safe area although everyone still locks up, just a good habit to be in. Checked in with customs/immigration, organized the boat and caught up on some lost sleep.  We had an excellent meal of mahi-mahi for dinner :-)

The east and west cabrits to the north entering Prince Rupert Bay, Fort Shirley is midway on the west cabrit.

View of Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth

7/10/12

Stan made a trek into the hospital and came back with same prognosis but given some vitamin supplements, medication to reduce swelling, doctor indicated 4-6 weeks before his foot will get better assuming he follows his orders.  While Stan was at the hospital I did a walk about town which reminded me a little of DR as 3rd world. In the afternoon I made a trip over to Ft. Shirley, nice hike up the hill with a couple of trails leading up to the east and west cabrits. Below is a brief history on the fort :
 

Fort Shirley

 The headquarters and main defense post of the British army garrison at the Cabrits on the north-west coast of Dominica. Construction began under the direction Sir Thomas Shirley, Governor of Dominica (1774-1776) after whom it was named. It has a polygon layout marked by two gun batteries, the lower and upper battery, overlooking the entrance to Prince Rupert Bay. Other buildings are troop barracks, officers quarters, kitchens and mess, guard room, powder magazines, three cisterns, artillery and ordnance stores and the remains of earthwork. The main action there was the revolt of the 8th West India Regiment, 'The Black Regiment', in 1802 and an attempted attack by the French in 1805. It was closed down like other forts in 1854 but was used briefly in the 1870's and the 1920's as a hospital and quarantine station and later as an agricultural center.

Stone path leading up to the fort.

Approaching the fort, some buildings are under going renovations

Looking out over the bay

View out the upper floor at one of the buildings

7/11/12
Lawrence our PAYS guy took us on a trip up the Indian River which was very cool, no engines allowed so we were rowed up and down stream.  Lawrence was very knowledgeable about the history, wildlife and vegetation so our trip was very informative.  The guides in Dominica are required to study and pass exams in order to be qualified to provide tours, we really enjoyed the trip.  In the afternoon Lawrence took me to several snorkeling sites at the Cabrits/Toucari Marine Park in Douglas Bay just north of where we are. Saw green moray eel and noticed a flounder that if I had not seen it swimming I would never have picked it out, this one blended so well with the rock it came to rest on he was almost impossible to pick out.  The reefs here are very nice but still do not compare with Culebra. 

Lawrence our guide for the day

Stan in photographer mode

We stopped in at the Blue Bay bar and restaurant for cocktails and enjoyable conversation with the locals.

7/12/12

Headed out in  the am with our jib only moved only 5 miles south of Prince Rupert Bay, picked up a free mooring.  I snorkeled out to check the mooring and enjoyed several beautiful reefs formations close to the boat.  Saw both a green and spotted moray eels, the dreaded lionfish many different sponge corals, this area rivals Culebra with variety, what a treat.  I went ashore in the afternoon to visit the Machoucheri River Estate to visit the rum distillery, next tour is in the morning so I took a walk up river. Very pleasant walk through sugar cane fields coconut groves and a developing passion fruit farm. The river had the look of any small stream in VT. Saw some fish but did not recognize the type, I turned over a few rocks looking for macro-invertebrates but only noticed small snails attached at just above substrate level. Came across a family of goats, also saw a few banana trees in full bounty. Fun day sorry Stan couldn't come along, walking up the valley the view of the ridge lines above were dramatic, certainly nothing like home.

7/13/12

A beautiful morning for a snorkel around the reefs surrounding our boat, very lush with many types of soft and hard coral, saw both a green and spotted moray eel, a few turtles and an electric ray (kept a fair distance from this one).  Made a trip to shore and walked to the rum distillery for a tour.  Interesting tour as they use water power for crushing the sugar cane to extract the juices, made for interesting conversation about water and water conservation.  I was the only one on the tour so Eve my tour guide enjoyed our discussion about water well construction which went on at length.  I gave him suggestions as to doing a google search for more information on detailed construction methods, not sure who learned more today my guide or myself.  I thoroughly enjoyed my tour and sampled very small amounts of their product.

Water wheel that powers the sugarcane crusher

Gearing and components for crusher

The drum behind big green pail is what crushes the juice from the cane

Spent cane is delivered to a wagon, spoils are composted and used for fertilizing the sugarcane fields and also bagged and sold locally.  No commercial fertilizers are used.

When in operation water is diverted to this trough to run crusher

Crusher under roof and bottling building behind it.

Building for offices, fermentation and distillation.

After the tour went back for a last snorkel then headed south to the next bay and the town of Mero.  Picked up a free mooring that happened to be amidst a beautiful area of coral, although better suited for scuba the clarity was enough to enjoy snorkeling.

7/14/12

Up early as usual and decided to head south only 10 miles to Roseau our last stop before heading to Martinique.  Motored all the way as there was no wind at all, picked up a mooring at the Dominica Marine Center.  Have great wifi connection enabling me to upload all the pictures.  Need to decide what of the activities we will do from here, with Stan not being able to walk it will likely be a tour by car through the Mtns., I may split off and do some hiking, so stay tuned and thanks for following.

Leaving Salisbury

A little rain in that cloud

Little rain in them there hills

 Mero

Nearing Roseau

Roseau

View to the south from our mooring

View towards shore from mooring