IT WAS WORTH IT (See for yourself…)

Making the LONG passage and braving the storm just outside of St. Croix was well worth it! The Captain and I gained experience and arrived in St. Croix in time to spend a very pleasant week with both our daughter Becky’s and our son Bob’s families.  Becky is in to the 3-R’s (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) so I’m pretty sure she won’t mind me sharing her blog pictures that do say a thousand words starting with FUN,

                 FUN,

              FUN!

Click on the link below:

http://www.beckyjeffmaya.blogspot.com/2012/12/st-croix.html

LEAVING FOR ST. CROIX (Part 2)

 Fortunately, the mainsail was repaired in record time and we were able to top up our provisions with plenty of French cheeses and delicacies while delayed in Martinique. We had about 300 more miles to go to get to St. Croix.
BUT for the first 40 hours of the passage from Martinique to St. Croix, if we hadn’t had apparent wind, we’d have had no wind at all.

The Caribbean sea looked eerily calm as our motor and autopilot glided us  northwesterly toward our destination. The air was so slight that the flights of the small flying fish we often observe skittering along the rippling waves to avoid the vessel were greatly curtailed.  This went on for the first 40 hours or so of our voyage.



           
Then light sailing winds finally arrived as night fell on our second day out. These winds filled the sails, but we kept the motor powering to keep them filled and reduce our travel time. I went below to take my first break of the night and surfaced three hours later to find great winds. Dan went below to get some shut eye and I killed the motor –which in turn startled him awake. But I assured him that everything was good and he soon drifted back to sleep.

What a difference a few hours made in the blackness of night with about 6 hours to go to our destination. 

Just as I was about to hand over the helm to Captain Dan for his second watch of the night,  the winds freshened with even more vigor and the waves became relentless!  Intermittent rain pelted us in the cockpit and Dan fired up the motor again for insurance.  He told me to go below to get some rest and get out of the rain, but there was no way I was leaving the cockpit with conditions as they were.  I had every confidence in Dan at the helm and I preferred being near him and the action if I could assist in some way.  Exit Strategy pitched and rocked and her bow repeatedly banged down the waves. The force of the banging rattled the navigational lights on the bow loose.  We turned on the steaming light so other vessels might see us, as there were two cruise ships visible in the distance. We studied the radar and discovered that the storm blanketed a huge area and there was no way around it. We found ourselves in the trough of the waves, so Dan changed course to cut across them diagonally. The beating went on for the next 4 hours.

Finally, the winds lessened a tad, the seas became more manageable, and we could clearly see St. Croix.  Around 6 AM, the captain eased ES into the peaceful anchorage of Buck Island’s west end and we both took a much needed nap.

LEAVING FOR ST. CROIX… (Part 1)

As beautiful as Barbados was, we were excited to be on our way once again to rendezvous with our children and grandchildren in St. Croix-USVI. The trip would be around 400 nautical miles and take an estimated 3 days if we sailed there non-stop. We had never made a passage that long before and, although the thought of it was challenging, we decided to give it a go. Before we left Tobago, our good friend Tom, s/v Tiger Lilly, briefed us on possible acceptable hurricane “holes” up the island chain in the event that a late season storm materialized, but thankfully none did.  With plenty of wind to fill our reefed sails, we were making EXCELLENT time from Barbados toward the cut between St. Lucia and Martinique. Around midnight just after I had begun my first watch of the night, the wind got really erratic…NO- downright scary for me! I woke the Captain and we quickly took down the headsail. The boat settled a bit, although it still rocked and rolled through the wind and rain. Shortly afterward the sailing conditions were again manageable as before the blow. However, upon inspecting the mainsail, Dan discovered that it had ripped just below the second reef.  We discussed our options and searched our island service directories for the best place to have a repair done. Fortunately we were near Le Marin- Martinique that is a sort of Mecca for yacht services. So under the cover of darkness, we slowly made our way into the outer area of the harbor and dropped anchor off of St. Anne- Martinique. In the morning after a few hours of sound sleep erased some of the stress, we made our way into Le Marin and sought repair estimates. We selected Voilerie de Incidence to do the job and were extremely pleased with the results and that my almost tearful plea (complete with hands clasped and held to my heart) ensured that the repair was finished 3 days earlier than promised!  You may recall that our genoa (headsail) needed multiple repairs in past months and that we ultimately bought a new sail through our friend Tom. He advised us then that our main sail was looking pretty tired, too. So it was no surprise when the sail shop men said that the rip could be fixed, but plans to have a new main made should be in our near future. The captain is on it!

BARBADOS

Fifty percent of the cruisers we spoke to about sailing to Barbados said it wasn’t worth the effort. The island is almost 100 miles due east of the Caribbean chain and often a motoring trip dead into strong easterly trade winds. We ignored the nay-sayers and chose to put our trust in the more skilled sailors who made the passage to Barbados and found it to be quite a lovely place. 


Government House

Very cosmopolitan shopping district

                       
Our anchorage at Carlisle Bay was just off of the capital city of Bridgetown. The water was crystal clear and we could easily see that our anchor was well-bedded in the sandy bottom about 20 feet below. Although we were dog tired from our overnight journey, the beach looked irresistible, so we snorkeled ashore. Between the boat and the shore, we swam over turtles feeding, sea stars, and some strange looking winged fish crawling along the bottom.          


    
Thanksgiving Day 2012- no turkey.   


Caught a big blackfin tuna on the way- HOMEMADE sushi!

While in Barbados, we felt like we were on vacation.  It is a British island that benefits enormously from a significant amount of tourism from the USA and Europe, including many cruise ships.  It is often the first landfall vessels make when sailing across the Atlantic from European countries, but that is a very small slice of their tourism dollar pie. 

Without a doubt...

                         we'll be BACK!





GIVING THE FINGER IN TOBAGO

Having completed a great deal of boat work, we happily left Trinidad, saving many sights of this expansive, industrious island for a future trip. It is November and half of our friends have already sailed north while the balance are remaining a few weeks longer to participate in Trinidad’s annual Divali (Hindu Festival of Lights) celebration. We’ve chosen the path less traveled as we headed for Tobago, Trinidad’s “little sister” island.


Used Beautiful Babe Spit on the lure

Tobago is just northeast of the northeastern end of Trinidad. Cruisers are challenged by this passage for three reasons. First, there is a strong easterly current between the islands; second, the wind often blows hard on the nose from the east in this part of the sea; and third, the Atlantic waves are usually very “lumpy” as they converge between the islands into this relatively narrow passage. Captain Dan has never shrunk when faced with such a challenge and I was on board with him one-hundred percent- literally and figuratively. I’d heard many glowing reviews about Tobago, so my thinking was, Yes, I’d like to see what Tobago is all about as long as we’re this close.  We stocked up on some foods and fuel and the Captain made one last shopping (really- it was a buying) trip to the local chandleries. Then we let customs & immigration know that we were leaving Trinidad to go to Tobago. (The islands ARE the same country, but vessels are required to check in/out when moving from one to the other…an annoying formality!) We spent the next two mornings motoring along Trinidad’s northern coast and over-nighted in Lavache Bay and Grand Riviere Bay. From there we SAILED slightly northeast toward the southeastern tip of Tobago.  We should have left earlier, but it was my birthday and the day had a leisurely start. BIG MISTAKE. It was nearly 3 PM when we arrived and we needed to go ashore to check in with customs/immigration. We waited for a bus at the stop for 25 minutes and none came, although all the while, we noticed some cars would toot their horns and others at the stop would hop into the car and vanish. Finally, we were the only people at the stop and a car tooted at us, so we hopped in. The ride to Scarborough where the customs/immigration office was not long, but the office was closed by the time we arrived. We left quietly frustrated and stood at the appropriate bus stop. The same routine was witnessed with no busses stopping and cars tooting at people at the stop. This time, we noticed the would-be riders stuck out their index finger when a car tooted. Once again, we were left standing alone at the bus stop shelter. Finally, a car tooted at us we gave them the finger and we had a nice chat about Tobago as we rode back to our anchorage.


We don't think this was a real Kmart, just a "knock-off"

Just about EVERY island has at least one of these- so sad.

              Unfortunately, we had to repeat the whole bus trip to customs/immigration this morning to officially check in to Tobago. But this morning we didn’t wait for someone to toot at us- I smiled and proudly stood, giving them the finger. (We made it there and back in record time!)

Stacks of homemade island candy eased our frustration.

“GAME ON”

Those who know me, realize that I’ve an inherent competitiveness that doesn’t surface often in public. We recently participated in Jesse James’s Taste of T & T Tour with three other cruising couples. Jesse mentioned that the most Trini foods tasted on his tour was 67. It didn’t take much  to excite our tour group into breaking that record. WE DID IT! The foods are listed below, as spelled by Jesse, and every morsel was delightful!  Book your tour soon- you won’t be disappointed.


Raw Brazil Nut or "UFO"

Jesse carves a roadside melon for us.

 


The key ingredient in Chicken Foot Souse is...

Our LAST meal was RECORD BREAKING!!!

  Nov.1, 2012 Contestants:s/v EXIT STRATEGY- Dan & Rose       s/v IRIS- John & Janet                                        s/v THE DOVE- Larry & Barb                s/v TUATARA- Alan & Jean THE List to Beat… 1 Salt Fish Bolgoh 2 Smoked Herring Bolgoh 3 Natural Cane Juice 4 Fish Pie 5 Doubles * ** 6 Pommareck * 7 Fry Bake 8 Sade Roti 9 Curry Bodi 10 Tomato Choka * 11 Eggplant Choka 12 Fried Cariali 13 Cow Heel Soup * 14 Sapodilla 15 Potato Pie 16 Portugals 17 Bhagi Rice 18 Stew Fish 19 Roast Bake 20 Peleau 21 Macaroni Pie 22 Christophene Stir Fry 23 Stew Pork 24 Cassava Boiled & Fried * 25 Kitchoree Rice 26 “UFO”- Brazil Nuts 27 Dasheen 28 Dhal 29 Saheena 30 Kitchore 31 Chicketo Banana 32 Silk Banana 33 Paratu- “Buss Up Shut” 34 Dhal Phourie 35 Stew Beef 36 Curried Chicken Gizzards * 37 Curried Goat 38 Curried Chicken ** 39 Curried Mango 40 Curried Pumpkin 41 Maubi 42 Sorrell 43 Peanut Punch * 44 Passion Fruit Juice ** 45 Paw Paw Balls * ** 46 Coconut Tuloom Balls * ** 47 Watermelon 48 Poulorie 49 Pommetay 50 Pineapple Chow * ** 51 Cassava Pone 52 Macaronie Pie Strudel 53 Pera Fudge 54 Jelly Bead 55 Bread Pudding 56 Coconut Turnover 57 Rock Cake 58 Coconut Ballerina 59 Sweet Bread 60 Barfi Fudge 61 Kurma Candy 62 Gullup Jamoon 63 Chicken Foot Souse 64 Jeera Pork 65 Milk Fudge 66 Cocoa Pods 67 Grapefruit ** 68 Grilled Jerk Lamb 69 Festive Rice 70 Green Fig Salad 71 Jerk Pork 72 BBQ Pigtails * ** 73 Fried Fish

 *Rose’s favorites
 **Dan’s favorites

The PEOPLE We Meet…

The top reason we cruise is to see the islands on a laid back schedule. A secondary perk of traveling the Caribbean at a leisurely pace is meeting all sorts of people from many countries. We hold a natural comradery with most Americans, of course, although the Captain has a thing for Texans that I won’t get into. The British we’ve encountered are a playful, happy lot and we always enjoy their company. The South Africans often seem to be organizing a party or know where one is and they tend to know where to get the best value for 6TT for $1 US dollar. The Germans and Dutch we’ve met are lovely people who speak perfect English and welcome a good time. The Canadians have sailed long and hard to get to these warmer latitudes and are delightful.

But some cruisers are haughty blokes. On the way to shop last week, one cruiser gent proceeded to preach to me that “We cruisers don’t use plastic grocery store bags. We bring our own assortment of sturdy, reusable shopping bags.” I wanted to scream (! * @ & # !!!) because I’ve been using reusable bags for over ten years before we started cruising. Instead I took a deep breath and smiled, saying- “Yes, I do too.”

So we’re shopping at the mall (YES, there are malls in Trinidad that closely resemble those in the USA) and I happened upon a great sale on swimsuits. I went to find Lilly who was in the clutches of the cruiser gent’s wife. Lilly seemed eager to leave with me…Unfortunately, the wife followed us to check out the swimsuit sale. I showed Lilly a group of cute suits I thought she’d fit and like. Then the wife started saying “You really should buy bikinis because it’s so hot in the Caribbean!” Lilly and I glanced at each other long enough to send an unspoken message- INHALE DEEPLY, EXHALE DEEPLY…SMILE.  What the wife didn’t know is that Lilly only likes one piece suits and I have generally only worn bikinis FOR-EV-ER! Could our shopping trip get any more annoying?

Another time, I put out an all-call query on the VHF radio seeking recommendations for getting a canvas dinghy cover made. I got three responses and one cruiser said I could have one that he didn’t need any more. We were in the middle of a project on board ES, so I told him we might not be able to come to see the cover that day. Dan and I went to check it out the next day and were told that M from s/v For-A-Lie (not real name) came and took it! I was totally teed off! M had to have eaves dropped on our conversation on another radio channel to know that it was even offered to me. I repeatedly called M on the radio with no response. So Lilly and I dinghied over to For-A-Lie and confronted him. I don’t think we looked that intimidating, but M readily admitted that he indeed had the cover and handed it over. The cover was in decent shape and fit our dinghy fine after I used some Sunbrella remnants to sew in an extension.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people we meet while traveling are the salt of the earth-like our dear friends on Tiger Lilly. And every now and then, the Lord just throws in a few odd ducks to pepper our life up a bit.

NOTE: After listening to this morning’s Cruisers’ Net, I can confirm that ALL of the odd ducks mentioned in this piece are from the same country.